Theo Michael Owen was celebrating his 21st birthday in May when he was involved in a life-changing car accident. With his neck broken in five places, the lifelong Manchester City fan spent four weeks in a coma in the Royal Preston hospital. Whiling away the hours in his hospital room while watching him slip in and out of consciousness, his family spoke to him about football and what would be the upcoming final of the Champions League.
They were worried that his injuries were so severe, he would never have the capacity to talk again. But on Sunday morning his lips moved, for the first time since the crash, and slowly he mouthed: “MCFC the treble”.
Manchester City’s meteoric rise in recent years culminated on Saturday night in a Uefa Champions League win, making them only the second English men’s team to complete the treble, after they scooped the Premier League and FA Cup trophies.
“He’s been obsessed with City his whole life,” said Theo’s father, Rob Owen. “[People] don’t understand the importance of football, what it means to us.”
For a club that has spent most of its history in the shadow of its storied neighbour Manchester United, it has been a long journey. The club has been transformed since Sheikh Mansour, an Abu Dhabi royal, bought the club in 2008, and particularly since the esteemed manager Pep Guardiola joined in 2016. The rest, they say, is history.
At the Etihad on Sunday, Man City supporters were some of the first to snap up new club shirts with “Champions of Europe” written in gold on the back above the number 23, marking the year it all happened.
“It’s surreal. It hasn’t really sunk in yet,” said Tom Baird, who was born in 1999, the year City won the third-tier playoff and were promoted to the second tier.
His fiance, Keira Pye, added: “It’s the thing you’ve been dreaming about your whole life. The stars aligned. We were all over the place at the start of the game, but once Pep talked to them at half-time, he calmed them down.”
Despite losing star midfielder Kevin De Bruyne to injury in the first half, the team secured a 1-0 win over rivals Internazionale of Milan with a goal by Rodri in the 68th minute. Manchester City’s victory was their 300th under Guardiola.
Fans swarmed Piccadilly Gardens in the centre of Manchester on Saturday night, bursting out of the city’s pubs in celebration of the win.
Police descended on the revellers and a police vehicle was smashed, but only one arrest was made, as the majority of people “took part in the celebrations safely and respectfully”, Greater Manchester police said.
Baird and Pye watched the game at home with family. “My dad just sobbed,” said Baird. “He’s seen us a lot worse than I remember. He’s 57. Never in his lifetime has he ever seen anything like this.”
Pye agreed: “The amount of stick that they got back then when Man U were doing so well!”
Baird, who spent Sunday morning rewatching the game, added: “It’s just the best time of my life. I’m going to get a tattoo. I haven’t thought much about it, but maybe the Champions League trophy and the date.”
The pair put the win down to Guardiola’s management, but had suddenly developed a soft spot for Ederson, the team’s Brazilian goalkeeper, who saved three goals in seven minutes during the final in Istanbul.
“He’s the man of the match by a country mile,” Pye said. “He won us the treble, as far as I’m concerned.”
The couple acknowledged that the win would not have come without the large sums of money poured in in recent years, enough to make it unpopular among the older clubs. In February, the Premier League charged Man City with breaching financial rules on more than 100 occasions over multiple years.
“If it gets proved, we deserve to be punished,” Baird said. “But different teams dominate over different periods, it could be anyone. There’s a pendulum, a swing.”
Pye agreed. “We might not do it again. Every team deserves to have their moment in the sun.”
The finances failed to cast much of a shadow over City’s home ground, which was teeming with families on a sunny Sunday. “Amazing” was how Steve Allwood felt, having driven from Nottingham on Sunday morning with his daughter Jodie and seven-year-old grandson Zachary, who was clad in full Man City kit.
“I said it right from day one, we were going to win the treble. I should have put money on it. It was worth a tenner at the start of the season. I just thought this was our year. We’ve been so close for so long, knocking on that door.”
The club plans to celebrate the win with an open-top bus parade through the city on Monday. But for Theo, the celebration will be confined to his hospital room, which will be newly adorned with the Man City flag that his father bought on Sunday.
He is being weaned off the intubator, allowed to breathe alone for 15 minutes at a time four times a day, and is regaining consciousness. He will soon be transferred to the spinal unit at Southport to begin a difficult journey of recovery.
“It will be a long road,” Rob said. “I’ve contacted the club about Theo, but I haven’t heard anything yet.
“I’ve got pictures of him as a kid wearing every City kit. The club’s always been so important to him. I know it would mean a lot to him to hear from them, give him a boost.
“My daughter’s in the hospital with him now and she was trying to talk to him, but he just wanted to watch the highlights.”
