Thank God it isn't like this any more!

I got a new job recently. I'm currently living in St Petersburg, but will have to move to Moscow. Ideally I'd stay where I am, because I like it here in what has more or less become an adopted home city for me, but, basically, needs must. Anyway, it's not anything I haven't done before: in the summer of 1998, I also left St Petersburg for Moscow. Things back in 1998 were very different in the world of Manchester City, with the club at the lowest point in its history, and Russia was in the midst of a catastrophic banking and financial crisis. I couldn't help but see parallels, and was moved to write about them for the email newsletter MCIVTA. I thought I may as well reproduce that piece here.

AN UNCANNY RESEMBLANCE

In the last couple of weeks, as you may have seen on your news bulletins, life has become fairly interesting in Moscow, the city where I now live. Despite the economic crisis and political uncertainty, so far, at least, there's no sign of any public disorder. However, I've been instructed rather disturbingly by the firm I work for to book a ticket home so that if things turn nasty, I can leave. I have a friend who's due to arrive on Thursday to stay with me for a week, and normally I'd be rather worried about welcoming a visitor from England in these circumstances. However, this lad's been watching City for twenty years, so I have no qualms whatsoever about his arrival. You see, if the Russian Federation weren't a country at all but an English football club, it would be Manchester City.

Europa League draw revives memories of campaigns past

On Friday, Manchester City were drawn in Group A of what this blog still thinks of as the UEFA Cup despite the fancy new title (I'm becoming ever more a stick-in-the-mud as I get older!). Age has its advantages, though. One is that I can remember City playing in Europe in the seventies - only hazily, as I was still a kid then, but I recall it nonetheless. The club effectively relinquished its membership of English football's elite around 30 years ago, and only now does its knocking on the door for readmission seem to be becoming convincingly insistent; as a result, our heritage in European competitions lags way behind that of other clubs, comprising fewer than 60 games as opposed to the hundreds played by some of the continent's superpowers. But there's enough there for draws against Italian, Polish and Austrian opposition to evoke memories of some epic battles past. I'll look at them in more detail in coming weeks, but for now, here's a little overview of our past European involvement with each of those three countries.

City billionaires plan to turn Eastlands into Las Vegas!

Or so screamed a tabloid newspaper headline in November 2009. It sparked an ongoing thread on the Blue Moon forum under the same title, but it's actually been known for much longer that something very interesting is going to be happening around the Sportcity site. Indeed, Subterranean Homesick Blue believes that the possibilities for development around the City of Manchester Stadium explain in large part why Sheikh Mansour alighted on this club in the summer of 2008. I'm intrigued by the potential developments and will return to various relevant issues in more detail soon, as well as offering reports and analysis on future developments.

It's known that a visitor attraction, intended to draw annual visitor numbers in seven figures, is one component. Rumours that I'm convinced are reliable hold that a new elite training facility near CoMS and an expanded stadium also form part of the plans. The club has already signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the local Council and regeneration body New East Manchester, with Council sources speaking effusively on the stellar prospects for the developments. This post merely scratches the surface, looking at when we can expect definite news and offering thoughts as to what may happen to the stadium if it's to live up to billing.

City's ten greatest ever players

Polls over City's greatest ever player usually put Colin Bell as number one. Subterranean Homesick Blue in no way wishes to downplay the tremendous role played by Bell in this club's history - but the England midfield great only makes number three in this blog's list, which is as follows:

10. Denis Law
9. Alan Oakes
8. Dave Watson
7. Francis Lee
6. Eric Brook
5. Peter Doherty
4. Frank Swift
3. Colin Bell
2. Billy Meredith
1. Bert Trautmann

Follow the link below for detailed reasoning and argument.

The old badge and copyright

Occasionally, people talk about legal issues connected with football, and they make mistakes. I'm sad enough, given my job, to be bothered by this and to feel an impulse to correct them. Fans often reminisce about the old City crest, the round one with a ship and red rose in the middle. It was discarded because we didn't own the copyright, so the received wisdom goes. NOT TRUE!!

City's youth policy over the 20 years from the late 1970s

A while back, a friend told me about a book he'd read by a former City scout, Len Davies. We ended up having a lengthy discussion about the productivity of City's youth system since the mid-1970s, and Stevie Ireland's comments on his departure from the club this week prompted me to think about the issue once more. I decided to track the MCFC youth development programme down the years.

How Manchester City Hope To Fund Their 'Stratospheric' Pay Offers

This is an article originally written in summer of 2009, indulging my interest in sports law. It was originally written against a backdrop of vast sums being mentioned in the media in connection with a potential salary offer to rumoured transfer target John Terry, but I suspect that the point still remains relevant.

So far this summer, Real Madrid’s astonishing spending has been the major news story emerging from the global transfer market. The Spanish giants have signed a string of superstars, and, if reports are to be believed, seem set to make further spectacular additions to their squad. In English football, meanwhile, Manchester City are leading the way in spending terms as the club tries to make the most of the first summer transfer window throughout which it has the backing of its Arab owners’ amazing wealth.

Why Roberto Mancini should be judged from now only

Maybe I'm overly sensitive to the criticism, but it seems to be the fashion among many pundits at present to deride Roberto Mancini. You'd never guess from the coverage in the British media that this is a man with a trophy winning pedigree at three major Italian clubs. Maybe it will prove in time that Mancini is more suited to coaching in Serie A than his homeland, but some of the comments about him so far from British pundits and journalists have been disgracefully disrespectful. This piece hopefully doesn't fall into that category.