THE glory-hunter tag does not apply to Paul Dickov. If Manchester City have unearthed a legion of new followers on the back of their recent trophy-laden success, then Dickov is no Johnny-come-lately. The Scot can remember the bad old days because he was on the park for most of them over two spells, famously scoring the goal against Gillingham that extricated the then sleeping giant from the third tier of English football.
That was in 1999 but it feels like a lifetime ago. City are now a multi-million pound commercial behemoth, owned by Middle Eastern investors, and one of the biggest clubs in the world. They will round off their Champions League group phase with a dead rubber game at home to Celtic tomorrow night – the team Dickov supported as a boy – and then look to improve on last year’s semi-final exit. To Dickov and those who scrubbed around some fairly insalubrious stations, the transformation has been quite incredible.
“It feels like a completely different club from the one I was involved in,” he said. “My kids are big City fans because I was there when they were being brought up. The fans sing “where were you when we were shit?” I know where I was – I was playing!
“But I’m delighted with the changes. The owners have to take a lot of credit. It’s easy to talk about the money they’ve chucked at it, to say they’ve bought the league. But the majority of the people who I first worked with behind the scenes back in 1995/96 are still there. They’ve made sure to keep hold of people like that and look after them. That kind of thing doesn’t always get publicity. As much as they want to be the biggest and best, they’ve kept the core and the soul of the club intact. I think they should get a lot of credit for that.
“The Champions League has to be the main target. When the owners came in they stated that. It’s been no secret. I do think Pep Guardiola’s taken them on to another level, whether they win it this year or not. It’s going to be difficult, but if City can keep [Sergio] Aguero, [David] Silva and {Kevin] de Bruyne fit then they can do it. You can count on two hands the number of times they were all fit to start in the same team last year. [Raheem] Sterling’s been brilliant, Fernandinho’s been on fire, [Ilkay] Gundogan has been sensational and Gabriel Jesus is coming in January and at only 19 is Brazil’s main striker.”
Tomorrow’s game will likely lack the intensity of the first match between the sides when Celtic and City scrapped to a breathless 3-3 draw.
“I watched the first game and it certainly raised a few eyebrows down south,” added Dickov. “I didn’t know who I wanted to win because it’s my two teams. European nights at Celtic Park are fantastic. I’m doing quite a lot of work with City now on the ambassadorial side of things and I said to a fair few of them that they would never have experienced anything like it. They just laughed and shrugged it off. But then they played the game and they’re still talking about it now.
“I was proud to see that Scottish resistance. It was brilliant. I cheered all six goals! It was brilliant to watch – just two teams going at it, which you don’t often see. I feared for Celtic before the game because City were on fire. They’d won all their games. All credit to Brendan and his team because they gave it a right good go. It was a great spectacle and was great for Scottish football.
“But I think it’ll be difficult for Celtic this time with home advantage taken away, and because City have shown that on their day they can beat anyone. They beat Barcelona after all. With the squad they’ve got and the manager they’ve got, anything’s possible for them. I’ve been lucky enough to see the majority of their games this year. Recently they’ve had a couple of draws but I’ve never seen anything like some of the football they’ve played.”
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