My mcfc.co.uk colleagues - Messrs Handler, Booth and Oatway - have already had their say - and as fellow lifelong Blues - they’ve covered most of the angles already.
Joe Hart’s superhuman display away to Barcelona; Manchester City Women’s rise and rise; Kun’s five goal haul and the team’s imperious victory in Sevilla - so what’s left?
Well, one or two nuggets of gold that have yet to be mentioned.
It’s nice to be in a position to share stuff like this and I hope some of the below resonates with fellow Blues - so here’s my (@d.clayton_mcfc) best five memories of the year just gone...
Silva ovation
It’s a double-edge sword being a supporter and journalist of the club you work for and, given I have to interview the players on a regular basis, a professional distance needs to be kept.
That said, David Silva is probably my favourite City player of all-time. For the record, he’s a great guy - incredibly humble and he really doesn’t understand why he is so highly-regarded. Quite something for one of the best midfielders in the world.
So when he was named on the bench against Southampton after seven weeks out with an ankle injury, it’s fair to say all eyes were on when he would come on.
Then, after several jogs up the side of the pitch to rapturous applause, he was called back to come on. When he did run on the pitch, the standing ovation must have lasted a couple of minutes and it sent a shiver down this writer’s back.
Nearly 55,000 people on their feet welcoming back their favourite son - moments like that, for me, are priceless.
Hart v Barca
I’ll keep this short as it’s been included in other lists - but Joe Hart’s display in the Nou Camp was nothing short of sensational. I doubt I’ll ever see a performance as good as that again and it proved how fortunate we are to have a truly world class goalkeeper.
When Lionel Messi is left shaking his head, you know you’ve had a good game.
KDB signs
After several months of speculation regarding Kevin De Bruyne, it was a massive relief when he finally did. My 14-year-old son had long been an admirer and showed me plenty of KDB highlights on YouTube.
Of course, YouTube highlights can be dangerous - I think I could probably look pretty good if you bundled my best 5-a-side goals together for a two-minute video - but you could see this lad oozed class and would bring a lot to the City team.
For what seemed like an eternity, many City fans on Twitter demanded ‘announce De Bruyne’ to almost every social post we made on our official channels - until we finally did!
A great guy, a top player and capable of making and scoring very special goals - Kevin’s arrival is right up there with the best of 2015.
Lampard farewell
Getting to know Frank Lampard was a pleasure - just a genuinely nice bloke and a consummate professional. Nothing was ever too much trouble and he never turned down a request when a preview or interview was needed.
It’s a pity we didn’t have Frank a few years back but I was proud of the way our fans took him to their hearts and the fantastic send-off he was given. I know it meant a lot to him and was a privilege to have had him playing in sky blue of MCFC - even if it was for only one year.
SWP return
Another of my all-time favourite City players, Shaun Wright-Phillips returned to City for one last time last May. Wrighty hadn’t played for QPR very much during his last year with the club but I thought it was a nice touch that Hoops’ boss Chris Ramsey brought him on at the Etihad.
It may have only been for 10 minutes or so, but the ovation he received was pretty special. Our fans seem to do stuff like that better than most - I may be biased - but to hear his name echo around the stadium one last time was another of those hairs-on-the-neck-standing-up moments.
I caught up with Wrighty afterwards and asked him what he thought of it. “I wasn’t expecting that,” he smiled. “It’s like coming home every time I come back.”
Enough said. Happy New Year everyone.
