Once a blue always a blue #1

This is a new blog feature: recognising favourite former players on their birthdays. It's inspired by this.

Happy 40th birthday Shaun Goater!

Who better to kick off 'Once a blue...' than the Goat? Probably the most popular centre forward of the modern era, he joined when we were in the process of relegating ourselves to the third tier in March 1998. He couldn't save us that year, but over the next two seasons he hit 40 in 83 league games as we came flying back up to the Premiership, including the crucial goal in the play-off at Maine Road against Wigan Athletic. He could never quite do it in the Premiership - although his robbing Gary Neville and scoring at Maine Road is one of the great 21st century MCFC moments - but he still banged them in during the Keegan promition season of 2001/02. He went on to play for Reading, Coventry City and Southend United before returning to Bermuda.

Shaun Goater. MCFC 1998-2003. 189 starts, 103 goals.

Goater wants MCFC return

I would love this quite a lot:

“I miss the game, so I’ve got to start and get myself back in somewhere at youth level. We’re talking a few years down the line, but I want to get the licence and myself involved again.

“I still keep myself involved in and around the club, my heart’s still City. It’s just great to be involved at the club at whatever level.”