He was one of the lucky few who have seen Manchester City win a European trophy in person. He saw the great cup-winning side of the late 1960s and 1970s in their prime, and was at Wembley to see the iconic play-off final in 1999.
Now, he's enjoying the best ever City side, who have swept aside every competitor in England and are close to cracking the Champions League.
But for Stuart Brodkin, a lifelong City fan who's been following the Blues since 1956, the best game was not a title-winning showdown or a cup final. It was an FA Cup fourth-round replay at Tottenham.
Stuart is the author of 'Manchester City – 50 Memorable Matches', a book cataloguing his personal account of watching City from his first game in the 50s to the present day, with 50 notable games from the all-conquering side under Joe Mercer and Malcolm Allison, to the struggles until the 2008 takeover, and up and down in between.
For someone who's seen it all, Stuart has his picks of the club's best ever moments. However, it's the incredible 4-3 comeback at Spurs in 2004 that stands out as the best game he's seen following the Blues.
Speaking to MEN Sport, Stuart said: "The best game, the most exciting game was the game at Tottenham when we were 3-0 down at half time, Joey Barton got sent off for arguing with the referee on the way to the dressing room. He’d just got booked for a bad tackle at the end of the half, argued with the referee and he got sent off.
"We didn’t know at the time, Nicolas Anelka had gone off injured. We were 3-0 down with 10 men and we won 4-3. It was a fantastic performance, Kevin Keegan was the manager. It was an amazing game to watch. We were at one end and all the goals were at our end.
"We didn’t have an amazing team, we had a goalkeeper nobody had ever seen him play before, I think it was his debut or close to it. He was brilliant, made some great saves and we won it. Jon Macken got the equaliser and Shaun Wright-Phillips got the winner.
"The only problem was we lost to United in the next round quite easily."
That last observation sums up the 'typical City' that fans are used to, and Stuart has plenty of stories of the highs and lows of being a Blue.
"City fans have a way of dealing with all sorts of setbacks, it’s a way of life being a City fan," he said, remembering how, after failing to get a ticket for the 2012 final day against QPR, he had to pause the game on TV just before injury time to cool off, not knowing what drama was unfolding as he walked around his garden.
Looking back on some of the more memorable games he did get tickets for, he pointed to two historic trophy wins.
He explained: "They were quite momentous some of the 50 games I picked, like the game at Newcastle when we won the league — there must have been 20-30,000 City fans that day.
"If you look at the pictures of that day , they’re all over the place. Nowadays you get away sections, then you could wander around and get a ticket easily.
"Also the game in Vienna to win the European Cup Winners’ Cup. There were very few fans. The ground held about 50,000 but there were about 7000 in the stadium. Lots of City fans there, very few Polish [Gornik Zabrze] fans. My brother and I ended up standing next to Joe Mercer and Malcolm Allison, they had white towels over their heads. It never stopped raining from kick-off to the finish.
"I managed to get a ticket, I don’t think I had a passport until the last minute. On the plane we made a collection for the pilot on the way back, that was quite funny. I’m one of the few people still alive to see [City win] a European trophy, I’d love to see it happen again. I don’t know whether it will, we had a great chance last year."
Stuart picks out another game with Tottenham as his worst game — the 4-3 win in the Champions League in 2019 at the Etihad, only to lose on away goals after Raheem Sterling's late strike was controversially ruled out.
David Silva stands out as the best player Stuart has seen, with Pep Guardiola the best manager, proving that having money to spend is pointless without a quality coach with a clear philosophy.
"The 1969 and 70s side had three or four very good players. Bell, Lee, Summerbee and a few others. Player for player, though this side today would beat that side nine times out of ten. This particular side, they’ve got a world-class player in every position.
"Being a City fan at the moment is the best time to be a City fan. There are loads who moan about the odd defeat or not winning the Champions League. But overall the last decade has been amazing. Just look at the trophies we’ve won, but the way we’re playing. That’s the key. The way we play, not the number of games we win."
' Manchester City – 50 Memorable Matches ' is available to buy now.
