I recall, back in 1973, after 50 years of being at Maine Road, the club polled the fans for their greatest ever player, and Bert Trautmann won by a huge margin.
He'll hardly get a mention these days as the supporters who remember him so fondly have sadly passed on, and I include my father in that number, who always, and without hesitation, said he was City's finest ever player, and he took me to Maine Road in the late 60's and early 70's when we watched legends like Bell, Lee and Summerbee.
He'd been watching City since the late 20's, so never saw Meredith playing for us. Maybe if he had, he'd have said he was our finest ever player. Who knows?
I never asked him about Roy Paul, or Ernie Toseland, and if I had he may have gone all misty eyed and warmly remembered them.
Some on here name players in our recent history as legends. I don't agree they are. Paul Dickov for instance, who was keen as mustard to score the penalty for Leicester that would probably have relegated us, but fortunately failed. No, he was as useless as a headless chicken, and ran around the pitch with as much effect.
I wouldn't even put Kinky in the list. He couldn't be bothered playing for us one day because he had toothache.
If you want a legend, look no further than Zabba. I don't know how many times he's broken his nose playing for us, but he was there, fighting the cause and doing his very best, and never shied away from anything. We'll not see him trying to relegate us or crying off because of a bit of toothache.
I've seen some wonderful players over the years in the blue shirt. Rodney Marsh is by far the most skillfull I have ever seen. Dave Watson was an absolute rock, Summerbee the trickiest winger I have seen playing for us, and Francis Lee was a blunderbuss, but I can honestly say, out of all the players I have seen over the years, Pablo Zabeleta is the cream of the crop.
After 50 years of watching City, he is the main man for me. He's my number one player.
