For any Manchester City fan, the club has long been synonymous with erratic results, disappointments and miracles.
It doesn’t need to be emphasised how much the club’s long suffering followers have been waiting to emminate their former glory days of the Joe Mercer era, or their passion for the attacking style of football that we were once renound for.
After yo-yoing up and down leagues over the paste decade, City returned to the top-flight of football where they slowly began to decline as the relegation battles took their toll.
Managers came and went, players left for pastures new and stagnation set in; Relegation back to the lower echelons of the football leagues was imminent.
The club and supporters were given salvation in 2007 when former Thai PM, Thaksin Shinawatra bought out the shareholders and became Manchester City Chairman, promising funds and installing a world renound manager at the helm.
With an outstanding first-half of the season under the new regime, the inevitability of dissapointment was soon to follow as the Chairman’s finances were cut and the club spiralled out of control, both on the field and off of it.
It was ‘typical city’, success followed by disaster. Subsequently, Sven was sacked and up-and-coming British manager Mark Hughes was instated as manager
Few would have been suprised then as disaster was followed again by salvation.
Billionaire Abu Dhabi royal Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan bought Manchester City through his investment group ADUG in 2008, paving the way for future success, world class players and the promise of a return to the top of world football; City fans would once again bare witness to their club’s rise to pre-eminence under the new alias of ‘The Richest Club In The World’.
After finishing ninth last season, my naive first thoughts were that we would be in and around sixth or seventh place following the takeover and the aquisition of Premier League record signing Robinho.
After watching game after game I soon realised that this was going to be more difficult than I anticipated and duely changed by expectations as the season wore on to match the reality of the clubs situation.
People may argue that with the current crop of players, Hughes should have done a lot better, but in my mind, this season should never have been about where we finished but where we started.
Since the ADUG takeover, the facilities and infrastructre of the club has been modernised and Manchester City Football Club has been overhauled into a working business model that will be sustainable for the clubs long-term future.
The culture of the club is evolving and we have a new ethic of professionalism and hard work as well as an exciting brand of football to watch.
I realise that regardless of what has happened to City in the past, it is completely irrelevent in terms of our future and it is time to wipe the slate clean. We are starting at square one and we must treat it as so.
In my mind, I am viewing this as City’s first ever season in the premier league- because that it basically what it is.
We have new owners, a new manager, new players and a new culture. This is a new City.
Gone is the ‘liddle ciddy’ of past years, we are a new super power on the scene and we must all move on from past dissapointments and build upon the foundations that we have built this season.
This truly is a club in transition and starting from square one requires a constant growth rate which can only be built through stability, and more importantly, patience.
Mark Hughes reiterated this sentiment, stating: ‘There have been some huge changes, and there will be huge changes in the future. People have got to understand there is a lot of work involved, and it’s only just begun.’
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