Overseas support

[City1974]

There really are only four or five leagues that gain worldwide interest/coverage and a vast majority of the world's population doesn't live in those countries so it's inevitable that teams in those countries will see a lot of non-local support. Then, there is one league that appeals to Americans and that is the PL, we speak the same language (for the most part) and the style of play is more along the lines of what we like to see in sports. The PL also boasts more competitiveness than the other leagues. So it was either choose a PL side and support them or just follow the boring USMNT.

Something that the locals that resent us need to remember is that it's easy to support City when you live in Manchester. People are talking about the team, the local news covers them and you can easily attend matches. Fans from abroad have to work to see them play and to get news/updates. When somebody asks us who we support they inevitably think we mean the scum because 90% of Americans have never heard of Man City. We also get made fun of for following a "pussy sport" played by a bunch of "yard faeries". In the years I've supported City I've only ever met two other Americans who are also supporters. I could have taken the easy path and been a scum fan since everybody I encountered supported them. Instead, I picked City and when matches weren't on cable (which was rare back in the day) I'd have to go to the local bar to watch them. This only meant non-stop abuse from glory hunting scum fans.

So, for what I've had to put up with, and the work I've done to watch them over the years, I feel I have just as much right to support City as any Mancunian.

If you shed a tear of joy when Aguero scored v QPR you are definitely a True Blue.

Welcome all City fans everywhere.

Now your job is to turn the USA into a hotbed for City support.

Moyes did half of my job for me. And I shed a tear when Benjani scored on his debut.

It also helps if you laughed when this happened to relegate Utd in 1974

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRgAW_lvplo

 

[Ascetic]

Enjoy your trip when you visit Manchester.

Take in a game (Newcastle at home maybe a good home fixture in February), maybe even a Stadium Tour and visit the CFA, Hope you have a great time and will want to come back again, and will continue to follow City.

Remember once a Blue always a Blue , you will find you can't escape following City, once hooked, even if you try, no matter what.

Wasn't David Pizarro who we had on loan in Jan 2012 - June 2012 from Roma also a Chilean (Think he scored for us in a 2nd Leg Europa League tie v Porto at the Etihad)?

Cheers. Yes, it was Pizarro unfortunately in his last legs. I think he was brilliant during his time with Spalletti's Roma.

I can't pick and choose dates but I will be there for the Hull game and the tour is a distinct possibility.

 

[City1974]

Enjoy your trip when you visit Manchester.

Take in a game (Newcastle at home maybe a good home fixture in February), maybe even a Stadium Tour and visit the CFA, Hope you have a great time and will want to come back again, and will continue to follow City.

Remember once a Blue always a Blue , you will find you can't escape following City, once hooked, even if you try, no matter what.

Wasn't David Pizarro who we had on loan in Jan 2012 - June 2012 from Roma also a Chilean (Think he scored for us in a 2nd Leg Europa League tie v Porto at the Etihad)?

Cheers. Yes, it was Pizarro unfortunately in his last legs. I think he was brilliant during his time with Spalletti's Roma.

I can't pick and choose dates but I will be there for the Hull game and the tour is a distinct possibility.

All the best,

Hull at home not the most attractive fixture, but perhaps easier to get tickets for and who cares as long as it is another 3 points on towards another League Title !

Why not also visit the Football Museum in city centre Manchester (near Victoria Train Station) if you get the opportunity.

Hope the weather is kind in February when you visit.

 

[Ascetic]

Enjoy your trip when you visit Manchester.

Take in a game (Newcastle at home maybe a good home fixture in February), maybe even a Stadium Tour and visit the CFA, Hope you have a great time and will want to come back again, and will continue to follow City.

Remember once a Blue always a Blue , you will find you can't escape following City, once hooked, even if you try, no matter what.

Wasn't David Pizarro who we had on loan in Jan 2012 - June 2012 from Roma also a Chilean (Think he scored for us in a 2nd Leg Europa League tie v Porto at the Etihad)?

Cheers. Yes, it was Pizarro unfortunately in his last legs. I think he was brilliant during his time with Spalletti's Roma.

I can't pick and choose dates but I will be there for the Hull game and the tour is a distinct possibility.

All the best,

Hull at home not the most attractive fixture, but perhaps easier to get tickets for and who cares as long as it is another 3 points on towards another League Title !

Why not also visit the Football Museum in city centre Manchester (near Victoria Train Station) if you get the opportunity.

Hope the weather is kind in February when you visit.

I think I might get away with one of the museums and the game but not both. I'm not travelling alone and given the girl and I both are fans of The Smiths it'll be a negotiation over what we do.

As for the weather I'm counting on proper winter. We're heading to Edinburgh immediately afterwards and I need the break from an already scorching austral summer.

 

[mancity2012_eamo]

Ireland is an interesting example:
You can't take all of the best players out of a country - usually before they've even had a chance to play in their domestic league and then say "no, you piss off and support the leftovers, Paddy. You're not welcome here - only your best players are."
Life doesn't work like that and, to be fair most locals accept the situation for the way it is.

I was going to answer an earlier post a few pages back, but you've summed up nicely the situation with Irish Football.
The earlier post was asking a genuine question about why Irish people follow English football teams. His train of thought was that the League of Ireland would be much stronger if we followed our own. I'm not so sure about that.
A lot of people over here follow both although I would say more just follow English football without any great allegiance locally.
Ireland is not a big enough country to support a professional league. My opinion is that there are already too many teams for a city the size of Dublin.
St.Pats., Shelbourne, Bohemians, Shamrock Rovers.....
You make the point of the cream leaving the country for trials in Britain anyway. This is certainly true, although I'm not sure what we send over now are of the standard required to make it in the premiership. Feeder Clubs like Home Farm and St. Kevins Boys over here hoover up the best kids from the local teams, most of which don't even make their first teams. The parents seem to see it as a way of being seen by a Premiership scout.
Most kids who do get a trial in Britain, come back disappointed. Some stay in football here but not all.
This is one problem. Another is the shambles of a governing body call the FAI. Soccer (I'll call it that to distinguish it) competes over here with Gaelic Football and Hurling (The GAA) throughout the country and now also with Rugby.
The GAA is the amateur body governing the Gaelic Games over here but for all their faults they are running a far more professional outfit than the FAI who are utter amateurs. They have the Infrastructure and support in the community, in every parish North and South of the border. The facilities that they have at local level leaves Football (Soccer) in the pox'n'poverty place.
A lot of our really talented athletes don't end up playing high level Football, they play Gaelic Games.

Anyway, I'm not trying to make excuses. The way it was when I was growing up, everyone loved football but we weren't even allowed play it, in the Christian Brother School that I went to. We could see MOTD and The Big Match at the weekend on television. You never saw League of Ireland matches.
That was back in the early 1970's. Kids now are saturated with football globally on Sky and BT Sports, Setanta etc.

Why in 1970, as a seven year old, when asked to choose by my brothers and neighbour kids, I chose City, I don't know. There were actually a few of us on the road back then, as well as the usual mix of UTD/Liverpool and Chelsea and Leeds were big then also.
One thing I will say is, that people of my generation would not class themselves as glory hunters, even the RED followers. When you picked your team for whatever reason you stuck with it. Naturally with Utd winning so much in the premiership era, you had a whole generation that latched onto them and all they know is the premiership years. From the time my young lad was about 5 or 6 he was in his City jersey (because of me, initially) and was being slagged in school and on his football team. I told him to keep calm. Their days were numbered. Your time is coming.
The best moment of his life so far was being behind the goal when Sergio scored on 93:20 against QPR. He's hooked. Is he a glory hunter? Some of you might say so. He only endured 5 years or so of mild slagging in school. I've told him about the lean years and that City were a great team back in the seventies but went down through the leagues and back up. He knows there was football before the premiership.
We only get over to about 2-3 matches a year because of the cost, but it's a real highlight and buzz for him. He loves Manchester and every time we are over we are always treated very well by everyone. I've never experienced any negativity from anyone I've talked to, about us coming over from Ireland.

The only place I've ever read negativity about it, is on the forum. This was one of the reasons it took me so long to actually post and not just read.

 

[Wilmslow Road]

I would love for one of these morons to bump into the lads who come up from Cheltenham area every match, do all the aways and Europeans. Have been following City for years. Most have West County accents. Their bus is parked outside the Townley for all home games. So if you hear anyone slagging off people from outside Manchester tell them to go and have a word with these lads.

 

[cyberblue]

I started following in 2010 as it was the first year I had access to regular pay TV. I have always liked football, played it when I was younger but never had opportunities to watch it, nor any friends to enjoy it with. So it was mainly international games you would follow - so it was players like Ronaldo, Zidane, Baggio that we mostly knew about. Football is getting bigger in Australia but is still far behind Australian Rules Football and Sniff 'n' Push (Rugby League) especially in Far North Queensland where I moved to in my teens.

I support the Carlton Blues in the AFL, as my family does and always has, and the Melbourne Victory in our football league, as that is where I grew up. So when you are born into a club its strange to try and pick one to support...the blue part made sense, I never liked the other team, and to be honest watching all the videos of fans chanting (e.g. ballotelli's song) and seeing that sense of humour made me want to be a part of it. And yes. the fact the club was competing for trophies was a draw card.

So for the last four years I have been staying up til 1am or getting up at 4:30 to watch games before work and would love to be able to watch games at the pub on a Saturday/Sunday arvo or better yet regularly go to games. I've been to one game when I visited the UK in 2013. I took my Kiwi mate (who ONLY watches Union) to the end of January QPR away fixture - the only game I was able to get too. I couldn't get two tickets with the city fans so we went incognito in the home fans section. Being the tourists we were we bought match day scarves. After getting lost outside the ground afterwards we were set upon by 10 or so angry QPR youths ( they got a draw, I mean they should have been laughing) as we had the sky blue part of the scarves showing more than the royal....Although we couldn't understand a word they were saying and likewise, we managed to talk our way out of what was probably going to be a hiding, and managed to get safely back to the train station...and that was my cold rainy intro to football in the UK...later I found out my Kiwi mate could have got us tickets to the Liverpool home fixture but he (conveniently) forgot because the six nations was on...

Plans are for a 2 year visa - so can't wait to try and get to a home game :)

Nice 1, great story Baz

 

[Ascetic]

The only place I've ever read negativity about it, is on the forum. This was one of the reasons it took me so long to actually post and not just read.

Good to know I wasn't the only one. I lurked for over a year before registering.

 

[philiph20]

I can understand why people loathe the IRA and hate Celtic but to link the City fans both north and south of the border with them is ridiculous to put it mildly. The shit that these fans have put up with over the years at the hands of their fellow countrymen who follow the 'ugly sisters' i.e the rags and Liverpool must have been colossal yet they have followed City over land and sea for years even when we were at our lowest. They are the complete antithesis of a plastic or glory hunting fan unlike the easy option taking 'cowards' who' follow' those in red, they have my admiration and respect and long may they continue crossing the Irish sea.

 

[Tanzeylee]

I hope visiting Manchester will be a great experience, I really do.

You are visiting one of the great cities of the UK, one with a rich and powerful history, a vibrant popular culture and a proud, hard-working population reflecting such a deep heritage and traditions. You will be welcomed and you can look forward to having a great time here.

But bring an umbrella...