“I took it on the chin, came back in pre-season, got myself fit and back into the side.”The manager even brought me into his office and told me how well I was doing and how he wanted me to keep it going. I have three years left on my contract and if I want to stay and fight for my place, that is what I will do.”Pearce’s decision has come as a blow to Mills, particularly as he felt he had overcome some of the scepticism his manager felt towards him immediately after succeeding Kevin Keegan as manager in March 2005.”One of his first decisions was to drop me,” recalled Mills, who will be working at the World Cup as a summariser for BBC Radio Five Live. The club has given me permission to talk to other clubs and try to find something else. I will look at any offer but ultimately, the ball is in my court.

The news has come as a blow to the 31-year-old defender, who felt he was playing himself back to top form earlier this season before a broken leg ruled him out for three months of what turned out to be a disappointing campaign for City.
But, while Mills is prepared to listen to any offer during the summer, with three years on a lucrative contract still to run – part of which will be paid by his former club Leeds for another season – the defender has no intention of just being shoved through the exit door.”I am open-minded about my future,” Mills told BBC Radio Manchester “You never close any doors in football. The manager, Stuart Pearce, has told the former England full-back that he should look for another club this summer as he no longer figures in his first-team plans. Danny Mills is adamant that he will not be forced out of Manchester City unless he wants to leave. As his girlfriend, Melanie Slade – presumably having a night off from AS-level revision – looked on apprehensively, his first taste of that elevation came soon after he had emerged for Walcott’s Half-hour, when he bought a tasty sandwich, a Belarus butty, as he was intercepted by two visiting defenders..

Afterwards, members of the Thames Valley constabulary were forced to restrain the crowd as Theo Walcott made to depart Reading’s Madejski Stadium which, like him, had been familiar with football of no greater distinction than Championship standard. He was received rapturously on his entrance to big-time football by a crowd feverish with anticipation. “I couldn’t believe that some people were saying after the last World Cup, ‘Why didn’t the boys come home to an open-topped bus ride through London?’,” he exclaims, his tone incredulous “Because England came eighth, that’s why Eighth!”. George Cohen can still scarcely believe that a celebratory tour of the capital by David Beckham and his team was mooted in certain quarters following the events of 2002 in Japan and South Korea. But probably best not to mention it to a particular veteran of 1966. Just in case England’s footballers defydecades of history, you understand.