My first game was shortly after my brother passed his driving test. My brother was responsible for me being a blue, as my Dad was more interested in rugby. He used to come home from the pub, wake me up and test my knowledge of City players by flipping through a City calendar trying to get me to name each player. Tony Coton, David White, Niall Quinn and Paul Lake were the names forever etched in my memory now!

On the day he passed his test, he asked where he wanted to take us to in the car, and the only place I wanted to see was Maine Road. I can remember turning off Claremont Road onto Maine Road and seeing the white corrugated roof of the Main Stand emerging out of the darkness. At the time, it was the most spectacular sight I’d ever seen. Here was the Maine Road I’d seen on television and in pictures, and there I was, looking at it with my own eyes!
A few weeks later, my brother took me to my first match, I think it was against Aston Villa and we were sat in the North Stand. We won 2-1, but I didn’t see the goals, I was too busy looking around the stadium in awe at the people, the huge stands and hearing the singing and shouting from the biggest crowd of people I’d ever seen. I was hooked from that moment on, and cannot imagine life without City. I have enjoyed such highs, amazing lows and every emotion in-between following City, and it’s all down to my brother John. For that, I will be forever in debt to you Bruv!

Now when I drive up Grey Mere Lane and see the City of Manchester Stadium emerging from the terraced houses, I experience the exact same feeling as I did when Maine Road for the first time. I hope that feeling will never go away.