I'm pleased for City players past and present.
I'm pleased for Joe Mercer, and Big Mal, who thought that one day we would terrify Europe.
Pleased for the many managers who've contributed to our story. Skip, Ron Saunders, Billy McNeill. The other Joe who's history is so bound up with ours, Kev with his swashbuckling style, yes, even Stuart Pierce who gave us one of the direst seasons ever.
Thrilled for the current manager, who for some reason kept beating himself up about not having won this tournament with us. Despite being, without question, the greatest manager-coach in the modern history of the game.
Pleased for HRH Sheik Mansour, and Khaldoon. They wanted trophies — of course they did — but I genuinely believe it was never just about that.
Pleased for all the backroom staff. They all count — yes even down to Brandon who, well, seems to relax the atmosphere in the dressing room.
Very pleased for all you blues who were around to see us play Fenerbahce. God but we were green. And the more recent ones — the Lakey generation, who had something to cheer about. The Kinky generation who saw flashes of the beautiful game as it's supposed to be played. And the kids who've flocked to us in the last ten years, because that's what success brings. It just does.
Myself? I never believed — and do not believe — that our greatness as a team needed to be validated by winning the Champions League. We have been, for ten years and more, without question, one of the great teams of the entire post Second World War era. In the eyes of the world, that greatness will now be considered confirmed.
But I've never cared much about “the eyes of the world.”
Quietly chuffed, though. Oh yes. Quietly chuffed.