Blue Moon Turned Gold: The Rebirth of Manchester City

A review of Graham Gordon's new book about City

Blue Moon Turned Gold: The Rebirth of Manchester City is a new book about the Blues by sports historian Graham Gordon, and author of Master of the Ring, a biography of Jem Mace (the first heavyweight champion of the world).

Gordon takes an interesting angle, picking five versions of the song Blue Moon (by Margo Timmins, Rodgers & Hart, Elvis, The Marcels, and Beady Eye) as being analagous with crucial periods in City's history. He then discusses the ownership of Sheikh Mansour, and Khaldoon Al-Mubarak's running of the club. The reigns of Roberto Mancini and Manuel Pellegrini are also looked at in some detail.

Gordon is himself a City fan, which comes across in his passionate style of writing, and also a Bluemoon forum member (under the username grahamgor). Indeed, he regularly references debates on the forum, particularly with regards to Mancini and Pellegrini.

The book ends with short biogrpahies of the main players from last season's title win, from Aguero through to Zabaleta, and nine key matches from the campaign.

It's an interesting, well written book. It's light hearted at times, but also serious when appropriate. There are occasional typos; my copy seems to have a space after every opening quotation mark, but it's only a minor annoyance (possibly a consequence of being self-published). Overall it's a thoroughly enjoyable book, and recommended reading for all Blues.

Blue Moon Turned Gold: The Rebirth of Manchester City is available from Amazon, priced £6.91.