Over the past decade or so, Manchester City have cemented themselves as one of the most impressive teams anywhere in Europe’s top five leagues.
Moreover, the City Football Group (CFG) itself has assembled a multinational sporting organisation that has helped develop everything from the training facilities and youth set-up to local residential areas.
That being said, while the Champions League is one of the few trophies they are still yet to win, European nights have become a regular and special occasion for the club and it is this level of investment from the CFG that has seen them deliver an unforgettable experience thanks to the City Tunnel Club.
We were invited along by City’s official crypto trading partner OKX to sample the Tunnel Club for ourselves and, safe to say, it was quite the night.
Entering the Etihad
Even upon arriving at the Etihad Stadium, the welcome you receive lets you know you’re in for a night of luxury and being doted upon like you were one of the execs or players themselves.
Upbeat music plays and people take photographs as if you were waking the red carpet (or blue in this case), you are received by a charming greeter with some of the most convincing small talk you’ll find anywhere in hospitality, before being taken downstairs to a VIP section.
At this point, you’re met by even more friendly staff who escort you to your table for the evening, lay out the menus and ask you if it’s your first become and whether you’d like a drink. Strong start.
The Tunnel Club menu is fit for royalty
After glancing at the complimentary City programmes, we are handed a menu full of what we can only describe as some of the poshest grub we’ll probably ever eat.
Braised ox cheek and beef fillet, seafood and foie royal (because style can still be sustainable); fancy compound butters and much more that we daren’t spoil in case you ever try it and because we don’t want a stern telling off.
Lobster laksa with beetroot, kohlrabi and orangeRabbit terrine with chicory and offalFoei royal with hens egg, girolle mushrooms, broad beans and peas
The menu undoubtedly changes as the season goes on but what we’re trying to say is that there was plenty of variation, it was exquisitely presented and absolutely delicious.
Oh, and then there’s the whole list of classic cocktails and City specials.
Better still, not only did all the food and drink we could muster come as part of the Tunnel Club VIP package but you could order it whenever you liked and have it in front of you in a heartbeat.
ManhattanPassionfruit Martini & Old Fashioned
We ordered a beer for after half-time and it was promptly handed to us upon returning to the table. The most doted on we’ve been and perhaps the fanciest we’ve ever felt. Little do they know we were happily eating beans on toast with a brew the night before.
Although we’d already seen the players coming in upstairs shortly after we’d arrived as they stepped off the team bus and were met with rapturous applause and wide-eye children (and adults, to be fair), the unique selling point of Manchester City’s Tunnel Club is catching a glimpse that no others can.
Well, truthfully, it was far more than a glimpse: it was the entire time before the match as well at half-time, as supporters line up against the glass to watch the players from both sides walk down the tunnel just inches from their face. And yes, Haaland is even bigger in real life.
We even got to see them trotting back up the tunnel after the game, having intimate chats with referees, staff and other players that you would otherwise never be close enough to witness. They were on the pitch only moments ago and now they’re in closer proximity than you get to some of your relatives.
Speaking of which…
Best seat in the house
Some of us in attendance had been lucky enough to walk out while the Champions League music is playing before, but that doesn’t mean it’s any less of an unforgettable moment the second or third time around.
No matter whether you’re a red or a blue, the hairs go up on your arms and chills run down the back of your neck. No matter whether it’s the home side or the visitors, it still feels like a ‘pinch-me’ moment seeing top professional players lining up in front of you, let alone watching them play.
Sat just behind the team benchesMoment of silence for Queen Elizabeth II
What was even more surreal was that we were sat so close to the pitch that we could see the players chatting on the subs bench and even make out the tiniest of hairs on Pep’s shiny bald head.
We did all of this whilst sitting on soft padded leather chairs and butt warme—I mean, heated seats; they even had charging ports like on trains and modern buses. It was everything you could possibly need.
We also got to see this bit of kung fu madness live. He’s a bit good, isn’t he?
After the full-time whistle blew and everyone had caught breath at that piece of late-on magic, we headed back down to drink our last pints and eat our dessert, both of which we had asked to be served after the game so we didn’t have to rush. City’s hospitality staff were more than happy to oblige.
Lastly, before heading back on the tram packed full of happy fans, the servers kindly asked if we liked a photo to remember the night and the maître d’ — very good at her job, by the way — couldn’t have been keener to hear our feedback. All we could think to say was ‘can we come back?’
The VIP Verdict
Now, we’re not gonna pretend that anything compares to the feeling of being in the stands with your friends and family, hot pie in hand, as the songs start ringing around the ground and limbs start flying. However, as far as a gift for City-supporting loved one, it’ll blow them away.
If you want to feel like a high roller for the night or have always wondered what football hospitality is like, we hazard to guess you won’t find better than the Manchester City Tunnel Club.
In fact, one of our fellow guests who had been to several similar experiences at sporting venues around the UK said on the evening, “This blows Wembley out the water”. Big words.
City’s Tunnel Club is an extravagant way to experience the Champions League and one that is fitting of the level of prestige the club are gradually beginning to acquire on the European stage. As far as sporting hospitality goes, one of the finest we’ve ever come across.
Question is, will this be the year they manage to get the long-sought silverware to match that on the table?
Pep Guardiola hints at when Manchester City fans can expect to see their latest arrival
Danny Jones
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has given supporters a rough timeline as to when they can expect to see their new signing, or at least their latest arrival, make his first appearance.
The Blues wrapped up the January transfer window with four major signings: their new attacking number seven, Omar Marmoush (who has already bagged a hattrick on his home debut) promising defensive duo, Abdukodir Khusanov and Brazilian Vitor Reis, as well as their ‘mini-Rodri’, Nico Gonzalez.
However, the club has had another late arrival who was technically signed back at the start of last year but who has spent for the last 12 months or so loaned back to his previous parent club, River Plate in Argentina, waiting to make the move over to the Etihad Stadium – and now he’s here in Manchester.
Speaking on his touchdown in 0161, Pep said Claudio Echeverri won’t be thrown into first-team action straight away but did give a rough estimate as to when City fans could expect him to get involved. You can see him discussing the integration plan in his post-match press conference following the Spurs win.
The mention was only brief but there’s still plenty of reason for Man City fans to be excited by the late January signing.
“Yeah, he [Claudio Echeverri] is going to start to train and mainly will be for the end of the season, maybe the [Club] World Cup and as soon as possible [that] he arrives he can adapt quick for the future.”
As mentioned, the 19-year-old Argentinian attacking midfielder from Resistencia officially put pen to paper with CFG back in January 2024 and was quickly dubbed ‘the next Messi’.
Now, although the football world is often quick to jump the gun with these things and he isn’t the first and certainly won’t be last to be slapped with this premature title, he’s done more to back up these claims since then than he has rubbish them.
Starring at the 2025 Under-20 South American Championships, netting six goals in nine games to finish the tournament as the second highest scorer thanks to notable braces against Brazil and Uruguay as the young Argentine’s finished as runners up.
He also notched 48 senior appearances for River Plate thus far, netting four goals and grabbing eight assists in that time, not to mention having already captained his national team at the 2023 Under 17s World Cup, where he scored another five.
Safe to say there’s plenty of talent to be tapped in this lad.
Once again, Echeverri won’t go straight into the senior set-up for a little while yet, barring a major injury crisis, but he’ll be a more than exciting addition to the City Football Academy and for future first-team lineups for years to come.
Who knows, maybe he’ll be included in an FA Cup matchday squad? Nevertheless, you can expect him to not just come of the bench but hopefully show what he can do at the Club World Cup this summer.
City‘s first fixture as reigning champions of the competition will be against Moroccan side Wydad AC on 18 June 2025.
You can watch Echeverri’s first full interview as a Man City player down below:
The new Man City signing is excited to be finally be part of the club 13 months on from agreeing his contract.
‘Nothing is eternal’: Is Pep Guardiola hinting at the end of Manchester City’s supremacy?
Danny Jones
Pep Guardiola looks to have suggested that more than a decade of Manchester City’s supremacy and Premier League dominance at the very least might be coming to an end.
Speaking in his post-match press interviews after City were knocked out of the Champions League by serial European Cup winners Real Madrid, Guardiola cut a somewhat more deflated figure than usual following the 3-1 defeat.
A Kylian Mbappe hattrick which was closed out within an hour of play was enough to stretch the aggregate score to 6-3 over the two legs and Madrid doubling their lead across the tie proved yet again why, not unlike City domestically over the last decade, they’re the kings of the continental competition.
In contrast, however, Pep seemed to accept the loss much more easily than perhaps we’ve seen in the past and rather than appearing familiarly frustrated or defiant in the press conference; instead, he seemed rather reflective, responding to one reporter: “Nothing is eternal”.
🗣️ "Nothing is eternal" – Pep Guardiola.
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Insisting that they have to decide whether a significant rebuild is needed to keep competing at the very top level consistently as they have done since the 54-year-old arrived back in 2016, he argued that it is only with that they’ll be able to determine what comes next.
As for the result itself, he made no bones about Carlo Ancelotti’s side having “deserved it”, stating simply that “the best team won” and that fans and players alike have to “accept the reality: they were better.”
Having been a familiar foe for Pep long before he arrived in Manchester, both at Barcelona and Bayern Munich – not to mention City having faced Los Blancos a dozen times before Tuesday night since 2012 – there have been less surprising outcomes for supporters to come to terms with.
“With time, the club and everyone is going to accept what it is but for now we have 30/40 games for the Premier League next season to try and be here [in the Champions League] and to improve. Nothing is eternal”, said the Catalan coaching genius.
On the other hand, he also went on to add that it was merely a reflection on the night itself and not what his team have achieved in recent years.
He went on to remark that “when we were playing outstanding it hurt more” to be knocked out of the UCL when he felt they deserved to stay in it, but still insisted: “We have been unbelievable and we have to try step by step to get better from today.” Tonight just wasn’t the night.
Who knows? Perhaps it was just some more melodrama from a manager with an undeniable flare for pageantry and playing into/in the face of narratives when he doesn’t come out on top – which hasn’t happened all that often until their dip in form this season.
Plus, there’s certainly still plenty for him and the fans to be positive about; not only has the arrival of their ‘Egyptian Prince’ and the media’s Mo Salah successor, Omar Marmoush, got plenty of people excited – especially after that first-half hattrick against Newcastle – but so too have the other January signings.
In fact, for all of his downplaying in this particular presser (which you can hear in full HERE), it felt like there were only upsides after their victory over Newcastle, even going so far as to dub new signing Nico Gonzalez a ‘mini-Rodri‘.
You can watch the highlights from the game down below:
Pep is right, nothing is eternal – but sometimes you just come up against talents like Mbappe and there’s very little anyone can do about it.
Danny Jones -
5th October 2022 
