Munich Chants Show City's Fans Are Anything But Impeccable

It's a derby match, a tribal collision between two old rivals and, OK, in the heat of the moment, rational people say and do things they would never dream of in normal life. But ever had the feeling you've just been had?

When Manchester City's fans traveled to Old Trafford in February for the game that marked the 50th anniversary of the Munich air disaster even their own supporters' club secretary was so concerned he wrote to Manchester United asking them to abandon plans for a minute's silence.

"We think it is obvious that if there is a minute's silence some fool will interrupt it," Kevin Parker wrote. "This will reflect very badly not only on Manchester City but on Manchester and football supporters in general."

As it turned out, City's supporters did themselves proud. There is still an element of mystery about who let off fireworks outside the ground but, inside, the 3,000 people in the away end all respected the silence. "We are impeccable," they later sang, and who could disagree?

And, yet, wind forward nine months and suddenly it is all exposed as a one-off. A con. The game had not kicked off when the first City supporters in close vicinity to the away end could be seen doing pretend aeroplane gestures. OK, there were only half a dozen of them. But there were significantly more, 16 minutes into the game, who were calling Nemanja Vidic a "dirty Munich bastard" (after Micah Richards had actually sunk his studs into his opponent's chest). And, again, five minutes later when we got a rendition of "same old Munichs, always cheating." You get the idea.

Football is tribal. These occasions are no place for softies and there are many people, myself included, who remember the old days and wish the Premier League wasn't such a plastic experience. But it is a pretty strange set of circumstances - and does this really need pointing out? - that leads anyone to mock a disaster that killed 23 people and devastated a great city (and beyond).

It embarrasses the club. It embarrasses many of their supporters. And it embarrasses all those proud old players who grew up as mates of the eight members of Matt Busby's team who died.

Maybe the perpetrators don't realise how it sounds to someone like Sir Bobby Charlton in the directors' box. Or maybe they do, and that's the point. But let's not forget that one of their own also died on that snowy runway in Bavaria on February 6, 1958 - City's former goalkeeper, Frank Swift, who was on the plane in his new role as a football reporter.

"We are impeccable"? Sorry, but it's not only Cristiano Ronaldo who needs to take a long hard look at himself today.