The David Makin interview

[twinkletoes]

Dave Makin is a top man gave me a lift home from Maine road a few times in my youth when I used to stand on the kippax with his brother and a few other blues from Heywood. Hd was kind enough to drop me in Middleton a few times on his way home. Him and John wardle saved this club from the brink on more than one occasion even when the responsibility to do so was no longer theirs. They should always be remembered and appreciated for that and have for me been instrumental in helping us to get to our current position. We would have been Sheffield Wednesday mark II without their support.

They sold their souls to the devil (Shinawatra).

 

[mcfc2112]

I don't neccesarily agree with you on that point. I would have until 2 season's ago, but not anymore. I go and watch my nephew play football on a Saturday morning in Lancaster when I visit my folks. When he first started going as a 4 year old, he was conspicuous by the fact that he was the only one in a City kit. I managed to bob down there last weekend and there were 6 of them in god's own blue (out of 4 pitches of 7 a side). I know it is not conclusive and purely anecdotal, but it was certainly noticable in the rag and pool stronghold.

Keep investing and keep winning things and the trend will continue, certainly in manchester.

Worth a thread on its own, this, in fact I did one some time ago.

You can see the effect that the period of this interview had on our support amongst our own fans, this forum being a good barometer. For most of our fans in their late teens, twenties and even early 30s there is this "reds under the bed" fear: Everyone's a "rag", "rags" are going to come and spoil our parade, our stewards are "rags" etc. There's this inbuild paranoia that everyone supports United which doesnt exist amongst the older generation.

I honestly don't know if we are turning the tide with the local kids or not, but I'm happy to take your word. Success wll surely help further. A personal bugbear of mine is the atmospehre in the stadium: kids want noise not cheesey games. I belive moving the away fans, even just accross the south stand, will attract more kids to want to come back.

The key is when the fans can (more or less) just shrug and go on. When they don't really care what the "rags" say, we're there. I'm not saying our fanbases won't hate each other. There's a difference though and it's hard to put into words. I think it's a distinct lack of fear which will either come if the other side starts doing poorly or both are doing very well.

I hate to drag a U.S. sports metaphor into it, but it's the best I have. United are basically the New York Yankees of football. The Yankees biggest rival are the Red Sox who went 86 years without a title of any sort. (Puts it in perspective doesn't it?) And it's not as if the Red Sox were small time either. They were a good team and at times a great team, but it had never worked out for them. And then in the semifinals in 2004, they went down 0-3 in a best of seven series. Only way back was to win four straight and that had never been done in baseball's history. But they (like us) did it in that semifinal and it carried them to a championship (again like us.) Before that, the hatred from the Red Sox fans was honestly palpable. It was as if they cared more for hurting the Yankees than they did about winning--not to say they didn't want to win, but any Yankee success was like an attack on their very souls. These days, it's like an exorcism has been performed. They still hate the Yankees, but they don't wake up and live their day and go to bed and then dream about the downfall of the Yankees. Now it's about the Red Sox.

Taconinja - your post got me thinking about the RedSox/Yankees rivalry...(as a Cubs fan I know about not winning things for a few years!)

As I see it, the main stem of the problem with the RedSox/Yankees was the fact that the Yankees founded their (early) success on Babe Ruth - who they had "acquired" from the RedSox. To such an extent that Yankee Stadium was (is still) referred to as "The House That Ruth Built".

From memory, the RedSox owners at the time were pretty much hated by the fans, were not especially squeaky clean with their financial dealings, and were basically milking the club for whatever they could get.

Now...to bring this back to current goings on...and some other possible parallels...

How sweet would it be if an extended Eastlands became known as "The House That Carlitos Built" and that the Stretford RedSox endured 86 years without winning again...?

 

[the kippax kid]

I'd been meaning to get round to writing an thread about dave makin and what a top blue he is, anyone who has ever met the man would say the same so when i see pricks on here slating someone who has probably spent more of their own dough on the club than anyone and not for a return or ego this lad did it out of love for his club.

I first met him whilst working at J.D. sports warehouse at this point he didnt own the club but JD used to do a lot of advertising/sponsoring of city, the job was proper shit but we used to play football on a wednesday night and if you were a good player it would normally qualify you for a better role in the warehouse, as Dave Makin, along with John Wardle, owned the gaf all the supervisors and managers would be trying to lick his arse where as me and my mate didn't give a fuck cos we were at the bottom of the pile and didnt really give a shit if we had a shitty job or not. One night i proper crunched him in a tackle, which was a fair one but a fuckin hard one at this point the warehouse manager, who was a complete twat, started having a go at me but Dave just got up shook my hand and said it was a good tackle this made the gaffer who everyone hated look like a right brown tonging bastard.
He was a quiet fella but you could tell he had no time for pricks who just wanted to suck up to him.
Only occasionally you would see him in the warehouse and he was a shy bloke who never spoke to anyone including the bosses so i think people, myself included percieved him as a miserable **** but one day he saw me wearing a city hat and commented about the match he then realised that me and my mate went everywhere home and away, from that day on he would always be dead keen to discuss anything city when he saw us and you know when someone loves your club as much as you do and this man did.
After that me and my mate would use our new found friendship with the owner to get special dispensations with some of the supervisors and managers who Dave Makin had never ever spoke to by pretending that we discussed the workings of the warehouse with him when in reality we only ever spoke about footy. It makes me laugh now thinking about how we'd have the supervisors eating out of our hands and from then on we never got refused an afternoon off if it was to travel for a midweek away game but the reds would get told no off the supervisors and they would whinge like fuck about us getting whatever we wanted which only made it funnier.
When the call was made to gmr we didn't see him in the warehouse as I think he would have hated the spotlight he put himself under, he wasn't doing any of that shit for himself it was for the good of the club.
When they eventually took over i know him and John Wardle were spending a lot of time putting things at the club right where swales had run us into the ground. I remember the small attendances that used to get read out when the kippax was packed, everyone knew swales had been fleecing the club for years.
I would still bump in to Dave now and then at the match he would always let on but i'd never really chat to him at the game as i would normally be too shitfaced too speak, he was a kippax boy himself and even when he owned the club he only ever sat in the kippax whilst everyone round him would have been unaware they were sat next to the clubs owner thats what kind of geezer he was.
I ended up leaving jd after a couple of years and the next time I saw him was a few years later. When we moved to Eastlands the atmosphere was shite so about 30 blues met up in a boozer in failsworth to try to sort it out I noticed he was there half way through the meeting when he come up with a suggestion, when he slipped off at the end I let some of the lads know who he was and some of them didn't believe me, where else would you get a millionaire owner of a football club coming to a meeting about the lack of atmosphere in a shitty boozer when he could be snorting coke off a hookers arse on a boat in the med.

He used to be a fireman before opening a sports shop in bury which went on to be the most succesful sports chain in britain, I'd like to know how many blues would really put their own dough into the club, i remember noel gallagher when asked at the time replieing "why would i want a load of scallys bricking my windows"
At the end of the day they let the club go and lost money but got us a spanking new ground and sold the club to a richer man in thaskin who could take us to the next level. At chelsea they lorded Matthew Harding because he boozed with the fans on the kings rd thinking he was great whilst he was probably on his own little ego trip.

I don't really know the man apart from playing football and discussing football with him a few times but i always think you can tell a lot about a person by the way they are on a football pitch and he just wanted to get on with it and not make a fuss and thats what he did. I for one give him maximum respect, a working class lad done good who didn't get stuck up his own arse and most of all a top blue.

P.S. and i think he got us the kappa kit which meant we were still the coolest team in the land even if we was in division 3

 

[Didsbury Dave]

I'd been meaning to get round to writing an thread about dave makin and what a top blue he is, anyone who has ever met the man would say the same so when i see pricks on here slating someone who has probably spent more of their own dough on the club than anyone and not for a return or ego this lad did it out of love for his club.

I first met him whilst working at J.D. sports warehouse at this point he didnt own the club but JD used to do a lot of advertising/sponsoring of city, the job was proper shit but we used to play football on a wednesday night and if you were a good player it would normally qualify you for a better role in the warehouse, as Dave Makin, along with John Wardle, owned the gaf all the supervisors and managers would be trying to lick his arse where as me and my mate didn't give a fuck cos we were at the bottom of the pile and didnt really give a shit if we had a shitty job or not. One night i proper crunched him in a tackle, which was a fair one but a fuckin hard one at this point the warehouse manager, who was a complete twat, started having a go at me but Dave just got up shook my hand and said it was a good tackle this made the gaffer who everyone hated look like a right brown tonging bastard.
He was a quiet fella but you could tell he had no time for pricks who just wanted to suck up to him.
Only occasionally you would see him in the warehouse and he was a shy bloke who never spoke to anyone including the bosses so i think people, myself included percieved him as a miserable **** but one day he saw me wearing a city hat and commented about the match he then realised that me and my mate went everywhere home and away, from that day on he would always be dead keen to discuss anything city when he saw us and you know when someone loves your club as much as you do and this man did.
After that me and my mate would use our new found friendship with the owner to get special dispensations with some of the supervisors and managers who Dave Makin had never ever spoke to by pretending that we discussed the workings of the warehouse with him when in reality we only ever spoke about footy. It makes me laugh now thinking about how we'd have the supervisors eating out of our hands and from then on we never got refused an afternoon off if it was to travel for a midweek away game but the reds would get told no off the supervisors and they would whinge like fuck about us getting whatever we wanted which only made it funnier.
When the call was made to gmr we didn't see him in the warehouse as I think he would have hated the spotlight he put himself under, he wasn't doing any of that shit for himself it was for the good of the club.
When they eventually took over i know him and John Wardle were spending a lot of time putting things at the club right where swales had run us into the ground. I remember the small attendances that used to get read out when the kippax was packed, everyone knew swales had been fleecing the club for years.
I would still bump in to Dave now and then at the match he would always let on but i'd never really chat to him at the game as i would normally be too shitfaced too speak, he was a kippax boy himself and even when he owned the club he only ever sat in the kippax whilst everyone round him would have been unaware they were sat next to the clubs owner thats what kind of geezer he was.
I ended up leaving jd after a couple of years and the next time I saw him was a few years later. When we moved to Eastlands the atmosphere was shite so about 30 blues met up in a boozer in failsworth to try to sort it out I noticed he was there half way through the meeting when he come up with a suggestion, when he slipped off at the end I let some of the lads know who he was and some of them didn't believe me, where else would you get a millionaire owner of a football club coming to a meeting about the lack of atmosphere in a shitty boozer when he could be snorting coke off a hookers arse on a boat in the med.

He used to be a fireman before opening a sports shop in bury which went on to be the most succesful sports chain in britain, I'd like to know how many blues would really put their own dough into the club, i remember noel gallagher when asked at the time replieing "why would i want a load of scallys bricking my windows"
At the end of the day they let the club go and lost money but got us a spanking new ground and sold the club to a richer man in thaskin who could take us to the next level. At chelsea they lorded Matthew Harding because he boozed with the fans on the kings rd thinking he was great whilst he was probably on his own little ego trip.

I don't really know the man apart from playing football and discussing football with him a few times but i always think you can tell a lot about a person by the way they are on a football pitch and he just wanted to get on with it and not make a fuss and thats what he did. I for one give him maximum respect, a working class lad done good who didn't get stuck up his own arse and most of all a top blue.

P.S. and i think he got us the kappa kit which meant we were still the coolest team in the land even if we was in division 3

An absolutely brilliant post mate

 

[the kippax kid]

cheers mate it took me fuckin ages, ive been meaning to write it since him n wardle left the club so im just putting this on so someone else reads it

 

[1961_vintage]

Fantastic insights and great posts from Dids and Kippax.

 

[MCFCinUSA]

I'd been meaning to get round to writing an thread about dave makin and what a top blue he is, anyone who has ever met the man would say the same so when i see pricks on here slating someone who has probably spent more of their own dough on the club than anyone and not for a return or ego this lad did it out of love for his club.

I first met him whilst working at J.D. sports warehouse at this point he didnt own the club but JD used to do a lot of advertising/sponsoring of city, the job was proper shit but we used to play football on a wednesday night and if you were a good player it would normally qualify you for a better role in the warehouse, as Dave Makin, along with John Wardle, owned the gaf all the supervisors and managers would be trying to lick his arse where as me and my mate didn't give a fuck cos we were at the bottom of the pile and didnt really give a shit if we had a shitty job or not. One night i proper crunched him in a tackle, which was a fair one but a fuckin hard one at this point the warehouse manager, who was a complete twat, started having a go at me but Dave just got up shook my hand and said it was a good tackle this made the gaffer who everyone hated look like a right brown tonging bastard.
He was a quiet fella but you could tell he had no time for pricks who just wanted to suck up to him.
Only occasionally you would see him in the warehouse and he was a shy bloke who never spoke to anyone including the bosses so i think people, myself included percieved him as a miserable **** but one day he saw me wearing a city hat and commented about the match he then realised that me and my mate went everywhere home and away, from that day on he would always be dead keen to discuss anything city when he saw us and you know when someone loves your club as much as you do and this man did.
After that me and my mate would use our new found friendship with the owner to get special dispensations with some of the supervisors and managers who Dave Makin had never ever spoke to by pretending that we discussed the workings of the warehouse with him when in reality we only ever spoke about footy. It makes me laugh now thinking about how we'd have the supervisors eating out of our hands and from then on we never got refused an afternoon off if it was to travel for a midweek away game but the reds would get told no off the supervisors and they would whinge like fuck about us getting whatever we wanted which only made it funnier.
When the call was made to gmr we didn't see him in the warehouse as I think he would have hated the spotlight he put himself under, he wasn't doing any of that shit for himself it was for the good of the club.
When they eventually took over i know him and John Wardle were spending a lot of time putting things at the club right where swales had run us into the ground. I remember the small attendances that used to get read out when the kippax was packed, everyone knew swales had been fleecing the club for years.
I would still bump in to Dave now and then at the match he would always let on but i'd never really chat to him at the game as i would normally be too shitfaced too speak, he was a kippax boy himself and even when he owned the club he only ever sat in the kippax whilst everyone round him would have been unaware they were sat next to the clubs owner thats what kind of geezer he was.
I ended up leaving jd after a couple of years and the next time I saw him was a few years later. When we moved to Eastlands the atmosphere was shite so about 30 blues met up in a boozer in failsworth to try to sort it out I noticed he was there half way through the meeting when he come up with a suggestion, when he slipped off at the end I let some of the lads know who he was and some of them didn't believe me, where else would you get a millionaire owner of a football club coming to a meeting about the lack of atmosphere in a shitty boozer when he could be snorting coke off a hookers arse on a boat in the med.

He used to be a fireman before opening a sports shop in bury which went on to be the most succesful sports chain in britain, I'd like to know how many blues would really put their own dough into the club, i remember noel gallagher when asked at the time replieing "why would i want a load of scallys bricking my windows"
At the end of the day they let the club go and lost money but got us a spanking new ground and sold the club to a richer man in thaskin who could take us to the next level. At chelsea they lorded Matthew Harding because he boozed with the fans on the kings rd thinking he was great whilst he was probably on his own little ego trip.

I don't really know the man apart from playing football and discussing football with him a few times but i always think you can tell a lot about a person by the way they are on a football pitch and he just wanted to get on with it and not make a fuss and thats what he did. I for one give him maximum respect, a working class lad done good who didn't get stuck up his own arse and most of all a top blue.

P.S. and i think he got us the kappa kit which meant we were still the coolest team in the land even if we was in division 3

An absolutely brilliant post mate

much appreciated.

it's people like Makin who have done so much for City that rarely are given the credit they deserve; I'd put him up there with Paul Dickov (and Super Kevin Horlock) for the goal(s) that got us up and kept us afloat and heading in the right direction.

Toxin by comparison as the cliche goes, isn't fit to wipe Makin's arse.

 

[Balti]

where else would you get a millionaire owner of a football club coming to a meeting about the lack of atmosphere in a shitty boozer when he could be snorting coke off a hookers arse on a boat in the med.

lol

there is no doubt about their love for the club

without their interest bearing loans we'd have been in deep shit by all accounts