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.