TRUE BLUE STORIES

Ollie Claffy

The first City match I remember watching was on a black and white T.V.- the 1956 Cup Final. I was 6-years-old and have been a City fan ever since. Bert Trautmann was my first football hero and I was one of the 47,000 plus crowd at his testimonial in 1964. I started to go to Maine Road in the 1961-62 season with my uncle and saw them get relegated a year later. No matter, I loved the atmosphere in the Kippax and wore my City scarf proudly. Living in Withington was handy for getting to matches, my brother Danny and I often walked down Platt Lane to the games.

When Joe Mercer and Malcolm Allison arrived in 1965 I had a feeling that something great was just around the corner. Getting back to the First Division was fantastic. There were a lot of rag supporters in my fifth year class and after years of slagging we were back where we belonged.

The next four years were what I've always referred to as City's Magic Years. I finally started seeing other parts of England - going to as many away games as I could. Bell, Lee, Summerbee, T.C., Doyle, Young and all the rest of the lads, what a team we had. When we won the League at Newcastle, it was one of the happiest days of my life. We ran onto the pitch at the end of the game and I picked up a little piece of the turf, as a souvenir. I still have it to this day, encased in a little plastic box! Since that day I have always been fond of Newcastle Brown Ale. I kept a scrapbook, cut-outs from newspapers, programmes, etc.- still got that too.(family heirlooms)

Going to Wembley in 1969 was the icing on the cake; this was where I'd first seen City on T.V all those years before. When the team brought the Cup back to Albert Square all the Blues fans I knew were hoarse, elated, knackered and still thirsty!

Three derby matches stand out in my memory. Wednesday night, March 27. 1968. Old Trafford. Best scored early but what a triumph as we came back to hammer them 3-1 with goals from Colin, Franny and George Heslop. Next match. 17th August, 1969. I think it was the first game of the season (my memory is clouded on this one). The rag fans were on the right side of the Kippax and pennies and stones were flying. Some tw-t threw a stone which hit me just above my right eye. I picked it up and flung it back. St.John's ambulance folks took me and patched up the cut. They wanted to send me to hospital but I wasn't going to miss the match which was a 0-0 draw. I went to Withington Hospital later and got four stitches. 15th November, 1969. The next day I was emigrating to Canada (for a myriad of reasons). This was to be my last match for 16 years but I didn't know that at the time. It was as if the lads knew that and they blew Utd. away 4-0. What a send off!

I felt isolated for a few years, only getting results in the papers a day or two later. Circumstances dictated holidays home in the summer. An old flame and good friend, Julia, was a secretary at the club and at least I got to visit Maine Road on the inside. In 1991, I took my two eldest daughters to their first City game. They saw City beat Liverpool and at Platt Lane they got their pictures taken with Niall Quinn and David White. Needless to say they have always been City fans. I saw the Blues win against Notts Forest and Crystal Palace. What a great holiday that was. Someone in Manchester sends me the Pink every time we win (not too many Pinks the last couple of years!). That person is my dear old mum, Mary, who at age 77 is still a True Blue. She never misses a City telecast or Broadcast and goes to a match two or three times a season.

Football coverage in Canada has improved in the last six years. Lots of Premier matches are shown live at certain pubs and match highlights are shown on Saturday morning T.V. Alas, no Nationwide coverage...let's hope that won't matter 1998/99. I have four children and they all have their City shirts and my lad has the 96/97 team poster on his bedroom wall. Just doing my bit to ensure dyed-in-the wool Blues for the next generation.

I was back in M/C for a couple of weeks last Autumn and sat in the new Kippax (very impressive.) Our kid had arranged a "Welcome back from Canada, Ollie Claffey" announcement on the P.A. before the match, I was a bit embarressed but chuffed. The only problem was it was the poxy Lincoln game. Finding the City Web Page and MCIVTA was like finding gold. A big thankyou to Steve, Ashley and all the lads for making it all happen. Cheers to City fans around the world. Things are looking up. Hell, I can even get Boddingtons on draught at my local pub in Markham. City 'till I die? You got that right.