it was April 1963, my last term at primary school. City were playing at Blackpool. Dad ttook a car full from The Birch Arms to the game. I sat in the back of the Singer Gazelle Estate Car with the luggage. The plan was that they would drop me off at my Gran’s in St. Annes on the way to the match but she was not at home so they had to take me along. We stood in the Spion Kop, long since demolished, I was stood on the wall on the right side of the stand and, for most of the game, watched the steam trains shunting in the massive sidings by the side of the ground. It was a wonderful day, sunshine, Blackpool, trains and I’d gone to a football match with my Dad and my eldest brother. City lost 3 – 1 that day, but that didn’t matter. If City fans weren’t pragmatic they’d be suicidal! I went on to have my holiday on St. Annes and have followed City ever since. It’s a shame my Dad isn’t here to recall his first game in 1919 at Hyde Road, that’s a memory lost now for ever.