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Confession time. I’m a Manchester City fan. Since the dawn of time, aka my birth in a Manchester hospital, my Dad and his Dad have brainwashed me as a Blue.
As recently as three years ago that was something I was considerably proud of.
I was a born and bred supporter of an honest and hardworking, albeit relatively unsuccessful, football team. It was kind of like a badge of honour.
Now, if I’m being honest, it’s always awkward mentioning that I am City fan.
Any mention of being a Manchester City supporter generally leads to some sort of derogatory comment.
Something along the lines of “I bet you only started supporting them once they got all that money”, “Your team is buying success” (honestly though, what successful football club doesn’t?), “Your mother smells of elderberries” or some racist comment about the club’s owner.
More recently my badge of honour has been worn on the inside of my jacket, so to speak.
FA Cup winners, Champions League Football, billionaire owners with wads of cash and the vitriol of opposition supporters – this is not the City I know and love.
I am more accustomed to relegation battles, pity from opposition supporters (even United fans), having a yearly transfer budget of a thruppence and about as much chance of winning any trophies as Carlos Tevez has of making up his mind.
My personal feelings aside, it seems that everything appears rosy for the future of Manchester City Football Club. The reality is that the toughest of part of the club’s quest towards being a football powerhouse is only just beginning.
There may be a shiny new trophy sitting in the Manchester City trophy cabinet – the club’s first in 35 years – but more importantly City have attained their goal of qualifying for the group stage of the UEFA Champions League.
Getting to Champions League is one thing. Staying there is another.
City could bring in 17 new world-class players without spending a pound, win the FA Cup, win the Carling Cup, win the Bridgewater Office Supplies Sunday Morning Football Varsity Shield, as well as allowing Mario Balotelli to attempt as many ridiculous pirouetting back heel shots as he pleases– but if they can’t retain their place in the Champions League all of their progression to this point will be lost.
Now this may seem a little alarmist but there are solid rational, as well as irrational, reasons to be concerned about the consequences if the club cannot maintain Champions League football at Etihad Stadium (the one in Manchester, not Melbourne).
Firstly, quite irrationally, there is an innate trepidation among City fans about the Blues that is born from years of performances that can only be classified as “Typical City”.
City fans know that there is an unpredictability and inconsistency that is part of the club’s cultural fabric. Just when things start to go well, they begin to go bad.
This is the only club in league history to get relegated the year after they were champions. That year (1937-38), they were relegated despite scoring the most goals in the league.
City are also the only club to score 100 goals and concede 100 goals in a single season.
In another example, at the end of the 1990-91 season City finished in fifth place. This was three points and one place higher than cross-town rivals Manchester United. Since then, United have piled on 12 League titles, two UEFA Champions League titles and a measly 18 other trophies of note.
After 1991 City plummeted to the dark depths of Division 2 (the third tier of English football at the time) and up until the recent FA Cup only had lower league successes to boast/cringe about.
There are many other examples littered throughout the club’s history.
In fact, there are so many that if someone told me that back in 1972 City paid big money to buy the most promising young goalkeeper in the country from Irthlingborough Diamonds only to find out he was in fact a hamster from Scratchy Bottom in Dorset, I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if it was true.
Thankfully for the club, this group of players have not produced any true “Typical City” moments as yet. However, if they fail to achieve their goals this season the concern is that things could spiral downwards in what would be a plethora of fan and media worry.
The rational, and much more important, reason for City to at least maintain their position this season is the implications of UEFA’s new Financial Fair Play Regulations (FFP).
Essentially, the principle is that clubs can now only spend what they earn over a three-year period. The finer details reveal that clubs can only lose a maximum of 39 million pounds for the three years ending after the 2013-14 season.
Although the potential consequences of violating the laws are unclear, it is believed that over-spenders could be excluded from European competition for a period of time.
How could this effect City? Well, up until this point the club have been spending with an open chequebook. Their losses last season were a reported 121 million pounds.
The spending has been similar to that of a drunken businessman’s upon finding out his company credit card has no limit and the purchases are no longer being audited.
In theory, from now on the only way that City will be able to continue attracting stars of the likes of Tevez, Aguero and Balotelli is by increasing their revenue stream.
Maintaining Champions League football year after year is the only surefire way to increase the revenue stream and ensure that the club can continue to attract some of the world’s best talent.
This potentially watershed season in the history and future of Manchester City fittingly starts this weekend with a match against Manchester United for the Charity Shield. Even though it is technically a friendly, how City performs in the match may give an indication of how the season may pan out.
More importantly for me, this is a crucial season in my life as an MCFC supporter. I’ve come to terms with my addiction to supporting the underdog and decided to cast aside my reservations about supporting a team of overpaid superstars. I’ve decided that no derogatory comment can take away from the fact that blue blood courses through my veins.
My team won the lottery and I’ve decided to rejoice in it. Besides, so much I love about the club is still there. It’s the same club, the same shirt and the same fans. It’s just that now there are a lot more smiles.
City supporters sing a song about being fans of the Invisible Man with the words “We’re not really here”.
One story on the way it began is that when the club was in Division 2 it was sung in reference to that fact that the supporters couldn’t believe that the club had sunk so low. It was almost as if it wasn’t really their team playing.
It has now taken on new meaning. I’m going to embrace every second.
After all, thanks to my Dad it’s not like I have a choice. I’m City till I die.
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