Is money the root of City’s problems?

For all their millions of pounds and for all the obvious talent they have in their squad, why is it that Manchester City are struggling at the wrong end of the table? It is almost as though being labelled the “world’s richest club” is beginning to weigh heavily around their necks and that their owner’s urgency to challenge for the Champion’s League is actually halting their natural progression up the table.

Since the club was initially taken over a year and a half ago by Dr. Thaksin Shinawatra, Manchester City have adopted a cutthroat policy in order to break into the top four. Before that they had been living a mediocre existence under Stuart Pearce and the new owners immediately brought in Sven Goran-Eriksson as his replacement to try and steady the ship and introduce some consistency to a squad that already had some potential. Eriksson introduced wholesale changes that saw the likes of Elano and Martin Petrov coming to Eastlands and an instant improvement was noticeable from day one of the new season. Manchester City looked virtually invincible, winning 7 of their first 10 games, playing some great football and only losing to Blackburn and Arsenal, whilst beating their greatest rivals and eventual champions Manchester United along the way. They finished the season in 9th place on 55 points, a vast increase on the previous year’s 42 points that saw them finish 14th. Nevertheless, it was deemed not good enough and Eriksson was promptly shown the exit with Mark Hughes taking up the reins in his place.

Mark Hughes, or ‘Sparky’ as he is often referred, was headhunted by Manchester City for his successful period in control of Blackburn Rovers. Hughes had a good thing going at Blackburn. He had built a strong team from the ground up, had the full backing of the boardroom and as such his efforts had been hugely appreciated by both the club and its fans. It cannot have been easy for him to leave it all behind in favour of the City job. However, he wanted to try himself at a higher level and Blackburn just did not have the necessary resources to provide him with that test. As a result, Hughes left Ewood Park for Eastlands on the basis that he would have money to spend and full control over any players coming in or out of the club.

However, their summer quickly descended into chaos after a bizarre series of events that must have left Hughes wondering what he had signed up for. They had spent the best part of the window chasing the services of Ronaldinho once Barcelona had made him available but, despite offering him a huge contract that dwarfed that eventually given by AC Milan, he refused to sign on the dotted line. Then City suddenly appeared to be in big trouble as their owner’s credentials were called into question. Skipping a trial in his home country of Thailand meant his assets would remain frozen and an arrest warrant was issued in his name, sparking rumours of meltdown in Manchester. Things got so bad that, when it seemed as though the club had tried to flog off two of their prized assets behind Sparky’s back in order just to pay the bills, it had been reported that he was threatening to walk out.

The biggest twist then came on deadline day when it was suddenly announced that the club had been taken over by a consortium from Abu Dhabi which effectively brought them all the funds they could ever possibly need and, as if to prove their muscle, they quickly stole Brazilian whizzkid Robinho from under Chelsea’s nose for an emphatic £32.5m with just hours left to go. Neither were they finished there and, although he was the only big money target City managed on the day, they signaled their future intentions with international superstars Gianluigi Buffon and David Villa both on their shopping list. 

While they were rejoicing in the streets up in Manchester at this news, I dare say that this is the very reason behind their poor run of form this season. Although publicly claiming they back Mark Hughes 100%, the Abu Dhabi Investment Group appear determined to stick their noses in and build the team that they want. As much as I am sure that Sparky would love to attract such massive stars to his team as those who’s names are being suggested, his lack of full control is not what he agreed to and you cannot help but wonder how much the investment group’s blueprint for City is beginning to suffocate their manager’s own methods and ideals.

It is not just the club’s owner with the grandiose plans either. Nike’s ex-marketing guru Garry Cook was hired by previous owner Shinawatra as the man to work on Manchester City’s global image. However, he has often talked about subjects that should surely be left solely up to the manager, after all what does Garry Cook know about football? Over the summer he publicly spoke out about the type of players he wants to bring to the club and even went so far as to criticise some of those still at City at the time, implying they were to be replaced with comments like: ”Mark has seen the players that over a long period of time, well, we could probably do better”, a direct reference to Vedran Corluka (who was still at the club at the time) and Stephen Ireland (who has been one of their best performers this year). He also said that ”Richard Dunne doesn’t roll off the tongue in Beijing” when talking about their need for a superstar. Undermining players in that fashion whilst they remain with you is baffling and despite Hughes’ wishes that all transfers go through him, comments like “everybody’s for sale in football” cannot fill him with confidence as to that being the case.

City now find themselves in the relegation zone for the Christmas period and, although still well within touching distance of the rest of the pack, it is a long way from where they wanted to be. Eriksson had constructed a decent team and had turned about their fortunes in the league but he was ultimately asked to leave regardless. With that in mind, it can only be a matter of time before Mark Hughes falls foul of the same decisiveness that had brought him there to begin with and that could turn out to be the board’s biggest mistake of the lot. It might not be coming together quite the way he would of liked it to at the moment but when you are in the mix down the bottom of the table, Sparky is exactly the sort of person you want to lead you out of trouble. The danger is that they get rid of him in favour of some big name, foreign manager who has a host of trophies on his CV but no experience of English football and certainly no experience of our relegation battles.

The same goes for the players and I’m sure that is weighing heavily on some of their shoulders. Joe Hart has been in consistently great form for City and is a hot young prospect in England but his position is still under threat from the potential signing of megastar Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon. Whether they can entice Buffon to Manchester remains to be seen but it cannot be a nice situation for Hart to find himself in. I would also argue that players like Hart, Ireland and Richards know what it means to play for City, having been brought through the ranks there, and they will fight for all they are worth to keep them from going down. The sort of players that City are looking to bring in want money and success before any sort of loyalty and will be the first to jump ship if it is not working out for them.

All this has created huge unrest at the club with players like Robinho and Elano questioning their manager and their teammates. If they are not careful, City will end up with a disjointed squad of celebrities who will have come to Manchester for a payday and not to play for what is otherwise a great club with a great history.