When Vincent Kompany joined Manchester City, he famously joked that their Carrington training facility was so depleted that it only had one boxing glove. Before Carrington, the club trained at Platt Lane, which was shared with the public. Shaun Wright-Phillips told The Athletic it boasted only half a pitch for the youth teams to share, and that half pitch was waterlogged for most of the season.



Despite these humble premises, City produced plenty of admirable talent in their pre-takeover days. Ryan Giggs, the most decorated player in English soccer, spent his formative years with City when his rugby-playing father moved the family to Manchester in the 1980s. Nineties Premier League legends Peter Schmeichel and Ian Wright both chose to send their children to City’s academy (Kasper went on to win the Premier League with Leicester, while Shaun won it with Chelsea.) Glenn Whelan, Micah Richards and Stephen Ireland all graduated from City’s youth ranks to enjoy...