Few parents in world football have experienced a more colourful life than Claire Rowlands, the supportive mother-of-five who made ‘everything possible’ for one of the Premier League’s best talents in Manchester City – star Phil Foden.

From having rows with neighbours over her ‘Disneyland-style’ fireworks display to getting kicked out of a Welsh nightclub for flicking off a man’s hat, she has regularly found herself in the public eye — but within her family she is the nurturing pillar of strength for Foden and his four siblings Callum, Kenzi, Lois and Avayah.

Rowlands, 44, disgracefully became the subject of vile chants from Manchester United fans during Sunday’s limp 0-0 stalemate at Old Trafford, as Foden was targeted by sections of the home support who abhorrently labelled her a ‘s**g’ before his substitution in the 58th minute.

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola urged after the match that Red Devils fans should be ‘ashamed’ of themselves for showing a ‘lack of class’, acknowledging the crucial role Rowlands has played in raising and nurturing one of the club’s best players.

Foden, meanwhile, simply posted a three-word response to social media in the aftermath of the derby, which read on Instagram: ‘We keep going’. 

He did, however, dismiss the group of supporters who were chanting shamefully during match with a series of sarcastic gestures — first, an ironic round of applause before giving them a thumbs up, clearly disgusted by the taunts from the stands.

Claire Rowlands, 44, is the mum who ‘made everything possible’ for Man City’s Phil Foden

The City star was targeted with vile chants from Man United fans labelling his mother a ‘s**g’ 

Foden reacted to Man United fans after they targeted him with abusive chants on Sunday

While it is true Foden has struggled to replicate the sensational form he showed over the last few seasons at the Etihad, having won PFA Players’ Player of the Year last campaign en route to Manchester City’s fourth successive Premier League title, few stars are better on their day.

Towards the end 2017, just a year after Foden had broken on to the scene as a teenager at City, the young midfielder thanked his mother Claire and Manchester United-supporting father Phil Foden Sr. for the support they gave him during his journey into football.

‘Family,’ the touching message on Instagram read. ‘Thank you to my mum and dad who have made all this possible.’

Separating the intensity of football with quiet family time is of great importance to Foden, who likes to unwind with unusual hobbies such as fishing and sticker collecting.

From her interview with the Telegraph four years ago, it is clear Rowlands understands her son’s desire to get away from it all — which only makes Sunday’s chants at Old Trafford all the more difficult to stomach.

‘I think it’s great for a footballer to unwind from all the stresses,’ Rowlands said. ‘I don’t really get (fishing) myself but Phil and his dad love it. Once he gets his rod out there’s no going back.’

‘Me and his dad FaceTimed him when he was away with England last month and he’s sat there in his room doing his sticker books,’ she added. 

‘I think he’s got about four on the go. Panini, Match Attax. It’s hysterical. It’s a good thing, don’t get me wrong, but that’s how obsessed he is about football.’ 

The footballer thanked mum Rowlands (centre, right) and his dad Phil Foden Snr (centre, left) in a touching social media message in 2017 – after his breakout year at Man City as a teenager

Foden with Rowlands (right) and partner Rebecca Cooke (in red) at the 2022 World Cup

The reigning PFA Players’ Player of the Year celebrates winning a fourth successive title for Manchester City with his family (Rowlands pictured far left with Cooke alongside her)

Now a parent himself to three children including social media star Ronnie and daughter True, whom he shares with long-term girlfriend Rebecca Cooke, family-man Foden has opened up on what it’s like being a father.

‘I love being a parent,’ he told GQ  last month. ‘When things are not going well, if you’ve not won, you don’t think you’ve played well, it helps to go home to your kids – just to see them smiling and joking definitely helps me.

‘It makes you feel like there’s more to life than football.’

While Foden has tried to enjoy a quiet life away from the football pitch with family over the years, Rowlands has been no stranger to colourful moments in the public eye.

In January 2024, footage was released of Rowlands being put in handcuffs and thrown out of a Welsh nightclub after knocking a hat from a fellow partygoer’s head.

The incident, which occurred at a Bentley’s nightclub in Towyn, Wales, took place on September 9 2023, just hours after Foden came off the bench to play for England in a Euro 2024 qualifier. 

The 52-second clip, shown in court, showed Rowlands aggressively confronting police officers who were called to the scene.

Challenging the officers, she said: ‘Go on then, what’ve I done? Don’t come into my face unless you’ve got evidence.’

Away from football, Foden enjoys fishing and sticker book collecting according to his mother

Rowlands in a still from the video that was played in court after being kicked out of a nightclub

She was removed from the bar after showing off her ‘party trick’ of flicking a man’s hat off

Rowlands was cleared of assault and but fined for her behaviour after she admitted to police: ‘I do not drink often but when I do, I make up for time. I am like an animal.’ 

The footballer’s mum had been enjoying a night out with friends and ended up downing shots of vodka and tequila before showing off her ‘party trick’ of flicking a man’s hat off, Llandudno magistrates’ court was told.

The night started when she had been invited to a caravan with two of her friends as respite from caring for her youngest son, who is disabled and requires 24-hour care.

She told the court: ‘The plan was just to go out, have a laugh, let our hair down and enjoy ourselves. We went to the caravan, had a few cans, washed our hair and got all dressed up.’

The group went to a bar on the caravan site, and ‘had some fun, doing some karaoke and getting all the old people dancing to Motown’.

The group later went to Sunny’s in town – followed by neighbouring nightclub Bentley’s – where Rowlands said she drank shots of tequila and vodka before she was asked to leave by bouncers who accused her of assaulting someone.

Magistrates were shown CCTV footage from the club which showed Rowlands knocking a baseball cap off Paul Shortman’s head and then trying to put it back on him. 

Rowlands told the court she was just having a ‘bit of fun’ and did not intend to hurt the man when she tried to put his cap back on. 

‘How did I get here?’: Foden last month shared a picture to Instagram of him as a boy (left)

The City star pictured with Cooke and his social media star son Ronnie at the 2024 PFA Awards

She said: ‘I was drunk. It was just a bit of fun, a bit of ­banter. I just could not believe it, that I could get into trouble for knocking someone’s cap off. It’s my party trick, knocking someone’s cap off and putting it back on.

‘I did not mean him any harm or to hurt him and you can see that on the video. It was just a bit of banter which has been taken the wrong way.’

Two years prior, Rowlands was attacked at a boxing match between Kell Brook and Amir Khan, in an incident described as ‘shocking and appalling’ by Manchester City.

Social media footage showed an assailant punching Foden’s mother backstage after the City star had been harassed and verbally abused in a corridor at Manchester’s AO Arena. 

Foden was subjected to a string of obscenities, including a homophobic slur, and was led back to the family’s private lounge.

The incident escalated, leading to Rowlands being shockingly hit in the face. Another member of Foden’s group later picked up a fire extinguisher as they attempted to defend the player. 

In November last year, as exclusively revealed by Mail Sport, Rowlands upset neighbours with a ‘deafening two-hour fireworks party’ in the back garden of her house in leafy Cheshire. 

Residents in the upmarket lane in Prestbury had to calm terrified pets and infants when the ‘display-standard’ pyrotechnics began and claimed they were given no warning by of the event which lasted from 6pm until 8.30pm on the night.

Another celebratory picture of loved-ones posted by family-man Foden on social media

Rowlands, who lives in this £3.5million property in upmarket Prestbury, Cheshire, irritated neighbours in November after staging a two-hour ‘Disneyland-style’ fireworks display

One of the neighbours, who lives close by, said: ‘It must have cost thousands.

‘They wouldn’t have looked out of place at the New Year’s Eve celebrations at the Sydney Harbour Bridge or at Disneyland!

‘Not that the neighbours were impressed. Most were concerned about their pets.’