My first City game was not actually as a City fan. I’m from north London and would go and watch various games around the capital as I didn’t have a team, but would usually go to Arsenal as most of my friends supported them. It was the season after Arsenal had won the league in the last minute at Anfield, so games were predictably packed. When City visited, we couldn’t get into the North Bank or the home section of the Clock End, so decided to go in with the Blues fans. City had only recently beaten United 5-1 at Maine Road and it appeared that the after-effects of that game weren’t going to disappear quickly. City were played off the park and trounced 4-0, but the atmosphere in the away end at Highbury that day wasn’t defeatist, dejected or downhearted. Chants of “0-4, 0-4, 0-4″ resounded around an emptying Highbury after the game and I don’t think there was a single fan in that section who hadn’t roared themselves hoarse throughout the entire match. It was at that point that I realised I’d finally found the club for me. 24 years on, I’ve regretted that decision countless times, but have never lost my love for City or the fans. A lot of people will say it was seeing Bell score a winner at Maine Road; Kinki weaving past six defenders before slotting it home, or the Goat hammering United that is the game that they first saw and will always remember, but for me it was a 4-0 defeat to the Champions and the passion and reaction of the fans that means I will always be a cockney Blue.