My younger sister had been in Pendlebury Hospital for a couple of months and one saturday in February My dad said “Come on son, we are going to see Josephine” I couldn’t understand all this because I didn’t really want to visit my sister (being only 7 years of age at the time) but Dad insisted and then he explained to me on the bus into town that e were going to see CITY after the hospital. Excited or what I couldn’t believe it. When we arrived outside the ground I had to stand outside the pub opposite (King george iv, I think) while my dad had a swift half, then into the ground, main stand seats. I must have been an embarassment to my dad by asking him why they were playing with a plastic ball, because it was white and I had got for christmas a leather case ball which was brown, and at that time all plastic balls were white.
All I really remember about the afternoon was that the pie at half time was cold and horrible a CITY player had a clash of heads and had to carry on with his head bandaged, and CITY won 2-0. I was the first in my class to go to a match and 47 years later I am still going and still get emotional about certain games.