Ian Cheeseman: Forever Blue

With no Manchester City game last weekend, I went along to watch Oldham Athletic against Dorking in the National League. It was a terrible 0-0 draw and it reminded me how lucky I am to watch City every week.

Don’t get me wrong, I love watching the Latics and it’s not their fault that the Blues are one of the best resourced football clubs in the World and the Latics are still rebuilding under Frank Rothwell.

I desperately hope that Frank’s Boundary Park project succeeds and regular crowds of over 6,000 will help his club eventually regain their place in the Football League. As well as the gulf in quality with the haves and the have nots, the absence of goal line technology proved significant. Dorking should have had a goal, the ball was clearly over the line, but it wasn’t given. In the Premier League the referee’s wrist monitor would have given the visitors their goal.

On the other hand, it’s always great to be at a game where VAR doesn’t destroy the emotion or add to the modern trend of adding 5-10 minutes to each half for “stoppages”. How the players endured over 100 minutes of the unbearable heat and humidity is a credit to them. I was stunned though when the crowd booed as the players came off for a much needed drinks break. I briefly fainted on Saturday, due to the conditions, but some of the 6,200 in attendance seemed to object to the players refuelling.

My weekend wasn’t completely without my City fix. I was at a lunch on Friday at Pep Guardiola’s restaurant, Tast, on King Street in Manchester, organised by Blues in Business where I had the honour of interviewing Alex Williams MBE. Alex grew up in Moss Side, which is where their former ground Maine Road was.

He went on to play for the Blues, in goal, which he did with great distinction. When I asked him for his standout memories as a City player, he picked out one the most disappointing and one of the most exhilarating, in which he played in goal.

Back in May 1983, Alex couldn’t keep out Raddy Antic’s late winner for Luton Town, which saw City relegated and the Luton manager David Pleat skipping across Maine Road to celebrate. Two years later, on a hot sunny day and in front of a Maine Road crowd bursting to the seams, Alex was in goal as the Blues bounced back to the top flight thanks to a 5-1 win against Charlton Athletic.

His career was cut short due to a back injury and he had to deal with a certain amount of racism, particularly during the early part of his career, but that has never made him bitter. He’s one of the nicest Gentlemen you will ever meet.

Once his playing days were over, he was in at the start of Manchester City’s amazing community arm, City in the Community. It started above the club shop at Maine Road and has now expanded to an organisation of over 150 which has encouraged and helped a generation of youngsters and others from communities far and wide. Alex received his MBE for his services to CITC and I’d say it is fully deserved.

After over thirty years of hard work, he’s now scaling back to part time and semi-retirement but he’s also spent some time writing his life story, You Saw me Standing Alone, which is available everywhere. As far as I’m concerned, Alex Williams is the definition of everything that’s good about Manchester City and he, more than anyone, knows It’s Great to be a Blue!