When Manchester City take to the field in the Champions League final this evening, they will do so on the cusp of completing a historic treble.
It's a prospect many Blues could only have dreamed of when the club was relegated to the third tier of English football 25 years ago. But after decades in Manchester United's shadow, the 2008 Abu Dhabi United Group takeover ushered in billions of pounds of investment and an era of spectacular success.
Tens of thousands of Blues have flown out to Turkey to watch Pep Guardiola's men face Inter Milan at Istanbul's Ataturk Stadium tonight. City go into the tie as heavy favourites, with many fans and pundits expecting them to match United's historic 1999 haul of the Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League.
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For the City supporters who watched their club lose to the likes of Bury and York City in the late 1990s, it must feel as though they are living in dreamland as the Blues stand just 90 minutes from footballing greatness. Should they team be crowned kings of Europe this evening, it would be the culmination of a remarkable journey.
Lee Stenson watched City at Maine Road before they moved to the City of Manchester Stadium - now the Etihad Stadium - in 2003.
"My dad used to take me through the Kippax on his shoulders," he said. "The atmosphere was totally different to now.
"It's all changed but it's exciting. We've not come this far not to do it. We've done so much and Pep is the best manager in the world."
The 41-year-old can see City's stadium from the window of his home on Beswick's Grey Mare Lane estate, but remembers the area before the ground was built.
"To open my curtains and see that big City badge every morning, I couldn't ask for more," he said.
"Where the ground is, that used to be all factories, coal mines and steelworks. Everyone worked there.
"To see it all go was a shame but the money they have put into the area has been unbelievable."
When City became one of the richest football clubs in the world overnight, their newfound wealth stood in stark contrast to the poverty and deprivation on the streets surrounding their home ground.
Once a post-industrial wasteland that ranked among the poorest areas in the country, the Ancoats and Beswick ward has seen huge investment and redevelopment in recent years.
More than 10,000 homes have been built in the area since 2002, while new businesses, schools, a college, a leisure centre and a Metrolink line have brought jobs and opportunities. The new £365m Co-op Live arena, due to open next year, is the latest high profile development.
There is also the small matter of the £200m City Football Academy covering 80 acres beside the Etihad. The vast complex includes 16 outdoor pitches, the 7,000 capacity stadium used by City’s Elite Development Squad and Women sides, residential and classroom space for youth players and 2,000 mature trees.
City also donated 5.5 acres of land and at least £12million towards Beswick Leisure Centre, the sixth form Connell college and the Manchester Institute of Health and Performance. A close - and controversial - link between Manchester council and the Abu Dhabi United Group Investment fund's Manchester Life property deal is behind much of the development.
Human rights campaigners have criticised the fund's links to what Amnesty International has described as a government which 'commits serious human rights violations'.
But in this corner of east Manchester, many argue that City and their owners have been a force for good off the pitch, as well as on it.
"City have invested a huge amount in this area - the schools and the housing," said Debbie Bowley, a City fan from Beswick. "If people don't look, they don't don't see it because City do it without shouting about it."
Debbie has been a steward at the stadium for the last two decades and will miss tonight's game as she is working at The Weeknd's concert at the Etihad.
"I'm gutted," she said. "I think it'll be a hard-fought game but City will come out as 2-1 winners.
"If we win, it'll be massive. The treble would top the first time we won the Premier League.
"It will be on par with United's, even more so because it's got harder. United were way ahead in the Premier League, they didn't have to catch anyone. We had to overtake a massively impressive Arsenal."
Having won the Premier League in five of the last six seasons, City are without question the dominant club in English football. Yet Europe's most prestigious club competition has so far proved elusive. The disappointment of two years ago - when City lost to Chelsea in their first Champions League final - still lingers in the minds of many Blues.
A City victory tonight will spark euphoric scenes on the streets of Istanbul and Manchester this evening, although some in the footballing world argue that the success would be tainted by allegations of financial impropriety.
Earlier this year, the Premier League charged the club with dozens of breaches of financial rules, dating back to the 2009/10 season. The champions deny any wrongdoing and have launched a legal challenge to try and clear their name. It is not the first time City have faced scrutiny over how the club's recent success has been funded.
In 2020, City were banned from UEFA competitions for two years by European football’s governing body for alleged breaches of its FFP regulations. The sanction was later overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport in July of the same year.
The Abu Dhabi ownership has its critics off the pitch, too. Manchester City is being used as an exercise in ‘sportswashing’ - allowing a nation with a history of human rights abuses to project a positive image of itself on the world stage, it is argued.
However, Debbie believes much of the criticism is rooted in 'jealousy' towards City.
"United have been the biggest club for years, now City are the biggest," she said.
"City will prove them all wrong in the long run. They have already answered those questions to UEFA.
"They haven't spent a lot of money in the last couple of years. If they were to look at other clubs as hard as they have at City, they would find their finances are just as bad, if not worse."
It's a view echoed by fellow City supporter Sue Eaton.
"They're all jealous," she said. "You get these United fans saying 'we've done this and that' but they are living in the past.
"We haven't bought it. City have been the underdogs for years and years. It's changed now."
Sue's son and grandson are among the tens of thousands of City supporters who have travelled to Istanbul, but she will be watching the game from the comfort of her home in Blakemore Walk.
"It's exciting," she said. "I hope they're going to do it. I think it will be close but we'll win 2-1."
James Short lives just a short distance from the Etihad but is pinning his hopes on an Inter Milan victory tonight.
"It'll be a nightmare if City get the treble," said the diehard United supporter.
"I don't think they're going to do it though. The better team will win."
Yet despite his allegiances, James is full of praise for the impact City have had in the area he has called home for the last 30 years.
"Even as a Red, they have absolutely done wonders," she said.
"They have ploughed a lot of money into redevelopment. Before the ground, it was run down and industrial.
"The ground draws in investment. There's something new all the time."
While much has changed for the better on the streets surrounding the Etihad, problems have not gone away entirely. Beswick remains one of the poorest areas in Manchester - in 2019, parts were among the top two per cent of the most deprived areas in England.
City's success may have boosted the fortunes of some in the area but others believe there is still more that could be done.
"I'm a fan of the team but, as a resident, they haven't done anything for the community," said Lesley Kelly. "The businesses have benefited because of the amount of people.
"I'd like to see them become more involved in the community and see what the community wants, not what City or the council wants. There's a big contrast in the area. What can they do for the children on the estates?
"They say the stadium has given everyone jobs but I don't know one person that works there. It's people coming from out of the city getting the jobs."
A huge mural of City boss Pep Guardiola adorns the side of Lesley's home in Viking Close. In spite of her reservations, she concedes that the arrival of the stadium and the wider regeneration of the area has caused her house price to soar.
"If I was to sell it, a City fan would grab it but I'm not going to just yet," she said.
"It would be fantastic if they do the treble. It would push my house price right up."
Another who will be working during tonight's game is Sal Parekh, the owner of Maine Road Chippy in Ashton New Road. He's a Preston North End fan but will be cheering the Blues on while serving up portions of fish and chips.
"We'll have the TV and radio on," he said. "Most of the concentration will probably be on City.
"We're on the precipice of something massive happening. I remember the first time City won the league and the boost that gave the club and its supporters.
"If they win the Champions League, everything is going to be bigger. It becomes a prestigious club. For the fans, it's absolutely huge."
He, too, agrees that the club has had a positive impact on the community.
"There's been a lot of changes because of the club being here and the investment that has been made by the owners," he said.
"They decided to build a state-of-the-art training complex right in the middle of a run-down and deprived area. Just by doing that, they have created a different look in the area that gets businesses wanting to come here.
"At one time, this area had high crime and low employment. Today, it's a got a lot of new housing and there are different kinds of people moving in.
"A lot of people concentrate on what happens on the pitch but the trickle-down effect has been massive in the area. It's a nice place to come and work every day."
While City winning the treble can only be a good thing for Mr Parekh's business, he says he will also be pleased for the Blues who have stuck with their club through the hard times.
"They will be the ones that realise the true magnitude of what has happened to the club over the last 25 years," he said. "They have seen that club through thick and thin and had stick from United fans for years.
"They have seen them get relegated and promoted. If they win, those people will probably sit back and become very emotional about it all."
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