Remember earlier this season, when the main activity performed by anyone associated with the takeover of Manchester City by the royal family of Abu Dhabi was to peer into a television camera and just mercilessly shock the world by stating large amounts of money? And how it turned out that maybe some of those amounts were exaggerated, but then, it didn't really matter, because they were going to fill the streets of Asia with Man City-branded motorbikes and change football forever by spending one heptillion dollars on Kaká? And how their spokesperson (who originally posed as their owner) publicly described himself as a "bulldozer" and stated that the club's goal was the finish in the top four this season and win the title next year?
No, you don't remember that, because Manchester City are a reasonable club with achievable expectations. That's the message put forward by Chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak on the club's website today, under circumstances that have nothing to do with City's resolutely mid-table finish or its failure to sign any high-profile players apart from one mercurial Brazilian who spent most of the season feuding with the manager and the rest of it under arrest. Manchester City's new owners haven't learned any lessons, Khaldoon Al Mubarak wants you to know, because they remain squarely committed to the same values of moderation and prudence that they brought with them to the club:
I think people see me as a reasonable and realistic man, and I think given what we have done this year and the ambitions we have this summer, a top-six finish next year should be a reasonable and achievable target.
We all know we are not going to splash money around, because that model, that formula, doesn't work. You're not going to buy 22 new players and then the next year you win the Premier League.
So the goal now is to finish in the top six next year with expenditures somewhere south of £850 billion. We all know this! And I mean, good for them, but either there's something kind of adorably reckless about this swerve into tentative rhetoric or this club has more negative capability than any poet in the world. This is how this "reasonable and realistic man" was introduced in a Fortune profile two years ago:
Khaldoon Khalifa al Mubarak is a man in a hurry. The 31-year-old, American-educated developer steps on the gas of his silver Audi and zooms past a hole in the ground crawling with construction workers – the future home of a $1.3 billion complex featuring three skyscrapers, two five-star hotels, and a souk. The car zips by a new $3 billion hotel that boasts 1,002 Swarovski crystal chandeliers and a gold-leaf dome larger than the one atop St. Paul's Cathedral in London….
"We move fast," Khaldoon says, his crisp, white headscarf whipping in the wind. "Think about it: How many places in the world can you say, 'I'm going to establish an airline,' and boom, two years later you have 21 planes and 37 destinations? How many places in the world can you say, 'I need 15,000 hotel rooms,' and boom, you have 100 new hotels in the works? How many places can you say, 'I want world-class hospitals, universities, and museums,' and boom, the Sorbonne, Cleveland Clinic, Guggenheim, and Louvre are on the way?"
Caution. Reticence. Sound conservative thinking. These are Manchester City's watchwords. I look forward to watching them succeed over the next 10 years, slowly and patiently, through intelligent infrastructure management and investment in the youth academy. Why are you laughing? Stop laughing.
I hate Man City, that may be because I am a Untied fan but still. The idea that their own expects to be able to succeed in anything less than 4 years is just so foolish, the difference has been proven by Chelsea: you CANNOT buy a team, you must build one. Even though Man City in Football Manager always sign the best players, the reality of the situation is that given the prospect of a move to man city any self respecting player MUST say "no.". Robinho has sealed his reputation as a money grabbing prick when he signed for them, and if anything this is not to be surprised because over the course of the season he has looked very average, bar some good individual skill in two game bursts. Anyways, main summart= Man City: shit, every other team in Premier league: good.
I picked Man City to root for 3 years ago because I had never followed an EPL team on a daily basis, the nearest MLS team was over 1000 miles away, and I grew up rooting for the New York Yankees so I wanted to root for a lovable underdog for once in my life.
They've since been owned by the deposed PM of Thailand and now somebody who makes Roman Abramovich look like a humble everyman. Oh well.
At least they are buying quality defensive midfielders (Nigel de Jong, Vincent Kompany) to go along with their flash. If they can A) find somebody to put the ball in the net and B) not completely suck on the road they will be quite good next year even if they are no longer the little engine that could.
swaino, you appear to be retarded, probably through no fault of your own, so I'll go easy on you.
to start with, explain how chelsea proves that you can't buy a (successful – I'll add this for you) team.
have they not bought a complete team? john terry excepted of course.
have they not been successful?
secondly, you talk about players self respect; obviously you are unemployed. try getting a job and earning some money before suggesting that anyone who CHANGES THEIR JOB (for that is what it is) FOR HIGHER WAGES has no self respect.
finally, for an 'Untied' fan you seem to know a lot about robinho. it's 99% bullshit of course, but you seem knowledgable about him. spend some time thinking about £30m berbatov and get back to me with an informed precis on his 'form' this year.
so in 'summart', stick to reading the mirror (online) from wherever you may be, and leave the football discussion to the big boys.
TBF, the "spokesman" who turned up promising gleaming Ronaldos and a Messi in every corner of the pitch was quickly and quietly discredited and pushed aside. City's transfer policy this season (the Kaka excursion excluded) has been reasonably pragmatic. Robinho was a marquee signing,yes, but everyone since has been signed at the bequest of Hughes.
We still have a higher proportion of academy graduates in our first team than the vast majority of the league, so that snide little aside ("I look forward to watching them succeed over the next 10 years, slowly and patiently, through intelligent infrastructure management and investment in the youth academy. Why are you laughing? Stop laughing") is, at present, redundant.
Swaino, you sound like a deplorable plastic to me. Well, anyone who starts a sentence, "Even though Man City in Football Manager always sign the best players…" would struggle not to. I'd wager that your knowledge of both us and United is miserably limited. Please refrain from passing comment on something you know sod all about. Ta.
Heh. This got linked to on a Manchester City supporters' forum. Everyone please try to take a joke and remember that excessively stupid/furious comments will be deleted.
grrm, even if we concede for the sake of argument that Man City's transfer policy has been "reasonably pragmatic," doesn't that have something to do with the fact that they've been rejected by most of the flamboyant big-name signings they've pursued? I assume that the majority of the $900-trillion-for-David-Villa stories are just transfer gossip…but we know the Kaká thing happened, we know they went after Berbatov, and stuff like this (from today!) has been popping up for far too long for it all to be some sort of big mistake prompted by a few unwise statements from Sulaiman Al-Fahim.
All joking aside, I have nothing against Man City, but the idea that they're being run as some sort of model of patience and thrift is just not serious.
You know I can honestly say that I never expected to be brought down by someone called bert magoo but I'll try anything once. haha.
I should probably include some reason for the rant, and answer mr. magoo on what he has called me out on. First off, I did not say that you cannot buy success as anyone can buy success, I was meaning that Chelsea did not buy a team in one year (they did after all spend over 100 million on new players and then sacked Ranieri for Mourinho). They still had to build one, just like everyone else by trail and error and securing players that are right for Chelsea and the Premier League. If anything this was more thanks to Jose Mourinho being a good manager as they haven't really been playing the same way since he left and they have still bought some big names such as Deco, for example. The Man City's owners (as I'm not sure how much say that Mark Hughes has in the fanciful transfers) do not seem to have a definate end product in mind and are just trying to grab at the very best players in Europe who all play for teams with very different approaches.
As far as Robinho goes I stand by the sentiment that his was a pretty shallow move. I have a job, thank you very much, and I can tell you that payday is the only thing that motivates me but was his pay honestly that bad when he was playing for Real Madrid?? What does he use the extra money for, more petrol in his sports car??. The whole thing seems very personally motivated, rather than his love for Man City, or wanting to win things as if City do not make progress in the next two years then I could see him being on the move again. I can't understand the transfer myself as the only motivation would be for first team football, but if he is honestly worth that amount of money per week then why could he not get first team at Madrid?
Although, I am going to have to concede to the fact that you have Berbatov's number there. The man is over priced, I wanted him to come to united as I was a big fan of his at Spurs but for £30 million?? A little steep for him to then be upstaged by Tevez. So really both clubs have made the mistake of over pricing, the difference is that Berbatov has taken a step up and looked average where as Robinho has taken two steps down and looked average much worse really.
Also, it was stupid to mention fm as an example for what City are doing, you're right grrm. Besides it seems that it is the owners who are going nuts with the transfers and not Hughes as he has the brains to make the actual smart signings that would benefit the team as a whole.
The reason bert magoo's Berbatov example doesn't work is that MAN CITY ALSO BID £30 MILLION FOR BERBATOV. Has everyone forgotten this? It makes no sense to criticize a club's stupidity when your club tried to do the exact same stupid thing, and only escaped the consequences because the player rejected them.
I am glad to hear that the Manchester City's owners have changed their policy and are going to built their success gradually rather than by splash out their millions. They are forced to do so anyway because unlike the Chelsea of Abramovich they are a mid-table size. It is difficult for a mid-table side to attract the likes of Messi and Kaka. Mind you: they are a very good mid-table side. This year they have played some sensetional stuff. Robinho is not just a fantastic player in his own right. He has also influenced the way the whole team plays, for Manchester City are as attractive as anyone else in the league going forward. Of course they have their limitations. They are a young team after all. Mark Huges is relatevly inexperienced, compared to Ferguson who had fourteen years to assemble Manu. I think it's a good thing that Kaka rejected that big money move. With hundred million you can built an entire team. If you watched the Uefa Cup final last night, you saw how good Shaktar were and I am sure: they have not spent hundred million on one player, but still play as an attractive football as anyone else on the continent. If Manchster City can finish in the top six next year, which I think they can by improving their away form, then in 2010/2011 they will be able to attract better players. Once they do that, there is nothing to stop them becoming the most successful football club of the next twenty years. For the time being, it is imperative that they hold on to their best players. Elano, Ireland, Petrov, Micheal Johnson must stay. PS: I am not a Manchester City fan, but I would be glad to see a new club stir things up a bit, for the Premiership has become a bit predictable. Especially as far as the top six positions is concerned.
Brian, i have respectfully disagree with your analysis.
I valued Robinho at $35 million pounds, and think City did a great job negotiating to buy him for only $32.5 million pounds.
Brian, City have actually issued a statement denying the whole Messi thing: http://www.mcfc.co.uk/default......p;pagegid={DBD12D53-8346-431D-A04F-5D0F8664DE80}&newsid=6632894&siteid=&pageno=2&newscategory=&frommonth=3&fromyear=2009&tomonth=5&toyear=2009
You are right about the Kaka affair though. A lot of city fans found the whole affair enormously embarrassing. I'd like to think that the club has learnt its lesson, as our other transfers (excluding Robinho- a "marquee signing" and someone who can play a bit!) have been made with a system in mind, or even Hughes' system in mind.
I've actually been hugely impressed by the UAE lot since January, especially Murabak. They seem to be operating quietly and calmly, which makes a nice change from the Shinawatra era (*shudder*). That comment on the academy doesn't seem merely to be a flippant remark- Murabak has spent a bit of time at the training ground according to some ITK. Perhaps they've looked at Chelsea's embarrassing attempts to buy a youth team and realised that this is a far more pragmatic solution.
Of course this could all change dramatically during the summer, and I'll look very foolish indeed.
Feedle- unfortunately Michael Johnson is permanently crocked. It's rumoured that we accepted a bid from Newcastle in january, but when he failed the medical both parties decided that it would be in their interests to say that we rejected the bid for him. We used to have a magnificent player in the early 90's called Paul Lake who was forced to retire at a desperately early age. It's looking like Johnson might be going down the same path.
ive followed manchester city football team all my life.and i like it how we got kaldoon al murbarak as chairman. but i hated when we get told we not won any cups. and how weve got a best manager aswell.but i hated when we was supose to get kaka.to come to city but in the end he did want to come in the end.and i hate it when people call the team.and im glad weve started getting new players.