Although I may have none of the writing skill of the author of Fever Pitch – the archetypal fan’s eye-view book – I can claim half Hornby’s name, and all his hairstyle, so let’s have a stab. There is a problem, though, with trying to compare the Cardiff fan’s experience to that of Hornby’s club, Arsenal. City may have beaten the Gunners in 1927 to claim our first FA Cup, but since then the clubs have not so much trodden separate paths as occupied different universes. Arsenal are genuine giants of the game, the aristocrats of English football who have never been out of the top division, with trophies galore and a string of world-class players.
