'We thought we were finished' - Man City fanzine King of the Kippax keeping football heritage alive

If you have been to a Manchester City home game over the past 34 years, whether at Maine Road or the Etihad Stadium, then there's a good chance you will have met - or at the very least heard - one man in particular.

"King of the Kippax, City fanzine!" is a cry as synonymous with afternoons spent watching City as the smell of half-time pies and pints, the sight of inflatable bananas and tears of joy and despair. You could say that Steve Parish, long-time contributor to and seller of the King of the Kippax fanzine, is more a part of the furniture than any player or manager.

"I once sold 130 copies in one afternoon at Selhurst Park when we were playing Wimbledon," says Steve. "I think that's a record!"

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Like many of those involved with English football fanzines, Steve has been in the game for over 25 years. In that time he's seen the movement boom and then bust, so much so that King of the Kippax (KK) is now the only City fanzine left.

KK - named after Colin Bell, the club legend dubbed 'the King of the Kippax' due to his brilliance - was founded in 1988 by lifelong City fan Dave Wallace, who along with his wife Sue has edited the publication ever since. The zine came along at a pivotal moment in football fan culture, when British football fans were being demonised by Margaret Thatcher's government because of the actions of a vocal - and violent - minority.

After the Bradford City fire and the European ban on English clubs that followed the Heysel disaster, all match-goers were assumed guilty before innocent. Tarred with the same brush, away supporters were trapped in barbed wire-topped cages, herded onto trains like cattle