We Stand Together

About

For Aadi, Black History Month is about being seen, appreciated and valued. Growing up, he was surrounded by Black role models in football, including coaches and his dad, who played the game. Seeing people he could identify with gave him someone to look up to and helped him believe in what he could achieve. This echoes the message of Lemn Sissay’s The Stadium Speaks: that representation and belonging matter.

He sees that same sense of representation at Manchester City, where he can look around and see people like himself among the staff and participants. As a City in the Community coach, Aadi helps empower healthier lives through football, coaching participants from diverse backgrounds. He sees football bring people together across generations and backgrounds. From three-year-olds to people playing walking football in their sixties, everyone shares the same love of the game.

Aadi believes Manchester City’s community roots make it important for the Club to create space for everyone’s experiences and voices. For him, belonging comes from appreciating people for who they are and what they do, and helping young people see others they can relate to and aspire to be.

His message to the City community this Black History Month is: “Always be proud of who you are, where you come from and what you do - even when there are people putting you down.”