Jacob Davenport has Man City in his blood and unfinished business in English football.
Born into a family of Blues in Stockport, he went to Maine Road as a kid and was a City ball boy at the Etihad when Sergio Aguero slammed home that iconic title-winning goal in 2012.
By then he was in the City academy set-up and developed into a highly rated youngster, winning Players’ Player of the Year, Manager’s Player of the Year, Scholar of the Year and England youth recognition in a stunning season as a talented teenager.
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He played a key role in the run to the 2016 FA Youth Cup final, stealing the show against Arsenal in the last four and coming close to a senior debut after catching the eye of Pep Guardiola. Davenport was a Yaya Toure illness away from being in the squad for a League Cup game against Wolves in 2017.
"That year (2015-16) was probably the best year I ever had. We won the Under 18 league and won the north and south league and got to the Youth Cup final and got beat by Chelsea. I won scholar of the year, manager's player of the year and player's player of the year," recalls the now 26-year-old.
Then injuries hit. And they didn't really let up.
Aside from a settled early loan spell with Burton Albion in 2017, this year in is the first in many that Davenport, now at Derry City in Northern Ireland, has had a proper pre-season under his belt.
"Pre season is a big part of football where you get your foundations," said Davenport, speaking to the Manchester Evening News from across the Irish Sea. "This January was my first pre-season so hopefully it will set me in a good place for the year and a run of games injury free and try to kick on in my career.
"It has been frustrating, that is the side of football that a lot of people on the outside don't see. You try everything you can and no-one wants to be injured. Over the last few years I have picked up more than I would ever want."
Davenport's frustration at his bad luck with injuries is evident. He's started fewer than 30 league games in English football seven years on from his senior debut. That came against Aston Villa in a League Cup tie for Burton Albion a little over a year since he came within a whisker of being involved in the same competition for Manchester City, against Wolves in October 2017.
"I would have been in the squad for a League Cup game if Yaya Toure hadn't recovered from illness," he said, eventually having to settle for being 19th man. "That was the closest I got, but it was great to experience that matchday with them. I had been training with the first team for a good few months. It was a surreal experience, even in that few months you got better and better training with that quality of players.
"It's a massive difference in speed, you are playing with David Silva and Kevin De Bruyne and they never give the ball away. They look like they have all the time in the world and the intensity is a different level and Pep preaches that every day. Looking back, I wish I wasn't as nervous and maybe more assured to take it in.
"At the time I never felt like I might get a chance of definitely getting into a squad with Fernandinho and then Rodri coming in. I was realistic in my aims really."
Those aims helped him make the decision to leave his boyhood club, first on loan and then permanently to Blackburn Rovers in 2018 on a four-year deal.
"Once I had the taste at Burton under Nigel Clough - who was brilliant - I wanted to play games," Davenport expands. "I signed on deadline day and then played Aston Villa the next day. I trained once and he put me straight in and he played me every game and had faith in me.
"I had a run in the Championship with Burton and I wanted that feeling again. City put a buy back clause in (when he joined Blackburn) so if I did well there was always a chance of going back, which was always something to aim for.
"Then in my first pre-season at Blackburn I picked up an injury in the first week. The whole season it was getting back from injury and then getting another one. Two of them were bad tackles in training games and they were all things I couldn't help.
"I wasn't actually injured as much as Blackburn fans thought but the manager had his preferences in the end."
He was released by Rovers at the end of his contract and signed short term deals with Lincoln City and Stockport County. The latter was an ideal move back to Greater Manchester but he left in 2023 before a year at Morecambe where financial issues meant he was on the move again 12 months later, joining Derry.
And now, 18 months on, he played his part in a 2024 campaign that almost yielded a league and cup double but ultimately ended with Derry missing out on European football after a late-season slump.
They have opened the new campaign with a defeat and a win although Davenport, joined in the squad by former City academy man Sadou Diallo while another ex-Blue Will Patching was a team-mate until he moved to Carlisle in January, has been overlooked thus far.
"I have taken over Will's house now he has gone," said Davenport on life in Derry. "The standard of football surprised me a little bit, it is a competitive league and a lot of teams try to play football. When you drop down the leagues in England not so much football is played, it is more physical and second balls. This is suiting my style of play more."
That style was honed at City and Davenport the player and person was moulded at the Etihad.
"City was the perfect upbringing really," he reflects. "Being a City fan it was everything to me and my family. I was there from six or seven and went right through the age groups. Being through that system, everyone who comes through is very good technically but also the stuff they teach off the field like having a good education and standards and manners. You were just brought up right. It stands you in good stead for your future."
In the long-term Davenport harbours hopes of returning to English football and proving himself at the highest level possible.
"I know my abilities and if I am fully fit I can play back in the Championship," he said. "It is just getting there, that burning desire is still there and hopefully in the next couple of years get back and start climbing the leagues again.
"Football is a lot about luck, right place, right time, right manager who believes in you, I have not really had that since my first loan."
Few could argue that Davenport deserves some good fortune. The luck of the Irish might be just the ticket.
