March 3rd 1956 City home to Everton in the 6th round of the FA Cup.
My mate Billy Lyth and I were 9 years of age, and we decided that this was going to be our first taste of seeing the Blues. We walked to Maine Road from near Preston Street in Hulme,where we lived, and this was to become the beginning of a lifetime of watching my team.
We got to the ground at around 1230pm for the 3 o’clock kick off and there was already a buzz of excitement about the place.
In the ground we were helped by some adults on to the sloping wall of a tunnel at the scoreboard end. In our short pants with our legs astride we had a great view of the pitch and the drama of what was to come.
The gates were locked at 2.00pm with 76000 fans packed inside.
I can’t speak for Billy, but I was absolutely knocked out by the day’s events-The singing and cheering of both sets of supporters, the doors opening with 20 minutes to go when thousands more entered the ground with the score at 2-1 for city.
We held on to add Evertons scalp to that of Liverpool in the previous round, and were now one game from Wembley.
On the way home two very happy lads talked about the game and I remembered the words of the great Roy Paul the previous year in Albert Square. After losing to Newcastle at Wembley He said ‘Don’t worry we’ll be back next year to win it’
And the rest is history-
Manchester City my team for ever!