Hard To Be Here

Supped my first Chester's Mild at the Sherwood and the Old Cock (Didsbury) in the early-mid 70's. Happy days. Weirdly, I drank bitter everywhere else.

That Charlton home game was scary - went for a piss at half time and was literally carried along out of the Kippax with my feet off the ground by the exiting crowd for the first and only time in my life, and had no control over where I was going for a minute or 2. Scary, as it wasn't that long after Hillsborough. I'm sure it was overfull that day.

How pampered are we today?!
 
the blue panther said:
Supped my first Chester's Mild at the Sherwood and the Old Cock (Didsbury) in the early-mid 70's. Happy days. Weirdly, I drank bitter everywhere else.

That Charlton home game was scary - went for a piss at half time and was literally carried along out of the Kippax with my feet off the ground by the exiting crowd for the first and only time in my life, and had no control over where I was going for a minute or 2. Scary, as it wasn't that long after Hillsborough. I'm sure it was overfull that day.

How pampered are we today?!
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It was four years before Hillsborough mate. It was a couple of weeks before Heysel though.
 
MANCHESTER CITY THE BEST TEAM IN THE LAND AND ALL THE WORLD.
OKAY, we are having a dip, but we are still MANCHESTER CITY THE BEST TEAM IN THE LAND AND ALL THE WORLD.
Let’s continue to cheer louder and prouder have a moan now and again, but keep that one thought at the forefront of our minds when we think of our team Manchester City.
Go lads and lasses go forth and keep the faith. We will be back stronger and harder, but still MANCHESTER CITY THE BEST TEAM IN THE LAND AND ALL THE WORLD.

I’ve got my Mojo back. I’ve got my positivity back. Let’s do it. Let’s keep the faith for the team. :-) :-) :-)







If you want to shout at me go ahead and have a go I will not lose the faith again. I’m sorry I wavered!
 
gordondaviesmoustache said:
Agree with you on the attendance but I’m pretty sure the official figure was less than 52k. 47k plus change springs to mind. 52k was the capacity at that point.

I’d say there were close to 60k there that day. People talk about how crowded the Kippax was (which it was) but people were also sat on the steps in the Platt Lane because the seats were full.
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People were sat all over the steps in the main stand as well, it was carnage :)
 
the blue panther said:
Supped my first Chester's Mild at the Sherwood and the Old Cock (Didsbury) in the early-mid 70's. Happy days. Weirdly, I drank bitter everywhere else.

That Charlton home game was scary - went for a piss at half time and was literally carried along out of the Kippax with my feet off the ground by the exiting crowd for the first and only time in my life, and had no control over where I was going for a minute or 2. Scary, as it wasn't that long after Hillsborough. I'm sure it was overfull that day.

How pampered are we today?!
Click to expand...
Probably heading towards 40 thousand in the kippax alone that day !
 
gordondaviesmoustache said:
Agree with you on the attendance but I’m pretty sure the official figure was less than 52k. 47k plus change springs to mind. 52k was the capacity at that point.

I’d say there were close to 60k there that day. People talk about how crowded the Kippax was (which it was) but people were also sat on the steps in the Platt Lane because the seats were full.
Click to expand...
OMG Charlton. Hilarious at the time. Bone chilling scary looking back in the light of Hillsborough.

If I remember right 2 of the 5 goals went in close together (the third and the fourth I think) and people hadn’t recovered from the first of the two. I got flawed twice but the first was the worst. There was a guy underneath me and at least two more people stacked on top of me in the Kippax. My cries of celebration were squeezed out of me. It was a lovely sunny day but, at that moment, everything was black. The crashing noise turned into silence for me and then a ringing in my ears. I went to breathe and there was nothing. I couldn’t get air in my lungs. It didn’t occur to me once that this was dangerous.

I think I couldn’t breathe for around a minute but, as everyone says, it seemed longer. Thankfully people started to move. The three mates I had gone with were, on average, now 20 metres away. I reached down and grabbed the arm of the bloke who had been underneath me and hauled him up. He said thanks and, as he did, City scored the fourth and I fell on him again. Thankfully people got up quicker this time. The bloke said to me “if this happens again don't help me anymore!” We both laughed and started jumping around together…mates for life even though we never saw each other again.

I’ve never ever been to anything like it anywhere before or since. Everyone has their own experiences of the craziest match atmospheres they’ve ever been to but if I see anyone not naming that match I think one of three things…

1. You didn’t go to City v Charlton.
2. You did go but weren’t in the Kippax.
3. Your brain has chosen to blank the day.
 
oldius said:
As a regular contributor to the forum, and a fan since 1968, I am looking at the forum tonight, and for large parts of last season, wondering how I can avoid becoming so utterly irritated by mindless comments. Apparently Rico is the least athletic player in the entire league, Cherki will have the flair taken from him, and Pep will ruin Omar Marmoush, just as three examples. Every single one of us feels a defeat, but does it really need to come with comments so devoid of sense or sporting insight because we didn't take away the points and have lost our heads?
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Football fans are mostly 'petty and ill-informed', and we all have the ability to go full-on knobhead, especially when discussing our own team. Rationality often goes out of the window, and you can forget the idea of reasoned argument all together whenever there's a focused pile-on.

Add to this the emotion of a match day and it's a recipe for absolute nonsense.

City fans are no better or worse than other groups, but what we do have, and it's practically unique to City, is two separate but equally relevant factions. Those lucky enough to have known nothing but success, and those lucky enough to have lived through the lean years.

Both groups fortunate in their own way, but both also prone to resentment of the 'other lot'....Human nature innit.
 
hoppy said:
Football fans are mostly 'petty and ill-informed', and we all have the ability to go full-on knobhead, especially when discussing our own team. Rationality often goes out of the window, and you can forget the idea of reasoned argument all together whenever there's a focused pile-on.

Add to this the emotion of a match day and it's a recipe for absolute nonsense.

City fans are no better or worse than other groups, but what we do have, and it's practically unique to City, is two separate but equally relevant factions. Those lucky enough to have known nothing but success, and those lucky enough to have lived through the lean years.

Both groups fortunate in their own way, but both also prone to resentment of the 'other lot'....Human nature innit.
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Nice post.
 
Blue Since 76 said:
When did first loser become something to celebrate?

The fact that it's better than most of the shite I sat through for years doesn't make it ok. We won't win trophies every year, no team has or will, but if you're happy with

Did you do that with Ball, Clarke, Hughes and a million managers in between? I don't remember me being particularly supportive of the owners, managers or players through a lot of that period and that's ignoring the Swales out that went on for years.

I know we're nowhere near that bad anymore, but you can't spend what we have, and have the success we've had over the last 18 years, and then be ok with poor performances over a couple of seasons. The standard of the club and players has increased and the expectation of the fans has been raised with it. And fans venting on a forum doesn't mean they're not supportive - I saw the end of the dippers game and there were very loud boos at the end, something I've rarely heard at the Etihad, although that may be because everyone has left at 80 minutes ;-)
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Yes, yes i did. The only season ticket i ever had was in the Pearce reign.
''Billy Mcneil's blue and white army......''
 
Cobwebcat said:
1. You didn’t go to City v Charlton.
2. You did go but weren’t in the Kippax.
3. Your brain has chosen to blank the day.
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1. I did go to the match.
2. I was in the Kippax, usual spot just above the tunnel closest to Platt Lane.
3. My brian has unintendedly blanked out a lot of things, like what I had for my tea last night and where I put the remote. However, I don't recall the Charlton game being anything other than unadulterated fun, a Beanfeast from pre-match pints in The Mauldeth to après match pints in Blackpool.

The only time I was genuinely scared was in the Scoreboard End at United, I am absolutely convinced that I saved a young woman's life that day, she was clearly blacking out and I somehow* managed to lift her out of the crush.

* I say somehow but I am being far too modest. I was ripped back then. Unlike now, when thanks to a combination of Mounjaro and strong liquor, I look like a middle-aged Polio sufferer.
 
jimharri said:
You're doing okay EB?
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Yes thanks @jimharri The Specialist was pleased with me last week. Told me to be proud of myself. So not eating any chocolate for 8 months, not a sip of a glass of wine and strictly following the two ‘diet’ sheets, one for kidneys, other for blood, are working a bit! Boring but necessary!! :-)
 
Eccles Blue said:
Yes thanks @jimharri The Specialist was pleased with me last week. Told me to be proud of myself. So not eating any chocolate for 8 months, not a sip of a glass of wine and strictly following the two ‘diet’ sheets, one for kidneys, other for blood, are working a bit! Boring but necessary!! :-)
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Keep up the boring good work.
 
Eccles Blue said:
MANCHESTER CITY THE BEST TEAM IN THE LAND AND ALL THE WORLD.
OKAY, we are having a dip, but we are still MANCHESTER CITY THE BEST TEAM IN THE LAND AND ALL THE WORLD.
Let’s continue to cheer louder and prouder have a moan now and again, but keep that one thought at the forefront of our minds when we think of our team Manchester City.
Go lads and lasses go forth and keep the faith. We will be back stronger and harder, but still MANCHESTER CITY THE BEST TEAM IN THE LAND AND ALL THE WORLD.

I’ve got my Mojo back. I’ve got my positivity back. Let’s do it. Let’s keep the faith for the team. :-) :-) :-)







If you want to shout at me go ahead and have a go I will not lose the faith again. I’m sorry I wavered!
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We all waiver EB. I’ve been frustrated so much, I was going to say the past couple of weeks but I could say couple of years. It’s nothing to do with entitlement as some put it on here, it might be for those who have only started to support City since we stated to win things but for us who have been City supporters for many years it’s because we / I know we can play so much better and do so much more than we did against the likes of Forest, West Ham even Real Madrid who are the worst side they’ve had for years, I mean we’ve already beaten them at their ground this season. It’s down to sheer frustration. I know come tomorrow, kick off time, I’ll be ready to cheer City again, maybe at the back of my mind thinking at 90 minutes the inevitable result will mean we will be out but still, I’m going for 5-1 win for us and through to the next round. COYB.
 
pride in battle said:
People were sat all over the steps in the main stand as well, it was carnage :)
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I’ve posted before, I was in the so called family stand. The part just between the Main Stand and North Stand. My nephew and I were walking around the ticket office side to Kippax when we saw the queues waiting to get in, and we sort of stood in our tracks. By sheer luck, the officials started to open the turnstiles of the family stand at the time and we just said sod it, or words to that effect and just went in there. Better to get in the ground and watch the match than get stuck outside.
 
Cobwebcat said:
OMG Charlton. Hilarious at the time. Bone chilling scary looking back in the light of Hillsborough.

If I remember right 2 of the 5 goals went in close together (the third and the fourth I think) and people hadn’t recovered from the first of the two. I got flawed twice but the first was the worst. There was a guy underneath me and at least two more people stacked on top of me in the Kippax. My cries of celebration were squeezed out of me. It was a lovely sunny day but, at that moment, everything was black. The crashing noise turned into silence for me and then a ringing in my ears. I went to breathe and there was nothing. I couldn’t get air in my lungs. It didn’t occur to me once that this was dangerous.

I think I couldn’t breathe for around a minute but, as everyone says, it seemed longer. Thankfully people started to move. The three mates I had gone with were, on average, now 20 metres away. I reached down and grabbed the arm of the bloke who had been underneath me and hauled him up. He said thanks and, as he did, City scored the fourth and I fell on him again. Thankfully people got up quicker this time. The bloke said to me “if this happens again don't help me anymore!” We both laughed and started jumping around together…mates for life even though we never saw each other again.

I’ve never ever been to anything like it anywhere before or since. Everyone has their own experiences of the craziest match atmospheres they’ve ever been to but if I see anyone not naming that match I think one of three things…

1. You didn’t go to City v Charlton.
2. You did go but weren’t in the Kippax.
3. Your brain has chosen to blank the day.
Click to expand...
Similar to the everton qf replay in the kippax , I lost a shoe in the melee that night , my mum wasnt best pleased
 
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