The legendary James are back with sparkling new album La Petite Mort, so we caught up with bassist and founder member Jim Glennie for a natter about his beloved Manchester City.

Born in Moss side in the shadow of Maine Road, Jim could never be anything but a City fan – and, with Manuel Pellegrini winning the Premier League title and League Cup in his first season, what a time to be one.

What a time too to be a James fan, for Monday sees them release such gorgeous new material as this…

After all the birthday nonsense, Yaya Touré says he wants assurances of a “job for life”. Should he get one?

He’s obviously a great player – when he gets the ball he looks like a 20-year-old playing with 12-year-olds – but fans find all this gamesmanship behind the scenes annoying and disrespectful.

It’s usually agents trying to get wages up, and it’s stupid the way it all came out publically. Job for life? He’s got a few more years of convincing people now!

Pellegrini had quite the debut season. Are you convinced he’s the right man going forward?

I think so. He’s brought a calmness to a team not used to winning things – it wasn’t in its DNA, so you don’t want a manager who loses the plot when things aren’t going well.

The way they won those last four games was impressive. Historically City would have made a right mess of it, but Pellegrini’s been there, seen it and can help contain that knee-jerk City panic!

Which areas of the squad would you like to see strengthened?

People are saying we need a partner for Kompany, but we shouldn’t forget how good Nastasić was looking before his injury.

It depends who goes – if Džeko goes then we’ll need someone else up top, what with Agüero always getting injured, Negredo’s inconsistency and the fact that Jovetić hasn’t yet convinced.

I don’t blame any of them for wanting to play regularly. Džeko for example hasn’t always been first choice but he’s consistently scored goals when he’s been in.

Do you remember the first game you ever went to?

I don’t, but I lived down the road from the ground and they used to open the exits at half-time to let people in for nothing.

My mates and I used to go to the same place in the Kippax for the second half of every home game. I’m an expert on second halfs!

What’s the best second half you’ve ever seen from City? The 4-3 FA Cup win at Spurs springs immediately to mind, albeit that was both away from home and relatively recently.

QPR was the best and worst second half! I’ve never been through such a range of emotions in the space of just a few minutes. I know I’ll never experience anything like that again, in football or otherwise.

We had a big night planned to celebrate but we were so shattered we just went back home and watched Match of the Day.

Will you be supporting England at the World Cup? How do you think they’ll get on?

Yes. My father is Scottish and I live in Scotland now but I’m a Mancunian through and through. As with every World Cup we’re getting our hopes up but we’ve got a difficult group. Get out of it and who knows? Not looking too promising though.

If we can get the young players playing, some kind of attempt at excitement and an investment in future – that’s what the fans are looking for. Rather than dragging out old guard and going down in an explosion of disappointment. Just stick some young players in and try to play good football!

Finally, if you had to pick a five-a-side team from all the City players you’ve seen in your time as a fan, who would you go for?

Bert Trautmann, Dave Watson, Colin Bell, Georgi Kinkladze and Sergio Agüero.

James’s new album La Petite Mort is out now. For more information, visit James on Shoot Matchday.