RIchard Edgehill. A dark stain on the reputation of our fans.
The important thing to remember is that when Edgehill was with us we were plummetting down from the top half of the Premier League to the bottom half of the third tier. Our crowds were notoriously restless and unhappy. The ground would be a theatre of anger and frustration. When Edgehill broke through he looked a real prospect. I remember him playing centre half against Newcastle and he looked like a future international. But he got an injury, came back and struggled.
And he became the whipping boy, the symbol of our ineptitude. He took some merciless abuse sometimes. That infamous game when he had a howler (someone above said Coventry but I can't remember the opponents), after his errors the crowd were so incensed that every time he got the ball there were loud boos around the ground. At the time I felt so sorry for him and so annoyed that this is what it had come to. But it was like a bonding thing amongst some city fans, a way to focus our pain. "Fucking Edgehill", someone posted above, and that was what many people referred to him as.
When we got to the second division everyone had a long hard look at themselves and there was something of an amnesty, as we all tried to rally round in that second half of the season to finally turn the club around. His form was consistent, he became popular again and a lot of people felt embarrassed about the treatment he'd been given. When the abuse was at it's worst he never moaned once, he just took it and carried on giving his all, and a lot recognised that.
And then Gillingham. He walked up to take that crucial spot kick and every single blue in the ground looked at each other. He had never, ever scored for City. A ripple of fear spread around our support and there was even a nervous, hopeful round of applause as he walked up. He was the only player to get that.
And he banged in in the top corner, turned to us fans and kissed the badge as we roared in relief. You could see the raw emotion and relief all over his face. I'm getting goosebumps now thinking of the significance of that moment.
For the way he took that abuse, got his nose to the grindstone and delivered the goods with that penalty in our hour of darkness, he deserves to be a fucking hero.
