My heroes were coming to town, well Oxford anyway. We lived 20 miles away in Buckinghamshire.

The closest I had got to my idols up till then was walking round the corner to a family friends house to watch Match of the Day on a colour TV. They were City through and through.

My father was not a fan, didn’t understand the game, but he got press ganged into taking me to see my beloved City at Oxford Utd.

So off we went, with a crate for me to stand on, I was only 12!

The only problem was my old man had no idea about fan segregation, ends or violence, so we bought a ticket and proceeded to stand right in the middle of the home supporters (London Rd end).

Well done Dad!

Actually they took pity on us and I was a bit of a star, cheering every goal, and there were plenty. Seven in total, luckily five to City.

I only remember one goal, a Denis Law header. That seals the year, as he only arrived on a free in the summer of 73 and I went to the League Cup final against Wolves later that season, so it must have been 1973.

I saw Colin Bell, Tony Book, Glyn Pardoe, Tommy Booth, Mike Summerbee, Francis Lee, Alan Oakes and Big Joe.

I went back to Oxford many times as I got older, it had a great atmosphere. I remember OPR, Chelsea, Orient, Wolves, Bolton, Sunderland and even the Rags. Needless to say I was an Oxford supporter on all those days, but I never returned to the London Rd end, the memories were to precious, my first City game amongst the yobs.

I did return to Oxford to watch City many years later. I can’t tell you the year, probably about 1986. After getting off the train we were collected by the local constabulary, but we were marched to the London Road turnstiles, at which point we realised this wasn’t the local constabulary as they didn’t know which end was which. Probably brought in for the match. After a few strong words and bottles in the air we ended up in the right place.

I think it was a one nil win.

I live in Western Australia now, so live starved of decent football, but those days on terraces at Oxford, Wycombe, Wimbledon, West Ham, Arsenal, Bristol Rovers, Cardiff, Chelsea, Luton, QPR, Saints, Spurs etc will live with me forever.

Maine Road is the real memory and it’s still home.

The game has changed the passion has subsided, so I hold all those memories dear.

First game in 1973, and I was there at Wembley in 1999, and I am still always there, maybe now not in body, but all the passion remains.

CTID

Ian Spencer