The season starts here. City go into a vital game at home to Wigan Athetic on saturday after a two week break which has given us all some time to take stock of exactly where we stand in the Premiership and how far we have progressed, or in many areas, fallen.
In an effort to stop sounding like a stuck record and to avoid repeating our very poor statistics under Stuart Pearce’s tactics and his one scout travelling shoe string budget, I’ll cut to the chase. We need results and quickly to take steadily increasing pressure off. Failure to beat the Pie Tasters is not an option. The squad escaped for refreshment to Dubai of all places after the FA Cup win at Preston and maybe that’s just as well as takeover fever has all but engulfed the club this week. Reaching the FA Cup Quarter Final has given our beleaguered support something to cheer at last but Premiership survival is paramount at all costs.
Takeover speculation and dreams of “war chests” for SP and Wigley to spend aside, there have been other developments much closer to home that deal with the harsh reality of supporting Manchester City FC in 2007. These events strike right at the heart of the club. The Daboesque timing of the half yearly news release that City have lost another 7 million quid surely could hardly have been worse when potential investors are considered. I’m no financial expert but that’s got to be like preparing to buy a car off a bloke who suddenly says ‘Er, sorry mate. There’s more mileage on it than I thought.’ There’s no doubt that this latest uninspiring financial revelation will put the likes of Chelski back on alert yet again for our Academy stars.
If that wasn’t bad enough, Tim Flowers and Frankie Bunn have jumped ship from the management team just before the crucial Premiership run in starts. Cheers, gentlemen. Do they know something we don’t?!!
Both departures damage our credibility at a crucial stage of the season.
Whatever anybody says, City increasingly look like a sinking ship. Monty Python’s Holy Grail classic images keep springing to mind for some reason…. One things for sure, SP will now only have Steve Wigley to turn to for blank expressioned input on saturday afternoon. That’s unless hastily arranged Flowers replacement Eric Steele is any cop at staring into space!
In other news, the seemingly relentless rudderless ship developments continue. Please somebody say it is nothing more than a scurrilous “Street of Shame” rumour that we are pursuing a Spanish goalkeeper. What’s up with all our other ‘keepers, then? Blues worldwide were under the impression it was the other end of the pitch that needed reinforcing! If it’s true, then stories like that beggar belief…
…and so to the first challenge that this mini-season presents. We owe Wigan big time for that humiliation last October and the City team cannot need any greater motivation than that appalling non performance, subsequent result and thoroughly deserved savaging by the City supporters.
For further inspiration, we are only seven points off the drop zone and our games in hand are against The Gooners and Chelski. I maintain that we have an extremely difficult final third of the season and scrapping for survival against the rags at Eastlands then Spurs away does not bear thinking about. We have to secure our top flight status as quickly as possible.
Whether we like it or not Blues, for now we are stuck with the regime we have at our beloved club and the management team they have appointed. Although many of us have already justifiably thrown in the towel, we have to get behind the manager, the questionably high salaried signings that have been sanctioned and our brilliant Academy stars in the hope that they can finally find the playing system, consistency and results needed to ensure our survival through to a summer which could be one of unprecedented change.
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