Our trip to Maine Road had been rearranged for 11.30am on Saturday, 18 November. It would have been televised anyway, I’m certain, but it was an especially interesting fixture as there hadn’t been a Manchester derby in the previous four seasons, since City had been playing in the lower divisions, so Sky Sports were always going to show it.
We just had one small issue.
The gaffer was going to be in South Africa.
His son, Jason, had booked his wedding for that particular weekend because, at the time he booked it, it was scheduled to be an international break, so his dad had a gap in his calendar.