TRUE BLUE STORIES

Jane Downs (aka Ariana2)

I am a 35-year-old female from Manchester and I can remember the instant I became a blue. Having 3 brothers who were (and still are) avid Man Utd fans I just couldn't take to the red shirts and scarves, they just didn't look or feel right and in my tradition of liking to be different, I fell in love with blue and bought my 1st city scarf with saved up pocket money at 13 years of age......that was the start !

Met my hubby when he was 16 and myself 15, his family were also rags and he was a little confused over his identity back then but he was soon fired by blue passion ;O) During courtship and marriage we spent many hours standing in the Kippax and following our beloved team.

Over the years both being nurses and working shifts and then the children arriving I confess to being unable to attend matches for a good while, but never failed to follow the teams progress (or unfortunately lack of it many times) but did this matter no...loved to hear all the news, thank goodness for radio, newspapers, tetetext and hubbies reports!

As the kids became older, I started picking up a few games when I could and was lucky enough to be able to go to Wembley this year........that for me was the re-ignighting of the flame of passion......It was always there like the little flame on the central heating boiler but WOW! has the heating come back on.

I now request my shifts around the fixtures list so I can attend the matches and have also recently discovered the fun of covering the away games online via icq! This is where I have found blues from all around the world who like the fans here in Manchester display a passion and a loyalty that quite simply no other team has !

Through thick and thin, highs and lows, yes there are 30,000 ++ fans who turn out to watch but there are also countless thousands of others for various reasons can't do that but are there in spirit.

I choose CITY because of that spirit, we are not daft, we know we have a long way to go and we are painfully aware of how easy it is the have the rug pulled from under our feet but CITY supporters never give up, never stop singing, never stop dreaming and never stop supporting wherever they are or whatever happens. ohhhhhhhh that passion...and you know how women love passion :O)))......and that's why IM CITY till I die !!!