Forever Blue With Ian Cheeseman: City turn on the style in FA Cup clash

These days I’m just a humble season ticket holder at Manchester City after many years as a member of the press.

There are occasional exceptions though and Saturday’s FA Cup tie against Fulham was one of the them because I cover City games in the FA Cup (and Champions League) for Sony Six TV in India.

I must say, it was great to be back in the press box. I have many friends there and it was so much easier to work on my matchday vlogs. It’s much more difficult when I’m sat among the fans. I often edit my vlogs, immediately after the game, in the street which can be challenging in the wind and rain.

Last season the FA Cup was played entirely behind closed doors. Due to my association with Sony TV I was able to attend, and report on, the games at Cheltenham, Swansea, Everton and Wembley, which was very surreal. I didn’t enjoy that experience at all. Football without fans was awful. This season the Blues have had a trip to Swindon and a home game against Fulham and will go to Peterborough in the 5^th round.

I was actually very impressed by their 4^th round opponents Fulham. They took the lead through Fabio Carvalho, who seemed certain to sign for Liverpool in January. I can see why. He’s a very impressive player. I’d go as far as suggesting that Fulham were one of the best opponents City have faced so far this season. Riyad Mahrez scored two goals and deservedly took the man of the match award.

I was sat quite close to former City player Nedum Onuoha, in the press box, and when City equalised through Ilkay Gundogan, within seconds of the early Fulham goal, he leaned over towards me and said, “that’s the difference between United and City. United’s players would have dropped their heads whereas City immediately stepped up the pace and scored”.

He was absolutely right of course. Throughout that game and whenever things get a bit sticky for Pep’s team, City had this ability to suddenly increase the tempo of the game. It was Phil Foden who injected pace and purpose as he ran at the heart of the Fulham defence with the ball never further than six inches from his left foot. It was as if it was attached by a piece of elastic.

During the 1980s a striker called Imre Varadi played for City, scoring almost a goal every two games during the couple of years he spent at the club. Those statistics are not what he’s remembered for though. His nickname, and indeed his twitter name (@imre_banana), will give you a clue to his story.

A City fan called Frank Newton took an inflatable banana to a game, dressing it in City kit and it captured the humour of City fans perfectly. The banana was an instant hit with the fans and very quickly every green grocers around Manchester were selling their inflatable fruit. When Varadi was due to come on as a substitute in one particular game, so the story goes, the crowd started to sing “Imre Banana”; and so it caught on.

I met Imre on Saturday and chatted to him about that era and he talked about it with great affection, humour and humility. He seems such a nice guy. You can see my chat with him by checking out my Forever Blue matchday vlog, which you’ll find on YouTube.

City progress to the 5^th round of the FA Cup and keep on course in another bid for a major trophy though their great rivals United are out, after failing to beat Middlesbrough. Nothing can be taken for granted in Cup competitions. That’s why we love it.