I grew up in Manchester where most of my family were reds but i hated that colour as a young boy so i decided at 8yrs old I was a Blue. An uncle took me to my first game – I was 10. It was away against Everton at Goodison Park and I don’t even recall the score! but left 3 distinct memories: 1) We weren’t playing in blue!! 2) the shaking of the wooden floor in the stand as people stamped their feet and clapped their hands. 3) The best of all – Seeing Colin Bell in the No. 8 shirt and the roar from our fans every time he had the ball and crossed the half way line in a break forward.

From a faraway sun drenched land I listened to a radio commentary. The commentator described how Mercer’s men purred along like one of those olden day Rolls Royces that never went wrong. He said they would be promoted and then I realized that my boyhood dream was coming alive. I knew that I had to be there ………….
……..In amongst a sea of faces on the vast bank of the Kippax stand, the snow on the field glistened as it reflected the pale sunlight that seeped through a slate gray sky and the snow continued to fall. The only blue sky to be seen was in the colour of the shirts as Allison’s men passed a ball around with slide-rule precision while the men in white stumbled and floundered helplessly.
The outstanding feature of this game was the combination between Mike Summerbee and Neil Young. Their interplay resulted in: first, a rasping shot by Young on the volley from a long cross by Summerbee which the goalkeeper saved, then another powerful effort by Young which hit the crossbar and finally, at last, Summerbee scoring from Young’s diagonal left wing cross for City’s second goal.
Before that, Jimmy Greaves opened the scoring for Spurs when he drifted to the right as a free kick was being taken and latched on to the ball after it deflected off the wall. City equalized through Colin Bell after the ball had ricocheted off several legs in the penalty area as Spurs failed to clear. Half time 1-1.
Then came Summerbee’s piece of controlled inspiration, 2-1. Tony Coleman scored the third goal when the ball rebounded off the post after interplay between Summerbee and Lee. Finally, after a sweeping move by City, the goalkeeper failed to hold on to the ball amidst a goal mouth scramble and Young tapped the ball in.
Final score 4-1, and a memorable game of football was over.

Philip van Gass
Cape Town
South Africa

I’ve just got to tell this story – I’ve got to come clean, after all these years….’Mike, it was ME!!!!’
It was 1967, I was in the first year at West Hill Boys School in Stalybridge, just after attending my first ever Man City game at Maine road – and I was City mad!
Mike Summerbee was my absolute hero and he was engaged to a lovely lady called Tina Schofield – who’s family, I seem to recall, owned a sports shop in the town. At the time he lived in Mottram Road in Stalybridge, and one of my school chums – Paul Chadwick – lived close by and used to wash Mike’s shiney, dark blue, Jaguar MK 10! I badgered Paul to let me go with him the next time he washed the car – anything, just to be close to my hero!
I arrived, and there he was, Mike Summerbee, in the flesh! You could keep your ‘Roy of the Rovers’ and your Georgie Best, this man, to this scrawny little 11 year old, was a GOD – and I was actually washing his car! So excited was I that I just couldn’t resist scraping off some paint from under the front wheel arch and keeping it in a match box…..!!! Mike, forgive me! It’s taken me 41 years but I’ve owned up at last. You were my hero, you WERE Manchester City, that scraped off smidging of paint was my little piece of belonging to what was – and what still is – the most magical, evocative and awe-inspiring football team in the whole country. I loved the team then, I’ll love the team forever – City ’til I die. Frank Chorley (aged 52 and 3/4’s!!)

I can’t even tell you who City played but, I went to Maine Road for the first time in ‘67; Mike Summerbee, Colin Bell, Franny Lee, Tony Coleman, Mike Doyle, Tony Book (Captain), Harry Dowd…..I was eleven and in heaven! Sttod in the Kippax and shouted my head off for Franny Lee, only to realise it was actually Tony Coleman – who cares, they were magic then and they remain magic today – let’s just hope that all that oil momney can give us a side to win the premiership , maybe next season. CITY – I LOVE YOU!!!!!

My dad took me to my first ever Man City game at Maine Road in 1967. It was a 1st Division League match against Stoke City which we won 4-2 and as you know we went on to win the champioship. We sat high up in the main stand. It was a month before my 7th birthday and it was a fantastic time to be a blue! Goal scorers on the day for City were Neil Young, Francis Lee (2) and Tony Coleman.

7.30pm kick off,Foggy Wednesday night. I was 7, My Dad took me to the kippax St stand for a great game against Preston Nth End. City won, I was so excited with my new scarf and hat. Later became a season ticket holder in Platt lane until I emigrated to Australia in 1980. Still follow with Passion.
Peter Gibson

My Uncle John took me to my first City game aged 10 and what a game to pick. He was a lifelong City fan and after this game any red tendencies I may have had were extinguished.
40 great years although December 19th to 26th 1998 was a long week! My nephews Jim and Tom will be at the derby on 30/11/08. Their first game was at CoM against Fulham on 29/4/06. Inevitably defeat was snatched from the jaws of victory and they are now fully fledged City fans!

My first game was on September 16th, 1967. I was six years old. My dad took me to Maine Road to see City beat Sheffield United 5-2 with goals from Stan Bowles(2), Mike Summerbee, Neil Young and Colin Bell.
I don’t remember much about the game. I do recall the deafening noise generated by the 31,922 fans who were to cheer City to the title that season. I remember being pushed and shoved through the crowd to our seats in the middle of the Platt Lane trying not to spill our mouth- scalding Bovril. I recall the fug of pipe smoke and the heady scent of police horse manure in the air.
Football then was a visceral, sense-reeling experience far removed from the sterile product of the noughties.
41 years later I long for our next title.

When I first became aware of football around 1966, almost everybody in my class supported the Trafford Heathens, so I decided I would too until I told my uncles, who promptly banned me from their homes until I had been exorcised. So I had no choice really. My first game was against Newcastle Utd in Sept 1967. City won 2-0 with Paul Hince and Neil Young scoring the goals. I left thinking I had seen England’s next wing wonder and if they had had names on the back of the shirts in those days I would have gone straight out the next day with my five shillings spends and bought one with Hince 7 on the back. Hincey turned out to be a legend in Manchester but not in the way I expected. The only other thing I remember about the game was a game of head tennis between George Heslop and (I think) Wyn Davies near the City goal line. George winning of course.
The first few games I went to were all City wins 2:0, 3:1, 5:1, 2:0 and 6:1. In fact I did not see them lose until March 1970. I moved to Hull 4 years ago and let my season ticket lapse but I renewed it this season (glory hunter!) and have also introduced my 6 year old daughter to the wonders in Sky Blue.

my very first game as a city fan , everybody expected city to beat reading at maine road in the 3rd round of the fa cup
city dominated the game and won a penalty late into the 2nd half
expectation was high as tony colemand stepped up to take the penalty to put city through into the 4th round, coleman blazed the ball over the crossbar , and the game ended 0-0 which meant a replay at reading which man city went on to win 7-0

once a blue always a blue