Stockport-born Foden has made no secret of how he has been a lifelong fan of the Club and his rise to first team prominence from being an Academy youngster has only helped further cement the midfielder’s special bond with our fans.
Speaking on the latest edition of ‘We’re Not Really Here’ - our live matchday show - former City and England central defender Lescott spoke about how he had discovered the inner-City fan in Foden when chatting with him at St George’s Park, the national side’s training HQ.
“I remember I was doing some work with the England U21s and I saw Phil (who was part of the squad) was watching part of a training session, so I went over to have a conversation with him,” recalled Lescott who won both the Premier League and FA Cup in his time at the Club.
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“But Phil just wanted to talk to me about our title-winning game against QPR in 2012. He said that he he had ran onto the Etihad pitch (to celebrate) that day with his Mum!
“I said to him: ‘Phil you’re just about to win the league yourself (with City), so why are you are so interested in that.’
“And he said ‘No, no, what was that moment like?’ I was like: ‘But your training with David (Silva) and Sergio (Aguero) the guys that actually did it!
“So, it’s crazy and brilliant to see an actual fan that is now playing with the Club. It’s ridiculous.”
During the pre-match WNRH chat ahead of Wednesday’s 2-1 win over Bournemouth, Lescott and fellow special guest Shaun Goater also both provided their own tales of how they had travelled away to savour the experience of following City as a supporter.
The pair told presenters Cel Spellman and Natalie Paweleck of making the trip to Old Trafford to cheer City on in derby games – though they were to experience contrasting fortunes.
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“My first City fan experience was before I even actually played for the Club,” Lescott recalled.
“I went to Old Trafford in 2008 for the derby what was the 50th anniversary of the Munich Air Disaster where both sides wore those special old-fashioned shirts.
“I took my Dad to the game as a Father’s Day present.
“I said: ‘Come on, we’ll go to the game’ and that was my first fan experience following City and, of course, Benjani and Darius Vassell both scored, and we won 2-1.”
Goater – one of our most fondly remembered strikers of the post-war era – was not so lucky in his away derby experience amongst the City fans.
He was present for our League Cup semi-final second leg tie against United in 2010 when we agonisingly went out 4-3 on aggregate.
“The biggest thing about that whole experience was that as players you do feel it (support from the fans) on the field but you want to be in that crowd going mental when we score,” the Goat admitted.
“But, of course, we lost that game!”
We’re Not Really Here returns on Saturday for our FA Cup semi-final encounter with Arsenal.
