'It was horrible' - Fights, tears and why some Man City fans loathe Luton

Manchester City spend their time these days mixing with with Liverpool and Real Madrid, but for some of their fans they will never forget or forgive Luton.

Every mention of the Hatters opens up old wounds, and their promotion to the Premier League this season has made them even more impossible to ignore. While Luton are at the opposite end of the table to City now as they look to avoid relegation, back in 1983 they were responsible for sending the Blues down to the second division.

It was an inglorious end to an inglorious season for City as the problems at the club saw their 17-year run of top-flight football brought to an end with a dismal defeat at home on the final day of the season. The spell had been laden with trophies too, winning the league in 1968, the FA Cup in 1969 and then the League Cup and European Cup Winners' Cup in 1970.

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Another League Cup had followed in 1976 and City finished runners-up the following year, yet six years after that they were relegated having finished 10th the season before. A generation of Blues couldn't contemplate how things had gone so badly wrong so quickly, and what made it worse was that fans had been convincing themselves for months that the unthinkable would not happen.

It had been a far from vintage year under first John Bond and then, from February, John Benson. However, it was still in their own hands going into the final day of the season. All they needed to do was avoid defeat at Maine Road against Luton, who were two points below them in the table.

"We were massive underdogs and hadn't