my dad won two tickets in a raffle. the blues were in the old division 2 and i got to go to my first live game on wet Wednesday night at maine road. we beat hull city 2-0, paul stewart and imri veradi scored and for my sins i became a blue forever more.

A few weeks after my 9th Birthday, my brother took me to my first match at Maine Road.
It was versus Southampton September 1981 and was Trevor Francis’ Home debut for us. The game finished 1-1.
I remember being in awe of the amount of people wearing God’s Own colours in and around the ground – it was amazing.
My memories of the match are a bit sketchy, but I remember the crowd “swelling” whenever Francis got the ball, and also remember Keegan and Channon both turning out in Saints colours.
KK was in theatrical mood as I recall!

My first game was at Gigg Lane in the early 60s with my Dad. Joe Hayes sadly broke his leg. Fortunately it wasn’t Nijinsky’s first game against City.

Ancoats Boy

My first ever game was with my brother-in-law Tommy Parker, and our kid, Bill. It was a cold winters day and the pitch was covered in snow. I distinctly remember the orange ball and we won 2-1.

The City team were blessed with household names – Corrigan, Marsh, Bell, Watson, Booth, Lee – oh what a side and football was so free flowing. The old Maine Rd rocked with singing and the smell of cigars! Those were the days!

My first game was in November 1992 we beat Leeds 4-0. I went with my friend, her Dad and Brother and we stood on the Kippax. I was 12 years old and didnt know much about football but was hooked from that game onwards, having a season ticket for a lot of the 90’s. I thought we would win every game 4-0 so was a bit disappointed to see us lose to arsenal and spurs in my next two games but thats when the roller coaster began of being a city fan – and continues now 16 years later…

My first game was in October 1982, at home in the 3-2 win over Coventry City. I was only 11 at the time, and Dad would never have let me go alone – so I went with a neighbour, Stuart. I remember looking at the results in the newspaper the following day and proudly thinking, “I was there”. Later that season I thought that I was City’s lucky charm, as I went to the 2-0 win over Southampton … and that was it – a 100% record. Didn’t last for long, though!

Kenny Clements scored a pen, city went 1 Nil up. I loved the atmosphere when we scored. Went on to get beat 3-1, but i was hooked. After that i was a regular.

March 1983, with only a handful of games to save the season (4 of them at Maine Road) I picked Liverpool (Dalglish, Hansen, Souness, Kennedy et al) as my first match. The likes of Alex Williams, Asa Hartford and Paul Power (not to mention Helen ringing her bell) managed to keep the scoreline down to 0-4 and I have never looked back (except to wax lyrical about the atmosphere in the old Kippax when it was a standing terrace). 3 home games later, following West Ham (2-0) and Notts Forest (0-1) we were up against Luton and I remember some bright spark, on seeing Luton’s team sheet saying “I wonder what Antics he’s going to get up to” – you could almost write the script…

I was on the way to holiday with my 8 brothers and sisters, listening to the game on our radio, we went mental when dickov scored the equaliser! then our radio blew up and we had to listen to the shoot out on a radio at the service station! good times!

I was a month short of my 5th birthday when my dad and granddad took me to Boundary Park to watch the good Friday fixture. I can still vividly remember standing and the terraces and people climbing a ladder behind me, but i don’t remember anything of the game.
I had to wait another two years until i was first taken to Maine Road, the last fixture of the 85/86 season against Luton Town. It finished 1-1, a drab end of season game, but i loved it. I was hooked and have been ever since. I used to sit on the same wall half way up the kippax with my brother, and loved joining in singing the songs and listening to the banter in the crowd. Great memories that will stay with me forever.