City visit the Camp Nou tonight after being invited to play Barcelona in the prestigious Joan Gamper trophy. Whether it is right to be playing this fixture after the start of the Premier League season has split opinion amongst many fans and pundits.
It may not be the conventional thing to do, but these are not conventional times at Eastlands. For the City hierarchy it is an opportunity to raise the club’s profile and build our links with one of the most prestigious clubs in world football, whose star players we keep failing to sign. Last year Ronaldinho, this year Eto’o, next year Messi?
For Mark Hughes, it represents a chance to hone the teamplay and tactics of the side as he seeks to assimilate all the new signings. Carlos Tevez has the opportunity for more match time as he seeks to build up his fitness levels.
Mark Hughes:
“It’s a high-profile, prestigious game and given everyone else in the Premier League is playing as well we thought it could also add to our match fitness.
“It’s still early in the season and we are still making sure everyone is up at the right level of fitness, so that will come into my thinking when I pick the team.
“We will want to give a good account of ourselves but key for us at the moment is the game at the weekend.”
For Kolo Toure it represents the first opportunity to play against his younger brother since he joined Barca. Several of the players have said how they are looking forward to playing the Champions of Europe at the Camp Nou. This is hardly a friendly they will find a chore.
Nigel De Jong:
“Playing Barcelona in the Nou Camp is a bit special, especially the form they are in now. We’ll be able to see where we are standing after a long pre-season and that first game. We’re all excited – I’ve never played at the Nou Camp, so this is my first time.
“I watched the Champions L eague final, I think everybody here did. Barca were very impressive, but they had been all season – that’s why they won the three big prizes, the Spanish League and Cup as well as the Champions League. They play football at its best.”
It seems fair to assume that whilst keeping one eye on Saturday, Hughes will be required to put out a strong line-up. It wouldn’t do to get panned, and given this is traditionally Barca’s final warm-up game before the new season they are likely to be running at close on full speed. A daunting prospect, yet also thrilling.
Hughes has stated that Carlos Tevez is set to play a bigger role than he has so far, while Wayne Bridge and Emmanual Adebayor are both set to miss out with minor knocks. This could mean an opportunity for Ryan McGivern to line up against Lionel Messi as Javier Garrido may be on the move soon according to reports.
For Barca, Zlatan Ibrahimovic is set to make his debut and 70,000 tickets have already been sold with a 100,000 capacity crowd expected to fill the Camp Nou as Catalonians flock to see the new striker. Even for City fans it will be interesting to see how the Swede measures up as a replacement for Eto’o. It seems difficult to believe that Barca gave £40 million PLUS the Cameroon striker for Imbrahimovic.
Eto’o was eventually rated at £17 million in the deal, some £8 million less than City had agreed to pay, but that’s history now. Though it could be worth mentioning to David Moyes that arguably the most potent striker in Europe last season who scored the crucial first goal in the Champions League final is valued at less than we have already offered for Joleon Lescott. But hey, Eto’o is a year older.
For those unable to attend the fixture, it’s being screened live on the City web site.
According to The Guardian’s Daniel Taylor, the club have been looking at expanding the capacity of Eastlands to 60,000 with a new training ground alongside the stadium. There would also be development of the surrounding land to create a sports village. The article claims the plans are at an early stage and have yet to be discussed with Manchester City Council.
This news may not be as startling as it initially sounds. When ADUG took over the club there was initial speculation they may look at developing the ground and surrounding area. A good offer to the Council, with whom City have always enjoyed a decent relationship, is unlikely to be turned down. Afterall it’s not like they could rent a 48,000 seat stadium to anyone else. Giving a cash injection to the Council that could be reinvested on other services would show them as having managed this particular legacy of the Commonwealth Games very well.
Geographically there is comfortably room for developing the ground on three sides with just the South Stand being close to Ashton New Road. The other parts of the article regarding the training ground and sports village make less sense. There is a decent amount of space around the City of Manchester Stadium, but I’m not sure there’s enough for the multiple training pitches and other facilities that would be needed to surpass what we currently have at Carrington. The benefits are unclear especially given the recent overhaul of facilities there and the fact it’s more accessible on a daily basis for our mostly Cheshire based players and staff.
The sports village has long been under way with the velodrome, athletics track and squash centre. These would seem to be best left to the Council to develop as part of the overall regeneration of East Manchester. There seems little logic in City getting involved with other sports.
With regard to filling a 60,000 capacity stadium, I believe this is attainable if we were to be challenging for the Premier League and Champions League on a regular basis. Arsenal are filling the 60,000 Emirates stadium having moved up from 38,000 Highbury and many of their season tickets are priced over £1000. I doubt sufficient football supporters in the North would pay these ‘London prices’ but in terms of bums on seats there’s no shortage of people interested in attending top quality football. Manchester has a good catchment area in Cheshire (home to many City fans already) and the ever expanding Warrington. The location of Eastlands is more accessible for people East of Manchester than Maine Road, and when the tram line is finally built it will be easier to access from Piccadilly Station.
Such major changes and blatant seeking of new fans may not play well with all of our traditional supporters. It’s true that we would be losing touch with some of our roots despite the continued investment in City In The Community, etc. The shared experiences many of us have of Maine Road and life outside the top flight would seem a world away. One fears for Colin Shindler‘s mental health given the trauma he’s already been through with ‘this Abu Dhabi lot’.
Personally I feel incredibly lucky to be watching some of the world’s finest players each week, and if more City fans are able to share that with me then I’m all for it. In fact I’d say if we really are to be challenging for the European Cup on a regular basis, then I’d be looking to add more than 12,000 to the current stadium. I’d go for a 65,000 capacity at least!
Tabloid transfer talk this morning claims City are set to sign Rafael de Souza Rodolfo, otherwise known as Pernao, otherwise known as the ‘new Robinho’. The sixteen year old Brazilian striker is currently with Fluminese, though he has yet to feature in their first team. The Mirror claim he is rated at £3 million.
The Mirror:
City moved quickly to invite the youngster to Manchester last week and expect to complete the deal shortly, which will include further add-ons, following discussions with his club and family.
Pernao was able to meet and train with his idol Robinho and wants to follow the same route to Manchester as his friends, the Da Silva twins who have already made the first team at rivals United.
The youngster’s desire to join Robinho has enabled us to move ahead of Chelsea who are also said to be interested. This is another reminder of why having Robinho is so good for City in terms of our profile. He may not track back and tackle much, but he remains our biggest galactico and is a posterboy for the Brazilian national side around the world. In terms of raising our global profile, which is a stated aim of Garry Cook and Khaldoon Al Mubarak, this is huge. Other players also want to play alongside such a talent. It’s good for their egos and increases the idea they’re joining one of the biggest clubs. To have sold him this Summer after just one season, which was speculated on by some, would have diminished us in the eyes of the football world and made other potential signings more hesitant about joining our ‘project’.
Until recently continental clubs used to lead the way with plucking South American prospects, think Kaka at Milan or Ronaldo at PSV. Nowadays the greater finance and profile of the Premier League along with a steady increase in the number of established Central and South American players plying their trade over here is enabling English clubs to have greater access to this fertile recruiting ground.
Manchester United have shown the way with the Da Silva twins. However no-one can deny the ethical questions of these practices which were none to subtly put by the Brazilian legend Carlos Alberto recently when he accused United of “raping” Brazilian football in their bid for 17 year old Dodo. The recruiting of young players has always been a murky world, look what happened to City schoolboy international Ryan Giggs. It’s now a global murky world. Uefa and Fifa may well tighten the rules one day, but in the meantime City’s youth and reserve teams could be taking on more of an international look, especially as we set up overseas academies. Hopefully we will only sign genuine talents who are likely to make it, as there are already to many depressing tales of those who don’t.
One thing’s for sure, Pernao is unlikely to be the last ‘new Robinho’ we’re linked with.
Blue Days
18 August 2009
Pernao /
The Guardian:
That cruel Stretford End banner flaunting the number of years since Manchester City won the league championship may be ticking over for a year or two yet, but Mark Hughes left Ewood Park on Saturday night looking like a man who knows that, at last, he has a proper football team on his hands.
The Independent:
There was a moment after Emmanuel Adebayor had sat down for his first interview as a Manchester City player in South Africa this summer when you wondered why on earth Mark Hughes, with his work ethic and his messianic drive for a “winning mentality”, had wound up with a forward quite like him.
The Times:
This was not the cymbal crash of Arsenal’s 6-1 evisceration of Everton but there was a persuasive percussion to Manchester City’s display. The first few notes were not loud but it sounds as if a powerful rhythm will emerge.
The Telegraph:
As the Manchester City coach weaved through the traffic, inching past thousands and thousands of fans in their sky blue shirts, some clutching inflatable bananas, all with a song on their lips, Robinho, Stephen Ireland and company realised how big this season could be.
Manchester Evening News:
Nine years ago, City fans descended on Blackburn in their hordes, determined to see a new Blue moon rising above the moors.
Stephen Ireland:
“The difference between this season and the last is the team spirit.
“From the moment we arrived back for preseason the manager has been drumming it in to us about how we had to be mentally stronger this season. He said we had to have a better attitude and he was right.
“There were some bad habits in this squad last season. The manager and coaches were trying to get us out of them but because we were in Europe and had so many games and so much travelling, I always felt as though we just didn’t have enough time on the training field and away from match situations to sort it out and put things right.
“What he has done this time is get players who have the right attitude. They are quality players of high calibre but they are also winners and that’s the difference. These guys are inspirational. There is a hunger there and a desire and they have the right approach to everything.”
Mark Hughes:
“Everybody has a view on Ade [but] until you work with him, you can’t shape that view yourself. I have not seen anything like that,” he said after a performance which confounded popular theories
“There will be opposition where we will have to have a real physical presence.
“Roque can play with the lone striker all day long. Ade can play off people and drop into deeper areas and then go beyond people as well, because he has the pace to do that. Maybe people thought that I was looking for two combinations of a big guy and a small guy, but actually they can all play together because they are all quality players.”
Emmanual Adebayor:
“In my three years there [Arsenal] I learned a lot, but now I am a City player, and that is where my focus lies.
“When I have the fans behind me I will always give 100 per cent.
“I am injury-free now, and I hope God will put his hand on me and keep me that way for the rest of the season. If that happens, I will keep working hard.
“This team can achieve things,” he said. “At Blackburn we showed character and we showed personality.
“We showed on Saturday that in difficult moments we can fight together to achieve things.”