As mentioned in an earlier blog, I would without doubt be heading back up the City of Manchester Stadium at some point during the season after falling in love with the place back when they played Stoke earlier this year. I was also keen to show off the place to everyone possible and share the Manchester City love so on a cold Wednesday afternoon, the study leave was put to great use again and me and Katy headed up north for the UEFA Cup tie against PSG.
Some fun and games with the windscreen washer fluid refill delayed us slightly but we were soon off in good time for the random journey which seemed to avoid every motorway possible on the way there.
It did however offer us some great views as we headed through the Derbyshire hills, covered in snow creating the impressive Winter Wonderland scenes.
I'm just glad we were snug in the car though after seeing the temperature drop further and further the higher we climbed up into the hills. I think the lowest it reached was minus four... so windows were immedieately opened to test the theory. Freezing!
We finally reached civilisation of Macclesfield and then onto Stockport which has the most Speed Cameras in the world with what seemed to be one every five minutes (not that we were complaining by the end of it after a kind of speed camera game developed. Very interesting game it was too.)
After travelling through Stockport for what seemed an age, we finally spotted the signs for Sport City, the area of Manchester that we were aiming for and pulled into the first "Man City Associated" Car Park that we found, complete with giant frozen puddle in the middle. We then headed off in the general direction of the game, with Katy gripping on to me for dear life so as not to slip over as the floor started to ice over.
What a stadium though:
We wandered around outside for a bit, bought another random scarf and checked out the club shop at all the lovely christmas tat that they had for sale. A rather odd cuddly Uncle Albert and Moonchester seemed to be the pick of the bunch though. Outside, we found the giant picture of a "goon" that would direct us back to the car after the game and Katy got confused by the sudden appearance of many French men who had arrived on the selection of coaches. One came over and we think tried to sell us a ticket although he could have been insulting our families - we just couldn't understand him!With that, we headed inside of the stadium to warm up and get something to drink before leaving the concourse and getting the sight of that magical stadium. Although my heart will always be with Leicester City, being at the COM stadium is always something special and they are fast becomming my second team. (A very long way behind Leicester still for the record).
Moonchester though - absolute quality. No Filbert Fox but he's a pretty cool mascot none-the-less.
Customary away photo at random stadium of me and the person I'm with. Mine and Katy's first random game together.
In fact I think the Man City love is catching and the stadium got the thumbs up from her - the official Katy seal of approval.
The teams came out and I must say I was slightly disappointed that some of the main men were injured for this one. No Robinho. No Shaun Wright-Phillips. No Micah Richards. On the plus side though, the likes of Daniel Sturridge and Stephen Ireland were still included and it was my first chance to see Jo in action for Man City.
The PSG fans were brilliant throughout the game and at kick off they all stood, cramped together, scarfs aloft singing their anthem - was pretty special. They were superb though and bounced and sang all game, and even at one point, turned their back on the game as it looked like Man City might score. It's about the most crushing insult that they could have done.
The game itself was pretty dull to be honest and apart from a bright first 10 minutes, Man City didn't offer much going forward. Elano threaded a great ball through to Sturridge but his first touch was too heavy and it allowed the keeper to get a block in. The excitement did cause me to knock my bottle of coke over though and lose half the contents seeing as they had confiscated the lid (god knows why seeing as the stadium was half empty). It did break the ice with the guy in the seat next to us though and we chatted throughout the game about the fortunes of our two clubs and how they were in our position not too long ago.
Moonchester though - absolute quality. No Filbert Fox but he's a pretty cool mascot none-the-less.
Customary away photo at random stadium of me and the person I'm with. Mine and Katy's first random game together.
In fact I think the Man City love is catching and the stadium got the thumbs up from her - the official Katy seal of approval.
The teams came out and I must say I was slightly disappointed that some of the main men were injured for this one. No Robinho. No Shaun Wright-Phillips. No Micah Richards. On the plus side though, the likes of Daniel Sturridge and Stephen Ireland were still included and it was my first chance to see Jo in action for Man City.
The PSG fans were brilliant throughout the game and at kick off they all stood, cramped together, scarfs aloft singing their anthem - was pretty special. They were superb though and bounced and sang all game, and even at one point, turned their back on the game as it looked like Man City might score. It's about the most crushing insult that they could have done.
The game itself was pretty dull to be honest and apart from a bright first 10 minutes, Man City didn't offer much going forward. Elano threaded a great ball through to Sturridge but his first touch was too heavy and it allowed the keeper to get a block in. The excitement did cause me to knock my bottle of coke over though and lose half the contents seeing as they had confiscated the lid (god knows why seeing as the stadium was half empty). It did break the ice with the guy in the seat next to us though and we chatted throughout the game about the fortunes of our two clubs and how they were in our position not too long ago. A free kick fired wide by Elano was the only other noteable effort in front of us during the first half. PSG had a few efforts at the other end but to be honest it had nil nil written all over it.
The second half started in much the same way with neither seem looking like scoring even if we played all night. After 70 minutes though Giuly and Hoarau came on though and changed the game. From that moment on, it was all PSG and only some good goal-keeping and woeful finishing in front of goal stopped the visitors from taking all three points from this group tie.
The PSG fans went away though the happiest of the two sets of fans though even if they were kept behind after the game for 15 minutes for no real reason. They were a credit to french football though and came here to enjoy their night regardless of the result.
And so for the second random game running, it had ended goalless but once again I didn't regret going. It had been a great night with Katy and the journey home was such a laugh too as new ways were invented to keep her awake as she started to fade due to the long journey. This time we stuck to the motorway though and made good time on the way back to Leicester, leaving Katy with the long final treck to do on her own back to her neck of the woods.
The second half started in much the same way with neither seem looking like scoring even if we played all night. After 70 minutes though Giuly and Hoarau came on though and changed the game. From that moment on, it was all PSG and only some good goal-keeping and woeful finishing in front of goal stopped the visitors from taking all three points from this group tie.
The PSG fans went away though the happiest of the two sets of fans though even if they were kept behind after the game for 15 minutes for no real reason. They were a credit to french football though and came here to enjoy their night regardless of the result.
And so for the second random game running, it had ended goalless but once again I didn't regret going. It had been a great night with Katy and the journey home was such a laugh too as new ways were invented to keep her awake as she started to fade due to the long journey. This time we stuck to the motorway though and made good time on the way back to Leicester, leaving Katy with the long final treck to do on her own back to her neck of the woods.Sadly this looks like being my final random adventure of 2008 and I'll be sticking to just the Leicester games until the new year. Some big games coming up though such as the "local" derby with Peterborough and the big clash with Leeds on boxing day. Should be some fun times, especially if we can keep the fun going. Next game up: Leicester v Southend. Please not another 0-0!
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