I was thinking of doing something myself and am a bit quiet at work so I'll post something shortly.

Good work PB.

''I hope that one day the phone will ring or there will be a knock at the door and she'll be there, just as she was, my team, the team of the blue half of Manchester, proud of her roots in the honest soil of Lancashire''.

She's moved house and she's won the lottery but she's still the same team underneath Mr Shindler. Still the team of the Blue half of Manchester and immensely proud of her roots. But she won't come knocking on your door I'm afraid. There are many many suitors knocking on her door these days and if you are now too old, too Islington/Mayfair, too tired and cynical to make the effort to court her any longer, then I doubt that she will notice. She is far too busy enjoying her new lease of life and the company of her new friends, as well as those old friends who have proved far less fickle than you and who still enjoy her company just as much as ever.

A nice metaphor, Balti. Fully agree with the point you're making.

Thanks DP. I consider that high praise indeed!

The bottom line for me is that my love of City is not negotiable. Whether we win the Champions League ten years running, or end up in the Blue Square (North) playing Hyde, City will always be the team for me. The only way I'd give up would be if we went out of business altogether, and if that happened I'd probably give up my interest in the game.

I don't think the above makes me anything special, I think this is true of almost all City fans, apart from maybe a minority of newly-arrived plastics.

Shindler obviously wrote his book around an 'angle' which was basically the pains of supporting a shit side in the shadow of a successful one. Some of us actually relished that experience at the time, but only a minority (I think) would want us to stay that way in preference to having our current set-up. I want to see success and trophies, not least for all the younger fans who have never seen us win anything.

I don't actually care who owns us as long as they deliver the goods. Everything up to now points to these guys being the best owners we have ever had, not just on the money aspects but in terms of professional management and consideration for the fans. Until they do something to deserve criticism they have my full support. The fact they are foreign and have a different religion to me is irrelevant. I don't care if thery come from Mars as long as they look after Manchester City.

I'll have that if you don't mind.

well I see him more as a magazine man compared to your posher books, but then Dave has dabbled with a book now as well hasn't he? Both proper BLUES in my book whereas Schindler is just famous for writing a book that got famous by putting on it's cover words which the rest of us would not, and he talks utter tosh on the radio but is seen by the media as some kind of spokesman for CITY FANS!

that's as you see it, but to me those two blokes are both PROPER BLUES and frankly whoever is the posher (which was a tongue in cheek reference to large books v fanzines) I cannot think of a better compliment to 2 BLUES than to call them proper Blues?

I think being called a 'proper Blue' is something we all aspire to. Thanks. I really do appreciate all comments. Thanks.

Incidentally, in 1993-4 when I met with Headline publishing company about my proposal for a book on MCFC post Mercer (my biography of Joe came out in 1993 "Football With A Smile" and I wanted to write a book on the Swales period, ending with Franny Lee's takeover) they loved the idea (I still have the correspondence) but....

They said that it wasn't great from a selling point of view as the story wasn't either all success or all failure. City were not a club that they could promote. It had to have an angle. They said: "How about turning it into a comparison between City and United? Utd the success, City the failure... You could have United in the title - that would make it sell."

I immediately refused, pointing out that this would be a book about City, not a comparison. Instead, I went to Polar and published "Manchester The Greatest City" (it took me another 4 years to finish it). Around the same time as my book came out Headline published "Manchester Utd Ruined My Life". It became a major bestseller.