This is the emotional moment an 84-year-old grandfather with dementia is welcomed to the Etihad by Manchester City star Phil Foden. Barry Carr has captured the hearts of thousands in TikTok videos of his grandson, Charlie Gibson, who regularly takes his 'gramps' to games despite Barry's deteriorating condition.
Charlie's video where he took Barry to City's final day dramatic Premier League clinching win against Aston Villa has been viewed nearly seven and a half million times and instantly caught the attention of many at the club. This includes young Stockport-born Foden, who has gone 'above and beyond' to welcome Barry into the City family.
Barry and Charlie were special guests at the Community Shield game between City and Liverpool in late July with Foden coming over to the fans at the end of the game and giving Barry his shirt. The club has kept close with the family ever since with Foden inviting them to watch yesterday's 6-0 thrashing of Nottingham Forest from his box.
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"It's just extremely kind of him," Charlie told the Manchester Evening News. "He's so down to earth he just wants gramps to genuinely be there and enjoying the games, it's really lovely to see.
"It's been amazing (since the first video), they (City) have really gone above and beyond. Foden has been so supportive and telling us we're welcome to come whenever he wants and he always makes sure to say hello before the games.
"He just chatted to us after the game with his family asking if he enjoyed it and saying we were welcome to come whenever we wanted. It's very generous and he gave us a signed shirt after the game too which was very nice.
"Gramps has been having such a great time, it's what football is all about. People can only see parts of the experience on the TikToks and what I am trying to do. It's all about trying to have that connection with him that you can't always have with someone living with dementia."
Barry grew up in Manchester and has been supporting City for nearly 80-years, taking Charlie to his first game in the late 90s, who has also been a big supporter of ever since. Barry attended games regularly until his condition deteriorated in 2014 and he was officially diagnosed the following year.
Charlie hopes to raise awareness for dementia and Alzheimer's' charities and to show that while there can be many lows of living with family members who have the disease there can be many positive moments. "I'm trying to show that despite living with dementia that person's still there," he added.
"It's about getting the charities out there far and wide. Why you rarely see me on camera is because I'm creating memories that I can look back on and see gramps having a great time despite the dementia. It can be completely different day by day with him, he might be in the bed and quiet in the morning but he's so excited by the evening when we're going to the game.
"The amount of people that come up to us at games now and shake his hand and say hello is really lovely to see. It shows how strong a community the football club is and how close a family the City one is.
"I've had plenty of people reach out too and say they are going through similar experiences and its good to see how others cope with it. I've already had a company from Middleton offer to frame the signed shirt because they're so happy to see the videos which is really nice.
"And when I see people donating to charity from seeing the videos that's what it's all about. Changing lives. There are ups and downs but this makes it so worth it.
"I encourage everyone to say hello to him if they see him about in Altrincham it makes him feel very happy. And if I can bring that to him it's very nice."
To see more of Charlie and Barry's videos click here. And to donate to Charlie's fundraising page for Alzheimer's Society, click here.
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