Five-year-old Mirabelle-Mae watched with awe as the Premier League trophy appeared on the morning following City’s Premier League title, the Club’s tenth top-flight league crown and the sixth in seven seasons.
Astonished at the arrival of the trophy, the surprise occurred at her garden celebration – where she was surrounded by family and friends who had managed to keep it all a secret.
“I cried” said mum, Natalie, when she heard that Mirabelle would be the first to be visited by the Premier League trophy following Manchester City’s title win.
And arrive it did, with the trophy travelling through the house to an amazed Mirabelle, who was surrounded by her family, friends, and the family dog Sergio – named after City’s famous striker.
Behind her, the garden featured an assortment of blue balloons, set up for the title winning party and which then became the setting for Mirabelle’s encounter with the trophy.
While the Premier League trophy went on only a short journey across Greater Manchester to reach Mirabelle’s garden party in Oldham, the young Manchester City fan has been on a much longer journey – and one that she continues on.
In her five years, Mirabelle has had six operations for Spina Bifida, a rare condition where the spine and spinal cord don’t develop properly in the womb to leave a gap in the spine.
In two of these operations, mum Natalie commented that the family were “quite close to losing her.”
However, Mirabelle has persevered, which is a key element of her resilient character.
This year, she is coming up for her seventh operation, one which mum Natalie hopes will be “one last hurdle.”
When Natalie contacted the Club, it was in the hopes that City could give her daughter a boost ahead of the extensive operation.
In due course, Mirabelle joined the journey of the four-in-a-row winners, visiting Manchester City’s 5-1 victory over Luton Town in April.
After the match, she greeted her favourite player, Erling Haaland, with a beaming smile and her incredible sense of humour. In return, the Manchester City number nine and Premier League Golden Boot winner complimented her hairstyle, which featured several flowing Manchester City blue ribbons.
On meeting members of the team after the Luton match, Natalie said: “That was just a dream come true. It was absolutely spectacular from start to finish.”
As the team headed into the last month on the pitch, Mirabelle followed Manchester City eagerly with her family of Blues and returned once more for the final day of the Premier League season, where she witnessed the trophy lift.
To Mirabelle, it was simply “the best day ever!”
The next morning, as the family gathered for a party to celebrate the four-in-a-row, the Premier League trophy suddenly arrived in Mirabelle’s garden.
On her daughter’s experience of being the first to be visited by the Premier League trophy in the four-in-a-row season, Natalie expressed simply “her face said it all today.”
It was a happy day for Mirabelle and her family. It was an emotional day for us, capping our journey thus far with the incredible young Mirabelle, who bounces back from everything and shows such resilience.
We hope it brought joy to a family of Blues as the next step of the journey continues.
