I spotted this photo as part of my research earlier. It’s from 1997 and, amongst others, it shows musician Liam Gallagher and actor Kevin Kennedy sharing a box at Maine Road. It’s a combination most would be surprised at seeing and all came about because of their support of Manchester City.
Over the years there have been many celebrities who have been proclaimed as fans of particular clubs. Some of these are known to have attended games before they became famous, others perhaps were not so familiar with ‘their’ club before they made their names. In 2009 I compiled a list of those widely accepted as celebrity Manchester City supporters at that time or before.
Occasionally, some of City’s celebrity fans have been incorrectly claimed as supporters of other clubs. The most significant of these is the artist LS Lowry. Lowry was without doubt a supporter of City, however because of his interest in painting Salford scenes it has occasionally been claimed that he was a Red. Fortunately, artist Harold Riley (himself a Red) has made this abundantly clear whenever the error occurs. Lowry was a Blue!
The following list is not meant to be comprehensive, however I am keen to develop this list and create a more definitive list covering every era of City’s existence over time. If you have evidence proving additional celebrity City fans then please contact me via this website.
Please note each celebrity listed below is highlighted for one main claim to fame however they may be famous for other activities as well. This is most obvious with musicians and actors (they have all acted in other areas). Obviously, some of the celebrities listed here have passed away.
Badly Drawn Boy (Damon Gough) – Musician
Amanda Barrie – Actor, Coronation Street
John Beavan – Political advisor to the Daily Mirror in 1970s
Susan Bookbinder – Broadcaster
Mark Burgess – Musician, The Chameleons
Craig Cash – Actor & writer, Royle Family & Early Doors
Michael Croft – 1970s Television producer
Ian Curtis – Musician, Joy Division
Timothy Dalton – Actor
Howard Davies – Former Deputy Governor of the Bank of England
Lee Dixon – Former Arsenal footballer
Joe Donovan – Musician, Blossoms
Billy Duffy – Musician, The Cult
Andrew ‘Freddie’ Flintoff – Cricketer
Liam Gallagher – Musician, Oasis
Noel Gallagher – Musician, Oasis
You can listen to my interview with Noel here:
Jimi Goodwin – Musician, Doves
Will Greenwood – Member of the England Rugby World Cup winning side
Graham Haberfield – Actor, Coronation Street & The Dustbinmen
Ricky Hatton – Boxer
John Henshaw – Actor who appeared in Early Doors
Bruce Jones – Actor, Coronation Street
Mike Joyce – Musician, The Smiths (provided significant support to the MCFC museum music exhibition)
Archie Kelly – Actor, best known for Phoenix Nights
Ben Kelly – Artist (staged an exhibition of his work at the City museum in 2009)
Kevin Kennedy – Actor, Coronation Street
Eddie Large – Comedian (lived on Maine Road as a boy)
Clive Myrie – Broadcaster, BBC News & Mastermind
Nick Leeson – Trader, held responsible for the collapse of Barings Bank
Sally Lindsay – Actor, Coronation Street
LS Lowry – Artist
Jason Manford – Comedian (his brother Colin worked as a tour guide in the MCFC museum)
Bernard Manning – Comedian
Johnny Marr – Musician, The Smiths
Tom Ogden – Musician, Blossoms
Steve Penk – Broadcaster
Mike Pickering – Musician, M People and legendary DJ
Mark Radcliffe – Broadcaster
Reni – Musician, The Stone Roses (wrote a wonderful poem on being a ball boy which was displayed in the City museum during 2007)
Marc Riley – Broadcaster
George Robey – Music Hall comedian (organised charity game to commemorate City’s 1904 FA Cup final win). Robey is proclaimed as a fan of many, many clubs.
Frank Sidebottom – Broadcaster
Mark E Smith – Musician, The Fall
John Stapleton – Broadcaster
Ben Thompson – Actor, Coronation Street
David Threlfall – Actor, Shameless
Rick Wakeman – Musician (though usually acknowledged as a Brentford fan)
Jez Williams – Musician, Doves
Andy Williams – Musician, Doves
Bob Willis – Cricketer
Bernard Youens – Actor, Coronation Street (played Stan Ogden and, along with the character Annie Walker, was part of the cast who attended a City game filmed for an episode broadcast on 29/11/1967)
As I mentioned at the start this list was compiled in 2009. Many more names need to be added to this list.
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