A City reeling in the years

Man Utd v Man City: When Kevin Keegan walks out of the tunnel at Old Trafford today he need only look over his left shoulder and up at the gaping stand for a reminder of Manchester United's superiority complex. Among the tributes to the "Flowers of Manchester" and the "Republic of Mancunia" one banner has been a fixture in the Stretford End since the Millennium. It simply reads "28 Years".

Some visiting managers may not understand the significance but Keegan and his entourage are not allowed to forget it. Originally it was "24 Years" but the numbers are transient and at the turn of each year it is brought gloatingly up to date: 28 years - the length of time since Manchester City won a major trophy.

Since Mike Doyle became the last City captain to touch silverware - the League Cup in 1976 - Old Trafford has greedily accumulated 19 trophies, including the FA Cup seven times. Alex Ferguson has taken to calling the City of Manchester Stadium the "Temple of Doom" and, most gallingly, United's fans have stopped hating their neighbours, treating them instead with patronising indifference. No one who grew up watching United has written a book entitled Manchester City Ruined My Life.

At United's training ground at lunchtime yesterday Tim Howard could be found sitting in the foyer, trying to explain what he has learned in the six months since signing for the club. "It's the same for everyone, whether you're in your first year or 10th year, this club expects trophies and titles, and that's all that matters," he said. "It will be a major disappointment if we don't win something this year, I understand that."

Over at City the lowered expectations of a club going through one of their intermittent periods of crisis ensured a greater sense of occasion. "Birthdays come and go," Keegan, 53 today, said of the first all-Manchester FA Cup tie for eight years, "but big matches are special and this is a big, big match for us."

Keegan used words such as "underachievement". His head shook wistfully as he recalled the trophy-winning sides of Bell, Summerbee, Lee, et al.

"The fans will always talk about old players until they get new heroes," he said. "It was the same for me when I started at Newcastle and they've got those heroes now, even though they still haven't won anything. People talk about Shearer, Cole and Beardsley rather than Jackie Milburn and Hughie Gallagher. And we've got to do the same sort of thing at City to get things going again. We've got to emulate the past and that can be very, very difficult."

At Newcastle, though, their wilderness years have never coincided with Sunderland being the major force of English football. Keegan disputed the suggestion that he could empathise with the title of Colin Schindler's book but most City followers appreciate the strength of the author's feelings.

"When City beat Man U 5-1 on September 23rd, 1989, Clive Tyldesley claimed that Mark Hughes's solitary effort was the goal of the game," recalls Kevin Cummins, the celebrated Manchester photographer and lifelong City fan. "ITV continued to use that one goal in their opening titles for the rest of the season. And I'll never forget Des Lynam introducing Match of the Day on the night of their first title success for 26 years with the immortal words: 'At last the league championship comes home'."

Cummins blames what he calls the "Man U-loving media", explaining: "The press are compliant in the deception that Man U are 'the world's greatest football club'. Chant the mantra often enough and the public will believe anything. It's pathetic."

These are unsettling times for Cummins and his fellow sufferers. Eight days ago a 41-metre Demolition Caterpillar excavator, the largest machine of its type in the country, came into Moss Side, past the boarded-up pubs, which have gone out of business since the end of last season, and on to Maine Road.

Not until mid-summer will the demolition be complete but yesterday morning most of the North Stand and the Platt Lane End were rubble. Next year there will be 300 houses and a health centre covering 15 square acres of razed football history.

All of which, for the average City fan, would not seem so brutal if their first season at the new stadium had not been so unfulfilling. They will arrive today with the Cup as their only respite from a horrible season with legitimate doubts surrounding Keegan's future.

"I just feel for the supporters," the manager said. "In terms of who we're trying to catch we don't have to look far. They train 300 yards down the road, they play in the same city and they set the standards for everyone, whether you like it or not. And I know the City fans probably don't like it. They deserve more and we want to give them more because we are not giving them enough. Through the years this club has underachieved, no doubt about it."

Today, he says, they will probably need to overachieve and then, the eternal optimist, he is already thinking about what could lie in wait in the quarter-finals. "If we can beat Manchester United there would be nobody stronger than them between us putting a trophy in the cupboard." Anything else and that banner will become "29 Years" next January and counting.