That Summer started off shit. We lost 8-1 to Boro, United won the Prem and CL, Sven was sacked and we brought in the Rag, Hughes, to manage us. I wasn't very happy with football related things to be honest. Then when coming back off holiday I had to go to hospital because I had an ear infection so bad that I had to be put on a drip for 48 hours due to my ear spitting puss out and the whole right side of my head swelling up. I was in hospital for the first game of the season against West Ham. Gutted!
Then on 28th August we re-signed Shaun Wright-Phillips. I was buzzing about that. Things were looking up. Then on a trip back to the hospital on 1st September I had the radio on and just as I was parking up I heard a little snippet on the radio (I wasn't even really paying attention to it, I couldn't hear out of my right ear as it was), I caught the words "Manchester City" "whirlwind" "Arab Sheikh".
Not realising that we'd actually been taken over I sat in the hospital for three hours before finding out. The drive home was funny, flicking through all the radio stations and hearing nowt, I was getting rather frustrated. When I got home it was unbelievable. Sky Sports News on and I was jumping around the living room like I'd won the Lottery! Glued to SSN all night as we signed Robinho. Fair enough he wasn't a very good player, if we signed someone of his quality now he'd just be a squad player but in 2008 that was like what us landing Messi would be like now.
I don't think I slept that night. Buzzing!
In my City supporting days we've never been really shit. Even when we were doing really shit-ly we had a really likeable and decent side. Weaver Weikens Morrison Horlock Goater Dickov, were all decent enough players and I always enjoyed going to watch City even if it was against Lincoln or Wrexham, even if Stockport were a division above us. So it's not like we've been really hard done to over the years. Yeah we went 35 years without winning a trophy, but Rochdale went 36 years playing in the fourth division year-after-year and still fans turned up to watch them - that's loyalty!
But the takeover was other planet sort of stuff. Beyond anyone's wildest dreams! The (almost) five years have been great. From finishing 10th and getting to the quarter-final of the UEFA Cup; to finishing 5th and getting to the semi-final of the FL Cup; to finishing 3rd, qualifying for the CL and winning the FA Cup; to winning the Premier League, qualifying for the CL as champions and getting to the semi-final of the FL Cup; and even last season finishing second, qualifying for the CL, beating United in Ferguson's last ever derby and getting to the FA Cup final (shit result, typical City has not left us! but a top day out, the trip home was a top laugh and is exactly why being a City fan is great!)...and all this in just the first five years. The first five years were always going to be the most modest as we built from being a bang average mid-table club. Imagine what the next five years will bring as we build from being a fairly good title challenging club...
The future's bright, the future's BLUE!
