As a rule, celebrity football fans get a bad rap, accused of aligning themselves with a glamorous club when in reality they would be hard-pressed to locate its ground without the aid of Sat-Nav.
Others meanwhile go a little leftfield, perhaps seeking some credibility. When, for example did we last see self-avowed Fulham supporter Margot Robbie at Craven Cottage tucking into a pie? Never, that’s when.
Such artifice absolutely does not apply to these ten well-known Manchester City fans, who all endured the rough times before the club’s transformative takeover in 2008.
Celebs they may be, but this bunch of rock stars, actors and newsreaders also happen to be true Blues.
10) Marco Pierre White
The brilliant but hot-headed chef grew up in Leeds yet found himself captivated by the all-attacking Manchester City side of the Seventies. He is proud to this day to call Mike Summerbee and Joe Corrigan among his friends.
Accumulating Michelin stars at record speed, the former boss of Gordon Ramsey fell out of love with the game in his twenties, his work all-consuming.
In recent years however, he has been drawn back to his first love, even establishing eateries within the Etihad and helping to revamp their matchday menus.
9) Michael O’Leary
Nicknamed the ‘Mourinho of aviation’, due to his outspoken demeanour, the CEO of Ryanair dreamed of becoming a centre-forward for City as a kid, growing up in Ireland, before switching his attention to cheap short-haul flights, a market where he amassed a considerable fortune.
So considerable in fact that in 2003 he was approached by the club and asked to become a stakeholder. Believing the club was heading in the wrong direction however he declined.
Which goes to prove that even innovative and highly successful businessmen can be spectacularly wrong sometimes.
8) Craig Cash
Each and every August our Premier League predictions tip City to claim another crown, as they extend on their unprecedented era of dominance.
This all must feel like a world away – or half the world, if we’re evoking the title track to the award-winning Royle Family sitcom that Cash co-wrote with Caroline Aherne – to the comedian’s formative years, stood on the Kippax, enduring largely mediocrity.
Cash recently admitted on a podcast that he has treated himself to a box at the Etihad, attending with his wife and friends and invariably returning home drunk on wine and success.
7) Clive Myrie
Myrie has recently won deserved acclaim for his brave reporting from the frontline of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Prior to that, the esteemed journalist made headlines when he succeeded John Humphrys as the latest host of Mastermind.
To City fans however, he is better known as that guy off the telly who fails to hide his smile when relaying the latest misfortune to strike Manchester United. Legendary status has derived from less.
6) Badly Drawn Boy
A season ticket holder for many years standing, Damon Gough aka Badly Drawn Boy had trials at Manchester United as a teen but already was starting to feel the pull of the stage.
Besides, it would have been all kinds of wrong for this City obsessive to turn out in red, his love for the Cityzens life-long and profound.
The Mercury Prize winner, known for his trademark wooly hats as much as his lo-fi tunes, has enjoyed every minute of a remarkable rise that has seen the club favourites in the Champions League betting every season, but remains endearingly nostalgic about a time when City were perennial underachievers.
It’s fitting therefore that he sang a couple of songs after the Blues’ final ever game at Maine Road.
5) Timothy Dalton
That’s right, James Bond is a Manchester City fan, though if we’re being entirely accurate, the super-spy also loves Rangers (Sean Connery) and Liverpool (Daniel Craig). Indeed, it could be argued that 007 is the very worst kind of glory-hunter.
Not so Dalton, who has followed the Blues through thick and thin since growing up in nearby Cheadle, even admitting recently that he used to sneak under the turnstiles as a boy to avoid paying.
Now a seasoned and highly venerated actor, Dalton ensures he keeps up to date with all the latest developments at the club while on location, no doubt still pinching himself at times at their astonishing rise.
No doubt he was shaken and stirred last year when City finally secured Champions League glory.
4) Ricky Hatton
The pinnacle of the former welterweight champion of the world’s achievements was successfully defending his belt in 2008 at a packed-out Etihad Stadium, the 55,000 present that evening a post-war record attendance at the time for a British boxing bout.
The Pride of Hyde, more widely known as the ‘Hitman’ has Manchester City in his DNA, with his father turning out for the reserves before he was born.
He also has the club’s motto ‘Pride in Battle’ inked across his back while the explosive puncher entered his biggest fights to Blue Moon.
3) Johnny Marr
The iconic guitarist first saw City play in 1972, aged nine and agog at the sight of Colin Bell and Francis Lee thrashing Wolves 5-2 and though he is now based in the US he still never misses a game, staying up all hours to tune in.
Which makes it rather fortunate that Marr is a rock star living rock star hours.
The architect of some of music’s greatest guitar riffs with The Smiths, Marr faced a tough choice as a precocious teen, turning out for Manchester City’s youth side while befriending a certain Steven Patrick Morrisey. History tells us he very likely took the right career path.
2) Jason Manford
The popular comedian rarely misses an opportunity to chat City, either on his award-winning radio show or in interviews and additionally he enjoys a close affiliation with the club behind the scenes, on occasion appearing at City Square, the venue that hosts pre-match entertainment.
Now a rising star in the world of musical theatre, he also belted out Blue Moon on the pitch in 2013.
1) The Gallagher brothers
Some might say that the Gallagher brothers have done as much to spread City’s good name across the globe as David Silva, Kevin De Bruyne and the rest of them.
At the height of Oasis’ fame, Liam and his generously-eyebrowed older brother Noel posed on the front cover of the NME, wearing retro City shirts while two gigs at Maine Road during the Nineties will live long in the memory.
Noel’s relationship with City goes deep, arguably the most influential songwriter of his generation a regular presence in the changing room following title wins and cup glories.
Liam meanwhile attends games when tour commitments allow and is never shy in airing his sincere dislike of the club’s arch-rivals Manchester United.
The Premier League odds for City and United are currently poles apart, sadly echoing the distance between these warring siblings.
*Credit for the main photo belongs to Alamy*
