Vincent Kompany bade an emotional farewell to Manchester City in front of 100,000 fans on this day in 2019.
The long-serving captain, now manager of Burnley, announced he was leaving City after 11 successful years to take up the role of player-manager at Anderlecht.
Consequently the defender was the star of the show as City celebrated the 2018/19 season’s historic domestic treble with an open-top bus parade through Manchester city centre.
Speaking as the parade culminated with a stage show outside Manchester Cathedral, the Belgian said: “I’ve given everything I could for this club. I can’t tell you how proud of that I am. I have nothing left. I have given everything.”
Kompany’s future had been the subject of speculation for some time but he realised the time was right to leave when he scored a spectacular winner against Leicester earlier that month. His long-range strike, in their penultimate game of the season, took City within one game of retaining their Premier League title.
He said: “The moment that ball against Leicester went ‘top bins’ I knew I was done! I couldn’t do anything better. It felt right.”
Kompany, who ended his speech with a mic drop, said: “Eleven years at this club, what a journey we’ve been on. We were always a great club without silverware but now we’ve got silverware and I’m really proud.
“This group of players – we’ve given you something you deserved for a long time. Now this team is ready to achieve so much more.”
Kompany won 10 major trophies during his time with City, culminating with the 2019 FA Cup final victory over Watford.
After three years in charge at Anderlecht, Kompany returned to England in 2022 to manage the Clarets and delivered promotion back to the Premier League at the first attempt.
