“It’s a place they to make friends with people and if to be able to talk to people about whatever might be bothering you, or if people aren’t quite ready to come out to family and friends yet and want that place to be able to dip their toe in, we’d be an ideal place for people to do that.” “We offer a really fun, vibrant but safe place for people to enjoy other people’s company who are likeminded, and I can’t stress that enough. “I was slightly worried about how I was going to be accepted but to have that safe place I guess is fantastic, and we’re growing massively. “Everybody knows Canal Street, (but) I’m from an Afro-Caribbean background and it was always quite difficult for me not knowing how I was going to be received, not only from a family perspective but also from friends. “It meant a great deal (to join the group) because it could be difficult growing up. “We just got talking, you know like you do with anyone, and they said they were going off to Canal Street for a drink - I’d never heard of the group at this point, but ever since then I’ve been a member. I was literally just walking back from a game and met John Brown, who’d set the group up, and another member. “I joined CSB about a year after they’d initially formed. “I grew up in Moss Side and have been going to watch City now for nearly 30 years, which has flown by really,” committee member Anthony Greenridge explains. In 2019, Canal Street’s Bar Pop played host to the four trophies that Pep Guardiola’s men won in our historic 2018/19 campaign, while CSB members were also interviewed at half-time in City’s Premier League match with Arsenal, which fell on the weekend of Manchester’s Pride celebrations in August 2021.įrom pre-match meetups in Ancoats and on Canal Street through to virtual calls and messaging groups, CSB’s overriding ethos is to be a community where there’s only one entry requirement: a love for Manchester City. Officially formed in January 2014, CSB was one of the first of its kind to come into official existence, alongside fellow trailblazers in Arsenal’s ‘Gay Gooners’, Tottenham’s ‘Proud Lilywhites’ and Norwich’s ‘Proud Canaries’.Īnd from that initial spark, a small-scale operation has continually grown, with over 100 members now part of the community.
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