Manchester City’s Blue Moon – Where Did It All begin?

As football songs go, Manchester City’s Blue Moon is now synonymous with the club and is every much a part of Manchester City, Maine Road and unexplainable defending. Songs and chants come and go over the years, but this one has stayed with us for so long, that some people can’t actually remember its origin.

Believe it or not, Blue Moon has been sung by the City faithful for the best part of thirty years, but why did it start and what’s the reason? Surely it’s not because of the colour blue?

Well no, the colour is purely coincidental. For those that know, a blue moon is a rare astronomical event where a full moon appears in the same calendar month twice. A Lunar cycle of four weeks usually means a full moon appears once in the month, so a blue moon is indeed a rarity.

Now, or those old enough, cast your mind back to the 80’s. During the 1986/87 season, City’s away form was so poor that they failed to win a single game on their journeys. Yep, not a single away victory in one season, 9 draws and 12 defeats yet somehow, we still got more points on the road that Aston Villa and Leicester, who also went down with us.

In fact, looking back City’s last away win before that relegation season was 2-0 at Spurs in January 1986, meaning a total of 41 top flights away games without a win, so by the time City went to Villa Park on 1^st April 1990, there was a big chance 41 would become 42, considering City’s precarious league position as opposed to title-chasing Villa’s.

As it turned out, the blues turned on the style in the battle against relegation and won 2-1 and for the first time, Blue Moon rang out in the stands. When asked about the new song that was now echoing around Maine Road and every away venue, the answer was simply because City only win away once in a blue moon, hence the new song.

30 years later, the song is still going strong and there’s not a hint of City giving it up.