I can remember my first game, my dad used to cycle from Salford to Maine Road this one particular day he sat me on his bicycle crossbar and off we went,we got to the ground and i can remember him leaving his bike in a backyard at the rear of the Kippax Street, i was lifted over the turnstile to gain entrance and i remember being passed over peoples heads to get to the front where i was sat on the wall behind the goal in the scoreboard end. I couldn’t beleive how the big blonde goalkeeper could pick the ball up with one hand and i also recall the strong smell of liniment coming from the players ,at the start of the second half the big blonde goalkeeper gave myself and several other children some sweets – fantastic, my hero Bert Trautman.

My first game Dad took me for my 10th birthday.
We got beat 2-1 by West Brom, Derek Kevan scored one for west Brom & Denis Law scored for us.
We sat in the main stand & i was absolutely in awe of everything that went on that day, the crowd, the ground, the game, the atmosphere. Typical City we got beat but i was hooked !

My Earlest memory of seeing city was at Maine Road in about 1967 against Burnley. Tony Coleman had been felled by a Burnley palyer and had hit him a coupemof times on te floor in retaliation The ref cam over just as Tc was heping the other guy to his feet and dusting him down….the ref booked the Burnley guy.
Second recollection was at Old Trafford when taken by uncle avid red uncle to watch the derby from the Stretford End. I was passed over the heads of the supporters and sat on the touchline. That was the day Glynn Pardoe broke his leg. We moved to Salford in ‘69 and under the influence of school friends and to fit in I watched the Unite dofr a coupe of seasons. On the day the north stand opened (no seats in the first year) my brother asked if I fancied going to the match. We lost 1-0 to Leeds and I realised where nt heart lay and the error of my ways for the previus couple of years.

I was just past my seventh birthdayin October when my dad took me to my first game. When leaving he put a box in the car. When I asked him what that was for he told me that when we gett in the Kippax Street stand I was going to get to the front and then stand on the box so I could see over the wall!!! I always remember outside walking around the ground, the enormaty of it. Also that all the houses backing on to the ground had there back gates open. I found out that this was so people could leave their bicycles and motor bikes while the match was on. If I remember rightly it was 1/6 in old money!!(7.5pence)To make my day complete we won 3-2 with Albert Harley scoring a hat-trick.The love afair was born. That season we were relagated on the3 last day of the season at West ham were we lost 6-1 and to rub it in United beat Leicester in the cup final, some things dont change or just may be? Always optermistic life long blue, best wishes leslie cox

15th October, 1960. After refereeing a school football match my father said he was taking me to watch City play Leicester City at Maine Road.

Watching from the Main Stand I was simply overwhelmed by the unbelievable noise from a crowd of over 30,000 [30,193 to be precise]. I

City won comfortably 3 – 1.

At the age of seven I was hooked. Bert Trautmann became my first City hero and I had the privilege of attending his testimonial match four years later.

My first match was January 1966 versus Preston North End at Maine Road. Many blues will recall this season as the beginning of a golden era. Joe Mercer had arrived as manager the season before and we were about to take everything before us in the next few seasons. This season we won the 2nd Division title. I remember very little of the actual game but the lead up to the match and the atmosphere inside the ground will stay with me to this day.
My Dad had been a City fan since the 1930’s and decided it was time his 5 year old son was to follow City as well. I can’t remember were we parked up, I think somewhere off Yew Tree Road, but I could not wait to get inside the ground. There were appeared to be hundreds of people hanging around on the forecourt in front of the Main Stand and for some reason I remember a man shouting at passersby holding high his “Save Jesus” placard.
Finally I’m through the turnstile and inside the ground, my first view of the pitch from high up in the Main Stand is etched on the memory. The smell of pipe smoke lingers and the volume of noise experienced for the first time. The pitch looked completely bare not much green grass on display but the white line markings illuminate the surface. The match I had waited to see for so long passed in a flash and ended 0 – 0. The crush through the exits back onto Maine Road was made and we went of home. At home Mum told my Dad a 0 – 0 match must have been boring and he had put me of City for life.
How wrong I was hooked, it just was the start. The next few seasons were brilliant, I thought this great I’ve got this for life beating United and winning cups. We all know it didn’t last but supporting City is for life whatever happens. There’s something about the club, you just can’t seem to get them out of your system no matter what. Whenever I look back to that day in January 1966 and see it as the start of beautiful friendship.

I rode to Maine Road on the pillion of my Dads BSA motorbike. I watched the floodlights as we went down Princess Parkway and was really excited. The smells, my Dads Brylcreem, cigarette smoke, Bovril etc. It was a night match against Bury Fc [friendly] I was about 12 at the time and wanted to swear like the grown ups did at the players but my Dad was a Royal Marine during the war and would have none of that. It was a dark cold night and then it happened……The City mascot ran around the pitch and the most wonderful sight, the City players came out of the tunnel in the most bluest of blue kits and most of them seemed to have blonde hair a light in all this gloom. I,ve been hooked ever since. They even brought Malcolm Allison on as a sub and he scored but the ref disallowed it so I muttered “bloody” or some other swear word under my breath. Thanks Dad. What I would give to be at the game with you watching our lads today play now. RIP.
Alan Cafferky [53]

One year after the world cup triumph and I was going to my first game with my best friend John Anderson and his Dad. I can remember the excitement of going up the steps leading to the crescent of the scoreboard end, and the anticipation of what was then a 9 year olds dream.
Not wanting to be rude and run up the steps I slowly mounted the top and there my breath was taken away by the green of the pitch ( no colour television It had never occurred to me that a pitch would of course be green) , something my son was to copy some 30 years later. I don’t remember the game at all except that Mike Doyle got two or maybe all three goals on that evening. I don’t really want to check if my memory of who scored is correct. Like longer and warmer summers that’s how I like to remember that result. And at the beginning of the season he turned out to be a defender, if that’s what a defender can do what our attack must be like.
I was and still am hooked

Walking up to Old Trafford 2 hours before kick off at the end of March 1968 hoping to see City take another step towards the championship as a 10 year old. City fans everywhere, excitment incredible. The ground filling up, just before Kick off a drunken United fan stood blocking my view, gently moved on by my Dad. The teams came out , the tension unbearable “we were going to win the league” George Best scored after 36 seconds, my Dad just said never mind this is City we had to give United a chance. Thet never had another George Heslop, Colin Bell and Frannie Lee 3 – 1 to City. We will be champions.

My abiding memory was that the pitch was so green and everything was perfect. August games are full of optimism and hope. I was with my Dad and my big brother and City won 6-0. I thought it was always going to be like this. I didn’t know what I was letting myself in for but my timing was great. The next 12 years were fabulous.