Upton Park memories

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gordondaviesmoustache said:
Wasn't it just?
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I did a weekly column about City for The Times that season, and my first one was about that game. Can't find it online anywhere, but here it is for anyone interested:

Good times for a change

After what was unquestionably the most mundane season in living memory, the last few months have brought a veritable whirlwind of activity for the blue three-quarters of Manchester. Firstly, of course, there was the controversial takeover of the club by deposed Thai Prime Minister Dr Thaksin Shinawatra (hereafter known simply as 'Frank') and then the appointment of Sven Goran Eriksson. An owner with, shall we say, a dubious human rights record and an ex-England manager was never going to endear City to the press, and you can sense that many factions of the media are just willing us to fail.

So it came as a very welcome surprise that City emerged from a potentially tricky visit to Upton Park with not only three points but also a composed, impressive performance that will have made pundits and journalists alike take notice. Make no mistake about it, this was a firm two fingers up to the detractors from Eriksson.

"He's signed players without having actually seen them play!", they guffawed on Fleet Street. But Eriksson is no fool. One need only look at his exceptional record in club management to realise that. The new signings were excellent at Upton Park. Garrido and Corluka were composed and resolute at the back, whilst Elano and Petrov provided the creativity in midfield that was so badly lacking last season.

Eriksson's transfer policy so far has been a revelation. Whilst the tabloid press were busy linking us with such footballing luminaries as Keiron Richardson and Marlon Harewood, Sven slipped under the radar to sign a host of promising international players at reasonable prices. Granted I've never heard of any of them, but there can be no more damning indictment of the English game than the former national coach not buying any of his ex-players. So much for the golden generation. Indeed, Eriksson seems to be basing his transfer policy purely on Championship Manager 5, which is a novel approach to say the least. What price Kim Kallstrom next? To be fair many of the new signings do look quality on YouTube, but then again so did Georgios Samaras so we won't get too carried away just yet.

It was particularly pleasing to end the West Ham game with five Academy players on the pitch, with Nedum Onuoha creating the second goal for Geovanni, and there's a nice blend of youth and experience about the squad at present. Stephen Ireland and Dietmar Hamman, both peripheral figures under Stuart Pearce, seem rejuvenated and were excellent in midfield. We passed the ball about with a calmness and purpose not seen since the early days of Kevin Keegan's regime.

I'm not going to bad mouth West Ham as we consider them our brethren (apparently they were ever so nice to us after relegating us in 1804, or something). Relations were understandably somewhat strained after they duped us into buying Mark Ward, but there are indisputable similarities between the two clubs: a loyal, passionate fanbase, a rich history and tradition, yet ultimately a rubbish football team with a propensity to shoot themselves in the foot. They are the Manchester City of the south.

But that was the Manchester City of yesteryear. The future looks much brighter for the newly rejuvenated City of the 21st century, and under Frank and Sven's leadership we hope for great things. But we'd settle for a League Cup. Beggars can't be choosers.

Next weekend we 'welcome' our Stretford neighbours to the city of Manchester, with a quiet optimism. We've handed out a few thrashings to them over recent years, and that was when we were essentially rubbish. Imagine what we might do now that we're actually quite good?

In Sven we trust.
 
Ric said:
I did a weekly column about City for The Times that season, and my first one was about that game. Can't find it online anywhere, but here it is for anyone interested:

Good times for a change

After what was unquestionably the most mundane season in living memory, the last few months have brought a veritable whirlwind of activity for the blue three-quarters of Manchester. Firstly, of course, there was the controversial takeover of the club by deposed Thai Prime Minister Dr Thaksin Shinawatra (hereafter known simply as 'Frank') and then the appointment of Sven Goran Eriksson. An owner with, shall we say, a dubious human rights record and an ex-England manager was never going to endear City to the press, and you can sense that many factions of the media are just willing us to fail.

So it came as a very welcome surprise that City emerged from a potentially tricky visit to Upton Park with not only three points but also a composed, impressive performance that will have made pundits and journalists alike take notice. Make no mistake about it, this was a firm two fingers up to the detractors from Eriksson.

"He's signed players without having actually seen them play!", they guffawed on Fleet Street. But Eriksson is no fool. One need only look at his exceptional record in club management to realise that. The new signings were excellent at Upton Park. Garrido and Corluka were composed and resolute at the back, whilst Elano and Petrov provided the creativity in midfield that was so badly lacking last season.

Eriksson's transfer policy so far has been a revelation. Whilst the tabloid press were busy linking us with such footballing luminaries as Keiron Richardson and Marlon Harewood, Sven slipped under the radar to sign a host of promising international players at reasonable prices. Granted I've never heard of any of them, but there can be no more damning indictment of the English game than the former national coach not buying any of his ex-players. So much for the golden generation. Indeed, Eriksson seems to be basing his transfer policy purely on Championship Manager 5, which is a novel approach to say the least. What price Kim Kallstrom next? To be fair many of the new signings do look quality on YouTube, but then again so did Georgios Samaras so we won't get too carried away just yet.

It was particularly pleasing to end the West Ham game with five Academy players on the pitch, with Nedum Onuoha creating the second goal for Geovanni, and there's a nice blend of youth and experience about the squad at present. Stephen Ireland and Dietmar Hamman, both peripheral figures under Stuart Pearce, seem rejuvenated and were excellent in midfield. We passed the ball about with a calmness and purpose not seen since the early days of Kevin Keegan's regime.

I'm not going to bad mouth West Ham as we consider them our brethren (apparently they were ever so nice to us after relegating us in 1804, or something). Relations were understandably somewhat strained after they duped us into buying Mark Ward, but there are indisputable similarities between the two clubs: a loyal, passionate fanbase, a rich history and tradition, yet ultimately a rubbish football team with a propensity to shoot themselves in the foot. They are the Manchester City of the south.

But that was the Manchester City of yesteryear. The future looks much brighter for the newly rejuvenated City of the 21st century, and under Frank and Sven's leadership we hope for great things. But we'd settle for a League Cup. Beggars can't be choosers.

Next weekend we 'welcome' our Stretford neighbours to the city of Manchester, with a quiet optimism. We've handed out a few thrashings to them over recent years, and that was when we were essentially rubbish. Imagine what we might do now that we're actually quite good?

In Sven we trust.
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See, the press hated us even back then.

Sven's appointment definitely rekindled my passion for City, which had dwindled somewhat at the end of the Keegan and throughout the Pearce eras.
 
Loads of visits to West Ham, stood in the chicken run when a wham fan ran o the pitch towards Willie Donachie, Willy booted him up the arse!! Another one , a midweek game when the trains were on strike, 80`s. Kicked off at half time at the bar, as segregation did not exist. Went back up for the 2nd half, and about 30 of us were surrounded by the local loons. A well known blue from leve decided attack was the best form of defence. As it turned out, it wasn`t. The relegation game, the police intercepted about 250 of us at Oxford Circus where we had been drinking, would not let us go any further. Cue mayhem!
 
Ric said:
Yep, Geovanni and Bianchi were the scorers:
http://bluemoon-mcfc.co.uk/History/Matches/Match.aspx?id=4722

Great game that, there was a real buzz about the new signings. The first half of Sven's first season was a great time as a City fan, particularly after the depressing Pearce era.
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I went down on my own and was sat on about the 5 th row,we had the white kit on with the blue stripe across the shoulder, great game. Think there was some cafuffle outside afterwards because someone knocked a West Ham fan over and got stuck up the road in traffic, there was a bunch of fans from either side ran after the car and dragged the driver out.
 
cleavers said:
I can't remember, by the time I got there we'd had a few (quite a few) beers. In fact I thought I'd probably hallucinated about how good the football was.

I've never had any bad experiences there if I'm honest, can't even remember seeing us lose there, and I wish I was going this year, but I'd forgotten they were moving, and was too late to order a ticket.
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I must be a jinx then because I've never seen us win there and Saturday will be my 5th visit! First one was a 3-1 defeat on a Monday night in November 1993, followed by a 3-0 defeat (Cottee hat-trick) the season after. Then it was the 4-1 defeat in 2000 after Spencer Prior put us ahead. The only time I've seen us get anything there was the meaningless 1-1 draw at the end of the 2010-11 season. Not that I saw SWP's equaliser because I did something I've never done and that was to bail it at half-time because a mate was with a Leicester fan who he'd not seen in ages and wanted to go for a couple of quick scoops with him before we got the coach home so he talked us all into leaving the ground.

Despite that record, I'm going to miss the Boleyn Ground when it's gone and the piss-up on the day of that 4-1 defeat was legendary. Got the 5.30am train down there and was still going strong in the Palace in Levenshulme at 2am the next morning. Not sure whether I could last that long these days ;)
 
Ric said:
Yep, Geovanni and Bianchi were the scorers:
http://bluemoon-mcfc.co.uk/History/Matches/Match.aspx?id=4722

Great game that, there was a real buzz about the new signings. The first half of Sven's first season was a great time as a City fan, particularly after the depressing Pearce era.
Click to expand...

It was the start of the new era before the start of the new era if you get my drift.

Glorious sunshine, a host of new signings, two of them scoring and a team playing a posession based football which most of us had never seen the likes of before.

Everybody was full of optimism, excitement at the prospect of the season ahead. Still one of my favourite away days.

Another plus was we were back in Manchester by 8:15 which I am glad to say I slept through most of the driving which allowed us to achieve this.
 
Prestwich_Blue said:
At the FA Cup game in 2008, wasn't Alfie Haaland in the crowd? I remember an ex-player getting mobbed on the concourse at half-time and Haaland is the name that comes to mind.
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I am pretty sure that was Svens first game as I remember singing this at an away game and everyone lifted him up. I also saw John Stapleton in the City end.
 
Been a few times, my favourite was one in the early 90s and Redmond fell on his arse but still managed to score a pen and Colin hendry latched on to a big punt up field and scored a last minute winner. Worst was probably ten years or so ago, can't remember anything about the match so we probably lost but there had been two accidents near the ground and we were sat in the car after the match near the ground for about four hours without moving.
 
franksinatra said:
I am pretty sure that was Svens first game as I remember singing this at an away game and everyone lifted him up. I also saw John Stapleton in the City end.
Click to expand...

That was the cup game at West Ham in January 2008. Nery Castillo's debut, I think.

 
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