EXCLUSIVE Jason Manford Interview (Part 1): Tévez, FA Cup, Season so Far and More!

Jason Manford is one of the most popular comedians in the country and is currently in the middle of a nationwide tour. Also a passionate Manchester City fan, Jason kindly gave up his time to talk to me about our season so far, Carlos Tévez, the FA Cup, being a celebrity at games and plenty more.

View From A Blue: How did you come to be a City fan?

Jason Manford: Well I grew up in Whalley Range which was only over the road, so it wasn’t too far. I used to walk to Maine Road as a kid and they used to let you in for the last half hour for free. And my dad, uncles, granddads, great granddads were all City fans, so you have to be!

VFAB: Have you ever turned down a big gig opportunity because City were playing on that day?

JM: I don’t think so but what I have done is travelled ridiculous distances, like from Inverness to Manchester just to watch a match and then back up to Inverness. For Wembley as well, I had to travel from Wembley to York after the FA Cup final. The final finished around 5.30 and I had to be on stage in York at 8pm.

VFAB: I bet that was a good gig?!

JM: Yeah, it was a great gig! I went on with my City shirt!

- Jason is performing at the MEN Arena on Wednesday 16th November. To purchase tickets, please click here.

VFAB: How often do you go to games?

JM: Well I’ve got a season ticket so I’m there pretty much every game. I missed the Everton game but that’s the only home game I’ve missed this season. I do alright, to be honest. I know how everyone goes mad about how it used to be 3pm on a Saturday but now it’s Sunday or Tuesday or whenever, but they’re the best ones for me. If anything, 3pm on a Saturday is the hardest one for me to get to, so I wish they would change them all to Sunday at 12pm.

VFAB: What’s it like when fans come up to your during games and want photos?

JM: I’ve got a season ticket and I’ve had the same season ticket for the past few years and I’m surrounded by people who’ve had the same season ticket for the past few years so once you’re over that initial first couple of games where people are like “oh, it’s this guy!” it’s fine. You’re just another bloke watching the match. It doesn’t really bother me.

I’ve tried being in the boxes but it’s not the same. Don’t get me wrong, it’s lovely and they do it very well and if I’m taking my mum or wife, I’ll ring up and ask if we can get in one of them, but that’s usually once a season, if that. It feels unnatural going to a game in trousers!

- Jason’s fantastic new autobiography, Brung Up Proper, is available to buy here.

VFAB: What have you made of our start to the season so far?

JM: It’s been spectacular! I was reading some statistic that said that the last time a team had this good a start in the top division, Bram Stoker had just finished writing Dracula, so it’s been a long time coming! We deserve it and we’re playing brilliant football. You still get people who say we’re ruining football, but I say how can bringing Sergio Aguero and David Silva to the Premier League be ruining football in any way. It’s absolutely fantastic.

VFAB: And we’ve still got plenty of English players as well…

JM: Yeah, we had something like six England players in the first team at one point recently. Micah Richards is a good lad and also the youth team who won against Wolves in the Carling Cup. But also the work we’re doing in the community as well, turning Manchester, which has historically been a bit of a ********,  into this amazing 21^st century sports area.

VFAB: How important was the 3-0 Champions League win against Villarreal?

JM: It was massive. Hopefully we can get a win against Napoli so we’re not counting on the result against Bayern Munich. I’m just happy to be there; the music and the big thing on the centre circle and stewards wearing different jackets!

I’m not hopeful that we’ll go all the way though. We’ve got such a fantastic squad, I think the best in the world if you look at the actual 25 man squad, but it’s about finding the right starting eleven.

- Jason Manford Live, Jason’s brand new DVD, is available to order from Amazon here.

VFAB: How important was winning the FA Cup in terms of the belief and confidence it gave us?

JM: It just gets the monkey off your back and Mancini knows that after you win any trophy, you’ve got two years off the back of it to relax and not worry that three bad results in a row will get you the sack. It’s given him the confidence to say “look, I know what I’m doing – back me or sack me”. Every now again you see on the forums “MANCINI OUT” and you think “are you mental?!”

VFAB: The board seem to have backed Mancini on the Tévez situation. What do you make of the whole saga?

JM: Well we all saw what happened. Whatever’s been said, we all know what happened. It’s disappointing because we’ve invested so much into him as fans, not just money wise and wages. But we’ve got to look at the bigger picture. We’ve got enough players to cope and I’d have been more disappointed if Shaun Goater had done it ten years ago – that would have been a bigger deal because he was our best player.

I hope what City fans don’t lose sight of is all the good that Tévez has done for us. He was a legend and in the end players move on. Hopefully they do it in nicer ways than this, but they can’t all be like Shaun Wright-Phillips. Sometimes they’re going to go under a cloud but I hope that people don’t have short memories. He always put 100% in, scored some important goals and probably helped us win the FA Cup and get all these other brilliant players in.

VFAB: Would you take him back if he apologised, as Mancini suggested?

JM: If he said sorry to Mancini and the City fans, especially the ones who paid all that money to go out to Munich, then yeah, I’d forgive him. I’d forgive him for slagging off Manchester as well, saying that we had only two restaurants, when in fact we’ve got a Wagamama’s and Frankie and Benny’s and some other ones, but there’s definitely more than two!

In Part 2, Jason talks about the sensational victory over United, gives his views on Mario Balotelli and the Poznan, reveals his favourite players from past and present, and more..

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