John Ellis Hillarys

Why Blue?

I have been a City fan since before I was born; genetically I came from a family which can trace its relationship with Man City to my grandad, God bless him, who was killed in the first world war though I never obviously got to speak to him. My dad used to to relate stories he was told by his mum that grandad supported City when he was a lad and they were known as Ardwick FC in the late 1890’s. So with that background I reckon I can call myself Blue through and through.

Though I have been living in Perth, Australia for the past twenty odd years I have never lost the deep, engraved love of being a City fan with all the trials and tribulations we have all been through for my lifetime. My son Mark’s pedigree as a Blue has some interesting little quirks in it in that his grandad on his mum’s side was the chief groundsman at Bury FC and whose claim to fame was that he actually laid the original turf to form the playing surface at Gigg Lane in 1921-22 season; his picture hangs upon the study wall.

I was lucky also to be born in the same street in Prestwich that produced such great City fans as Bob Price (Dutch branch) and Don Price (Prestwich and Whitefield branch). We used to dazzle the local kids who were mostly United fans with our football skills and imitation of City players in St Mary’s Park. I remember Bob as a budding Bert Trautmann and me as Glyn Pardoe with Don being Don wanting be like the whole team at once!

Glyn Pardoe in those days was the youngest player to play in a football league fixture. I wanted to be so like him as the first game my dad ever took me to see was at Maine Road on 11 April 1962; the date is burnt into my brain. It was Glyn’s début match and I can still remember my dad making me clean my shoes on the back door step and checking them to make sure they were clean before he would take me to the match with his mates. He bought me my first City scarf at that game, which I still have today. My God, it’s forty years old! Maybe that’s why I am writing this dribble as my fiftieth birthday is coming up soon and I am feeling all nostalgic (thought I would share that with everyone on the net).

The real reason I am writing is that I met my darling wife at a Liverpool vs. City game at Anfield in February 1972; City got beat three something and KK actually scored against us! Bob and I were going and we met in the Wilton for a pint or two and he said he knew a couple of birds who wanted to go to the match with us; so that was it, stuffed from that day onwards. Trouble is me and the missus were reminiscing a few weeks ago and neither of us can remember the exact day of the match being the day we met.

So if there is anybody out there on the WWW that has the date of Liverpool vs. City at Anfield in February 1972, would they please email me and I would be eternally grateful or if anybody also wants to write and swop stories anyway I will be really happy to reply.

Stay cool, stay Blue, ’til we die!

First printed in: MCIVTA Newsletter #790 on