I’m Tom and I’m a Manchester City fan. I’ve been a City fan all my life, which in the early days meant being bullied at school for not supporting Manchester United or Liverpool like everyone else! There was only me and one other City fan in my entire school year in primary school, so we became best friends partly because of that. Being a City fan was in my family, we have always lived just outside of Manchester, so half the family is Blue (City) and half the family is Red (Manchester United). In the early 90’s United were the most supported team in my area, alongside Liverpool.

My grandad took me to Maine Road to watch City in 1995, when I was 3 years old. At the time Manchester City were in the Football League First Division, playing teams like Port Vale, Barnsley and Swindon town, a far cry from where they are today - a Treble Winning Team having won the Premier League, FA Cup & Champions League in 2023. The club is special to me as it represents a true underdog story, a real life rags to riches tale. I’ve seen it all with my club, I've been all over the world watching them, and I would not swap it for the world.

There’s been so many over the years. Paul Dikov’s equaliser vs Gillingham in 1999, the Aguero Goal vs QPR in 2012 to win us our first ever Premier League title, the Champions League Final win in 2023 vs Inter Milan, Yaya Toure vs Sunderland in The Capital 1 Cup Final in 2014. All of those were amazing moments, but my most unforgettable experience was the actually the last derby game at Maine Road (vs Manchester United) in 2002.

Before the game there was huge buzz as it was the last derby match at City’s stadium, we were moving to Eastlands (now Etihad Stadium) the following season so we really wanted to beat United one final time at Maine Road. Celebrities were out in full force, alongside ex players and managers. I met Colin Bell (one of Citys best ever players) with my grandad before the game and he signed my shirt and match day programme. I will always remember that day, being in total awe watching the City players run out to Sandstorm by Darude, as they lined up vs United for the final time at Maine Road. The anticipation and pre-match nerves were growing by the minute after we entered the stadium. It really felt like it was the end of something special leaving Maine Road, and the players must have felt it too as they put on a show that day. City beat United 3-1, with Shaun Goater scoring 2 goals, famously pick pocketing Gary Neville on the edge of his own box to score to make it 2-1. This goal is something that is shown on a lot of embarrassing moments and completions videos now, and rightly so.

There's been a few over the years, but the 1999 shirt we wore when we played Gillingham sticks in my memory. Paul Dikov equalised for us in the 94th minute and we went on to beat Gillingham on penalties to gain promotion to what is now known as the Championship (2nd tier of English football). The kit was luminous green with black stripes, a really unique design. This season City have actually used it to base our away shirt on and it's on course to be our best ever shirt for sales.

Pre match I'd always end up at Mary D's, a City pub just outside the ground. I could be with my mates or with my grandad and we'd always go in there for a quick pint before entering the stadium.

My favourite player for Manchester City is a tough one as I've been privileged enough to watch some incredible players, especially in recent years. I think looking backwards rather than at the current side would be easier as I'm a huge fan of Rodri. But even then, I don't think I could pick just one to be honest, so I'll give you three. David Silva, Shaun Wright Phillips and Ali Benarbia.

I'll start with the most obscure of the three. Ali Benarbia came to City during the end of his career. He was a tiny, 33 year old Algerian who had only ever played in France, I'd never heard of him before and neither had many other English football fans. He quickly started doing things I'd never seen before at City, taking people on, flicking the ball over players heads and dribbling past people like they weren't even there. He was unbelievable, especially for his age. He was vital in games and often provided moments of magic that got me on my feet - which was needed especially on those cold Saturday morning kick offs where your feet were blocks of ice!

Shaun Wright-Phillips shared the Maine Road pitch with Ali Benarbia, he was a young lad from the City academy and everyone was rooting for him. As a kid, I thought he was the fastest player in the world and one of the best. He scored some important goals for us, especially against United, and I remember being absolutely heartbroken when we sold him to Chelsea in 2005. Ironically if City didn't sell him back then, the club were at risk of going bankrupt so he actually saved the club by leaving and none of us knew it until years later. He eventually came back to City in 2008, scoring more amazing goals and playing with some world class footballers like Robinho.

Football means everything to me, it's something that has been ever present in my life since I was old enough to remember. Weather it was playing on my lunch break at primary school, replicating tricks on the park with my mates in "knock-outs", or scoring the winning goal in a Sunday league game, it's always been enjoyable and exciting. There's so many ways to fall in love with football, through playing it, watching it on the television, watching it live in a stadium or even going to away matches abroad with your mates. I think I've always loved football since playing it at an early age, but if I was to pin point a moment I really fell in love with "pure football" it was probably watching the '03 Barcelona team on T.V.

A bit conversional I know, but at the time City's football was only entertaining in spells and we were very much the underdog in most games and some of the matches were pretty dull. In 2007 for example, we went 13 hours of football without scoring a goal at home. Frank Rijkaard's Barcelona were playing some incredible stuff in 2003, with Ronaldinho in-particular impressing with his amazing ability to take players on. He went out to entertain fans, to get the crowd on there feet and watching him really made me love the game. I will always remember his first Barcelona goal against Sevilla, he took on two players running from the half way line and hit a shot from 25 yards out that hit the crossbar and bounced into the goal. Amazing. Football then was a simpler game, there was more creative freedom for players like Ronaldinho to shine. Although I still love the game today, it isn't quite the same as back then, there's more emphasis on tactics and manager prowess and less room for enigmatic players to shine. Still, I love watching the beautiful game and that will never change.