Ireland wants to be a legend
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Stephen Ireland is hoping to become a Manchester City stalwart, and have a stand named after him.
The Irish midfielder broke into the first-team set-up with the Blues in 2005 and has been a regular fixture in the side ever since.
The 2008/09 campaign has arguably been his most successful yet, as he only narrowly missed out to Ashley Young in the voting for PFA Young Player of the Year.
He admits that he is enjoying his time at Eastlands and has ambitions of becoming a City legend in the future.
With Mark Hughes' men set to face arch rivals Manchester United on Sunday, Ireland has revealed that he is hoping to emulate the achievements of Red Devils heroes Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs.
"I would like to achieve at City what Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs have done at United. They have been fantastic servants to the club and won cupboards full of medals," he said in the Manchester Evening News.
"I would love to think that at 33 or 34 years of age I would still be playing for City in midfield, still loving the game, enjoying a bond with the fans and winning things.
"Those two United players are legends at Old Trafford and that is a path I want to follow and what I want to be at Eastlands, in fact one of my aims is to play so well for so long here I have a stand named after me!
"I want to stay at City as long as possible and knock United off their pedestal, achieving things with these players, these fans and Mark Hughes, who gets a bad time in the press sometimes which is undeserved. I want to win games for him, too, and do his methods justice."
Ireland believes City are closing the gap on United, with the Abu Dhabi United Group helping to bankroll the club's pursuit of success.
"The gap between the clubs is narrowing, we are signing world class players and the future here is going to be very interesting," he said.
"United are still the target to aim at, they have things right there, and we are on the way to matching them in all aspects.
"We go to Old Trafford (on Sunday) full of confidence and we will be better than we were in the first derby at our place earlier in the season (during a 1-0 defeat).
"I think we go there with a better squad than we had before Christmas and with plenty of players in form. Everyone is hungry to get into the side and the manager has some decisions to make and that is good for the club."
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You'll never get shit in the blue side of Manchester.
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U think can? Gt All the Brazilian leh
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ah stephen ireland, u dreaming is it?