Stories of meeting City fans in unusual places

[Dave Ewing's Back 'eader]

In 1973, me and 2 mates went for a "cultural" holiday in Lloret de mar. (Believe that and I have some magic beans I can sell you)
One morning, about 5am, we were returning from an educational trip to the various hostelries in the town, when we bumped into 5 other lads who had also been visiting the cultural highlights.
It must be pointed out that we were singing traditional songs robustly at the time (eg, "we'll drink a drink a drink...."), and the lads asked if we were English, which we confirmed. One of the lads then said "We just love Manchester City!"
It turned out that they were all members of the Oslo branch of the Supporters Club.
We returned to our hotel, with our guests, and fortunately the bar was still open, so we had a long discussion with them, with several drinks, before bidding them adieu.

I don't believe, never mind the magic beans, that this discussion was in fluent Norwegian. Did Uncle Ollie get a mention?

 

[crazyg]

I don't believe, never mind the magic beans, that this discussion was in fluent Norwegian. Did Uncle Ollie get a mention?

At the time of this meeting, he would have been 4 months old, so I doubt it. No, the discussion was in fluent gibberish at that time in the morning - a language that most are fluent in after several glasses of cuba libre.

 

[JOGAMIGMOG]

I was on business in Nigeria in July 2010. We were initially in Abuja for a few days. Two of us then had to flew north to Kano. This was prior to moving on to Lagos and then to Accra and Kumasi in Ghana. Kanu is no longer considered safe for Europeans. It was an alcohol free zone (apart from the Nigerian Army barracks). We went for a meal and met up with two of our business contacts amid the regular power cuts.

It turns out that one of them was from Manchester. He picked up my accent and asked if I was a Red or a Blue. I told him and it turned he was also a Blue. We spent the remainder of the evening talking about City's narrow failure to qualify for the Champions League and the looming threat of the proposed FFP policy.

Bloody hell, are you in the secret service or something? Who the hell goes working out there? :-)

 

[JOGAMIGMOG]

The first day of my walk from JoG to Lands End was May 18th 2019. On the Friday night I’d stayed in Wick and scoped out the local Spoons so I could watch the game. With a deadline of 5pm for ko I had a brisk 20 odd mile to get back to Wick. Managed to find a quiet corner with a tv in pole position. A bloke came and sat on the table next to me and after 10 mins of me kicking every ball he asked the obvious question… are you a city fan? Turns out he was as well, him and his mate were cycling the NW500 (his mate was a rag who he’d left putting up their tent). Pete from Cornwall if you happen to read this I managed the next 62 days and 1200 miles - it was great sharing a great game with you, I hope you’re still cycling!

Love it! Well done on the JOGLE. I’ve done it twice but on my bike! With your username you fit right in with my opening post! Did you do a blog of your walk?

 

[Beswick Prize Bands Big Drum]

We were on holiday in Barbados in 1993 and traveling into Bridgetown on one of the buses that played loud reggae music, this Barbadian lad jumps on spots my shirt and shout out that's the best football club in the world, but in a Barbados accent.

 

[eyalluvitt]

I met an American City supporting family all proudly wearing the maroon away ‘Tevez’ shirts in the Cheesecake Factory @ King of Prussia Mall, Philadelphia a few years ago.

 

[Irlamblue]

I was speaking to Steve Hodge in the Gary Speed lounge after the leeds away game in may .
He informed me that he was a boyhood city fan. Colin Bell was his hero!!

Yes- he mentioned the pending shirt sale.

 

[GornikDaze]

Love it! Well done on the JOGLE. I’ve done it twice but on my bike! With your username you fit right in with my opening post! Did you do a blog of your walk?

Haha I noticed the Gornik reference. My memories of that game were listening on a crappy transistor radio under the bed sheets trying to avoid my parents telling me to turn it off!
There is a blog of the walk somewhere, I’ll try and find it if you’re interested

 

[deegee33]

Another one from me. I went for a job interview in Norwich and the guy interviewing me asked me if I supported City or united. Obviously I told him I was a Blue and, with that, he got his wallet out and passed me his City season ticket. What was even more bizarre was he sat 10 rows in front of me in 102 (which we were in for our first few years at the Etihad.

We went to get a coffee from the vending machine, and there was another City fan there, so the three of us chatted City for a few minutes. When the interview finished, I walked out of the building and straight in front of me was a woman with a City hat on.

So, did you get the job?

 

[JGL07]

Bloody hell, are you in the secret service or something? Who the hell goes working out there? :-)

We were recruiting students. It was to interview local applicants.

Kano is a lovely City if totally chaotic. There were gecko lizards everywhere. Kano claims to have a bigger population than Lagos as the biggest City in Nigeria. That is a ploy by the State Governor to attract more federal funding.

Driving along we saw a moped with three people on board. One of the passengers had a flat screen TV under one arm and a roll of carpet under the other.

Since I was there the group Boko Harum has carried out so many attacks and kidnappings in the north of Nigeria that Kano has become a no-go area for westerners.

The trip became more interesting later. In Lagos we watched Ghana being robbed by Uruguay in the World Cup QF. Suarez handled the ball in the last seconds of the game and was sent off. But Ghana missed the penalty and Uruguay won on penalties. Naturally Liverpool signed the cheating bastard, Suarez, a year later!

A few days later we arrived in Accra and found that the Ghanaian World Cup squad were staying in our hotel after returning from South Africa, and had a reception in the bar.