Despite being born in Trafford Park and having 2 brothers who supported the reds my dad was a fanatical blue. I followed in his footsteps and after years of begging my mum to let him take me with him she finally relented when I was 11 and on September 5th 1959 my dream was realised and we got the “special” from Flixton which took us close to Maine Road.
We walked through the back alleys approaching the stadium and on seeing Maine Road for the first time my heart skipped a couple of beats!! What an amazing sight it seemed so huge.
We queued up at the turnstiles for the scoreboard end and joined a huge crowd of 43,650 to wathch City against Wolverhampton Wanderers, coincidentally the town where my grandad was born
Wolves were the reigning champions with some great players whereas we had finished just 1 point from relegation the previous season.But we did have the great Bert Trautmann in goals and Billy McAdams at centre forward and had won our 2 previous home games. So Billy McAdams scored a hat trick and Colin Barlow got one but we still lost 4-6. I was hooked for life and here is a photo of me and my two sons 50 years later before going in to see our beloved City demolish Hull City 5-1

Consulting my Ray Goble City Compilation book the date had to be April 18, 1959. I can’t find Blackburn in the first division in the immediate preceding years.
My first ever visit to a professional football match was a spontaneous ride on a Charabanc with our local supporters club from the Wellington Inn on Stretford Road – Hulme. Jim lyons, my father, surprised me by suddenly announcing that there was room on the coach and I had to grab my jacket and away we were! Until that moment I hadn’t even been aware of any connections with the Wellington, because if my Dad had a ‘pub’then it had to be the ‘Grant’s Arms’ on Jackson Street.
Very few memories remain of the game, I vaguely remember that Blackburn had a number of legends playing for them, Douglas, Clayton spring to mind. What I can remember, vividly was the vast crowd compacted into Ewood Park, locals and Mancunians intermingled and the incessant unmalicious banter throughout the game. The frightening squashed feeling as we were channeled towards and through the claustrophobic exits after the game and the ride home again to Hulme at the back of the bus. I was sick of course. Oh and City got beat that day, some things never change!

Watching the Newcastle game on Wednesday reminded me that it was almost exactly 50 years since i saw my first City game. My Dad took me to watch City play Grimsby in an FA Cup replay. Unfortunately we lost 2-1 and I think a guy called Ron Cockerill scored for the. I remember the walk through Platt Fields. it seemed to take forever. My Dad used to tell me that I spent the whole match complaining of the cold!

My grandad after finding out I’d been to O.T.just after Munich,(wasn’t I stupid), besides being furious,quite rightly insisted on taking me to Maine Rd at the first opportunity. Alas, it was a filthy day, and I recall sheltering under his coat dripping wet, stood up at uncovered Scoreboard End. The only other thing I remember was that the visitors were Aston Villa, and the result was scoreless. Many years later I discovered a photo of a very muddy Colin Barlow,on the wing, in a book looking back at City’s old games.Putting two and two together, I was very gateful therefore to finally establish that my first match at the great old stadium was April 1959. Fantastic!. I was fortunate to be at Newcastle in ‘68, but missed the ‘69 Cup Final, as the touts were charging £6 for standing tickets.

The game was against Leicester and the last one of season.City needed to win to stay up.I was only 8 so don’t remember much of the game.My mum took me and afriend,we lived near Maine rd at the time.My dad had died in 1954 and was a fan of City.We went in the main stand even though full,someone let my mum sit down and me and my friend sat on the steps next to her.City won 3-1 and avoided relegation(more to come over the yrs!).The main thing is it can’t have been easy for my mum to take us.I didn’t start watching regularly though till the 61/62 season when Bert Trautmann became my first of along line of City heroes.

In April 1959, I guess it was normal end-of season fare. Not the most memorable of matches for my two brothers and I [subscribers 142-144 to the Centenary City A Complete Record book of 1987)to endure…….but you just have to go back for more don’t you ! I can remember the ground, the big cigarette advert on the side of the stand and some sky blue stripey socks but not much else. I think we finished 20th that year and Villa 21st so they got relegated.

I am now living 230 miles away in the south but my elder brother has been a fanatic ALL this time and really WAS there with the other 8,014 for the game with Swindon in January 1965. Please hang onto that season ticket bro, it WILL get even better.

I was 10 years old in 1959. My dad had a chip shop on Claremont Road – close to Maine Road. We couldn’t afford to pay to go in but my mum knitted me a blue and white scarf and I used to stand outside with my friends and enjoy the atmosphere. There was usually a man carrying a big board that said , ‘the end of the world is nigh’. I wondered if he was right or was he just a fan who understood what it was really like to be a City supporter?

I also remember a van that used to print the ‘Football Pink’ right outside the ground – you could almost smell the ink! At about 20 past 4 they used to open the gates and sometimes we sneaked in to watch the last 20 minutes of the game! These days I have a season ticket with my youngest son, Sam, in the Colin Bell Stand. Next year I celebrate my 60th birthday, 50 years of watching City and thankfully the world still hasn’t come to an end although. just like MCFC, life has had it’s ups and downs!

The date is etched in my memory. I was 9, recovering from polio, and all my mates were taking an interest in football and talking of heroes like Bert Trautmann who I had never heard of before. I thought I should take an interest too and asked my dad if he would take me to a match. He checked the paper and I think was pleased to note that the local home game the next week was at Maine Road and he would be taking me to see the team he had also supported as a lad.
As we approached the ground and sat in the main stand I got a strange, pleasant feeling of excitement in the pit of my stomach, which I still get even today. Dad bought me a programme and as I read the teamsheet I was amazed to see the first name “Trautmann” – I watched his every move and decided then that I would become a goalkeeper too!
It was a rain-sodden day, a relegation battle against Aston Villa, managed (although I didn’t know it at the time) by Joe Mercer. I was transfixed to see how my dad got so animated when City were launching an attack! It finished a goalless draw in front of a 39,000 crowd – I had never seen or imagined so many people in one place before!
I was totally hooked, and have been since eternally grateful that when my dad looked in the paper for the next fixtures it had not been United who had been playing at home that day!

My first memory of Maine Road is a little hazy. I had read about Dennis Law in the paper and had been ill in hospital for a long while. My dad promised to take me to the match when I was better.
It was a night match, it was in the Cup and it was raining. I thought it was against Birmingham and I thought it was a goal-less draw. But that match is not in the record books. It’s not surprising that I don’t really remember the game. Dad said that I did not take my eyes off Bert Trautmann. What ever the result I was hooked all because I picked up that paper and read about the record transfer.

I started watching the blues in 58/59 as an 8 year from the old Platt Lane stand.I attended each home match wearing a blue and white striped,knitted jumper with the names of the City players embroidered on each stripe.I was thrilled as it got lots of comments and even Bert Trautmann waved to me when he saw it!!!It saw sterling service through into the 60’s although it got a little worse for wear due to changing the names.Still go today having spent a fortune in time,money and emotion… but without the jumper!