Paul Kelly thought a life in football was over when a serious knee injury at 16 threatened his prospects with Manchester Boys.

His dad, 'in a typical Irish family', told him to get a 'proper job' and he started a bricklaying apprenticeship with Manchester City council while he still had a splint on his leg. His career was destined to be on building sites in Beswick but instead he coaches football in Beswick instead.

Kelly thought he was rediscovering his love for the game when he was asked by a woman at the council to help out with a session at a youth club in Wythenshawe. What he didn't know was that it would spark his passion for working with the disabled community that started off with three special schools in the area and now covers 87 including competition leagues at primary, secondary, and all-girls level.

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"She said the club would close in six weeks if it didn't turn around so I got off my bum and started speaking to people at bus stops and Googling special schools and within six weeks we had over 40 kids there," Kelly told the Manchester Evening News.

"Someone at City heard about what I'd done and asked if I'd volunteer at City. We were having six to eight kids at a junior session on Denmark Road on a Monday and then it doubled and we outgrew the facility and had to move to Nicholls Campus in Openshaw.

"Then all of a sudden we got this amazing CFA and we were integrated into this amazing facility where previously there was no room at Platt Lane or Carrington for the community programmes. "Now we were integrated and on the same pitches as the first teams. We went from the outhouse to the penthouse.

"It makes these young children and adults feel like they're a part of this football club. It makes them feel special and feel like they could be Kevin De Bruyne or Alex Greenwood.

"They all feel like they're part of the club. The club is entwined - it doesn't matter if it's a disabled person or a first team footballer - everyone treated like family at the gate and they're made welcome by security, receptionists, ground staff. Everyone is welcoming and compassionate and understanding.

"The programmes have changed my life significantly with so many amazing opportunities to make creative opportunities for disabled people and people who wouldn't play football in Manchester like the walking footballers - providing opportunities for people at home or who never thought they would be able to play football or continue playing football and now they're playing regular football. They've also got a social side back in their lives again."

The walking football programme is celebrating 10 years that coincides with the City Football Academy being built. The blue pitch in the corner of the training ground has seen over 26,000 hours of community football played.

Working alongside Kelly to serve the local residents is Dylan Stanly, who counts as one himself. With a house opposite the Etihad, Stanly has taken advantage of the change in the area with a B-tech at Connell College before a degree finished off at the CFA.

City have transformed as a football club in that time, and the club boast in their latest financial report about increased numbers of supporters in China and the United States. The battle to keep their local fanbase happy and stay grounded has never been more difficult, with protests inside the stadium last year and outside this season from those who feel their loyalty is exploited.

City in the Community continues to grow though, and Stanly enjoys adding to the growth that he has seen in the local area with places and people.

"I work on the Kicks programme as well going round Greater Manchester putting on free provision sessions for people to come and have a safe space and get involved in football, basketball or badminton," he said. "Some are in youth zones so it's just about getting them engaged.

"We have one in Platt Lane at a time where it's mainly to get them away from crime - City Mentoring. I'm local - literally across the road from the Etihad - so to work at the CFA is to come full circle.

"I love connecting with local people and being role models for people. You never know what they've been through during the week but providing them that opportunity to get away from everything and come and play football and meet new people or the friends that come to their sessions, and seeing them walk away from the sessions with a massive smile on their face knowing that they've had a good time.

"There's people who volunteer on the programmes as well. If they're getting close to the max age cap, we will put them through if they've done well and they can volunteer with us and maybe get a job with us so it's gone from the community to full time staff working on programmes that they were once a part of."

If friendships and relationships are built up in the weekly sessions of walking football, it doesn't stop it being competitive. Kelly jokes that being involved in it is 'like putting your head in a washing machine' but says the extra social events either side of it have helped to keep any rivalries friendly.

"When you get to know them, you start to know the characters and how you have to deal with everybody," he said. "You just give people time.

"It's amazing because we've had a lot of men and women who have come along to walking football and are caring for their husbands or wives or have lost their partners. Without this opportunity, they might not have had that.

"We now do socials before sessions and warmups and we all have coffee and tea and biscuits afterwards so we can't get them out the building! They're a part of us. Community is the most important part of Man City. Without community, you haven't got your fanbase so we need to make sure that community is on board with everything we do."