JAMES MILNER obviously has a thing about passionate Italian coaches called Roberto: It was Roberto Mancini who took him to City from Aston Villa for £26m in 2010 (with Stephen Ireland moving in the other direction as part of the deal).

He went on to win the Premier League title twice, the FA Cup and the League Cup in his five years at the club. In 203 appearances for City, he scored 19 goals and provided 45 assists.

Sadly, a sizeable number of City fans have quickly forgotten the success he was associated with and find it necessary to boo him if he returns to the Etihad in the colours of an opponent. They particularly resented him joining rivals Liverpool and thought it bad form that in 2016 he celebrated rather too exuberantly scoring for the Reds against them, especially because he’d previously not celebrated when he scored for City against his old club Villa.

They also claim not to like his desire to play in his preferred central position, and on more occasions, because they say he didn’t achieve either of those at Liverpool.

When he lined up as an emergency right-back for Albion’s visit in October 2023, sections of the City faithful revelled in his discomfort up against Jeremy Doku and Phil Foden (he was subbed off at half time).

Go back to the beginning of his time with their club and this is the same player who put in a man-of-the-match performance on his City debut – a 3-0 win over Liverpool!

On signing the player at the age of 25, Mancini said simply: “He is a good young player, who can play in every position in the middle and out wide.”

It’s worth checking in on a piece Paul Wilson wrote for The Observer in 2011 when Milner did a question-and-answer session with City supporters at the Mayfield Sports Club home of an amateur rugby league team in Rochdale.

“Milner seems polite, enthusiastic and dedicated, every inch the model professional,” writes Wilson. “Milner is unquestionably the real deal. Even on a night off such as this he does not drink, not even creamy pints of hand-pulled John Willie Lees.”

Milner explained: “I made that decision quite early on. I’ve always dreamt of being a footballer, you only get one shot at a career like this and I want to be the best professional I can.

“Anything I can do that means I can get the best out of my ability is what I’ll try and do. It’s not much of a sacrifice really, we are fortunate to be well paid for doing something that we love and enjoy doing and I want to play for as long as I can.

“As a professional you want to get as much as you can out of your career, play at the top level and win trophies. Playing with top players at Manchester City I’ve got a great chance of doing that, and I just want to keep improving.

“You just want to be able to look back on your career when it’s over, see what you’ve won and feel that you couldn’t have done any more, and that you’ve been the best player you possibly could have been.”

Wilson noted how Milner had showed strength of character to force his way back into the team when left out of the side in his first season with City. “I realised when I joined that competition for places would be intense at City, and I also knew the manager must rate me, because he brought me to the club,” said Milner.

“But if you are not playing you are not happy and you want to know why. So, I asked him what he thought, what I could do to improve to get into his team, then I went away and worked hard on it.”

Understandably, Milner enjoyed being part of the City side that won 6-1 at Old Trafford and acknowledged: “The fans will remember that for a long time, because they have been the underdogs in the city for so long, and it was great to be a part of that.

“But we now have to make sure we don’t get carried away. The fans can get as carried away as they want, good luck to them. It’s our job to carry on winning football matches and try not to get ahead of ourselves.”

Wise words but even then, in his mid-20s, he’d got 10 years’ experience behind him. “It’s all been a bit of a rush, but I think that happens when you make your debut so soon after leaving school,” he said. “You’ve had this dream and suddenly you’re doing it and everything happens very fast and hardly slows down.

“I remember Nigel Martyn joking with me at Leeds, saying he was old enough to be my father, which he certainly was. He said: ‘Make sure you enjoy your career because it will go past in a flash.’ And I was like: ‘Yeah, leave it out, Nige, I’m only 16. I’ve got all the time in the world.’

“Well, here we are 10 years later, and it’s flown. I can’t believe it. Nige is obviously wiser than he looks.”

In five years at City, Milner was in two Premier League title-winning sides (2012 and 2014), collected a FA Cup winners medal in 2011 and a League Cup winners medal in 2014 and was viewed as an integral part of their squad.

Mancini left City in the wake of losing the 2013 FA Cup final to Wigan Athletic and his successor, Chilean Manuel Pellegrini, was also a big fan of Milner and tried to convince him to stay as his contract came to an end in 2015.

Pellegrini told the Guardian: “Milner’s a phenomenon, a guy with big balls and a heart this big.

“Intelligent, great mentality, one of those players that when you leave him out you’re left with this feeling of injustice; it hurts because he should always play but sometimes you need a technical player with other characteristics.

“I hope he stays. If he doesn’t it will be because there’s an important offer.

“The club wants Milner to continue and he wants to stay but maybe he wants more games.

“I understand. I’m Milner’s No1 fan. Find me a more complete English player. There are players who’re better technically, yes. Quicker players, yes. Players who head better, yes. But show me one who does all the things Milner does well. There isn’t one.”

When he decided to move on a free transfer to Liverpool in 2015, teammate Vincent Kompany declared: “You’ll be missed at City brother, as a teammate and a friend! Your drive and passion were inspirational.”

Milner himself hasn’t taken the fan flak to heart and on tribuna.com spoke of his memories of his former side.

“I had a great time at Man City, and I was lucky enough to win every domestic trophy there, play with some great players and I became a better player there,” he said.

“I have nothing bad to say about the club. Obviously, now I think of them a bit differently because they’re big rivals but that good feeling is still there. They’re a big part of my career and a big part of my life as well.”

Football writer Alex Brotherton leapt to Milner’s defence in a piece for the Manchester Evening News in September 2021, declaring at the outset: “There are no two ways about it – Milner was an excellent servant to City during what was an extremely successful period for the club.”

Brotherton reckoned even though Milner didn’t set the world alight in sky blue, “that wasn’t what was expected of him” given he was playing alongside the likes of David Silva, Yaya Toure, Carlos Tevez and Sergio Aguero.

“It was during the unsuccessful title defences of 2012-13 and 2014-15, when City’s attack faltered and their backline creaked, that Milner really stood out,” wrote Brotherton. “He rarely put in less than a 7/10 performance and 100% effort was guaranteed, chasing down lost causes like his life depended on it.”

The journalist also cited “a brilliant battling performance” away at Bayern Munich in the Champions League in 2013-14, capped off by a stunning goal that sealed a come-from-behind 3-2 win. And he remembered Milner’s “tireless work on the left flank” when 10-man City earned a 1-1 draw at Chelsea.

“It was because of performances like this that Milner was a hugely popular figure among City fans, and rightfully so,” said Brotherton.

Describing the booing of Milner as petty, Brotherton added: “Of all the players that City fans could hate, the affable Yorkshireman shouldn’t really be one of them.”

The Mirror’s David McDonnell had presented a similar defence four years earlier, describing Milner as one of City’s “most efficient and reliable players” and “a grafter and one of the most inoffensive players in the money-saturated modern game”.

“There was never a whiff of controversy surrounding Milner during his time at City, as one of the most conscientious players around simply got on with the job of delivering for his team, a recurring theme throughout his career.”