AT THE far end of the banqueting suite rammed with 300 people Michael Flynn was making a speech.
That meant Padraig Amond had to wait to give his parents Patricia and Patrick and fiancee Caoimhe the news he had been bursting with pride to tell them.
Sure, he had scored the goal that for a short while had given tiny Newport County the sniff of pulling off the ultimate FA Cup fantasy.
But it was about what happened afterwards between him and David Silva that really blew his mind.
After the applause for boss Flynn had died down the Irish striker, 30, grabbed a glass to declare: “Not only did I get Silva’s shirt, but he actually asked me for MINE!”
As the pair were arranging their swap City chief Pep Guardiola came into the dressing room area after his side’s 4-1 victory and spotted Exiles skipper Mark O’Brien.
Grabbing the centre-back he led him into where his superstars were settling onto their benches and said: “Come back in here with your boys. You want some shirts, some tops, training gear for mementoes?
“Take anything. You should be so proud. We are honoured to have played a team like you. Take all you want.”
Flynn said: “What Pep and his players did afterwards just shows the kind of class they are about.
“They pulled every one of our players into the dressing room to have photos with them.
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“There was an amazing moment I’ll cherish forever when Pep posed with my two little boys, Edward and Charlie.
“My kids were overwhelmed, like we all were. That’s what it’s about.
“It’s memories and exactly what this means to all of us here and, I think, to Pep and his lads too.
“The guy is class, just class. Not only has he shown us respect in terms of the team he picked but also respect to the FA Cup itself. And he has shown it to his own fans because they travelled a long way.
“If you are one of the richest clubs in the world and you have a manager who shows that kind of respect you are a very, very lucky club to have him. He’s a one-off.
“As soon as we shook hands at the final whistle he said to me ‘fantastic, what you do here is amazing’. I looked in his eyes and I knew he meant it. Wow.”
Amid the clatter of the after-match reception within the impressive £7million Conference Centre that overlooks the Rodney Park mud flats, Amond stressed: “The City players didn’t need to be like they were to us.
“They could easily have just come in, got the job done, got out again and not looked back.
“Nobody would have been upset or surprised. They have so much skill, so much class and I suppose that dream we had of taking them down was never really going to happen.
“But it was the class they showed after the game that really got to me.
“Nobody was looking down their noses, nobody was complaining about the tiny dressing rooms or the pitch.
“It is the impression they are leaving behind as people that makes me so proud to say I managed to score a goal against them.
“I’ll treasure Silva’s shirt and I’ll live that goal all my life against probably the best team in the world.
“But the best memories will be about how we felt like the City lads treated us like brothers.”
Fellow Irishman O’Brien, 26 said: “What has happened to us is so bitter-sweet. Just for a moment there, when Podge scored and there’s a couple of minutes plus injury-time to go you are thinking — what if?
“It was a bit of a short moment once Phil Foden got his second but it was still a moment to remember.
“Yet Guardiola went out of his way to be kind — it was like he sensed our feelings and wanted to help.
“It was an amazing experience for him to grab me like that. Seriously, he was like ‘take anything, make sure you get your boys in here, make sure they know we respect them’.
“As captain I can only applaud Pep and his players.
“They are so classy on so many levels. They proved that to us.”
https://textbacklinkexchanges.com/newport-blown-away-by-generous-guardiola-and-man-city-both-on-and-off-the-pitch/
News Photo Newport blown away by generous Guardiola and Man City both on and off the pitch
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