How I Became a Blue!

I always get questioned why I support Man City, or when I started.  I don't mind answering the question, but sometimes you feel like your being interrogated.  I was born and raised in the United States, New York City to be exact.  When I was growing up we had the Cosmos in the old NASL.  In 1984 the league folded.  It was at this time I met a fellow that moved in on my block and he had a funny accent.

Manhattan 1980's 

Whatever the reason my friends and I would just love to talk to him as he was coming and going to and from his apartment.  He said he was from Manchester.  We all heard of London, but we had to check a map for Manchester.  Then one day in the summer we were kicking a ball around on the block and he started talking to us about football.  I told him I used to go see the NY Cosmos, but now that it was over we didn't have any team to cheer for in the sport.

He said "have you never heard of Manchester United?"  I said "yeah they sound familiar, should I root for them?"  Tom replied, " never in a million years! You should be supporting the greatest club in the world, Manchester City Football Club."  How could I possibly even know what this guy was talking about considering this was the mid 1980's.  We didn't have the internet back then, hell we didn't even have cable.

He ran inside and got this scarf and pictures of the club.  Here we were, my friends and I in one of the biggest cities in the world, home to people from all over the planet and we felt like we were opened to a new world.  There was no mellow dramatic music, just the bright sun, hot pavement and these cool pictures and a scarf.  We felt like we had won a prize.  How were we going to follow a club all those thousands of miles away.  Tom would get papers sent from home frequently.  We could read up on the matches, make our predictions for the next and wait for the next paper to arrive.  It was like correspondence school course on the English game.  It would not be until the 1990's when I would see a real match on tv.

I eventually joined up in the US Air Force and then had the access to news and video of City.  I loved seeing the team I loved on television, but had to make it to see them live at Maine Road.   The opportunity came and I was going to seize it then I was discharged from the Air Force and sent back to the USA.  Its a regret that I missed this chance to see Maine Road, but sometimes things happen in life beyond your control.

I have not been to Eastlands, but plan too next year.  Hopefully I will be moving back to Europe partly for the life, but mostly for the football.  Fans come from all over the world, and I respect those City fans who grew up there in Manchester.  I love the people of the Northwest of England.  Whenever I have met someone from there they have been kind, unlike the people I have met and worked with from London.  

 In the USA there are so many people who support Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea.  They had the money to buy into the American market.   In many ways, I find their fans snobbish and boring.  The vast majority don't even know anything about their clubs.  Manchester City FC has the most loyal fans, kind fans.  It is a community that is tightly knit, like a comfortable sweater. Whatever the reason people support the club for whatever reason, from those by birth and those who have only started following there is only one way for the club to go by gaining fans and that is up.   This is dedicated to that fellow who introduced me to the club, wherever he may be, Thank You.