Expecting it tough against nice guy Sven

The Manchester City kit manager and former Athletic star writes every week for Chron Sport

THE FA Cup third-round draw pits us against Sven-Goran Eriksson’s Leicester City at the Walkers Stadium.

Sven was manager at City in the 2007/08 season and he was very popular with everyone at the club. We were all sad to see him go, and I know he was close to the fans.

He was pleasant and well-mannered to people — a bit of a throwback in that respect.

Sven had a unique management style which earned the respect of all those who worked under him.

It will be nice to see him, though on the playing side, it will be a difficult contest because the form book goes out of the window in the early rounds of the cup, especially against teams from lower divisions.

That said, I believe we have a good enough squad to match anyone, so hopefully we will progress.


HAVING taken the lead late on at Stoke, it was a sickener to see the hosts equalise against Manchester City in stoppage time.

To be fair, Tony Pulis’ side could have been ahead at the interval, but we were much better in the second half and dominated for long spells.

Micah Richards put us in front nine minutes from the end, only for Matthew Etherington to peg us back at the death.

Micah’s goal was brilliant — I didn’t know he had that in his locker, and I’m not sure he knew either!


A LOT of matches have fallen victim to the icy snap, which we can probably expect for at least another few weeks.

In my playing days I was involved in many matches on pitches that would these days be deemed unfit.

I never sustained injuries as a result. Once you realised conditions were going to be tricky under foot, you had to adjust your game.

The way you turned, changed direction, everything was altered so you avoided accidents but still made an impact on the match.

It’s just like my stint at Preston North End, where we used an astroturf pitch — you adapt to your surroundings.

I certainly did not do any sliding tackles on that surface — I would have ended up with third degree burns!