The pre match Saturday dinner would always be fish and chips from the chippy at the top of the road from my parents house. I always remember my Dad questioning why I had gravy and tomato sauce on fish, heh. After leaving a clean plate it was a short walk to the nearby bus stop.
Depending on the time and weather our little group, who’d met up at the bus stop, had two choices. Catch the 22 to the Princess pub on Princess Road / Mauldeth Road West or the 253, 254 or 255 to Trafford Bar and then get the 53 to Moss Lane East / Maine Road.
In those days some of us had season tickets and the ones that didn’t joined a queue and paid to get in, try doing that now!
Once in the ground the usual routine was always observed by myself. First stop was to buy a program, next would be the burger stall and then the bar for a brown ale. You could still drink in the stands in them days. From there is was down one of the two tunnels and out on to the terraces of the Kippax. The sight of the pitch and the noise of the crowd would send a tingle down my spine. Year on year I stood in the same spot on theses terraces surrounded by the same people no matter what the weather. Freezing cold nights in the middle of winter hugging a cup of hot bovril were no exception.
It was an easy thing to do in those days to follow a football team. No daft kick off times, 3:00 pm Saturdays and 7:30pm Wednesdays, that was it, it was so simple. In later years mid week games occasionally switched to a Tuesday in case you had a big game the coming Saturday. The kick off was also shifted to 7:45pm.
Youngsters used to go to the matches in those days using their pocket money to get in. I remember under 16s paying 45 pence, yes, that’s right 45 pence.
How times have changed. It’s no longer the working mans games it once was as it costs a small fortune now to see a game of football in the Premier League. It’s also getting expensive to own one!
It’s argued that it’s the best league in the world and we have all these wonderful players to drool over. This may well be the case but does it necessarily lead to the best experience from the fans point of view? Why buy a season ticket and then find you can’t attend most of the games because of Sky’s insane TV scheduling.
I miss the camaraderie of the terraces and the humour and banter that came with it. Being able to stand and sing and chant your heads off. Have a pint while watching the game. Watching players who genuinely seemed to care about the shirt they were wearing and not the size of the weekly pay packet.
The game I used to love with a passion is long gone and now I’m seeing oil money pouring into City with allsorts of insane amounts being talked about.
I cling to the memories of City beating AC Milan 3 – 0 in the EUFA Cup 2nd leg match of 1978 to win 5 – 2 on aggregate. It was the best I ever saw a City side play, although the 4 – 0 drubbing of the old enemy two years earlier comes close. There was also Colin Bell, for whom there are no words to describe his talent. He was, and still is, the best footballer I have ever seen play the game.
I wonder what Helen “the bell” Turner would make of recent events?
Everytime you fill your car up with petrol you could now be contributing to City. :roflmao:
