Paul Seery wasn’t shy of going against the grain when he pledged his allegiance to Manchester City as a kid. And now it’s all come full circle

‍Born in a small town on the border of Derbyshire and Cheshire in the 1960’s, there were only four popular clubs at the school playground: Derby County, Leeds United, Manchester City and Manchester United. I decided that my loyalties would lie with Manchester City, don’t ask me why because I couldn’t give you an answer.

The next fifty years following my beloved Manchester City, there were highs – with Colin Bell, Francis Lee, Mike Summerbee, Dennis Tueart, Asa Hartford and Peter Barnes – followed by the lows of relegation, ending up in the third tier of English football, instability in the boardroom, a couple of takeovers, before in the late noughties, we rose. The wave had begun to crest in the form of a project with a vision.

And that wave swept up all the silverware we never thought we could lay our hands on. New heroes emerged and changed the lore around the club. Sergio Agüero, Gareth ‘Gaz Baz’ Barry, Edin Džeko, David Silva, Yaya Toure and Vincent Kompany assumed command of the ship we proudly wore on our chests, and there was new wind in its sails.

We had managed to put our stamp on domestic football, but the Holy Grail remained elusive. The Champions League was the one trophy missing from the trophy cabinet. Ask any City fan and they will always tell you they prefer winning the league over the Champions League, but the heartbreaks against Chelsea and the semi-final exits before that were tough to digest. And somewhere within, there was always a burning desire to see my team lift the one title that every football fan and every footballer covets.  

When we faced Real Madrid last year amid a lot of doubts we thought, was this to be the year? Our year? Sure enough it was. We had spent our time at the seabed, but the Sky Blue wave has risen ten storeys tall, and we’re going to enjoy every minute of it.