TRUE BLUE STORIES

Simon Jones - Estranged City Fan

One thing worries me about my complete and utter devotion to Manchester City and that is 'why is my love so, completely, unrequited?'

If a girlfriend I loved consistently cheated on me, upset me and appeared to go out of her way to p**s me off. I would dump her.

If a close friend repeatedly abused my trust and let me down, I would think twice about spending time with him.

Why then do I still, every week, follow Manchester City? They've had my unfaltering support for the last 15 years! I've been with them through the good times as well as the bad. I've stuck with them through thick and thin.

This season I am at my lowest. This season I have been raised and dropped so many times that I am punch drunk. I feel like a battered wife! How many times have I seen City stroll into an early lead, look comfortable, have many 'unlucky' missed chances, to walk away from the game with nothing? I can't take it any more. Are they trying to tell me something? Do they want me to leave? If Manchester City were my wife, I would be deeply suspicious by now that they might have another lover! They are making it so obvious that they don't want my relationship with them to carry on! It must be that. There is no other solution.

The game against Charlton was the emotional equivalent of coming home to find my girlfiend in bed with my best friend. I forgave them.

The Bury game. Just one more chance.

The Norwich game. I leaving, and I'm taking my CD's.