I remember when we were that abysmal..

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I was (playing) the towns’ fool, shouting to anyone that mocked City and praised United:
“You can all laugh now. And laugh at me if you want. But one day a sheik from the East will buy my club. And we will conquer the diseased world of football. We will be even bigger than United. Beware and be afraid”.
 
Damocles said:
I think that every City fan has had that moment where the frustration just boils over the top and you question why the fuck you're spending your money/weekend following these bunch of fucking wankers around who constantly let you down.

I remember mine down to the very day - it's the only game I've ever walked out of in disgust. Charlton at home on the day before New Years Eve 2000. By the time I walked out, I probably should have turned off the lights based on the remaining attendance. There were worse games we played and worse performances that we'd had but maybe due to the optimism of the preceding seasons, I really bought into us as a team that was going places against my own experience and common sense.

The game was terrible. We were 2-0 down in about the first 15 minutes against a Charlton that weren't exactly world beaters themselves but still looked like they had a brighter future than what we had. One of the goals was a corner that was whipped in and the ball was at Howey's feet for long enough that I probably could have walked onto the pitch from my seat, picked it up in my hands and threw it away for the amount of time he had to clear it and he still failed to defend it. There was another one where Weaver had a goal kick and he just casually kicked the ball directly to their winger for a free one on one. Goater missed an absolute sitter where all he had to do was literally stand still and let the ball bounce off him and he put it right over the bar. Then there was the icing on the cake - Dunne attempted to clear the ball while 30 yards out by just twatting it at the Charlton player who got an odd connection and it looped all the way over Weaver's head. From 30 yards. We could get Messi to try that 600 times now and it would never come off again. Summed up City entirely - equal measures of bad luck, incompetence and frustration.

There were worse games in City's history and the stuff in the lower leagues was awful to watch but that game was my personal boiling point. You know, we were shit and that from 95ish onwards but after the double promotion you thought that maybe we'd turn a corner and get back to the early 90s form. We'd just signed George Weah FFS, things were on the up. 2000/01 was a fucker of a season because it took all of that new dawn optimism and crushed it. We didn't start the season well but I remember thinking that it was an adjustment and we'd played some really big teams so maybe we'd be alright. Then we lost to Ipswich at home in what might have been the most disgusting first half performance I'd ever seen from City but the optimism was still fighting against the oncoming storm of reality and I thought maybe it was just a blip. The Charlton game was the wakeup that this was not a blip, that we weren't unlucky with the fixtures, that this "too good for the lower league but not good enough to not be embarrassed in the PL" stage was what the immediate future held and the raging frustration just kicked in all at once. If I had to walk past the bench to get out, I might have even become one of those raving lunatics who runs on the pitch and throws their season ticket at them.

There's a few times in life where you really remember not just the events that happened around you but also exactly how you felt. Your own personal store of this emotion that's kept in a barrel in a storeroom that you can open when you need it; like remembering how you felt on the birth of your kids or your wedding day when you need a bit of a lift. My barrel of whatever that emotion can be called where you mix contempt, frustration, rage, disappointment and disillusionment together has a label saying Charlton 2000 (h) on it. It's also why I can't ever be a flapper in whether we sign Haaland or if Pep plays a DM in the CL Final or whatever the latest drama is. Because as soon as I feel myself getting really frustrated, I go to my barrel, peek under the lid and remember watching Claus Jensen's goal fly over Weaver's head and think to myself "you know what, we got through that so we'll probably get through this too".
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My Mum died on the 21st December, this game just about rounded off the worst Christmas ever. I left early and went home got pissed and went to bed! Think that was the closest I have come to giving up. In the cold light of day I just had a chuckle to myself and thought - yep, that's City for you! Would any of us had them any other way? In a heartbeat we would. Look back with pride though in all of us Blues back then and how we kept on turning up and getting smashed on and off the pitch! The football was meh, the piss ups were superb.
 
LongsightM13 said:
Neither were traditional rivals but we were locked in often bitter promotion battles with both Ipswich and Charlton.
Managers and fanbases of both were often publicly disparaging of our club and our fans. Especially Burley at Ipswich
And both fanbases revelled in our demises as we struggled to consolidate consecutive promotions while they stayed up.
So, quite frankly, Fuck Ipswich and Fuck Charlton.
I have thoroughly enjoyed and revelled in their many many years of third division misery and I sincerely hope both showers of absolute twats suffer even more years of torture before they eventually go bankrupt.
Nearly got my wish with Charlton on more than one occasion but better luck next time. Ipswich have spent beyond their means so hopefully administration is just round the corner.
Charlton are only ever five years from a financial meltdown anyway, it would be a Dignitas mercy killing if they went bust and started again.
There is a serious and genuine Curse of Manchester City btw
Luton, Bury, Stockport, Oldham, Ipswich, Charlton, Lincoln, York, Bristol Rovers etc etc
You might beat us a time or two when we are down and out, at our lowest ebb, but sooner or later you end up begging and tramping it in non-league, gasping for every breath of survival like a dropped goldfish, while City soar to a different universe.
You showed us zero sympathy or respect back then, indeed you laughed your balls off at us.
So you will, of course, fully respect and show due sympathy when we say fuck you all and fuck your tinpot shitholes. We will toast your every defeat and failure. We will laugh our bollocks off when you go bust, as you thought we were going to do back then.
Bitter Bert? You better fucking believe it
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I revel in the well deserved misfortunes of Ipswich and Charlton. Particularly Ipswich. Those two sets of fans went out of of their way to back each other and go against City in the 1999-2000 promotion campaign and revelled in our relegation season the year after. Particularly Ipswich and Burley. I will never forgive those "You're the weakest link - good bye" banners - on the day we went down at Ipshit - far beyond singing "going down" - just premeditated shithousery. They showed us no empathy and only hatred.

I'm not inclined to forgive or forget that ever.

Sure, I'm bitter but that's the way it is, and is highly unlikely to change.

In perspective, there was no problem with Palace fans during that promotion battle in 88-89 that Trevor Morley clinched for us. No discernible bitterness from Palace fans. I've written a piece about it in a Palace fanzine. No issues even if their team was a bunch of dirty bastards that kicked our kids off the park the year before. At a fan level, no issue. Some City and Palace fans even swapped shirts, scarves and best wishes at the Palace v City match week before their 1990 Cup Final against the scum. I bumped into a City fan I knew that night wearing a Palace top.

Luton hurt and still brings back terrible memories but I have moved on from that. They were trying to survive and there wasn't the vitriol towards City. Met several Luton fans since over a pint (a mate of mine follows them) and it hasn't been a problem, even if the words "Raddy" and "Antic" get an airing. They aren't rubbing it in. More them relating how happy they were to stay up (and get out in tact) and me conveying the mixture of anguish, shock and misery etc of the first relegation for many of us.

With Ipswich and Charlton its always been very different experience for me.

Every Saturday I take a peek at the 3rd Division results (wishing success to Wednesday, Sunderland, Donny and Rotherham) but also the quiet satisfaction of seeing Ipshit and Charlton losing - particularly Ipshit. It is exactly what those two sets of fans deserve without exception.

I loved their every struggle on their way down to Division 3 and I love their stagnation in it. I just hope they do a Grimsby or Stockport and fall further and further.

Talking of which, Stockport fans revelled in our demise beyond the pale forgetting how much they were (and still are to a degree) followed by City fans. I won't go as far as saying I enjoyed their demise as much - my cousin is a lifelong County fan - because even their behaviour falls short of the shithousery of Charlton and Ipswich fans in my book. Those Southern twats can rot forever and I will raise a glass to that till my dying day.
 
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Zabbasbeard said:
I revel in the well deserved misfortunes of Ipswich and Charlton. Particularly Ipswich. Those two sets of fans went out of of their way to back each other and go against City in the 1999-2000 promotion campaign and revelled in our relegation season the year after. Particularly Ipswich and Burley. I will never forgive those "You're the weakest link - good bye" banners - on the dance went down at Ipshit - far beyond singing "going down" - judt premeditated shithousery. They showed us no empathy and only hatred.

I'm not inclined to forgive or forget that ever.

Sure I'm bitter but that's the way it is and is highly unlikely to change.

In perspective, there was no problem with Palace fans during that promotion battle in 88-89 that Trevor Morley clinched for us. No discernible bitterness from Palace fans. I've written a piece about it in a Palace fanzine. No issues even if their ream was a bunch of dirty bastards that kicked our kids off the park the year before. At a fan level, no issue. Some City and Palace fans even swapped shirts, scarvesand best wishes at the Palace v City match week before their 1990 Cup Final against the scum. I bumped into a City fan I knew that night wearing a Palace top.

Luton hurt and still brings back terrible memories but I have moved on from that. They were trying to survive and there wasn't the vitriol towards City. Met several Luton fans since over a pint (a mate of mine follows them) and it hasn't been a problem, even if the words "Raddy" and "Antic" get an airing. They aren't rubbing it in. More them relating how happy they were to stay up (and get out in tact) and me conveying the mixture of anguish, shock and misery etc of the first relegation for many of us.

With Ipswich and Charlton its always been very different experience for me.

Every Saturday I take a peek at the 3rd Division results (wishing success to Wednesday, Sunderland, Donny and Rotherham) but also the quiet satisfaction of seeing Ipshit and Charlton losing - particularly Ipshit. It is exactly what those two sets of fans deserve without exception.

I loved their every struggle on their way down to Division 3 and I love their stagnation in it. I just hope they do a Grimsby or Stockport and fall further and further.

Talking of which, Stockport fans revelled in our demise beyond the pale forgetting how much they were (and still are to a degree) followed by City fans. I won't go as far as saying I enjoyed their demise as much - my cousin is a lifelong County fan - because even their behaviour falls short of the shithousery of Charlton and Ipswich fans in my book. Those Southern twats can rot forever and I will take a glass to that till my dying day.
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My man
 
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