When you sit down on Sunday night (or Monday morning) to watch Manchester City attempt to win their first league title in 44 years, and before you allow tall poppy syndrome to set in, spare a thought for their fans.
Start by reminding yourself that Manchester City actually didn’t spontaneously burst in to existence in 2008 when Sheikh Mansour arrived with his $300 million transfer fund.
City fans are in-fact among the longest suffering fans in English football; if anyone deserves a bit of glory, it’s them.
Manchester City has experienced the highest of highs and the lowest of lows throughout their long history, and the lead up to Sunday’s make or break fixture with Queens Park Rangers is the ideal time to reflect on that history.
They have been relegated 11 times in total, and as recently as 1999 they found themselves competing in the third tier of the English league system with ‘glamour’ clubs like Macclesfield Town and Walsall.
It was the same year that their cross-town rivals, Manchester United, became the first English club to win the Premier League, FA Cup, and Champions League (or ‘The Treble’) all in one season.
A bitter pill to swallow for the blue half of Manchester, no doubt.
Despite clinching back to back promotions and clawing their way back to the top flight in the year 2000 under the management of former England international Joe Royle, Manchester City stayed true to form and were relegated once again after just one season back in the Premier League.
Throughout these turbulent years Manchester City’s average match-day attendance never dropped below 25,000, even in the third tier where the league average is closer to 7000.
Although City are bound to have accumulated an abundance of fair-weather supporters in recent times, it’s important to remember the hard-core group from years gone by, and how they’ll be feeling on Sunday.
After 44 years, there are generations of supporters who, until recently, had never experienced anything but heart-ache in relation to their beloved football club.
This championship will mean everything to them.
City did eventually re-establish themselves back in the top flight, with an 11th place average finish in the 7 years prior to the arrival of their new owner Sheikh Mansour.
Sheikh Mansour is officially the wealthiest man in world football. His personal fortune is estimated to be approximately $30bn and because of this, in time, Manchester City will no doubt take their place alongside Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal, and Chelsea as the clubs that people most love to hate.
But until then, think of those long suffering fans, those old men and woman that were stood on the terraces as their club sank further and further down the divisions, wondering if things would ever get better, but stayed with their beloved team, despite the success of the ‘Red Devils’ across town.
Think of those fans, and cross your fingers.
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