When you are a  Manchester City fan, it doesn’t feel good to revel in the success your neighbours have had.

A Manchester City fan on the forums of bluevibe.co.uk after the defeat to United in the Carling Cup, read: “It’s on nights like these you wonder whether it’s actually worth all the s***e that goes with supporting a football team.

“Just think of all those perfectly happy folk who like, say, opera or the theatre and never have to spend days worrying about whether Hamlet will be a good play or Tosca will be a good tune and never go home so dejected having watched the cast f*** it up.

“Why did we have to be football fans?”

It can be unsympathetic, grieves great agony, and yet deliver unbridled joy that no other sport can conjure up.

And NO, replayed matches are different from watching one live.