First game....

1961_vintage said:
The Manchester of my childhood was very much one of murky blacks and whites and greys. Arriving at the top of the Kippax for the first time for a night game vs Liverpool in the rain under floodlights was literally breathtaking. Whilst it wasn't my first City game - it was the one where they got me for life.
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I know exactly what you mean. There's only one word for it. Glamour. The only real glamour I've ever encountered. Be interested to know which match that was, if you can fish it out of the depths of time.
Oddly, my first match I can remember nothing whatsoever about. It was against Coventry, March 1968. I've still got the programme for it, so I must have been there. Unless my memory has played tricks on me, and someone bought the programme for me (which is not impossible, since my stepfather was already going to matches at both Maine Road and Old Trafford — he was a football fan, committed to no particular club, but he knew that I was already a City fan from afar). So the first match that I can remember very clearly is also my first derby, August 1968. One of the few times I sat in the Platt Lane end, at a time when there were still benches, I believe. Nothing special about the match — we cancelled each other out — but the atmosphere was stupendous. They were European champions, we were league champions. Whatever revisionist history might write, it was the biggest rivalry in the country, at the time, although Everton—Liverpool was very fierce too. I remember looking across at the Kippax, which was heaving with blue but also quite a lot of red, and thinking, “That's where I want to be, in future”. How cool to have the biggest and most boiling terrace not behind one of the goals, but the length of the pitch! Yes, that was where I wanted to be…

Later on that summer I was at my first European evening (and my last, until really quite recently), when we singularly failed to terrify Europe (in the form of Fenerbache).
 
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City v Watford, FA Cup, 25th Jan 1986. 1-1, Sat in the North Stand. I actually think sh*tty old the scoreboard was working. Bleeding Freezing. Luckily, I didn't go the the second replay when we lost 1-3.

I remember my dad's mate giving me a sly nip of whiskey from his hip flask at half time which was most welcome.
 
Can’t remember my first, but i Know my earliest one I can remember was against Charlton around 2000 (aged 10)

Think we lost 4-1 and just remember Weaver gifting them a goal. It was my first time in the kippax as we always used to sit near the police control room in the Maine stand where one side of the pitch was hidden behind a concrete post!
 
Mine was the 'Oh just look at his face' game v Derby 28th Dec 74. Got beat 1-2 on Frannys return to Maine Road. 3 cracking goals as just seen them again on You Tube. I was taken by my Uncle who was a match going Red. Dad was sort of a blue but never a match goer so I think my Uncle volunteered his services to take me to my first game. 25p IIRC under 14 in the Kippax. I was 9 and although I was a blue going back to being 5 or so, that first game has stuck with me forever. I have the programme framed on the wall of my home office.
 
Can't say for sure if it was my first but it was the first one I remember - losing 3-0 to Burnley at Turf Moor in 1973. I remember the abuse being dished out to Joe Corrigan by City fans!

Looked it up and it was 29/09/73. Team was Corrigan, Book, Donachie, Doyle, Booth, Oakes, Summerbee, Bell, Marsh, Lee, Towers.
 
My late dad took me to my first game in March 1968. At Old Trafford where he and my mum were season ticket holders.

Being a contrary little bastard, I supported City who won 3-1. My dad never tried to dissuade me possibly because he knew I was a contrary little bastard. My brother stayed on the dark side but his school ran trips to Maine Road which was, even then, more community minded. It was being allowed to crash in on his school trips that made me a regular from rhe early 70s.
 
City 3 Norwich 0 August 75. Went to most home games that season with my Dad but didn’t have ST. Next season we got a ST in Platt Lane yellow seats behind the goal. Remember the agony of the Dave Watson last minute OG v Scousers on a icey pitch. Stayed in Platt Lane until 85 when we were kicked out into North Stand.
 
My first game was in January 77, we beat Leicester 5-0 and Kiddo scored 4

in my second game later that year we beat Chelsea 6-2 and Dennis scored 3

I thought it was gonna be like that every week.. it wasn’t !!!
 
Zabbasbeard said:
Forty years ago today, on 1st November 1980, was my first visit to Maine Road. My parents were newly separated and Dad was looking for something to do on a Saturday afternoon. I liked football but had been more into cricket so didn't have a team of my own as such, even at 15. City were bottom of the old First Division but the team played with great spirit. What grabbed me most was the fans, chanting "We love you City we do" to a team that was rock bottom in the league. Paul Power, Dave Bennett, Nicky Reid, Joe Corrigan and one Gerry Gow, making his debut, stood out to me. Particularly Gerry Gow. Dave Bennett missed a good chance but Paul Power scored the winner and everyone went home happy. The fans, the players, the ground, the aroma of soup, pies, beer and tobacco were a heady mix that I will never forget. I was bitten by the bug that day. I wanted more. I wanted to be one of those fans. Despite the mostly thin and thinner of the first 28 years, 5 relegations, 5 promotions and the latent success of the last 10 years, I've never regretted a moment. The lows, as painful as they were, have made the highs that bit better. Thanks Dad even if you're no longer with us. Here's to a few years more...

What was your first game? What grabbed you!? Maybe you were already a Blue.

Manchester City vs Norwich City, Division One (Old), Sat 01 November 1980

Details of every game played by Manchester City Football Club
bluemoon-mcfc.co.uk bluemoon-mcfc.co.uk

Thanks Ric, Gary, Colin and co for this site. Love it.
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1947/8 against derby city won 2-1 i think
 
beehive_bob said:
Can't say for sure if it was my first but it was the first one I remember - losing 3-0 to Burnley at Turf Moor in 1973. I remember the abuse being dished out to Joe Corrigan by City fans!
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I was at Turf Moor on that damp and dismal day , Bob .. and yes Joe did get a right earful ... although in fairness he hardly helped himself , he probably handed them a couple of those goals.
 
Saturday 17th January 1987. City v Liverpool.

I was 13 which feels quite old compared to some of the other stories, but my Dad who was a massive blue and even skipped school at 13 to hike up to St James to see us win the title had seen the violence of the 60s and 70s. One particular day he had an axe pulled on him and was chased with his friends down Oldham Street with a group of grown men throwing ball bearings at them and a couple of his group got a pretty hard beating. It was the last straw for him and many of his mates. He stopped going to games that day for a long time. As a result, he didn't want me to go to games and so my United supporting Uncle took me and my United supporting brother to see my first ever game at Maine Road against the best team at the time - Liverpool.

My United supporting Gran gave me £5 to spend in the club shop and I bought a pennant (which I still have) and a flag which I was supposed to wave when we scored against Liverpool.

I remember the view being terrible. There was a post in front of us which meant we were all looking around the post for most of the match but it didn't matter to me. I was mesmerised. I remember being perched on the edge of my seat all game, ready to jump up and wave it! I was honestly just wanting to wave my flag so much that I can't remember too much of the game but I remember one chance where Beckford missed what looked to me an open net.

Bless, I thought at the time Imre Varadi, David White and Neil McNab were the best in the world ha ha! I could never understand how any defence with Steve Redmond, Kenny Clements and Big Mick McCarthy in could let goals in as they were the best - simple as that.

We lost the game 0-1, I never waved the flag and it set me up for years of disappointment. My Uncle, bless him, did his best to 'support' City and I truly believe he wanted City to score as it was his birthday present to me!! I don't think my brother cared though!!

For many years my Dad wouldn't take us and every time there was trouble it kind of proved to him it wasn't safe. Luckily we started going together again in the mid 90s. My brother used to come to Maine Road as well as I was the only City fan I knew in my friends at the time! There's some great footage of me and him when Alphonse Groenendijk(?) made his debut against QPR on MOTD which he never lived down at school.

Anyway, the thing is, that flag meant more to me than anything and my Gran - God bless her - never got to see me celebrate anything City did. However, when we won the league title after all those years, that flag was dusted down and waved, waved in the street and hung proudly out of our windows. That meant more to me than anything else! I literally cried when I put it out as it brought back so many memories - my first City game, my Gran, my Uncle, the disappointment, me and my Dad going to games and seeing us win at Wembley in Div 2, the false hopes.

Everything that was City to me was in that flag I bought as a 13 year old boy on my first ever City game!
 
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