DERBY DAY

DERBY DAY :
Verging on financial ruin City's much abused chairman Peter the wig's only solace was the fact his detested neighbours United still appeared nowhere near winning the title. And in an age where misery and disappointment came hand in hand with being a City supporter this mattered. Whilst the Scotsman breathed fire in his attempts to revitalise United fortunes City were deeply entrenched in yet another struggle against relegation. The glory days of the late sixties, early seventies were long gone.
The times when they went toe to toe with United for every major honour a distant dream. Now it was all about survival. So far the eighties had proved eventful only in terms of heartache and disappointment. Therefore the possibility of beating United at Old Trafford when the two clubs were drawn together in the FA cup third round was viewed as a god sent opportunity for short term redemption. Relegation and financial ruin may well have been hurtling into sight on the near horizon but if the long suffering blues could just beat the rags?
Beat the rags, beat the rags, beat the rags..............

The, legendary ex right -winger 'Buzzer' was regarded as one
of City's best ever players and on the eve of 'Derby day' he puts
up a spirited defence of his beloved club.

'Another relegation battle dawns and we are in dire straits again. A curse, a rag gypsy curse cast upon us, forever tormenting us.
'Twisted and bitter' we are called by that lot. Infatuated, riddled with a sky blue envy.
Although what we have to be jealous about I don't know because how many leagues have they won in the last nineteen years?
And who was the last Manchester team to win the First Division?
Saturday May 11th 1968. The rags get beat 2-1 at home to Sunderland whilst we and yours truly win 4-3 at Newcastle to clinch the title. I got the first , a smashing shot into the top corner from six yards. Typically the television cameras and trophy were at Old Trafford. But we were the champions, English champions. City from Maine Road.
Our coach Big Mal declared:
'We would be the first team to play on Mars'! That is how superior we were to everybody else. For once we were the headline makers, top dogs in Manchester.
Then what happens?
Two weeks later the rags somehow fluke a European cup against an over the hill Benfica.
Always in their shade outsiders say, well not me, not City.
We have hurt them,
done them many times. Broke their rag hearts.
I scored the goal that clinched a league cup semi final in 69 at Old Trafford.
I started the move from which the Lawman scored to send them down in 74.
Great times, a wonderful day. The Lawman cried , so did I.
Tears of laughter.
We shall go there and give everything. Suckling, Gidman, Wilson, Clements, McCarthy, Redmond, White, McNab, Varadi, Grealish, Simpson.
A Manchester Derby day always starts with a knot in the stomach and ends in either joy or despair. Forget our league position, this is the cup and our year for Wembley. We shall start by making the rags cry in their own backyard. Seven thousand blues will show them how true Mancunians support their team.
A magnificent club like City deserve success, not perpetual torture. One day a blue moon will shine above our fair city........................One day.

Saturday January 10th 1987. United 1-0 City. Bereft of true quality but rich in passion and grim determination it was to be the red corner who finally earned the bragging rights to the pride of Manchester. 54,294 filled a tension packed Old Trafford hoping for a gripping spectacle, however on a pitch more suited to a Sunday league pub team both sides struggled to produce any semblance of decent football. It was only in the final half hour as the tension mounted and legs tired that scoring opportunities arose. As the home side pressed ever increasingly forward the pressure finally paid and it was a typically waspish finish from United 's centre forward Norm, who, amidst a panicky flurry of blue shirts settled this scuffling Mancunian affair.