Homegrown Blue: Nedum Onuoha
- Matthew Kerr
- Apr 27, 2023
- 4 min read
Updated: May 4, 2023
It was the climax of the 2012 Premier League season, and ex-Manchester City player and supporter Nedum Onuoha marched out of the away side of the tunnel to a roaring Etihad Stadium on arguably the biggest day in the club’s history.
“To walk out and turn right onto the field? Nah!” Onuoha shook his head, almost still in disbelief that he had left his club, Manchester City.
“I turn left, the way the home team go. Being on the other side of the tunnel and saying hello to 11 players I knew far better than the ten I was about to play a game with was surreal.”
The homegrown blue Onuoha was torn to his core. This was the first time he faced off against his club.
His beloved City were 90 minutes away from their first Premier League title, but his focus was keeping his new side Queens Park Rangers, afloat in the division.
Onuoha achieved a football career spanning 16 years, with the defender picking up 188 premier league appearances along the way.
The now retired ex-City star was sat relaxed, in the kitchen of his family home with his children’s drawings in the background, giving an insight of how much of a family man he is.
Once the formalities had been ticked off, I took him right back to the beginning of his footballing story.
“I think that’s a great way to start,” he said with a welcoming grin.
When the 36-year-old was just a young boy, his family moved to Manchester from Nigeria, and he soon fitted into the football-obsessed City.
He began telling me how his love for the beautiful game began.
“When the sun was out, we would play for hours on end on a field near to my old school in Miles Platting,” a whisker away from City’s home, the Etihad Stadium.
“I ended up going to play for AFC Clayton and I got the most Man of the Matches, most goals, Players’ Player, and Coaches’ Player of the Year.”
“Looking back, I only now realise how significant that was to win everything because now, as a father, if I see my kids win everything, it feels like a lot, you know what I mean?” These were the words of a proud Father.
After impressing at his Sunday league side, he was scouted by City at age ten.
“Within a year and a half, I got scouted for City and United interestingly.
“Training in the same place as the first team, Platt Lane. Going to Maine Road to watch games and just being a part of what it means to be Man City was pretty cool.”
During his time at the academy, Onuoha spoke of his days as a ball boy for first-team games at Maine Road.
The next step for Onuoha was to earn his pro deal, and in his own words, he “was always one of those people where it wasn’t really a question whether I was, or I wasn’t going to get it.”
He debuted for the club in 2004 and made over 100 appearances for the Blues.
Onuoha established himself as one of the most talented defenders in the country after winning the FA Youth Cup in 2006 and being named City’s Young Player of the Year in 2007.
He is one of many young players to come through the academy at City, but how crucial is it to have youth come through at a football club?
With the bond between homegrown players and fans of a football club being so strong, I sat down and spoke with Journalist and City fan Tom Young and he spoke to me of its importance.
“It’s essential to see homegrown talent progressing through the system. Not only as it helps to boost the prospects of international success in England but also to motivate kids across the country who dream of footballing success.
“Having a role model in the ilk of a Phil Foden or a Rico Lewis helps to inspire the next generation of talent.”
“Onuoha was mightily unfortunate with injuries throughout his time at the Etihad, and ultimately, that stopped the Englishman from being a regular for the Citizens,” Young told me.
After a successful period under the tutorship of Mark Hughes, City wanted to take the next step and recruited their new manager, Roberto Mancini.
The Italian’s arrival meant limited game time for many of City’s regulars, with Onuoha sadly falling in that category and in his own words: “nobody was safe.”
With Mancini being given "the keys to the football club," he was disappointingly cast aside and sent on loan to Sunderland, “I was devastated," he added.
Young expressed how he felt at the time: “As a City fan, you always want to see your youth prospects succeed, so his departure was tough, but given the expectation following the takeover, it was the right decision for all parties.”
After his Northeast spell, Onuoha returned to City, ready to prove himself to City boss, Roberto Mancini.
However, things soon turned sour, and he was told he would move to Queens Park Rangers.
Of course, dropping Onuoha into arguably the biggest game in Manchester City’s history but for the opposition.
“I understood what they needed to get from the game, and I had earmarked the game and I hoped that it would be meaningless when I left, but it was the exact opposite of that. It was tough.”
With his former side’s first Premier League trophy at stake, Onuoha was preparing to keep his new London side in the division.
“It was really weird” Onuoha said on facing his former team and the club he supported.
“You got the vibe from how big the game was. You could hear the screaming from the fans as you’re walking out.”
“It was horrible, to be honest, because I had never played against City before, never rooted for a team against City, and I had never celebrated a goal City had conceded”.
Despite leaving Manchester City, his ‘blue blood’ never faded. He continued a successful spell at QPR and became Captain later at Loftus Road.
After leaving City, he spent four years at QPR, where he made over 140 appearances and was a key team member that won promotion to the Premier League in 2014, before retiring from professional football in 2021.
Since his retirement, he has returned to the blue side of Manchester, working for the club’s media department.
Onuoha arrived at the club as a young Nigerian boy in a new country and left a Manchester City man.
1096 words.