True Faith: The Epitomising 96 Minutes of How it Feels to be City

How the Blues became Premier League Champions in the most astonishing two minutes of football drama you may ever see.

If you pinch me I’d still swear it wasn’t true. After countless reruns, inhaling every single inch of newspaper coverage and drinking pints of champagne, it’s still difficult to comprehend the events of Sunday May 13. Already recognised as the most dramatic finish to a Premier League season ever, sky blue and white ribbons adorn the title trophy after City pulled off the most astounding Houdini act ever. 

I’d personally started the day off reasonably calm and optimistic, albeit incredibly excited. I’d been at the penultimate game in Newcastle a week previous and thought the atmosphere and events of that day in Tyneside would take some beating.  As City fans it’s never an option to take anything for granted: pundits, opposition fans and realists thought that on paper, the game against relegation-haunted QPR was a given. Fans of Roberto Mancini’s blue army didn’t dare to dream too soon; a history of following the side through the previously rare ups and more frequent downs paid testament to that theory. All it needed was a win. Three more points and the finish line would be crossed in glorious style. The Alex Ferguson-anointed ‘Noisy Neighbours’ would be Champions.

Attempting to settle the butterflies with a drink or two in Piccadilly

Notes from the Editor

HOLDING BACK THE YEARS: MY FAREWELL TO LIFE AS A TWENTYSOMETHING (PART TWO)

It’s safe to say that a lot has happened in the past 29 years; world events have forever changed the landscape that we live in, dearest family members close to me have passed away and I’ve been lucky enough to travel to some of the most beautiful and interesting countries on the planet.

Building sandcastles in the Bahamas

I watched the Berlin wall being knocked down on television, the Gulf war, the Challenger space shuttle explode into pieces, the IRA bombs in England and Ireland, two planes smash into the World Trade Centre, along with a third into the Pentagon and a fourth crash in Pennsylvania and suicide bombers on public transport in London. The devastating might of Mother Nature, with events like Hurricane Katrina, the Boxing Day tsunami in 2004 and the earthquake in Haiti. I think 9/11 had the most substantial affect on me: I wasn't in Manhattan at the time and I didn't know anybody who was involved. I was at work when I learned of the news; I still lived at home at the time but Mum and Dad were in Bali. They said they had been sat at the beach bar when footage of the events were being shown live on the news. Holidaymakers quickly realised that it wasn't a film being played, it was real life, and rushing to their rooms to contact loved ones. It was an act so incomprehensible that I struggle to believe it happened even today. I forever have nightmares after watching documentaries about the day, so many poor souls lost their lives and for what exactly? So many families without their loved ones. The most tragic of tragedies, one that will constantly resonate with me.

Notes from the Editor

HOLDING BACK THE YEARS: MY FAREWELL TO LIFE AS A TWENTYSOMETHING (PART ONE)

Birthdays can be tricky things. I’ve had 29 of them so far during my existence, each of them different and much-celebrated. But as of yet, none of them have been so daunting and have been met with so much dread than my upcoming birthday. The birthday I will have to deal with when it arrives on Monday 16th April. My 30^th birthday.

Okay, so it’s not 40, or 50, or 60, but to me turning 30 and opening the decade of birthdays which are ‘the thirties’ is a potentially gruesome life event. A milestone if you like. The age of 30 suggests to me consistency, maturity and well, growing old. The thirties usually signal marriage, babies, mortgage and, even more depressingly, more funerals to go to. No wonder Rachel Green on the television show Friends was so reluctant to celebrate her 30th. I now share her pain.