Clearly one rule for Manchester City and one for everyone else

Oh joy of joys; it’s another blog about Manchester City killing football. And as a City fan, I of course present the backlash to the backlash.

There’s no doubt that things are changing in English football. The old guard is retreating (very slowly). Liverpool is in turmoil, United being bled dry, even Chelsea are looking at austere times, and a tightening of their Russian owner’s belt.

There’s no greater clue to the changing times than how lame Fergie’s “mind-games” have become. Once upon a time, Alex could will whole opposition teams and referees to fall before him with just a few achingly-sharp words. The story goes that after one such rebuttal to an opposition manager in a post-match “presser”, the manager in question’s hair fell out overnight, and he ended up living in a cave in Somerset surviving only on carrots and cup-a-soups. Now though, he’s no more than a mouthpiece for the Glazers. There’s no value in the market, you see?

One of the first criticisms I heard of Manchester City is that they are no longer likeable – “City used to be everyone’s second team”. Another way of phrasing this is City are no longer utter pants. Because that’s what likeable teams are – failures. Successful teams are hated, unsuccessful teams pitied. Sod being liked by other supporters – football is not a popularity contest, it is a series of competitions.

“The soul of the club has gone,” the writer and journalist Simon Hattenstone wailed, as he announced his detachment from the club he supposedly loved (he’ll soon came crawling back). Of course, he had no idea what this soul was, but hey, it sounded good. I can only imagine this soul was constant failure, a misshaped ground, poor players, boardroom turmoil, debt and mismanagement. I prefer being soulless to be honest. We were a Manchester-based club with an outdoor ticket office, because, what’s the worst that could happen?

Essentially, we were liked because we were a bit of a shambles – a comedy club (the Theatre of Base Comedy as Stuart Hall called Maine Road, until Kevin Keegan told him to shut up), unthreatening to anyone, fuelled by hope and nothing more. It’s when we started becoming a threat that people stopped liking us. “Nobody knows your name” sang United fans. They certainly do now.

Or perhaps it was when we started flashing the cash around. Now, you could argue it’s possible to be successful and well-liked. I’m sure it is, but you won’t find many examples. Barcelona springs to mind, but as we’ve seen in recent months, it’s partially built on a myth. They’re skint, with debts of 400m Euros (they can’t even afford to put a roof over the stands), they openly chase other teams’ players, their players dive and feign injuries for club and country (yes you, Iniesta), they’re much like the rest of us. The fact is, it isn’t a possibility for City. They could spend 20 years slowly, slowly building up a team, making value-for-money purchases and not stepping on any toes –who knows, by 2025, we might have crept into the Big 4. Or we can say sod it, we’re building a whole new legacy here, and we’ll go for it now. We’ll transform the club and the community beyond it, invest in the local economy, and lays the foundations for generations. Because we can.

In the end, what other fans think is irrelevant. History doesn’t record outlays, balance sheets and profit margins, just trophies, just success, however it is earned.

Another accusation is that City have now been accused of buying a history. Well there’s no need to, as we already have one. As Martin Samuel said, even MK Dons have a history. It seems there was no football before 1992 – it was all a dream. Nope, it all started with the launch of the premiership, and any achievements prior to that count for nothing. City won the NW Masters for the 3rd time recently, and still people claim we have no history.

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