I want to bring to the attention a few points as we have had to put up with being told we have no soul or that our club is killing football. I want to highlight the average age, the quantity of players of certain nationalities, the balance of our English club and the amount of financial gain of other clubs from the sale of their players not to mention the value these players have to Manchester City. Finally at a football club, what defines having a soul?, have Manchester City got a soul? and what are most City fans expectations.
The core of Manchester City, 25 and younger, 26 and older.
Strikers: C Tevez (25), A Adebayor (25), S Cruz (28), C Bellamy (30), Robinho (25), ( V Bojinov (23), on loan)
Midfielders: S Ireland (23), G Barry (28), N DeJong (24), V Weiss (19), S Wright-Phillips (27), M Petrov (30), M Johnson (21), (K Etuhu (21), on loan)
Defenders: Sylvinho (35), J Lescott (27), K Toure (28), V Kompany (23), N Onouha (22), M Richards (21), P Zabaleta (24), W Bridge (29)
Goalkeepers: Shay Given (33), Stuart Taylor (28), (Joe Hart (22), on loan)
With a few players surplus to requirements, R Dunne, J Garrido, Tal Ben Haim, Jo Alves, F Caicedo, S Logan and Benjani, that means City have 14 players aged 25 or younger to 10 above age of 26 so there is a balance of youth and experience present.
Player Nationalities
Brazil 2 Argentina 2
England 9 Africa 3
Paraguay 1 Bulgaria 2
Slovakia 1 Rep of Ireland 2
Holland 1 Belgium 1
Wales 1
That's 9 English players and 16 non English not including up and coming youth players in our reserve squad or our academy.
Manchester City's academy continues to grow and improve and we are currently waiting for some of our academy graduates who have been promoted to our reserves side recently, to step up to senior level and follow young Vladimir Weiss into the first team squad.
Stimulating Football as a whole
As most are unaware, others clubs have gained from Manchester City's academy this season with Daniel Sturridge joining Chelsea, C Evans, C Obeng and K Schmeichel all finding new clubs, no doubt more youth will be leaving Manchester City's academy in the future to new clubs.
Then there are the players loaned out from City like Joe Hart, V Bojinov, K Etuhu, F Caicedo, Jo Alves and D McDermott, there are a whole host of clubs gaining from Manchester City this season.
City are defensively heavy but that is understandable considering the defense are more prone to injury than any other position.
New Signings
K Toure, a solid proven centre-back with both Champions League and Premier League pedigree.
A Adebayor, a solid striker with an eye for goal, already proving his value for money with Champions League and Premier League pedigree.
C Tevez, a typical hard working Argentine, versatile, strong with bags of skill, Champions League and Premier League experience.
J Lescott, England International centre-back or left-back, European and Premier League pedigree.
G Barry, England International central midfielder with European and Premier League pedigree.
Are the players worth the money City paid for them?, all valuable ex-first team members of top six clubs, all with pedigree and all between the age of 25 to 28.
Who else financially gained without extreme disruption?
Clubs have demanded Huge fees for established English Premier League players so if anyone is to blame for inflating transfer fees, its the seller and not the buyer. As far as the wage subject goes, if any business wants to go places then they need to pay the best they can to get the best people possible to push that business forward.
Arsenal gained enough money from the sale of two players to buy at least four new players.
Everton gained a large percentage from the sale of Joleon Lescott and enough to buy two new players not to mention having a striker from us on loan.
Wolverhampton Wanderers gained a percentage of the Joleon Lescott fee.
Aston Villa gained enough money to buy two new midfielders to replace Barry not to mention having a few youth players ready to step up to the plate.
Accused of lacking soul?
- A solid fan base through thick and thin, up and down from Division three to the Premier League.
- The most outstanding community based club in England who have won awards and honours for work in the community.
- Our club listens to its fans, our owner keeps his promises and our clubs board gets the job done.
- Our history as an English club holds character, tradition and value, always known as a family club we have made history no matter where we were.
- No matter how much you put us down, we always come back fighting stronger than ever and our club oozes pride in battle.
- We never drop our heads and always raise the bar no matter what.
Who said we lack soul, I know otherwise.
Future of English football
I would say the future is looking great on a domestic and national scale, Manchester City and Aston Villa are providing the core of English youth and other clubs are starting to take note and see the success our academy has shown of late.
Domestic leagues are becoming more competitive, its not just Premier League clubs that are rolling in cash, clubs like Crystal Palace and Nottingham Forest are on their way back.
The more money entering Great Britain, the more tax paid to our government and in turn the more of a chance our government handing over money to solve real issues like domestic poverty and our national health service etc.
Expectation
Most City fans I think, are far from thinking Manchester City can win the Premier League title in 09'10', far from deluded but more excited about the football that will be played in the City of Manchester Stadium, instead we hope for the best possible start to the next decade.
I think City fans would be happy with a minimum of fifth place in the league and maybe a Cup to remember and then be happy to see City push on from there but I would like to also think we are a little more optimistic in hoping for a top four finish in the league if possible and we know eventually that we will be.
It is ultimately the media pointing to City winning the league in our first real challenging season aided by the bookmakers, as most will be aware, the media love to hype up a story, speculate, exaggerate, manipulate and fabricate.
Feel free to add your personal expectations as a City fan below.
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