Richard Dunne 25: Former captain on City career, derby memories, Keegan, Sven, Pep and Haaland | OneFootball

Today marks 25 years since former club captain Richard Dunne joined Manchester City.

To celebrate the milestone, we spoke to the four time Player of the Year to get his thoughts on his City career and much, much more.

Today marks 25 years since you joined City. Does it feel like 25 years ago and what does the club mean to you?

No, I would never have guessed it was 25 years. And it’s not something that you like to think about it because it makes you feel very old!

As for City? I love the club. I think it's a fantastic football club that looked after me brilliantly and the transition that it’s gone through over those 25 years is second to none. I don't think there's any other club in world football that has had the progress that City have had over that period of time.

But from when I first went there, the one thing which struck you and which is still the same today is the fans.

You go back and you think about a lack of success that they'd seen, a lack of glory days and then now seeing what’s happened over these past 10 or 15 years? It’s been huge.

It’s a club that I hold in the highest regard. It's a great place and it's just great to see it doing well these days.

Joe Royle seems to have had a big influence on your career. He signed you for Everton, and then also for City. What was he like to work with?

He was brilliant. He was a really good man and knew football inside-out.

He knew what he wanted from you and he was just a genuine person that would look after his players.

Even when I made my debut for Everton, he called me up to the office the day before to tell me and then informed me he’d already booked flights for my mum and dad to come over.

So he was just a really great guy and once he asked me to come to City, it made the move that much easier as well.

What were your emotions when City came calling?

I had no intentions really of leaving Everton.

It was just one of those things where a bid had been accepted by Everton from another club and I went down to do a medical and passed the medical.

It was actually at Wimbledon and I was supposed to sign down there. I flew down the next morning and they said, ‘sorry, we’ve got no money left so the deal it off’.

That was it. I was left in limbo and then came back and got a call that City had put an offer in and wanted me to go there.

In all honesty, once you come to the realisation that you're moving on and then you get an opportunity to go to a big club like City, yes it was amazing for me and I just jumped at the chance.

You initially played at right back, but did you always in your own mind think that your future lay at centre half?

I was always a centre half growing up playing through the youth teams.

Even at Everton, I was centre-back in the Youth Cup team.

It was just the case of getting into the first team and I think at that time it was more important to get games to get the experience and to be playing in the first team rather than playing in a set position. It was about regularly getting that experience.

So when speaking to coaches they were saying ‘yes we know you’re a centre-back but this is how you learn about the game’.

What was it like winning the First Division title in 2001, especially after relegation the previous season?

It was fantastic and the team we had was brilliant.

We had some real flair players in there and it was just one of those seasons where we just seemed to turn up and we blew the opposition away.

Kevin Keegan was the manager and he had a style of football where he wanted to go out there and entertain – and we certainly did that and we had a squad of players that could do that.

We had good vibes and good energy around the club for the season and it was great to be part of.

What was Kevin Keegan like to work with?

He was just so very passionate about the game, just loved the game, loved football and he loved his job.

I think he was brilliant. He’d go into every game completely motivated and you just wanted to go and do your best for him.

Arthur Cox and Derek Fazackerley were there at the same too as coaches and it was really good. He brought in Stuart Pearce too as captain. So we had a really good characters and players and he was a pleasure to work for.

You played in some very famous derby victories over Manchester United but what was your favourite?

It’s hard to pick a favourite because every time you win the derby, it’s a great day.

There were a few but the one most people talk about was the final derby at Maine Road.

That day we were up against an elite, top level Manchester United team – they had the likes of Rio Ferdinand, Gary Neville, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Juan Veron, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Ruud van Nistelrooy.

So it was always going to be a difficult task. But to be able to pull out the victory and sign off at Maine Road with a win in that game was really nice for the players and wonderful for the fans.

And then doing the double over them in Sven’s season in charge too was really special as well.

Sven had obviously come in and he’d bought a lot of players in and we were trying to be on the up and be more successful than we’d been in the preceding years.

So those were another two derby wins that stand out.

What was Sven like to play for and how sad a loss was he to the world of football?

To play for, he was brilliant, absolutely brilliant.

When he came in, I was the captain at the time. Usually managers when they come in, they tell you how good they are and they’re going to change this and they’re going to change that and everything is going to be amazing.

But Sven came in and just said that there’s only one rule he’s bringing in for the club and that’s everyone needs to respect everyone else around the club.

He wanted everyone to be good to one another, be pleasant to one another and just be good human beings.

And it was just perfect. Everyone was just on an even keel, everyone was calm and relaxed and how he spoke to players, how he put on training sessions, I thought he was brilliant playing.

He and his coaching staff had that Scandinavian way where they were nice and relaxed and just wanted you to get on with your job and give you the best opportunities to try and do that.

And obviously then, when he passed away, it was terribly sad.  When that sort of thing happens, you always get people saying what a great person he was. But with Sven he truly was. He was a gentleman. He was just one of the nicest guys you would ever come across and it was really, really sad when he passed.

How proud were you to have won four Player of the Year awards in a row?

Yes I was very, very proud and very appreciative of the supporters voting for me.

I feel lucky winning them, but my mindset every time I went out on the pitch was just to try and give 100% and I just think that shows, the fans see it and the fans appreciate it.

I worked hard for the jersey and I just think the supporters noticed that and appreciated that. They liked seeing players putting in that level of effort for the club.

Best player you played with at City?

There are so many. Honestly.

But the one I enjoyed watching develop and grow as a player was Shaun Wright-Phillips.

I think he was fantastic.

But then you’ve also got Nicholas Anelka, Ali Benarbia, the list goes on and on.

There were so many top, top players at the club, but I just enjoyed the progress and the development of Shaun.

Best manager you worked under?

Another difficult if not impossible question to answer.We’ve already mentioned three – Joe Royle, Kevin Keegan and Sven-Goran Eriksson.

I must admit I really enjoyed the season with Sven. I thought he was a really good fella and it was a nice experience to have spent time with him.

Best game you played in?

We’ve mentioned the final Maine Road derby so to be different I’d go for the 3-1 over United from 2006 when Darius Vassell, Trevor Sinclair and Robbie Fowler scored or the 4-1 from 2004 when Shaun Wright-Phillips hit that brilliant goal at the end.

On to the present day and what have you made of the last decade under Pep Guardiola?

When the new owners came in, I was there briefly and I heard a lot of talk and I mean, straight away they changed everything, they started to bring players in, they started to develop the trailing ground and then the icing on the cake was a few years later getting Pep in.

I think he's the best manager of all time and he's proved it time and again in the Premier League and the football has been fantastic, he's changed the whole style of the Premier League almost.

Watching them win Premier League after Premier League was fantastic and you’re just praying that they could actually get over the line and do it in the Champions League.

To then finally see them do it was just something that when I signed 25 years ago was never something that you would have dreamt of.

There’s some great centre-halves at City right now but is there one you particularly admire?

I've just loved watching John Stones. He’s become something really, really special.

He was obviously at Everton, the club I was at beforehand as well, so we saw him and heard about how good he was and good he was going to be.

But he was making mistakes and he was getting criticised and all that stuff and he just stuck to his guns, carried on playing his own game and I think this manager has bought the very, very best out of him.

I’ve loved going to watch him play. I think he's a fantastic footballer and he's probably been the perfect centre back for City over the years.

What do you make of Erling HaAland - and how would you have handled him in training?

In training, it’s simple, I would have got him on my team!

He's special, no question. I played alongside his dad, Alfie, when he was there at City.

But Erling is a phenomenon. It’s just incredible what he can do and the amount of goals he's scoring and the records he seems to be breaking every single week.

I must admit he’s getting better, too. Since the start of this season, what I'm seeing is he's getting more involved, he seems to be more of a leader, more aggressive in his demeanour around the pitch and it's brilliant to see.

And he’s only 25? He just looks like he's going to get better and better.

He’s signed a 10-year contract so hopefully he’s got a long time to break all the records that have been set at Manchester City and in the Premier League.

It’s Everton next game for City – how do you look back at your time with the Toffees and what’s your thoughts on this latest encounter?

I loved Everton.

I was so lucky to go there and start my career there.

I moved across from Ireland at 16 and the opportunity to go to a Premier League club and at the club that my Dad supports, it was amazing.

So it was a club that helped me grow up, I suppose, helped me to develop in football and again, another club that I have a lot of feeling for.

So it's good to see them doing well again this season and getting back to where they should be.

I think it's a tough game. In recent years, you would almost put it down as a clear City win but I think it’s going to be a tough game.

I think Everton are in really good form. But obviously City have all the firepower.

So I think it’ll be a close game.