I was 8 years old when I attended my first game at Maine Road. It was the third round FA Cup tie against Reading who in those days were in the old fourth division. City were flying high in the first division at the time and would, of course, go on to claim the first division championship later on that season. My dad took me along to the game with my two brothers expecting an easy win for City but it wasn’t to be and Reading earned themselves a creditable 0 – 0 draw with Tony Coleman missing a penalty for City. Even though the match may not have been too memorable I remember being overawed by the atmosphere and the sheer volume as the crowd in a packed Kippax Street stand sang a rendition of ‘The Mighty Glyn’ a tribute song to then City left back Glyn Pardoe to the tune of Manfred Mann’s ‘The Mighty Quinn’. I also remember being taken with how green the grass on the pitch appeared and how big the stadium was. In the replay played a few days later City were to win at Reading by 7 goals to nil and left the pitch to the sound of the Reading stadium announcer paying tribute to a fantastic City team. I had seen City greats such as Bell, Lee, Summerbee, Young and Doyle play live for the first time and, in spite of the result, it left a great impression on me and I was to see these great players and many more play for my beloved Blues throughout the ensuing years at both Maine Road and Eastlands. Despite the huge influx of cash this year I doubt I will ever see players to rival the truly great City players who performed so admirably in the trophy winning sides of the sixties and the seventies and there can never be another managerial partnership to rival that of Joe Mercer and Malcolm Allison.