my first game – newcastle at home in the 60s. went with a friend of the family who
was a wartime refugee from guernsey who never went back and stayed in middlewich. went to watch city in a little fiat 500
and stood on the kippax. neil young scored the only goal and i was hooked. i have been going ever since and always will until the day i die.

It’s a little ironic that my first “first team” match was at Burnden Park, as I have lived in Bolton for the last 36 years.
I had been to many reserve team games at Maine Road when my father took me to this match, aged 8.
We lived in Ladybarn at the time and the coach (I’m sure it was Finglands) picked us up outside Quick’s chip shop on Mauldeth Road. I remember that we sat in the main stand and I’m pretty sure that we played in purple shirts and white shorts. I always thought that we had won 2-0, but the records show that it was 2-2. I must have ignored their goals! Unfortunately, my clearest memory of the day was being sick out of the coach window, as I always was when travelling by coach.
My first cup tie was also away, against Grimsby at Blundell Park in January 1959. This also ended 2-2.
We went by train and I remember being left outside a pub by my dad and his mates with a bottle of lemonade and a bag of chips. It was on a corner and I was frozen by the biting wind coming off the North Sea. I remember that the pitch was covered with snow, which had just been dug out as the pitch markings, and I think an orange ball was used. I can remember standing on Cleethorpes station for ages afterwards waiting for our train. I can remember spending the return journey desperate to go to the toilet, but it was a non-corridor train!
I went to the replay the following Wednesday, when we lost 2-1. Ron Cockerill scored one of their goals from about 30 yards.

For my 5th birthday my dad and granddad said that they would take me to City, but as City were away that weekend I had to wait until October 9th to see my first City game.
It was against Sheffield Wednesday and City won 2-0 with goals from Barlow and McAdams. The team that day was Savage, Leivers Little Ewing Warhurst, Hayes Johnstone Barlow McAdams & Fagan. That was it; hooked like a prize marlin! We were in the scoreboard end, later the North Stand and I was lifted across the heads of City fans so that I could get a better view. Nobody minded or moaned; it was just accepted that ‘little un’s’ were sent to the front.
Since then I have celebrated over 50 years of City matches home and away. The highs of Wembley 69, 70, 73; the visit to Newcastle where we won the league and I stood amongst Geordies swigging Brown ale after the game (even though I was only 16!), the lows of Stoke away and relegation, the trips to 3rd level grounds. It was all fun, even if we lost we had a laugh (eventually). Now my entire family is Blue, 2 daughters and a son, 6 grandaughters – all Blue

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

I was 9 yrs old. It was the final game of the season (a night match) and I stood in the Scoreboard End with my Dad and elder brother. City simply had to win to have any chance of avoiding relegation. Having gone behind early in the game they stormed back to win 3-1 with goals from Billy McAdams, Joe Hayes and Ray Sambrook. With Aston Villa losing that night it was enough to keep us up. I was hooked, and still am almost 50 years later.

I was 8 years old (I am now 62). Joe Hayes was my 1st Hero. The match finished 2 – 2. Stood in Kippax. Wonderful memories.

I guess early 50’s. My Dad’s mate was from Huddersfield, my Dad had a car. We drove from Stalybridge to watch Don Revie was playing. And it was in colour!
Thank you God that my Dad was CITY.

In Jan 1957 City had a Wednesday afternoon FA Cup replay against Newcastle United. I was working as a joiner at a shop near Maine Road. For some reason the game was a 3pm kick off (I don’t think night games had caught on yet). The boss was out so I snuck off to watch the game. It was a great game, which went to extra time. City eventually lost 5-4. To make matters worse, my boss had returned to work to find me missing. He sacked me the next day! City were out of the cup and I was out of a job! 

- Barrie, Oswestry

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.