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TSN Soccer Analyst

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Noel Gallagher sits down beside me.

We have ten minutes before we go live.  We make small talk about England and football and then as he stares at his brown shoes he shoots from the hip.

“You’re a Man United fan then, I suppose.”

His question, or rather statement, is quickly denied and when he hears my life story in less than 60 seconds he gives a couple of assuring nods in my direction content that he isn’t sitting next to one of them.

Time ticks closer to the show starting, live across Canada, and as Noel readies himself there is no enormous entourage close by available to him.

There are no demands and no requests to ensure what topics we’ll get to. Gallagher, who will play in front of a large crowd in Toronto hours later for the second straight night, is in another comfort zone talking about the love he has for Manchester City.

An international rock star who adores his team is – for now - just another man in a room of sports fans.

The 47-year-old takes time in between commercial breaks to talk to me about what channels air what games in the United States, where he will spend the majority of the next month. He knows exactly who is playing in the next few days and you don’t need a lot of time with him to know how big a role football plays for him on tour.

For many of his fans there truly is only one Noel Gallagher but for the club he calls ‘we, us and our’ there is also only one Noel Gallagher, a City fan like no other who won’t miss a game no matter where he is.

Off camera we discuss some of Man City’s biggest wins in recent years and Gallagher’s memory – which is magnificent – takes us on a trip around the globe to cities where he watched his beloved team conquer all in the Premier League.

FA Cup final? Gold Coast, Australia.

“Its just magic seeing your team win trophies.”

Man Utd 1 Man City 6? Dublin.

“Alex Ferguson, the most one-eyed, hypocritical entity in world football. It was like the Jedi’s triumphing over the evil empire in Star Wars.”

Spurs 1 Man City 5.

“I was actually there for that game.”

And of course May 13th, 2012 when City scored two goals in injury time to win the Premier League in the most dramatic of circumstances. Agueroooooooooooooooo.

“I was in a bar in Santiago, Chile at 10 in the morning and it was the most exhausting day of my life. It was crazy watching it all unfold in Spanish commentary and not really know what was going on but when the goal went in it was insane. Just the greatest day ever.”

The boy who watched some poor City sides on the Kippax at the old Maine Road, where he has said that he learned to sing, no longer needed to look back in anger as the masterplan had come together.

“It meant everything, it meant the years we went without winning anything were worth it. You know all those times when the supporters packed out stadiums in the old third division, it made it all kind of worthwhile somehow. The supporters kept the club going and made them a viable purchase for the Sheikh to come and spend all of his lovely money on those great players.”

City would win another title two seasons later but as the third anniversary of that magical day draws nearer they find themselves a long way off this year’s champions. Gallagher is disappointed but not surprised.

“I thought when the season started we would come second because Chelsea bought better than us in the summer and the players we bought, there aren’t any great players in there, they are more squad players. I am a little disappointed in the last couple of months but I still think we will finish second.”

He is smart enough to know a second place finish still means a time for City to begin a new transition.

“It feels in the summer it might come to an end of an era. Yaya (Toure), (James) Milner, (Samir) Nasri so that team that won the two titles might get broken up and once you take Yaya out of that midfield it is the end of an era and I think all City fans will look at that great rise to two titles in three years as the greatest moment in our history.

“You’ve got to move on. For instance if we’d have had (Nemanja) Matic this year instead of Yaya we could have won the league, but if we didn’t have Yaya last year we wouldn’t have won it so the club has to go forward, identifying players that maybe we might not know about yet. Our owners have yet to put a foot wrong and we’ll see what they will do in the summer but I am sure they will get it right.”

Its clear Gallagher still feels Chelsea will be their main threat next season but he is no fan of Jose Mourinho.

“He is the Floyd Mayweather of the Premier League, nobody likes him, we don’t want to like him but we respect him because he’s a winner.”

I ask him if it’s really been a case of ‘what’s the story, boring glory’ in terms of Chelsea but he laughs off such suggestions and can’t resist having a dig at another team instead.

“They are deserved champions, its only Arsenal fans chanting about that anyway and who cares about Arsenal? Nobody is bothered about Arsenal. Nobody.”

Gallagher is also not bothered about Manchester United either; despite watching them hammer City 4-2 last month.

“I’d have thought the 150 million pound they spent last summer might be the worst 150 million pound spent ever. (Angel) Di Maria hasn’t come up with the goods, Falcao’s useless and (Ander) Herrera wouldn’t even get in our youth team. They need another 200 million thrown at it and add to that the manager’s not very good so they don’t bother me at all.”

And with that his time live on TSN comes to a close. Yet this was no show put on by one of the world’s great entertainers. Discussions about football would continue with friends way after the red light was turned off and the cameras were packed away.

For years he has written and performed songs that have brought great joy to people escaping from the realities of normal life.

There aren’t many things normal about the life of Noel Gallagher but when he is sitting watching Manchester City it is an escape from his lifestyle when he becomes – just like the rest of us – a real football fan.