Whew, it’s been awhile! I’ve been focusing more on posting Villa-specific stuff on the SBNation page that I started contributing for a few months back, so if you haven’t checked out that site, go and do that right now. I tied my weekly posts into that, but I just kind of felt like this page allows me to write without having to worry about Villa (although, I’m always worried about the club right now). Go check out my updated “about” page to find out what I’m up to, I don’t want to waste anyone’s time before this AWESOME blog post.

While I’m here in England, I’ve been told to “travel, travel, travel.” I’m gonna try to do that as much as possible, but obviously focus on my studies first. I got here about 2 weeks ago, now, and still I don’t start classes for another week! With that in mind, this past Saturday I got to experience something that made all my footy-loving fans, jealous as hell. I got to go see the defending Premier League Champions, Manchester City, play host to Brighton and Hove Albion.

If this match was on TV back in the States, I probably would have tried to find a better, more enticing game on, BUT that’s just not how it is for me. Trying to go to Premier League games once you’re in the UK isn’t that hard, but for top clubs, it can be quite hard to get tickets. For Man U, Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal, even Spurs (yea EVEN Spurs), you have to pay for some sort of membership. I went ahead and did that, for a few clubs that I won’t name, you’ll just have to wait and see where I go. To go to the Etihad, despite being home to Man City, tickets were not too hard to come across. I know it was against Brighton, but still.

I’m not the kind of guy to go an put my money out there for the public to hear (mainly because I don’t have money to flaunt), but these tickets were absolutely absurd to me. £28 for the tickets because they have an “18-21 option,” which for us Americans is about $35. Absolutely insane when you hear and see where my seats were. Right at midfield, next to the technical area (bench) and I got to be a few rows back from touching my favorite manager, Pep Guardiola and his beautiful, bald head. I’ll get into the environment itself in a sec, but talking to the elderly couple next to me, who were season ticket holders, I mentioned that if I tried to get seats like this to an NFL game, they’d be easily upwards of $100, if not maybe even $200, or $300, depending on the team/game/scenario. How wild is that?

Now, I’m going to get into the day. I woke up beautiful Chester, U.K, about an hour train ride to Manchester, with one switch of trains. Not bad at all. And the round-trip train ride cost £16, about $20 (also, now I’m done doing the conversions for you, you can guess-timate from the first two conversions, or do what I’m doing, and use the Google machine). So, right off the bat, the £28 seat and the £16 train ride is about the bare minimum I could get away with making this trip with. Obviously, that’s not how it works, and I bought a scarf from a vendor, and some food and drink, which probably cost £20 total. Stadium food prices are awesome too, just like normal food out and about, none of that $12 for a beer, $8 for a pretzel nonsense like it is in the US. So, if you’ve been following along, the TOTAL I spent on the day was probably around £64. I still, cannot get over how cheap this day was for the experience I had at the Etihad.

You might be thinking right now, “Is Jake a City fan now?” NOPE, still Villa ’til I die, but I will say, I can 100% vouch for anyone thinking about making a trip like this, it was so worth it. I get off the train at the main station in Manchester. I walk with a bunch of City fans about a mile to the stadium, past the vendors, one of which I get the scarf from. I pass some food vendors, a lady handing out a pack of Premier League trading cards (obviously I got a pack, they were free), and I found the letter of the gate that was on my ticket. Right on up I walk, no line, they have the place running super-smoothly, and I walk into the stadium right by the section that my seats are in. First thing I do, is walk to see my seat, and soak it in.

Wow, oh wow, that view. The Brighton players were warming up on one half, while the majority of the City team was still yet to be seen, except for the goalies, who had already begun their warm-ups. There were also a bunch of people that obviously had some sort of VIP experience to be on the field, and somehow they looked to be even more in awe than me (didn’t think that was possible). I’m there about an hour before kick-off, so I go back to the concession/restroom area to get some food and drink. First thing, they don’t take cash at a lot of the tills, so there was little to no lines everywhere. Once again, it was very smoothly run by the club. One of the things to note, however, is that alcohol is not allowed at the seats, so there are loads of people in the common areas, watching screens, filling out bets, drinking, eating, socializing, doing whatever pre-match. I don’t exactly know the extent of the “no alcohol at the seats” policy, but I’m assuming it’s at least the entirety of England. When I went to Villa Park in January, the rules were the same. I find that kind of cool, that they can stick to that, despite probably not making nearly as much money on alcohol as stadiums in say, the US do, selling it TO YOU while you’re in your seats. Anyways, I finished my beer and pie, and went to my seats for good about 30 minutes till kickoff.

City players were out there warming up, legitimately right in my line of sight. The stadium starts to fill up, there’s a few empty seats in front of me and to my left, but other than that it looked decently filled, even on the upper-levels. Fans were singing songs through the stadium as the warm-ups continue. The teams leave the field for a few minutes, before the starting eleven come out with their “mascots,” who are the little kids. They walk out and across and shake hands of the opposition and refs. Not gonna get into the details of all the standard pre-match stuff, just emphasizing how close this was to me, and I could see everything.

As I alluded to above, the couple next to me had season tickets. I could tell immediately, because just as myself and my family at Baltimore Ravens games, they knew the majority of the people seated around them, and walking by them. Familiar faces. I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this yet, but I was all by myself for this trip. F a comfort-zone, this was the first step to really starting to adjust to the culture and environment that is the UK. Only thing not typical about Saturday is the weather was like 60º (Fahrenheit, I still don’t know, nor go by Celsius) and sunny. Usually at matches you see on TV, it’s pouring rain and you can see the crisp, chilly weather. Not this day. I kindly ask the man that’s next to me, “so you guys are season ticket holders?” and he responds, “oh yea, have you just come from America?” Now, I’ll preface this with my outfit and look: I’m not wearing ANYTHING that would shout, “I’m not from here,” but by that one sentence, that one question alone, my “accent” stood out. I chuckled “yep, you can tell?” and he and his wife laugh and nod. Immediately he starts a great conversation that I wish I remembered every detail of but throughout the game he was just commenting on things how they usually go, and of course, they rang true. From the action and where it usually is, to when the subs warm up, to which subs would come on, he was spot on.

Let me just go back to the subs for a second. I picked the seat I sat in, after some research, and knowing how close I would be to the bench, meaning the coaches, subs, etc., and I 100% made the right choice. If and when I go back, if I don’t find a way to sit with the singing-all-match City fans, you bet your ass I’ll be right back in that section. From City legend and club captain Vincent Kompany, to Gabriel Jesus and future world class player, Phil Fogel (you can QUOTE me on that, the kid is very, very good), I could literally hear Guardiola say, in about the 65th minute, “Gabi!” At which point, Gabi Jesus turned around, finished his stretch, and took his warm-up top off to get ready to sub on. I will never get that Spanish accent calling “Gabi!” out of my head. Jesus looks over towards the general area I am in, because we’re that close, and applauds us for applauding him.

Speaking of things stuck in my head, one of the songs I learned from watching the Amazon Prime series on Man City (go watch if you haven’t), is: “Say that you want me, All of the time, Say that you need me, Always be mine,” These are echoed twice and then, (if you know you know), “WE’VE GOT *Clap clap* GUARDIOLA, WE’VE GOT *Clap clap* GUARDIOLA.” Now, I tried to explain that as best I can in written form, but look it up if you’ve never heard it, seriously it’s one of those things that’s absolutely bone-chilling when you hear it in person. Even not being a City fan, as I am. The end to that chant with the *Clap clap* was stuck in my head the entire rest of the night.

Now, let’s talk about the actual footy being played… It’s safe to say, in what I like to think is still my semi-young life, and career, I’ve seen dozens of soccer games live and in person. From NCAA, to MLS, to an Aston Villa game and even a handful of US Men’s National Team games, I have NEVER seen anything close to this. City absolutely ball on the pitch. Pep’s style and the players on that field put the cherry on top to a breathtaking experience as a whole. I’m the guy that watches the game, but also looks at Pep in awe, and how he watches the game, thinks and kicks the ground to himself, talks to the players and his coaches throughout the game. Good, isn’t good enough for Pep.

Raheem Sterling tries to turn on the right side and runs into the defender, Pep loses his mind. You can see him gesturing and I know he’s saying to just lay it off to his outside-back, Kyle Walker, and turn and go. Next play? Ball to Sterling, he lays it off to Walker and turns and makes his run. The play works and a chance is created. Sterling immediately looks to Pep for recognition, and Pep at this point is applauding and praising him for what he’s done. That’s exactly how things should work, and it’s WHY they work for City, and Guardiola. He calls Bernardo Silva over, and you can see he’s telling him to play simple 1-2 touches and get the ball back to feed it out wide, next thing that happens? Silva gets a ball, plays 1-2 touch footy, threads a ball through the middle to Aguero who has his shot saved. Pep yells out at Silva “WIDE.” Even though a decent chance came, it’s not what he asked for. Good.Isn’t.Good.Enough.

If you go and watch City’s first goal from this game, it comes just how Pep would draw it up. Sterling plays Aguero who lays it off to David Silva, who plays a ball far and wide that Sané runs on to, who eventually finds Sterling sprinting to the back post to slide and tap it in. Pep loves it. The players buy into his style that he praises them for, and it works. Not only does it work, it works to a goddamn T.

I was lucky enough to see legends play in this game for City, such as Aguero, and his last play of the game before he was subbed off, was a glorious run from 30 yards out, nutmegging a defender, finding Bernardo Silva who plays a wall-pass give-and-go back to Aguero, who slots the ball home to put City up 2-0. Jesus comes on for him as the crowd sings Aguero’s name and Pep too, applauds him as he comes off. When things don’t work for the team, Pep looks like he only blames himself. This is why things seem to be working at City, and I can’t express how beautiful it is to watch, in person, basically at field level.

Up 2-0, Phil Fogel comes on and I get to see a legend in the making, play for a solid 8 minutes against a weak Brighton side. Still, this is an experience to remember. The couple next to me has seen all they want to see after the 85′ in a dominant performance from their side, and they say goodbye to me. But me? I don’t care if all of these people have seen enough, I’m staying there as long as I can. Soaking it all in. Final whistle blows, players and coaches shake hands, Pep and City applaud the crowd too, as songs I don’t know are still being sung all around the stadium. I scoot over a few seats towards the tunnel and get to see all of these players exit the field.

What a game, what an experience. There will be more to come, I promise!