Shaun Goater may be playing his final game for Manchester City tomorrow but the Blues legend will always have a piece of the club with him - quite literally.

For Goater intends to get his hands on a piece of the Maine Road pitch which is due to be torn up along with the rest of a stadium which has been home to the club for the past 80 years.

City will move to their new Eastlands Stadium for the start of next season, so Goater's last game will be a poignant occasion for more than one reason.

Goater will be captain for the final Premiership clash of the season with Southampton, an honour bestowed on the 33-year-old by manager Kevin Keegan for the Bermudian's five years of service.

In that time he has racked up 188 league and cup games and scored 103 goals and will hope to add to his tally against the Saints.

"I am going to get some stick from the rest of the lads, I know that, but there will be a tear in the eye and a lump in the throat on Sunday," he told the .

"It will be an emotional occasion for lots of reasons but I will be proud to captain the side and I want to win the game and make sure we finish eighth in the table."

Goater's relationship with the City fans was not always what it is today. He came in for plenty of stick when he first moved from Bristol City for ?400,000 in 1998.

"It took time for the fans to realise what I was all about and it took me time to understand what they expect from a City player," he said. "But they are a very special crowd and are in my blood and heart.

"Once we got on the same wavelength I think we started to appreciate one another. They create a magnificent atmosphere and the rapport I enjoy with them will be one of the abiding memories of my time as a player."

Goater said every time he stepped out onto the Maine Road turf was "a special occasion".

"There is warmth there that you do not feel at many other grounds and it will be very hard, if not impossible, to recreate," he said. "I think I will take a little bit of the grass home with me.

"There is no doubt I will miss the place. Just the smell of the dressing room, the feeling and noise as you go down the tunnel, the wonderful, friendly people who work behind the scenes - hopefully they will all be going to the new ground.

"It will be a sad day when the ground is closed for the final time. It may not be the prettiest place to play football but you can feel the history everywhere you go."

No one has come in for Goater yet, but once the season is over there will be no shortage of suitors for his services. But wherever he goes, the player intends to make his last stop on his English adventure Manchester.

"I feel I have a couple of good years in me as a player but one of my ambitions is to come back and work at Manchester City in some sort of capacity," he said.

"I love the club. There were bad times early on but they only went to make the good times all the more sweet. I have a special bond with the City fans."

One of Goater's former clubs, Rotherham United, yesterday ruled themselves out of an approach for the player.

He is expected to command a fee in the region of ?1-million and though they are in Division One the Millers do not have that sort of cash to splash.

Club spokesman Gerry Somerton told the Royal Gazette yesterday: "I very much doubt whether we would be able to pay anything like Shaun would be asking, although he would be a popular signing as he is still held in very high regard by our supporters. After all, it was here he really started to make his mark.

"We already have a 33-year-old striker in Mark Robins so I doubt that Shaun would fit our requirements. There has been no approach to Manchester City and anyway we generally only sign players who are on frees."

`Fans' for the memories. See Page 19.