TANS

Why Blue?

Logically I should have been a Bolton supporter as they are the nearest club to the part of Manchester where I was brought up. But it was in the heady years of 1965-66 when I first became aware of football and Bolton were never mentioned – neither for that matter were City, it was all United or England that we heard about as kids. Some first football memories:

First match seen (on TV) – the 1966 FA Cup Final, Everton vs. Sheffield Wednesday – kids in the school playground talking about United’s results in Europe (must have been Thursday mornings).

That led to the 1966 World Cup and the publicity given to Charlton and Stiles led to me taking the almost “automatic” route to becoming an embryonic United fan. But although I would tell people I supported United, I really knew next to nothing about them, or even about football in general.

Things stayed like that until the 1967-68 season. My best friend’s dad was a City fan and a season ticket holder. I heard all about City from them and so one day I just calmly announced to my friend that I was now a City fan like him! Now one thing I would always frown on is any supporter changing allegiance to a different club; it’s just not done, the phrase “City till I die” expresses this perfectly. But in my case it wasn’t really like that. I wasn’t a real United fan, but just a kid who had never heard of anything else.

One day soon afterwards they took me to Maine Road with them. It was October 14th 1967 and City were playing Wolves. To be honest I don’t remember anything about the game itself – City won 2-0 – but what sticks in the mind is that magnificent first view of the pitch, walking up through the tunnel at the corner of the old Platt Lane stand. Absolutely unforgettable, and from that moment I was totally 100% City and totally 100% hooked.

I was too young to go to games on my own so I was reliant on my friend’s dad to take me. Of course that season ended with City as League Champions. My main memory is of all the pictures of the City goals from that final match at Newcastle on the back pages of the Sunday paper. The next season I remember being taken to Maine Road for the FA Cup Quarter Final against Spurs, City winning 1-0.

The season after that of course ended with City winning the European Cup Winners’ Cup and the League Cup. To me as a “new” fan, this all appeared perfecty normal, winning different trophies every season. Little did I know that it was the feast before the long hunger. What has followed since has given me a thousand City memories, a mixture of highs and lows. I won’t bore you with them all but here are just a few mixed together… no prizes for guessing which were the highs and which were the lows…

• Finding out that that you could get a bus at Aytoun Street from the centre of Manchester to Maine Road, so I had the freedom to travel to games.
• Getting to Maine Road for midweek European games to find that gate prices had been increased, so I would have to walk home.
• Watching City lose 1-0 at home to Chelsea in the 1971 Cup Winners’ Cup semi-final.
• Another game against Wolves, this time midweek in the League Cup, I watched from the new North Stand (no seats yet). City came back from 3-1 down to win 4-3 in one of the most magic atmospheres ever.
• Standing on the Stretford End at Old Trafford to watch United taken apart by Bell, Lee & Summerbee.
• The day sometime in 1968 when I decided to look up in Rothmans Football Yearbook what trophies City had won in their history.
• A game against United at Maine Road, where Rodney Marsh wellied the ball up through the players tunnel as the teams were just walking out at the start. It was a classic “statement of intent” from Marsh and pushed the atmosphere up several notches (but the game ended a disappointing draw).
• A friendly against (I think) Australia, around the same time, where Marsh scored one of the best goals I have ever seen, arriving in front of goal airborne at a height of about 5 feet, to meet a perfect cross and volley it sideways into the net.
• Another candidate for “best goal” – a header from Dave Watson from a corner. He was at the far angle of the penalty area and met the ball direct from the corner like an oncoming express train. It flew straight as an arrow at 200 mph direct into the top corner of the net. Maine Road erupted.
• Peter Barnes picking up the ball out on the wing on the halfway line, then just dancing past about 3 defenders and scoring with a low shot into the corner. From the kick off, City won the ball back immediately and gave it to Barnes in the same position on the wing. He then danced through and did exactly the same again. Absolutely magic!
• Going to Chelsea by train to watch City play Norwich in a League Cup 2nd replay (no forced penalty shoot outs in those days). City won 6-1 in torrential rain.
• Going along to Maine Road one bored Saturday to watch the reserves. After the first 45 minutes, I wandered around at the back of the Main Stand but the place seemed very empty. When I went back to my seat the whole stadium was totally empty. Finally it dawned on me that kick off had been at 2pm, so when I arrived at 10 to 3 it was already half time!
• Taking my future wife-to-be on our very first date… to see City beat Birmingham 4-0 at St. Andrews.
• Driving up to St. Andrews from Ross-on-Wye, where I was living at the time, to watch City play Birmingham on another occasion, only to find when I got there that the game was at Maine Road!
• Halifax 0-1.
• Shrewsbury 0-1.
• Luton 0-1.
• The famous 5-1. No, not that one, the other one, against Charlton (top of the Premier League!) at Maine Road to guarantee promotion. Three things about this game will stick forever:
  1. When City went 2-0 up all 50,000 of us knew we would win and were promoted. Dozens of people were just running in circles on the pitch waving their arms, just totally high with the joy of it all. You could almost see the atmosphere rising like steam into the clouds.
  2. When Charlton scored their consolation near the end, their 200 fans started chanting “Here we go, here we go” and we all applauded them.
  3. Afterwards I walked back to the car looking forward to hearing all the interviews etc. on the radio on the way home. But it was the day of the fire at Bradford so City didn’t get a mention!
• The infamous FA Cup Quarter Final against Spurs on the day they opened the new Platt Lane Stand. It was a mistake to give the whole of the North Stand to the Spurs fans because a total wall of sound was coming down from it. Terry Phelan’s majestic goal when it was too late to matter.
• Cardiff 0-1.
• Barnet 0-1.
• Lincoln 1-4!
• Seeing City go down 0-4 at Coventry while Franny Lee was still a popular chairman. The City fans kept up a continual chant of “Franny Lee’s blue & white army” for over 15 minutes, during which time Coventry even scored without them stopping.
• A few years before that, at Coventry to see Keith Curle’s début in a smooth, skilful performance for a 1-0 win.
• Kinkladze’s début at home to Spurs, class clearly displayed right from the start.

If anyone ever asks you for a definition of an emotional rollercoaster, just show them the list above. Finally, because I’m an optimist I’ll finish with a nice, positive memory from the recent past:

• Taking my 10 year old daughter to Maine Road for the first time, carefully shepherding her through the tunnel for her first view of the stadium, and watching her eyes light up at the sight, knowing that she is as hooked as I was.

First printed in: MCIVTA Newsletter #426 on