{"id":875637,"date":"2025-10-05T22:27:37","date_gmt":"2025-10-06T03:27:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/10\/05\/ricky-hatton-speaking-to-fourfourtwo-in-may-2024-about-his-love-of-football-and-manchester-city\/"},"modified":"2025-10-05T22:27:37","modified_gmt":"2025-10-06T03:27:37","slug":"ricky-hatton-speaking-to-fourfourtwo-in-may-2024-about-his-love-of-football-and-manchester-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/10\/05\/ricky-hatton-speaking-to-fourfourtwo-in-may-2024-about-his-love-of-football-and-manchester-city\/","title":{"rendered":"Ricky Hatton speaking to FourFourTwo in May 2024 about his love of football and Manchester City"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\"Players\n<\/picture>\n<\/div>
\nRicky Hatton 1978-2025<\/strong><\/span>
\n(Image credit: Future)<\/span>
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In May 2024, Ricky Hatton took part in FourFourTwo magazine’s ‘My Football’ feature in which non-football personalties discuss their love of the beautiful game. <\/em><\/p>\n

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What was the first game that you ever attended?<\/strong>
It was Manchester City against Huddersfield Town in 1987. I must have been about nine years old at the time. I always had a big family of City followers, so I was probably always going to be a blue rather than a red, but it was confirmed after this match as we won 10-1! I was with my uncle at the back of the North Stand at Maine Road<\/a>. It doesn\u2019t get much better than that for a first game. Back then, this sort of scoreline was unheard of for City fans.<\/p>\n

Who was your childhood hero, and did you ever meet them?<\/strong>
I had a load of heroes \u2013 Ian Brightwell, Andy Morrison, Paul Lake, Paul Dickov, players like that \u2013 but I\u2019d have to\u2028 say that it was a player who I\u2019ve been fortunate enough to become really good friends with now: Georgi Kinkladze<\/a>. He was brilliant. City didn\u2019t have much to be excited about \u2028during the time that Georgi was playing for us, but when he got on the ball, he was magic. Seeing him running at defenders \u2028was something else.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

What do you like the most about going \u2028to a football match?<\/strong>
Lately, it\u2019s the quality of the football and the world-class players that have put on the shirt over the last few years. I was there in the early years when we went down to the second division and we were rubbish. I would spend all day in the rain jumping on different buses just to get to Maine Road, then we\u2019d lose 2-1 to someone like Grimsby Town and I would get home soaking for about nine o\u2019clock in the evening. Growing up, I would never have guessed that City would go on to be as good as they are now.<\/p>\n

Who from your club\u2019s past would you bring back for your current side?<\/strong>
I think it would be Mike Summerbee or Colin Bell \u2013 an old-school player. Bell was a terrific player. But if we are thinking more recently, I\u2019d say David Silva. He\u2019s probably the best player we\u2019ve ever seen at City.<\/p>\n

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\"Diego\n<\/picture><\/p>\n<\/div>

Diego Maradona scores for Argentina against England at the 1986 World Cup <\/span>(Image credit: Getty Images)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Which player do you like \u2028even though they never played for your club?<\/strong>
Diego Maradona \u2013 I think he was the best player of all time. The things he could do with that football were just ridiculous. I\u2019m always watching videos of him, even just warming up. He was completely in love with the ball \u2013 it didn\u2019t leave his feet. Obviously, Lionel Messi<\/a> is another obvious one. I thought there was a chance he could have come to City at some point with Pep Guardiola<\/a> and a few other Argentines at the club, but it wasn\u2019t to be.<\/p>\n

Where\u2019s the best place you\u2019ve ever watched a game?<\/strong>
[Laughs] Well, I\u2019ll have to say going to Old Trafford in 2011 to watch that 6-1! That was a hell of a game. But other than that, I do miss the days at Maine Road. The atmosphere was great there, standing up and getting involved. There are some other incredible modern stadiums as well, like Tottenham\u2019s and Arsenal\u2019s.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Mario\n<\/picture><\/p>\n<\/div>

Mario Balotelli reveals a shirt with the message ‘Why always me? on it after scoring for Manchester City against Manchester United in 2011. <\/span>(Image credit: Getty Images)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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How did you celebrate the Treble win in 2023-24?<\/strong>
Well, I\u2019m lucky enough to say I was there for all three, so I did my own treble as well! Istanbul was a difficult ask: the flight times were impossible and the ground was nowhere near the centre of the city, where we were staying, but thankfully it was all worthwhile in the end. If we had lost, I would have been swinging for someone [Laughs].<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the funniest or strangest thing you\u2019ve ever seen or heard at a game?<\/strong>
I can\u2019t really think of anything specific, but it would probably be involving Mario Balotelli<\/a>. He was a nutcase. <\/p>\n

Which City player past or present would have made the best boxer?<\/strong>
He\u2019s the loveliest bloke in the world and an all-round gentleman, but I would have to say big Andy Morrison. He\u2019s as wide as he is tall! He\u2019s someone that \u2028I wouldn\u2019t want to mess with. When I watched City as a teenager, he was completely no-nonsense and \u2028as tough as they come on the pitch.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Which City players came to your fights most often?<\/strong>
I was lucky enough for lots of players to come and see my fights, from both the blue and the red sides of Manchester. It kind of brought the city together. Paul Dickov, Micah Richards and Nicky Weaver would all be regulars, and Michael Carrick, Nicky Butt and Wayne Rooney from United. I had incredible support from Manchester in general. I also used to get a phone call from Sir Alex Ferguson before big fights, wishing me good luck from himself and the team, which was a class act.<\/p>\n

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The best features, fun and footballing quizzes, straight to your inbox every week.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n

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\"(L-R)\n<\/picture><\/p>\n<\/div>

Hatton insists he didn’t get much criticism for asking Wayne Rooney to carry his belts <\/span>(Image credit: Getty Images)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Did you get some stick from City fans for inviting Wayne Rooney to carry your belts to the ring once?!<\/strong>
I don\u2019t think I did, actually \u2013 perhaps in small quarters or down certain pubs, but I never had anyone come up to my face and say so. I\u2019ve always liked Wayne. He is no-nonsense and has no airs and graces. He played football with his heart on his sleeve and I like to think that I boxed in that fashion as well.<\/p>\n

Where\u2019s the strangest place that you\u2019ve ever met a manager or player?<\/strong>
It\u2019s not that strange, but when I fought Jose Luis Castillo in Las Vegas in 2007, I think half of the Premier League must have been out there! It was in the summer so they could all let their hair down and they wouldn\u2019t have been bothered as much by the paparazzi out in the States. You\u2019d look one way and there\u2019d be players gambling, another and they were queuing at the bar. It was pretty surreal \u2013 like a real-life Panini sticker album.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the most important memorabilia that you have or wish you still had?<\/strong>
I\u2019ve got photographs and all sorts up in my games room, but when we won the First Division in 2002, I managed to get Kevin Keegan\u2019s winners\u2019 medal from him, which is amazing. I always got on well with Keegan. <\/p>\n

What\u2019s the greatest goal you\u2019ve seen live?<\/strong>
I have to say AGUEROOOOOOOO in 2012. That\u2019s the most important goal \u2013 I feel very proud of that day and pipping United to the title. It will never happen again like that. But in terms of skill, Georgi Kinkladze scored an incredible goal against Southampton in 1996 where he pretty much ran through their whole team from near the halfway line. He got to their goalie and just dinked it over him.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"ISTANBUL,\n<\/picture><\/p>\n<\/div>

Hatton was lucky enough to be at all three games that City clinched trophies at to complete the treble <\/span>(Image credit: Getty Images)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Who\u2019s your current favourite player?<\/strong>
It\u2019s hard to pick at the moment, as obviously we have world-class players like Haaland, Foden, Stones \u2013 I could go on and on \u2013 but Bernardo Silva<\/a> shades it. He works so, so hard and is everywhere on the pitch. He\u2019s class. <\/p>\n

If you could drop yourself into your \u2028all-time five-a-side team, who else is in it?<\/strong>
Tony Coton in goal. He broke my heart when he went over to the red side of Manchester, but I think he was the best keeper in the world when he played for us. David Silva and Georgi Kinkladze, of course, and we\u2019ll go with Sergio Aguero up front. I\u2019ll just hang around in the middle and let them do all of the work!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n

Sharie Center
Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ricky Hatton 1978-2025 (Image credit: Future) In May 2024, Ricky Hatton took part in FourFourTwo magazine’s ‘My Football’ feature in which non-football personalties discuss their love of the beautiful game. What was the first game that you ever attended? It was Manchester City against Huddersfield Town in 1987. I must have been about nine years<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":875638,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22773,2837],"tags":[45174,12729],"class_list":{"0":"post-875637","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-hatton","8":"category-ricky","9":"tag-hatton","10":"tag-ricky"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/875637","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=875637"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/875637\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/875638"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=875637"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=875637"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=875637"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}