Manchester City Football club, the heart of Manchester, yet overshadowed by its inter-city neighbor, Manchester United over the past half century. United over the years have seen all the success, the big money transfers and the world lime-light and are the most globally recognized team, while until recently, City were nearly on the opposite end of the spectrum. But could that all change?
The Blues new (two years) owner has revolutionized the club, taking City out of a crunching 350 million GBP debt. He goes by the name of Sheikh Mansour and is a multi billionaire Abu Dhabi businessman who is not afraid to spend a bit here and there. Before we knew it, Mr Mansour had already, along with Mark Hughes splashed out 200 million GBP to rehabilitate City’s weak side. Adebayor, Robinho and Tevez were soon living life the Manchester City way and even Manchester United were becoming concerned with the threat City offered.
Man City Owner: Sheikh Mansour
Soon City were bringing more and more players in along with more attention to the City of Manchester Stadium. With this came pressure for Hughes to start winning trophies and finishing the league in a good place. Minimum of 4th. City had a good season beating Arsenal in the league and Carling Cup, and even ended their long spell of losing to Chelsea, however, the expectations were higher than just pulling off the occasional victory over a top opponent. With an unlimited supply of money, instant success was expected and after a spell of 7 straight draws, Mark Hughes’ time had come to an end.
Mark 'Sparky' Hughes with a few of his signings.
Not phased by Hughes’ departure, a new manager was to come. Roberto Mancini was the lucky man after a whole ton of managers were on the betting lists to get the much wanted job. The Italian started off running. Mancini was successful in his double over Chelsea which was a massive achievement for the club (or any club). Mancini and his trademark lucky blue scarf seemed to be doing the trick in his first half-season in charge, although as the season drew to a close, Man City were pipped to the 4th place spot by Tottenham Hotspur and questions came over Mancini’s selections and not allowing players to gel as a team. On the start of his first full season at the helm, big money was spent again. David Silva, Yaya Toure. James Milner, Kolarov and Jerome Boateng were among the players brought in, and the expectation on Mancini was further increased. 120 million Euros were spent and rightly so, City are being expected to reach Europe and finish in the top three.
New man on the scene: Roberto Mancini
A great manager, unlimited funds, great players; what’s the problem for Manchester City?
For me and many professional football pundits, the thing holding City back is the ability of the team to gel. Yes, City have arguably (on paper) the strongest side in the English Premier League, but if they aren’t playing together consistently week in week out, I feel the team won’t be able to perform well on a regular basis. With the great amounts of money City have spent, the amount of pressure to perform increases in turn. If the players under-perform, the coaching staff and Mancini are under so much pressure that they cannot afford to play the same players who under-performed again the next week, as they may not improve, forcing Mancini to again and again change his starting XI and substitutes.
Consider this, City have seemingly unlimited cash via Sheikh Mansour, but in my opinion, City have too much money to spend. If you think about the amount of players City have brought in and tried to acquire, its fer-nominal (I can spell, just wanted to emphasize the point!). (Recalling the bid of 100 million for a certain Kaka which in many’s people’s eyes was outrageous despite his being an outstanding player). I feel the amount of money they have actually works against City and the pressure is too much for them to win. I think it will be extremely hard for them to make a glued-together tried and tested winning side as the burden of money is too much and winning ways are expected instantly and every week. Yes, they have some very good players in there ranks and a good in-depth strong group of professionals, but have they got a world class match winning player? In my mind, no. Yes they have the likes of Carlos Tevez who they have seemed to get the best out of, but other then Tevez, I feel they are not full of match winners while if you look at the world’s great sides, match winners are ever-present. Also, Tevez seems to not grab the game by the horns at some times, leaving more burden on his team-mates.
Maybe Man City should invest their funds into the coaching side of the game. If you look at City’s rivals, Manchester United, they are a team who don’t completely rely on big money transfers to prevail. United have arguably the best facilities and coaching staff throughout the league which is vital to success. Sir Alex Ferguson isn’t one to splash the cash as he looks for young promising talent to bring into the squad to develop, as well as a few tried and tested individuals such as Berbatov (only really big money transfer in recent years), Michael Owen and Van Der Sar to name a few. United heavily rely on their youth set up to bring through talent, and it is working just as brilliantly now as it has done for many years. With the likes of Scholes, Giggs and Beckham going through the youth setups, it is evident it has been successful. Many of the United squad today are made up of home grown players including Scottish, Welsh, and Irish (which has become a rule in the Premier League), or those players from Europe all mostly being brought through the youth ranks as well (Macheda etc.). United also have a good mix of reliant older players such as Scholes, Giggs and Van Der Sar, who have helped United’s youth players and younger first team stars mature. Ferguson also has his regulars such as Rooney, Fletcher, Carrick, Evra, and Vidic to name some, which provide the balance to the side that really make it one of the most well rounded sides in the world.
Golden Oldies Giggs and Scholes.
Man City could look to their rivals United, and maybe take a few pointers on how to develop a successful side for years to come, but whether it is possible or not is another thing. Something for sure though, is that if City don’t acquire a regularly playing XI with a good balance of players and coaching, they shouldn’t expect Champions League glory anytime soon. Yes, they have a good strong group of individuals, but as individuals is how they currently play. These are the early days at City though, but as expectation increases, so will the pressure on all those down at Manchester City. They have started winning games more frequently, but is the money too much of a burden? Are the expectations of Mancini and his side too high? Only time will tell and maybe this season, on how Manchester City will fare in the future.
