Manchester City’s oldest fan had a surprise visit from the club captain this week.

Vincent Kompany dropped in for a cuppa with 101-year-old Vera Cohen at her Didsbury home. 

The mother-of-four, grandmother-of-seven and great-grandmother-of-15 has been a staunch City supporter since the 1920s and still tries to attend all home games at the Etihad Stadium. She and her 96-year-old sister Olga — who also met Kompany — have been season ticket-holders for decades.

“We got the shock of our lives,” Mrs Cohen told the JC. “He gave me a big kiss. He’s such a gentleman.”

Kompany also brought along a cake and a “huge bouquet of flowers”.

The sisters shared their early memories of the team. “I told Kompany that if he had been a player then, he would have got £10 for a loss, £11 for a draw and £12 if they won. We had a laugh about that.”

Mrs Cohen added: “Football is much more money-minded today. Now City is very wealthy and has a rich owner but I enjoyed the football just as much when they didn’t have money.”

When Mrs Cohen celebrated her centenary, the club held a lunch in her honour.

“They gave me a City shirt with 100 on the back. All the players signed it. I wore it once for Purim, though I didn’t wear shorts with it!

“They are a very caring club,” she added. “I can’t speak well enough of them.”

Mrs Cohen, a member of the Shaare Hayim Sephardi community in Didsbury, still drives, although not to matches.

She has raised in excess of £18,000 from her charity baking, selling home-made Middle Eastern cakes in aid of Manchester’s Christie Hospital, which treated her daughter Jennifer before she died 15 years ago.

“I learned how to make them from my mother, who came over from Syria more than 100 years ago.  I said to Kompany: ‘I don’t know if you will like these as they are an acquired taste.’ He said: ‘I used to have those when I was younger.’”

The visit was one of several made by squad members to supporters around the city.

A  club spokesman explained: “The players wanted to surprise local fans to say thank you for their unwavering support and tell them that they are nothing without them.”