Translated material
Sheikh and the "townspeople"
The English club Manchester City is full of ambitious plans
Chelsea's main competitor in the fight for the English title may not be Manchester United, but its neighbor Manchester City. This season, the “townspeople” were able to inflict the only defeat on the champions, while outplaying the Londoners tactically. City's squad is more than strong, and coach Roberto Mancini's qualifications are quite high. Therefore, one should not be surprised if another Manchester leaves many recognized authorities behind.So one of the leaders of Chelsea, Michael Essien, says approximately the same thing: “Our closest pursuer now is Manchester City.” It can be seen that they have made some good acquisitions to compete for the highest places. Let's see what they can do. I don’t know if they have enough strength to last the entire distance, but they have the players to go out and win.”
“There are players” is putting it mildly. At the moment, Manchester City is the most complete club in the English Premier League. Where else could the likes of Shay Given, Patrick Vieira, Emmanuel Adebayor, Joleon Lescott and Shaun Wright-Phillips sit on the bench? Even Chelsea, with its star-studded squad, cannot boast of such a bench. At the same time, Jerome Boateng has just started playing after recovering from injury; Aleksandar Kolarov and Mario Balotelli have not yet taken the field. The Citizens, who are in second place, are now playing at 30-40 percent of their potential. What happens if they improve as the season progresses?
Mansur, Mancini, "Manchester" - the formula for the success of the "citizens". The main figure, of course, is Mansour Bin-Zayed Al-Nahyan, or simply Sheikh Mansour, a 40-year-old prince from Abu Dhabi, politician and multi-billionaire. The prince’s fortune is estimated at approximately $5 billion, and His Highness is ready to spend a significant portion of his funds on his favorite “toy” Manchester City, which the sheikh became the owner of two years ago. Over the past year, the owner, who looks more like an actor from an Indian movie than a classic Middle Eastern sheikh, spent £225 million. The prince's losses amounted to 121 million. Sheikh Mansour did not reach the record of Chelsea owner Abramovich (143 million units of British currency loss), but managed to displace Roman Arkadyevich in the unofficial rating of the spender of the English Premier League. Sheikh Mansour is Abramovich from the middle of the last decade, who bought players in batches, only more prudent and persistent. The owner of Chelsea has already settled down and switched from carpet selection to spot selection. The City boss may end up on a big shopping spree once his club win their first trophy. Let us remember that the last time the “townspeople” replenished the already sparse exhibition of their club museum was in 1976 with a modest League Cup.
No matter how star-studded the squad is and no matter how high the salaries of the players, and at City they are the highest, success is only possible with a strong coach. A very respected Welsh specialist in England, Mark Hughes, failed in this mission and was sent into retirement. He was replaced by Roberto Mancini, who won the Scudetto three times with Inter. What was Sheikh Mansour guided by when inviting the Italian? Not only for the sake of the game of capital letters - Mansur, Mancini, Manchester. What was Inter like before Mancini arrived? A collection of stars who played all sorts of games, but not a team of like-minded people. The coach was able to give the Milanese team play, and Inter turned from an eternal loser into the strongest club in Italy. The Blue-Blacks won the Champions League under the leadership of Jose Mourinho, but the Portuguese inherited a good legacy. So in Manchester, Mancini was given the task of turning the most frivolous team in the Premier League into one of the strongest in England. And then it will be clear who will have to lift Manchester City to European heights - Mancini himself or someone else. After all, Sheikh Mansour’s plans include winning the Champions League.
Unlike Hughes, who was invited by the previous owner, Thai Thaksin Shinovatra, Mancini is the creation of Sheikh Mansour himself, so the Italian enjoys great confidence from the Arab prince. Even after the not-so-impressive start for the “citizens,” the question of replacing the coach was not raised. The contract is for three and a half years, and if the first trophies appear, it will probably be extended.
Now about the specific composition of the “citizens”. City has always had strong players, which did not stop the team from performing haphazardly. But with the arrival of the new owner, the good team became stellar. Having intercepted Robinho from Chelsea, Sheikh Mansour showed the seriousness of his intentions. By the way, Robinho never really played and was eventually sold to Milan. But other purchases, some immediately, some with some delay, begin to justify themselves. The main transfer success is Argentinean Carlos Tevez. First of all, Carlitos brings a ton of value on and off the field. Secondly, the Argentine’s transfer from the ranks of Manchester United’s main enemy had an important psychological significance. They say We're king in Manchester. Acquisition number two is Adam Johnson, who became the main star of the national team at City. The English have been jealous of the Welsh for so long that they have Ryan Giggs, so they dreamed that they would have their own fast and capable left-hander. And now their dreams have come true. “Our answer to Ryan Giggs” named Adam Johnson was bought from Middlesbrough in the winter and very quickly became a crowd favorite. Adam has quite a lot of goals to his name - he scored against Juventus, against Liverpool, and against Newcastle, and also scored in both qualifying matches of the England national team with the Bulgarians and the Swiss. At the same time, Johnson at the club often plays not on the left, but on the right, because the team also has an expensive (transfer amount is 21 million pounds sterling) world and European champion, Spaniard David Silva, acquired from Valencia last summer.
Number three star Joe Hart was bought long before Sheikh Mansour arrived at the club, in 2006. The young goalkeeper was taken from Shrewsbury for 600 thousand pounds. Over the course of four years, Hart grew into England's goalkeeper. At his club, he seated Shay Given himself on the bench, and in the national team he can solve the most painful problem for the British - goalkeeping.
Liverpool courted Aston Villa defensive midfielder Gareth Barry for four years and failed to persuade him to move to Anfield. City were able to quickly convince the England international and he now occupies a key position in midfield. This summer, another midfielder, James Milner, followed the route trodden by Barry. In order to buy two England national team players, the “townspeople” had to sacrifice a couple of favorites of the local public - Irishmen Richard Dunne and Stephen Ireland. The fans were sorry to part with them, but the deals paid off.
In general, Manchester City is gradually becoming the base club of the England national team. For the match with Montenegro, head coach Fabio Capello called up five players at once - goalkeeper Hart, defender Lescott, midfielders Wright-Phillips, Barry and Johnson. Alas, Milner is disqualified and Richards is injured. There are seven collections in total. Considering that the rest of the MS players are members of the national teams of their countries, it is not difficult to guess what a formidable force is in the hands of Roberto Mancini.
The seriousness of Manchester City's intentions is visible to the naked eye. The coming matches of the “citizens” will show how realistic it is to implement Sheikh Mansour’s ambitious plans. Especially the Mancunian derby scheduled for November 10th.