City legend ready for special night

THERE will be nobody in the ground at Boundary Park tonight for whom the game against Manchester City is more special than Athletic’s manager Paul Dickov.

A veteran of the gloomy past that preceded the club’s amazing cash-driven turnaround, the Scot holds hero status as the scorer of the crucial equalising goal against Gillingham in the play-off final of 1999, which helped rescue the club from the purgatory of successive seasons in football’s third tier.

The warm feeling City fans hold towards Dickovis reciprocated.

He said: “I spent nearly nine and a half years at the club and had fantastic rapport with everybody there, from the fans to the people behind the scenes.

“If any fans deserve success, it is City fans. We were awful at times, yet 30,000 would still come and support us.”

But emotion won’t be allowed to get between Athletic’s manager and the job he wants to do tonight.

After a pair of efficient and at-times very impressive wins at York and Fleetwood he is looking for progress.

“It is a great game for us all — but it is also the second-last until the season starts.

“As much as it is going to be a tough one for us, it is about how we play with and without the ball, and our fitness levels.”



ATHLETIC have sold just over 2,500 tickets for tonight’s game, with Manchester City providing a ticketed travelling contingent of around the same number.

The club hope that number will be swelled by home supporters paying on the day. Prices have been set at £15 adults and £5 concessions.






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