Manchester City and their fans braced themselves for greatness after their club was taken over by big spending owners from Abu Dhabi in 2008. They have made and continue to make a list of signings, both inspiring and awe-inspiring, but every time I see project Man City something seems amiss – I have some how never been able to convince myself that the blue half of Manchester can match the capabilities and the greatness of their more illustrious, but spend thrifty contemporaries.
Seeing them hand a 5-1 drubbing to my favourite EPL club, Tottenham Hotspurs did not bring about the thought that they should fail, but neither did wins against Swansea, Wigan Atletic, Birmingham and Everton change my mind about them not challenging for top honours till they find a person who can truly attach himself to the club. They have been nothing short of marvelous so far and probably deserve all the accolades and predictions of them fighting to finish at the top of the league.
They certainly have a team capable of doing that. There are probably just a handful of clubs around the globe that can boast of a surplus of world class players for every position. Edin Dzeko, Kun Aguero, Carlos Tevez, Gareth Barry, David Silva, Yaya Toure… you get the point.
But the lack of an inspirational figure, one who ostentatiously feels for The Citizens, is what could pull the club back. In their current squad list, little known Chinedum Onuoha is the only player to have been playing for The Citizens since before 2005. Micah Richards comes in next having started in the senior team in 2005. The rest were, results of Man City’s spending power - there for money, lack of opportunities in their previous club, to use Man City as a springboard to get to their dream clubs etc. But would the likes of Dzeko, Aguero, Mauro I-cant-wear-my-own-bib Balotelli and Silva stay if, say, AC Milan, Barcelona or even Anzhi Makhachkala came calling? Would they turn down bigger offers and a definite chance at silverware year after year, one year down the lane? Would they stick with The Blues if they fail to reach the high target they have set for themselves after 2 or 3 years?
When Roman Abrahimovic bought Chelsea, in John Terry and Frank Lampard he already had 2 legends who could inspire and motivate the team to do well. Silvio Berlusconi could always fall back on players like Franco Baresi, Mauro Tassoti, etc do the job for the Rossoneri. For Florentino Perez, there was Raul, Iker Cassilas, etc. Unfortunately for Man City there is no such player. Tevez already wants out while the likes of Balotelli and Emanuel Adebayor have made The Citizens seem far less organized then they actually are.
Imagine The Citizens with 1 or more truly inspirational figure at the helm, someone the fans and the club can call their own. Someone who gives it their all and is committed to ensuring the club goes in the right direction. One who could tower over the many controversy magnets currently playing at the club and make certain to them that they, in no way, are bigger than the club. That's the Mancherster City opponents would dread, that's the Manchester City the fans would kill to watch and that's Manchester City people would soon come to love.
I'm in no tiny little way trying to say that this article is the final say, carved in stone. It is merely an opinion. I'd love to be proved wrong, for it makes for better watching, but honestly I don't see it happening till the time when you think of Man City and automatically think of a player associated with the team rather than just truckloads of money.
