Was born at St Mary's (the old one, on Whitworth Street) and spent the first year or so of my life in Miles Platting before my dad's streetwise guile moved me, him and mum out to the leafy suburbs, where I lived for the rest of my childhood and my early adulthood before moving away at 22: first to Sheffield, then to Nottingham, the New Forest, London, back to Nottingham and then to Birmingham over the next 25 years. During that time I've been home hundreds of times, partly to see the folks and a handful of mates - and City, of course.
When I moved to Birmingham in 2012 it was very much in my mind to move back to Manchester around this time, but I'm so happy in Birmingham that I reckon I'll probably stay here for good. I've built a life for myself here and it really feels like home, as daft as that may sound. Home is ultimately about where you are happiest, I guess.
I still consider myself a Mancunian though. Proud I was born there and supporting City is something that defines me as strongly as anything else; wherever I've lived since I left home in 1992 I've always been known as a City fan by the locals - and that remains the case. People sometimes says they can pick up a Mancunian twang in my accent, but I'm not sure that's the case. For my adult life I've had a pretty neutral northern accent; moving round the country must, in part at least, have contributed to that.
I'll always have a strong connection to Manchester, because of my family and of course because of City. I love going back and always enjoy drinking and dining in town. It's become a truly great global city and I can only see that being increasingly so in the years ahead. It will always be such a big part of me, but I'm glad I moved away and experienced and lived in other parts of the UK, but if you're going to spend you're whole life in a UK city then I reckon Manchester would take some beating.