A new fan..

My Dad wouldn't be my Dad if I wasn't a city fan. He'd have disowned me.

I'm so fucking glad I am anyway. would never change it now!!!

PS, I was 13 years old at wembley 99 and was on my way out the stadium with my cousin so I could get on the back seat of the coach on the way home. Got back in again though!! haha
 
Growing up in another country picking an English club to support is a different matter than for most of you guys. We support our local teams as well, but English football has a very special place in our hearts. It has been like this since the sixties when the national broadcaster started showing English matches every Saturday afternoon. Norwegian matches were not shown on TV because that would would lower attendances it was believed. As a result many of us grew up far more attached to 'our' English teams than to the local ones.

So how did we go about picking our teams? Some of us had dads or older brothers who showed the way, but for many of us it was more of a random affair. In our street you were encouraged to pick a team that was available - more fun that way when we all supported different ones. Leeds, Liverpool and Rags was most popular and had more than one supporter I remember. As my brother picked Rags the choice for me was easy - had to be City of course :) My closest friends supported Spurs, Norwich, Stoke and Newcastle. We were also allowed to have a Second division team, and those of us who bothered picked one. Oldham it was for me. Can't remember why, maybe I thought the name was funny and they seemed to loose most of their matches so I felt some sympathy.

In my mid-teens I made good money delivering newspapers and could afford a trip over the sea once a year. Had some very nice experiences - the guys at Oldham was particularly welcoming as I was the only foreign member of the Supporters club. Got to meet all the players in the locker-room after the match and so on. Also the Scandinavian branch of City supporters club took very good care of a young and eager Blue. Ah, happy times.

These days, as City is becoming a 'Galactico' I hope you'll still be able to give your foreign fans as good and warm a welcome as I experienced back in the seventies. Friends for life!
 
kippax_blueboy said:
S04 said:
Given that I vividly recall us having around 17-18k hardcore fans while the rest (about 10-15k) where a bit come and go I´d say that Cityfans abandon their team to return when things are on the up as all other fans
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I agree we only had 18k - 22K in the mid - late 80's at Maine Road.

I bet Lakey, Redmond and White remember playing to a half empty Maine Road most of their City careers.
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This is an unfair comparison to gates today and is misleading for our younger posters. What you say is true, but the filth also had low gates (even one of around 25k for a 3pm Sat game against W'don), and regularly 30-odd k. Chelsea had very low gates around 12 - 17k, Arsenal also half empty. So much trouble everywhere and lots stayed away.
 
I only started going to watch Manchester Storm when they started winning, nice Nynex Arena and everything was shiney....

Never been to watch The Phoenix at the shithole Altrincham Ice Rink.

We all have different reasons for following a club, a gloryseeking Rag might of stopped supporting City in the 90's, threw away his City home Shirt and who ended up wearing it?
My mother bought me a football shirt in a Charity Shop in Town, unaware that the shirt was God's chosen club.....

All those years later, look who I support now.

My Dad supported City as a kid, got a job in Bolton in his mid 20's and became a Season Ticket holder at burnden park... took me along with him for a few seasons as wel.
He's been a Malaga C.F season ticket holder for over a decade now.

Swings & Roundabouts.
 
DruntBlunt said:
Growing up in another country picking an English club to support is a different matter than for most of you guys. We support our local teams as well, but English football has a very special place in our hearts. It has been like this since the sixties when the national broadcaster started showing English matches every Saturday afternoon. Norwegian matches were not shown on TV because that would would lower attendances it was believed. As a result many of us grew up far more attached to 'our' English teams than to the local ones.

So how did we go about picking our teams? Some of us had dads or older brothers who showed the way, but for many of us it was more of a random affair. In our street you were encouraged to pick a team that was available - more fun that way when we all supported different ones. Leeds, Liverpool and Rags was most popular and had more than one supporter I remember. As my brother picked Rags the choice for me was easy - had to be City of course :) My closest friends supported Spurs, Norwich, Stoke and Newcastle. We were also allowed to have a Second division team, and those of us who bothered picked one. Oldham it was for me. Can't remember why, maybe I thought the name was funny and they seemed to loose most of their matches so I felt some sympathy.

In my mid-teens I made good money delivering newspapers and could afford a trip over the sea once a year. Had some very nice experiences - the guys at Oldham was particularly welcoming as I was the only foreign member of the Supporters club. Got to meet all the players in the locker-room after the match and so on. Also the Scandinavian branch of City supporters club took very good care of a young and eager Blue. Ah, happy times.

These days, as City is becoming a 'Galactico' I hope you'll still be able to give your foreign fans as good and warm a welcome as I experienced back in the seventies. Friends for life!
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Brilliant, flip of the coin stuff. Good to see you've stuck with it and now's the time to give your kid some stick, especially after the Derby.

Does he deserve it, 'Yes He Does'!
 
danburge82 said:
Watching the THOUSANDS desert our team at 2-0 down at Wembley in 1999 with no thought about supporting the boys to the end showed me exactly what sort of fans we had. "City fans were loyal when they were in Division 2" was said, and is said very very often. But when the going actually got tough and it looked as though we would have another season in the third division the real arrogant sods with huge superiority complexes really showed their true colours right there and then.

So nothing surprises me about football fans. Fickle isn't the word, well it is but to an unbelievable level when it comes to football fans.
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Sweet Jesus, that post is a fucking classic .

I've just read it again. It's even better than the first time.

Oh. My. Life. You utter clown.
 
Your heart, soul and football club form a bond in the early years. By this point its too late, that bond becomes unbreakable. I'd like to think I'm speaking for a few of us when I say, even if you tried to stop supporting your club or stop going (even both), you couldn't break that bond. You'd still know all the results, you'd still feel the highs and the lows. Personally following city have formed many aspects of my personality. City and my experiences supporting them is a major part of who I am. And you can't stop being you!
 
andy86 said:
Your heart, soul and football club form a bond in the early years. By this point its too late, that bond becomes unbreakable. I'd like to think I'm speaking for a few of us when I say, even if you tried to stop supporting your club or stop going (even both), you couldn't break that bond. You'd still know all the results, you'd still feel the highs and the lows. Personally following city have formed many aspects of my personality. City and my experiences supporting them is a major part of who I am. And you can't stop being you!
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I think, looking at this experience and the many Rags who jump ship, that it is different for some than others. For some it is a way of life whereas to some it's just wearing a colour or a brand.

Now, it's brand City and it's Blue but next week (in 30 years maybe) it will be brand Spurs and be sad. It takes all kinds as they say and not all swing from the same tree.
 
andy86 said:
Your heart, soul and football club form a bond in the early years. By this point its too late, that bond becomes unbreakable. I'd like to think I'm speaking for a few of us when I say, even if you tried to stop supporting your club or stop going (even both), you couldn't break that bond. You'd still know all the results, you'd still feel the highs and the lows. Personally following city have formed many aspects of my personality. City and my experiences supporting them is a major part of who I am. And you can't stop being you!
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That´s bollox, a mate of mine had no interest in footy at club level before his mid-40´s. Now he´s a stout loiner.
 
I think it's predominantly young people who change teams like they change their socks. A lot of them only 'support' clubs like the rags because they don't want to be the brunt of all the piss-taking from their social circle. At a young age they don't really have the courage of their convictions so they go with the flow.
I think once you reach a certain age you make your own mind up and say: "Fuck everyone elses opinion. I'll support who I want to support".

Personally none of this is applicable to me. I'm 55 and I've been a Blue since the '60's, and it has never once occurred to me to support another team - despite the stick I've taken over the years.


I could no more change my allegiance to City than I could drink the Pacific Ocean
 
Now then new City fan how are you feeling right now??...elated that we stayed top or are you really wishing you had been at OT today to watch your own team pull of an historic win? The answer will tell you where your heart really lies.
 
Blue Tooth said:
Now then new City fan how are you feeling right now??...elated that we stayed top or are you really wishing you had been at OT today to watch your own team pull of an historic win? The answer will tell you where your heart really lies.
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Excellent post, I hope Vinjay answers the question.

I have always been City, I couldn't ever change but I can see how some people can.
 
The whole meaning of a football supporter , is a person who goes to matches when they are playing shite , because when the good times come , it is so much sweeter. When city collect the premiership in May , it will be better than any of the last dozen titles yooonited have won , because we have come from virtually nothing in just over a decade. (The mentality of a person changing clubs when times are hard , puts into question thier loyalty and passion for football , and hence they will get called tourists/gloryhunters etc.)
We have 5 generations of Blues in my family , and 35 years winning fuck all hasnt changed that , and the next 50 years are in safe hands , ctid
 
Don't get it. Could never think about switching clubs even during the dark days with Swales. Wonder if a switch back would be on the cards if some rich individuals came in
 
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