I was only aged 6 in March 1980.
I don’t recall anything at that time which gave me any feeling for a particular football team. I can remember seeing football on the telly and playing ” footy ” on the street in Ashton Under Lyne but that was all. All that changed on Saturday 29th March 1980.

My Dad who was teaching at St Matthews, Moston , came home and told me that the school had organised a trip to a football match.
It actually turned out that a German exchange trip were over and the school had arranged for the group to attend a game. I can remember being excited that I was going to a real football match but not being bothered who was playing – probably a bit like the Germans really !

The strange thing is that my recollection of the whole “real football match experience ” is vivid while the actual football & goals are hazy. My mum packed my school bag with lots of food; crisps, butties & loads of chocolate.

I remember my Dad walking me across what must have been an untarmaced Kippax car park,
it was really muddy, full of pot holes & massive puddles and then buying me a badge from a stall which resembled a shed more than a shop.
It wasn’t a proper enamel pin badge, but a cloth City badge like the ones you used to get for swimming lengths at school.

I can remember my Dad pointing out the sky blue mosaic on what turned out to to be the Maine Stand Façade. I didn’t know where I was going, I was just really excited to be going somewhere new. I also remember an old man on the gate telling me to lift my bag of goodies over the turnstiles so it wouldn’t get caught.

When we got inside my Dad bought me the programme ( which I still have today ), I didn’t read any of the articles as the words looked too big but I did look at the pictures – some of which were in colour!

Looking back at the records now it is clear that the game was an important relegation battle and that probably explains why I remember it being the noisiest place I had ever been too.

We sat on the very back row of the Maine Stand. The low overhanging roof meant I was not able to see any of the sky and it felt very dark.
When the players ran out onto the pitch I can remember thinking
how bright & shiny the sky blue shirts of City and the pure white shirts of Bolton were, in contrast to how dark it was at the back of the Maine Stand, which still had the old low roof with the raised section in the middle.

I didn’t know who it was who but my Dad explained at the start of the game that City’s best player was Dennis Tueart and he pointed to where I would see him. It didn’t take long for me to see Dennis Tueart score ,and for him to become my first favourite City player. The thing I recall most is the fact that I saw grown ups getting excited, shouting & screaming but enjoying themselves and looking like part of a group – a gang for grown ups.

The game ended 2- 2. Dennis Tueart scored both and City stayed up. On looking at the records now I realise it must be a memorable game for Dennis Tueart too as these were the first goals he scored for City since re signing from New York Cosmos.

To most of the 33,500 people there that day , it was probably just another game long since forgotten. To me though, it was the most exciting thing I had ever been to and I became a passionate Manchester City fan and Maine Road regular there & then.

The following week my Dad bought me the 1980 Panini Stickers Album. I knew it was a good omen when I got Tony Henry in my first packet !
I also got another present too. It was a City kit which my Mum had secretly sewed the cloth City badge onto. I was delighted with it and wore it on the street. The other kids pointed out that the blue was too dark to be a real City kit ( It was in fact a royal blue football shirt resembling Everton. ) but I didn’t care because I could say I had been to Maine Road and seen Dennis Tueart score for Manchester City, and that was all that mattered.