Although I'm Manchester City through and through a part of me will always be North Village.

And so it was great to hear that the club have finally got their hands on the league championship after 23 years.

I heard the news from a couple of relatives who visited me for my 32nd birthday on Monday.

I am still a Village person and if I do enquire about anything back home then it is Village.

In my eyes they have always been a team who play good football and try to play the game in the right way, so I couldn't believe it had been so long since they were champions.

But obviously they must have been doing something wrong all that time, and that includes when I used to play for them.

Their coach, Scott Morton, is someone that's really taken to football and good things are being spoken about him and that's got to be good for the future.

I got 90 minutes under my belt on Saturday in the 0-0 draw with Walsall which was good as I had just returned from a two match lay-off with injury.

The last 10 or 15 minutes I began to feel the muscle that I had pulled, but I think that was only because I was beginning to tire having not played a full competitive game for close to two weeks.

In spite of that I didn't want to go off. I'd missed a couple of opportunities earlier in the match and I didn't want people thinking I didn't fancy it. I wanted to stay on, continue to play a part and if not score myself then assist somebody else in getting a goal.

It wasn't to be though and we slipped a bit further behind the leaders Wolves as a result.

The Walsall ‘keeper made a couple of good saves but from the opportunities we had we should have expected to have taken one of them.

Our manager, Kevin Keegan, didn't have a go at us because that happens.

He just said we had come up against a ‘keeper having a good game on a day when our finishing was not at its best. Those two things are a recipe for a clean sheet for the opposition.

Wolves are a good team and obviously the table doesn't lie, but outside of ourselves I think Preston are the best team in the division.

That said it is Wolves we have to catch and we have a chance to close the gap tonight when we play Sheffield Wednesday.

We beat them 6-2 at their place back in September and I scored twice. I hope it will be as open a game as it was then but I somehow doubt it.

One of the factors will be how good we are at blocking out the distractions around us, such as the situation with the title race.

The fans fears and anxieties will be heard throughout the game and we have to try to not be affected by them.

The first hour will be very important. If we don't score early on then the supporters might sense that Wednesday are getting the upper hand and will worry they are going to dominate the game.

We have to be strong as individuals and just focus on the job at hand.

A link between the two clubs is Willie Donachie, who used to be on the coaching staff at City and is now assistant manager at Wednesday.

He played for City many years ago and coached us quite recently. As a result he knows the players, knows our style and will know that our crowd will get anxious if we are not on top and will hope to use them against us.

If we do get maximum points then we have the chance to go on a run as the games are coming thick and fast. We play Coventry on Sunday, Birmingham on Tuesday and Bradford the following Saturday. Then we have Crewe, Crystal Palace and Stockport in quick succession.

If we get a couple of wins then it's going to be ‘bring it on'. If for some reason we don't then the next game comes around so soon you have a chance to put it right.

The last thing you want if you haven't been firing on all cylinders is to have a week's break in between. If you don't get a win then the next game seems even further away.

Finally, I must say that it will be a sad occasion when Paul Dickov leaves the club tonight. The striker has been a City hero but he has decided to call it a day at Maine Road and move to Premiership Leicester City where he will have a better opportunity of playing in the first team.

I had a good relationship with Paul, understood how he played and in some ways took elements of his game and tried to add them to mine.

He is a tenacious character and I tried to put that into my game. For example, if we are in training and playing five-a-side and Paul's side loses he will keep challenging the decisions until the sun rises. I, on the other hand, would just admit defeat and go home.

That sums up Paul. He fights for everything.

Looking at my career I wonder if I had some more of that in me then maybe I could have achieved even more than I have. It is such an important ingredient in what makes a good player, unfortunately I am perhaps a little too laid back, but then I am Bermudian!