While it is normal to see a bunch of light blue filling out Kenan Stadium, fans dressed in the color were cheering on a different team than the Tar Heels on Tuesday night as Manchester City took on Celtic F.C. for an international soccer friendly.
Despite being based thousands of miles away from North Carolina, Manchester City has a dedicated following stateside — including in the Triangle, with a supporters’ club that was thrilled to see its favorite team play close to their home.
Jonathan Seiglie remembers the English Premier League landing a new broadcast deal while he was in college at UNC. As a soccer fan, it provided a new chance to follow more games – and as a raised Tar Heel fan, he quickly gravitated to a particular team.
“Growing up Carolina blue was the correct shade of blue,” he told 97.9 The Hill. “My dad and my mom wouldn’t let me wear anything else. So, I started watching the Premier League and I noticed there’s a team that wears what looks like Carolina blue – or sky blue – called Manchester City.”
“They played an interesting style of football, they were very much at that time more underdogs,” Seiglie continued. “So, I started pulling for the sky-blue team, the more blue-collar team.”
Seiglie, who now lives in Hillsborough, helped start the local supporters club in 2019 with his friend Jeremy Tatton, who lived in Raleigh. After meeting other local Man City fans, Tatton came up with the idea of getting in touch with the Manchester team to become an official supporters club. Before long, the team sent an official plaque welcoming MCFC Raleigh into the Manchester supporters family. Now, more than 100 people are regularly involved with the local club and attend watch parties at the R+D Seven Saturdays taproom in Raleigh.
Seiglie has since become the chair of the supporters’ club and said when Man City announced they would be doing a preseason tour in the United States – let alone starting it in Chapel Hill – he was delighted.
“It was amazing,” said Seiglie. “[The reaction] was immediately, ‘I need tickets! How many tickets can I get? Let’s go. How many people can I meet?’ To call it excitement would be an understatement.”
To celebrate their fans, Manchester City held a supporters’ club event at He’s Not Here on Franklin Street on Saturday leading up to the friendly, with the iconic Chapel Hill bar serving special Blue Cups with the team’s badge. The local Raleigh group had a strong attendance, alongside dozens of other Cityzens who were in town for the game.
Billy and Camilla O’Connor are some of the longest-tenured members of the MCFC Raleigh club. In the past, the pair traveled to Pittsburgh, Nashville, Miami and Manchester from North Carolina in order to see the team play, which Camilla said is a great benefit of being in the local supporters’ group.
“If you’re a member, you get discounts on merchandise straight from the City team, and we get [special] scarves, and you get to be part of events like this,” she said during Saturday’s meet-up at He’s Not Here.
Vice Chair of MCFC Jon Martin said he has used those connections to go to games in Manchester at City’s home venue of Etihad Stadium. Part of the building’s infrastructure pays tribute to the supporters’ clubs like his: spiral walkways that help fans get in and out of the stadium.
“On the outside of one of them,” said Martin, “they have the names printed of every official supporters’ club in the world. So, the last time I was over there, I was able to see Raleigh on the side of the Etihad at Manchester. And that was really cool to see — that they say, ‘Hey, we see you, we appreciate you.'”
Myles Roper of Raleigh has been part of the supporters’ club for three years. He said he’s also traveled to see Man City play before, but he couldn’t wait for the team to suit up for a game in Chapel Hill.
“It’s incredible,” said Roper. “Chapel Hill is getting put on the map – [Manchester City is] going to New York and all of these other cities, but I was like, ‘They’re in my backyard. I have to go!’ It wasn’t an option [to miss it].”
Samarth Chokshi at He’s Not Here in Chapel Hill for the Manchester City Supporters’ Club event on Saturday, July 20, 2024.
Drew Martin poses with his special Blue Cup featuring the Manchester City logo on Saturday, July 20, 2024.
Samarth Chokshi said he began cheering for Manchester City when he was in middle school, just a few years after moving to Raleigh and while he was searching for a team to follow. As one of the original members of the local supporters’ club, he said it was hard to believe the Sky Blues and their stars had made their way to the Triangle.
“It’s something that as a little kid, I wouldn’t have even imagined… to see [Erling] Haaland in my backyard, just walking around Chapel Hill,” said Chokshi. “I did go to a couple of games in England last year, but to have them come here, it’s really special.”
Haaland is one of the few first-team players traveling with Manchester City on the U.S. preseason tour. While plenty of supporters were excited to see him in action, most members of the MCFC Raleigh group also looked forward to seeing the players who aren’t often on the pitch.
Drew Martin – a Raleigh resident who became a Man City fan in the 1990s based on his love of the band Oasis – said he believes “it’s about time” the Triangle gets proper recognition as a soccer community. Tuesday’s friendly was an opportunity to showcase support not just for the sport, but for Man City.
“I really want to see the next generation of the first team,” Martin said ahead of the match, “because our older players are going to have to retire at some point and these are the players who are going to have to come in. We have a lot of home-grown talent, and I would love to be able to say, ‘I remember when he came to town.'”
The game itself featured a little bit of everything. It began with a weather delay that briefly evacuated fans from Kenan Stadium. Once play began, a combined seven goals saw plenty of offense for both teams. Several people ran onto the pitch and interrupted proceedings at the end of the friendly. And, in between all that, hundreds of fans cheered alongside both squads.
Manchester City goalkeeper Stefan Ortega dribbles the ball in Chapel Hill’s Kenan Stadium during a friendly vs. Celtic F.C. on Tuesday, July 23, 2024.
Ultimately, the game did not go Manchester City’s way. Celtic struck first in the 13th minute by a goal from Nicolas-Gerrit Kühn and had a response to each goal scored by the Sky Blues — winning 4-3 off a deciding tap-in by forward Luis Palma during the 68th minute.
Afterward, Jon Martin said he was disappointed Man City could not get the result supporters wanted. But he was quick to point out that the game holds no bearing on the season ahead and did little to quell the atmosphere of celebration on Tuesday night.
“The result really isn’t the point,” said Martin. “It’s for the younger players, it’s for the fans – not just for us, it’s for the Celtic fans here too, they got to see their side [play well]. It was a fun experience, and it was a great turnout in Chapel Hill.
Featured photo via MCFC Raleigh.
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