Quality of the trio up front will produce goals today

 

I was so excited about going to the Chelsea game last Saturday morning. I didn’t have the mind to write any pre-match posts. I couldn’t concentrate. Originally I wasn’t going to the game as I had to run a Duathlon in the morning (9km run, 20km bike, 5km run). As soon as Shaun Wright-Phillips signed I booked my travel and asked for my season ticket back. Duathlon or no Duathlon, I had to see Shauny coming back to City. Little did I know at that point that Robinho would be pulling on a City shirt as well.

I set off for the Chelsea game with lots of thoughts in my mind about the key points playing on fans’ minds over the last few weeks. I kept arriving back at similar conclusions to the effect that what has happened to City is overwhelmingly positive. Not just for City and its’ fans. But also for Manchester, for the competitiveness of the Premiership, and for UK plc in general, at a time when most other news is negative.

It’s very early days of course. But a couple of the key points as they relate to City. I hasten to add that some of these concerns or thoughts came from the media as well as individual fans, but most will look familiar.

“I’m concerned / worried that City fans may lose their famous reputation for having the best sense of humour [in the league, Europe, world, take your pick!]”

It was perhaps not surprising that some quarters of the (high and mighty) press reported the early sightings of City fans in made-up Arab clothing as “tasteless.” It was completely missing the point of course. It was the first inkling that our famous sense of humour was about to go into overdrive! Fast forward a week or two to the game. Hundreds of fans turning up with headdress and in some cases attempts at the entire Gulf Arab outfit, it was fantastic. It really contributed to the carnival atmosphere. Hopefully it was taken the right way in Abu Dhabi as well.

“We’re going to be invaded by glory-hunting fans and this will spoil the fabric of the club.”

Whereas I could only see upside from the mass of extra supply for the average City fan’s sense of humour, the concern around a potential glory-hunting invasion did seem valid. But only in the long-term.

I’ve witnessed first hand what happened to Chelsea. I have a couple of mates who are still Chelsea season ticket holders in spite of spitting teeth each week at the West Stand. I’ve sat in the West Upper at Stamford Bridge a couple of times over the last couple of seasons and it has always struck me how few people are actually watching the game.

There is, however, a big difference with City and this was a simple but absolutely correct point made on MCIVTA. We only have a few seats spare for glory hunters! So until we expand the stadium we should be safe.

“We don’t want Ronaldo, or any United players, and stop the boasting.”

I think the hysteria around possible transfers has been well and truly put to an end. Dr Al-Fahim bucks an entrenched Gulf Arab trait that tends to frown upon boasting. But it didn’t take long for behind-the-scenes action to put a stop to the wild talk. In so doing it killed any notion that Mark Hughes is not in charge. I originally sensed that there was MH’s transfers and then the managing board’s transfers of superstars. But it would appear that MH has managed to get control of this by saying yes to superstars but only if they’re the ones we want and need.

As for buying Ronaldo (of the diving Cristiano variety), I’m surprised that only 633 signatures have been made on the petition against signing him so far. Here is the link to the petition. The other Ronaldo has surely eaten too many pies to join us now.

“It’s too good to be true, they [ADUG] are only in it for the short-term.”

I mentioned this in my last blog post and wanted to mention it again. In years to come I may live to eat my words, but I strongly believe ADUG are in this project for the long-haul. City has landed on its’ feet and right now we may not even see how lucky we are.

Most investors in clubs to date have been either companies or individuals. Companies are often short-term in their outlook. They have shareholders to worry about. If quarterly returns don’t stack up they want out. Wealthy individuals are a mixed bag in football. They either lose a fortune investing in players and paying off debt (Ashley and Newcastle), or they maintain a very high level of debt (Glazers and United), or they run a tight shop but don’t invest as much as the fans want. The last category can be divided again with Villa being a classic example. Randy Lerner seems to be a hybrid. He’s investing wisely.

But City has a completely different type of investor. An Emirate that is investing in businesses to secure the long-term financial and social future of its’ people. An investor that has a reputation of respect to maintain. An investor that I predict will come to love City as much as we do and will seek to maintain the club’s culture. Dr Al-Fahim is just the spokesperson. The ruling family behind the investment vehicle are looking to the future beyond oil. They have more than 10% of the world’s oil reserves, so that’s a long time into the future.

In terms of considering how lucky we are, look no further than Mike Ashley. If reports are to be believed, ADUG were knocking on his door but he wouldn’t give up his majority stake. What a fool he must feel now and how wise Thaksin was to wind up and step aside.

The timing of the deal is also significant given the rapidly-changing economic climate. That was the other thing that struck me about the Chelsea game. It mirrored so many of the contrasts that we see going on in the world now. We witnessed the “Clash of the Cash” while the “Debt-ridden Derby” was going on down the road. The euphoria at 'Middle Eastlands' (even after the final whistle!) was in stark contrast to the constant bad news emerging in the global economy.

Oh and quick aside, what about the pratt that flew the plane around the top of the stadium with a big United shirt flying out the back of it for most of the first half?! Firstly, no one could read what was written on the shirt. But most significantly, deep down I felt a real sense of tide-turning. The plane buzzing around for so long felt like desperation. I couldn’t help but think that we may look back on that game with the plane flying around and remember it as the turning point up for City, and possibly the turning point down for United. After those wonderful feelings all that was left to discuss with my nearest season ticket neighbours was how much cash he was putting into our owner’s coffers by burning all of the oil required to fly his plane!

Oil brings me back to the economics. I believe we are headed for a deep global recession. As each day passes the economic situation worsens. Normally all of this bad news is a sign to buy. Not this time. Oil may retreat to around $60-70 as global demand falls. This will impact our owner’s finances somewhat. But the reserves of our owner will see us through as no other football club owner can. Football must suffer from the downturn. Companies will no longer sponsor in such large size. Individual investors will feel the pinch. The global surpluses of oil- and mineral-rich, and export-driven, nations will unwind. Global liquidity in general will contract. My conclusion, in stark contrast to my last blog post, and coming back to the fortuitous timing of this deal, is that we may well have captured the first and last of the most attractive type of football club investor for some time. All potential new investors now have much bigger fish to fry.

Back to on-pitch matters. I expected to lose to Chelsea. It was written in the script. I’m not sure I agree with some who said that it was good to have the bubble burst and be brought down to earth. No way! Imagine the atmosphere if we’d won it ! But I take the point because at least it settles the media down a bit.

I felt just as happy after the game as I did before it though. There were enough positives on the pitch to see the potential of the team. If anything I was most struck by Chelsea in the second half. As in some of their earlier games in the season, they took control of the game and looked genuine Premiership contenders. With United losing at Liverpool, we can turn a blind eye to the odd defeat to Chelsea.

The South American private jet posse all looked a little jaded. No player more so than Pablo Zabaleta. I felt better when I heard Tim Sherwood say the other night that Corluka looked like a dodgy buy at £8.5 million. Corluka looks like he has a bit of settling in to do at Spurs. I only remember one passage of play with Zabaleta in it during the Olympics and it was him missing a high ball challenge in the air by a mile, which then led to Argentina conceding a goal. His performance in mid-week against AC Omonia was a big improvement.

We miss Johnson and especially Petrov. Great news to hear that Michael Johnson has signed a new 5 year deal. The big-time Charlie concerns will hopefully become a thing of the past with the threat of competition in the air.

City go into today’s Portsmouth game bouyed by their performance against AC Omonia on Thursday evening. The team showed real signs of coming together. Jo getting on the score sheet was so important. To have an end product at the end of all of the neat passages of play is what we need.

And what about Robinho. He was everywhere. Always looking for space, always shouting for the ball, covering back, looking passionate, neat touches, gave the ball away a bit but who cares. He’s brilliant.

You can follow the team’s UEFA Cup progress on our new The Road to Istanbul page. It is only available to view to members, but joining is free. We also have a new Members Benefits page that shows the additional pages that you can view as a member. It would be great to have you join the MCFCfans community and to hear your feedback.

Most pundits have us down for a draw today. It’s the obvious call but I think it’s too obvious. I think it over-rates Portsmouth and under-rates City. Portsmouth will no doubt use the fact that they haven’t won on City turf since 1963 (old second division) as an incentive to get a result. But my view is that City will develop on Thursday’s performance by showing more confidence on the ball and attacking with quality that continues to grow into more goals. Prediction 2-1 to City although we're bound to make it hard for ourselves at some stage at least.

A nice timely text has been delivered by the club just before kick-off, "MCFC can confirm that the purchase of the Club by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al Nahyan and his group has been finalised, and will be completed on Tuesday." Happy days.

MCFCfans

P.S. We’re going to be doing a feature on the controversial SeatExchange, so please reply with your views and experiences of this internet provider.