'When I signed with Manchester City, the club was nothing like what it is today. I lived through the transformation from the start. The training ground was still in Carrington, the press room was a cold caravan that looked like a construction site, and in the winter, no one could stand being there.'
'At that time, City had no real ambition... maybe the League Cup, and the FA Cup was a dream. We were like the 'Espanyol of Manchester', a club living in the shadow of Manchester United. Our fans were passionate but realistic... they knew their team was destined for mid-table or bottom half.'
'I remember my wife telling me: 'Where are you going? Stay at Espanyol! You're not going to improve your career.'... but I wanted to play in the Premier League. Just ten days after arriving, Sheikh Mansour bought the club... and everything changed. They started developing the training complex, the gym, the dining rooms, the offices... everything. Today, when you see the facilities, you can't believe where we came from.'
'Vincent Kompany and I used to call ourselves 'the survivors'... we survived the tough years. City was a club without titles for decades... then Mancini came, great players arrived, and we won the FA Cup against Stoke. I think that day really changed everything.'
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