As the excitement surrounding City’s new ownership reaches dizzy heights, today MCFCfans launches a new page called, “Middle Eastlands.” A page for MCFCfans members to keep up with the latest news sourced from Abu Dhabi about City and our new owners. The page has all of the latest articles, relevent news feeds, links and we've even dug out the best of the latest video interviews.

In tandem with the page launch, we attempt to provide guidance on some of the noise flying around on talk shows, message boards, and in the press.

David Pleat on BBC 5 Live: “The deal was done so quickly, how do we know they are a ‘fit and proper person’?”

A fair question when considering an individual but the club has been purchased by The Abu Dhabi United Group, an investment vehicle. The Group is a private equity group fronted by Dr. Sulaiman Al Fahim, CEO of Hydra Properties. Hydra Properties is a subsidiary of Royal Group, which belongs to the ruling family in Abu Dhabi. This is somewhat incidental as the Group is effectively backed by the ruling party in Abu Dhabi. Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan is seen as the main player behind ADUG. He is a member of the royal family of Abu Dhabi. They control over 10% of the world’s oil reserves (90% of the oil reserves of the United Arab Emirates).

How do we know they will stick around for the long-term?

The culture of Arab investment in general is to forge long-term relationships. A good example of this is Arab investment in horse racing around the world. Companies and businesses are often seen as personal possessions rather than separate entities. It is unlikely that short to medium-term returns will be seen as a top priority over club success, pride, and global profile.

Why have they invested in Manchester City?

The key reasons are to: increase the profile of the U.A.E. and Abu Dhabi around the world; develop sport and football in Abu Dhabi by having a direct interest in a Premiership club; and quite possibly to upstage their rival family in Dubai. But this isn’t just being done on a whim. Abu Dhabi has been developing its’ involvement in sport through European Tour golf, Formula One, the World Rally Championship and more. No sporting portfolio is complete without Premiership football. But why City? Well Newcastle quoted a £400m price tag (is deal failure with ADUG any connection to the current Keegan affair by any chance?) and Arsenal was apparently too complicated. But I prefer Amanda Staveley’s quote today, “Manchester City sells itself.”

Who is Amanda Staveley?

She works for PCP Capital Partners and was hired by Thaksin Shinawatra to broker a deal to sell the club. She is better known for her ongoing involvement in trying to tie up the Dubia Investment Corporation with Liverpool. She is a former Businesswoman of the year and apparently dated the Duke of York. She's not bad looking either. Amanda is a mere 35 years old and you can bet that her pockets have become somewhat deeper having completed this deal.

Does Abu Dhabi in general have any other outside footballing interests?

Yes, via Hydra Properties. Dr Sulaiman Al Fahim, the public face of ANUG, is the CEO of Hydra Properties in Abu Dhabi. Hydra Properties and the Abu Dhabi Sports Council signed an agreement with Italian football club Inter Milan earlier this year to build the Inter Milan football academy in Abu Dhabi. Dr Al Fahim is quoted as saying, “Sport, whether it be football or something else, is something that is friendly and brings countries together."

Are there more potential investors that might invest in Premiership clubs?

Yes, this might be the tip of a very big iceberg. ADUG is a private investment vehicle, even though it is thought to have the backing of some in the ruling royal family. However, there are well over 20 sovereign wealth funds (SWF) around the world backed by governments. Not all are likely candidates to invest in a Premiership club by any means.

The next widely-tipped candidate to invest is the well-publicised potential investment by Dubai Investment Corporation (DIC is a SWF) in Liverpool. Commentators expect this investment to be speeded up following the ADUG’s investment in Manchester City. Amanda Staveley, who brokered the deal on behalf of Thaksin Shinawatra, was quoted as saying today that DIC were still interested in buying Liverpool. However, she also stated that several other gulf states were interested in buying City. Other possible candidates for investment in a Premiership club include Qatar, Kuwait, and Bahrain. But don’t rule out some of the Asian countries’ funds also considering investments in the long run.

How will the new owners treat the fans?

This may not be as worrying as it may seem on the surface. In the Arab world hospitality is seen as essential. It reflects the depth of a relationship and is a matter of pride and honour. The press in Abu Dhabi has made a point of highlighting the need for the new owners to be sensitive to City fans. “Manchester City is a club with a passionate local support base long resentful of their more glamorous – and successful – neighbours, Manchester United. So parading a Manchester City shirt with “Abu Dhabi United” inscribed upon it might not have been the best way to introduce themselves to the supporters,” worried The National in Abu Dhabi. But the cultural background and the objective of promoting Abu Dhabi globally will require ADUG to stay in with the fans, otherwise a reputation of respect and cultural understanding will suffer.

Where can I follow more news, information, and views about our new owners?

Become a member of MCFCfans and click on our new Middle Eastlands page. Here you can vote in our poll to give your reaction to the ADUG takeover, review related news, and post your views in the chat section.

Is there any article you can suggest that may help to put other concerns at rest?

Yes the article with the headline, “Abromovich will be a hard act to follow,” in The National in Abu Dhabi published last night quotes Falim saying some reasonable things about the fans, Mark Hughes, and transfer policy. The latest video interview with Al Fahim also appears on our Middle Eastlands page and mentions working with Mark Hughes.

What can I expect the atmosphere to be like at the Chelsea game?

Absolutely mental.

Should I be excited?

Yes, very!

Buy, buy, buy !!!

The first day of September, the first day of Ramadan, the last day of the 2008 transfer window, will go down in history as one of the days that Manchester City Football Club changed forever.

Firstly, I may need to eat a large slice of humble pie if Garry Cook was integral to today’s deal as I suspect he was. In the last blog post I jokingly suggested that Alistair Darling might be a better bet at the helm than Garry Cook. I never imagined in my wildest dreams that, on the same day, Sterling would plunge (Telegraph article) after Darling’s weekend interview and City would be purchased by very deep pockets indeed.

Manchester City has been purchased by The Abu Dhabi United Group [ADUG]. The news was broken by arabianBusiness.com (see article). It has been suggested that the vehicle was setup to purchase City. One suspects that BBC5 Live is more accurate in saying that both Newcastle and Arsenal were also considered. Otherwise why put “United” in the name! The picture of Dr. Sulaiman Al Fahim, the investment vehicle’s spokesman, with “Abu Dhabi United” imprinted on the back of a sky blue shirt was fairly amusing (see picture from same article).

Al Fahim claims that the vehicle is merely a collection of businessmen. However, it seems inevitable there will be links to the ruling family of Abu Dhabi. The Guardian is almost certainly on the right path by suggesting that the Abu Dhabi rulers have stolen a march on their Dubai neighbours, the Dubai Investment Corporation (DIC), which is trying to buy Liverpool. Al Fahim is CEO of Hydra Properties, which is a subsidiary of Royal Group, which belongs to a member of the ruling family.

City fans, players and directors past, have been calling in to what is essentially “City Night” on BBC 5 Live. The few lone voices expressing concern about foreign ownership seem so out-of-date, even though it's hard not to share some of their sentiments. How the world changes so fast. The western developed world is rapidly losing influence as a combination of huge global economic imbalances and sky high oil prices create huge sovereign wealth funds. These funds are mopping up banks, supermarkets, telecommunications companies, and now football clubs. They’ve got much more money than us, period.

A thank you must go to Frank for doing the decent thing and stepping aside. I’m not sure if it’s possible to tell whether or not he has made a profit yet. I saw a figure of £210m as being the purchase figure. How true that figure is, and how it might break down, may or may not transpire over the next few days. David Bernstein, commenting on BBC 5 Live tonight, suggested that at 40p a share City shareholders got a rough deal in selling to Thaksin. Valuing the club at £20m? They sure did. How they’ll wish they had waited.

A great question to Bernstein was whether he thought that the Abu Dhabi deal would have happened without Thaksin. He didn’t feel qualified to answer but made his thoughts about the relative quality of our new owners pretty clear. But we know now that ADUG were going to buy a club in any event. It could be argued that City became more attractive with Mark Hughes and some better players.

It doesn’t really matter now. The club has progressed significantly during the Thaksin era and is now looking as if it will move seamlessly to a much more credible investor. Bye-bye Thai politics, welcome fit-and-proper Abu Dhabi. The Premier League will be relieved.

This is an investor that makes every other Premiership owner look like small fry. Manchester City is now the powerhouse in English football. Just read that again. Manchester City is now the powerhouse in English football. No other club and no other owner can boast the finances of an oil-producing Emirate. At least not until the next club is purchased.

Berbatov seems set to join United. Mark Hughes, interviewed on BBC5 Live this evening still hadn’t spoken to him. Dennis Tueart said that Mark has got to sell the dream. He probably won’t get the chance. But positive vibes are emerging about Robinho as I write. Probably a better buy do we think? 3 years younger for the same price and not someone who was moaning on about United for months on end.

The new owners have backed Mark Hughes. There is consensus among fans that they must give Hughes time. A top 4 finish might be achievable now. But if we don’t quite make it, please don’t sack the manager! But the flurry of bids for players today suggests that Al Fahim doesn't want to hang about.

A pang inside me wishes we had won a cup last year to prove to the world that the current team was getting up there before the real cash arrived. Oh well that’s modern day Premiership football. Lets hope that the new owners keep the Academy as one of the best, and remember that the fans make the club what it is.

We’re in for a new and exciting era. Our time has come. CTID!

Manchester City’s inspired signing of Shaun Wright-Phillips has brought smiles to the faces of every City fan across the globe.  There’s a breeze sweeping over the City of Manchester stadium pitch, and it’s very sweet smelling indeed!

It has been a week to remember what with the Cook interview, the excellent display against West Ham, the predictable scrape against the Danes, the deterioration of the situation in Thailand, and the confident air of City’s advances in the transfer market.   

The West Ham game was telling for a number of reasons.  The signs of flowing football shown in the Aston Villa game, where the result didn’t do us justice, became absolute slick passing in the West Ham game.  Many have pointed out West Ham’s poor showing in the game.  But let’s not forget it was City that made West Ham look so poor (note West Ham’s 4-1 victory over Blackburn this afternoon, BBC report.)

We may wince at times because not everything is perfect. But there will be nothing more satisfying than beginning to see the media vultures, who seem so intent on doing City down at every turn, down their tools and button it for a while.  Alex Ferguson was quoted as saying, “I’ve heard some unbelievable stories,” in his beginning of season Daily Mail interview. Well that may well be the case.  But stuff ‘im. And stuff the the hacks.  The desperation to headline with the age-old, “Crisis at Maine Road,” is almost tangible.  (“Man City Cook up a recipe for disaster,” Mirror.co.uk, 30 August, 2008). 

I can’t remember the last time I received so many texts and e-mails following a City news event.  And yet the signing of SWP is just one very important piece in the jigsaw.  We needed a right winger badly.  Someone to rampage down the right and balance out Petrov. Add a bit of “welcome home hero” into the mix and we have ourselves a genuine feel-good factor.  The addition of Kompany and Jo are yet to be fully digested as well. 

Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.  There is a very different story going on in Thailand. (See our members’ only Thaksin Watch page for the latest).  September 17^th will see the court make their first decision.  The latest news is that the army has rejected the government’s call for a state of emergency as protests intensify.   

With a queue of potential investors looking for majority control, it remains to be seen whether the club’s former directors moved too quickly to sell the club.  The media vultures will be back again no doubt.  But on the pitch City seem set to ride on guided by the stewardship of Hughes.  Sparky seems to have spotted a long-term opportunity. One that is able, hopefully, to see out any issues ‘off the pitch’.  You can see the current MCFCfans members’ views on Thaksin’s ownership of City by looking at the poll on the Thaksin Watch page.

It is only fair to balance out the rampant on-pitch excitement with a reflection of MCFCfans members’ views over this man called, “Cook”.  Our man Scribbs calls him the “hand puppet!”  Where on earth did they find this guy?!  I’d sooner have Alistair Darling’s huge eyebrows at the helm than this fruit.  His only redeeming feature is that he appears to be utterly irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. It’s just a shame that he feels the need to spout more crap than an extremely concerned scooby-doo staring down the barrel of a gun. 

The ongoing debate over Richard Dunne is an interesting one.  I’d take it as a sign of a club on the up that fans are questioning his place in the side, let alone his captaincy.  It can only be a good thing if players are challenged to push harder.

One thing that Mark Hughes will be looking to address, starting at Sunderland tomorrow, is City’s potential for poor away form.  We need to take control of the game tomorrow against difficult opposition.  Two ex-United players will be looking to come out on top and it will be games like this that will define City’s season.   

So what’ll it be tomorrow?  Well my money is on a draw and a 1-1 score.  Boring I know.  Looking at Betfair it’s interesting that Sunderland are pretty clear favourites (home win 2.3 – 2.32, draw 3.35 – 3.4, City 3.65 – 3.75 as at 18h00, 30 August 2008.).  The screen shows about £4k of unmatched bets on Sunderland right now whereas City has sub-£1k hanging around.  Is it telling that the draw has over £10k waiting for a home?  The correct score 1-1 shows 7.2 – 7.4.  Hmm, a bit short so others are obviously thinking the same thing.  I hope I’m proved wrong with a stylish display.

Keep smiling, he really is back! 

MCFCfans

Lets open the league account at home

Manchester City go into Sunday’s opening home game of the season with the benefit of putting a tough away game behind them. There were enough signs of positive play against Villa to suggest that chances will be created at home. We’ve also got the media writing us off, which is always a boost.

The lack of attacking options up front certainly presents a challenge. Bojinov, Jo, Vassell and Benjani are all unavailable. But at home, with enough fire and determination elsewhere, this could motivate others to get on the score sheet.

A big bonjour and bienvenue to Vincent Kompany (see video on home page) from Uccle in Belgium. Thinking of Uccle brings back fond memories as my mother used to live there. Many a night was spent with mates in Uccle’s St-Job square getting sloshed in the 24 hour bar there. Kompany will likely get a start if he is cleared to play with Dunne out suspended.

Thierry Henry is the latest ‘superstar’ to be linked with City. Reports suggest that Mark Hughes and Garry Cook have come to some kind of arrangement on transfers (Guardian article). Reading between the lines, it may be that the ‘superstar’ signing is left to Cook whilst Hughes gets on with the players he feels we need. No point in discussing the financial side - more chance of Gordon Brown starting up front for City than there is trying to figure out City's current finances.

I had a bad feeling about the Uefa cup game against the Danes and I had a bad feeling about the Villa game. But the vibes are good for this game. Petrov and Johnson hold the key to opening things up. City to win 2-1 (Betfair 10.5 - 11) with a late winner that lifts the mood at the post-match curry.

MCFCfans

Match Betting

Betfair @ 21:53 Friday 22nd August : City 2.42 - 2.44 Draw 3.4 - 3.45 West Ham 3.3 - 3.35

BBC Match Preview

Thaksin Watch (MCFCfans members only, join our City fans community by pressing the join button on the home page)

Contains all of the latest videos, pictures, blogs and the MCFCfans live poll asking fans' current view on Thaksin - support or get rid.

Manchester City’s game against Villa on Sunday was largely one to be forgotten for City fans. But it was pleasing for one reason in particular. Both fans and players appeared to leave off-the-field issues aside, and focus on supporting and playing respectively.

City now have a home game against West Ham on Sunday. As we pause for breath in between games, MCFCfans has been trying to gauge City fans’ feelings over the Thaksin situation.

In trawling blogs and chatting with fans it’s obvious there are divisions of opinion. Generalising completely, there seem to be broadly two groups of fans' opinions, with a long list of subtle variations thereafter.

There are those fans who were against Thaksin taking charge all along and who now feel that their worst fears are beginning to materialise. Most fans in this category are not taking an, “I told you so,” stance right now. They are genuinely worried about the future of the club based on their interpretation of the situation.

Then there are fans who can see a funny side to Thaksin’s decision to go ‘on the run.’ It brings back memories of Nick Leeson in a City top! Joking aside, fans before the Villa game interviewed by Al Jazeera English showed their support for Thaksin. (Al Jazeera is clearly taking an active interest in this story and their latest video along with others can be viewed on our new Thaksin Watch page).

Somewhere in the middle there are fans who can’t make their mind up, who feel that they don’t have enough information to make their mind up, or who are slowly travelling from the supportive group to the concerned group as they learn more of the facts.

One thing is certain: nothing is certain. There are simply more questions than there are answers and since the team need to get winning some games that is probably a good thing for now. It’s conceivable that quite a few of the open questions on fans’ minds will probably never be answered.

Our view, based on the average lay attempt to brush up on Thai politics and the Premiership rules, is that much depends on the UK government’s interpretation of how legitimate any court decision to convict Thaksin is. The stance they might take is far from clear. The Premier League seems certain to follow the UK government’s lead. The Premier League must be pooping themselves at the possibility of having to enforce the rule and make Thaksin sell.

Thaksin’s next moves now, in relation to City at least, must surely rest on his judgment as to how this will all turn out. If he thinks he has a chance of being forced to sell because everything goes against him, then surely he’ll be looking for a buyer now so that he doesn’t have to sell at a knock-down price. But that’s before we’ve thought about all of the other permutations. Could he find new investors, dilute his stake, and do a deal or wangle a pass with the Premier League, which would allow him to continue as chairman? A loan in the meantime starts the bank-rolling debt cycle off again (Times article just out)

Whatever the outcome, MCFCfans has setup the Thaksin Watch page in an attempt to help fans find information, facts, reporting, and commentary about the Thaksin situation, and to create an area where members can air their views. The page is intended as an information centre and sets out to be neither anti-Thaksin nor pro-Thaksin (@ City that is!). A poll is also on the page asking for your current view on Thaksin.

What's your view?

Keep the faith.

MCFCfans

August 17, 2008

The football has started and the first game of the season is out of the way. Manchester City lost 4-2 to Aston Villa and the train journey home is somewhat depressing. But don’t let the doomsayers and biased media fool you into thinking this was a drubbing.

It was a game of two halves with City playing much the better football as the first half wore on, even though Villa had the better chances early on. Joe Hart denied a couple of chances and others went wide, but City were beginning to show fluent passages of play.

City started the game without Bojinov who was injured in the warm up. He now looks to be side-lined for six months adding to the current striker crisis. But on paper this was always going to be an uphill struggle for City even with Bojinov. That City got to half-time at 0-0 was an achievement.

Ched Evans started up front as lone striker. Kelvin Etuhu, inexperienced as he is, lacked the confidence to push onto the by-line. One could only feel sorry for him at times because senior support failed to arrive. Petrov was the attacking outlet, and Elano and Johnson tried to fashion attacks from his distribution.

Where did it all go wrong? Well City gave the ball away in dangerous positions and allowed Villa players out wide to put crosses in to tall, unmarked danger men up front. In seven minutes Agbonlahor struck a hat-trick. It was extremely poor for City to concede as they did. But it was no capitulation. However, we’ve now conceded 12 goals in our last two league games.

Villa’s tall attack served by unchallenged crosses was a threat to a new central defensive pairing, who suffered from players in front giving the ball away too easily. We maybe missed Hamman’s clean-up operations. That said Tal Ben-Haim looked far more comfortable in central defence than he did at left-back on Thursday.

The City crowd was impressive and it didn’t feel as if the gloom that has surrounded the club for the last two weeks was the reason for the poor result. It felt like we lacked squad depth, midfield aggression, and up-front firepower. We’re desperately short of the right players in certain positions. But these are things that hopefully we can resolve given time. It also feels as if we’re in something of a transformation from Sven to Hughes in terms of tactics and regime. It will take time but sure it’s a far cry from the optimism of the first half of last season.

The game’s most humorous moment came from the front of the City end by the pitch. A City fan dressed in a maroon golf shirt had extended negotiations with stewards about one thing or another. Anecdotal evidence suggested the stewards may have sworn in front of his kids when addressing him, which didn’t go down too well. Villa fans monitoring the situation in the neighbouring end cottoned on to the maroon golf shirt before chanting, “Who’s that in a Villa shirt? Who’s that in a Villa shirt?...”

It was not the best start to the season but we’ll take issue with Claran Baynes, reporting for Setanta. “The Villans dominated the game from the first whistle with City on the back foot until they were awarded a dubious penalty as Michael Johnson fell in the box under the close attention of Luke Young.” Claran obviously wasn’t watching the same game.

Drop the expectations. It’s going to be a tough season. But this game was not necessarily the barometer we thought it would be. There was renewed promise following Thursday’s defeat, the players clearly need to adapt to the Hughes era, and the odd signing wouldn’t go amiss. One thing is certain, we won’t be ordering the new orange shirts.

MCFCfans.com

P.S. Our 'Thaksin Watch' page has now been launched. We're keen to attract opinion about our owner, the current situation, and how it will play out for City on the page. Please let us know if there is good quality commentary elsewhere that we can add to the page.

Manchester Evening News : match report

We can only look on with envy at an owner who keeps himself to himself most of the time and seems to have footballing interests at heart (Randy Lerner: A Case Study on Foreign Ownership, Footballing World, Nov 2007). We’re already craving the stability he has brought to Villa.

City go into the match having avoided defeat on their last six league and cup visits to Villa Park but there is much to be concerned about, starting with the lack of fitness. I didn’t see the Villa match on Thursday for obvious reasons, but how our fitness and match sharpness compares to Villa will be key to this game.

Nowhere more so than in defence. With Richard Dunne suspended, Ben-Haim and Richards will have to be well enough versed with each other to cope with the pace Villa have up front. Young making his debut for Villa may keep Corluka fairly pinned back, which leaves Ball (probable left back) and Petrov as our most likely source of success out wide.

The remaining question is whether to start with two up front with Sturridge and Bojinov, or to leave Bojinov up on his own with Elano playing off him. Given the lack of striking replacements if things go wrong, I would tend to agree with Danny at ‘Bitter and Blue’ that it seems more likely Hughes will opt for safety first and keep Sturridge on the bench.

If there is any thread of light to go on then it will be the nature of the defeat on Thursday night that should jump the players into action. How the players approach this game and how the manager’s body language plays out throughout the match will be a strong indicator of our potential performance this season given off-the-field issues. We have the quality to match Villa on paper but it's whether that quality is 'switched on' or not. I’d be happy with a draw in our first game but happier still if the players put up a solid fight and show some real potential.

Please click this link and let us know on our home page poll if you’re going to the match. Let’s lift the gloom by belting out some noise from the away end. Come on City!

MCFCfans.com

Match Betting

Villa : best Evens; Draw : 12-5; City : best 3-1

Betfair @ 13:44, Sat August 16

Villa 1.88 - 1.89

Man City 5.3 - 5.5

Draw 3.5 - 3.55

Match Facts from the BBC

Selected Morning Articles

Hughes demands improvement after ‘shock’ of Eriksson’s fitness regime at City – The Guardian

Mark Hughes pleads for time to ease concerns at Manchester City - The Times

Hughes salutes versatile Tal - Manchester Evening News

Martin O'Neill aiming to pile on the misery for Manchester City - Birmingham Mail

(put that headline up in the dressing room!)

Sturridge vs. FC Midtjylland - Hands off Chelski

I spent much of Thursday mulling over whether to write a match preview on the Uefa Cup game and ultimately decided against it. Sometimes it’s damned if you do damned if you don’t when surmising things before a match.

The constant media speculation over the last two weeks has been tiring. In fact there was so much noise that we decided to ‘keep stum.’ Why add to the media and cyber frenzy of speculation. More on that in later blog posts. But all the same, most fans would probably agree it has softened the usual beginning-of-season excitement considerably.

Compounding concern about the game, Danish friends and clients were calling me Thursday to report that we should be worried. Members and fans will not be heartened to hear that this worry was most pronounced when discussing how comfortable FC Midtjylland is when playing at home. The return leg will not be easy.

A beginning-of-season re-union with a City mate and member of MCFCfans.com did nothing to help matters. “I’ve got a bad feeling about this,” he said before going on to report recent FC Midtjylland successes. The final ‘nail in the coffin’ though was reading a betting prediction in a newspaper that boldly recommended its’ readers to back both City and Villa to be leading their respective opposition at half time and full time. “In fact it’s so much a dead cert you might as well put them in a double as well,” it finished. Well if either team was going to spoil that double it was going to be City!

City started as if they were in a friendly game. Not just any friendly game. The first friendly game of the pre-season when players’ minds are still on the beach, the pool, and the beer. The body language was noticeably lackluster. Passes went astray and the defense was disorganised.

Olsen’s finish (video on our home page) was top quality but it was gifted by poor defending. It was City’s wake up call to get some attacking going and there were some positive moves around at times. We could have scored when hitting the bar twice but it always felt as if we lacked a real threat to the Danish goal.

Petrov stood out, Kelvin Etuhu’s pace is something to look forward to, and we know Sturridge has real potential. But Elano seemed distant, Caicedo was pointless, and too many moves needlessly broke down, sometimes to fruitless show-boating.

Hughes has since pointed to the real lack of fitness in the side. "We are trying to get a group of players up to match fitness and that was evident the other night in the Uefa Cup," Hughes said. "It will not happen overnight. Maybe we will have to wait because our training is different from what they have been doing. It is about making players able to cope with the demands of the Premier League. To compete in the Premier League you have to be athletic, dynamic and sustain that performance from the first game to the last." He went on to point out that the new regime may be a shock to some of the players.

What is a big positive now is that the football is starting in earnest. The off-the-pitch concerns are very real but there were there a year ago. The time to protest was back then. There may be a suitable time to protest again in future but only once we've observed more events and facts. There is much to the situation off the pitch and we will try and cover this in a later post. The team itself is in tact. We’re chasing strikers and new players albeit with cash that is possibly not available (see Telegraph story of 13th August). Arguably we have a better manager in Mark Hughes, even though the messy episode to replace Sven did our reputation no good. Hughes probably has what it takes to see us through a possible future change in ownership. Whether he judges that sticking it out is in his best interests only he knows. It is likely that he has seriously considered his position, but let's hope he's prepared to wait and work on the team in the meantime.

What is most important now is that we back him and the team. We must get playing well on the pitch and as fans we play a part in that with the tone of our support. We're in a difficult situation, but for now it's probably best to keep the terraces focused on the pitch.

We’re interested in how many of our readers are going to the match so please go to the poll at this link on our home page where you can also join the webjam community of City fans at MCFCfans.com.

MCFCfans.com

PS. Check out the profile and new photos of the MCFC Babies in Ghana on our MCFC Babies page. We’ll be following the team’s progress with the help of team coach and member of MCFCfans.com, Peter Amoabil. The Under 12s recently won a trial game against Kanvili FC 4-2 and will play them again away from home this Sunday. Here’s hoping the application to the league is successful.

Manchester City got the season off to a great start by scoring the first competitive goals of the new season (City’s goals). What was more notable than the result was the effort made by the some 200 City fans to get to the game.

Thomas Cook got the bidding off to a depressing start with an £885 price tag put on the match package tour. We requested a price quote from Atlantic Airways to charter a plane and it was rejected due to a lack of aircraft. Hmm somewhat sceptical, read on.

The most daring and City-esque travel itinerary was put together by the group of City fans who decided that boarding a 72ft fishing trawler from The Shetland Isles would be their best bet to under cut the air fares. This was an inspirational plan. To succeed would result in hero status. To fail would result in hero status. Either way it would be a damn good laugh! This is the stuff of legends (BBC Story)

They set off from Manchester making their way to Aberdeen. From there they took a ferry to the Shetland Isles, where they met the shrewd Scottish islander who has converted his 72ft fishing trawler into a Faroe Islands shuttle service for British football fans. Clever stuff. Scotland is forever getting drawn against the Faroes.

There is one major catch though. The Atlantic Ocean and a multitude of challenging weather systems stand in the way. Bad weather prevented the trawler from leaving port rendering the fans stranded. Enter The Sun newspaper and suddenly the airline with no spare aircraft is falling over itself with Thomas Cook to seize the marketing opportunity. They make it to the game and get to meet new manager Mark Hughes into the bargain!

The story is fantastic and reminds us that City’s cult following is alive and well. MCFCfans.com this month adds a video of the last day at Maine Road to the History Channel that brings a tear to the eye. If you are struggling to get enthused about the new season simply watch this video.

We have also started our push for an MCFC-based charity (MCFC Babies link) aimed at sponsoring youth teams around the world, inspired by the MCFC Babies in Ghana. Get in touch if you would like to be involved.

Can’t wait for the season to start. We're in for a corker.

MCFCfans.com

PS. Message for Magni Arge, President of Atlantic Airways, “Where did the spare plane come from?!”

Telegraph Faroe Story

The Sun Faroe Story

Way back when in the late 1800s, before all of the globe’s current football supporters had been conceived, football was evolving in England. As balls were chucked around various pitches in the north of England, clubs made their mind up as to whether “football,” as it was known then, should be played in the form of rugby or football. By and large the lines between rugby and football were drawn due to the separate paths of the professional game (football,) versus the amateur game (rugby).

Professional football as we know it emerged and the first and most immediate issue for the best teams of the day was how to protect the revenue earned from friendlies with other quality clubs versus the bind of playing the riffraff in the FA Cup, the world’s oldest football competition. All these years later, we should not be surprised at the money-grabbing culture that exists in the game for it has always been there, albeit previously with a much more gentlemanly feel about it.

There is something unique about City’s situation at present. City is one of the world’s oldest football clubs, it captured the central Manchester audience, and secured the Manchester City name ahead of other clubs’ attempts to do the same. As fans we don’t want to win the “cup for cock-ups,” that Franny Lee so infamously described, but as we’ve unofficially won that cup we’ve maintained a fan base that is now revered around the world for its’ passion, humour, and sheer loyalty in the face of adversity.

The arrival of Thaksin Shinawatra as the club’s new owner has, being brutally honest, begun to divide the club’s fans. Simplifying the matter completely, we’re like a city population debating over whether or not to develop the skyline with modern buildings ahead of protecting the views of its’ historic buildings. As City fans, the arrival of our new and dramatic owner has brought us face to face with the realities of modern English Premiership football.

This league is a commercial enterprise and in order to carry on its’ relentless march it needs to create, innovate, attract new money, and continue to keep the global media in an almost hypnotic trance ahead of other prominent football leagues. Manchester City either targets pole position or falls away. The wall of money that Frank brought with him convinced our previous board that it was the only viable option to survive and succeed. Well maybe the chosen solution wasn’t required for survival. For success, however, it almost certainly was. Frank wants to be at the top table when all is said and done and that’s the end of it. Whether Frank was the right investor remains an open question.

Furthermore, whether or not the most virulent strains of commercialism will be acceptable to City fans in the long run is also debatable. The Ronaldinho debate rolls on. Frank believes that this man will raise our global profile. Too right he will. But is it a good trade? Will he flop and do a footballing equivalent of Nick Leeson on us? There is no doubt that every City fan would want to see Ronny pulling on a City shirt in the flesh just for the buzz in one game, and better than that see him scoring a City goal. But is it in the best interests of the club? If not why not? Well because he might well be past it and we might well win the cup for transfer cock-ups if we sign him.

Urgent summer transfers in and out aside, bottom-line, can Hughes prize us away from the dominant influence of the chairmen in recent City history, and become the manager that beat the City system?

He’s got more than Sven in that department. We’re in for an exciting season. There is a lot of work to be done but the future remains extremely bright. We’re on the up and don’t forget it.

Lets' aim high and go for the big guns. Bring it on and keep the faith.

MCFCfans.com

(History sourced from “Manchester – A Football History” by Gary James)

P.S.

MCFCfans.com is supporting the Manchester City Centenary Supporters Association (MCCSA) appeal for funds for their Ghana branch, which runs a series of youth football teams in Ghana called Manchester City Babies. Please lend your support to this appeal for the three teams to equip themselves to enter leagues and raise the profile of Manchester City globally. You can do this by sending a cheque payable to MCCSA, no matter how small, to :

Alex Channon
'Penalty Spot'
81 Milner Street
Swinton
Manchester M27 4AS

You can also support the appeal by bidding for an original Platt Lane penalty spot being sold to the highest bidder by Alex Channon. MCFCfans.com intends to support the auction by placing an ad on eBay and advertising the sale on MCFCfans.com.

There we have it. After weeks of speculation, when most of us got tired of watching out for news, Sven makes his departure with the usual lorry load of cash that seems to follow him around. It was a PR disaster but it has now finally been concluded, Sven is history.

Waiting for all of this to pan out, having the head buried in Gary James’ book, “Manchester – A Football History,” has maintained a sane state of mind (book review and opportunity to win a copy will follow later this summer.) In many respects the club was fortunate to get going in the first place but did so thanks to a combination of luck, geography and believe it or not, some good decision-making.

Fans’ patience is being tested to new levels now. But this is a broad Premier League trend that is making football history today. It’s just that City’s way of entering into a new phase of football history must, by historic definition, be more comical relative to our rivals.

Enter Mark Hughes. Welsh chappy isn’t he? So the 72 caps suggest anyway. We all kind of knew that one of the big big names such as Mourinho were beyond our reach. So who better to turn to than a man who left school and joined Manchester United. Lets put the United thing to one side for a second.

He’s a young manager. He became Wales manager in August 1999 and managed the team fairly well for 5 years. He then took over Blackburn Rovers on a miniscule budget, survived relegation, made an FA Cup semi-final, and then managed a top 6 finish in the Premiership having made some good value purchases in the transfer market. The subsequent UEFA Cup performance was reasonable given the resources available. A 10^th place league finish was followed by a 7^th this season. All in all not bad.

He is someone who we can expect to put the fire in the belly of our players. Most fans point to the second half of the season when we dropped off after the derby game, and we can speculate that this would not have occurred under Hughes. His knowledge of the Premiership is better than Sven having played and managed in it for longer. His transfers have been good on a low budget, but he may not have much say in the bigger names being targetted anyway. There is an argument for saying that Sven could attract big name players, but there’s a counter-argument for saying that Hughes would have avoided some of the players who don’t always put the effort in. Sven has a much more distinguished club career behind him plays the counter-argument that he may not be appropriate for today's Premiership where some of the younger, grittier managers seem to be succeeding outside the top 4.

In short Hughes looks like the best choice we have right now and actually could be an interesting choice given a bit of cash to spend. We need to get on with it though because time is running out before the new season starts. We need to lock down the uncertain players and get the new management in. Another frantic pre-season beckons.

In the meantime, it remains to be seen that worrying about Hughes is really the burning issue of the day.Sure it’s a concern that if things don’t go too well under his management for a while then he is more vulnerable to a fans reaction because of his past. However, it is clear that Dr.Thaksin’s “learning-on-the-job” will be of much greater importance to the club’s success as the next few years roll on. He must give the new manager a chance, and not give in to the temptation of becoming the man making all of the signings.

Vote in our manager poll now : Link 

Manchester City are in Europe !! Dust down the passports and get ready for another European adventure. What a result and a pleasant distraction from all of the recent speculation. We were fairly sure we had it in the bag. It would have taken some seriously harsh "respect" markings from officials for us not to get the place.

In the meantime, the Manchester City media roller-coaster rides on. It's becoming clear that because Shinawatra controls everything himself and is usually engaged in all manner of non-City related functions, it leaves a communications vacuum in the media. This in turn results in an absolute frenzy of speculation that is not confined to us fans, if Micah Richard's BBC column (link) today is anything to go by. Who knows how his latest PR company has been involved lately. Not at all by the looks of it.

Where does this leave Sven? Well as has already been suggested, it would appear more likely that Sven will stay now that we're in Europe. But this is by no means a certainty. The fire sale of players has thankfully been firmly denied today but that won't stop clubs swarming all over our best players until the manager situation is resolved. But if Shinawatra isn't completely bonkers, then perhaps he is taking a rationale approach to working through last season's issues with Sven in order to feel comfortable that Sven is the man for the job. Then again maybe he's just waiting for answers from prospective managers. The more time goes on the more it looks like the most obvious trick was to keep Sven for the Asia tour so that he has a plan B.

Either way the last few weeks have been a media disaster. He can't continue to run the club in this manner as it's unsettling to all and sundry. However, he probably will so you'd better get used to it.

The current MCFCfans poll seems to send a simple message: if you don't have Mourinho lined up then it's Sven or else. Scolari and any other potential managers get minimal support. Our poll closes on Sunday so please vote now by clicking this link if you haven't already done so.

Have a great weekend.

Manchester City fans are hanging on tenterhooks today waiting to hear the outcome of both Sven Goran Eriksson’s future and the final calculations of the Premier League Fair Play League, which will ultimately decide whether or not City pick up a UEFA Cup spot next season. However, it looks like neither decision will be forthcoming until the end of the week at least as reports emerged that Jose Mourinho’s return to coaching is imminent.

Yesterday’s drubbing at Boro and the ongoing manager saga has begun to leave a bitter taste in the mouth over an otherwise successful season. It’s a depressingly well-trodden path of turmoil for the club and we can only hope now for a swift resolution to the Sven situation.

Perhaps fuelled by yesterday’s result, a divide of opinion is now opening up among City fans with some unhappy that Sven appeared to have given up yesterday. Questions are now being asked about his motives over the last couple of weeks. Others prefer to point to the inevitability of yesterday’s collapse following the recent events. We can’t escape the difficult truth that our new owner has in one season both rescued the club financially and then thrown it into immediate end-of-season turmoil.

Whatever happens, Thaksin Shinawatra needs to act swiftly and decisively before the situation at the club gets any worse. We’ve lost the credibility we had built up over the season in the space of a few weeks. The club is in a sensitive situation, needing ongoing nursing out of the depths of lower league football. The vultures are circling around our best players, some of whom we’ve been nurturing for years.

As if the script-writers hadn’t already been second-guessed enough, a UEFA cup spot is a possibility through the Fair Play league. There appears to have been a fair amount of mis-reporting on this subject. Certainly Richard Dunne’s red card didn’t help. However, the latest Fair Play league table doesn’t include the penultimate game of the season when Fulham picked up two yellow cards and City had none. In any event when the numbers are crunched these cards will not make a huge difference. It’s the more subjective scores around respect for officials and opponents that will make the difference. The final decision is not expected to be announced until the end of this week, or early next week.

Will Thaksin hold on until the UEFA Cup spot is announced before he makes his decision? Will it make any difference? Is there any chance at all Mourinho will sign up? Who knows anything any more? It’s easier to predict a 10-game accumulator on the coupon than to figure out what might happen next at City. Ric Turner sums up well in the Times Online. Balloons, Thai politics, hanging on the Fair Play league, maybe sack the manager. We’re breaking new ground here. But lets keep a sense of perspective. The sun is shining and we’re still in the Premiership.

Finally, our poll asking if City fans would consider a home games boycott closed this morning. 83% said “Yes” they would consider boycotting home games next season if Sven is shown the door. We’re looking to guage a fresh view in our new poll. Please take a look and vote now by clicking this link.

What impact does the potential for UEFA Cup football next season have on Thaksin’s decision?  Well if Thaksin has any sense left it will prompt him to enter into a “clear-the-air” discussion with Sven and his managerial team.  A discussion that should include an apology for the way Sven has been treated, a commitment for investment in new players, and a return to "the project" that all concerned signed up to at the beginning of the season.  MCFCfans feels that Thaksin’s comments in recent days show that his position is weak and a climb-down is possible.  Sure we might be dreaming but  nothing is cut and dry in this saga (Eriksson In?, King of the Kippax).  How frustrating though, that our club’s future could rest on a wealthy man’s ego.

MCFCfans supports a peaceful but vocal pro-Sven protest on Saturday when a petition that currently has over 18,000 signatures will be handed to the club.  The Support Sven Rally will be held at 2.30pm at the City of Manchester Stadium. 

This weekend is the last chance for all concerned to give our end-of-season panto a happy ending: for the fans to protest on Saturday; for Sven and the players to play fair and win on Sunday; and for Thaksin to back down.

Last chance Thaksin, the game’s up, leave our Sven alone.

Over 95% of fans polled so far by MCFCfans would consider boycotting home games next season. But lets be honest, we believe City fans will only follow through on their threat to boycott if Thaksin fails in his risky attempt to replace Sven.

The show of support for Sven has put the pressure on Thaksin to deliver. Lets keep it up so that he knows what is at stake.

Scolari may help to bring Bruno Alves from FC Porto if Portugoal.net is to be believed. We might need him if our own Richard Dunne, awarded Player of the Year for the 4th year running, decides that the Thaksin era is no longer to his liking.

Scolari has been asked to decide on a £3.2m a year contract before he takes Portugal to the European Championship finals next month. The Times report seemed confident enough to back up the story first reported in Portugal's "Record" newspaper.

What do we think about Scolari ? Well he has effectively only managed largely Portuguese-speaking teams. His domestic club record is only in Brazil. Since 2001 he has managed international teams. He won the world cup with Brazil and took Portugal to the Euro 2004 finals, losing to Greece. He decided not to take the England manager's job citing that money wasn't his only consideration in his career and that the glare of the English media put him off. MCFCfans simply can't see the logic in taking this huge risk.

Timing is now everything. Or is it? Even if Scolari says yes, he still has to take Portugal to the Euros leaving us with another summer of rushing around under new management. No time to buy players, plenty time to lose those players that we've nurtured for years. MCFCfans will not be surprised if Scolari says no. Why work for an owner who doesn't understand football, in the glare of the English media, with no experience in European club football, and no experience of the Premier League? Well only for the money and the knowledge that it is so much money that he can take a short-term punt on coming to City. If it all goes wrong there will be plenty of excuses for him to use and plenty of cash to pay the bills.

Did Thaksin commit Sven to the Thailand tour so that he has a plan B? We can only hope so but believe the damage is done. If Scolari says no then the alternatives don't bear thinking about.

Wait, watch, and make yourselves heard.

www.mcfcfans.co.uk

The City players hardly helped their manager's future, however, giving the ball away far too freely in a game that Liverpool should have won by more than the 1-0 scoreline. Liverpool allowed City to come back at them in the latter stages of the game and were denied more goals by Joe Hart's excellent goalkeeping.

The weak City performance was a blow to those backing Sven, but MCFCfans believes the support being shown for Sven should continue into the final game.  Whatever Thaksin's final decision turns out to be, he should be made aware of the way the fans feel.  Reports that Thaksin has been surprised at the impact that club ownership has had on his wallet add to the farce. We all know that sacking Sven won't be cheap.

Eriksson refused to be drawn on his future but everything in his body language suggested that the end of his short managerial career at City is just around the corner.  “I have been told nothing regarding that. At my age I do not need to be told these things, I have my own ideas."  And it's these ideas that most City fans believe in.  Building a team around talented young players.  A long-term strategy that happens to reconcile with sensible financial planning.  But no, that would be too straight-forward. 

We have one of the country's most successful Academies, one of the world's best club managers, and have made significant progress this season. Fans should continue to show support for Sven is so that Thaksin Shinawatra understands the gravity of the decision he is making.  Manchester City is a football club with a beating heart - lets continue to show Sven our support - even if we believe the decision is made.  Fans may be irrelevent in today's Premier League, but that shouldn't stop us from having our say.  

While Thaksin is frantically searching the globe for a replacement, City fans are doing everything they can to support Sven.  Last night's impromptu protest near St.Peters Square in Manchester, seemingly arranged online, was reported on MEN to be fairly poorly attended.  The Save Sven page on MEN's website carries a video of a fan at the protest.  MCFCfans is not sure that the protest had quite the right speaker leading the event.

However, The Save Sven Goran Eriksson from the sack petition will have over 13,000 signatures before the day is out.  A rally is planned by the MCFC Official Supporters Club (supported by CSA, MCIVTA, and King of the Kippax) on Saturday 10th May outside the City of Manchester Stadium.  The away end at the Liverpool game on Sunday looks likely to be dominated by Save Sven protests.  There must be flag sellers shipping in large batches of Sweden flags as we write.  Get your Sven mask here for the Liverpool game.

The decision when it comes will be a leading indicator of how City's new owner intends to run club affairs.  What is so baffling to many is that his original objective of a decent league finish in season one has been achieved.  Fans are questionning whether Thaksin would have run one of his businesses like this.  Achieve objective, sack manager. 

Conspiracy theories aside, two themes have emerged.  The first is the belief that Thaksin has a basic lack of understanding of how a football club is run and what it takes to make a club successful.  As an owner of a business this is usually fairly important.  Successful leaders tend to surround themselves with personnel who do have the expertise and can therefore guide affairs in the right direction.  By most accounts this advice was, and still is, forthcoming but is being ignored.

The second point is simply that Thaksin's ego is not going to back down following the less than cordial meeting that took place between the pair.

MCFCfans continues to believe that a change of heart still offers Thaksin a solid face-saving option, particularly if big Phil says no.  The list of reasons of why not to sack Sven are endless as are the list of reasons why not to hire most of the rumoured candidates.  If Sven is shown the door we will have witnessed one of football's most ludicrous management decisions.  Only at City.

P.S. Currently our poll shows that most fans would consider boycotting home games next season if Sven is sacked.  Keep your votes coming !

 We've had 16 managers over the last 21 years. Thaksin comes along with his dodgy millions and delivers us one of the world's best club managers. He performs what can only be described as miracles with a team that could barely score a goal at home last season. We have what is quite obviously our best season in years. Not just in terms of the derby results, the league position, and better performances on the pitch. But in terms of the very real excitement about a management team that actually knows what it's doing. Sven and his band of smiling Swedes have a footballing knowledge operating at the highest level. If anyone can, Sven can.

There is essentially no argument. 97% of City fans polled on the Manchester Evening News believe Eriksson should stay. The 3% can surely only be attributed to either United fans or "fat finger" error. The League Managers Association has made a statement expressing concern. This is not just a "Typical City" story. The people forming the groundswell of opinion against the new owners of Premier League clubs and their impact on the game are interested parties. That the rumblings start building after the last home game only increases the anger. In fact never mind after the last home game, what about after the season ticket deadline?

Manchester City season ticket holders have setup an S.O.S. - Save Our Sven - petition. Join the over 6,000 signatories from City and many other clubs now if you feel Sven should stay.

What is the end game? Mackintosh is alleged to be considering resigning his position. As the weight of the backlash built up today, Thaksin's son announced that Sven would lead the team to Thailand. Playing for time while they sound out possible replacements? Scolari is the favourite. Will he take Thaksin seriously given the treatment of Sven? Of other names mentioned we can only dream about the potential of Bilic, Allerdyce, Hughes and others relative to Sven.

The reaction of club staff and fans may leave Thaksin with few options. Keeping Sven after this circus of speculation will bat the ball back into Sven's court. Thaksin would save face and stick to his 3 year plan with the pressure on Sven to deliver. Surely he will only show Sven the door if he knows for sure he has a top replacement. Or will his ego get the better of him?

In other news, the latest MCIVTA newsletter reports that a City fan who plays cricket for "a" Shanghai based team (surely there isn't more than one?!) is off to North Korea to play a game and fly the flag for City there. No doubt all the talk in Pyongyang will be of Sven's fate.

City Manager Tombstones:

Sven-Goran Eriksson 2007- ?
Stuart Pearce 2005-2007
Kevin Keegan 2001-2005
Joe Royle 1998-2001
Frank Clark 1996-1998
Phil Neal 1996-1996
Steve Coppell 1996-1996
Asa Hartford 1996-1996
Alan Ball 1995-1996
Brian Horton 1993-1995
Tony Book 1993-1993
Peter Reid 1990-1993
Howard Kendall 1989-1990
Tony Book 1989-1989
Mel Machin 1987-1989
Jimmy Frizzell 1986-1987

We're eargerly awaiting our copy so that we can review the book on the blog. Why not buy a copy and join in the comment. The book is out 1st May via the usual online outlets.

Amazon - Manchester A Football History