In the past two and a bit years I’ve tried numerous times to quantify the Sheikh’s reasoning in purchasing Manchester City. A snippet of my ideas range from:
The Good Old Days:
The good boy from the UAE was just about old enough to appreciate City in their hay day. He was hooked at an early age by the grace of Bell and the elegancy of Summerbee and has never been able to let go. This is obviously flawed on so many levels but it’s the one I want to be most true.
The Promise of Manchester:
HRH is a philanthropist to the greatest degree. His idea of Manchester City is more than the football club but as a means to fully ride the wave of the next phase of human societal revolution from the very same city that has already provided two in the last two centuries. He’s obviously edging his bets we’re going to be centre stage for a third…
The Blueprint…:
See what I did there? Never mind. Unfortunately I think it is driven by what that other team have achieved. Not just on the pitch but off it too. I think there’s a certain realisation that to best the industries top dogs you need to be based close to them. The reasoning is simple. When they vanish from the market place you’re there, already in roughly the same geographical area and in prime position to pick up from where they flailed, failed and faltered.
I hope the reasoning is more sentimental. I wish our leader saw the opportunity for a perennial underdog to finally be set loose, to be unleashed and to battle on a level footing with the more sinister villain of the piece. I wish.
Digression
It’s an unsolvable conundrum and, happily, really doesn’t matter. The man is here and for the foreseeable future has done enough to ease the nagging doubts as to exactly how long he’s going to be here. I am happy. My fellow blues are happy. Hopefully the top dog is happy.
Give it to Gordon!
Carlos Tevez is a world class footballer. His goal ratio is world class. His technique is world class. His work-rate is world class. Unfortunately, despite being the most gifted player I’ve seen wear the sky blue of my city, he can also be the most frustrating player to watch.
Carlitos has dragged this club through more games than I’d care to mention, and more than I want to remember. He has the ability to make something happen out of nothing. To beat 3 defenders with an exquisite piece of skill or to simply bulldoze his way through them with that abnormally low centre of gravity he has. Only to then place the ball into row z of the 2nd tier of the family stand when a better ball was on.
Perhaps I’m being greedy I’ll readily admit I’m being unfair. I’ve not done anywhere near enough analysis to vindicate or validate this opinion fully. Perhaps I’m remember occasions where we’re two or more to the good and had the score been closer the little Argentinean hitman would have played the simple square ball.
There’s obviously some nagging doubt at the back of my mind that’s called on me to put these thoughts down to words. As it stands, this haphazard opinion is Tevez can do less for Tevez and more for the team. Let’s see what happens during the Villa game.
Dunne and Dusted
Richard Patrick Dunne. The Dunney Monster. Dunney. FFS Own Goal.
My favourite City player of teams gone by. He scored against us last season. I fear he’ll score against us again this season should he play. Kompany and Dunne. Dunne and Kompany. It should have been. Hopefully Dunne will not feature for two very different reasons:
i) He’ll score and subsequently put in a man of the match performance that stifles every attack we launch and Villa inevitably win.
OR
ii) He’ll play like a player does when they’ve had their confidence amputated in such a way that only Houllier can. He’ll fall down in my estimations faster than Stephen ‘Superman’ Ireland did and I’ll lose respect for a player that was once my hero.
Ireland was Superman
I toyed with the idea of just putting ‘will not play’. However, please see the section labelled ‘Typical City’ in my previous post. If he’s ever going to have a game that reignites his career, it will come against us. I sincerely hope the young man resolves whatever issues has caused his oh-so-quick fall from grace as he’s an insanely talented footballer and a top athlete to boot. It’s just a pitty he’s a bit of a loon. Now how true this is I don’t know, but I’ve heard; from more than one source that a selection of his nicknames are mongo (plausibly affectionate), crunchy (as in nut) and lastly Dougal. (For you Father Ted fans.)
Sort it out Steve and get back to being the footballer we all know you can be. But have a rest this weekend mate and start the master plan and resurrection from next weekend. Cheers.
Gerard Houllier
Even though I’ve got this awesome veil of anonymity I’m not going to pretend to have knowledge or ideas above my station. I do not have the experience of managing a top flight club… yet. However I’m 100% super confident I could do it better than this man. There’s very few managers that I don’t like. Houllier is #2 on that list. He’s a fraud. A pretender. He’s achieved success through shear blind luck and by wasting more money in the transfer market than Souness. (#1 in the list). Yes he’s won trophies at both Lyon and Liverpool, I’ll counter that and say Souness could have won trophies at both of these clubs if given the same financial backing.
I like Villa, despite the antics and treatment of both Barry and Milner I really don’t mind them. They were good to watch in the mid 90s and are premiership ever presents. They’ll do down this season though if this man is allowed to remain in charge until May.
Darren Bent
Will score.
I think we're going to see a score draw in this one folks. My money's on 2-2.
Until next time.
JB
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