A big book for a big club., 2 Aug 2001

Trace your way through the massive archives of city's history and discover all about our continental laser blue kappa kit, how we had the widest pitch, the tallest floodlights, the future England captain (till his cruciate went), how we managed a massive transfer coup by signing Spencer Prior on deadline day, how we took a quarter of a million to Ewood Park, those electric European away nights at Cardiff and Wrexham, the unforgettable Shamrock Trophy victory in '92, the heartbreak of being turned down by Geoff Thomas, the installation of the first ever undersoil heating to run on Econony-seven, that huge dance by David Pleat on our massive pitch, how Steve Lomas time-wasted to ensure relegation, our 17 managers in 20 years, the derby match with Macclesfield, our best ever player who went on to even bigger things warming the bench at Ajax, how despite a gypsy curse the Kippax came to serve the best pint of bitter in the League, etc., etc.

And if you delve into the very distant past of over 25 years ago you'll see pictures of our famous '3 Gold Stars' - Lee, Bell, and Summerbee - who began the process of turning Manchester into Milan all those decades ago and are now remembered by the 3 Gold Stars on the new club badge (Juventus only have 2 Gold Stars - massive).

I could go on and on, in fact I'm sure there's a song in there somewhere.

But for now I'll just recommend all city fans to get this hugely impressive book so they'll have something to read on the way back from Rotherham on a wet Tuesday night.

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Penney for your thoughts - MASSIVE!!!!, 29 Jun 2001

Readers will learn that city once had the widest pitch in the league, the tallest floodlights in the country, and that the hot-dog stands have salt and pepper available. Oh yes, and all their fans come from Manchester.

Anecdotes from celebrity city fans such as Curly Watts, Eddie Large and Bernard Manning illuminate this script by telling the reader how much they dislike the Trafford Town (yawn).

This book is a must for all those with a passionate interest in "The only football club to come from Manchester"

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Massively essential reading, 31 Jul 2001

Try and forget the darkness of the shadow cast by the rags which all bitters continually live in, and instead re-live all those truly big and huge moments in city's history when we ruled the world.

Each chapter of this massive tome of a book (as befits such a big club) looks at successive 25 year periods in our great club's history and charts the great trophies won (note that the final chapter - '25 Years of unbridled hilarity' - is completely EMPTY - yet again city lead the way with the shortest chapter in publishing history).

So sit down with a pint of bitter and see what truly memorable events have occured at the Theatre of Comedy over the years :- The endless Munich songs, the ritual booing of our own players, the hounding of the likes of Swales and Edghill, the hilarious defeats (e.g. Luton at home, 1983), those massive queues to get out of the ground and back to a more sane world at half time, great relegation battles (and there have been certainly more of THEM than trophies), etc.

Once you're absorbed in this massive book, you'll be a million miles from Stretford Rangers - we've taken out all the defeats and left in only the massive wins (again, this section is blank after 1989).

For older bitters, see if you can remember some of our BIG trophy wins and compare your memories with the book and its fantastic black and white photographs of every big success. Or if you're a younger one who's had your future life of misery inflicted on you by a parent, prepare yourself fully with a list of retorts to all rags who for the next 50 years will mercilessly add to your misery by poking fun at you:- Learn about how we used to have the widest pitch, the tallest floodlights, Colin Bell (who was better than Best honest), the greenest grass, etc. They'll never laugh at you again!

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