Danny Wilson, Oleks Zinchenko, a Ukrainian boy and MCFC

Didsbury Dave said:
All I know is that Myla delivered the 10 year old to safety in Poland. She has no way of contacting the heart attack woman as she was a stranger until they met as they fled.

Not inappropriate at all. He FaceTimes them sometimes from the front line. They aren’t allowed to know where he is or to call him. So far he is fine although he saw a Russian drone a few days ago.

ive had a few “ conversations” with him on FaceTime but he doesn’t speak a word of English so we just sort of say stuff without understanding. The first two times this happened he was crying his eyes out and beating his heart, obviously saying thanks for looking after his family. I just say daft stuff like “come on Ukraine”. It’s awkward.
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Thanks Dave
 
Didsbury Dave said:
All I know is that Myla delivered the 10 year old to safety in Poland. She has no way of contacting the heart attack woman as she was a stranger until they met as they fled.

Not inappropriate at all. He FaceTimes them sometimes from the front line. They aren’t allowed to know where he is or to call him. So far he is fine although he saw a Russian drone a few days ago.

ive had a few “ conversations” with him on FaceTime but he doesn’t speak a word of English so we just sort of say stuff without understanding. The first two times this happened he was crying his eyes out and beating his heart, obviously saying thanks for looking after his family. I just say daft stuff like “come on Ukraine”. It’s awkward.
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Fair play to you and your family Dave

Loved what Zinny and Danny and the club have done

But without you none of this would have been possible

I‘m proud of you blue
 
I salute you for your compassion and empathy for a young mother and child .

You have done a remarkable thing .

You and City have given hope to that young lad,and it cannot be underestimated how important that is.

Best wishes to you fella,and pass my best wishes on to Myla and Timur.
 
Didsbury Dave said:
Not the dust is settling I thought I'd share with you my tale of the way Manchester City have acted behind the scenes and changed a young and shattered life for the better.

We took a small Ukrainian family from the war in April of this year. A mother and her 13 year old son, Myla and Timur,they arrived at Manchester Airport traumatised and confused. They'd left their beds one early morning and fled, after hearing bombs, leaving their dad behind. On the way to the border the lady who'd joined them had a heart attack and passed her ten year old on to them, so she could find a hospital. The three of them ended up being picked up by a strange car at 3am, freezing cold, in the middle of nowhere, who thankfully turned out to be a volunteer who took them across the border. They ended up in Prague in a little hotel and that's where we found them and arranged their travel. Whilst my wife hassled the government and the MP they found out that their husband/father had been conscripted to a bunker in a school basement somewhere, despite never having held a gun in his life.

This was the state of play when they arrived. They spoke little English but Timur was football crazy and got very animated when I asked him about Oleks Zinchenko. I bought him a ticket for the Real Madrid home game the following week and we set about trying to build them a new life. The Real game was his first ever game and he was so excited (although he didn't even realise it was two legs until the car journey home!) He was up on his seat giving it "City! City!" like a proper blue.

After a few people suggested it, I emailed Danny Wilson to tell him about Timur. Danny's an old friend from years ago but I haven't seen him in a long time. He was straight on the phone and the next thing you know he organised four Tunnel Club tickets from me, Timur and my boys, for the Watford game. We went and had a wonderful time and then after the game Danny came over and whisked us downstairs to the dressing room area. Out came Oleks Zinchenko, had a long chat with Timur who was by now dying of excitement, and made several videos for him to send to his Dad, brother and friends. Oleks gave him his mobile number and asked him to stay in touch. I had a beer with Danny in the Tunnel Club after and he offered match tickets for Timur for any game and concert tickets for Myla for all of the concerts at the Etihad this summer.

Timur was now a massive blue, watching the games face to face or on the telly with me and my boys. Last week Danny Wilson, unprompted, got in touch with me again and sorted out Timur a ticket for the Villa game up with us. He even offered to give us all tickets but I'm a season ticket holder already, had bought tickets for my boys and didn't want to take the piss. Oh how excited Tumur was now, until Thursday of this week when his phone went and he was suddenly talking to Zinchenko again. He offered him a place in his family's box for the game. Wow. But this wasn't even the end of the story because as I was waiting for the bus meet, about 1.30pm on Sunday, and Timur and my boys were having a burger at City Square, Danny Wilson rang me again. It was only a quick walk to where he was at City@Home, and there he presented me with Olek's shirt, signed by the whole squad. Any of you with kids will know that a player's shirt is literally the holy grail these days. You should have seen Timur's face.

So we won the league, with Timur witnessing it wearing Oleks' shirt,with the Zinchenko (and Cancelo and De Bruyne) family. He got photos of himself with Zin's winner's medal. The head master of Timur's School in Ukraine (which is still running lessons!) held an assembly on Monday morning and showed the picture to the whole school (or what's left of them) who applauded wildly. Timur has talked of nothing else. He's built a little shrine to Manchester City in his bedroom. He walks around the house in a City scarf chanting "City!" at random

Danny Wilson and Oleks Zinchenko sought no publicity over this. They did it, to quote Danny, to "let him be a part of something special". They changed the life of a deeply distressed and depressed little boy and gave him happiness and hope when he needed it the most. What a credit they both are to MCFC, and how proud I am of the club I love.
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That is THE best post I have ever read on Blue Moon. A beautiful story, better written than anything in the written media, and so much kindness, most particularly from you Dave. Amazing
 
Blimey I’m glad I opened this thread.

@Didsbury Dave you’re a great person, thank you to you and your family for housing these people. And thank you to the club for their hospitality. This thread brought a tear to my eye, and I feel ashamed that I have not helped any Ukrainian people in this manner.
 
Well done Danny, Dave and the Zinchenkos. It was great to read this fantastic post.

I’ve been underwhelmed with some of my dealings with the Club’s admin (supporter Services have always been helpful) but this is brilliant.
 
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Didsbury Dave said:
All I know is that Myla delivered the 10 year old to safety in Poland. She has no way of contacting the heart attack woman as she was a stranger until they met as they fled.

Not inappropriate at all. He FaceTimes them sometimes from the front line. They aren’t allowed to know where he is or to call him. So far he is fine although he saw a Russian drone a few days ago.

ive had a few “ conversations” with him on FaceTime but he doesn’t speak a word of English so we just sort of say stuff without understanding. The first two times this happened he was crying his eyes out and beating his heart, obviously saying thanks for looking after his family. I just say daft stuff like “come on Ukraine”. It’s awkward.
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Fucking hell, that last paragraph is really intense. You’ve got his wife and child living with you and he’s there powerless in a war zone … you’re both warriors in my mind. He’ll be so thankful that you’re protecting his family whilst he fights for the safety of his country. I‘m in tears here.
 
What an uplifting post . Brought tears to my eyes we have seen the best and worst of people still lots of compassionate kind human beings around . Gives us all hope well done to all involved
 
Didsbury Dave said:
Not inappropriate at all. He FaceTimes them sometimes from the front line. They aren’t allowed to know where he is or to call him. So far he is fine although he saw a Russian drone a few days ago.

ive had a few “ conversations” with him on FaceTime but he doesn’t speak a word of English so we just sort of say stuff without understanding. The first two times this happened he was crying his eyes out and beating his heart, obviously saying thanks for looking after his family. I just say daft stuff like “come on Ukraine”. It’s awkward.
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I was concerned that having, at that time, not read the whole thread, I might have been asking about his dad without knowing if he was still alive back home. It's good to read that he's still alive. Once again, you can be proud of what you and your family have done. A big well done.
 
Didsbury Dave said:
Not the dust is settling I thought I'd share with you my tale of the way Manchester City have acted behind the scenes and changed a young and shattered life for the better.

We took a small Ukrainian family from the war in April of this year. A mother and her 13 year old son, Myla and Timur,they arrived at Manchester Airport traumatised and confused. They'd left their beds one early morning and fled, after hearing bombs, leaving their dad behind. On the way to the border the lady who'd joined them had a heart attack and passed her ten year old on to them, so she could find a hospital. The three of them ended up being picked up by a strange car at 3am, freezing cold, in the middle of nowhere, who thankfully turned out to be a volunteer who took them across the border. They ended up in Prague in a little hotel and that's where we found them and arranged their travel. Whilst my wife hassled the government and the MP they found out that their husband/father had been conscripted to a bunker in a school basement somewhere, despite never having held a gun in his life.

This was the state of play when they arrived. They spoke little English but Timur was football crazy and got very animated when I asked him about Oleks Zinchenko. I bought him a ticket for the Real Madrid home game the following week and we set about trying to build them a new life. The Real game was his first ever game and he was so excited (although he didn't even realise it was two legs until the car journey home!) He was up on his seat giving it "City! City!" like a proper blue.

After a few people suggested it, I emailed Danny Wilson to tell him about Timur. Danny's an old friend from years ago but I haven't seen him in a long time. He was straight on the phone and the next thing you know he organised four Tunnel Club tickets from me, Timur and my boys, for the Watford game. We went and had a wonderful time and then after the game Danny came over and whisked us downstairs to the dressing room area. Out came Oleks Zinchenko, had a long chat with Timur who was by now dying of excitement, and made several videos for him to send to his Dad, brother and friends. Oleks gave him his mobile number and asked him to stay in touch. I had a beer with Danny in the Tunnel Club after and he offered match tickets for Timur for any game and concert tickets for Myla for all of the concerts at the Etihad this summer.

Timur was now a massive blue, watching the games face to face or on the telly with me and my boys. Last week Danny Wilson, unprompted, got in touch with me again and sorted out Timur a ticket for the Villa game up with us. He even offered to give us all tickets but I'm a season ticket holder already, had bought tickets for my boys and didn't want to take the piss. Oh how excited Tumur was now, until Thursday of this week when his phone went and he was suddenly talking to Zinchenko again. He offered him a place in his family's box for the game. Wow. But this wasn't even the end of the story because as I was waiting for the bus meet, about 1.30pm on Sunday, and Timur and my boys were having a burger at City Square, Danny Wilson rang me again. It was only a quick walk to where he was at City@Home, and there he presented me with Olek's shirt, signed by the whole squad. Any of you with kids will know that a player's shirt is literally the holy grail these days. You should have seen Timur's face.

So we won the league, with Timur witnessing it wearing Oleks' shirt,with the Zinchenko (and Cancelo and De Bruyne) family. He got photos of himself with Zin's winner's medal. The head master of Timur's School in Ukraine (which is still running lessons!) held an assembly on Monday morning and showed the picture to the whole school (or what's left of them) who applauded wildly. Timur has talked of nothing else. He's built a little shrine to Manchester City in his bedroom. He walks around the house in a City scarf chanting "City!" at random

Danny Wilson and Oleks Zinchenko sought no publicity over this. They did it, to quote Danny, to "let him be a part of something special". They changed the life of a deeply distressed and depressed little boy and gave him happiness and hope when he needed it the most. What a credit they both are to MCFC, and how proud I am of the club I love.
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That’s absolute brilliant mate. What you and your family are doing is amazing.
 
Didsbury Dave said:
All I know is that Myla delivered the 10 year old to safety in Poland. She has no way of contacting the heart attack woman as she was a stranger until they met as they fled.

Not inappropriate at all. He FaceTimes them sometimes from the front line. They aren’t allowed to know where he is or to call him. So far he is fine although he saw a Russian drone a few days ago.

ive had a few “ conversations” with him on FaceTime but he doesn’t speak a word of English so we just sort of say stuff without understanding. The first two times this happened he was crying his eyes out and beating his heart, obviously saying thanks for looking after his family. I just say daft stuff like “come on Ukraine”. It’s awkward.
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Not that I have anything to say that differs from everyone else's contribution, but you and your wife have done a seriously impressive thing here. You said above that it's not easy and I can well imagine, but I'm full of administration.

Well done to Danny Wilson and City, too. Must be a big thrill for Timur to have that contact with his country's football captain.
 
Ultimately what it is all about. Well done mate, and credit to the club and players too. I hope it can bring a bit of joy, or temporary relief to their friends and family back in Ukraine who are enduring an unimaginable situation.
 
At the very heart of our club there are people like Danny who have worked at City all their lives. They are a family. We are the extended part of the City family.
What a fantastic read. Congratulations to you DD for your help to the Ukrainian family.
 
Thanks for all the comments but I’m feeling a bit uncomfortable about everyone telling me how great I am. My wife drove this whole thing and I just said yes. The selfish part of me regularly regrets it.

I’m just going along with this thing and trying to do the best I can. I didn’t start this thread for any other reason than that I think Danny and Oleks should get some appreciation for what they’ve done, not me.
 
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Didsbury Dave said:
Thanks for all the comments but I’m feeling a bit uncomfortable about everyone telling me how great I am. My wife drove this whole thing and I just said yes. The selfish part of me regularly regrets it. Timur is absolutely full on with no concept of boundaries. He is like a limpet to one of my boys, including school, and he’s been a real trooper looking after him 24/7. He has no father around and I have to do the job as a surrogate, despite getting really irritated with him at times. I’ve snapped at him, I’ve pretended I’ve got work and sneaked out to go fishing, I’ve had to have a chat about him walking in peoples’ bedrooms without knocking. I’m sick of the incessant paperwork and admin to sort out their benefits, and I’m getting cross at having to drive Myla to places all the time. And I’m absolutely sick of beetroot soup, cabbage pie, boiled duck etc.

I’m just going along with this thing and trying to do the best I can. I didn’t start this thread for any other reason than that I think Danny and Oleks should get some appreciation for what they’ve done, not me.
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I think that's fair enough, but you're still doing an incredibly selfless and good thing no matter how much of a disruption and struggle it's been.

Nice to hear about the club doing all that without any publicity and I would expect nothing less of zinchenko, the legend.

But it's also nice to hear about stories like your family to restore a bit of faith in humanity.
 
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