David Yates

I was an obnoxious child and have consistently disappointed my father by doing the opposite of what he wanted me to do. As he supported an obscure footballing outfit called "Manchester United", I opted for City. That's how he explains it. :)

I seem to recall a second reason. In 1975 when all the kids at my South Cheshire primary school were getting Liverpool sports kit, I asked for a Liverpool sports bag for Xmas. My worried uncle bought me a City one instead so I had no choice but to support them! I might have to pull the same dirty tricks with my own children now I live in Essex.

Our family is bereft with footballing conflict. Half support City, a quarter United and another quarter Leeds. Me supporting City was a bitter pill for my father to swallow, especially when he took me to derby games and City won, which happened in the late 70s.

The side under Tony Book was a joy to watch but, as we all know, Big Mal came back and destroyed a great side by chucking out the talent (Dave Watson, Asa Hartford, Brian Kidd, Gary Owen and Peter Barnes and buying mediocre but expensive replacements. I blame Swales for a lot of what's gone wrong but Big Mal, I feel, has to accept his share of the blame. In the new City mag which David Lamb reviewed in MCIVTA, Peter Barnes described Gary Owen crying on the day that Ron Atkinson came to take him to West Brom, as he failed to understand why City didn't want him any more.

As for the new season, I have to admit I'm worried by our injury crisis which has been continuous since the middle of last season. It ruined a promising season last year. A lot of our key players seem to be injury prone. We have already spent 400,000UKP on a replacement goalkeeper and Ball is after cover for Beagrie. While other teams are spending on improving the side, City seem to be spending to paper up the cracks. I hope we don't have to spend another season worrying about the drop, it was agony last year. If we keep a settled side, I genuinely believe we can do a lot better this year. With United in decline, it would be nice to see smiles on our side of Manchester again.