My first game was City v Leeds United, Sept. 5th 1956. It was an early evening K.O. and I went with a pal from school, we were 9 years old at the time. We caught the 53 from Longsight to Claremont Road and walked the rest of the way.

THE most abiding memory is of the crowd. I’d never experienced anything like it before, the noise deafened me. The repartee struck me straight away. I didn’t realise that there were so many “club footed sken eyed” footballers. It took more visits to cotton on to the fact that if you scored or played a great pass you were a genius, on the otherhand a blatant miss put you in the afore mentioned category. I was drawn to the crowd so much I let parts of the match pass me by. There was one particular thing that struck me and that was the men who walked amongst the crowd selling cigarettes (singles), chewing gum and I think, soft drinks. One of these men walked by me shouting what I heard as “Gitchy Gum, penny a stick” Never having seen or tasted “Gitchy Gum” I coughed up a penny and to my utter disappointment was given a piece of good old Wrigley’s. It was only quite some time later that I realised that he was actually saying “Get your gum”. He probably had a Saturday night job selling the Empire News. The seller on our corner used to bellow “Empiyaaa !” They were probably brothers. The match ended with a 1-0 win for City (Billy McAdams) and we went home happy. One remaining question remains unanswered. Why did Leeds give up the great Blue and Gold strip and end up looking like a poor man’s Real Madrid ?

I watched my city game @ 6 years old with my father I was very young but still remember the excitement & joy of every one around us I been a true blue ever since through thick & thin

My dad took me to my first match on 14th April 1956. We played Burnley and lost 3-1. Even so, I was smitten at the age of 11 and have been a blue ever since. If I remember rightly, my forever hero, Bert Trautmann received his Footballer of the Year award at that match.

I CAN REMEMBER LIKE IT WAS YESTERDAY. I WAS NEARLY FIVE YEARS OLD,WHEN MY DAD TOOK ME TO MAINE ROAD TO SEE CITY PLAY EVERTON IN THE 6TH ROUND OF THE FA CUP IN 1956. THE CROWD WAS ENORMOUS AND THE ATMOSPHERE TRULY ELECTRIC AND A LITTLE FRIGHTENING FOR SUCH A LITTLE BOY. EVERTON SCORED FIRST AND WERE LOSING AT HALF TIME. THE 2ND HALF CITY WERE ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT. ABOUT 20 MINUTES INTO THE 2ND HALF JOE HAYES HEADED IN TO EQUALISE FROM A FREE KICK. AFTER ANOTHER 10 MINUTES THE RIGHT WINGER BOBBY JOHNSTONE THREW HIMSELF TO HEAD IN THE WINNER FROM A ROY CLARKE CENTRE.NO WAY WERE CITY GOING TO GIVE THE BALL BACK TO EVERTON. I DIDN’T GO TO THE FINAL BUT MY DAD DID.

March 3rd 1956 City home to Everton in the 6th round of the FA Cup.
My mate Billy Lyth and I were 9 years of age, and we decided that this was going to be our first taste of seeing the Blues. We walked to Maine Road from near Preston Street in Hulme,where we lived, and this was to become the beginning of a lifetime of watching my team.
We got to the ground at around 1230pm for the 3 o’clock kick off and there was already a buzz of excitement about the place.
In the ground we were helped by some adults on to the sloping wall of a tunnel at the scoreboard end. In our short pants with our legs astride we had a great view of the pitch and the drama of what was to come.
The gates were locked at 2.00pm with 76000 fans packed inside.
I can’t speak for Billy, but I was absolutely knocked out by the day’s events-The singing and cheering of both sets of supporters, the doors opening with 20 minutes to go when thousands more entered the ground with the score at 2-1 for city.
We held on to add Evertons scalp to that of Liverpool in the previous round, and were now one game from Wembley.
On the way home two very happy lads talked about the game and I remembered the words of the great Roy Paul the previous year in Albert Square. After losing to Newcastle at Wembley He said ‘Don’t worry we’ll be back next year to win it’
And the rest is history-
Manchester City my team for ever!

My dad told me on the Thursday night that I was going with him to the 1956 Cup Final. He had won the tickets in a raffle and we travelled to Wembley on a ‘Chara’ after meeting up with his Beyer Peacock workmates at the Gorton Brook pub. Travelling overnight with this group of working class men, safe and secure in their midst listening to their tales of who was going to score and how many City would win by. The ground was huge and the atmosphere electric, tears shed by grown men at the singing of the traditional ‘Abide With Me’ and a big sky blue and white rosette fixed to my coat..I remember the bravery of our goalie ‘Bert’ and our captain ‘Roy’ holding the cup aloft. My dad died a couple of years later. What an everlasting memory of dad and City, the team I have supported all my life. – Keith

Our whole family made the long trip to London for the cup final at Wembley, and although it’s famous now, no-one realised that Bert Trautmann had broken his neck during the game! We saw him rubbing his neck a bit, and we knew he must be hurt but we never found that out until later. The size of the stadium, the crowd, the noise and the way we won are still with me now, but Bert became a City legend that day.