Blue2112
Well-Known Member
This day's been coming, we've all known that since the takeover happened. Two years ago we lost out in the League Cup Sem Final to them, it hurt and it was first blood in the jousting to them. Ferguson danced with delight in the dug-out as City were forced to put their plans to topple their illustrious neighbours on hold but as Phil Mcnulty the BBC's chief football writer wrote at the time ''It was the clearest indication of the extent to which the so-called "noisy neighbours" have got up Manchester United and Sir Alex Ferguson's nose''.
Last season we locked horns once again in what was to date the most important 'Manchester Derby' of my lifetime. That day will live me forever and the moment Yaya scored followed by the final five minutes and full time whistle are without doubt the two most single exhilirating moments of my footballing life, just about edging out Paul Dickov's dream goal. I even took my top off and swirled it around my head bare chested, not a pretty site but the moment all consumed me. Duncan White of the Telegraph wrote ''The balance of power does not change overnight but when Manchester City look back on this game it will be a landmark result in the ambitious development of the club.''
We went into the Community Shield against them and I thought go on Blues put them in their place, the reality is that it's a nothing game but let's impose ourselves at show them we're now here for good. We went in at half time with a 2-0 lead without really threatening them and when they came out without their main centre backs I thought we'd go on to batter them. Instead they got hold of the game, ran us ragged and pulled it back to 2-2. Mancini then made a few strange subs and I sat there thinking what's he doing, we need to get into them and win this game not take a forward off for a midfielder. They won the game with that last gasp Nani goal and I was gutted. Friendly or not I hadn't gone to London to see us capitulate like that and it sent out all the wrong signs before the season had even began.
On the tube I remember saying it was if Mancini had decided the game wasn't worth bothering with and instead had treated it as a live experimental game where he could do things without fear of reprisal for the greater good later in the season. It sounds crazy now but in a funny way I remember thinking that Zulu war chiefs used to send they're older and more weaker warriors into battle first. The chief would look down from a hilltop and would count the enemies guns and positions for when he was ready to go to war, he sacrificed his warriors for the greater good and they knew it and were prepared to die for it. Mancini the great Italian football chief!
He then guided us through a remarkable opening spell to the season, breaking records all over the place. He masterminded the 6-1 which prompted Phil Mcnulty to write once again of the noisy neighbours - ''As Ferguson strode briskly towards the Stretford End at the final whistle, he will have been reflecting on the extent of the challenge now facing him from the club he once branded "noisy neighbours" - the pendulum swung both ways as the season progressed and try as we might we just could not shake off United's challenge. Like the proverbial Jack Russell terrier around your ankles they eventually weared us down and then inexplicably lost sight of their own goals and quickly lost they're way thinking it was probably all over.
This game has now become the biggest 'Manchester Derby' since the last one at Wembley. It's a watershed game and it's a pivotal moment in our history, it's a massive game to use a 'Nited' pun, especially if we go on to win the title. Just as important we've been given a second chance to kick the Jack Russell right between it's teeth and maybe just maybe it won't bite back again.
Last season we locked horns once again in what was to date the most important 'Manchester Derby' of my lifetime. That day will live me forever and the moment Yaya scored followed by the final five minutes and full time whistle are without doubt the two most single exhilirating moments of my footballing life, just about edging out Paul Dickov's dream goal. I even took my top off and swirled it around my head bare chested, not a pretty site but the moment all consumed me. Duncan White of the Telegraph wrote ''The balance of power does not change overnight but when Manchester City look back on this game it will be a landmark result in the ambitious development of the club.''
We went into the Community Shield against them and I thought go on Blues put them in their place, the reality is that it's a nothing game but let's impose ourselves at show them we're now here for good. We went in at half time with a 2-0 lead without really threatening them and when they came out without their main centre backs I thought we'd go on to batter them. Instead they got hold of the game, ran us ragged and pulled it back to 2-2. Mancini then made a few strange subs and I sat there thinking what's he doing, we need to get into them and win this game not take a forward off for a midfielder. They won the game with that last gasp Nani goal and I was gutted. Friendly or not I hadn't gone to London to see us capitulate like that and it sent out all the wrong signs before the season had even began.
On the tube I remember saying it was if Mancini had decided the game wasn't worth bothering with and instead had treated it as a live experimental game where he could do things without fear of reprisal for the greater good later in the season. It sounds crazy now but in a funny way I remember thinking that Zulu war chiefs used to send they're older and more weaker warriors into battle first. The chief would look down from a hilltop and would count the enemies guns and positions for when he was ready to go to war, he sacrificed his warriors for the greater good and they knew it and were prepared to die for it. Mancini the great Italian football chief!
He then guided us through a remarkable opening spell to the season, breaking records all over the place. He masterminded the 6-1 which prompted Phil Mcnulty to write once again of the noisy neighbours - ''As Ferguson strode briskly towards the Stretford End at the final whistle, he will have been reflecting on the extent of the challenge now facing him from the club he once branded "noisy neighbours" - the pendulum swung both ways as the season progressed and try as we might we just could not shake off United's challenge. Like the proverbial Jack Russell terrier around your ankles they eventually weared us down and then inexplicably lost sight of their own goals and quickly lost they're way thinking it was probably all over.
This game has now become the biggest 'Manchester Derby' since the last one at Wembley. It's a watershed game and it's a pivotal moment in our history, it's a massive game to use a 'Nited' pun, especially if we go on to win the title. Just as important we've been given a second chance to kick the Jack Russell right between it's teeth and maybe just maybe it won't bite back again.