My first game was a whopper! City v United in 1971, the 3-3 thriller. My dad took me as a treat and we stood on the North Stand. Even though I was too small to see all the action, the atmosphere had me hooked. Sixty-odd thousand people packed into Maine Road and spent a breathless ninety minutes singing, chanting, praising, ranting; experiencing the height of delight and the pit of despair as the lead changed over and over.

The goals rained in, the fans partied, the players gave their all, Franny Lee famously demonstrated to the ref what he thought of George Best’s antics and one little boy, deliciously scared by it all, became a City fan that day and you know what they say: “Once a Blue, always a Blue.”