A few years ago you might have struggled to find many Manchester City fans in town let alone in the United States.
How times change.
On tour in the USA, City TV’s ‘Today on Tour’ from July 28 visited the Pittsburgh Supporters Club known as the ‘Steel Cityzens’ and one fan explained the reason behind their loyalty to the Sky Blues.
“For years a lot of us have been meeting in a pub down on the south side to watch the Premier League games with a bunch of Chelsea, Liverpool and United fans,” said the blue-clad middle-aged man.
“We would see each other but we didn’t know each other, so about a month ago we decided it was time for us to get organised and have our own group and watch the game together. You don’t want to listen to United fans all the time.
“It’s gotten this big really fast. 90% of these people are from Pittsburgh. We’re diehard, we might be 3,000 miles away but we’re still diehard.”
Pittsburgh is known as the ‘Steel City’ for its industrial history, responsible for a vast amount of steel-related businesses, and is home to American football team the Steelers, baseball side the Pirates and ice hockey outfit the Penguins.
Fans expressed their gratitude for City making the trip to the USA via Twitter.
@MCFC @stevanj35 Was an awesome game to be at and Jovetic might be my favorite player now after seeing him live and that performance. #mcfc
— Mitchell Franklin (@MFranklin_8) July 28, 2014
Meanwhile City were busy on Twitter as well, with posts from Heinz Field as a record crowd turned up to watch the Premier League champions demolish AC Milan 5-1.
WAITING FOR THEIR HEROES: Local kids wait outside for the @mcfc and @acmilan coaches to arrive #cityontour pic.twitter.com/GsL7OlFa35
— Manchester City FC (@MCFC) July 27, 2014
HEINZ FIELD: In all its glory #cityontour https://t.co/IBsAkJ7Hcx
— Manchester City FC (@MCFC) July 27, 2014
Main image courtesy of Manchester City FC, with thanks.