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Premiership Football News: A Sheikh-up at Manchester City

Andy Greeves

For decades they've been the butt of cruel jokes, yo-yoing between divisions while their bitter rivals Manchester United win European and countless domestic titles.

But on September 1, 2008, Manchester City Football Club stepped out of the dark and into the light, following the most unbelievable of transfer deadline days. It started when the Abu Dhabi United Group, owned by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan (a member of the UAE Royal Family) confirmed the takeover of Manchester City.

By the end of that day, the club had signed Brazilian superstar Robinho for a British club record transfer fee of £32m. They had a £35m bid for Dimitar Berbatov accepted by Tottenham Hotspur, but the Bulgarian opted for Old Trafford instead. City also bid for the £30m-rated David Villa of Valencia and Mario Gomez of Stuttgart. In fact Sky Sports reported City could have bid for as many as six top superstars that day.

City fans rubbed their eyes with disbelief while the rest of the football world reflected on the day a new mega power had been born.

Long suffering City supporter and member of Oasis, Noel Gallagher rather summed up the mood of the blue half of Manchester, as he spoke to BBC Radio Five Live on transfer deadline day. "I was laughing at first, and I still really can't believe it," commented the Longsight-born guitarist and vocalist. "I can't see any downside to this to be honest. Going from a cult football club that black cab drivers in London all like and patronise you [about], to being the richest club in the world is just staggering." "Then to top it all off…I found out we've signed Robinho....it's staggering, just unbelievable."

Not since Roman Abramovich took over Chelsea in June 2003 have such shock waves reverberated through the Premiership. Unlike at Manchester United and Liverpool, Abu Dhabi United Group are not financing the Manchester City takeover with loans. They are investing part of their three trillion dollar wealth directly into the Eastlands, or should that be Middle Eastlands' coffers.

The day after the transfer window closed, UAE publication Arabian Business ran an interview with Dr Sulaiman Al Fahim - the individual who made the Manchester City takeover happen. He claimed he was prepared to hand over a staggering £540m to fulfil Abu Dhabi United's ambition.

"Our goal is very simple," he said. "We want to make Manchester City the biggest club in the Premier League, and to begin with, to finish in the top four this season."

Al Fahim believes City need to sign 18 players in total to eventually win the Premiership title and Champions League. He has outlined a team of players he wants to bring to City, who include Lionel Messi, Sergio Ramos, Javier Mascherano, Philip Lahm, Cesc Fabregas, Fernando Torres, Ruud Van Nistelrooy, Cristiano Ronaldo and David Villa.

That's not to say City's new owners aren't expecting big things with the current squad of players. Top four is the target for Mark Hughes men this season - a tall order considering the fact only once in the last five season has a club outside of 'the big four' penetrated. Under Sven Goran Eriksson's tenure, the Eastlands club was a massive 21 points away from a Champions League spot last campaign, highlighting the scale of the task ahead if the players are to satisfy their owners.

Manchester City's first match under new ownership came, ironically enough, against Chelsea last weekend. The press had a field day, billing the match as ‘the clash of the cash,' or ‘Russia v UAE'. Given the hype surrounding the game, you could forgive some City fans for believing they were already title contenders. Chelsea delivered a timely reality check, winning 3-1 at Eastlands, suggesting that top six may well be a more realistic ambition this campaign.

Chelsea manager Luiz Felipe Scolari, who turned job the vacant managerial post at City over the summer, believes it could take up to ten years for the Manchester club to win the league, despite their vast wealth. "You need results, you need to win games," he said. "It is not just about buying one or two players to become the best club in England and the world, you need to win.

"It is a project that is not for one or two years but maybe 10 or 15, but it is very good for England and for football that more clubs have projects to get bigger and get into the top 10 in the world. Manchester are starting to move towards this."

Across the Premiership, opinions on the Abu Dhabi United owned Manchester City are divided.

Rafa Benitez thinks the Citizens could be a force to be reckoned with sooner rather than later.

"You cannot just win the title by spending money but Chelsea won for two years spending big, big money. Afterwards Manchester United won spending lots of money too," says the Spaniard. "It is not just a question of money but if you have more money it is easier. If you don't have too much money, you must do the job as best you can. If we are talking about spending money then maybe Manchester City will win the title this year."

Arsene Wenger has been less than impressed with Manchester City's new owners, who have publicly touted the players they would like to sign - the Gunners' Cesc Fabregas included. Abu Dhabi United have told newspapers how they would be prepared to pay what it takes to get the likes Messi, Kaka and Ronaldinho. Views Wenger believes the new owners should keep strictly to themselves.

"Football is not a supermarket," said Wenger in a recent news conference. "You cannot come out and say 'we pay £250,000-a-week to Ronaldo and £135million', when the player has a six-year contract with United. It is not possible or acceptable. There is money in the game, and I take it in a positive way - but the football bodies have to make sure that money is ruled properly and used well for the ethics of the game."

In true Alex Ferguson style, the Manchester United manager is more worried about his own team, and claims he's not interested in what is happening in the blue half of Manchester. "I can't be worried," said Ferguson. "There's always challenges in football.

"Some years ago it was Chelsea, some years ago it was Arsenal. Wherever the challenges come you just have to accept it. It doesn't change anything."

The Manchester City story under Abu Dhabi United has just begun and one thing is for sure, we are going to be hearing a lot more about it in the years ahead. While money doesn't always equal success in football, City have to be regarded as a major world force given the size of their bank balance. It's going to be fascinating to see if the club can pull off mega-star signings, how much they will be prepared to paid to do that and just how quickly they can progress to towards becoming Premiership champions. Or will it simply all end in tears?
The intrigue of the whole situation will ensure the eyes of the football world fixated on Manchester City from here on out.

Andy Greeves

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