About three weeks before fulfilling the dream of making his Manchester City debut, James McAtee was being kicked to bits at Glanford Park. A Papa John’s Trophy tie for the club’s Under-21 team against Scunthorpe United in front of 860 people. Glamour.
And the treatment wasn’t his fault. The actual villain sat in City’s away end. Step forward John McAtee, the brother three years his senior. John had recently left the Iron for rivals Grimsby Town after rejecting a new contract. It was all a bit raw.
‘They’ve seen James’ name on the team sheet and tried to kick him,’ John, 23, says.