Manchester City’s Owner is Punching Above his Weight; Try Taking a Look at Sunderland.

Loyalty and football rarely go hand in hand nowadays. One mistake can be the difference between a manager remaining in charge or losing his job regardless of all the good he had done prior to that. These billionaire owners fail to recognise improvement, only seeing missed opportunities (and ultimately missed money). That’s exactly what’s happened down at Eastlands with Sven’s likely exit come May 11th. I think Dr. Shinawatra should take a leaf out of Niall Quinn’s book.

That sounds a very random statement to throw in but if you compare the two situations, it is easy to understand the point I am making. Both managers had goalposts to meet - Keane to avoid relegation, Sven to ensure City improve on last season. Both blew a substantial amount of money in order to achieve it and achieve it they did. The difference being Keane’s goalposts were not moved.

Enter the Swede

When rumours first started to circulate about Sven Goran Eriksson coming in as City manager, it’s fair to say it was meant with a decent amount of scepticism. With his managerial reputation still in tatters following his stint as England manager, non City fans mocked and Citizen’s supporters were left wondering how exactly the Swede could help improve matters in Manchester.

To say times had been hard for the Citizens in recent years is possibly being a tad on the generous side. Three out of the past four seasons have seen them amongst the relegation contenders; last season by far their closest just a 4-point difference saving them from the drop. While the Blues’ fans remained (ridiculously) optimist - they topped our Football Fan-Tasy Report - the reality of it was they were not recognised as any real kind of Premiership force. How on earth would Sven be capable of such a renovation?

But improve it he did, keeping City within the top six for the first half of the season and maintaining the only 100% record in the league for the first three games and a 100% home record until mid December. They astounded everyone with their Brazilian-esque style of play when they defeated West Ham on the first day of the season and continued to impress particularly when they saw off Manchester United. All this from a team who ended last season without a win in six. What a summer transformation! Sven the Citizen’s Saviour was Bjorn.

However, the turn of the year saw City’s form undergo a nightmare makeover. In their last 15 games they have only earned 16 points compared to the 30 they picked up from their first 15 games of the season. Sven’s summer signings - some struggling with wintry conditions, others simply having enough and opting to be loaned out - now appeared to be a case of mindless extravagance.

Sven’s Signings

Sven certainly had his fair share when it came to the cash stakes last summer. Reportedly spending over £40m, Eriksson looked to equip the City ranks with talent in every position; Elano offering an attacking flair in midfield, Petrov giving the team width down the left, Corluka providing confidence in defence and Bianchi with the necessary firepower to name not even half. He brought ones for the future in Caicedo and Fernandes and he purchased ones for the here and now.

The majority have been some sort of success. Petrov has done alright and Elano has proven his versatility after filling in as right back during City’s current injury-ridden spell. But Bianchi, costing £8.8m, apparently couldn’t get out of Eastlands fast enough and Bojinov was injured after just three games. All in all, could be better but could be worse.

I doubt very much we’d be having this conversation if City’s season had been the other way round; if they’d had a slow start and a storming finish. People would be saying how the newbie’s needed time to settle into this league. But what about considering how these new players aren’t used to the fast tempo of the Premiership and therefore are bound to tire more easily than others? Or the fact that the injuries to the squad have forced players to play out of position in a league they are unfamiliar with?

Just a thought. But it seems like Sven is on his way, leaving the question as to who’ll fill his boots. You can have your say on the matter by reading Should Manchester City Be Targeting One of These Men to Replace Sven at Eastlands? Unless all this is just some kind of PR stunt to rally the troops?!

Let’s Put Things into Perspective

Sven’s imminent departure is, for want of a better word, stupid. Forget using some fancy pants description, the decision is stupid, plain and simple. Now I’m not Sven’s biggest fan, and not being a City fan, it doesn’t affect me one way of the other. However as a football fan, it infuriates me how a manager is expected to deliver miracles within one season of coming to a club. Just look at Alan Curbishley a month or so ago, under pressure after losing three games on the bounce.

In Sven’s case, he has started building a team for the future. He has made City play some of their best football in years, he has forced improvement, steered them well clear of any kind of relegation involvement thus achieving step one in Shinawatra’s supposedly five-year plan. And what’s the end result? “He’s not the man for the job.”

Keane to Look at Roy

Again I draw on Roy Keane and Sunderland as an example of how to approach things. Like Eriksson, Keane wasn’t short of a bob or two during the two transfer periods this season. Amongst his spending, he broke the club’s transfer record buying ‘keeper Criag Gordon for £9m. He also paid £6m for Kenwyne Jones, £5m for Michael Chopra and £5.5m for Kieran Richardson. In total, the Irish man spent around the £40m mark.

Two of his most expensive buys - Chopra and Jones, brought to get goals - have fallen dismally short of the mark. Both making 31 league appearances, they have managed to net only 13 goals between them. Gordon has only kept 6 clean sheets in 33 games.

However despite this lack of overwhelming success, how you ever heard of any speculation surrounding whether Roy Keane has a future as Sunderland manager? No and why? Because Niall Quinn and the Sunderland board are realistic about what the club can and cannot currently achieve.

If you’d asked a Manchester City fan at the beginning of the season if they’d be happy with a top ten finish, the answer would have been an resounding and emphatic yes! Chances are if you’d asked Shinawatra at the beginning of the season if a top ten finish was a satisfactory and fitted in with his 5-year plan, I also think the answer would be a firm yes.

Eriksson in a way is a victim of his own early success and it’s a real shame that he is likely to lose his job because of it.

Tags: Manchester City, Niall Quinn, Premier League football, Roy Keane, Sunderland, Sven Goran Eriksson, Thaksin Shinawatra

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 1st, 2008 at 15:09 and is filed under Features, Home Features. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.