born into it, my grandad and his brothers were city - they were at the 56 final, my dad was city - he was at the 69 final, my dad raised me a blue but had stopped going to games before i was born in 74 and then when mum and dad split up when i was 5 he didn't feel the need to ever take me to a match anyway, despite me being so so desperate to go once i hit 9...
my first city memory is the 81 cup final when dad came round with a new football, cup final special poster, and we watched it on the telly (i was in my bootleg city strip) and played football in the garden at half time (this was the saturday, no memory of the replay!).
When i hit 9 though i i started doing city scrapbooks and properly following results, he still wouldn't take me. My mums then bf (a newcastle fan) took us in 1985 to Maine Road for my first ever match. Dad still wasn't bothered, always claimed was too busy with work to go... My mums bf died a year later. I started writing to city players collecting autographs, listening to radio matches, absoltely besotted. I remember one year we played on my bday as a night match and i genuinely thought all the way til 6pm that i was going as a surprise because well how can he not take me it's not a saturday so dad wasn't working and his evening work had finished the year before... and well it was my birthday and at that age it's the worlds biggest thing... i was so upset when i realised we weren't going. We lost 2-0 and the next day dad said to mum how "we lost so she should be glad she didn't go" mum pointed out he completely missed the point. I plotted out how we could get to maine road on public transport, still no one would take me. Mum felt it was up to dad, dad wasn't bothered. Then finally in my mid teens, i found a bus that went from here to the ground as a special, convinced mum to come, and managed to hook her in, and we pretty much never missed a match (til old age illness and babies!) from that point on. Suddenly, dad was interested in city again and went to a few games!
It's part of the reason that despite being so financially destitute i'm trying so hard to keep my season ticket going, as having a 2 year old son i feel if i raise him as a blue but stopped going when he's a toddler all i've done is turn into my dad :( I want to keep the seats going, and be able to take him when he's bigger, i would be so proud. But the money is not there.
Bit of a rant there!!! Point is, i'm a blue through my family.
