Welcome to my Blog page - Geoff Stevenson

Manchester City's opening group stage win in the EUFA Cup was greeted with relief more than excitement. The game started so well with SWP giving City a 2nd minute lead. But the home side opted to sit back and let the Dutch side come at them. The first half was pitiful with the Blues lacking any desire or passion as the games balance swung towards the visitors.The visitors manager, the wally with the brolly - McClaren was more animated than i've ever seen him before - but maybe that was for the cameras!! His ability to multi task as the Dutch speaking stadium announcer was magical!! Hughes's half time talk seemed to pep the Blues up and they came out with a new found desire to take the game by the scruff of the neck. A wonderful, wonderful strike by Robinho lit the game up. It was a quality goal and repaid a huge chunk of his fee back. Two equally superb strikes from the Brazilian unfortunately hit the upright to deny the Samba star a seasons second hat-trick. Benjani's long awaited return saw the Zimbabwean score with a deflected shot, putting City clearly in the driving seat. Vassell struggled to get into the game. Jo reminded me of a black Samaras at times! Dunne and Richards were more than a tad shaky at the back and Fernandes reminded me of the proverbial headless chicken! But the Blues made their customary defensive howler and allowed Steve McClaren's men to pull a goal back and put City under pressure for the final 25 minutes. F C Twente's Huysegems missed a gilt edged 90th minute chance to earn the away side a draw, when he ballooned over the bar from eight yards out. So City hung on to take all three points and sitting pretty after one group game.

On the subject of sitting pretty, a lack of bums sitting on seats left me majorly disappointed. The Club had reduced prices to a bargain £25 for the two UEFA home games - and of course i'm aware that their is a credit crunch hitting many and that every home game is on TV - but what do the club have to do to attract fans to cup games at CoMS? OK, so it's not the Champions League, but it's European football, something we've hankered for for years and it's one further step along the road of progression to better things.Despite the criticism that follows the EUFA cup, the opposition we've drawn are pretty good quality and should do more to stimulate the fans interest in the competition. It'll be interesting how many fans clamour for tickets if we were to reach the semi-final stage and dare I suggest the Final itself! I'm not blind to the fact that the club have not been prolific this season but this is a new era and the rebuilding wont happen overnight. Rome wasn't built in a day and neither will City's team. Hughes has loadsa money to spend in the January sales and i'm sure he'll strenghthen the squad. So come on you Blues fans, get orf ya arses and get behind the boys. We will never be a massiv club until we get behind the lads in every game. When I went to work on Friday morning one wise crackin' rag asked me, 'Why were City playing behind closed doors'? And I could say nothing in response knowing only 21000 turned out the previous night. Spurs, Everton, Villa and Portsmouth can fill their grounds with more fans than us so lets not be left behind and become fodder for the mickey takers.

This seasons gates have left a little to be desired and thou there is nothing said publicly by those that run the club, it must leave them baffled at times. Despite the recent inconsistencies the club have invested heavily in new players over the past few years, culminating in the record fee paid for Robinho. So the club along with the new owners have shown their intent and maybe it's time those absent Blues repaid that investment with some loyalty. Loyalty is a two way thing and I recognise that the under achieving team have left fans deflated over the years, but please please don't allow yourselves to be seen as 'glory hunters'. Get behind the team now and hopefully be able to say 'We were there when we were struggling to win trophies'.

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