[They can relegate us to the fucking non league for all I care] has been my stance throughout. It's not that I don't care necessarily, its that it won't drastically affect me if they relegate us to semi-pro to be honest. The vast majority of my life, City have been bouncing between wank, depressing and an embarrassment. I started supporting them under those conditions, living down the road from the country's most dominating, successful and celebrated club in their most dominant, successful and celebrated era. The idea that results or success define my support and passion for City in any way is not reflective of how City are perceived in my life.
One of the reason I always give time to help out City projects such as Bluemoon or the others is because City supporters, to me, were a surrogate family. Me and my old man didn't really get on much growing up as we're different people but going to Maine Road with him and the lads was our shared connection. When I became around 11 or so, I started going on my own when he was working away, jumping on the bus and trying to jib in or whatever and my Dad used to quietly ask the lads he knew were going to keep one eye on me and make sure I was alright, and they did. They sneaked me in, gave me their programmes for my collection and even bought me a cheeky half pint once in a while. As I grew up surrounded by United fans my own age, it could be a lonely time when we were getting battered and they were stomping teams, so these older lads used to tell me stories of the 60s and 70s, about how it wasn't always like this and it seemed almost mythical. It's one of the reasons why Kinkladze was such a big player to me - Paul Lake was my hero growing up because my name is also Paul and he was a City fan and when you're a kid, these things matter to you. But Kinkladze was someone who harked back to an era where football was exciting to watch and City had a mercurial talent. Even my Dad's mates were raving about him like they raved about Bell or Lee. That connection from them being young lads who wanted to watch their heroes but now suffering and seeing a young lad adopt a new silky hero made them feel young and positive.
Now I have my own young family and family members who I pass my experiences on to. It's not what those lads did for me - telling me that better days would come again, now it's more like trying to show them perspective that in the grand scheme of things the results don't really matter so not to flip out every time we draw because all they've seen is success. It's my generation's job to look out for young lads now and grass them up to their Dad for ballooning around. And one day it will be their job because ultimately we all look out for each other, that is always what has made City great to me. When you pass someone in the street with a City shirt on and you share that little nod of respect. Because they're "one of us" for lack of a better term. I could meet my worst enemy in a pub but if they were a City fan then we have a shared heritage and a common point of interest to have a chat and a laugh about. Stories from Maine Road but also now from Dortmund or Madrid. It builds bridges.
The idea that this will ever be challenged by some legal ruling or what team we're playing against is unfathomable to me and the people who are United fans, for example, that now declare that football is rubbish and they've lost passion for it are people I side-eye suspiciously. They weren't in it for the same reasons that I was and am. My enthusiasm for my surrogate family, my community of like minded people, is not based on how many goals we score or how fast our midfielders are. It's based on memories and heritage and looking out for your own, it's a personal relationship. Football is not an entertainment product to me, it's a working class culture that has been pervasive in my family and my area for a hundred years. They can dock us a million points and I'll still be there excited to watch us play the Dog and Duck Reserves.
Football is ultimately about the people and not the game and those who lose passion based on how successful we are have a different type of support from me.
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