If you think Jack Grealish has had a crazy week, you should spend some time in the company of his dad.
In a 30-minute chat, Kevin Grealish talks about choking on cigars with Erling Haaland ’s old man, doing a cheeky favour for Oasis legend Noel Gallagher and posing with grannies at a Birmingham knitting club.
Super Jack has been hailed as the champion of Manchester City ’s treble celebrations, rolling from one booze-fuelled knees-up to the next since Pep Guardiola’s trophy-hoggers added the Champions League to their creaking mantelpiece last weekend.
While Kev can’t quite keep up with his superstar offspring’s legendary partying nowadays, it’s like father like son when it comes to the everyman qualities the Man City winger has had instilled.
The Grealishes were excitedly drinking the night away in a star-studded five-star hotel in Istanbul on Saturday night after City added their first ever European Cup to this season’s Premier League and FA Cup silverware.
Former plasterer Kev, who now works for a football agency, tells Mirror Football: “Since Saturday night I’ve woken up every day with a big daft grin on my face.
“I don’t think it’s sunk in properly yet. Jack Grealish, our Jack, treble winner.”
It started last Friday when the Grealish family were whisked on a private charter flight to Turkey.
Each City player could invite eight relatives or friends.
The Grealish quota was filled by Kev, wife Karen, Jack’s brother Kevan and younger sisters Kiera and Holly, along with the England star’s girlfriend Sasha Attwood and two members of her family.
When the final whistle blew after Rodri’s 68th minute goal clinched a win over Inter Milan at the Ataturk Stadium, Grealish dashed to embrace his loved ones, and they were allowed on the pitch.
Kev confessed: “I managed to pinch some turf. I said to Jack before the game, when you win the only thing I want is a signed shirt. He was able to sort that for me, bless him. It’s got the whole squad’s signatures on there, and he got Pep’s autograph on it too.”
It’s now that Kev decides to name-drop Oasis rocker Noel Gallagher.
The pair met at a City match at Chelsea and kept in touch.
“Showing off a bit, I sent Noel a text with a picture of the shirt,” reveals Kev.
“He text me straight back saying, ‘That’s epic that is Kev, what a memento to have. Can you get me one?!’
“So I did. I was able to get him one signed by the entire squad as well.”
Kev was spotted wearing his signed shirt when he emerged bleary-eyed from City’s first treble-winning party at the team’s luxury Marriott hotel in Istanbul, Turkey in the early hours of Sunday.
Stars and their loved ones continued celebrating until 8am.
After their nearest and dearest returned home, City players jetted off for a night in Ibiza with Jack continuing to lead the partying. One night on the lash rolled into another.
By Monday evening Jack was dishevelled but still smiling as he strutted around Manchester city centre during the victory parade.
The former Villa favourite admitted: “I’ve had the best day and night... I don’t think I’ve slept.”
Kev said of his son’s partying: “He’s a young lad, he’s having the time of his life, living the dream beyond his wildest imagination.”
Kev has formed a friendship with Erling Haaland’s footballing father.
When the celebrations reached City’s Etihad training complex on Monday afternoon, Alfie-Inge Haaland offered Kev a celebratory cigar. Kev said: “I took a drag on it and I nearly coughed my guts up. I’ve not smoked for 28 years.
“To be fair to City, they’ve been brilliant with the celebrations and all the parties. There was one for winning the Premier League at the Tunnel Club [the Etihad’s swankiest hospitality suite] a few weeks ago.
“The drinks bill came to £47,000, FORTY SEVEN GRAND! I saw the receipt.”
Kev took it easy on Monday. He kept a clear head to enjoy the city centre procession before driving back to the West Midlands.
The return to normal life included hanging the family’s “Grealish 10” shirts on the washing line. He also took a trip to his local Royal British Legion club, in Knowle, Solihull.
He says: “The last time I was in, I said if Jack wins the treble I’ll bring the medals in to show you and they were like ‘Yeah Kev, of course you will’.
“I’m a man of my word. When I got there with them the other night they were stunned. I let the folks in there have their pictures taken with the medals and they were chuffed to bits.
“There were even some old dears in having a knitting club and they were queuing up to have their photo taken with the medals!”
Of all the photos taken during Man City’s remarkable spring trophy haul, there is one that sums up Kev’s memories best.
Taken on Monday, it shows 27-year-old Jack stripped to the waist, six-pack on show, master of all he surveys on the open-topped victory bus.
“Hang it in the Louvre,” joked Jack, whose mixed ancestry let him play for Ireland’s under-21s before switching to England. Kev leaves no doubt about where his world-famous kid gets his Jack-the-lad likeability from, but he finishes on a serious note.
He says: “When I look at that picture and think about all that Jack has achieved, I’m bursting with pride.
“I’ve got a video somewhere, we’re in Lanzarote on holiday and he’s about three years old. He’s sitting on my lap eating an ice cream.
“I ask him ‘What do you want to be when you grow up, Jack?’.
“He licks the ice cream and says ‘I’m going to be a footballer, Dad’.
“Since then Jack’s been football mad. People think he’s public property now, and you get people slagging him off, saying he’s this and he’s that.
“He’s a normal kid who has worked so hard to get where he is today.
“He’s had his challenges and his ups and downs. But he’s our Jack, we couldn’t be more proud of him.”
