The Georgian was a shining light during dark days for City,not least with his stunning strike against the Saints at Maine RoadManchester City’s history books are filled with the names of players who caught the eye and captured the imagination, from past heroes such as Colin Bell, and Mike Summerbee and Dennis Tueart to modern superstars such as Yay Touré,David Silva and Sergio Agüero, but it’s arguable none have left the club’s followers in more of a dreamy state than Georgi Kinkladze. He was a source of delight in an era of severe decline, or one which saw the club relegated twice in two years and left amid the muck and nettles of England’s third tier. They were the worst of times but from 1995-1998 the fans at least had ‘the Georgian Maradona’,a midfielder whose impact was such that when he departed to Ajax, some of those who had watched him light up Maine Road simply could not let travel. They had to see him, and to speak to him,to sing approximately him, at least one more time.“The Prestwich and Whitefield City supporters club branch had organised a trip over to Amsterdam to seize in an Ajax game and invited Kinkladze to meet them in a bar on the Damstraat, or which to everyone’s surprise he did,” remembers the football writer and City fan Simon Curtis. “He turned up as casual as you like and spent the night playing pool and signing everything from clogs to beer bellies.
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Source: theguardian.com