The Manchester City fans in the Cayman Islands may be heavily outnumbered by their United counterparts but on Sunday morning they were making all the noise as the red supporters hung their heads in disappointment.
Many United fans congregated at the Triple Crown and Fidel Murphy’s pubs to watch the Premiership drama unfold. United faithful were on the verge of celebrating an improbable ending thanks to victory at Sunderland and City on the verge of losing to QPR at home. But during injury time, City turned a 2-1 deficit into a 3-2 victory and snatched all the Premiership glory to win the league title for the first time in 44 years and deny United the honour.
United fan Andy Bonner was downing a Guinness in Fidel’s and lining himself up for more in celebration until the excrutiating finish when he had to start drowning his sorrows.
City die-hard Gary Mills was beside himself with joy. “I was nervous to start with on Sunday. As a City fan you always expect the worse but then it turned to jubilation when Zabaleta scored our first goal. But then pure despair when Lescott’s mistake with his header to the keeper allowed QPR to score their first. Then even worse when QPR scored a second. I felt it was all over and my heart was going at 100 beats a second wishing that we could do it. I was monitoring both matches, one on TV and one on an ipod checking the positions.
“When a month ago United were eight points ahead, I was resigned to them winning it and thought there was no way we could win the Premiership. I felt losing to Arsenal at a crucial stage was the defining moment when we just couldn’t do it.”
It was a roller-coaster season for all City fans, including pop stars Noel and Liam Gallagher and boxer Ricky Hatton. Their highlights were beating Manchester United 6-1 and 1-0 and of course the final day of the season. The lows were surprising losses to Everton and Sunderland.
Mills now believes City manager Roberto Mancini can consolidate their position. The Italian is already talking about Champions League glory. “I think we can finish in the top two and possibly win the title again, but as a City fan you never expect the best. Long-term I just think we‘ll go from strength to strength and add to the team over the summer with bit part players being moved on and better players coming in.”
The whole Carlos Tevez affair had a de-stabilising effect on City. Mills is ambivalent about having players like him at Etihad. “I hope Tevez stays but on the other hand goes although it sounds crazy I just want people there if it’s for the benefit of the team and club, not just for the money.”
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