Michael Hack

'One day someone said to Dad, “Your Ella’s really good, you should take her to a team.” So he took me to the Astley and Tyldesley Girls team. I’m sure he figured I was alright, but I don’t think he knew how good I’d be.⁠ ⁠ My first game he told me, “Every goal you score, I’ll give you a tenner.”⁠ ⁠ Me being competitive me, I was absolutely buzzing. I really took after Dad in how competitive I was. I seriously had to win everything. (I’m still like this). Me and Dad used to play dominoes before bed every night so that I’d go to sleep, and if I lost I’d be fuming. I’d be like, “I don’t want to go to bed! One more! One more!!!” You’d think a parent would do anything to just get the kids to bed, right?? But no. That wasn’t Dad at all. He never let me win.⁠ ⁠ So you can imagine how I lit up for 10 quid. Ended up winning 10-nil…. And I scored all 10 goals. I think prize money went down a bit after that!⁠ ⁠ But that was all it took — 10 pounds, and we were off.⁠ ⁠ Flash forward, and I’m not that kid anymore sitting on the couch waiting in my footy kit. I’ve gone from Astley and Tyldesley to Manchester United’s academy, to my senior debut with City, to being back at Man U like I’d always dreamed about. Mum and Dad are at every game and recording it at home so they can watch it again on the telly, which is a little mad, you know?⁠ ⁠ Every time I’d ring, they’d be like, “We’re just re-watching that game from the other day.”⁠ ⁠ Like, What?⁠ ⁠ After he’d watched it twice Dad would ring me for analysis. Dad was a top analyst. They should have put him on Sky. He analysed every minute of every game right from when I was five, to now, telling me what I did well and what I could work on. During the game, I could always hear him on the side, shouting stuff at me…. “Keep goin’!!” and the like.⁠ ⁠ As I got older and there were more fans, you would just hear him yelling:⁠ ⁠ “COME ON, UNITED!!!!” Dead loud. ⁠ ⁠ I knew it was him every time, didn’t even have to look.' ⁠ ✨🫶🏼 @ellatoone99