TRUE BLUE STORIES

Sam Yong

Good question? I can never answer that myself. Just found out the result of the Birmingham game. Disappointing, but I know that for better or for worse, I will still continue to root for the Blues. I have been supporting City since I was a kid. We used to have this program called Big League Soccer then with Brian Moore the presenter. I watched Liverpool, Man U, Aston Villa etc. For some reason, only the Blues appealed to me and I was delighted when they made it to the Cup Final against Spurs. Unfortunately they lost to an amazing Ricky Villa goal.

Over the years, I have followed City through lots of ups and downs, mainly through the BBC World Service (think they called it the Saturday Special before changing it to Sportsworld). In Singapore, we did not get much live soccer on TV until the last few years. I still remember the night I was tuning in and following the City v Charlton game in the old second division in 1986. I think that City needed to draw or win to get promoted as the third team to go up. They ended up scoring 5 in a 5-1 victory. Ironically now that I think about it, Paul Simpson was among the scorers then.

I never actually saw them play until this year. Made my first trip to the hallowed grounds of Maine Road on a cold wintry night in January. I emailed Paul Howarth before I got to the UK and met up with him for the first time. We watched the Charlton game and I thought that I would get to see them win. As usual, in the last few minutes we conceded a goal. Met up with Ashley Birch also. It was great to see City play for the first even though they did not win. I suppose that game was very typical City. In many ways, I think that it is more frustrating for the fans at the game than the ones receiving updates via the radio or internet when these things happen. Anyway cheers to all the chaps I met that night and thanks again Paul for everything. (The ride back to London that night was rather rough though, and didn't get much sleep at all).

I was bunking in with a friend in London then. He thought I was crazy to go all the way to Manchester for the day just to see City play. In fact, the first question I was asked when I said I was going to Manchester to watch a game was "is Man U playing today?" I have been subjected to a lot of questions and stick (I think we all have), but I can never explain why I follow City after all these years and the disappointments. In fact I am also one of the those eternal optimists who were still hoping for a promotion play-off place until we were absolutely out of it mathematically.

Anyway, I'm still proudly wearing the cap that I bought in the shop just before the Charlton game. I know I will still do that even if the unthinkable happens this season. Let's also hope the boys get their act together next season, whichever division they are in.