FA Cup Final loss in 1981 or Luton 83?

Relegation in 1983 was the first time that it dawned on me that my beloved club was going down the pan. I was a kid in the 60’s and a teenager in the 70’s, so I’d really only known a club who had either won trophy's or had been challenging for trophy’s. Relegation came as a major shock. I honestly believed that it couldn’t happen to us and that our slow demise since 1979 was a ‘blip’, especially since the John Bond era had seen an improvement and a cup final. Little did I know that it would be the start of 30 years of torture with the double edged sword of our failures and Utd’s successes. The cup loss was a major disappointment, but relegation was life changing, so for me, it has to be the Luton game.
 
The bus back from the cup final was still upbeat, singing we'll be back again next year. The packed number 44 bus back up Dickenson Rd after the Luton game was silent. I don't think I heard one person say a word all the way. It was a very strange and sad day.
 
As hard as the defeat was in the final, the relegation day was far worse for me. I had grown up seeing City as a club and a team close to what we are now, either winning stuff or being up with the teams that could. That day put us in a bad place, you could argue it took until last year to get back
 
As an 11 year old kid I was upset we lost the cup final but the excitement of going to wembley with my dad for the first time and the whole sense of occasion made it a bit more bearable.

I still remember driving home up Lloyd Street with my dad with tears streaming down my face after the Luton game and my dad saying "Don't be upset son it's happened before and it'll happen again." I was heartbroken.
 

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