Earning players’ trust has been special

City’s former kit boss (and new website manager) and former Latics star writes for Chron Sport.


SO, after 17 years as City’s kit manager my stint comes to an end with the team having won the Premier League title in style.

Apart from one or two little hiccups, City has been the best team in the league, so we are well-deserved champions. Liverpool enjoyed a terrific season and put up a great fight, but I don’t think too many people should begrudge City the glory.

As I said last week, I will still be at City next season, working in my new role on the club website, but these 17 years as kit manager are flooded with happy memories.

I wasn’t just looking after the strips; I saw my job as helping out the players with everything and anything they might need, even offering advice on things that might be going on in their personal lives.

I gained their trust and that has felt special. It has helped me build up so many cherished relationships with players, too many to recall in one column.

Richard Dunne is probably my best mate in football — if I was to get married again he would be my best man.

Ben Thatcher probably started off some of the daft stuff, like eating and drinking some really crazy (not necessarily alcoholic) things for little bets.

I’ve always enjoyed having a bit of fun making videos around the club, and one of the IT blokes put a compilation of some of them together last week and we watched it with the players in Abu Dhabi.

It is important that people are happy at work, and if you can’t have a bit of fun from time to time then you might as well go home.

It has been hard work, but I have enjoyed my role as kit manager so much.

It hasn’t really sunk in yet that I’ll be working in a different department next season. At the moment it just feels like the end of another season; I’m looking forward to going on holiday and recharging my batteries.

I’ll be back next season with more reflections on the world of football in general, though, so until then, enjoy the World Cup – I certainly will!