Geoff Donkin

Why Blue?

I was born and bred in Sunderland, but have lived in East Yorkshire for most of the last 18 years, apart from the 3 years I spent at Leeds University. I could never remember exactly when I got interested in City, but have a vague recollection of it being in my primary school days. With hindsight I reckon it coincided with the purple patch at the end of the 60’s / early 70’s when City actually won things, so I suppose I was something of a bandwagon jumper at the time, though you can forgive an 8-year-old that much! However, I guess I forgot to jump off the bandwagon thereafter, and though I tell myself football’s not that important, I still can’t help feeling happy or p**sed off depending on how the results go. As one of the famous Gallaghers said (sort of), you’d never tell an Alien new to Earth to support City, as it would be too much like hard work!

Being a City supporter as a teenager in the North East wasn’t an easy option. Almost all my mates were Sunderland supporters, and whilst they didn’t have much to crow about, they could at least get to Roker Park easily. I have a confession to make – I’ve only ever made it to Maine Road once in all these years, but have been to away games wherever the opportunity has arisen – Newcastle, Sunderland, Hull, Leeds. That one occasion was predictably for a game against Sunderland (went with my Dad) … the FA Cup 5th Round game in 1973! My life was hell for weeks after the replay, and I cursed Allison for winding up the Sunderland team beforehand.

Until earlier this year, I had the misfortune to have ‘fairweather Rags’ for neighbours (replica kit, bedroom wallpaper, you name it it was there) – I gather their allegiance grew out of a holiday meeting with Mike Phelan’s parents!? The new neighbour’s a Middlesbrough supporter so as an exiled Mackem I can take the p**s a bit (though Ravanelli looks a good buy) – the one thing that seems to unite Newcastle and Sunderland supporters is contempt for Boro’!

With the passage of time, I can now take genuine interest in my home town (now a city, but I still think of it as a town) team’s progress (certainly more to get interested in than Hull City, but I even wish the Tigers well). Work and domestic commitments mean I’m never going to be as commited as some of the contributors to these newsletters, but will continue to ‘armchair and teletext’ support and enjoy the MCVITA debates and reports nevertheless.

With that in mind, I’d like to say that I too believe Steve Coppell deserves the benefit of the doubt, but we’ll need to be patient. Just having the same manager for more than one season would be a step forward. Looks like we’ll all have to look forward to life after Kinky, judging by recent press speculation and the tone of the Russian interview in MCIVTA 239, but at least the fee should be some compensation provided it’s used carefully. The current squad has too much of a feel of having just happened rather than being part of a master plan (back to managerial stability I suppose!). And I’d love to beat the Rags again – that 5-1 win seems too much of a distant memory!

Anyway, I’ll shut up for now. Keep the news coming. Geoff Donkin, Beverley, East Yorkshire, England

First printed in: MCIVTA Newsletter #241 on