For now though, and not something I really enjoy doing, I wish to look beyond that and to the first Champions League game against Lyon. The beginning of the top European club competition is always an exciting time, with the owners making no secret of their desire to lift the trophy. This first game though allows both sides, and both sets of fans a unique opportunity.
On May 1st 1975, Manchester City were a club in transition. The successful side of the late 1960's were now seeing the last of the greats depart the club. Mike Summerbee played his last game in a home win against Coventry that season, while Francis Lee played his last League game at the end of the season.
It was the second season under the new Chairmanship of Peter Swales, who promised the return of glory days. In the end, a single League Cup in 1976 and an FA Cup Final defeat were the closest to success the Blues came. At the same time this was happening in Manchester, a young boy was growing up in Cameroon.
Marc-Vivien Foe was born in Yaoundé and began his career in the local youth side before moving into the first team. While playing for Canon Yoanudé, one of the biggest clubs in Cameroon, he won the Cameroonian Cup in 1993. From there he went to play for the U-20 National side before representing the full National side in the 1994 World Cup.
Although the Nations performance was below the level of the 1990's side, Foes performances helped him stand out. Eyes from clubs across Europeans top leagues were focused on the young Indomitable Lion. Refusing offers before signing with RC Lens in France.
He very easily could have made it to Manchester much earlier than he did, although it would have been in red. Lens refusing the ￡3 million offer from United in 1998, whose interest ultimately ended when Foe broke his leg. He would eventually make his move to the Premier League, joining West Ham, but returned to France a year later in 2000.
Joining Lyon for ￡6 million he won the Coupe de la Ligue and the title in the next two years before the 2002 World Cup. This, despite a spell on the sidelines with Malaria. After the World Cup he was loaned to Manchester City where he became an instant hit with the fans.
Playing his first City game in a 3-0 defeat away to Leeds he would miss only three League games that season. Scoring nine league goals for the Blues, including the last ever Manchester City goal at the, soon to be demolished, Maine Road.
As a holding midfielder, he broke up play and put simple balls forward to his teammates. For Manchester City's third against United in the last ever Maine Road derby, he did just that. Cutting out a United attack his simple ball wide led to a goal with less than four touches.
When his death came on a field in Lyon in a Confederations Cup match, it shocked the footballing world. The game continued with no one really knowing Foes true condition until after the final whistle. For 45 minutes the medical staff worked on Foe. But all efforts were in vein.
We don't know if Foe would have signed for us, or been with us for the following season. He may have returned to Lyon or he may have joined Portsmouth. Stories are that Harry Redknapp, then Portsmouth manager and with Foe at West Ham, had made an offer. His destination we will never know, but his death brought the advances we see now. His death added to City's fans emotions of leaving the Maine Road Stadium.
Changes since Foes death have included improvements in the testing and treatment of players. With Foe it was clear to any cardiologist that something was clearly wrong. The fact he had gone down with no contact, his eyes had rolled back and no tone to his body. In these situations, resuscitation should ideally start within one minute, and a defibrillator used within three. In Foes case, however, it was a good five to six minutes before anything to help the particular situation being done.
Almost a decade later, on March 17th 2012, Fabrice Muamba collapsed on the White Hart Lane pitch. Treatment was swifter and more focused on the condition and, even though his heart stopped for 78 minutes, he was able to move his limbs and his heart was beating again without medication. A long recovery and retirement from football was the road ahead of him.
In Manchester, tributes poured in after Foes death. The club decided Foes number 23 shirt should be retired and a plaque placed at the stadium. In Lyon they two withdrew his shirt, for them the number 17. Although fellow Cameroonian Jean Makoun, who was born in the same part of Cameroon as Foe, wore it when he joined Lyon in memory of Marc.
His first European club, Lens, named an avenue near their stadium after his death, and also retired the number 17 shirt. Driving past the Stade Bolleaert-Delelis, and taking a right, you will travel down 'Allée Marc-Vivien Foe'.
With it being the fifteenth year since his passing, what should happen when his two 'last' clubs meet? Manchester City, who had him on loan and Lyon who held his contract, what celebrations of the player should and could be done? There could certainly be a minutes applause from the fans on the 23rd minute next week when we host the fixture. Representing the shirt he wore for the Blues in that final Maine Road season.
When we meet in Lyon on November 22nd maybe we can all applaud on the 17th minute to acknowledge the shirt number he wore for them? Both sides now play at different grounds to when Foe played and so the game has moved on. Money in the sport has increased since the time of Foe, who sent a proportion of his wages back to his hometown, as he was building a football academy. Foe was buried on that site, although now it has been abandoned due to a lack of funding, with broken promises from the Cameroon Government.
It seems his country of birth did less for the family and his memory than Manchester City, who retired his shirt and offered the Foes (Spouse and children) a house so they had at least some consistency in their lives at a very difficult time.
Could there be something more substantial done now by City? Could the owners of both clubs look to realize Foes vision and finally get that Academy built in Cameroon? Would it be something still viable after all these years? Maybe something closer to home as a tribute for the guy, who if he was playing now as he did then, would be the perfect competition for Fernandinho in our current lineup.
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