Many cities would struggle if given just 24 hours to organize a victory parade which involved the deployment of two helicopters, countless police officers, a small army of undercover security experts and the closure not just of the main square, but also a key thoroughfare, in the middle of rush hour, but Manchester has had 20 years of practice at this sort of thing.
It is only two years since Manchester City held a similar event to mark their first league title in a generation. This time last year the streets throbbed with crying Reds as Sir Alex Ferguson said farewell while celebrating yet another league title for Manchester United.
On Monday it was City’s turn once more, as thousands of Blues turned out to toast Manuel Pellegrini’s boys as they rode through Manchester on an open-top bus. After a day of thrashing rain, the sun came out just in time, the rays bouncing off Martin Demichelis’ oil slick of hair as the Argentine defender filmed fans on his mobile, the clear sky paying homage to the winning side.
Photo: AFP
City won the FA Cup in 2010-2011 and the Premier League in 2011-2012, their first trophies after years of underachievement, but many fans still cannot quite believe it.
“We’re not really here,” read John Reid’s T-shirt, quoting a City song from the difficult years, as he stood in a daze in Albert Square listening to Oasis blast out from the speakers. “I’ve been diagnosed with colon cancer and it’s recently spread to my intestines, but you know, I’m not really bothered. I always thought I’d die before seeing City win anything and here we are again.”
“It’s marvelous, really it is. Out of this world. The way they’ve been playing this season, it’s been like watching exhibition football,” said the 65-year-old coppersmith from Droylsden, smiling like a Buddha.
Photo: AFP
Others admitted they were getting used to winning.
Alan Otterwell, 59, from Oldham had brought his three-year-old dog, a pug-beagle cross officially called Oscar, but known by all City fans as “Mario” because he wears a pale blue coat emblazoned with the surname of one of City’s most colorful characters, as well as his signature — Mario Balotelli signed the somewhat grubby jacket before leaving for AC Milan last season.
With success comes canine complacency, Otterwell said.
“After the game yesterday I said to Mario: ‘Hey, we’re going to Albert Square tomorrow for the parade,’ and he said: ‘Oh, not again,’” he said.
Of course, half of Manchester was not celebrating.
David Ward, a 28-year-old banker, was brave or foolish enough to risk wearing a United shirt under his coat as he walked down Deansgate before the parade began, but was sanguine about his rivals’ success.
“Cest la vie,” Ward said. “It’s disappointing, we’re used to being the victors and getting the spoils, but at least the trophy is still in Manchester. We will let them borrow it for a year.”
Others Reds admitted smiling when the heavens opened.
“It’s just gutting,” said Luke O’Duffy, 25, a junior lawyer. “We prayed for rain and got sunshine. An anticlimax to say the least, but I have lots of friends who are City fans and they were very humble victors,” he scoffed, in a way which suggested anything but.
The schadenfreude was not just from United fans. As the crowd in Albert Square waited for the team to arrive, City supporters sung a paean to Steven Gerrard, whose fall during a game against Chelsea two weeks previously effectively lost Liverpool the title.
“Steve Gerrard, Gerrard, he fell on his fucking arse, he gave it to Demba Ba, Steve Gerrard, Gerrard,” they sang.
Manchester’s split loyalties were perfectly encapsulated in one nine-year-old boy who stood on a bench with his grandmother, cheering the team.
Wearing a home-made T-shirt with “I’ve never felt more like singing the Blues” on the back, he said his name was Keane Hindle. As in ... Roy?
“Yes,” sighed his grandmother, Bernadette Tebay. “His dad’s a United fan.”
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