There cannot be many footballers who have a gin named after them. Head to Ancoats, the trendy part of Manchester, and there are bottles bearing Mike Summerbee’s name — for only a couple of quid less than his £40-a-week wages when signing for the blue half of town six decades ago.
The accompanying blurb says that it is ‘a take on traditional London Dry with added luxury’ and there is something to that sentiment. Time spent in Summerbee’s company is a luxury. Manchester City’s raconteur, the face of their past but also the present, an enduring link between old and new.