Manchester City's kitman of 17 years, Les Chapman, lifts lid on dressing room secrets: Mario Balotelli got sent off and threw his boot through the TV!

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When media-shy Mario Balotelli agreed to an interview last year, the staff at Nice could not believe the warmth with which he greeted the man who would be asking the questions. 'It's Chappy!' he announced as he was reunited with the ageing interviewer in the south of France.

Chappy is Les Chapman, the former Manchester City kit man of 17 years. We find him amid the charcoal skies and howling winds of Saddleworth Moor, where a dense fog and swirling rain have blurred the view of the burnt-out mill which teeters behind his sandstone house. The Côte d'Azur it is not.

'Before matches, the likes of Balotelli and the Brazilians would show me a trick in the dressing-room,' starts Chapman. 'The lads would gather around and, if I could repeat it, they'd give me 50 quid!'

Manchester City's kitman of 17 years, Les Chapman, reveals dressing room secrets

Mario Balotelli, Sergio Aguero and David Silva all hold a special affection for the 69-year-old

Chapman's company does not reflect the weather outside, and that is why the likes of Balotelli, Sergio Aguero and David Silva hold a special affection for the 69-year-old.

He offered the players more than socks and shorts, however. Scroll down the list of Football League all-time appearances and you'll find Chapman, with 747, in 20th position. There was also a spell with San Jose Earthquakes.

'We were c*** and set a new NASL record for consecutive losses, but that was arguably the best four months of my life, it was like being in the future,' he says. 'It was 1978 and I had 60 TV channels, a big Chevrolet car which I took to drive-in cinemas and the shopping malls made the Trafford Centre look like a corner shop!'

It is easy to see why City's millionaire superstars respected a man who had been in their boots, even if he did earn just £60 per week when he helped Huddersfield Town to promotion to Division One in 1970.

'It wasn't very often, but I actually pulled off some of those tricks,' he says, 'although normally the lads would fall about laughing.'

On Sunday, Huddersfield meet City in the top flight for the first time since 1972, when midfielder Chapman played in a 1-0 defeat at Maine Road.

'Chappy' earned just £60 a week when he helped Huddersfield Town to promotion in 1970

Chappy, pictured at Fulham's Craven Cottage, played for Oldham Athletic from 1974 to 1978

'Forty-five years? Bloody hell, all I remember is there wasn't a blade of grass other than the corner flags,' he says. 'It might be more than 1-0 this time… this City team are the best I've ever seen. They are a different level. Pep Guardiola is top class.'

Chapman's opinion of former City boss Roberto Mancini is not so complimentary. 'We won the Premier League and FA Cup and he is a legend to the fans, I understand that,' he begins.

'But he was too confrontational. He was irrational. I saw him fall out with Joe Hart, Joleon Lescott, Samir Nasri, Edin Dzeko, Vincent Kompany, Carlos Tevez… when Manuel Pellegrini came in it was the opposite, he actually spoke to you and shook your hand.'

Tevez, infamously, went AWOL after a fallout with Mancini when the manager accused him of refusing to come on as substitute at Bayern Munich in October, 2011. He only returned to the club four months later.

Balotelli is a huge fan of the popular Chappy and was overjoyed to see him in Nice

'Why he had a go at Tevez, I don't know,' says Chapman, who lists the Argentine and Silva as the best players he worked with.

'Munich wasn't his fault. He never refused to go on the pitch. He refused to warm up because he'd already done so. Mancini said he'd never play again but was ordered to bring him back... because he was so good.'

There is talk the pair had to be separated in the dressing-room at half-time during one game. Chapman, when asked who would win, smiles and says: 'Tevez would have killed him'.

Balotelli was another with whom Mancini regularly clashed. Chapman, though, prefers to remember happier times with the Italian striker, who he visited recently at his current club Nice.

Can you spot Chapman in a City team photo at the old Maine Road? He's first left on middle row

It was Chapman who printed the 'Why Always Me?' T-shirt which Balotelli flashed after scoring the opening goal in the 6-1 victory at Manchester United, and he says: 'He was a complete one-off, the most unpredictable man on the planet. When he got sent off at Arsenal he threw his boot through the plasma TV in the dressing-room!

'But he was bright, he wasn't stupid, and he was very generous. He would go into a garage and pay for everyone's petrol or give a homeless guy a wad of cash.

'Then he used to wonder why his car was impounded 27 times… because it was painted in camouflage and he parked it on double yellows outside San Carlo restaurant in the middle of Manchester every day. I opened his locker after he left and all his parking tickets just fell out!'

If Balotelli was a nuisance for managers, it was goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel who proved a bother for kit men.

He says Peter Schmeichel was 'fussy', adding on matchdays the keeper was a monster

'He was fussy,' reveals Chapman. 'He was a great lad during the week but on matchday he was a monster.

'He'd arrive at the ground and give me his gloves and I had to hide them where no-one could see them or touch them. I then had to produce them at the right time, just before he went out. He also had to have a different kit for the warm-up, first half and second half — we went through 92 in one season!'

Any other superstitious characters?

'Gael Clichy always wore a glove for the handshakes and then took it off,' he says, 'and Sergio Aguero had to be last off the coach and last onto the pitch.'

Chappy admits former City boss Roberto Mancini is a legend but says he was confrontational 

What about unusual requests?

'Antoine Sibierski asked me to dress up as Santa Claus,' says Chapman, a father of two whose daughter, Tiffany, starred as Rachel Jordache in Brookside for 10 years.

'I knocked on his door, said 'Bon Noel' to the kids and for half an hour I was French Santa. I'd driven 25 miles in that costume, imagine if I'd broken down…'

Chapman winces at another memory.

'Ben Thatcher used to say, "Right lads, tenner a man, let's get Chappy to drink this",' he recalls. 'It was never poisonous, but always hideous — fish paste, gravy and prawns all in one glass.

Gael Clichy always wore a glove for the handshakes then took them off before the match

'The worst was snorting ground pepper. My head went numb and I lost the use of my left leg for 30 seconds. And as for the bottle of Tabasco sauce… it was like drinking the inside of a volcano.'

Those days of dressing-room high jinks ended when Chapman took semi-retirement in 2014 and today he works for the club's media department, where videos such as him boxing with Aleksandar Kolarov have become Internet virals.

The free time also allows him to meet up with former Huddersfield team-mates like Frank Worthington, who is battling Alzheimer's Disease.

'Frank could have played today, he was years ahead of his time style wise. He could have done those Brazilian tricks!' says Chapman, who was best man to the maverick forward.

Chappy also reveals superstitious Sergio Aguero was last off the coach and last onto the pitch

'I met Frank and his daughter for a coffee recently. Frank is obsessed with Elvis Presley, he's been to Graceland. He used to model himself on Elvis.

'There was a guy on accordion and I asked him to play Wooden Heart. I said, "Frank, come on, let's go over".

'We went over and Frank sang along in the street, he knew every word. It was so nice to see. Happy times.'

It would seem Chapman has never been anything but, perhaps that is why the likes of Balotelli are always so excited to see him.       

Chappy met up with pal Frank Worthington (left) who's bravely battling Alzheimer's Disease