Classic City Mag covers No1

First in my series of classic City magazine covers comes from May 1998.  This was probably the saddest day in City's history as they were relegated to the 3rd tier of  English football for the first time.  On the cover, Jamie Pollock defiantly declares "We're going to have to get out of the 2nd division as quick as we can", and thankfully they did!  City won their final match 5-2 against Stoke, but it wasn't enough to save either of them from relegation.  Features in this issue were interviews with Shaun Goater, Ian Bishop and Paul Futcher.  The bad times make the good times feel even better!

City and ManC magazine RIP

Sad news that the official City magazine (or ManC as it's known now) wont be published any more after the 200th issue (August 2012).  The first issue, which is pictured above, was produced in September 1995 and featured Uwe Rosler on the cover.  An interesting welcome message from the Editor, Steve Anglesey,  recalls how he started supporting City because of a boiled sweet!  The story started with him being taken to Old Trafford to watch United with his uncle and choking on a sweet, he survived and vowed never to go to OT again!  Another member of Steve's family took him to Maine Road where he was converted to a blue.  Features in issue 1 included interviews with Rosler, Alan Ball, Francis Lee, Colin Bell, Peter Barnes, Keith Curle, Michael Brown and 'Coronation Street' actor Kevin Kennedy.  I feel as though the magazine went downhill after it was revamped and changed it's name to ManC.  I liked the feature's on history and the match reports in the old City magazine and I wasn't really interested in the fashion and 'lifestyle' features in the new one.

St. Mark's, West Gorton artwork

An original piece of artwork!  I based it on the old Baines cards from the early 20th century to give it an authentic look. I think only one picture exists of West Gorton, which is the team photo from 1884-85 (http://www.mcfchistory.com/2011/10/monday-mystery-why-did-we-have-maltese.html), this was the main reason I decided to do something a little different.

Aguero's goal v QPR

Probably my favourite picture of Aguero's title winning goal.  Just a fantastic piece of history frozen in time.

Ardwick enamel badge

I bought this enamel Ardwick badge a couple of years ago, it was listed as a limited edition, but not sure if it was!  Don't think Ardwick ever played in black and red, so colours are probably wrong.