Unlike most of you, I'm a relative newcomer to City fandom. Here in the States, the only team that received any kind of TV time until recently was United. I learned to hate them pretty quickly so yes, my dislike of MU predates my love of any EPL team. Then we started getting a lot more matches televised and one of the first matches I was able to watch was a United/City clash. United got every call and ended up winning as a result of blatant officiating bias or ineptness (take your pick). At that point, I was hooked. This is about the time that the team started spending a ton of money. So I've never really been tested with a bad City team to cheer for. However, the more that I learn, the more history I read, etc. I find that it is a very natural fit for me.
I'm an Oklahoma State alumni. If you know anything about them especially when it comes to American football, you know that their history is filled with some amazing players that are household names around the world. However on the whole, it has always been a struggle. Oklahoma isn't a highly populated state and the state has well known power in the state in the Oklahoma Sooners . Then a few years ago one of the richest men in America who is also an OSU alumni stepped up and spent hundreds of millions of dollars in renovating the stadium, building new weight rooms, locker rooms, etc. Now the OSU facilities are the envy of almost everybody. As a result of that along with some really good coaching and OSU finally won a conference title and contended for a national championship two years ago.
So for me the similarities are uncanny:
1) not the best known team in the area (both wear ugly ass red)
2) somebody stepped up and spent a ton of money that allowed them to be competitive
3) Even the fan bases are similar in that those that endured a lot of pain the past are enjoying things but there is always that underlying feeling that doom is right around the corner.
I'm currently at the Dallas Fort Worth Airport waiting on my flight that will bring me to the area. I'll be at the match on Sunday, my first. I'm very excited.
David Harrell