Semenyo was spotted by Dave Hockaday, the former Forest Green Manager who went to Leeds. It was then Mark Ashton who was reluctant to bring him to City.
Hockaday, the former Leeds United manager who now works as Head of Football at the South Gloucestershire and Stroud College (SGS), spotted Semenyo's talent when nobody else believed in him. Even Semenyo had lost some belief in himself that his promising football career was slowly falling by the wayside - his unique talent going to waste.
"(Ex-City CEO) Mark Ashton had heard through the grapevine that I had a player and I'd worked with Mark as first-team coach at Watford. So he basically made the decision that Antoine wasn't to leave the building without signing for City because every pro team that we played wanted to sign him.