MAN CITY 1 – 0 Stoke – MY THOUGHTS
15 May
14th May 2011. A day that will live long in the memory. A day that reflected on the past, made history in the present and changed the future. For the first time in 35 years, Manchester City lifted a major trophy.
The emotion at the final whistle said everything. The reaction of our long-suffering, success-starved fans was all you needed to see. It was a victory, totally deserved, that will be remembered for many a year in the future.
From the third round against Leicester, complete with a moving tribute to Neil Young, right through to Yaya Touré’s unstoppable strike in the final, this has been a cup run which has given its fair share of thrills. Along the way, there has been the usual mélange of nerves, tension, anxiety and a fair share of hope. Hope that this would be our year to lift a trophy, hope that we could attain the first of what will surely be many successes.
It was quite an incredible day, totally different to the semi-final. That was an unfortgettable experience, beating our local rivals in such an important game. This was about putting the icing onto that cake.
That Stoke were so underwhelming was partially down to our excellence. We produced a vibrant display, with our passing, movement and speed of interchange the key. We should have scored more that just the solitary one, but not many will be complaining now. Yaya Touré was the hero in the semi final and again against Stoke, but there were eleven Blue heroes on that pitch, another one in the shape of Roberto Mancini and plenty more aside.
Sheikh Mansour, Khaldoon Al Mubarak, Garry Cook, Brian Marwood, Bernard Halford, Vicky Kloss, Brian Kidd, David Platt, Les Chapman, Chris Bailey, Pete Ferguson, Tim Oscroft, David Clayton, Sharon Latham, Chris Nield, Ed Sulley, Sam Cooke and Ian Cheeseman. That was for you.
Mike Summerbee, Tony Book, Franny Lee, Colin Bell, Bert Trautmann, Paul Power, Fred Eyre, Paul Lake, Alex Williams, Uwe Rosler, Shaun Goater, Paul Dickov and Glauber Berti. That was for you.
Neil Young, Joe Mercer, Malcolm Allison and Marc Vivien Foe. In loving memory, that was for you.
And it was for every single one of City’s loyal supporters. Whether you were there at the ground, watching on TV, listening on the radio or enjoying our victory by another means, make sure you cherish Saturday 14th May 2011. A day you will never forget.
Great day for City fans and hopefully one of many to come. Now it is time for the “icing on cake”. With Arsenal loss to Aston Villa, City can secure the 3rd spot. Two more games to win and with it comes automatic Champions qualification.
Says it all.What a day,what a week!Roberto is a God!18 months,flak from all sides,including some fans and players but he never wavered once from his mantra and belief.Calmness personified and dignity too in both victory and defeat.Something a so called Sir across the divide could learn from!
Gutted yesterday that despite supporting them for 44 years and having a seasoncard i couldn’t get a ticket.Damn the FA forever!
As chance after chance went begging and we dominated preceedings the nagging fear Stoke would fluke a goal from somewhere grew.As Jones broke i feared the worse,but Hart stood strong as he has all season.No more typical City,this is a new breed now!
At the final whistle my reaction suprised me.I sunk to the floor alone in my house and unashamedly cried.It was like a huge weight had lifted in an instant.Utter joy and sadness combined, that two mates who went through all the crap years with me weren’t here anymore to see it.Plus thoughts for Neil Young.That lifted and i have been smiling ever since.
I have never seen a cup look so shiny,so bright and to see sky blue shirts holding it aloft and hearing,”The FA cup winners 2011………Manchester City!!!” was like a dream.
Everything is now in place don’t dare blow it again!!
Brilliant
There’s one photograph that brings back the misery of being a city supporter in recent years. Everyday, I used to go onto the BBC sport website, to City’s page.It was a photo of a silver-haired and broken-looking Kevin Keegan, the one that they showed with every city story, where he’s clapping his hands beside his head. Every week it was some new disappointment or other, some player we had to sell to balance the books. Always with clapping Kevin.
Then the picture changed to Stuart Pearce. It was only when Thaksin bought us that things started to change. I saw a thai woman at a party, mentioned that her ex PM had bought my team, and that broke the ice. We’re married now. I remember Thaksin saying “if I don’t get City in the Champions League, I will sell to someone far richer than me”. He was a man of his word.
Now we’e in the Champions League, and we won the FA cup on my thai wife’s 43rd birthday. She was looking very sexy with her big fake boobs in her replica city shirt. I think I’ve died and gone to heaven.
I wasn’t sure about Yaya Toure when we were linked to him. His agent seemed to be a gobby idiot, and I started to think he’d be trouble if we got him. After all, we didn’t need another defensive midfielder. How wrong I was.
I miss the helter skelter of supporting the old city, but Balotelli gives me that brilliant or rubbish cityfan rush I crave now, all on his own. In some ways, he’s the most old-school city player.
That was for every City fan that has supported us during the last thirty five years. Some of them may no longer be with us anymore but no matter, this was for them as well. Your loyalty is unquestioned.
That was for every pundit who saw fit to spout their green eyed rubbish on television, radio or in the press that how we were all of a sudden ruining football but we wouldn’t amount to much anyway. Your knowledge of football is unfounded.
This all happened because of the work of many people but the work of four men in particular in my view. First and foremost the good Sheikh Mansour in not only seeing our potential but bank rolling us to a degree that I still have to pinch myself to realise it is actually happening. And if it wasn’t for this man the others would not be here to do the great job they are doing for us, so that reason as well. I would happily kiss his ring, on his hand of course.
Next, the man assigned to become our chairman Mr Khaldoon Al Mubarak. A highly intelligent man with a steel like determination to only accept the very best for our great club. I am also quite sure he will not rest until we are at the very top of european football as well as the premier league. The video he made on the website the day after Spurs beat us last season made me realise he had real substance and was an extremely driven individual. Top Bloke.
Love him or hate him but Gary Cook is doing a fantastic job of helping our club move to a level we could have only dreamt of when we got beat 8-1 by Middlesborough less than three short years ago. On a day to day basis we are being run as well if not better than any club in the league, and the charity work and community projects we are involved in leave others to shame. The guy deserves some credit and we must stick with him.
But for me the main man of the show is one Roberto Mancini. With stupid time restrictions put upon him at every turn, stupid camera angles at old trafford showing him under the banner, stupid pudits spouting off how he was doing it all wrong and his players were against him. What happened on the pitch yesterday happened because of Mancini, and we have one genius of a manager who will win us many trophies and I hope he manages us for a very long time to come.
On another topic, I really think Carlos has had his head turned by developments over the last week and I also think he wants to turn his fifty odd goals into a hundred goals. I really think he is gonna stay. Come on Carlos!!!!!!!!!! Come on City!!!!!!!!!!!! This has been the best season ever.
Don’t forget Ken Barnes!
I think that this is fitting moment to add sound effects to this site in celebration of this momentous occasion. I suggest the inspiring arias of Bluemoon that were captured at the Racing Santander ground last season and now held in perpetuity in the archives of Youtube. It brings tears to my eyes every time I hear it.
Where was my mention? if Berti and Chappy get one then I should do!!!