I've been living in Mullingar since I was young and that's made in awkward but I still get to 25 games a year. It's expensive and is coming in at around 10,000 a season, roughly 300 a trip. It's inconvenient as well. There are times when I have missed trains after the game and therefore planes are missed and I've slept rough in airports. A lot of it has been a nightmare but it's been worth every penny too. Even if last season was a disaster.

We went the last nine home games without scoring a goal.

That was terrible but I guess winning Fan of the Season was a bit of a consolation.

Some guys I know over there nominated me and there were four other fans from other clubs nominated. They put us on the BBC website along with our profiles and it was voted for. To win was just amazing though because I sacrifice a lot for the club. The time and money means the social life is gone and then there are the tattoos which I hate getting done and I'm always shaking with nerves.

I've 27 done at this stage. It's one of these things I started out with and there's always been a need to keep going. I got the old crest done and we got a new one so I had to go and get that one done then. I got Shaun Goater's name and number on my back when he retired. I had to, the guy is like the George Best of Man City. He is a hero. In our last ever game at Maine Road we beat United for the first time in 12 years and I ended up getting the score tattooed on my leg along with the autographs of every player that played that day. That was a huge occasion because I loved Maine Road, the old North Stand there was the place to be, right up beside the away fans. I've also got the name and date of everything good I've seen them achieve, but in fairness that's only four of them. The Division Two playoff final, the Division One title, runners-up in Division Two and the FA Cup back in 1974.

They are on my arm and hopefully I'll have plenty to add to that list.

I've all sorts of memorabilia as well. I've everything from players' shirts, the ones they played in, shin pads, boots, signed footballs, Richard Dunne even gave me his captain's armband at the end of last season. Various other things as well but that armband was a nice gesture and Richard and Stephen Ireland would always thank me for coming over.

It's been a great season to date, but today's the big one. I walked out of the stadium after the Manchester Untied game last season and now it's only three months later and I'm going back over with real hope. I always fancy taking them at home because even last season when we were terrible they needed a penalty and we missed one. But now we have a new chairman, new manager, new players and the football we are playing is great.

I always thought we'd be perfect for investment and always saw a lot of smaller clubs being taken over and for it to happen to us is superb. And to get Sven as manager is great too and I never had worries about him. People always talk about England but nobody ever says he's the only manager in the world to win league and cup doubles in three different countries.

I didn't know a lot about the signings but there are a lot of young guys which shows he's in it for the future. He told me that. My best friend is head of security over there so he introduced me to Sven and we had a cup of tea before the start of the season and he was very optimistic. He was delighted with the signings and thought he could turn things around.

He said how disappointed he was and how he felt England were very unlucky in his two major international competitions but was delighted to have gotten the opportunity at Manchester City. He liked the fanbase although since the new stadium there has been no atmosphere in my opinion.

But maybe that will change as well. So might our record against United. Today would be a good time to start.

Gareth Hayes is reigning Fan of the Season for the Premier League

In conversation with Ewan MacKenna