Yahoo News "When I was a kid it was ridicule. Now my kids are witnessing momentous occasions like this": Elation as Manchester City clinch fourth consecutive Premier League title
Manchester might be quiet tomorrow, I think to myself as I interview group after group of City fans. It's about an hour before kick-off, the sun is beating down, and beer is flowing.
Most of these City fans have had the foresight to take Monday off work, and with good reason - they're expecting a party tonight. We're just minutes away from the game that could see Manchester's blues win an unprecedented fourth consecutive Premier League title, and nobody here plans to see that achievement slide by quietly.
Pep Guardiola's side went into the game the favourites to nab the title after a close-run race with north London rivals Arsenal. It all came down to the final day, and for City, a simple truth - win the game, win the league. And win they did.
Speaking to the Manchester Evening News before the game, City fans are nervy. Outside the Etihad, Paul Chapman - who has been a blue since 1968. - says he’s feeling nervous but thinks they’ll ‘scrape it’ today.
“I’m never confident,” he added. “We should beat them but football isn’t always like that.”
Lifelong Blue Jane Nelson has come to the match with her son Alex, and says she’s feeling ‘terrified’ ahead of kick off. “I think we’ll win but I won’t believe it until we’re 3-0 up with a minute to go,” she says.
Across town at The Waldorf, another fan says he is 'nervous'. "What if we screw it all up?," he asks.
But his fears are pushed aside quickly as Stockport lad Phil Foden hammers a goal home within seconds, setting the blues up for a game on top. Just minutes later, Foden makes it 2-0 and I end up with water all over me. You could say there was some excitement.
"Come on City," fans are chanting at the TV - a scene that I'm sure is being replicated in pubs across the region. The energy shifts up and down at points, but the fans are focused on seeing this out.
The first half ends on a quiet note with fans after West Ham manage to pull a goal back - but it isn't long before the chanting is back. We have several renditions of Blue Moon, each one louder than the last. Fans are getting giddy.
"City are champions again," rings out, and with West Ham disallowed a second goal for handball, it looks increasingly likely to be true.
By the final few minutes the noise is ear-splitting and relentless and the pub is pulsing with energy. "F***ing hell we've done it," the man next to me sighs with relief just seconds before the final whistle.
As the final whistle goes, the pub is pulsing with energy. "City, City, City, City," fans chant - no other words are needed.
Spilling out onto the street, fans speak of how much the record-breaking title win means to them. "I’ve been a City fan my whole life, and when we go out now and break those records that I was told we never would when I was a kid, that is amazing,” a fan called Callum says.
"It means the world to me." He says he forgot to take the day off work on Monday, but that's tomorrow's problem. Tonight is for celebrations!
His words are echoed by none other than Ste Ryan, the uncle of Manchester comedian Jason Manford. Speaking outside the Etihad, he told the M.E.N: “When I was a kid it was ridicule. Now my kids are witnessing momentous occasions like this.”
Others have incredibly special reasons for why the title means so much to them. Tracy and Becky travelled from Doncaster today to honour Tracy's son and Becky's brother Ryan, who passed away a few years ago and was a huge City fan.
“It’s so special to us, this means a lot - we live on for Ryan,” they said. Tonight they'll be out celebrating, and remembering their beloved boy.
If Manchester is quiet tomorrow, we know why - tonight it will be loud. Tonight, Manchester is blue.
