Paul Dickov walked into a pub in Bredbury last week and caught a group of Manchester City supporters completely by surprise.
A handful of fans had been told to expect something from the club. They hadn’t been told that the man whose dramatic equaliser helped rescue City in the 1999 play-off final would be walking through the door alongside Kevin Parker, general secretary of the Official Supporters Club.
The visit had been arranged months earlier. But its timing meant what began as a simple gesture towards local supporters became part of a much bigger conversation about what it means to follow City now.
Days earlier, an independent commission had found the club guilty of 114 of the 115 Premier League charges brought against them.
Parker reveals uncomfortable reaction to City verdict
As detailed in the Manchester Evening News account of Dickov’s visit, the plan was agreed between City and the OSC during the summer.
Signed shirts would be delivered personally to 20 of the biggest supporters’ club branches across Greater Manchester during the international break. Nobody could have anticipated the circumstances in which those visits would eventually take place.
Parker’s reaction to the verdict was strikingly candid.”It’s a tough read,” he said of the commission’s findings, admitting that the repeated use of the word “sham” had particularly troubled him.
He went further, acknowledging that he initially didn’t even want to finish reading the statement because he found it uncomfortable.
“And I’m on the edge of thinking, where do I go from here as a City fan?” Parker said.
It is one of the more revealing reactions to the verdict from somebody closely associated with City’s organised support. Parker didn’t attempt to dismiss the seriousness of what he had read or pretend it was easy for supporters to absorb.
City strongly reject the findings and have lodged an appeal. Our full explainer on the Man City guilty verdict sets out what the commission decided and what happens next.
Dickov visit provides reminder of City’s past
Parker subsequently read City’s response and watched chief executive Ferran Soriano’s message to club staff. By the time Dickov arrived in Bredbury, he said he was “back in the room”.
The choice of visitor carried its own significance. Dickov represents a very different period in Manchester City’s history. His stoppage-time equaliser against Gillingham at Wembley in 1999 forced extra time in the Second Division play-off final, with City eventually winning on penalties to secure promotion from the third tier.
His continued popularity also reflects the connection many supporters retain with the years before trophies became commonplace.
“When I speak to the lads, and message Shaun Goater or Andy Morrison or Nicky Weaver, we talk a lot about how it is that this is 30 years later and we’re still held in this high esteem,” Dickov said.
He was careful not to claim that everything City subsequently achieved began with that side, saying they had played only a “small part”. But he believes memories of the season have endured partly because the journey was far from straightforward.
For supporters wrestling with the commission’s findings, that history provides another part of their relationship with City, one stretching back well before Abu Dhabi ownership and the succession of Premier League titles that followed.
City support remains strong but Parker acknowledges doubts
Parker isn’t claiming every City supporter has reached the same conclusion as him. “There are some City fans out there who have lost faith,” he acknowledged. “That’s fine, by the way. But the majority will wait, and listen, I think.”
He expects that support to be evident when City travel to Liverpool next weekend, with the MEN reporting that inflatable bananas are already being ordered for the trip to Anfield.
Parker’s comments capture two very different emotions surrounding City after the verdict. He found the commission’s findings uncomfortable and questioned where they left him as a supporter, before reading City’s response and reflecting on what the club still means to those who follow it.
The Bredbury visit offered another reminder of that relationship. For Parker, the people running local branches, raising money for charities and maintaining communities around City remain an important part of what supporting the club means.
His expectation for what comes next was emphatic.
“I think the response from the City fans will be amazing. I guarantee you it will be.”
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