Watch Manchester City Legends vs Premier League All-Stars on September 11 from 7pm on Sky Sports Premier League; Kick-off 7.45pm
Tuesday 10 September 2019 13:19, UK
In an exclusive sit-down with Sky Sports ahead of his testimonial, Manchester City legend Vincent Kompany looks back on 11 glittering years at the Etihad Stadium.
From the early years before City's takeover, to a wave of trophies under Pep Guardiola, via that Aguero moment and that Kompany moment, the 33-year-old chats with Geoff Shreeves to take a in-depth look at his time at the club...
Arriving from Hamburg in 2008 for a fee of around £6m, Kompany would go on to play 360 times for City, winning four Premier League titles, two FA Cups, four League Cups and two Community Shields.
Looking back on his time at City, however, Kompany insists it's not all about the trophies. The fact the club have transitioned from mid-table to the best team in England, through many bumps in the road, makes it far more special.
The owners came in, and they were owners who give you time to build, the perfect type of owners for the club. So many come in and say they're going to pile money in, be successful, but never achieve it. That ownership group came in and said they were going to build a plan and vision, and can anyone doubt they did that?
"Going through the transition with City, and missing out on all these titles in the first years, and then hardship in terms of expectations, failing, expectations, failing, and then carrying on. When I look back on this, it's better doing it this way, for me anyway.
"I know I played a role in shaping the culture of the club, and probably the future of the club, and that means a lot. There aren't many clubs where you can do it like this. It was a special journey.
"The owners came in, and they were owners who give you time to build, the perfect type of owners for the club. So many come in and say they're going to pile money in, be successful, but never achieve it. That ownership group came in and said they were going to build a plan and vision, and can anyone doubt they did that?
"Not everything was bad when I arrived, we had to change some of the players to become a winning team, but it was a great club with a fantastic history, and I think that's the thing I tried to keep sharing. "
The Belgian was sporadically linked away from City, but rarely did speculation go far. He only had eyes for City, but though he admits he may have won more league titles if he had jumped around other teams, it was hard enough staying first choice at the Etihad.
"I could have ended up at another club, and out of four league titles you could have maybe turned it into eight, depending on which club you go to, and how successful it is.
"It's a competitive club, City. It's not like you can sit down for a year and wait around for what happens. Every transfer window, every six months, you are competing with the rest of the world. Anyone better in the world, they have the responsibility to get to improve the team, and so nobody gives you the gift of staying at City for 11 years, you have to earn it for 11 years.
"Doing this, while being impeded by your body, my mother would have been proud of me."
Born in Uccles, Brussels, Kompany is now an honorary Mancunian. But that isn't just a throwaway term.
If someone gets a knock on the pitch, you just get up, get on with it. You're in Manchester. It doesn't matter whether you are a beautiful, £100m player, because you're in Manchester you're going to get up, and get on with it.
Kompany is fully aware what it means to be a Manc, and says he has attempted to impact other players with those characteristics, and hope that continues long after his departure.
"I became a Manc by the end of it. All of these core values I had before I was a Manc, so when I just signed, I kind of transported them through the years. By the end of it I still think there is a strong identity of Manchester that remains in someone who never came from Manchester.
"If someone gets a knock on the pitch, you just get up, get on with it. You're in Manchester. It doesn't matter whether you are a beautiful, £100m player, because you're in Manchester you're going to get up, and get on with it. That's the side of Manchester I tried to keep throughout, and I think the group was shaped a bit like this because of myself and others.
"I mean, Carla [Kompany's wife] and her family are massive blues. There's the odd red, who still gets in at Christmas! But I got myself in a place where it always meant a lot for me, more than at anywhere else."
Four years after being taken over, City's first title came in the most dramatic fashion. Sergio Aguero's last-gasp winner against QPR meant City pipped Manchester United in 2012, widely seen as the most dramatic moment in Premier League history.
'Typical City' then took on a different meaning.
"Typical City fashion would have been to lose the game and blow it. That's what typical City meant in those days. Now typical City is defined by the Kun Aguero moment, you don't give up, you come back and win games.
"Was my goal against Leicester more important? His goal was more important! Mine, well, looked better, which I never thought I'd have on him!
"But his was crucial. He did do his best to wait until that time, because he had the worst 93 minutes of his career, and I would have had a word to say about this after the game if he didn't' score, but that's the beauty of his job! One second can always turn it around."
Though far more concerned with keeping the ball out of the opposite end, Kompany got his moment in May. Neck-and-neck with Liverpool all season, the centre-back produced a dramatic long-range strike to see off Leicester 1-0 in their penultimate game. Like Aguero's moment, it went down in history.
He knew it was his last home game for City, but his decision to leave was not yet public. Was he emotional?
"I'm not an emotional kind of guy. But it was borderline emotional when I scored a goal, and probably because everyone jumped on me and you couldn't see me. But I thought: 'What if this is the goal, what if this is the clean sheet we keep to the end of the game, and that gives us the title.'
"The game finished 1-0, the kids came on the pitch, technically my last game for the club at home, and I already knew [I was leaving]. So it was very emotional for that reason. But it's a time I'll never forget, City fans will never forget. Not disclosing it felt right. It wasn't about me, it was about winning what we needed to win, and then after there is always time for goodbyes.
"It was hard to keep the emotion in. I'm looking around and see this iconic stadium for me, and I see 57,000 people I'm genuinely grateful towards, and next to me my 11 team-mates, of which I have a few players in specific like Kun Aguero and David Silva, who I went through everything with, thinking: 'We're still standing and doing this together!' It was a night of emotions.
"That's why I will always remain very humble in my life because I think these kind of things only happen because you stay humble, driven and focused. Eventually, somebody says: 'Here you go, you get your reward.'"
Watch Manchester City Legends vs Premier League All-Stars on September 11 from 7pm on Sky Sports Premier League; Kick-off 7.45pm
Money raised from the match will go to Tackle4MCR - the initiative that Kompany set up with the Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, to address rough sleeping and homelessness in the city.
