Former Man City boss Horton on his prostate battle and fascinating football life

Ilkay Gundogan was scoring the goals to win the FA Cup and Pep Guardiola was securing part two of the Treble, while high in Wembley’s corporate lounges one of his predecessors was deep in conversation about prostate cancer with the son of a club legend.

Brian Horton was still coming to terms with the diagnosis. ‘I had no symptoms and had never felt better,’ says the 74-year-old. ‘If they hadn’t told me, I would never have known.’

His friend Steve Parkin, assistant manager at Wrexham, had convinced him to sign up for the routine health check offered by the League Managers Association at a hospital in Cheshire where doctor Sally Harris was concerned by the test results and sent him for a scan.

‘Cancer is a big word,’ says Horton. ‘It’s a word everybody dreads. My daughter was expecting a baby and I didn’t want to tell her. I didn’t tell her until later, because I didn’t want her worrying.

‘But they told me luckily they had caught it early, it was small and treatable. I feel very positive about it, really. Most footballers are generally positive. Go and get tested, that’s the message.’

Horton’s good fortune extended to a seat near Jon Bell on Cup final day. Not only is Bell a son of Colin, the former City and England maestro who was brought back to Maine Road to work as an ambassador to the youth players when Horton became manager in 1993, he is also a senior consultant at the Christie, the world-leading cancer treatment centre in Manchester.

‘I told my wife I was going over to have a word,’ recalls Horton. ‘I knew Jon was one of the top people at the Christie and had looked after Bernard Halford, the former secretary at City, when he was ill so I went over and said, “Jon, I’ve been diagnosed”.

‘I told him what I’d been told. I