The Early Years: Lansdowne, Loans and Loving Football
On the week's episode, Kyle and Chris discuss how the Manchester City skipper got into football and his early career, which took him from Sheffield United through the lower-league loan system.
The pair start on the Lansdowne Estate in Sheffield where they discuss the earliest games Kyle played in the playgrounds with his friends, before attending sessions for Football Unites, Racism Divides and being recommended to The Blades by one of the coaches. They then talk about the early days at Bramall Lane, cleaning the boots of the senior players, and what it was like for a lifelong fan of the club to sign professional forms.
Kyle discusses his early loans, notably at Northampton under the stewardship of Stuart Gray, and the hilarious story of how his parents drove him to the training ground on the first day because they were scared of him being on the motorway, and how they walked in and watched training. They talk about Kyle's debut and his first games, and the transition from being a centre forward to a right back, having to mark experienced strikers.
The pair finish by talking about how his first season as a professional ended up at Wembley in the Playoff Final and the pain of losing 1-0 to Burnley, and whether now, in the autumn of his career, he would consider ending his career back where it all started, at Bramall Lane.