Manchester City Blog
Manchester City’s rise to prominence from an also-ran top flight English club to the top of premier league ladder is just staggering. While the rest of the footballing world watched in awe and envy, the citizens bankrolled by men from the Middle East were irresistible in their quest to reach the top.
They went all guns blazing in the transfer market considerably out spending all their rivals, and assembled a squad that contained some of the most sought after players from across the globe.
The outcome was handsome- they won the premier league after enduring a painfully barren spell of 44 years – a period in which they found themselves under the shadows of their illustrious city rivals.
They were no longer the noisy neighbour’s anymore; they earned the bragging rights. It all happened in the blink of an eye.
Yet , a few years and a £1 billion later, currently witnessing the renaissance of Chelsea under Jose Mourinho, and clearly hamstrung by the restrictions imposed on them by UEFA for not adhering to the FFP rules and regulations, everyone associated with the club must wonder if they went too far too soon.
Former Liverpool and city goalkeeper David James reckons the club’s philosophy is wrong and their reckless attitude has come back to haunt them.
“I generally think Man City of the top four are the weak link,” said former England keeper James.
“Man City, again, they have got all this talent, they have won the title twice — or rather tripped over the line twice.
“Look at Chelsea last season. The title was won in November. If Arsenal had started better, I think Chelsea would have carried on longer just to win the league by ten, 15 points, whatever.
“I don’t see the Man City model being right, just spending loads of money and acquiring players. It isn’t necessarily the model of continued success. I have seen changes elsewhere and at the moment I am not seeing that at Man City. It is just spend a bit more and expect success.”
To make matters worse, Manchester City have a huge task in their hands to fulfill the quota of homegrown players. Last year Manuel Pellegrini’s side entered the season with a homegrown player quota made up of Frank Lampard, James Milner, Dedryck Boyata, Gael Clichy, John Guidetti, Joe Hart, Scott Sinclair and Richard Wright. But this summer, only Hart, Clichy and backup goalkeeper Wright remain and having signed Raheem Sterling, there are four vacant spots for home-grown players.
The decision to shell out big money for a talent as raw and young as Raheem Sterling came in for widespread ridicule from all quarters, but it was done to bolster the home-grown contingent in the squad. However, the gain of Raheem Sterling is offset by the loss of James Milner, who incidentally moved in the opposite direction citing lack of first team opportunities.
Of course, City have built a state of the art world class academy with a view to developing players from within rather buying them from outside, but any academy no matter how good it is will at least require a minimum of 10 years for the club to bear the fruits of its labour.
It is not like City find themselves in a precarious position, but it is just that the bar has been raised so high that they are struggling to meet the expectations. Their dismal showing in Europe must be a huge cause for concern for everyone associated with the club and Manuel Pellegrini must do everything he can in his powers to ensure that they have a good season in Europe this time around as repeated early exits could prove damaging to the club psychologically in the longer run.
The time has come for the club’s top men to take some tough decisions, envision a strategy for the long term and stick to it irrespective of what transpires on the field. But this time they have to take a more prudent and sensible approach, and most importantly, get their decisions spot on since the margin for error is extremely high.
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