Blue

"Oh, to capture just one drop of all the
ecstasy that swept that afternoon
To paint that love
Upon a white balloon
And fly it from
The topest top of all the tops
That man has pushed beyond his brain"
Bowie - Memory of a Free Festival, 1970. From the first album I bought

Not a bad day all round. Spent the first part very, very nervous. At about 15:30 it cheered up but there was then a long period of deep anguish. Finally a 5 minute spell made me cheer and then cry. I cried for a good while but in a very good way.

A friend called round this evening and I tried to explain what my football team means to me. It's a part of my life but not in a rabid, tribal way. It's part of who I am because it was something I did with my father - he'd grown up a few streets from Maine Road and we'd go every weekend and then see my grandmother. I probably saw my first game when I was 7 or 8 and we'd walk from home through Birchfields park or down Old Hall Lane. Then through the ginnels between the narrow terraced streets to the ground which was always a shining patch of green in a grey world.

After my father's funeral we detoured past the ground on the way home and I used to take Jemma whenever we could get there. Over the years I sat in every stand, including the Gene Kelly and the baby Gene Kelly but never in the Kippax - because I used to stand in the Kippax and we sang that "you'll never seat the Kippax". I didn't go to a game during the last season at the old ground. The Gene Kelly was a temporary section of seating erected to increase the capacity following the Taylor Report which prohibited standing areas at major grounds. It was called the Gene Kelly because it was uncovered so fans would be singing in the rain.

Today has been a long time coming. In the dark days of the 1990s, when we were in the third division, the standing joke was managers saying that we'd "turned a corner" after bigging up a win against Lincoln City or a hard fought draw at Wycombe. Over a period of six seasons we were either promoted or relegated five times. I think we've finally turned that corner.

Not a bad day at all. Forza Mancini, CTID