MY REASON FOR BEING A BLUE

Martin Ford

I was born in Stockport in '66 and so I really did miss the halcyon days of glory at the Academy in the late 60's/early 70's. I wasn't born into the traditional Manchester family of either red or blue, we had moved into the area from down south, so I assume the whole biased notion was not in our midst. My dad was an ex-Spurs fan from ages ago, my brother on the other hand fancied himself as a Red. He was the one who kept asking my dad to take him to a match as all his current school friends were Reds. However from where we live Maine Road is the closest ground and as most of the matches my brother wanted to go to were night matches and he had to get up for school the next day (he's 6 years older than me) you could see why my dad wanted to try and cut down the times involved. So thanks to my dads insistence we both got to games at Maine Road. At the time early/mid 70's City were a pretty reasonable team who played good footie and you could almost guarantee that the games would be good, so we were bitten by the blue bug early on.

Unfortunate as it might seem I honestly can't remember my first game, I was probably too young to be really interested in the game (I can remember my first away game, Villa Park 1-0 defeat, sat among all the Villa fans in the Main stand, also remember sitting behind Helen on the coach!). I also vividly remember sitting in front of the TV waiting for the 76 League Cup final result to come through. World of Sport had finished without giving the result, so there I was glued, waiting for the result, they had a break and still nothing and then to my relief they had a sportsflash and gave the result, City had won 2-1, joy! All I had to do was wait for my brother to get home and tell me all about it. The match was being shown next day on ITV, I re- lived every detail as if I were there, thoroughly enjoying myself. Little did I know then, but that would be the last thing (to date) that City have won.

The games I do remember going to were the late 70's excursions into europe via the UEFA Cup, the likes of Standard Liege, Widzow Lodz, Twente Entschede (forgive me if I spelt it wrong), Juventus, Borussia Munchengladbach all at Maine Road. At the time I was just starting secondary school so it was definitely make your mind up time between City or United, I decided to stick to my guns and stayed with City, even though we were outnumbered as usual. That was around the time I realised what a bunch or arrogant, self centred fans they really are. It was as if they had a god given right to win everything, unlike City fans who were grateful for anything. So my school years brought me into contact with fellow blues (most of whom I still go to the matches with) and still we suffered the ritual humiliation that being a blue brought.

After schooling I got to more and more of the games, this was definitely the time when I realised how good (!) being a blue was. Even when City lost I still felt I was supporting the right club, the camaraderie among the fans was something special, you felt like you were in the bosom of a friendly family. City were my love, when they lost it hurt.

Things have changed now though, they say the older you get the wiser you get. Well in my case I've certainly wised up to City. With the continued demoralising performances I decided that I could no longer afford to let City hurt me. I'm still a season ticket holder (10th year) but I don't let defeat sting anymore I just accept that it's bound to happen. My main reason for continued support of the Blues is the fact I despise anything from OT. The attitude emanating from OT is one of total belief that they rule the world and nobody can say anything different, the arrogance is unbelieveible. You just can't sit there and take that sort of pressure, you can't give up on City when United are doing so well (even though I've come close on a couple of occasions).

So my main reasons for being a blue:
My Dad, my brother, the '76 League Cup win, laterly my mates and a dislike of OT.

Anybody want to continue the thread, reasons for being a blue?