A City legend returns this weekend and I am sure Uwe Rosler with receive a fitting reception from the fans. He maybe returning as the manager of Wigan Athletic, the team standing in our way of perhaps another trip to Wembley but he will always be remembered for the 64 goals he scored for us.
Uwe joined City on trial in March 1994. Given an opportunity in a reserve match against Burnley, he scored two goals, which resulted in a three-month loan. He made his first team debut the following Saturday, against Queens Park Rangers. A return of five goals in twelve games saw the move made permanent in the close season. He had a up and down relationship with the management (namely Alan Ball) but remained a firm favourite with the fans and ending consecutive seasons as City's top scorer. Rösler would eventually leave the Blues in May 1998 on a free transfer following relegation to Division Two. In his four years at City he played 176 games, scoring 64 goals. He was admitted to City's "Hall of Fame" in December 2009.
Rosler as never forgot the affection showed to him by City fans and has never forgotten the moment they helped save his life.
He said: "I had cancer - non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. I had the equivalent of a 12.5cm tennis ball in my chest.
"My reaction was I wanted to be treated in Germany, but my doctor said, ‘No, Uwe, you have to go in now or you won’t survive past Easter.’
"From believing I had, at worst, a chest infection, I was now being told that, as things stood, I had about a week to live. I needed to start Âchemotherapy immediately to have any chance at all.
"I didn’t know which type of cancer was specific to my tumour, but I did know two of them are deadly while the third is the most aggressive, but curable, if you catch it at the right time and the cancer has not spread.”
Rosler’s gruelling battle included intravenous chemotherapy, radiotherapy and a series of bone marrow Âinjections.
But during one course of treatment, he took a call which gave his recovery a rocket boost.
"My mobile phone began to ring as I came out of a listless sleep. With wires in my arm, I was in my hospital bed Ârecovering from the latest dose of Âchemotherapy and I barely had the strength to lift the handset.
"I picked it up and saw the name of an old friend from Manchester, Mark Buckley, displayed on the screen.
"He said, ‘Uwe, can you hear it? Listen to this...’
"He held his phone at arm’s length and I realised my friend was calling from the City of Manchester Stadium. The City fans were singing my name, and I could hear it echoing around the ground.
"They were willing me to beat the cancer and they had not given up on me.
"I ended the call and smiled for the first time in a long while. It was exactly what I needed.
"I had my wife, sons, family and close friends helping me. Now I had 46,000 Mancunians willing me back to health.
"With that kind of backing, how could I possibly fail?
"It was incredibly uplifting. I can’t express how much that meant.
"If I had a bond to the club [before], it became unbreakable at that moment and it’s something I’ll never forget.
His youngest son Colin is even named after Colin Bell and is a promising prospect in City’s Academy set-up.