Happy Birthday!

Has it really been that long?

Yep, today is exactly one year since the debut post here on Bitter and Blue, which was an eve of trip down to Fulham post. And so here we are, 277 posts and almost 56,000 hits later.

Far the large part, it has been a less-than-typical year following City as there hasn't been any calls for the managers head, generally the team has fared quite well, we haven't endured a struggle against relegation or a battle for promotion.

And in some perverse way that may be part of the reason behind some of the malaise and apathy that seems to be affecting fans at the moment. There hasn't been any of the excitement of the Keegan era with the likes of Bernarbia, Berkovic or Anelka. Or conversely, the depths of despair under Ball and Clark with the likes of Brannan, Edghill and Whitley to vent your anger at.

Things have just been, well ok. There was the 'typical City' reaction after the Middlesbrough game on the final day of 04/05 when we missed out on the UEFA Cup - but no-one expected us to get anywhere near when Pearce took the reigns. The sale of SWP caused a reaction but the majority accepted that £21 million was more than a decent fee and that he himself wanted to go.
This season we have been hovering on the fringes of UEFA qualification without getting in the positions or sliding too far away and were putting together a decent FA Cup run. On the pitch performances have been ok without raising the pulse and I think City fans have found it difficult to know exactly how to react.

This is why I think that there has been the reaction there has been of late in the wake of the FA Cup exit and the performance against Middlesbrough. If we had beaten West Ham then we would now be facing a semi-final (against Middlesbrough) and Wembley (alright, Cardiff) fever would have taken hold.

But I think the West Ham defeat has now hit home as we are now playing out a meaningless set of matches to determine whether we finish 12th, 13th or 14th and that isn't what we have experienced too much over the years.

It could be said that we are in a period of stability now as this is our longest spell in the top flight for a while, but stability can only last so long before it becomes stagnation.

That is why a lot of fans are looking to off-field activities over the summer for some positive signs.