I was a big Sun Jihai fan.
Not because he was a class player - he was average, at best.
But he was always up for it, looked like he loved being a footballer, always seemed to love it if he got a song about him and the 'Dad's got a chippy' song made me piss myself on his debut.
Plus, he ran a bit like Michael Johnson, as if he had a broom stuck up his arse.
I struggled to forgive him though for what he did against West Ham in that quarter final though.
This is a match that I was well up for. A cup quarter final seemed like the Champion's League final and I was convinced that this was City's big chance.
By some fucking quirk of fate, going into the match people were pinning their hopes on the clown that was Samaras being available. I think he was sub in the end but I couldn't believe the frenzy that people were in, desperate for that shithouse to play.
Anyway, that match seemed like the biggest thing that had happened to City for ages. A home game against 'easy' opposition to get to a semi final. I couldn't even remember what a semi final was.
So, come the game, City are playing absolutely shit and don't turn up. But at 0-1 (or maybe 0-0) Sun Jihai, a bloke who had never said boo to a goose - I mean, he didn't pull out and he did kung fu that bloke on his debut, but he never 'gave it out' intentionally - comes down in front of my seat at the time to chase a ball out. The West Ham player does the same, gives him the shoulder or a shove, nothing noteworthy, and old Sun turns around and Jackie Chan's him.
I couldn't believe it. There was no way he was getting away with it and he gets a red, leaving us with 10 men in this game that I was pinning all my hopes on. I was fuming. He could have no complaints and he had never been that type of player. I called him every name under the sun that night.
Couldn't not like him though. But that's the first thing I think of now whenever his name is mentioned.
Came across as a good bloke though and I seem to remember him giving the rags some on the pitch at half time last season - when he looked about 57.
My brother says he saw him driving away from the stadium towards town after one game and people saw him at the light and started dancing round his car, singing the 'Aye, aye, yippee' song. And he was loving it. Comes across as the sort of bloke who would.
That fucking red card though......
