Grealish's dad's wild City celebrations - stealing turf to cigars with Haaland
If you think Jack Grealish has had a crazy week then you should spend some time in the company of his dad.
In the space of a 30 minute chat, Kevin Grealish talks about choking on cigars with Erling Haaland's old man Alf-Inge, doing a cheeky favour for Oasis legend Noel Gallagher and posing with grannies at a knitting club back in Birmingham. And that's before he's even got started.
Super Jack has been hailed as the champion of Manchester City's treble celebrations, rolling from one booze-fuelled knees-up to the next since Pep Guardiola's trophy-hoggers added the Champions League to their creaking mantelpiece last weekend.
As City's self-appointed ringleader, he has been filmed orchestrating joyous singalongs with his team-mates, papped swigging beer and spirits from various bottles, and appeared in full kit, topless, wearing a hi-vis jacket and then satin Dolce and Gabbana pyjamas as the blue half of Manchester has revelled in City’s historic hat-trick.
Grealish was brought up on fairytales of how his beloved Aston Villa conquered Europe by beating Bayern Munich 1-0 in 1982 and regaled with stories of his dad drunkenly dancing in fountains after witnessing the Brummie club’s epic achievement in Rotterdam.
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And, while Kev, despite his best efforts, can't quite keep up with his superstar offspring's legendary partying nowadays, it's like father like son when it comes to the everyman qualities the Man City winger has had instilled in him by his family. He’s just so normal. Other than the footballing immortality and the superstar existence, of course.
The Grealishes were excitedly drinking the night away in a star-studded five-star hotel in Istanbul on Saturday night after City added their first ever European Cup to this season's Premier League and FA Cup silverware.
Just 72 hours later, Kev was keeping it real. Entrusted with looking after his boy's THREE precious 2022-23 medals, the former plasterer, who now works for a football agency, proudly paraded the gongs to pals and old dears at a social club in Solihull on the outskirts of the family's native Birmingham.
"Since Saturday night I've woken up every day with a big daft grin on my face," Kevin tells Mirror Football. "I don't think it's sunk in properly yet, but I don't know whether it ever will. Jack Grealish, our Jack, treble winner. Wow. No wonder I haven't been able to get to sleep!"
The Grealish family - Keira, Kevin, Holly, Karen, Keira's boyfriend and Kevan at the Manchester City training ground before their Istanbul adventure. (Kevin Grealish)It started last Friday when the Grealish family were whisked on a private charter flight to Turkey. Each City player was able to invite eight relatives or friends for the all-expenses-paid adventure. The Grealish quota was filled by Kev, wife Karen and their three other kids, Jack's brother Kevan and younger sisters Kiera and Holly, along with the England star's girlfriend Sasha Atwood and some of her family.
When the final whistle blew after Rodri's 68th minute goal clinched a tense victory over Inter Milan at Ataturk Stadium, Grealish was overcome by tears as he made an emotional dash to embrace his loved ones in their seats behind the dugouts.
"I must admit my a*** was going a bit in the last few minutes," laughs Kev in the blunt way that makes the Grealishes an interviewer's dream.
"These finals are rarely classics. I thought Jack was a bit harsh on himself saying he played c**p in his interview after the match, but he's his own toughest critic and he sets his standards so high.
"At the end the first thing he did was race over to come and find us. He jumped into my arms and gave me the biggest hug ever.
"All of the families were allowed on the pitch to join in the celebrations and have photos taken so those are really special memories.
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An emotional Jack Grealish gives sister Holly and mum Karen a hug on the pitch in Istanbul."The barrier to get onto the pitch was chest high. I cocked my leg over, got cramp and my hat, phone and wallet went flying. I thought 'For f*** sake' but I wasn't going to let that spoil it and I got everything back."
Those weren't the only possessions Kev jetted back to Manchester with the following morning. A couple of other special souvenirs were safely stowed away on the return trip.
"I managed to pinch some turf when we went on the pitch," he confesses. "I thought to myself, I'm having a bit of that. I grabbed a handful and I've kept it in a box.
"I said to Jack before the game, when you win the only thing I want is a signed shirt. He was able to sort that for me, bless him. It's got the whole squad's signatures on there, and he got Pep's autograph on it too. That's something I will treasure forever."
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It's now that Kev decides to namedrop one of the most famous rockstars of a generation - Oasis icon and Man City fanatic Noel Gallagher. Having met the Mancunian musician at a City match at Chelsea the pair have kept in touch.
"Showing off a bit, I sent Noel a text with a picture of the shirt," reveals Kev, giggling at the celebrity circles his son's prodigious talent has allowed him to mix in.
"He text me straight back saying, 'That's epic that is Kev, what a momento to have. Can you get me one?!'
"So I did. I was able to get him one signed by the entire squad as well. But mine is the original, his is a cover version!"
Kev was spotted wearing his signed shirt when he emerged bleary-eyed from City's first treble-winning party at the team's luxury Marriott hotel in Istanbul in the early hours of Sunday.
It's no surprise that the all-you-can-drink shindig went on through the night as the stars and their loved ones continued celebrating until 8am, taking their revelry from the dancefloor to the poolside long after the sun came up in the Turkish city.
Despite vowing to keep schtum, Kev gave a slightly tipsy interview to a journalist who doorstepped him as he jumped into a taxi to the airport the morning after the night before.
"We were coming out of the party and there were press outside," he smiles.
Jack Grealish and his dad, Kevin (i-d/Youtube)"My bags were packed the night before because I knew it was a tight turnaround time to get the plane home and was in a bit of a rush.
"I'd had a few drinks, let's put it that way, but I thought I'm in a hurry and they're not going to get a word out of me. They did. I mumbled something like 'amazing' and 'Up the City, Up the Villa' before wandering off into the sunset!"
Well, into a lightning strike anyway.
According to Kev the families' flight home was disrupted by a bolt of lightning which momentarily panicked most of the passengers on board.
Jack Grealish's dad Kevin pretends to bite into the FA Cup winners medal his son won against Manchester United at Wembley. (Kevin Grealish)Not all of them? "No, I was sleeping off my hangover and never heard or felt a thing!" Meanwhile, Grealish jr's partying had only just begun.
While their nearest and dearest returned home, the City treble-winners jetted off for a night in Ibiza with Jack continuing to lead the chants and the dancing, mostly with a bottle or glass of something in his hand.
One night on the lash rolled into another and by Monday evening he was dishevelled but still smiling as he strutted his stuff around Manchester city centre during the victory parade.
At one stage the former Villa favourite admitted: 'For the past 24 hours I've had the best day and night. To be fair, I don't think I've slept."
Then he added: 'I'm a turkey and the turkey needs feeding' as teammate Kalvin Phillips poured vodka down his throat.
Grealish leads the celebrations back in Manchester (Getty Images)"He never touched a drop, he's just a brilliant actor!" quips Kev when asked about his lad's fondness for toasting success with a drink or 10.
"Listen, he's a young lad, he's having the time of his life, living the dream beyond his wildest imagination. He knows how to have a good time. I just wish I could keep up with him."
He may lack the stamina of his son, but Kev has formed a warm Dad's Army allegiance with Erling Haaland's footballing father. All of the players' families are close, he insists, as they bask in the collective glory of their history-making kids.
When the celebrations reached City's Etihad training complex on Monday afternoon, Alfie Inge Haaland offered Kev a smoke of a celebratory cigar.
"That just sums up this football club to be honest," he explains. "Yes, it's a massive football club with loads of money and superstar players, but there are really lovely people.
"All of the families get on really well and Alf, Haaland's old man, is a great bloke, really down to earth.
"He came over to me and said have some of this cigar. I took a drag on it and I nearly coughed my guts up. I've not smoked for 28 years.
Kevin Grealish smokes a cigar given to him by Alf-Inge Haaland as the dads celebrate the treble-winning achievements of sons Jack and Erling. (Kevin Grealish)
Man City's players signed the shirt for Kevin (Kevin Grealish)"To be fair to City, they've been brilliant with the celebrations and all the parties. There was one for winning the Premier League at the Tunnel Club (The Etihad's swankiest hospitality suite) a few weeks ago.
"The drinks bill came to £47,000, FORTY SEVEN GRAND! - I saw the receipt - and before you say it, that wasn't just Jack's drinks bill. He actually went home early that night!"
Kev took it easy himself on Monday, keeping a clear head to enjoy the city centre procession before driving back to the West Midlands to get back to some kind of normality, which included washing and hanging the family’s ‘Grealish 10’ shirts on the washing line at home.
It also involved a trip to his local Royal British Legion club, in Knowle, Solihull.
While Grealish was being chauffeured from Manchester to England duty at St George’s Park on Tuesday night, his dad was keeping a promise to his snooker mates and other regulars who have supported his lad's meteoric career trajectory.
"I go in there from time to time to have a game of snooker or watch a football match on the telly and they're a great bunch in there," he says.
"The last time I was in I said if Jack wins the treble I'll bring the medals in to show you and they were like 'Yeah Kev, of course you will'.
'Grealish 10' shirts hanging on the Grealish family washing line near Solihull as dad Kevin gets back to normality following Jack's treble win. (Kevin Grealish)"I'm a man of my word so when I got there with them the other night they were stunned. I let the folks in there have their pictures taken with the medals and they were chuffed to bits.
"There's not many people who can say they've had their photo taken with the Champions League medal, the Premier League medal and the FA Cup medal at the same time.
"There were even some old dears in there who were having a knitting club or something and they were queuing up to have their photo taken with the medals!"
Of all the photos that have been taken during Man City’s remarkable spring trophy haul, there is one that sums up Kev's memories of a life-changing period for the Grealish family more than any other.
It is from Monday night's festivities and is an iconic shot of his 27-year-old boy. Stripped to the waist, ripped six-pack on show, arms outstretched, the floppy-haired No.10 is the master of all he surveys on the top deck of the open top bus, drinking in the adulation of the crowd in the trademark Manchester rain. 'Hang it in the Louvre' joked Jack when he shared the snap on his socials.
"I absolutely love that picture!" beams Kev. "That's our Jack. He's not shy. The only thing missing from that picture is that he doesn't have his medals around his neck.
"But his pants are hanging out so knowing him that will earn him a modelling contract with Calvin Klein!"
Kev leaves no doubt about where his world famous kid gets his ‘Jack the lad’ likeability from, but he finishes on a serious note.
"When I look at that picture and think about all that Jack has achieved, I'm bursting with pride, we all are,” he adds.
"I've got a video somewhere. We're in Lanzarote on holiday and he's about three years old. He's sitting on my lap eating an ice cream.
This is Kevin Grealish's favourite photo of son Jack's treble boozy celebrations. 'Hang it in the Louvre' tweeted the Man City favourite himself. (Lexy Ilsley - Manchester City/Manchester City FC via Getty Images)"I ask him 'What do you want to be when you grow up Jack?’. He licks the ice cream and says 'I'm going to be a footballer, Dad'.
"Since then Jack's been football mad, he's obsessed. People think he's public property now, and you get people slagging him off, saying he's this and he's that.
"He's a normal kid who has worked so hard to get where he is today. He’s had his challenges and his ups and downs, everyone knows that.
“He's our Jack, we couldn't be more proud of him. All of this success is for him and for everyone who has supported him."
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