My first city match was away at Bradford Park Avenue. 1st leg in the 4rth round of the FA cup 1945/46 season. City won the game 3-1 i remember George Smith scored 2 goals for us. I was lifted up at the back of the stand behind the goals and sat on a roof girder to watch the game. Unfortunately City lost the home leg at Maine rd 8-2 to go out of the cup 9-5 on aggregate.

The first year after the war the FA Cup was played on a 2 Leg basis. City played the now defunct Bradford Park Avenue and having won the first leg away 3-1 the Wednesday game following it looked a formality. No floodlights then of course, the K.O was at 3pm. I truanted from school that afternoon to be there and City lost 8-2!!!. The Bradford forward line boasted Len Shackleton and Johnny Downie who each scored 2 and an amateur centre forward called A.H.Gibbons who scored 4!
Oh Yes, City had Frank Swift in goal!!. It was on 30th Jan 1946. How do I remember all of this so vividly after all these years?, easy, it was my 14th birthday!! Back at school the following day word had got around and the Headmaster sent for me and I got 3 raps of the cane. We have all suffered for City!.

i think it was 1946 or7 city played grimsby there goalkeeper was called tweedyi was 10 at the time and we got in at three quotrer time i have followed thm ever since

I was eleven years old,and thrilled that my uncle was taking me to my first football match, and it just happend to be City v United,in those days Maine road was a ground share for both clubs.
It was a bitter cold day and we had travelled by bus from Ashton-under-Lyne,and all the way my uncle was brain washing me,telling me what great team Man united were.
We arrived early,and my uncle got me to sit on the wall behind the Goals,the players came out,everybody is shouting and clapping,so I joined in,this big man came towards me and he was holding a ball in each hand,I said to my uncle “look at that”when he arrived at the goals he through the balls to the other Players,and came and shook my hand,I looked at my uncle in amazement,It was the King himself,the great Frank Swift,I became a blue there and then,even before the game had started.

As a small boy of 6,i was taken to Maine Rd by my uncle Ken,who had just come back from the war.it was the first of many hundreds of games i have watched over the years.And my uncles words of”today you will see the 2 best goalies in the world”,by that he meant Swift and Bartram,are words that have long remained with me. JTW

Sadly, I cannot remember my first visit to Maine Road. I do remember that Frank Swift was in goal and I have a vague recollection of the full backs who were Sproston and Westwood.
One of our neighbours in Withington, John Sole had Company Season tickets and took me if he had a spare. He had a car which was also an attraction. I do remember that United were also using the ground as theirs had bomb damage but whether it was ‘46 or ‘47 is not clear. I was 10.
A few years later I used to walk to the ground
and stand on the popular side (no roof then) and watch Trautmann, Roy Paul, Oakes, Nobby Clarke etc.
I still watch the team regularly but on TV from Cape Town which is now my home.

My first memory of going to see City play was in 1946. O had been asking my father who was a diehard city fan (as was his father before him) to take me with him to see my hero frank Swift play in goal. I think it was April when he agreed to take me, to see City play Leeds United.
We set off from macclesfield station into the then London Road station, then caught a bus from Piccadilly to Maine Road. walking to the ground, queueing up to get in at the Platt Lane end I was mesmerised by the crowd, and the atmosphere was fantastic, but to my utter disappointment the great man did not play. City won either 5-0 or 5-1 and that was it for me, I was City til I die. I did manage to see Frank Swift quite a few times the next season when City won the second division championship.
It is still a family affair, both my daughters and two of my Grandsons are city fans, and long may it continue.

September 14th 1946. My Father took me to see City play Millwall at the Den. The great Frank Swift was in goal for City. He used to amaze the crowd with the ease with which he was able to catch the ball with his huge hands. He was a truely great goalkeeper. City won 3-1 that afternoon,Constantine scored all 3 goals and City went on to win the 2nd division championship, as it was then. I have been a City supporter ever since through thick and thin, and always will be.

February 1946. Regional competitions had replaced the national leagues. Taken along as a youngster by my Dad, and overwhelmed by the occasion. My first sight of the great Frank Swift, who from that moment became one of my all-time heroes. (Trautmann and Bell have later joined that select band. Denis Law would have done, had he remained with us.)

My first trip to watch City at Maine Road, was just after the War. My dad took me on the tram from Burnage but sadly, I cannot recall who we were playing that day.
I was so excited at my first visit to watch my beloved team, but the large crowd was intimidating to a young boy. After a long time queuing at the turnstiles, we eventually forced our way onto the Kippax stand and squeezed into the capacity crowd, all standing of course.
As I was quite small then, I was having difficulties in seeing the pitch or players until my dad lifted me onto his shoulders.
In a world where everything seemed to be grey, I was amazed to see so much colour on the pitch and in particular, I noticed City`s goalie in vivid green.
Then an opposition forward hit a screamer to the far corner of the City goal. A certain goal, until this blond giant of a man ( in every way ) took off and not only reached the ball, but held on to it. His name of course was Bert Trautmann, a German P.O.W. whose life story is just as fascinating as the man himself.
I was dumbfounded that a human being could be so agile. That was the start of my goalkeeping `career`, forever trying to emulate Bert as I grew older.
Eventually I played for Manchester Boys at the same time as Nobby Stiles, but never quite achieved the heights I desired ( though still playing competitive 11-a-side soccer in Lancs & Ches. League at almost 67 ).
I have met Bert on a couple of occasions, but I am still awestruck by him…..he was and still is, simply MY HERO.
Thanks for the treasured memories Bert !

Malcolm Maginn