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City fans are planning a tribute to Mike Doyle in Sunday’s League Cup final, to honour the last skipper to lift the trophy.

Supporters are busy spreading the word to ensure that in the fourth minute of the clash with Sunderland - Doyle wore the number four shirt - the late legend’s name will ring around Wembley.

The idea came from City nut Daniel Timperley, who got to know Doyle as his wife worked in The Peaks pub in Ashton-under-Lyne, where the former City star was a regular.

The plan was sparked by the 2011 FA Cup win, when fans honoured Doyle’s former teammate Neil Young, who died during the run to the final.

Daniel originally from Audenshaw but now living in Mossley, said: “I was thinking back to the 2011 cup final, and the spirit of Neil Young.

“When we got to this final, the first image that came into my head was the iconic picture of him wearing the League Cup on his head in 1976.

“So I thought that if 2011 was about the spirit of Neil Young, why shouldn’t this one be about the spirit of Mike Doyle?”

The tweet was picked up by the 1894 Group of fans, who are dedicated to improving the atmosphere at the ground, and has received the backing of the supporters club and former players.

Some fans felt that the club did not pay a proper tribute to their former skipper when he died in June 2011, so Daniel and like-minded fans felt this would show that they remembered.

“I am just a bit too young to remember Mike as a player - I was born in 1982 and my first game was in 1987,” said Daniel. “But my dad is a massive Blue and said Mike and Dave Watson were the two best centre halves he had ever seen.”

The plan is to break into a chorus of “There’s Only One Mike Doyle” after four minutes of the final.

Mike’s son Scott, who is going to the game, was touched by the idea, saying: “It was a bit of a let down that nothing happened after my dad died.

“He was City’s most decorated player, third on the list of all-time appearances for the club, a Mancunian and a City fan, so that was disappointing.

“For the supporters to do this three years on is tremendous, and we do appreciate it. A lot of the people involved only know my dad through knowing their history - only City fans would remember their history in this way, after the transformation of the club.”