The Manchester City Project

Man CIty v Liverpool Live Coverage

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Murphy) — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 15:37:00 +0000

Manchester City vs Liverpool is live on Sky Sports, you can also follow the match from...

Live TV feeds for the match maybe found here:

http://www.myp2p.eu/broadcast?matchid=83722&part=sports

There is live commentary. This can be sourced through BBC GMR:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/playlive/bbc_radio_manchester/

If you have an iPhone you can listen to the match from anywhere by using the FStream app. Download the app go to favourites, click edit (top left) click new feed and then put in the following link: http://bbc.co.uk/radio/listen/live/bbcmanchester.asx

Starting Line Up for City:

Hart
Richards
K Toure
Kompany
Lescott
De Jong
Barry
Y Toure
Milner
Tevez
Johnson

Mascherano not in squad because he's getting sold to Barca!

KO 8pm UK

Man City v Liverpool Preview (video)

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Murphy) — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 13:52:00 +0000

Liverpool go into Monday night’s game full of confidence with Joe Cole the only definite absente from the squad. Manchester City will be out to prove the doubters wrong and begin to fulfill their potential. James Milner and Adam Johnson could be in the starting XI.

Liverpool will not be afraid of coming to City after watching them struggle in the first half at White Hart Lane, that’s certainly all the noises coming from LFC.

Ian Rush speaking to the official Liverpool site has not been impressed with City’s last two performances and believes that Liverpool will leave with all three points:

"I watched City's first game against Tottenham last week and Spurs could have been at least 3-0 up at half-time, but they came back into the game in the second half.

"I'm sure Mancini will be telling his team they have to start well against Liverpool with it being their first home game, but I just think this is a good time for us to play Manchester City.

"I can see them being hit and miss this season and after watching the Arsenal game we seemed well organised and we always seem to do well away at City.”

With all of the criticism aimed at City in the Sunday Rags today the City boys have all the incentive they need to go out and win this match. The only way to answer the critics and haters is by winning matches and getting a top 4 finish this season.

With draws home and away last season Mancini is ready for a battle when the sides meet: “Liverpool are a strong team. They did not sell any players from last season. We want to win, but I have a lot of respect for them and a lot of respect for Roy Hodgson. It should be a good match.”

Roy Hodgson in his pre-match conference (see video below) said that City should be expecting a top 3 finish, but that the pressure is on the home side and fellow ex-Inter manager Mancini after the backing he has received from the club owners.

Roy Hodgson Man City Conference

Manchester City Team News:

Boateng (knee) and Kolarov (ankle) are not expected to be fit until the 29th August and will not feature, neither will Wayne Bridge (foot) who is out until mid September.

Mario Balotelli has a slight knee injury, he is confident of being ready for the game; "It wasn't the result of a tackle, nobody touched me, I simply over-extended the knee. It's a bit of a problem, but I'm sure it will go away fast and that I will be available against Liverpool."

However pictures taken of Balotelli limping out of Bridgewater Hospital after a scan do not look promising and he may not make the squad. It would be dangerous to risk him.

James Milner looks certain to start after his impressive display for Villa last week. His work rate will be crucial to fill the void between City’s defensive midfielders and the attack.

Adam Johnson impressed in midweek and could be restored to the starting line-up.
Possible Starting: Hart, Lescott, Kompany, K Toure, M Richards, Y Toure, De Jong, Milner, Johnson, Tevez, Silva

Liverpool Team News:

Liverpool will be without Joe Cole who starts a three match suspension. Daniel Agger suffered concussion during the Arsenal game and is a major doubt. Stephen Gerrard will return to the team after he was rested for the midweek Europa tie. Mascherano could also be in contention after recovering from a calf injury.

Gerrard is likely to have a more attacking midfield role this time out, with Poulsen likely to make his debut with Mascherano in the centre of midfield.

Possible Starting: Reina, Aurelio, Carragher, Skrtel, Johnson, Poulsen, Mascherano, Kuyt, Jovanovic, Gerrard, Torres

Match Facts:

Last Season: Man City 0 Liverpool 0
Referee: P Dowd
KO: 8pm (Live on Sky)

Five of the last seven league meetings between these teams have ended in draws

Manchester City have not won at home to Liverpool since April 2005 when a last minute goal from Kiki Musampa secured a 1-0 victory

Liverpool's only win in their last nine away Premier League games was a 4-0 victory over Burnley in April

Joe Hart was the busiest goalkeeper in the top flight last week, making a save every 11.3 minutes on average

Man United spend £409 Million on Transfers

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Murphy) — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 16:45:00 +0000

List of #MUFC transfer buys since the start of the Premier League: this list details all transfers over £100,000 since the Premier League began in 1992. The total of which is over £409 Million. (see bottom of article)

Alex Ferguson has made a number of statements over the past few years aimed at Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester City regarding over spending on players. The United manager has given the impression that Manchester United has not spent money up to winning the league and beyond.

Ferguson PR statements ARE working, whilst watching a newspaper review of Ferguson's rant on City's 'Kamikaze' spending the Sky interviewer said "Fergie is frugal in the transfer market". The same frugal spending that has seen Fergie spend over £7 million on Bebe this year that he has never seen play, even on video?

Ferguson claimed in 2009 that Liverpool had spent more than United over the past five seasons. He said Liverpool were 'well ahead of us in spending in the last five years'. Benitez told Ferguson to 'check his figures', if he did he would see that the figures support the fact that United HAD spent more than Liverpool. See report from @DuckerTheTimes published in The Times.

Recently Ferguson said: 'Over the last two or three years we have seen very wealthy owners become part of football clubs and therefore go on kamikaze effort to spend their money.

'It is amazing the amounts of money that are being banded about in the present game. Some people think it could be dangerous'

Okay, let's have a look at Fergies spending in the table below. The same spending that has ranked Manchester United as the Premier Leagues second highest spenders after Chelsea.

Manchester City has become the focus of intense criticism regarding their current spending. City though has still not eclipsed the £158 million spent by Chelsea 03-04 that has been conveniently forgotten. It also does not take into account the lavish spending that Liverpool, Manchester United and Spurs have undertaken since the premiership began with the same aim: success.

Whilst the press make Manchester City to be the villain, top managers in the league such as Ferguson and Redknapp have added fuel to the fire. Ferguson and Redknapp have both said during televised interviews that the spending is "ridiculous" and can "hurt the game". Please see detail of Alex Fergusons small club jibe at City here and the criticism of Redknapp here.

These managers seem to forget that their clubs have also spent lavishly, far more than City before the take over.

Manchester City though has done nothing wrong. They find themselves in a position that gives them the resources to buy players, a position that many clubs are envious of. With the new UEFA rules on "buying within means" being implemented in the 2012/13 season it is imperative that City buy their assets NOW.

UEFA are to implement new rules in the 2012/13 season that will prevent clubs from spending what they earn. Platini said; 'Living within your means is the basis of accounting but it hasn't been the basis of football for years now.'

Manchester City who now has NO debt will need to spend their resources NOW and next season in order to have young players that can be the foundation of a successful club in the future. This is explains the large spending being undertaken.

Clubs that will be hurt most from the new rules are those that have spent lavishly for years who have accumulated a large debt, such as Manchester United and Real Madrid who were £500 million in debt at the end of the 08/09 season (see BBC article on new UEFA rules).

The rules will also mean that clubs that do not have the same commercial success as United or Real such as Bolton, Stoke, Fulham or Tottenham will NEVER be able to compete at the top level. Some clubs will not be able to bridge the wealth gap to compete on a level footing. It will create a class divide in football. The poor class will not be getting welfare support and will never be able to bridge the divide.

Manchester United 1992 - 2010 Transfers In >100,000

Player	Fee	Year	From
Dublin, Dion	1,000,000	1992	Cambridge United
Cantona, Eric	1,200,000	1992	Leeds United
Keane, Roy	3,750,000	1993	Nottingham Forrest
May, David	1,400,000	1994	Blackburn Rovers
Tomlinson, Graeme	100,000	1994	Bradford City
Cole, Andy	6,000,000	1995	Newcastle United
Gillespie, Keith	1,000,000	1995	Newcastle United
Van Der Gouw, Raimond	500,000	1996	Vitesse Arnhem
Johnsen, Ronny	1,200,000	1996	Besiktas
Solskjaer, Ole Gunnar	1,500,000	1996	Molde
Poborsky, Karel	3,500,000	1996	Slavia Prague
Cruyff, Jordi	1,500,000	1996	FC Barcelona
Sherringham, Teddy	3,500,000	1997	Tottenham Hotspur
Nevland, Erik	1,500,000	1997	Viking Stavanger
Berg, Henning	5,000,000	1997	Blackburn Rovers
Greening, Jonathan	750,000	1998	York City
Stam, Jaap	10,750,000	1998	PSV Eindhoven
Yorke, Dwight	12,600,000	1998	Aston Villa
Fortune, Quentin	1,500,000	1999	Athletico Madrid
Taibi, Massimo	4,900,000	1999	Venezia
Silvestre, Mickael	4,000,000	1999	Inter Milan
Barthez, Fabien	7,800,000	2000	Monaco
Van Nistelrooy, Ruud	19,000,000	2000	PSV Eindhoven
Veron, Juan	28,100,000	2001	Lazio
Carroll, Roy	2,500,000	2001	Wigan Athletic
Forlan, Diego	7,500,000	2002	Independiente
Ferdinand, Rio	29,100,000	2002	Leeds United
Ricardo	1,500,000	2002	Valladolid
Bellion, David	2,000,000	2003	Sunderland
Djemba-Djemba, Eric	3,500,000	2003	Nantes
Howard, Tim	2,200,000	2003	New Jersy Metrostars
Klebersen	5,930,000	2003	Athletico Paranaense
Ronaldo, Cristiano	12,240,000	2003	Sporting Lisbon
Saha, Louis	12,820,000	2004	Fulham
Smith, Alan	7,000,000	2004	Leeds United
Heinze, Gabriel	6,900,000	2004	Paris St Germain
Rooney, Wayne	20,000,000	2004	Everton
Dong	500,000	2004	Dalian Shide
Van Der Sar, Edwin	2,000,000	2005	Fulham
Park, Ji-Sung	4,000,000	2005	PSV Eindhoven
Foster, Ben	1,000,000	2005	Stoke
Vidic, Nemanja	7,000,000	2006	Spartak M.
Evra, Patrice	5,500,000	2006	Monaco
Carrick, Michael	18,600,000	2006	Tottenham
Hargreaves, Owen	17,000,000	2007	B Munich
Anderson	17,000,000	2007	Porto
Kuszczak, Tomasz	2,000,000	2007	West Brom
Nani	15,000,000	2007	Sporting Lisbon
Berbatov, Dimitar	30,750,000	2008	Tottenham
Tosic, Zoran	10,000,000	2009	P. Belgrade
de Laet, Ritchie	100,000	2009	Stoke
Valencia	16,000,000	2009	Wigan
Obertan, Gabriel	3,000,000	2009	Bordeaux
Smalling, Chris	10,000,000	2010	Fulham
Bebe	7,400,000	2010	Vitória de Guimarães
Hernandez, Javier	7,000,000	2010	Guadalajara
Total Spend	409,090,000

Timisoara v Man City Live Coverage

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Murphy) — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 17:48:00 +0000

Live TV feeds for the match maybe found here:

http://www.myp2p.eu/broadcast.php?matchid=84242&part=sports

There is live commentary. This can be sourced through the official site and through BBC GMR: bbc manchester here

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/playlive/bbc_radio_manchester/

If you have an iPhone you can listen to the match from anywhere by using the FStream app. Download the app go to favourites, click edit (top left) click new feed and then put in the following link:

http://bbc.co.uk/radio/listen/live/bbcmanchester.asx

Starting Line Up for City:

Hart
Zabaleta
K Toure
Kompany
Lescott
Y Toure
De Jong
Barry
Tevez
Adebayor
Silva

KO 8pm UK

Man City’s 25 Man Premiership Squad

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Murphy) — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 21:25:00 +0000

Here is an analysis of #MCFC squad below from the MCFC website to find the 25 player squad for the Premiership.

I don't understand the problem some people seem to have regarding City and compliance with the new 25 man squad rules. I've read that we need to sell lots of players, there's going to be lots of juggling etc…

However it seems to fall into place quite nicely with some unfortunate, but obvious casualties.

I'll explain the rules again and then the table below.

The New Premier League 25 Squad Rules:

Each Premiership team must submit a 25 man squad on the 1^st of September, 24 hours after transfer deadline.

The 25 must consist of a minimum of 8 home grown players (home grown is a player that has been affiliated with the FA or Wales FA for at least 3 years prior to their 21^st birthday)

There can be an unlimited amount of Under-21 players to supplement the 25 man squad.

Under 21 is under 21 as at 01/01/2010 or be born after 01/01/1989 for this season.

The Manchester City Squad as at 18/08/2010 Table:

The Table below shows current squad number and details from mcfc.co.uk. Including Name (Player), Position (Pos), Date Of Birth (DoB).

The first action taken was to establish who is under 21 (U21). If the player is born after 01/01/1989 then they have a "Y" in U21 Column.

If the player is U21 then they are highlighted light green, (These are supplementary and do not have to be named in the 25 squad).

Home Grown (HG) players have a 1 in the HG column, non-home grown players have a '0'. Home Grown are highlighted yellow. These don't have to include under 21s as they won't be in 25 man squad.

I've also highlighted players in dark green if they are highly likely to be in the final squad i.e. key players/new players.

Onuoha, Bellamy, Caicedo and Nielsen are on loan for the season. M Johnson will be not be fit for inclusion. These players are shaded out and will not be part of the 25 man squad.

The 25 column is where I have guessed at which players will be in the 25: '1' is in the squad.

I've selected senior home grown players, key players, new players. Below the table
I've got analysis of the data.

No.	Player	Pos	DOB	HG	U21	25
26	Gonzalez, David	GK	20/07/1982	0	N
1	Given, Shay	GK	20/04/1976	1	N	1
25	Hart, Joe	GK	19/04/1987	1	N	1
37	Nielsen, Gunnar	GK	07/10/1986	0	N
12	Taylor, Stuart	GK	28/11/1980	1	N	1
13	Kolarov, Alexsandar	DEF	11/10/1985	0	N	1
38	Boyata, Dedryck	DEF	28/11/1990		Y
22	Cunningham, Greg	DEF	31/01/1991		Y
36	Vidal, Javan	DEF	10/05/1989		Y
17	Boateng, Jerome	DEF	03/09/1988	0	N	1
19	Lescott, Joleon	DEF	16/08/1982	1	N	1
3	Bridge, Wayne	DEF	05/08/1980	1	N	1
30	Logan, Shaleum	DEF	29/01/1988		N	1
4	Onuoha, Nedum	DEF	12/11/1986		N
2	Richards, Micah	DEF	24/06/1988	1	N	1
28	Toure, Kolo	DEF	19/05/1981	0	N	1
5	Zabaleta, Pablo	DEF	16/01/1985	0	N	1
50	Ibrahim, Abdisalam	MID	01/05/1991		Y
11	Johnson, Adam	MID	14/07/1987	1	N	1
21	Silva, David	MID	08/01/1986	0	N	1
18	Barry, Gareth	MID	23/02/1981	1	N	1
7	Milner, James	MID	04/01/1986	1	N	1
24	Vieira, Patrick	MID	23/06/1976	0	N	1
42	Toure, YaYa	MID	13/05/1983	0	N	1
34	De Jong, Nigel	MID	30/11/1984	0	N	1
29	Etuhu, Kelvin	MID	30/05/1988	1	N
6	Johnson, Michael	MID	24/02/1988		N
33	Kompany, Vincent	MID	10/04/1986	0	N	1
40	Weiss, Vladimir	MID	30/11/1989		Y
8	Wright-Phillips, Shaun	MID	25/10/1981	1	N	1
9	Adebayor, Emmanuel	ATT	24/02/1984	0	N	1
39	Bellamy, Craig	ATT	13/07/1979		N
45	Balotelli, Mario	ATT	12/08/1990		Y
20	Caicedo, Felipe	ATT	05/09/1988		N
	Jo	ATT	20/03/1987	0	N	1
52	Nimely, Alex	ATT	11/05/1991		Y
10	Robinho	ATT	25/01/1984	0	N	1
14	Santa-Cruz, Roque	ATT	16/08/1981	0	N	1
32	Tevez, Carlos	ATT	05/02/1984	0	N	1

Totals				11		25

The Current Predicted 25 man squad:

Goalkeepers: Given, Hart, Taylor
Defenders: Kolarov, Boateng, Lescott, Bridge, Logan, Richards, Toure, Zabletta
Midfielders: Johnson (A), Silva, Barry, Milner, Vieira, Toure (Y), De Jong, Kompany, SWP
Attackers: Adebayor, Balotelli, Jo, Robinho, Santa Cruz, Tevez

That's 25 players, with 10 home grown players.

Obviously there could be some shuffling with the fringe players, for example Etutu for Jo.

Therefore we could loan out Etutu and release Gonzalez. Simples.

Of course there are rumours circulating regarding some of the players.

Cruz has been linked with West Ham and Fulham. Weiss has been linked with Celtic and Newcastle. There could even be a swap deal with Robinho if he is not prepared to repair his City career.

Given is also a worry, as he may not stay to fight for his place. If he doesn't then City have been linked with Stokes young keeper Begovic who is classified as home grown. Chelsea have already had a £4 million bid rejected for him however.

Conclusion:

There is no problem with Manchester City easily submitting a 25 man squad, with lots of youth to supplement it. There's still even room for more players, but we must offload to buy.

It seems simple… have I missed something.

If not I'm going to do an analysis on the other Prem Teams and see where they stand in comparison.

Man City Confirm James Milner Signing

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Murphy) — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 15:45:00 +0000

James Milner has signed a 5 year deal at Manchester City. Milner takes the number 7 shirt this year and will be available for selection against Liverpool on Monday night. Unfortunately the deal was not signed in time for Milner to join the europa squad for Thursday's match.

Mancini told the club website: “I am very happy to have James with us, everybody knows we have admired him for some time.

“He is an excellent midfielder, who can play in a number of positions. This is important for the team, and I am looking forward to seeing him play for us. We have a very strong squad, and this signing is a very important one for us.

“James he is already a very good player, who has proved he can play at the very top level. But he is also young and a good character, I think he can also improve and be a great player for Manchester City for a long time.”

James Milner agreed personal terms and under went a medical in Manchester yesterday (Picture left of Milner after his medical last night).

The results of a scan from the medical were only made available this morning after a delay at the medical centre last night.

Meanwhile Superman Stephen Ireland was in Birmingham putting the finishing touches to his move to Aston Villa as part of the deal. He too completed his move to Aston Villa this afternoon.

Manchini said of City's player of the season 2008/09: “I hope things go well for Stevie at Villa. He is also a very good player, and he has played a big part in City’s history. I think he will enjoy the change of being at another club, and I hope he does well for Aston Villa."

James Milner reported on the city website said: "It didn't take too much selling by the boss when you see the players who are already here and the plans for the club.

"The last thing he said to me was 'be ready for the next game', and then he said 'be ready to win the Premier League', and that's my ultimate aim - that's what I want to do and why I'm here.

"There's a lot of competition to get there, it's where we all want to be. I'm ambitious and I want to win trophies here. I believe this is a great place to do that and I believe we will do it. Hopefully, sooner rather than later."

James Milner Facts

James Milner made his Premier League debut at 16, becoming the second youngest player to play in the Premiership in 2002.

On Boxing Day 2002 he became the youngest player to score in the premier league.

In 2004 Milner signed for Newcastle from Leeds for £3.6 million. In 2008 he signed for Aston Villa following a loan spell back in 2005.

James Milner had a sensational season at Villa last term, starting on the flank before making the central midfield position his own. As rewards for his efforts he was voted player of the season at Villa and his goal against Sunderland was voted Villas goal of the season. He was also crowned PFA Young Player of the season.

Aston Villa's Goal Of The Season against Sunderland

Milner played for England during the world cup in which he was one of the better players, although that isn't saying much! He provided the assist for Defoes goal in the World Cup.

Milner is also the most capped England Under-21 player.

Welcome to City.

Santa Cruz and Caecido to West Ham

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Murphy) — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 08:51:00 +0000

Felipe Caecido has completed a medical for West Ham and will sign a one year loan deal.

Whilst Avram Grant is also kean to loan fellow Manchester City Striker Roque Santa Cruz. As reported earlier this week Grant would like to boalster his forward line. He may face competition from Fulham for Cruz.

Roque Santa Cruz does not appear to have a future at Man City this season. After finally over coming the injury problems that plagued him all last term - new signing Mario Balotelli has replaced Santa Cruz in the 25 man European squad.

It has also been reported that Robhino is not a part of the party that will travel to Romania. Other disturbing news is that as yet City do not appear to have any TV coverage for their European match.

Mario Balotelli Unveild

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Murphy) — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 17:20:00 +0000

Super Mario was unveiled at a press conference today (watch below) as a Manchester City player.

Balotelli claimed that he wanted to join City despite a number of different clubs from around europe being interested in him. Super Mario was pleased to be teaming up with ex-Inter manager Manchini again, which was a massive lure to the club.

Balotelli's "bad boy" reputation has been highlighted in the press leading up to the transfer. Such as the moment he taunted Francsesco Totti before a Roma - Inter game:

“From the first moment I stepped on to the pitch, Balotelli provoked me,” Totti said in the magazine Diva e Donna.

“He even said ‘Yo granddad! You are finished!’”

Totti responded by hacking down Balotelli that resulted in a red card and a four match ban.

I hope some of the players point out Van Persie and Rooney to him. Although "Yo Grandad" is hardly a Razor Ruddock special is it?

During the interview at Eastlands Balotteli simply responded to accusations regarding his reputation by smiling and saying "I'm no bad boy".

Super Mario Conference

You can view Mario's first official interview from the selected videos featured to the top right of this blog.

Manchini said of Balotelli that he will be "a very important player in the future." The City manager said that as with most foreign players he will need time to settle and get used to the premiership, 2 to 3 weeks apparently.

"Mario has everything to become a fantastic player, because of his age, his technique, his ability in the air, he is quick. He has everything to become the best player in the world in the future."

Milner & Ireland Having Medicals

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Murphy) — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 14:14:00 +0000

James Milner has travelled up the M6 to have a medical and conclude the protracted transfer saga. Stephen Ireland has also travelled to Bodymoor Heath to have his medical. Aston Villa are reported to receive £18 million plus add-ons plus Stephen Ireland (Birmingham Mail).

Now that Aston Villa have accepted Manchester City's offer the clubs will officially announce the deal after the medicals are complete and the players sign. Therefore club statements are expected within the next few hours.

Earlier at a press conference at Eastlands Manchini said; “I think Milner is a good player, an English player which is important. I think that Milner can play in different positions. We have today and tomorrow to close the deal.”

The pressure was on to close the deal because Milner would be cup tied if he played for Villa in Europe and also because of the friction being created by the length of the negotiations.

Bellamy Signs For Cardiff

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Murphy) — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 10:40:00 +0000

As reported earlier Craig Bellamy has signed for his home club of Cardiff City on loan. He turned down an offer from Celtic to return to Wales, where his wife and children live.

The Bluebirds can be sure that they will be watching a quality player this season. Bellamy was one of the standout players in a Manchester City team that finished 6th in the Premiership. Cardiff City will now recieve a massive boost for promotion.

With a host of clubs interested in Bellamy including Celtic and Everton, Bellamy decided to return to his home town. Spurs manager Harry Redknapp will be left fuming after City rightly declined Tottenhams LOAN advances for the 31-year-old striker. Harry will now be looking to see who else he can try and LOAN from City after already having a loan bid turned down for Lescott. LOL.

Good luck to Craig & Cardiff City this year... Money isn't everything you know... although he will obviously still be getting the same wage packet as City will be paying the majority of his wages - so it's a wonder why Motherwell are getting their knickers in a twist. Motherwell want to take Cardiff to court because they owe them money for a transfer last season.

It was obvious City were prepared to subsidise the deal because of the emphatic thanks Bellamy gave City board for allowing this deal to happen.

Craig Bellamy Interview

Craig Bellamy said in a press conference that he wanted to return to his child hood heros after moving around the country for six years.

"I had the greatest time at Manchester City, I helped the club get to the next level. I'm sure they'll get the premiership title in a couple of seasons... and I really hope they do."

Bellamy to Cardiff in 48 hours & Santa to West Ham

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Murphy) — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 10:18:00 +0000

Craig Bellamy has been in talks with an unnamed club. The BBC understands Bellamy was in talks on Monday and his future could be decided by Wednesday. Robbie Savage speaking on 5 live said “He’s been at a club having talks, if it comes off he will sign for them.”

Bellamy’s new club looks increasingly like his boy hood hero’s Cardiff City after Celtic’s chief executive Peter Lawwell claimed Bellamy wanted to return home: “We agreed a deal with Manchester City and we had been talking to Craig for over a week. But at the end of the day, if you lose out to someone who wants to go home there’s nothing you can do about it.”

Bellamy and Ireland missed first team training yesterday. Whilst Bellamy was reportedly travelling back to Cardiff Ireland was forced to train with the reserve squad as he holds out for a £2 million payout from City before signing any deal with Aston Villa. Aston Villa meanwhile threatened to use Milner on Thursday night in Europe, and that would cup-tie the player should he transfer to City.

Santa-Cruz has become an £8 million target for West Ham United. West Ham are keen to bolster their attacking options before the close of the transfer window. Avram Grant appears to have missed out on French striker Loic Remy and Everton’s Yakubu, leaving Stana Cruz as West Hams main target.

Bellamy Update

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Murphy) — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 20:02:00 +0000

Skysports are reporting tonight that Craig Bellamy will return to training with Manchester City on Tuesday, despite intense speculation that Bellamy had already set off to his hometown of Cardiff.

Bellamy's City career still appears to be over after manager Manchini has stated that the striker will not be a part of his 25 man Premier League squad. Cardiff, Fullham, Celtic, Stoke and (ahem) Spurs are still interested in signing Bellamy

City Linked With Stoke Keeper

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Murphy) — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 19:20:00 +0000

Manchester City have been linked with a move for Stoke City goalkeeper Begovic. The News Of The World claim that City will go head to head with Chelsea to try and sign the stopper.

Stoke City have recently turned down a £4 million approach from Chelsea and are now bracing themselves for further bids.

City will not want to find themselves in the same position as last year if they suffer a goalkeeping injury crisis. Shay Given has already pubicily stated that he would seek a move to find first team football if Hart was handed the number 1 shirt.

It would be great if Given stayed with the club during the long season ahead. However Celtic are currently favourites to loan Given with City unwilling to let the stopper move to a Premiership rival.

Begovic would be an attractive proposition for City as he is 23-years-old and qualifies as a home-grown player. Stoke are determined to hold onto Begovic who will be fighting to keep his place as first choice keeper.

Regarding the bid from Chelsea, Stoke manager Tony Pulis told The Sentinel: "They have enquired, but they have been told he is not for sale. We are trying to bring players in, not let our better players go."

Spurs Make Loan Bid For Lescott

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Murphy) — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 18:29:00 +0000

Even after Harry Redknapp insults City's ambitions of getting into the top 4 he tries again to land another City player on LOAN! This time Spurs have made an attempt to loan City defender Joleon Lescott. According to talksport City have rejected the offer.

Harry Redknapp's attempts to make Spurs a laughing stock is really taking hold. After realising that he has limited cover in central defence with King and Woodgate due to spend more time on the injury table than on the pitch he has decided to try and LOAN Lescott.

King played the full 90 minutes against City, whilst Woodgate has hardly been seen in 18 months.

Woodgate: recovering fom injury

Lescott came back from injury last year to produce some good form after initially failing to live upto expectation. Further injury has allowed Kompany to cement a place in the starting line up. However with many games scheduled for City this year, his chance will undoubtedly come again.

The latest inept attempt to LOAN a City player comes days after Redknapp tried to LOAN Craig Bellamy.

Audio Recording of Spurs' attempt to loan Bellamy from the City boardroom

Bellamy & Robinho Out?

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Murphy) — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 09:47:00 +0000

Rumour Round Up 16/08/10

Craig Bellamy has been banned from City's training ground and facilities based upon Manchini's recommendation after a number of rows (various). The talented forward unfortunately angered the manager with a number of outbursts in the press.

After the 1-0 defeat to spurs last season which meant City missed out on a Champions League place, Bellamy was seen to 'hi-five' Redknapp before heading down the tunnel (Mail).

Bellamy has returned to his home town of Cardiff to be with his wife and family who reside permanently in Wales. The life long Cardiff City supporter has been granted permission to train with the Championship Club, further increasing speculation that the 31-year-old will move to Cardiff (guardian).

Redknapp is still interested and a £2 million bid is expected. Fulham, Everton and Celtic are still interested in the player too (various). After Bellamy hi-fived Redknapp after the Spurs game then I don't care where he goes as long as it's not tottenham. Give him to Cardiff.

Inside Futbol.com are reporting that Robinho may be tempted to move to Schalke to be reunited with his ex-Madrid team mate Raul. Although this contradicts recent reports that Robinho will be in the 25 man squad named by Manchini.

Who is Jex Moxey?

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Murphy) — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 17:47:00 +0000

Who is Jez Moxey? This was a question I had to ask myself when he was quoted in the Sunday Star claiming Man City were ruining Football. As it turns out he is the Chief Executive of Wolves.

Yes this photo really is Jex Moxey and not David Brent.

My word, the comic rag is scraping the bottom of the barrel to continue it's attempted slaughter of Manchester City. How does City's bid for a top 4 finish affect Wolves? I doubt Jed Moxley would be moaning if he managed to get a decent loan signing on the cheap from City.

Moxey said: “The Man City situation is not good. We run the risk of losing what the game is really about.

“It gets too distorted too easily when you have such wealth to buy the best players in the world.

“They are contributing towards spiralling wages and unrealistic demands.

“It’s so difficult for anyone else to compete on a talent and a financial level.

“I’m not sure that’s what I would want to see if I could control it. But I can’t so all I can control is what we do.

“Manchester City are trying to win the Premier League and dominate Europe.

“Their owners have got more money than they know what to do with.

“But buying the best talent doesn’t always mean you’re going to be the most successful.”

“They’ve got their eyes on European competition, but the rules of engagement when they’re playing teams such as Barcelona, Real Madrid, AC Milan etc aren’t the same,” he said.

“For example, Barcelona and Real Madrid negotiate their own TV contracts so you could argue they’ve got a commercial advantage over some Premier League clubs.”

This is the very same Lex Moxey who was critised in the same newspaper a while back for milking the midlands club when their finances were in serious trouble:

"Wolves today reported overall losses of £1.16m for last year as the removal of the Premiership “parachute payments” hit hard.

And it was revealed that its chief executive Jex Moxey picked up more than £450,000 in wages and bonuses."

http://www.expressandstar.com/latest/2007/03/22/wolves-report-116m-loss/

Well, thank you Jiz Moxlex on your valued comments. May I point out that what City are doing is nothing new and it has happened throughout football for years. Blackburn and Chelsea for example. Also why is it okay for europes superpowers and not for City?

Believe me, any transfer activity City are involved in will only affect City and the corresponding club. City get a player and the other team gets inflated price. I hardly think it's going to affect your dealings.

Cunningham Signs 4 Year Deal

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Murphy) — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 17:01:00 +0000

Greg Cunningham signs a new four year contact at City and relinquishes his squad number to Balotelli. The 19 year old left back impressed in a number of pre-season friendlies and was rewarded with a confidence boosting contract.

“I’m delighted to have signed a new deal with City,” Greg told mcfc.co.uk. “Now I need to impress the manager as much as I can and get as much game time as I can, too. “To play at any level for Ireland is an honour but to play a full game against Algeria and then another 30 minutes against Argentina recently is a dream come true.”

According to most ill informed anti-city fanatics, City’s prided youth policy went out of the door with the arrival of big-money signings. However Greg’s deal is yet another statement from the club that youth will not be forsaken in the quest for silverware.

Greg vowed to continue learning from the current recognised left backs at the club Aleksander Kolarov and Wayne Bridge; “They are two fantastic full-backs and hopefully I can learn as much as I can from them in the coming months and years and then put that into practice on the pitch.”

Greg’s new contract comes after he swapped squad numbers with City’s new young striker Mario Balotelli. Balotelli who is in line to make his Premiership debut at home to Liverpool next Monday wanted to take the number 45 shirt that he wore at Inter. Balotelli is attached to the number physically and mentally since it is tattooed on his arm.

“I have worn the number all my football life and wanted to carry on here at City,” Mario informed the official website. “Gregg was kind enough to swap numbers and I thank him.”

Greg had no problem swapping numbers and is now number 22 in the squad, the same number his fellow Irishman Richard Dunne held during his time at City. “I had no real attachment to it except that I made my debut wearing it, I was asked if I minded changing shirt numbers and I didn’t have any problem with that at all. I’ve taken on No.22 now, which is Richard Dunne’s old shirt number, so I’ve big boots to fill!”

Harry Misses The Point : Spurs vs City

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Murphy) — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 14:43:00 +0000

Exclusive audio recording of Spurs’ bid for Craig Bellamy from the City boardroom, thoughts on the Tottenham vs City Match and the inane ranting of Harry Redknapp and Spurs’ supporters.

Spurs 0 City 0 : Match Analysis

Manchester City will accept a point after Spur’s dominated the first half but were unable to get past an impressive Joe Hart.

You can imagine the drivel that will be written now that City didn’t win this game 4-0 or even failed to have a period of serious pressure upon the spurs goal. City fail after spending spree etc... However there are a lot of positives for City. For one, we got beat home and away by spurs last season and a point away at White Hart Lane is acceptable this time round.

City were set up for the draw with three holding midfielders in Ya Ya, Barry and De Jong, with a lone striker in new captain Carlos Tevez. We did need luck and an extremely impressive display from Hart to gain the point though. Defoe hit the upright and Peter Crouch was a constant menace winning everything in the air. Thankfully Redknapp decided to sub Crouch half way through the second half and that ceiled a point for City, since Keane and Pavlyuchenko were never going to get past the determined Kompany and Toure in central defence.

Spurs had a lot of joy down the left hand side with Bale starting the season as he finished the last; fast, skilful and capable of dangerous crosses. He was helped with a disappointing display from Micah Richards who was caught off balance and out of position too many times, when he did have the ball he inevitably gave it away. Boetang will surely be the regular right back this season when he recovers from injury.

Kolarov made his debut at Left back for City and looked a competent defender, keeping Lennon quite for the most part. David Silva also made his debut becoming more effective in the second half when he moved from the wings into the centre, showing signs that he will be a fantastic creative central midfielder.

Spurs will undoubtedly still be in the reckoning for a top four finish this season based on this display. I hope they fail though because I’m becoming increasingly annoyed at the crap spouted by Harry Redknapp and some of the spurs fans. So let’s take a look at a couple of examples:

Spur’s and Bellamy Saga

It’s no secret that Harry and spurs would like to have Bellamy as part of the squad. He would be an excellent addition. It has been reported that spurs had a loan deal rejected by City at the beginning of August and have had a transfer bid rejected. Redknapp said the rejections were “Ridiculous”:

“We tried to get him but they don’t want to let him go, and that is up to them”, bemoaned harry. “If he is not in their squad they are not going to want him around... ...He has got to play football. It looks almost certain he will go”

Harry as usual has tried to turn the target player’s head through the media and get public backing. He has omitted the details of the transfer offers however. City are not going to give a good player to a serious rival. Also they are NOT going to be held to ransom over a player that will not be a part of Manchini’s squad. Spurs have a strict wage structure and so the loan deal suggested would mean paying PART of his salary. Spurs want to loan a player from City and let City pay half his wages to do so... are you having a laugh! What’s ridiculous here Harry?

We have managed to obtain a secret recording from the board room at Manchester City. The conference call features Spurs’ offer for Craig Bellamy, listen to it below:

Redknapp’s “ridiculous” PR stunts

When City first bought Bellamy, Redknapp claimed that City bullied Tottenham to be first to the strikers signature; "They came in and said: 'If you don't drop out of Bellamy, we'll sign Palacios as well and you won't get either of them'," Redknapp said. "So we had no choice, really. They just said: 'We'll blow you out of the water.' Did they want Palacios? Not really, I don't think, no. They were half-interested. What can you do? It's difficult. You've got a difficult decision, haven't you? And then, obviously, the money that they offered Bellamy, we couldn't compete with anyway."

Manchester City automatically contacted their lawyers and are investigating Harry’s unfounded comments as reported in the Guardian.

Lately Redknapp has indirectly associated City’s Arab owners with Saddam Hussein! "Man City fans don't care about the money being spent. Football fans don't care. The players don't care, either, because it's not down to them. Saddam Hussein could own your football club and, if he's putting millions into it, they'll be quite happy. They'll be singing 'There's only one Saddam'."

Whilst Redknapp continually attacks City and their fans he tries to use the same under hand PR tactics to sign footballers from other clubs such as Parker from West Ham, trying to turn the players head via carefully worded statements like: To be honest I like the lad, but the club is unwilling to sell, so that’s the end of it. Yeah right.

West Ham rightly accused Spurs of unsettling the player and have stuck to their guns. Karren Bradey writing in the sun wrote of Levy regarding the Parker saga: “Daniel Levy - my friend, but obviously not a very good one - once ventured to me that business was all about principles and money. I told him he had failed in both on this occasion.”

Harry continually bemoans City’s wealth in a number of conflicting reports while he clearly had no problems spending all of Portsmouth’s money, only to rape them by turning their best player’s heads when he moved to spurs. Who can forget Harry hanging out of his car window a couple of seasons ago publically licking Defoe’s anus so much that he got his man in the end.

Spur’s Fan’s make “Ridiculous” claims about City

Some spurs fans have also had their head in the clouds, such as the following article in which one spurs fan produced this rubbish:

http://www.footballtransfertavern.com/2010/07/premiership/25-million-deal-done-ireland-staying-bellamy-stock-takes-an-upswing

Spurs fans claim that City are a much smaller club than spurs and even complain about City’s spending, despite Spurs’ track recorded of being one of the highest spenders in Premier League history. The complete lack of knowledge or facts is typical of the crap spouted by spurs fans this year.

Telegraph Fantasy League Join Now

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Murphy) — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 19:03:00 +0000

The Telegraph Fantasy Football game is back up and running, and so too is the Manchester City Project Super League.

If you would like to join the super league then simply log into your team and click join league, use the following details:

Super League Name: MAN CITY PROJECT
Super League PIN: 8010866

Last Years Results:

Champion
Irfan Kazi 1464 pts

Runner Up
Kevin Broadley 1349 pts

Golden Boot
Kevin Broadley 87 goals

Best Starting XI
Stephen Murphy 1223 pts

Good Luck!

Derby: Starting line Ups

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Murphy) — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 11:59:00 +0000

Manchester City and Manchester United Starting line-ups. Tevez has shrugged off his knee injury and starts in the Manchester City line up. Bellamy also plays and will be on the left flank, leaving Petrov back on the bench. Berbatov and Rooney start up front for United.

See the Match Stream link in the top navigation bar to see live.

Come On!

Man City: Given, Richards, Lescott, Toure, Bridge, Wright-Phillips, Barry, De Jong, Ireland, Bellamy, Tevez. Subs: Taylor, Zabaleta, Garrido, Petrov, Weiss, Ball, Sylvinho.

Man Utd: Foster, O'Shea, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra, Park, Anderson, Fletcher, Giggs, Berbatov, Rooney. Subs: Kuszczak, Neville, Owen, Carrick, Nani, Jonathan Evans, Valencia.

Immortalised: Alex Ferguson & Mark Hughes Portraits

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Murphy) — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 14:26:00 +0000

Mark Hughes has had a portrait compiled of 1p coins and Alex Ferguson has now been immortalised in a portrait compiled of dog shit.

Artist Ed Chapman created a portrait of Mark Hughes out of 5430 1p coins. Ed was commissioned to produce the modern work of art to mark the launch of Championship Manager 2010’s Pay What You Want campaign.

Chapman said: "Being from Manchester and seeing the enormous spending power that Mark Hughes now has at City, what better than a picture of the man who has spent millions made entirely out of one penny coins.”

The above picture of Alex Ferguson is a collage of dog turds, creating an image that is truly full of shit. Over 500 pieces of dog shit were pain stakingly copied and pasted to make the portrait. To obtain a full sensory appreciation of the picture it is recommended that you take a sip of lumpy sour milk before viewing.

The portrait of the Manchester United manager is currently on show at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. UK art lover's will be able to see the painting this month when it travels to the National Gallery in London after a brief stop at The Louvre in Paris.

Full of Crap: Alex Ferguson on show in New York

Ed Chapman and his coin creations of managers

Man United v Man City Match Preview

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Murphy) — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 17:11:00 +0000

The Manchester Derby is eagerly anticipated despite Alex Ferguson claiming that he considers Man Utd vs Liverpool as the real derby for United. Manchester United face Manchester City on Sunday 20th September at Old Trafford, K.O. 13:30.

Poor old bacon face is showing his advancing years as he attempts some kind of poor mind games ahead of the Manchester Derby. The aging red faced scot has claimed that the Manchester City match is nothing compared with the games against Liverpool:

"To me Liverpool will always be the derby game. It is just because of the history. When I came down here they were the king-pins of England. They had won four European Cups and quite a few league titles.”

Ferguson has still not managed to get the Carlos Tevez “Welcome to Manchester” poster from under his skin. He said in an interview prior to this weekend’s clash:

"That stupid poster upset us. It showed an arrogance. It was naughty. It showed a cockiness that wasn't required at the time because they hadn't done anything. The season hadn't even started."

Derby Press Conference

Ferguson does not seemed concerned at all at losing Tevez who was an integral part of United winning two championships and getting to two Champions League finals. Even though he publically stated he wanted to keep the player – United had even released a statement claiming they had reached the player’s valuation to make him a permanent player.

"It doesn't bother me one bit whether Tevez is playing or not," said Ferguson.

"I know their best player won't be. Emmanuel Adebayor has been their star player. There is no question about that. He has scored in every game. That is their loss."

"People talk about trying to get into the top four. That is not the question. The question is who is number one.”

Mark Hughes has responded to Ferguson’s comments, laughing at his former manager and claiming that United have been below par so far this season:

"It does seem to have really upset Sir Alex for some reason," Hughes smiled at his press conference in Manchester today.

"But I don't know, we'll just take it as a little bit of flattery, because obviously in recent years, and for a number of years, City haven't really affected the thinking of Manchester United to any great extent. Possibly that's changed now.

"I've watched a number of their games. I don't think they're playing as well as they did last year. They played well against Tottenham [Hotspur] – I think that's their stand-out performance. Prior to that, I think they've been below par."

You can see the previous posts on the Carlos Tevez poster campaign here, who photo’s of the poster and the mock posters created by both sets of fans in retaliation:

http://mancityproject.blogspot.com/2009/07/fan-releases-funny-welcome-to-stretford.html
http://mancityproject.blogspot.com/2009/07/billboard-war-continues.html

You can also see the Manchester United Cadbury Advert too that was released during the billboard wars:

http://mancityproject.blogspot.com/2009/07/billboard-wars-man-united-cadbury.html

United will obviously be without Ronaldo who left for Real Madrid in the summer. Ronaldo was key in all of the games where Manchester United managed success against City in the past.

City will not be worried by Fergusons comments in the slightest. If anything I really hope that Ferguson believes what he says and that filter’s down to his squad – then they will be likely to give yet another lacklustre team display in a Manchester Derby.

Let’s just have a look back at the 2002 Derby – the last at Maine Road. I still can’t help p*ssing myself when Garry Neville feeds the Goat for City’s second goal in the 3-1 victory. You have to feel sorry for Neville though who is clearly quite embarrassed, there’s nothing worse than being embarrassed and then doing something more embarrassing like spitting on yourself and then wiping it on your ear – 2 minutes 10 seconds:

City 3-1 United, 2002

With Adebayor now serving a three match suspension together with the injuries to Robinho and Santa Cruz, City will have limited choice of attacking front men. However Craig Bellamy will be sure to start after his fantastic display against Arsenal last week. Carlos Tevez remains a major doubt, however the Argentina striker has begun training again after a knee injury and could feature in the game if he passes a late fitness test.

Playing at Old Trafford with one striker may not be all bad news. City have shown this season that there main strengths are based upon quick counter-attacks. The pace of Shaun Wright-Phillips, Martin Petrov and Craig Bellamy – together with the acute footballing brains of Gareth Barry and Stephen Ireland are sure to cause Manchester United problems during the game. Stephen Ireland is still a doubt for the game however and faces a race against time to be fit.

Man City will definitely be without Robinho (Ankle), Cruz (Knee), Kompany (foot) and Michael Johnson (hip). Benjani may be in contention if he can shake a thigh problem, but that seems unlikely.

Manchester United will be without Paul Scholes who is suspended after picking up a red card against Spurs last week. Rio Ferdinand who aggravated his groin injury against spurs also looks set to miss the game but will have a late fitness test. Long term absentees to miss the derby are Van der Sar (hand), Rafael (shoulder), Owen Hargreaves (knees), Gabriel Obertan (back) and Berbatov (shit).

United’s major threat has to be Wayne Rooney, Ferguson will have to decide if he’s got enough confidence in Michael Owen to play or Berbaflop. United have about as much choice upfront as City (who have extensive injury woes).

My match prediction – a 1-1 draw – which I’d be quite happy with, however I have a gut feeling and I’ll probably put a bet on City to win the game 3-1... William Hill are quoting City at 9/2 to win the game, not a bad bet really – it is a derby despite what the poor old chap says.

William Hill Odds:
United 8/13 Draw 11/4 City 9/2

United To Win:
1-0 5/1 ; 2-0 11/12 ; 2-1 13/2 ; 3-0 11/1
3-1 10/1 ; 3-2 25/1 ; 4-0 25/1 ; 4-1 25/1

Draws:
0-0 17/2 ; 1-1 6/1 ; 2-2 14/1 ; 3-3 50/1

City to win:
1-0 10/1 ; 2-0 25/1 ; 2-1 14/1 ; 3-0 80/1
3-1 50/1 ; 3-2 40/1 ; 4-0 100/1 ; 4-1 100/1

Probable Starting Line-ups:

Man Utd: Foster, O'Shea, Evans, Vidic, Evra, Nani, Fletcher, Anderson, Valencia, Berbatov, Rooney.

Man City: Given, Richards, Bridge, Toure, Lescott, De Jong, Barry, Ireland, Wright-Phillips, Petrov, Bellamy.

Man City to contest charges: Adebayor & Hughes speak out

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Murphy) — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 15:23:00 +0000

Manchester City have announced that they will be contesting the FA charge of improper conduct regarding Adebayor’s goal celebration against Arsenal. Emmanuel Adebayor and Mark Hughes have both spoken out about the charge.

Adebayor is currently serving a three match ban for the heinous way in which he attempted to avoid Van Persie’s innocuous two footed lunge during the Arsenal match last week.

In addition to Adebayor’s charge of violent conduct the FA also served up a charge of improper conduct following Ade’s goal celebration. Mark Hughes has stated that City will contest the charge:

“It’s important you do not take emotion out of the game. He laid on his knees. It was his normal celebration... ...The circumstances of the game and the amount of criticism and vitriol that Ade had to take wasn’t nice.”

Adebayor himself has spoken out about the incident in an interview published in the sun newspaper. It would probably have been best for City to have silenced the out spoken Adebayor – at least until things have settled and the media have moved on – he will just be giving people more ammunition to fire at him, even though what he say’s is quite true:

"I was running on pure emotion and when you take emotion out of football we are going to have a big problem. People say I had time to think because I ran the length of the pitch but that is not true. I was abused all match and scored a goal I knew would win the game for us. Ten seconds is nothing. Your emotion is going to last a lot longer than that."

"I know a steward got hurt and I really do want to say sorry for that because he didn't ask for any of this - he was just a man doing his job. Emotions were running high for me and it is obvious they were for Arsenal fans as well. They had just seen me score the goal that meant they had lost the game and that was very hard for them to take.

Pride of Arsenal : Arsenal fan who protests like he's from Middle East

"The steward was just doing his job but if things hadn't been thrown and people had stayed in their seats then that wouldn't have happened.

"Players should feel like they can celebrate a goal without the fear of being hit by things.

"I think, in terms of class on the pitch, we have overtaken Arsenal and that was a reason for some of the hostility."

In respect to the Van Persie incident Adebayor added:

"Anybody who knows me knows I would not set out to hurt anybody and I would especially not mean to hurt an old team-mate.

"I really am glad Robin was OK because I know my stud was close to his eye but there was really nothing I could have done - there was no way I could have got out of the way in time."

Adebayor also explained that behind the scenes was some deep rooted animosity towards him from some of his old team mates before and during the game:

"There were players from Arsenal who refused to shake my hand before the match. I don't want to give you their names - that is not my style - but there's more than one of them.

"My friends, like Eboue, were fine with me. They are decent people. But I could not understand some of the Arsenal players being disrespectful towards me. These are people I have spent a lot of time with and people I thought were my friends.

"I can just about understand the fans' reaction because they don't know the full story.

"However the way some of the players behaved is just crazy. When a man offers you his hand, you shake it. For them to act like that was a disgrace."

Adebayor also wanted to clear the air regarding his summer transfer move to Manchester City claiming that the Arsenal fans do not have the full and correct facts:

"I'm not sure if the fans understand what happened during the end of my time at Arsenal but I have done nothing wrong.

"An offer came in for me and, as I understand it, Arsene and the club accepted the offer the same day. It was not my fault I left; it was Arsene who wanted to accept the offer for me.

"I wasn't making any comments in the Press about wanting to leave or being unhappy, it was the club who wanted to sell me yet I am being abused by the fans who once cheered me.

"It makes no sense. Arsenal fans just don't have the full picture. I have said many times I enjoyed my time at the club and I scored a lot of goals.

"If they were unhappy with me leaving they need to take it up with their manager and their board because I had nothing to do with the sale.

"Arsene has said many things in the Press but I only take notice of those who matter to me. I read his comments but, as the tattoo on my arm says, 'Only God can judge me' not Arsene Wenger."

Man City v Arsenal Match Report & Video

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Murphy) — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 10:00:00 +0000

Now are you going to believe us? (See the match goals and incidents in the video below). Manchester City sent a further shot across the bows of the top four with a 4-2 win against Arsenal. Robinho and Tevez were both missing through injury – however City have such a strong squad that they insured they kept a 100% start to the season.

Arsenal started the game brightly and should have gone ahead when Gallas missed a header from a corner. City took the lead after 20 minutes when Richards headed a Gareth Barry free kick towards goal, the ball struck the upright and bounced into the net off the head of Almunia.

In the second half Arsenal stepped up to the plate and pressured City’s goal. The end result was a goal from Van Persie on 62 minutes. Lescott making his home debut made his only mistake of the match when he slid in to win the ball but missed, leaving Van Persie to turn and shoot low to Given’s right. Van Persie then ran over to the City fans shouting “F*** Off”.

City regained the lead moments later when Richards did well to cut inside the box and slide the ball into Bellamy with pace. Bellamy struck first time with power to beat Almunia.

Shaun Wright-Phillips rode a heavy challenge to cross the ball into Adebayor who headed in City’s third goal on 80 minutes. I was really pleased for Adebayor to score against his former club, especially considering all of the abuse he has received from the Arsenal fans – which was on a par to a Spur’s welcome to a former player. Unfortunately my heart sunk when I watched him cross the half way to run the full length of the pitch to celebrate infront of the Arsenal fans. I was now witnessing a three match ban for inciting the crowd, not a goal celebration.

However Gary Neville did the same when celebrating a goal for Manchester United against Liverpool and he recieved a £500k fine and no match ban - see the video here on my previous post.

City scored a forth goal when the very impressive Craig Bellamy won the ball deep in his own half and then headed a counter attack with Petrov, Adebayor and Wright-Phillips all running at pace towards the Arsenal goal. Bellamy released Wright-Phillips who deftly chipped the ball over the advancing Almunia. Wright-Phillips will have been pleased to score after missing a sitter from six yards minutes earlier. Adebayor had dribbled past four Arsenal players before cutting the ball back to Wright-Phillips who miss hit the ball wide.

Rosicky scored late in the game after a fine Arsenal move, however it was too late to influence the final result.

The other clear talking point during the game was the Adebayor “stamp” on Van Persie. Slow motion replays show Adebayor making contact with Van Persie’s head after a rash challenge. Van Persie has released a statement about the incident on the Arsenal website and the FA have already started to review the match footage.

With City’s injury list increasing Adebayor will be sorely missed when he is undoubtedly handed a ban from the FA. The ban may even be in place by the time City face Manchester United in the derby at Old Trafford next week.

For the Van Persie Statement in full and video of the stamp incident then please see the previous post: click here.

Match Facts:
Manchester City 4 (Almunia o.g. Bellamy, Adebayor, Wright-Phillips)
Arsenal 2 (Van Persie, Rosicky)
Saturday 12 September 2009, 3:00PM
Att: 47339

Manchester City: Given; Richards, Toure, Lescott, Bridge; Wright-Phillips, De Jong, Ireland Petrov, 72), Barry; Adebayor, Bellamy. Unused subs: Onuoha, Zabaleta, Taylor, Sylvinho, Vidal, Weiss.

Bookings: Lescott (14) Adebayor (81) De Jong (90)

Arsenal: Almunia; Sagna (Eboue, 76), Gallas, Vermaelen, Clichy; Diaby, Song Eduardo, 76), Denilson (Rosicky 52), Fabregas, Diaby; Bendtner, Van Persie. Unused subs: Ramsey, Silvestre, Mannone, Gibbs.

Bookings: Sagna (18) Song (72)

Match Goals and Incident

Mark Hughes Interview

Adebayor stamp on Van Persie (Video)

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Murphy) — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 00:08:00 +0000

During the game with Arsenal (12/09/09) Adebayor appeared to stamp on Van Persie’s head after a rash challenge (see video below). Van Persie has tonight released the following statement on the Arsenal website:

"I am sad and disappointed by my former team-mate Emmanuel Adebayor's mindless and malicious stamp on me during today's match.

"We are both professional footballers and I know that the game is physical, I too have made hard and sometimes mis-timed challenges but never with the intention of hurting an opponent. He set out to hurt me today.

"I knew he was aiming for a collision because he changed the angle of his body to allow contact to be made. He moved backwards when his natural momentum would have taken him forward. I find that deeply disrespectful. He has shown a real lack of class today, to me and the fans.

"I do feel lucky that I have not suffered a greater injury. The contact was only centimetres from my eye. I have not received an apology from him, there were no words exchanged afterwards. He had his own agenda today and that is bad for football. It's bad for the game we all love.

"I want to make it clear that this has nothing to do with the result of today's match. We do not hide from that disappointment but I need to speak out about his behaviour."

The statement released on the Arsenal website, and sanctioned by Arsenal football club is unprecedented in itself. Arsenal do not normally speak of their own players actions nor other clubs players. This just goes to show how deep the feelings are between Arsenal (club, players and fans) and Adebayor.

After Van Persie scored his goal he ran across to the City fans shouting “f**k off”, which has clearly been over shadowed. The challenge before the “stamp” was a terrible challenge that could have been worthy of a red card. Van Persie as we all know is no saint, and to claim that Adebayor set out to hurt him before the game is ridiculous. Takes one to know one eh?

The FA have released a statement that they will be looking at the “stamp” incident and will also investigate Adebayor’s celebration in which he ran the full length of the pitch to celebrate in front of the Arsenal fans. The FA are moving quickly on this – unfortunately Adebayor will most certainly get a ban. With the amount of injuries City have at the moment, coupled with Adebayors fine footballing start to the season, this will be a great loss. He may even be banned from the Manchester derby next week.

What is unclear is will Adebayor receive a ban for the “stamp” because only he knows if it was purely deliberate or not, no matter how incriminating the slow motion replay. The likely outcome could be a one match ban. No matter how much Van Persie and Arsenal cry about it on their website.

Unfortunately there’s no way to brush this one under the carpet, the unimaginative DJ’s at talk sport will make sure this doesn’t go away until next Christmas. Sky have got to fill up a 24 hour news channel too.

The real shame is that Adebayor was clearly man of the match. He was fantastic. Tracking back, making telling runs, scoring. When he scored the third goal I was really pleased for him after the stick he had got from Arsenal and their fans which was over the top – even possibly matching Tottenham’s inability to just let players leave the club without a massive life long hate campaign. However, once Adebayor crossed that half way line my heart sunk – I felt I may be witnessing a three match ban, not a celebration.

However this has happened before – Gary Neville in a game against Liverpool in 2006 ran half the length of the pitch to celebrate a Manchester United goal infront of Liverpool supporters – see video below. Was he banned? No. So if Garry Neville can get away with a £5k fine for this then I really can’t see Adebayor getting a ban.