I've been feeling a certain way for a couple of years now. Basically ever since we won the treble. In fact, from the very moment the final whistle went in Istanbul, I felt that certain way. That certain way was just... Different.
I realised, as I knelt on my parents' living room floor in tears of joy, that I'd had an itch deep within me all along. Ever since the 2008 takeover, through the first FA Cup win, through the Agueroooo goal vs QPR, through the Centurions and Fourmidables seasons, though the Gundogan goal vs Villa. I only really noticed the itch had been there when it was finally gone. We were immortal, we had reached the pinnacle, and there was nothing more that I wanted from City. It turns out, I had always wanted us to get there - for little Shitty City to stand at the top of the mountain and look out on the rest of Europe as kings.
Years ago, in the summer of 2012, a group of us from this forum went to Sam's funeral - or Gaudino's Stolen Car, as he was known on here. I remember, in the cab on the way from the service to the wake, we got to chatting about Aguero's goal against QPR. The lot of us agreed that we'd be fine if City never won anything again, especially after what we'd all witnessed only a few months before. But that feeling passed within all of us over the years. The feeling of winning became addictive quite quickly. Once we lost that title to United in 2013, I absolutely wanted it back in 2014 and celebrated like hell when we beat Liverpool to it.
There was always something to prove to somebody. The Premier League title in 2014 proved that we weren't "just another Blackburn", the Centurions title came at the end of the greatest ever domestic season in England, the Fourmidables season made us the first (and only) English team to complete a domestic treble, and the Gundogan goal vs. Villa was immediately compared to Aguero vs. QPR. That feeling of winning trophies, not just for ourselves to enjoy but to prove other people wrong, was so special. I could have gone the rest of my life with us happily never winning the European Cup, but every year it felt like we lost so stupidly or harshly or through some form of injustice that, and that itch started to grow.
It didn't bother me that other people didn't consider us a truly great team until we won a European Cup. It had never done Arsenal any real harm, or Atletico, or (until this summer) PSG. But you hear it so many times that you start to almost believe it. You start wanting to win the European Cup just to shut the trap of anyone who's ever doubted whether City belonged at the top table. Going out of the European Cup truly never bothered me as much as losing a league game did - at least until we lost the final in 2021. Then when Madrid knocked us out in the manner that they did in 2022, I thought we'd missed our best chance to do it. Even after knocking out Bayern and Madrid in 2023, and played arguably the best football I've ever seen from a City team, I still thought something would get in the way.
Then we did it. From the third tier of English football to treble winners in 24 years.
Everything changed in that moment. That itch had gone. We had nothing to prove anymore. We were, and would forever be, immortal. From the moment De Bruyne slammed that ball in after five minutes against Arsenal, that kicked off the best six weeks of my entire City life. The run to the title, the FA Cup win over United with Gundogan scoring the fastest ever goal in a final. And then from June 10th, that night at my mum and dad's flat, crying my eyes out, still in disbelief, unable to sleep when I got home, watching Rodri's goal over and over and over again. The next morning walking into Tesco with my City shirt on, heartily laughing at a United fan in the car park who'd shouted some abuse at me out of his car, the Monday night treble parade in that beautiful, beautiful Manchester rain. Those six weeks are the biggest fucking high I've ever, ever had as someone who follows football.
I kept waiting for the high to fade and I kept waiting for that irritating itch to come back. The high faded, as all things do with time, but the itch never came back. As I said before, I just felt... different now. I realised that I no longer wanted anything from City. My dreams had come true in Istanbul and I did not have it in me anymore to want anything more from football. What can you want for when your dreams are already reality? I wanted City to win every game, like all fans do, and as we got closer to the 2024 title I realised that it would be a perfect cherry on top to make domestic history again with that four title in a row, but the hunger wasn't the same. Don't get me wrong, when we won that West Ham game I was as happy as anything - a lad from Edgeley winning City a record-breaking title is right out of the top drawer. But I honestly felt beyond spoiled. I'd seen my dreams come true in 2023 and then I got a fucking encore from the same group of players.
Things started to feel wrong, though, the week immediately afterwards. I went all the way down to Wembley and watched us lose 2-1 to United in the cup final, but I didn't feel a thing. I was still on cloud nine from the week before, and still on cloud fucking 10 from the year before. I watched United lift the trophy, took some pictures for my (United fan) dad, gave De Bruyne a wave and a thank you for everything from the stands, and went home. The defeat just didn't hit me. And yet, all around me that afternoon, I'd seen and heard City fans having a right go at Rashford and having a right go at Fernandes with proper anger in their faces. I heard one guy call Onana a "monkey" from a few rows back. That anger then turned towards the City players. The lads who'd just won four consecutive league titles and a treble the year before we were being called everything under the sun by their own fans. And I couldn't understand it at all. I felt genuinely disillusioned. What more could these lads possibly give us? And yet, still the City fans at Wembley that day wanted more and more and more.
What pissed me off more than anything was half of our fanbase deciding that they were too good to come down to the parade for the fourth title in a row. We lost a little football match and suddenly the whole season's achievement and work wasn't worth recognising. We broke a record that will never, ever be matched, and instead of showing gratitude to the players, some people thought "Oh, we'll win another trophy next year, so I won't bother going down today". Well, shame on you. That could be the last trophy this club ever wins and you skipped the parade because you were in a sulk.
Last season wasn't easy, and it wasn't fun, but it ended with a season that was virtually identical to the 10/11 season. We were a world class Dean Henderson performance away from emulating that season exactly, with 3rd place and 71 points in the league and an FA Cup trophy. We treasure the 10/11 season but were already keen to forget about the 24/25 season before the FA Cup final had even kicked off. I know expectations have changed among the fanbase, which is fair enough, but have expectations changed so much that we can't even recognise a potentially good and memorable season anymore? I come on here sometimes and some of the comments made about some of the most special players any of us have ever seen are disgraceful. And it's not even from the new gloryhunting fans or teenagers who've only ever known success. A lot of people on here who are old enough to know better, and are old enough to remember the 80s and 90s, are constantly frothing at the mouth, waiting to stick the boot in and spread negativity.
My experience at the Spurs game, and reading Bluemoon over the last 24 hours, has really summed it all up. From the moment I arrived at the ground, a new feeling crept in. That hotel they've attached onto the stadium, and the new third tier that takes our capacity to 61,000 - they're both nearly finished, but now that they're almost done I think they're fucking monstrosities. How arrogant of our owners to presume that 61,000 people will always want to come and see us and will always see City as a tourist destination. Someone will read this and think "You wet wipe, the club needs to build these things to progress. Do you not want us to progress?" And I guess the honest answer is no. We reached the top in 2023. There is nowhere left to go. Everything from this point on is naked greed. The hotels, shops, and extra 6,000 seats are being built under the assumption that the success will simply continue forever - like Madrid, Bayern Munich, United, Liverpool, and Barcelona presume that success will always continue. It is ugly and unbecoming. Until Liverpool and United became so arrogant and piled the trophies high, it was presumed in England that teams would have their day in the sun, have a few shiny moments to last a lifetime, and then slip back down the table so that someone else could come and have a go. Not anymore, and that's sad.
We're now part of a collection of teams, and a collection of fans, that don't just expect a trophy every season - we demand it. And some among us will scream and throw a paddy unless everything is perfect. I made that thread before, joking about the fact that of the 26 players we have the Bluemoon forum has decided that 16 of them have to go and that another handful are on thin ice. When did we become so fucking spoiled that we would turn so angrily on a talented local lad with City in his blood, like Rico Lewis? If you don't think he's a good enough footballer, fine, but he's a City fan from Greater Manchester and he's trying his best out there. And was also a part of the only City squad ever to win a fucking treble. At least pat him on the back and wish him well if you don't rate him. The shouting aimed in his direction against Spurs was utterly shameful, and then to come log on and see him called a "disgrace" and a "waste of a shirt", I felt more disillusioned than I did at Wembley 12 months ago. And all of this is because we have mutated into a fanbase that is LUDICROUSLY out of touch with the real footballing world.
The only thing on the average City fan's mind at the moment seems to be: WIN WIN WIN WIN WIN WIN WIN. AT ALL COSTS. WIN WIN WIN WIN WIN WIN WIN. "No room for sentiment, got to be ruthless, win win win. Doesn't matter who we fuck over or abuse or put down, just win." It is ugly and unbecoming, as I said. And it is fucking everywhere. It's not just teenagers on Twitter or gloryhunters on here, it's also grown men and women who've been to hell and back with City for 40 years, gnashing their teeth at title-winning legends of this club because oh, it looks like we're not going to win an 8th top division title in the space of a decade. A little bit of adversity last season, in the grand scheme of things, and that was license for all manner of insults and abuse to come out the mouths of so-called diehards. Fair enough, do all your shouting and embarrassing shit within the 90 minutes at the stadium, and by all means have a mouth off in the matchday thread to feel better. Call out a naff performance. But once it's over, look at the bigger picture, reflect on the last 10-15 years, remind yourself of what we've already experienced and of the players who've brought you glory, instead of stressing about where the next trophy is going to come from and saying some utterly disgraceful and ungrateful bollocks about the likes of Ederson, Bernardo, Walker, Grealish, Akanji, Mahrez etc.
Some of the shit said about Ederson these past couple of weeks has been nothing short of a disgrace. The *excitement* with which some City fans are greeting his potential departure is unbelievable. The most decorated keeper in our history, arguably the greatest we've ever had between the sticks, and you've got some offering to drive him to Galatasaray like he's Danny fucking Mills. Fair enough if you think his time is up, but are you not at least going to offer some gratitude? Some thanks? Are you not gonna share any nice memories? It was the same with Grealish when his loan to Everton was agreed. The things said about Akanji, who is also one of our treble lot and played for this club with bad injuries through basically all of last season. And christ, some of the things said about Pep! The man who's masterminded everything we've seen and experienced for nearly a decade. The internet has turned us into cruel, foul creatures.
I saw a picture before of David Silva wearing the 1999 play-off final kit at home. I looked at it for a moment and thought "Wow, that man played for us. For City. For Shitty City. A team who once wore that kit in a game that saved the club from total oblivion, and he was part of the journey that made us European champions". Football is just about creating memories you can look back on later and either laugh about them or smile about them - good and bad. We've had enough memories for about five fucking lifetimes. De Bruyne leaving was the absolute end of an era for me - the last player left who we signed while I was still in some form of education. I have witnessed a lifetime's worth of football glory, and felt a lifetime's worth of football joy, and I'm only 31. I now have another 50-60 years (hopefully) to fill and I'm going to spend it watching re-runs and highlights of everything City have given me, not just since 2011 but from 1999 onwards, when I became a Blue. Our lives following football have been so fucking easy, and yet if you read this place you'd think the last 15 years had never bloody happened, such is the attitude of some fans.
It's want want want. Demand demand demand. In January we ABSOLUTELY NEEDED Marmoush otherwise the world was going to explode. Six months later we've decided we don't like him so now we ABSOLUTELY NEED Rodrygo. In January we NEEDED Nico Gonzalez. People were slagging off Txiki Begiristain for not moving to sign him quicker. Six months later Gonzalez is "just another Javi Garcia" and it turns out who we really NEED is Baleba. We NEED to start playing kids more so we don't end up losing them like we did Palmer, but oh now we NEED to drop Rico Lewis and James Trafford and sell them immediately because we NEED Donnarumma and Livramento. I remember in 2021 when we were linked with Ronaldo after being linked with Harry Kane. Apparently we NEEDED both of them, or one of them at least. Turns out we didn't. This "win at all costs" mentality is, quite frankly, disgusting. If this makes me old fashioned or a "happy clapper" then so fucking be it.
So, I reckon that's me done on here, for a while at least. I no longer recognise this fanbase and this forum is where I see the most of said fanbase. So, enjoy the season - and I mean actually enjoy it, which means don't have a tantrum every four days - and I'll try not to let the door hit me on the way out.
I realised, as I knelt on my parents' living room floor in tears of joy, that I'd had an itch deep within me all along. Ever since the 2008 takeover, through the first FA Cup win, through the Agueroooo goal vs QPR, through the Centurions and Fourmidables seasons, though the Gundogan goal vs Villa. I only really noticed the itch had been there when it was finally gone. We were immortal, we had reached the pinnacle, and there was nothing more that I wanted from City. It turns out, I had always wanted us to get there - for little Shitty City to stand at the top of the mountain and look out on the rest of Europe as kings.
Years ago, in the summer of 2012, a group of us from this forum went to Sam's funeral - or Gaudino's Stolen Car, as he was known on here. I remember, in the cab on the way from the service to the wake, we got to chatting about Aguero's goal against QPR. The lot of us agreed that we'd be fine if City never won anything again, especially after what we'd all witnessed only a few months before. But that feeling passed within all of us over the years. The feeling of winning became addictive quite quickly. Once we lost that title to United in 2013, I absolutely wanted it back in 2014 and celebrated like hell when we beat Liverpool to it.
There was always something to prove to somebody. The Premier League title in 2014 proved that we weren't "just another Blackburn", the Centurions title came at the end of the greatest ever domestic season in England, the Fourmidables season made us the first (and only) English team to complete a domestic treble, and the Gundogan goal vs. Villa was immediately compared to Aguero vs. QPR. That feeling of winning trophies, not just for ourselves to enjoy but to prove other people wrong, was so special. I could have gone the rest of my life with us happily never winning the European Cup, but every year it felt like we lost so stupidly or harshly or through some form of injustice that, and that itch started to grow.
It didn't bother me that other people didn't consider us a truly great team until we won a European Cup. It had never done Arsenal any real harm, or Atletico, or (until this summer) PSG. But you hear it so many times that you start to almost believe it. You start wanting to win the European Cup just to shut the trap of anyone who's ever doubted whether City belonged at the top table. Going out of the European Cup truly never bothered me as much as losing a league game did - at least until we lost the final in 2021. Then when Madrid knocked us out in the manner that they did in 2022, I thought we'd missed our best chance to do it. Even after knocking out Bayern and Madrid in 2023, and played arguably the best football I've ever seen from a City team, I still thought something would get in the way.
Then we did it. From the third tier of English football to treble winners in 24 years.
Everything changed in that moment. That itch had gone. We had nothing to prove anymore. We were, and would forever be, immortal. From the moment De Bruyne slammed that ball in after five minutes against Arsenal, that kicked off the best six weeks of my entire City life. The run to the title, the FA Cup win over United with Gundogan scoring the fastest ever goal in a final. And then from June 10th, that night at my mum and dad's flat, crying my eyes out, still in disbelief, unable to sleep when I got home, watching Rodri's goal over and over and over again. The next morning walking into Tesco with my City shirt on, heartily laughing at a United fan in the car park who'd shouted some abuse at me out of his car, the Monday night treble parade in that beautiful, beautiful Manchester rain. Those six weeks are the biggest fucking high I've ever, ever had as someone who follows football.
I kept waiting for the high to fade and I kept waiting for that irritating itch to come back. The high faded, as all things do with time, but the itch never came back. As I said before, I just felt... different now. I realised that I no longer wanted anything from City. My dreams had come true in Istanbul and I did not have it in me anymore to want anything more from football. What can you want for when your dreams are already reality? I wanted City to win every game, like all fans do, and as we got closer to the 2024 title I realised that it would be a perfect cherry on top to make domestic history again with that four title in a row, but the hunger wasn't the same. Don't get me wrong, when we won that West Ham game I was as happy as anything - a lad from Edgeley winning City a record-breaking title is right out of the top drawer. But I honestly felt beyond spoiled. I'd seen my dreams come true in 2023 and then I got a fucking encore from the same group of players.
Things started to feel wrong, though, the week immediately afterwards. I went all the way down to Wembley and watched us lose 2-1 to United in the cup final, but I didn't feel a thing. I was still on cloud nine from the week before, and still on cloud fucking 10 from the year before. I watched United lift the trophy, took some pictures for my (United fan) dad, gave De Bruyne a wave and a thank you for everything from the stands, and went home. The defeat just didn't hit me. And yet, all around me that afternoon, I'd seen and heard City fans having a right go at Rashford and having a right go at Fernandes with proper anger in their faces. I heard one guy call Onana a "monkey" from a few rows back. That anger then turned towards the City players. The lads who'd just won four consecutive league titles and a treble the year before we were being called everything under the sun by their own fans. And I couldn't understand it at all. I felt genuinely disillusioned. What more could these lads possibly give us? And yet, still the City fans at Wembley that day wanted more and more and more.
What pissed me off more than anything was half of our fanbase deciding that they were too good to come down to the parade for the fourth title in a row. We lost a little football match and suddenly the whole season's achievement and work wasn't worth recognising. We broke a record that will never, ever be matched, and instead of showing gratitude to the players, some people thought "Oh, we'll win another trophy next year, so I won't bother going down today". Well, shame on you. That could be the last trophy this club ever wins and you skipped the parade because you were in a sulk.
Last season wasn't easy, and it wasn't fun, but it ended with a season that was virtually identical to the 10/11 season. We were a world class Dean Henderson performance away from emulating that season exactly, with 3rd place and 71 points in the league and an FA Cup trophy. We treasure the 10/11 season but were already keen to forget about the 24/25 season before the FA Cup final had even kicked off. I know expectations have changed among the fanbase, which is fair enough, but have expectations changed so much that we can't even recognise a potentially good and memorable season anymore? I come on here sometimes and some of the comments made about some of the most special players any of us have ever seen are disgraceful. And it's not even from the new gloryhunting fans or teenagers who've only ever known success. A lot of people on here who are old enough to know better, and are old enough to remember the 80s and 90s, are constantly frothing at the mouth, waiting to stick the boot in and spread negativity.
My experience at the Spurs game, and reading Bluemoon over the last 24 hours, has really summed it all up. From the moment I arrived at the ground, a new feeling crept in. That hotel they've attached onto the stadium, and the new third tier that takes our capacity to 61,000 - they're both nearly finished, but now that they're almost done I think they're fucking monstrosities. How arrogant of our owners to presume that 61,000 people will always want to come and see us and will always see City as a tourist destination. Someone will read this and think "You wet wipe, the club needs to build these things to progress. Do you not want us to progress?" And I guess the honest answer is no. We reached the top in 2023. There is nowhere left to go. Everything from this point on is naked greed. The hotels, shops, and extra 6,000 seats are being built under the assumption that the success will simply continue forever - like Madrid, Bayern Munich, United, Liverpool, and Barcelona presume that success will always continue. It is ugly and unbecoming. Until Liverpool and United became so arrogant and piled the trophies high, it was presumed in England that teams would have their day in the sun, have a few shiny moments to last a lifetime, and then slip back down the table so that someone else could come and have a go. Not anymore, and that's sad.
We're now part of a collection of teams, and a collection of fans, that don't just expect a trophy every season - we demand it. And some among us will scream and throw a paddy unless everything is perfect. I made that thread before, joking about the fact that of the 26 players we have the Bluemoon forum has decided that 16 of them have to go and that another handful are on thin ice. When did we become so fucking spoiled that we would turn so angrily on a talented local lad with City in his blood, like Rico Lewis? If you don't think he's a good enough footballer, fine, but he's a City fan from Greater Manchester and he's trying his best out there. And was also a part of the only City squad ever to win a fucking treble. At least pat him on the back and wish him well if you don't rate him. The shouting aimed in his direction against Spurs was utterly shameful, and then to come log on and see him called a "disgrace" and a "waste of a shirt", I felt more disillusioned than I did at Wembley 12 months ago. And all of this is because we have mutated into a fanbase that is LUDICROUSLY out of touch with the real footballing world.
The only thing on the average City fan's mind at the moment seems to be: WIN WIN WIN WIN WIN WIN WIN. AT ALL COSTS. WIN WIN WIN WIN WIN WIN WIN. "No room for sentiment, got to be ruthless, win win win. Doesn't matter who we fuck over or abuse or put down, just win." It is ugly and unbecoming, as I said. And it is fucking everywhere. It's not just teenagers on Twitter or gloryhunters on here, it's also grown men and women who've been to hell and back with City for 40 years, gnashing their teeth at title-winning legends of this club because oh, it looks like we're not going to win an 8th top division title in the space of a decade. A little bit of adversity last season, in the grand scheme of things, and that was license for all manner of insults and abuse to come out the mouths of so-called diehards. Fair enough, do all your shouting and embarrassing shit within the 90 minutes at the stadium, and by all means have a mouth off in the matchday thread to feel better. Call out a naff performance. But once it's over, look at the bigger picture, reflect on the last 10-15 years, remind yourself of what we've already experienced and of the players who've brought you glory, instead of stressing about where the next trophy is going to come from and saying some utterly disgraceful and ungrateful bollocks about the likes of Ederson, Bernardo, Walker, Grealish, Akanji, Mahrez etc.
Some of the shit said about Ederson these past couple of weeks has been nothing short of a disgrace. The *excitement* with which some City fans are greeting his potential departure is unbelievable. The most decorated keeper in our history, arguably the greatest we've ever had between the sticks, and you've got some offering to drive him to Galatasaray like he's Danny fucking Mills. Fair enough if you think his time is up, but are you not at least going to offer some gratitude? Some thanks? Are you not gonna share any nice memories? It was the same with Grealish when his loan to Everton was agreed. The things said about Akanji, who is also one of our treble lot and played for this club with bad injuries through basically all of last season. And christ, some of the things said about Pep! The man who's masterminded everything we've seen and experienced for nearly a decade. The internet has turned us into cruel, foul creatures.
I saw a picture before of David Silva wearing the 1999 play-off final kit at home. I looked at it for a moment and thought "Wow, that man played for us. For City. For Shitty City. A team who once wore that kit in a game that saved the club from total oblivion, and he was part of the journey that made us European champions". Football is just about creating memories you can look back on later and either laugh about them or smile about them - good and bad. We've had enough memories for about five fucking lifetimes. De Bruyne leaving was the absolute end of an era for me - the last player left who we signed while I was still in some form of education. I have witnessed a lifetime's worth of football glory, and felt a lifetime's worth of football joy, and I'm only 31. I now have another 50-60 years (hopefully) to fill and I'm going to spend it watching re-runs and highlights of everything City have given me, not just since 2011 but from 1999 onwards, when I became a Blue. Our lives following football have been so fucking easy, and yet if you read this place you'd think the last 15 years had never bloody happened, such is the attitude of some fans.
It's want want want. Demand demand demand. In January we ABSOLUTELY NEEDED Marmoush otherwise the world was going to explode. Six months later we've decided we don't like him so now we ABSOLUTELY NEED Rodrygo. In January we NEEDED Nico Gonzalez. People were slagging off Txiki Begiristain for not moving to sign him quicker. Six months later Gonzalez is "just another Javi Garcia" and it turns out who we really NEED is Baleba. We NEED to start playing kids more so we don't end up losing them like we did Palmer, but oh now we NEED to drop Rico Lewis and James Trafford and sell them immediately because we NEED Donnarumma and Livramento. I remember in 2021 when we were linked with Ronaldo after being linked with Harry Kane. Apparently we NEEDED both of them, or one of them at least. Turns out we didn't. This "win at all costs" mentality is, quite frankly, disgusting. If this makes me old fashioned or a "happy clapper" then so fucking be it.
So, I reckon that's me done on here, for a while at least. I no longer recognise this fanbase and this forum is where I see the most of said fanbase. So, enjoy the season - and I mean actually enjoy it, which means don't have a tantrum every four days - and I'll try not to let the door hit me on the way out.
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