I was there on the terraces in 1968 at Newcastle for the greatest win in my lifetime supporting City, winning the League Championship. It was the last day of the season, and City had to win away at Newcastle (never easy), while Utd were level on points and could still win the league if they beat Sunderland (should have been easy) at home. City won away (against the odds) & United lost at home.

I remember it was packed on the terraces with no segregation of fans, and a good crowd of knowledgeable fans on the terraces who were all in good humour. That was a great day. I drove there with 3 mates in my first car, and we booked a hotel for the night so there would be no problems having a few beers afterwards.

My Dad first took me to Maine Road 55 years ago (back in the days of Bert Trautmann), and I have supported City ever since, through all the ups and downs (more downs than ups), through all the poor owners (with no money) and all the poor managers (with little or no talent), through the best years with Mercer & Allison. I always hoped to see them win the EPL again in my life-time, always hoped we might give it our best shot in Europe.

In the 25 years that SAF has been at OT, City had 17 managers (14 excluding caretaker-managers), so changing managers does not guarantee success (just ask Chelsea) but keeping managers does not guarantee instant success (just ask SAF).