Uwe Rosler's father, a man of clearly impeccable taste, named his son after Germany's inspirational striker and captain Uwe Seeler. With the usual ingratitude of youth, young Rosler grew up wondering why his dad had not considered naming him Kevin, after his own first hero, Kevin Keegan.
Though he is also an admirer of fellow German players Rudi Voller and Juergen Klinsmann, the most inspirational heroes are always those far removed from one's own lifestyle, people you are absolutely certain you will never meet. As a boy growing up in Communist East Germany, there was no more chance of Rosler being allowed to travel over the border to see Keegan in his Hamburg days than there was when he was leader of the Toon Army.
"Then," says Rosler, "the Wall came down and I found myself playing for Manchester City against Keegan's Newcastle. I have to say that was unbelievable for me. Coming to Manchester itself was an amazing thing."
When he arrived from Dynamo Dresden in February, 1994, it was as a temporary doppelganger for Niall Quinn, who had suffered a knee injury, leaving City short of a big striker for the remainder of their perennial fight against relegation.
After five goals in 12 games, City and Rosler decided they liked each other and he signed for £350,000. During the stormy four years since, Rosler has kept his balance and rhythm as majestically as the band leader on the deck of the Titanic while the waters threatened to close over his head. As City have descended through mere disaster to farce and finally, black comedy, he has been top scorer in each of his three full seasons.
He has played only seven times this season after damaging ankle ligaments in a closed-doors match against out-of-contract Italian players, which many will say is pure City, though he will be his team's main hope of scoring the goal to cause an upset in Saturday's FA Cup fourth-round tie against fragile travellers West Ham.
But just as a young man in East Germany could not imagine the Wall coming down, so as a young professional footballer, Rosler could not envisage the fall of another seemingly permanent barrier - the transfer system.
Bosman threatens to be the cause of more broken relationships than Robin Cook as players decide that loyalty to a club is not as remunerative as loyalty to one's bank manager. So unless City agree to the improved new terms drawn up by Rosler and his agent, he will be moving on when his contract expires this summer.
He says: "Nothing is ever certain, but at the moment, it looks as though I will be going. Always, I accepted the terms Manchester City offered me, but I am not 24 anymore, I am 29. And maybe this is the last big contract that I will sign."
Rosler has clearly taken to capitalism as quickly as he took to English football and the English language, having arrived speaking not a word of it and knowing only that Manchester had two big clubs. One presumes his agent knew which one he was joining.
He swiftly learned English at night school when he realised that every word taught to him by his seemingly helpful team mates was a swear word. Yet he felt that even the practical jokes carried a warmth about them. He says: "I can honestly say that I never felt lonely and that's the greatest compliment I can pay the club. The manager Brian Horton was great to me and I was always invited out by people". He was equally delighted by the help of Steve McMahon, whom he was not surprised to see making such an impressive managerial start at Swindon.
After playing under six managers in four years, Rosler insists that the club just needs a period of stability, a concept which seems totally outside City's comprehension. Alan Ball was the only manager he fell out with and it says a lot for Rosler that after relegation from the Premiership in 1996 and the news that Ball was staying, he still decided to play on.
Relegation, he says, "was a feeling like I have never experienced before. But this if football, you are not always on the sunny side. As well as all the managers here, 25 players have left since I came here, and 25 more come in. I think Frank Clark is a good man, and a gentleman and I believe he can put things right. At the end of last season under him, we lost only two of the last 17 games, although I think this job is going to take a little longer than he thought."
Rosler says the whole team have found the physical side of the Nationwide League difficult to cope with, which is why he is happy that West Ham, against whom he scored in 1994-95, are Saturday's opponents. "At home, I believe we have a serious chance. I would rather play a Premiership team at home than travel to a second or third division ground."
He uses the word home in more than just a football sense. After four years, he says: "I think of Manchester as my second home." He will be sad if he is forced to leave the club and the house he shares with his Norwegian wife and four-week-old son, but in this changing world, he understands that four small walls are no more permanent than one large one.
