It's a funny old game

7:28pm Tuesday 15th July 2008

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SO, Manchester City have a new manager.

And it’s Mark Hughes, the former Manchester United striker. I used to gve him dog’s abuse when I used to go to the derbies at Maine Road and, in a few weeks time I’ll find myself in the strange position of having no option but to chant his name.

Funny how life goes, isn’t it?

Hughesy, Hughesy, HUGHESY! If the affable Welshman manages to turn City into a top six team I imagine his red connections will soon be forgotten.

But he must, must be given longer than his predecessor to mould the team into one that can compete for trophies and become one of football’s elite.

While I welcomed Hughes’s appointment I did feel some sympathy for Sven, his predecessor who took the club from one battling against relegation to one that oh so nearly qualified automatically for the Uefa Cup. Obviously that wasn’t good enough for our beloved chairman who seems to believe that Rome CAN be built in a day.

Following this club is a vocation - they can infuriate and exhilirate in equal measure. But once you commit yourself, once you become a fan, a disciple of this contrary lot, you’re hooked. There’s simply no going back, no changing sides. Even if those who play across town in red win everything in sight.

My son said to me a few weeks aho that he was considering committing the ultimate football crime. “I’m thinking of becoming a United fan,” he said. “No, you’re not,” I replied. Although the imp in me wanted to say “Can’t you become something that’ll cause me less embarrassment, like a mugger?”.

In a few weeks time I’ll be raising my voice, tearing my hair out and biting my finger nails as Manchester City embark on a new season. Hopefully it’ll be a season that brings a trophy because the video pictures of that last great City side, the side of Lee, Bell and Summerbee, are looking even more grainy now.