BLUE PRINT | est. 1988

MANCHESTER CITY @ billborrows BILL BORROWS

FAVOURITE COVER The first issue after Howard Kendall left for a return to Everton. It hurt because he was building a strong team, Man United were struggling ( there were calls for Alex Ferguson to be sacked and we had recently humbled them 5- 1), and it came just as we finally seemed to be getting on an even keel after relegations in 1983 and 1987. The image was perfect, because there was a car in the background and it gave me a chance to run the old line that was used against Richard Nixon in the 1960 American presidential election. This one raised a lot of smiles ( and sales) outside Maine Road.

STANDOUT MOMENT We ploughed most of our money into stuff like releasing a flexi- disc produced by Adrian Sherwood, sorting the biggest flag in British football and smuggling it onto the Kippax, helping put together a benefit meal for former player Neil Young, organising a Blues Brothers fancy dress outing for an away game, and paying for a plane to fly over Old Trafford during the derby towing the banner, ‘ MCFC – PRIDE OF MANCHESTER’. But the standout thing was probably the ‘ Battle of the Inflatables’ at West Brom away [ in 1988]. One of our co- founders had taken the first inflatable banana to the ground, so we were all over that period of madness when football culture merged into the Madchester music scene. Watching a T- Rex fighting a paddling pool and a giant fried egg in The Hawthorns’ away end, with a football match going on in the background, was pretty spectacular.

MOST IMPORTANT STORY The debate about Francis Lee’s takeover in 1994 divided City fans. We jumped at the chance to help bring about regime change and were heavily involved with the ‘ Forward with Franny’ campaign. As the takeover battle got nasty – death threats, violence, vested interests – we became an alternative outlet for information as the Manchester Evening News vacillated between support for the established order and will of the fans. Ultimately, Peter Swales fell and Lee took along our editor on the day he bought the club, rather than the local paper or one of his national press contacts.

“WATCHING A T- REX FIGHT A PADDLING POOL AND A FRIED EGG AT WEST BROM WAS SPECTACULAR”