At Maine Road, they used to sing:
“I’ll walk a million miles for one of your smiles… Summerbee!”
Check out this picture from last night’s match, courtesy of The Sun, and try:
“I’ll walk a million miles for one of your smiles… Bellamy!”
Click here for the picture.
It ought to be a caption competition for our lovable hero, who was in fine berating form last night. Maybe he’d just seen the fourth official put up the Additional Time board.
(Warning: the page with the picture will resize your browser, but doesn’t do any harm)
Fergie may have attempted to claim last Sunday as the greatest derby ever, but maybe he was just trying to deflect us from our real favourite…
Watch the highlights here.
Happy Twentieth Anniversary everybody!
The Guardian have kindly put up their match report from the time.
The club have announced that Sheikh Mansour has purchased the 10% of the club’s shares that were owned by Worldwide Investments Limited. This was a company indirectly owned by Thaksin Shinawatra and his family. The 10% had previously gone to Worldwide Investments Limited at the time Sheikh Mansour took over.
David Conn writes in The Guardian:
After the takeover Thaksin was widely reported to have retained his interest in the remaining 10% of shares, and appointed as his nominees his long-term associate Jack Srisumrid, a Thai businessman, and the Greek shipping tycoon Victor Restis. Srisumrid, 38, became a City director in August 2007 shortly after Thaksin bought the club. Restis, 41, based in Athens, was appointed to the City board after Mansour’s takeover but is understood to have been a representative of the 10% holding, not of Mansour’s 90%. Both Srisumrid and Restis resigned as directors of City last Friday.
Sheikh Mansour is now the sole owner of the club. Good.
In amongst all the derby previews in today’s press are two excellent pieces by City supporting Guardian writer David Conn, where he interviews Khaldoon al Mubarak in Abu Dhabi.
Khaldoon responds to criticism of City’s spending being a danger to football:
“I could accept the argument if we were artificially building up the club through debt”
“That produces a destructive end result; we have seen that happen. But in our case, the club will be in the healthiest position because there is no debt. We have funded it through equity [permanent investment].
“I believe what we are doing is a fair way to inject competition into football, without debt.”
This is confirmation of what we already know, but which a lot of City’s critics choose to ignore. He goes on to respond to the plans being put forward by Michel Platini to curb the freedom of owners to invest in clubs:
“The argument that this is unhealthy suggests that the big clubs, which make the most money, must remain the big clubs, that the status quo must remain.
“Is Mr Platini saying that only Real Madrid and Barcelona have the right to be competitive in La Liga?”
This is precisely the problem with the plans. Platini has always said he wants to make European football fairer, but it seems that the only changes he can get the big clubs to agree to, are ones that don’t threaten them. Hence the ‘financial fair play’, linking expenditure to revenue, is ok for the likes of Milan who have a high turnover. He appears to be playing on these clubs fear of City’s spending to get an agreement to his changes.
There seems to be a denial of the problems these rules will cause in stopping clubs like City challenging those established in the Champions League. The silence from Uefa and Platini on this is becoming increasingly apparent.
Khaldoon confronts it head on:
“I appreciate the argument about having so much money.
“The way I answer it is: Yes, this is a club, but it is a business too, and in business, you are there to compete. And we are striving to build the club the right way, with respect for its heritage, and the fans.”
The second article looks at how the ownership of City is part of the move to promote Abu Dhabi and it’s values. Conn firstly describes how this push is part of the state’s policy. The level of expenditure is awesome, and makes the investment in City seem almost trifling.
Interestingly, the purchase of City was initially a private venture by Sheikh Mansour who is a football fan, but with the global media attention that has followed, City are now viewed as part of the plan to promote Abu Dhabi itself. Could this mean the people in Abu Dhabi will be even more determined to see City being successful and having a positive presence at the centre of world football? It is hugely exciting to think so.
The money being spent on City is still considered an investment, that will prove it’s worth if City are established as a top European club. Then there is the fan side. According to Khaldoon:
“Sheikh Mansour is a huge football fan. There is an enjoyment, a pleasure, which comes from owning it.”
“There is a pure, football, emotional side to it, and a big business side, too. I think what attracted Sheikh Mansour was the great football journey, but also there is a business sense, that we can create a franchise, a business, over years, which will create value and reap a long term return.”
There’s a further two parts to this interview to be published by The Guardian.