The Bernard Halford mystery / boardroom update

It appears that reports of Bernard Halford's demise are much exaggerated. But I'm still puzzled about what's gone on here.

Here is the document that was posted at Companies House, dated Oct 8th, which clearly states that the 67-year-old had his contract terminated on Sep 23rd:

(click on image to enlarge)



However, an announcement on the official site yesterday evening revealed that Halford is to remain in his role as Club Secretary. I'm still trying to find out what brought about this turnaround, though maybe the club should have known better than to mess with a guy dubbed Darth Vader.

The club's official announcement also revealed that Greek shipping tycoon Victor Restis has joined the board. According to the MEN, Restis is a Thaksin nominee and will represent, along with existing director Taweesuk Jack Srisumrid, the 10% stake Thaksin has retained.

Here then is the new board in full:

Chairman
Khaldoon Al Mubarak

Executive Chairman
Garry Cook

Directors
Martin L. Edelman
Simon Pearce
Victor Restis (Thaksin nominee)
Taweesuk Jack Srisumrid (Thaksin nominee)

Another mystery is the role of property lawyer Martin Edelman. In its original story about the boardroom changes published last night, the MEN stated that 'club officials have stressed he (Edelman) is not providing advice on the acquisition of property in and around the Sportcity complex'. That was removed from a re-write of the story this morning, with the paper stating that Edelman was brought in 'for his high powered legal prowess and for his in-depth knowledge of sporting takeovers, having been part of the team that concluded the £1.1billion sale of NFL franchise the Miami Dolphins in February this year'.

A lot has been made of Edelman's involvement in the Miami Dolphins takeover (he was one of 15 lawyers who worked on the deal) but it is important to stress that Edelman is first and foremost a high-powered property lawyer.

In fact, everything about the City takeover shouts 'property deal'. The original spokesman for the takeover, Sulaiman Al-Fahim, is CEO of real estate firm Hydra Properties, while our new chairman has extensive interests in real estate and is a board member of Aldar Developments. Victor Restis is the founder of the Assos Property Group, and represents a recent trend among Greek shipowners to diversify into property, and Thaksin himself has been eager to become a property developer, announcing plans in May to build a new city in Cambodia.

I suppose only time will tell on this one. But it is worth noting that Dubai International Capital's attempt to buy Liverpool last year was based around plans to redevelop Anfield, with The Telegraph revealing that DIC hoped to make an estimated 25% annual return over seven years from its redevelopment.

New directors appointed / Sportcity redevelopment gathers momentum

Manchester City Football Club now has a new board, according to documents filed at Companies House on Friday.

Six Thai directors - Thaksin Shinawatra, his daughter Pintongta, son Panthongtae, sister Yingluck, Sasin Monvoisin and Worawi Makudi, president of the Thailand FA - have now quit the board. Bryan Bodek, who joined the board in 2000 after BSkyB bought a 9.95% stake, also leaves.

Khaldoon Al Mubarak has been officially confirmed as Chairman while Simon Pearce, the director of strategic communications for Abu Dhabi's Executive Affairs Authority, becomes a director as had been predicted.

But the most interesting appointment is American property lawyer Martin L. Edelman, who becomes a director. Described by New York property magazine, The Real Deal, as 'one of the top real estate attorneys in the city', Edelman (pictured) specialises in complex multi-million pound property transactions, including institutional and international joint ventures.



The appointment is the strongest indication yet that our new owners have major plans to redevelop the 38-acre Sportcity site. Shortly after the takeover was announced last month, the the MEN revealed that the City Council were looking for developers to bankroll a £300m redevelopment of the site. The Council also issued a prior information notice for the project, which described its plans for a 'visitor destination attraction of national or international significance'. The Council hopes the development 'will be internationally distinctive in content and scale' as well as offering 'a cultural and educational experience that caters for a wide consumer audience.'

It's possible that negotiations between the club and the Council are already at an advanced stage. The prior information notice is a legal requirement under European Union law (rather like a firm having to advertise a job vacancy even if it's going to filled internally), so doesn't necessarily mean the Council are actively looking for other bidders. Meetings have already taken place between City and the Council, and Council chief executive Sir Howard Bernstein recently revealed that another meeting with City's new owner Sheikh Mansour is 'scheduled for the next few weeks'.

According to this weekend's Sunday Mirror, the club are hoping to buy CoMS and the surrounding area, but Edelman's expertise at arranging joint ventures, and the Council's known reluctance to sell the land and stadium, suggests that a deal involving joint ownership is looking more likely at this stage.


City's top bananas: Cook, Mubarak and Pearce at the Portsmouth game

~ For an idea of what a redeveloped Sportcity might look like, this site has some interesting pictures of new developments in the UAE, including the Dubai Sport City.

~ A part of City history came to an end last week when club secretary Bernard Halford left his job after 35 years at the club. So far the news has not been announced on the official site, but hopefully they'll see fit to write some sort of tribute to the man dubbed 'Mr Manchester City'.
His departure also makes me wonder who the longest serving City employee currently is. If anyone knows please drop me a line.

Is this the best squad since the 1970s?

I've just been updating the squad list (below) and have been trying to figure out the last time we had a squad as strong as this. I reckon you have to go back to the 1978-79 season when the team included the likes of Watson, Donachie, Hartford, Barnes and Channon. You can judge for yourself by looking at historic line-ups at MCFC Stats (click on the Matches section, select a year then click line-ups) or you can see a simplified list of City starting XIs since 1959/60 here.

(click on graphic for bigger image)




When the contracts come up

With Michael Johnson finally signing a four-and-half-year deal yesterday, our only real concern now is getting Sturridge and Hart to sign new contracts (as Petrov will be 31-years-old when his contract ends I imagine we'll be in no rush to tie him into a longer deal).

Below is the full list of when the contracts come up. The dates in brackets refer to the year players are able to leave by buying up their contracts. This recent development is the result of the Webster Ruling, which allows players under 28-years-old to buy out the remainder of a contract three years after it was signed, while a player over 28 can buy out his contract after two years. In the case of Micah Richards, for instance, it means the club will have to negotiate a new deal with him some time in 2010, despite the fact he signed a five-and-a-half year deal in February.

2009
Jan) N Castillo
Michael Ball
Danny Mills
Gláuber Berti
Dietmar Hamann
Darius Vassell
Daniel Sturridge

2010
Joe Hart (2009)
Shaleum Logan (2010)
Martin Petrov (2009)
Benjani (2010)
Kelvin Etuhu (2010)

2011
Kasper Schmeichel (2010)
Nedum Onuoha (2010)
Javier Garrido (2010)
Gelson Fernandes (2010)
Elano (2009)
Valeri Bojinov (2010)
Ched Evans (2011)

2012
Tal Ben Haim (2011)
Richard Dunne (2010)
Stephen Ireland (2011)
Vincent Kompany (2011)
Shaun Wright-Phillips (2010)
Felipe Caicedo (2011)
Jô (2011)
Robinho (2011)

2013
Micah Richards (2011)
Pablo Zabaleta (2011)
Michael Johnson (2011)


Player ratings v Chelsea

A lot more ratings than usual to add up this week (40 in all), and some very contrasting scores. However, when I averaged them up the only one I think was unfair was Ireland's, who I felt deserved at least a 7.

Ratings come from (in order): Blue2, Vhero, Kladze, law74, Niall Quinns Discopants, SirElano, Kuwait, Colin the king, goat_thelegend, cola, OhDannyBoy, Grob, Piccsnumberoneblue, bluemoon (Mancityfans); svennis pennis, robspankthemonkey, bert38, Enty, ello_jo, NQT, BillyShears, ElanJo, Marvin, cfn1963, DontLookBackInAnger, Daniel Sturridge, SUPA SKUNK, Halfpenny, mcigo, scorer, ell, leemcfc30, Neil McNab's Tash, the god Gerry Gow (Bluemoon); MEN, Richard Tucker (Rtfract), The Lonesome Death of Roy Carroll, The Observer, BBC, Sky Your Ratings.


Hart: 5.9

Zabaleta: 5.0

Richards: 5.9

Dunne: 5.3

Ball (Sturridge 84): 5.3

Hamann (Gelson 61): 5.2

Kompany: 6.2

Wright-Phillips: 7.4

Robinho: 7.0

Ireland: 6.4

Jo: 7.4


Subs:

Gelson (Hamann 61): 5.4

Sturridge (Ball 84)

Subs not used:
Schmeichel, Elano, Garrido, Evans, Ben-Haim


Chelsea match details

~ Highlights (9mins 48)
~ Post-match interviews
~ Pictures from Rtfract, Guardian photos, Getty Images
~ Latest Premiership table

So how much would the Premiership title cost?

I was watching Sky Sports News earlier in the week, which featured a succession of United fans declaring that money is not enough to buy success. After I'd finished chuckling (the clear unease of many United fans really has the potential to become the best long-running joke in football ever) it did make me wonder exactly how much it might cost to create a side capable of winning the title and Champions League.

So below is a table that shows the combined spending on wages and net transfer dealings from the 03-04 season (when Abramovich bought Chelsea) until 06-07. The wage bills for the 05-06 and 06-07 seasons come from the BBC, the 03-04 figures are from here, and I've totally forgotten where I got the 04-05 figures from. The net transfer costs come from a variety of sources listed in this story from last week. The table only lists clubs who have been in the Premiership for all of those four seasons.



Working out how much our prospective new owners would actually be out of pocket should they engage in Chelsea-type spending is a little trickier. Chelsea lost a combined £360m in the first four seasons under Abramovich (details here and here), despite their turnover jumping from £75.1m to £190.5m. Personally, I can't imagine the Abu Dhabi royals would be interested in fleecing fans in the way Abramovich did, so I doubt we'd ever be able to come close to their level of turnover. And given the way wages and transfer fees are currently soaring, my guess is that a title-challenge by City could easily result in a bill of around £500m.

In the next table, I've played around with the figures to see which clubs used their resources the most efficiently. The table divides the amount each club spent on wages and transfers in those four seasons by the number of Premiership points won, while the final column shows how much better or worse each club has performed compared to the average. I've separated the Top 4 clubs from the others, as they've effectively been in their own league during this period.

(Click on table for better quality image)



Of course, a table like this is never going to reveal the full picture. In City's case, our big spending took place before the 03-04 season and ensured we had enough quality, and saleable assets, to survive a major belt-tightening. But one figure that is really telling is Newcastle's, whose current plight might be likened to the hangover that follows a rather extravagant night on the town.


Marketing department raise their game

Looks like they've played a blinder judging by photos posted by berger1985 over at Mancityfans. The stairwell banners contain the names of season ticket holders, which, given recent media coverage, is a nice reminder of who really matters at a football club.



Mind you, I'm not sure what to make of this story from Arabian Business, which reveals that City had drawn up a 83-page document detailing how the club could be re-branded as 'the Virgin of Asia and the world'.
Apparently, City-branded mini-coopers, an entire fashion range, and a chain of food outlets called “City Eating” were part of the grand scheme. My view is that if a branding exercise like this was practicable it probably would have already been tried by United or Chelsea, which leaves me with the distinct impression that this whole scheme was a lot of hopeful nonsense.

Meanwhile, over at Bluemoon, swede140 has posted a pic of what could be our new owner's masterplan:



Actually, I reckon that looks pretty stylish, in a Middle-East-meets-Wembley sort of way. And it does bring me onto a topic which needs addressing. I've noticed that a few fans have been printing up T-shirts to celebrate the Abu Dhabi takeover, while others are planning to attend the Chelsea game in Arab fancy dress.

I mentioned this to my partner, who has studied the Middle East and speaks Arabic, and she sounded out the opinion of a good Arab friend of hers. Their view is the Abu Dhabi royals probably wouldn't see the funny side to the fancy dress as they can be a little sensitive about their humble origins (though Palestinian Arabs would absolutely love it, apparently). However, we all agreed that as they're the ones buying into our club, and our culture, they're just going to have to get used to it.

However, one important thing needs to be said even though, for most people, this will be stating the obvious:

Please, please, don't create anything that includes an image of the Prophet Muhammad. This is considered by Muslims as the very worst insult to their religion and if it were shown on TV would likely result in bloodshed - and might even scupper the whole takeover.

~ In case you missed it, there was a fascinating piece in the Telegraph on Monday, which claims that Sulaiman Al Fahim is going to be sidelined after displeasing Sheikh Mansour with his outspoken comments on player purchases.
~ And finally, there's a great post at Wookie's Lair by a guy named Mick, who describes the fantastic reaction he got walking round Edinburgh in a City shirt last weekend.

I never thought I'd ever say this, but ....

Now the reality of the proposed takeover has finally sunk in I'm left with this curious thought:

I really hope that City don't spend the sort of money that's currently being talked about.

Don't get me wrong, I love the thought of being able to compete with - and occasionally out-bid - the likes of United, Chelsea, Barcelona and Real. And I certainly don't have a problem with the idea of "buying success". With the odd exception (like Clough's Forest side), I believe that success in football has usually come via the chequebook. When City won their first ever trophy, the 1904 FA Cup, the club were being bank-rolled by newspaper magnate Edward Hulton jnr and were widely regarded as brash, free-spending upstarts. The 1937 title-winners were an expensively assembled side whose only Manchester-born player was signed from United, and it's easy to forget that Mercer's all-conquering team was the product of some pretty expensive purchases for the time (£42,000 for Bell, £35,000 for Summerbee and £60,000 for Lee).

But my concern right now is whether assembling an All-Stars XI side in a short space of time would be the wise thing to do. Even before the deadline-day excitement I was getting a bit giddy about our prospects for this season. Watching the 3-0 win at Sunderland, it wasn't just the way we knocked the ball around and created chances that was making me wonder about of a Top 4 finish. The way we celebrated the goals, and the beaming smile on Shaun Wright-Phillips' face, suggested that this side was really starting to bond.

But what is going to happen to that team spirit if the players believe they're going to be replaced in a few months' time? Will the likes of Dunne, Petrov and Elano now be wondering where exactly their futures lie? And what about the younger players? On Sunday, Hughes announced that Johnson would be signing a new contract "over the next 24 hours", but that's all gone quiet and Hart still hasn't signed a new deal. Evans and Sturridge (whose contract expires next summer) must be wondering if they'll ever play for City again after January, while the kids currently in the academy must now seriously doubt whether they'll ever start a first-team game.

And spare a thought for Shaun Wright-Phillips. After three wretched seasons on the periphery of the Chelsea team, he returns to the club he clearly loves with four seasons of regular first-team football and fan adoration to look forward to. Is he now fearing his Chelsea nightmare is about to repeat itself? I'm also wondering what Vincent Kompany is thinking right now. "Chelsea came in for me a year-and-a-half ago, but I refused, although I could have doubled what I had at Anderlecht," Kompany told Sky Sports in 2006. "But I am not crazy, I saw enough examples of others. "Chelsea are a factory. I do not doubt my qualities to make it at Chelsea, it is possible to still go there later. "But I would rather never go to Chelsea, than go at a bad moment."

Maybe I'm just developing a mild case of City-itis - that unique ability some of us have to look on the gloomy side. Certainly, assistant manager Mark Bowen isn't expecting a sudden flood of players, telling the BBC:

"It will be a natural progression over the next year or so with a number of players coming in. There will be an aspiration for the players but others will fall by the wayside - but that's the way it's been at Chelsea and Manchester United over the years.
"We want to give the players stiff competition for their places and if you have got real quality throughout the club that can only be for the benefit of the team."

But I do wonder what Mark Hughes really thinks about recent events. There was an interesting piece on Guillem Balague's website about the Zabaleta signing, that revealed the thoroughness of Hughes' homework before he signs a player:

"Hughes was taking lots of notes throughout the game and asked me all sorts of questions about the player, wanting to know absolutely everything I knew about him," Balague revealed.

Having to wait a full day before he gets to speak to a new signing will certainly be a new experience for Hughes. Okay, he's a young manager (and seemingly a very smart one) and can no doubt adapt to the new circumstances. But I think my point is that there's a smart way to go about things, and a not-so-smart way. And asking a manager what players he wants then pulling out all the stops is clearly the smart way to operate.

Yesterday Al-Faim insisted that Hughes will be making transfer decisions from now on, though as Al-Faim isn't the one who'll be writing the cheques we'll have to wait and see on that one.

But hey, if Sheikh Mansour decides he want to assemble his FIFA '08 All-Stars XI, so be it. Given a choice between that and a return to the hope-sapping misery of the Pearce era I'll take the Fantasy Football option in a shot.

But in the true spirit of this club, I reserve the right to at least find something to get angst-ridden about.


~ In case you haven't seen it, this YouTube take on events really made me laugh.

City are now the world's biggest transfer spenders

No doubt we'll get used to headlines like that at some point, but right now yesterday's news still hasn't fully sunk in for me. Anyway, below are the figures for the world's biggest net transfer spenders since summer 2007. Figures for overseas clubs come from transfermarkt.de.



Here's our summer spending in detail:



And here's how our spending compares to other Premiership clubs. Figures come from The Times and The Telegraph and don't include signing-on fees. Profits from transfers are in brackets.



The next table shows how our spending since last summer's takeover compares:



And finally, here's how our transfer spending since the 03-04 season compares:




~ I'm going to be writing something about the Abu Dhabi takeover later in the week, but as an illustration of some of the unexpected difficulties it might throw up, here's a pic of our new trophy room first posted by Goats Tit at Citymancs. Looks like we're going to have problems getting that new trophy cabinet in with all those bundles of paper in the way.

Site update

In light of the latest dramatic events I've decided to place today's planned feature on City's ownership and management structure on temporary hold.

I'm going to spend the rest of the day trying to make some sense of the latest developments, but it should be noted that a statement on the official site refers to the Abu Dhabi United Group (ADUG) "investing" in the club rather than taking it over.

Personally, I sense there's a lot more going on here than meets the eye, and I'm not yet convinced that Thaksin really intends to sell up. But hopefully we'll get a much clearer picture over the next couple of days.

Tomorrow I'll be publishing an updated Premier League / world transfer spending table (which may contain a surprise or two) and later in the week I'll be detailing how much City have actually spent since the Thaksin takeover.


Player ratings v Sunderland

I don't know if Sky are annoyed at selling their 10% stake in City too cheaply, but this week I've given them the red card for their bizarre ratings for this game.

Ratings come from (in order): MEN (Chris Bailey); xavi6, Vhero, bobadji, LookMumI'mOnMCF.net, Svensational, SvenIsDaMan, goat_thelegend, Niall Quinns Discopants, Grob, (Mancityfans), blue_blue (Wookie's Lair), Sky Your Rating and the BBC.

Hart: 7, 7, 7, 7, 7, 7, 7, 7, 7, 7, 8, 7, 7.6, 6.9 (av: 7.1 )
Precious little to do in terms of shot saving but there was confidence about work. (MEN)
Composed, solid etc etc. Didn't have a lot to do but did the little things well again. (xavi6)
Not a lot to do, but conceded 0 is all that matters. (bobadji)

Corluka: 7, 9, 9, 9, 9, 9, 9, 7, 9, 9, 8, 7, 6.6, 6.7 (av: 8.2)
Couple of dodgy moments early on but settled well into rhythm. (MEN)
Best game in a loooooong time. Very calm, played lovely football, and defended well. (xavi6)
Brilliant today, hopefully he'll stay and form a decent partnership with SWP. (bobadji)

Richards (Ben-Haim 46): 7, 7, 7, 7, 7, 7, 8, 7, 7, 7, 7, 6, 7.2, 6.5 (av: 7.0)
Took a could of nasty blows to either end of his anatomy and off at break. (MEN)
Kept Cisse quiet while he was on. Hopefully he's ok. (xavi6)
Went off at h/t but looked a lot better at CB than midweek. (bobadji)

Dunne: 7, 7, 6.5, 7, 7, 7, 9, 8, 7, 7, 6, 8, 7.3, 6.7 (av: 7.2)
When he starts well the captain often continues in the same vein and did here. (MEN)
The skipper did well today. Didn't give any of the strikers a sniff. (xavi6)
Didn't have anything to do really, but what he did, he did well. (bobadji)

Ball: 7, 9, 9, 8, 8, 8, 8, ,8 ,8 ,8 7, 8, 7.1, 6.4 (av: 7.8)
Continues to show improved form and was neat, tidy and accomplished.
We all knew he could defend but he actually looks a threat going forward now. Played very, very well again. (xavi6)
Really good, solid at the back, and grabbed himself an assist for SWP's 2nd. (bobadji)

Ireland: 7, 8, 8, 9, 9, 9, 9, 9, 9, 9, 8, 7, 8.2, 7.5 (av: 8.3)
Survived the axe when Petrov went lame and did himself proud again. (MEN)
Some lovely link play with Jo and a great finish for the goal. Another good game from Superman. (xavi6)
Preferred to Elano. Scored, and looked generally lively. (bobadji)

Hamann: 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 7, 7.6, 6.6 (av: 7.8 )
Never does anything extravagant but it always has a positive purpose. (MEN)
If only he was ten years younger. Can draw a foul in any situation and was a real calming influence in the middle. (xavi6)
He's great to watch, good passer, good tackler, knows when to foul, and knows how to draw the foul. Shame he's slow as fuck really. (bobadji)

Johnson: (Gelson 81): 7, 8, 7, 8, 8, 8, 8, 7, 8, 9, 5, 7, 7.8, 6.7 (av: 7.5)
Looked much more influential when he managed to get forward. Made goal. (MEN)
Liked him a lot today. Played more like the West Ham game than the midweek one. Got forward a lot and generally just played well. (xavi6)
Looking much better, like the start of last season. Did well for Ireland's goal. (bobadji)

Kompany: 8, 9, 9, 8, 8, 8, 9, 8, 8, 8, 9, 8, 8.2, 7.5 (av: 8.3)
Another impressive effort and he doesn’t seem to have a weakness. (MEN)
We've got a real star here. Last week clearly was no fluke. Has all the assets to be a top holding midfielder. (xavi6)
Another cool performance from the Prince. He's Hamann but 10 years ago. Brilliant. (bobadji)


Wright-Phillips (Elano 85): 9, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 9, 10, 10, 10, 9.5, 9.1, 9.0 (av: 9.7)
Superb. Never stopped running, tackling, smiling and scoring!
Carlsberg don't do dream returns........!!!! Fantastic to have him back and two goals capped a great day. (xavi6)
What can you say? Superb. (bobadji)

Jo: 7, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 9, 8, 8, 7, 7.5, 7.9, 7.1 (av: 7.8)
Much better. A threat in air but miscued his one real chance to score.
Fully deserved a goal. Ran his bollox off upfront and got involved in some lovely build ups. Couple more weeks playing with the rest and he'll be sorted. (xavi6)
Great touch and movement, did really well for 2 of the goals. Just lacking a goal or his game would've been complete. (bobadji)


Subs:

Ben-Haim (Richards 46): 7, 7, 7, 7, 7, 7, 8, - , 7, 7, 8, - , 6.8, 6.3 (av: 7.1)
Intelligent and sturdy defending. (MEN)
Solid, didn't give their strikers a sniff. (xavi6)
Didn't have lots to do, but was solid. (bobadji)

Gelson (Johnson 81): 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 8, - , - , 6, 6, 5, 6.3, 5.9 (av: 6.1)
Plenty of energy. (MEN)
Buzzing as usual. (bobadji)

Elano( Wright-Phillips 85)
Didn't have a real chance to influence the game. (bobadji)

Subs not used:

Schmeichel, Garrido, Evans, Sturridge



Is it time for a new badge?

There's been plenty of discussion about this on the talkboards over the last few days, fuelled by this highly dubious Sunday Mirror story, which claims that Thaksin is going to give our badge a Thai-makeover, incorporating an elephant / mythical creature / Bangkok ladyboy, or whatever, into the design.

Considering that this is the paper that brought us the classic 'Thaksin Asks Players To Bow' nonsense, and that photos of next season's kit, if genuine, have the current badge on them, I'm guessing the story is largely mischief-making by a disgruntled - and possibly former - employee.

However, the possibility of a change of badge was raised at a Points of Blue meeting earlier in the year, attended by City's head of operations Sara Billington, and the matter appears to be under review. Certainly, with the club under new ownership a change of badge might be appropriate, particularly as there are plenty of fans, myself included, who have never been happy with the current one.

Although the introduction of the new badge in 1997 made good sense (Francis Lee revealed at the time that we weren't getting royalties on the old one), I do think it's a very flawed design. While the overall look of the badge is not bad, it hardly screams either "City" or "Manchester". Here it is close up:




My first gripe is the eagle, which looks too much like the back of US quarter, or worse, a Nazi symbol. The eagle was taken from this creepy-looking City of Manchester badge created in 1957, but doesn't appear on the much more commonly used City of Manchester coat of arms (pictured lower down) which was created in 1842.

The three stars "have no significance and are purely decorative", according to Mcfc.co.uk, and there's even a question mark about the meaning of the Latin motto "Superbia In Proelio". Although it translates as "Pride in battle", "superbia" is best defined as an arrogant or excessive type of pride.

Below are the designs that have been used throughout the club's history, starting with the Ardwick AFC badge dating from 1887:



That design was ditched after Ardwick evolved into Manchester City in 1894, and the official coat of arms of Manchester was adopted as the club crest. United also used this crest until the late 1960s though it appears that, unlike City, they needed permission on each occasion. "Concileo et Labore" loosely translates as "wisdom and effort":



The only other design I've seen used before the 1970s is this odd one that appeared on season tickets in the 1920s. Thankfully, it doesn't appear to have lasted that long:



The 1970s saw a redesign of the official Manchester crest which, for some reason, involved losing a stripe:



Traditionally only worn for Cup finals, the crest was used on shirts from 1977 to 1981:



I love both the look and the idea of using the Manchester coat of arms on shirts, but the fact that the club can't copyright it means it's unlikely to make another appearance. I'm presuming that copyright was also the reason the classic round badge was introduced, with clubs recognising the potential in club merchandising by the 1960s.

According to Gary James' Manchester: The Greatest City, the original version of this badge first started appearing in programmes and club documentation in the mid-1960s, but wasn't used on the shirt until the 1971-72 season:



In January 1972, a modified version of the badge was introduced. Surprisingly, this particular design has only been used on shirts for 19 seasons (compared to 11 seasons for the new badge) though somehow it feels much longer than that. Maybe my feelings about it are largely shaped by nostalgia, but I just think it is a thing a beauty:



Personally, I'm with Sir Ron Manager at Citymancs, who believes we should revert to this design. It's not clear who currently owns the copyright on the badge, but it might still be Eddie Phillips, who ran the old souvenir shop. According to this interview with Francis Lee, Phillips bought the rights to the badge from Peter Swales in the 1980s and also paid an annual flat fee for control of the souvenir shop, worth just £60,000 a year to the club in 1994.

That deal was terminated in 1995 when City took back control of the Maine Road souvenir shop and Phillips moved out (the redeveloped merchandise operation was making an estimated £2.5 million-a-year by 1998). It appears he took his badge with him, although there are still a few items at the City Store with it on.

Considering how much design consultants charge, you do wonder whether it would be just as cheap for the club to buy back the copyright. PR doesn't come cheap either, and reverting to the classic badge would certainly be a great publicity coup for our controversial owner.

Another option is a new badge that's close to the traditional design, such as this one posted by Wheelsy OSC Sydney at Bluemoon.



Or failing that we could just go the whole hog, with this design posted by MaineRoadMemories at Mancityfans:



~ I found an an excellent site called Behind The Badges, which has the history of the club badges for 98 English league teams.
~ You can see a graphic of every City home kit since 1884 at Historical Kits.