Barton Banned Again
September 6, 2008
Just when he thought he was getting his life, and career, back in order, Joey Barton has been slapped with a twelve match ban (six game ban plus six game suspended sentence). This is for the violent conduct charge he admitted to when he assaulted his Manchester City team-mate Ousmane Dabo in a training ground bust-up.
Barton has only just been released from prison for his assault on a teenager in Liverpool, and in his first game for Newcastle against Arsenal he received a deafening tirade of abuse from his own fans.
Barton received the six game ban, the additional six game suspended sentence, and a £25,000 fine for the assault, which only represents half of his week’s wages!
Far from getting his life back on track, Joey Barton seems as though he will never learn, as he was followed on his way to report to his probation officer recently and was seen driving his Range Rover down bus lanes and through a red light, something which he could be banned from driving for.
As if things couldn’t get any worse for Barton, with manager Kevin Keegan walking out he know has no leadership.
Barton will miss games against Hull, West Ham, Tottenham, Blackburn, Everton and Manchester City.
Manchester City try to steal Berbatov for £30 million
September 1, 2008
In an audacious last gasp effort, Man City are trying to hijack rivals Manchester United’s bid for Tottenham striker Dimitar Berbatov. City has had a £30 million bid for the player accepted by Tottenham, but the player is still keen on joining the Reds and wants to play in the Champions League.
Berbatov is in talks with United, even though Spurs have yet to accept a bid from the champions for their player. The Abu Dhabi United Group, who own Manchester City, have tabled the bid in an attempt to steal the player from bitter rivals Man UTD. City manager Mark Hughes hopes to meet the player today to discuss the transfer, but he’ll have to be quick because the transfer deadline closes tonight.
Thaksin Shinawatra only agreed to sell the club to the Abu Dhabi United Group today, and already they’re weighing in with what would be the transfer coup of the season. If only they had more time before the transfer window closes.
Mark Hughes is delighted with the speed that things have happened at City today:
It’s happened quite quickly today.
We are going to try and bring good players to the club and it is a notice of our intent and we’ll try and get him.
There is a real buzz and expectation and hopefully this time it won’t be a false dawn and we can establish ourselves as a top six club.
They [the new owners] have the means to do that.
I wanted the resources to compete at the top table and it looks like that’s what I have got.
Whether Berbatov agrees to join City is another matter, but he only has a few hours to make his mind up.
City and Villa progress in UEFA cup
August 28, 2008
Manchester City have their young goalkeeper Joe Hart to thank as they edged past FC Midtjylland to reach the first round of the UEFA Cup.
Although City won the tie one nil, the sides went all the way to penalties after the Danes recorded the same score at the City of Manchester stadium a fortnight ago.
Hart arguably kept the Blues in the tie during the 90 minutes with a string of fine saves, although Ched Evans and Daniel Sturridge can both count themselves as unlucky not to send City through earlier.
Yet, the former Shrewsbury Town keeper saved spot kicks from Jonas Borring and Kolja Afriyie to send City through 4 – 2 on penalties.
Aston Villa will join them in the hat after they strolled past FH Hafnarfjordur 5 -2 on aggregate. Craig Gardner put Villa ahead with a top quality strike just inside the area. Yet within two and a half minutes scores were level when Atli Bjornsson sneeked through at the near post.
Yet Villa already held a 4 – 1 lead from the first leg and that never looked in any danger as they hardly broke sweat to see themselves through.
The draw will be made in Monaco at 12:00 tomorrow afternoon.
Thaksin Shinawatra offers to quit Manchester City
August 23, 2008
Manchester City’s Thailand owner Thaksin Shinawatra has offered to stand down from his position, amid the turmoil over the warrant for his arrest back in his home country of Thailand.
City chairman Garry Cook has revealed that Shinawatra has offered to resign his position from the board of the club.
Shinawatra, the former Prime Minister of Thailand, was supposed to return to Thailand last week to face charges, but instead chose to fly to back the UK.
Garry Cook stated:
Dr Thaksin is embarrassed about the indignity brought on all the entities – the club, the Premier League – he never intended this.
Dr Thaksin has been really open about this.
He has said to me, ‘if you need me to resign from the football club as a director, because it would serve the needs of the Premier League, then I’m fine with that as long as that doesn’t change any other thing.’
The City board has yet to respond to the offer made by Shinawatra. The whole situation is also being monitored by the Premier League, who could step in if they believe Shinawatra isn’t the right person to control a Premier League side.
Mark Hughes to be the first managerial casualty of the season?
August 13, 2008
The Premier League season is still a few days away from the big kick off, and news of the first Premier League casualty could be just as close. Manchester City manager Mark Hughes, who has yet to take charge of a league game with the club after joining in the summer from Blackburn, looks like he might be on the way out.
Hughes took over from former England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson after the Swede was sacked despite leading City to one of their highest league finishes in years, and completing the double over bitter rivals Manchester United. Clearly the City hotseat isn’t one to get too comfortable in.
Now news has emerged that Sparky Hughes may not be making all of decisions after the clubs sold a player without his knowledge. Add to that the fact that the City owner, Thaksin Shinawatra, has apparently skipped court and has had a warrant issued for his arrest in his home country of Thailand.
Just what is going in at City? The season hasn’t even started yet and they’re in complete turmoil.
However, Hughes has dismissed reports that he’s on the verge of walking away from City, speaking on the club’s website:
There’s been a lot of rumours flying around but I am not going anywhere.
There is a job to do here and I am looking forward to it.
There is speculation around the club and that has been prevalent since I joined the club.
From my own point of view I am very focused on what I am about and what I aim to achieve here and that means success on the pitch.
Nothing whatsoever has changed in that respect and the football operation hasn’t changed since I signed for the club.
Nor has my relationship with Garry Cook and his team. We get on really well and continue to speak on a daily basis.
I am the guy that makes the decisions in relation to the football, and they make the decisions in relation to the running of the club.
There’s always a lot of betting on the first managerial casualty of the season, get your money on Sparky now I’d say!
Ronaldinho snubs City for Milan
July 16, 2008
Manchester City fans can come back down to earth now as the impossible hasn’t quite happened, Ronaldinho will not be going to Eastlands. Instead the want-away Barcelona player looks like he will be joining AC Milan if the Italian club’s website is anything to go by:
AC Milan and Barcelona have reached an agreement in principle over the transfer of Ronaldinho.
The player will be in Milan on Wednesday to undergo a medical and sign a contract that will keep him at Milan until 30 June 2011.
Manchester City had offered a fee of £25.5 million for the Brazilian former two-time world player of the year. Despite City’s impressive offer, according to the Italian press, Milan will only pay Barca £14.6 million for the Brazilian’s signature. That figure is expected to rise however based on appearances.
Manchester City will now have to look elsewhere for that injection of flare.
Manchester City favourites to sign Ronaldinho
July 14, 2008
Ronaldinho, once the greatest player on the world, looks set to sign for Manchester City, according to Barcelona’s president. Laporta.
Man City are battling it with out Italian giants AC Milan for the Brazilian World Cup winner, with City having reportedly bid £25.5 million for Ronaldinho’s signature.
Barca president Laporta stated:
Ronaldinho and his agent have two interesting proposals and they are leaning more towards the one from City.
Barca have said they’ll be discussing Ronaldinho’s future with his agent today, though it’s not known whether they’ll be meeting with either Milan or City.
Barca started pre-season training this morning, and Ronaldinho was very conspicuous with his absence. Barca announced in June that Ronaldinho was no longer required at the club, alerting Europe’s big sides to his availability. Despite Ronaldinho’s obvious talents however, only Milan and Manchester City have shown any serious interest.
Richard Dunne signs new 4 year deal for Man City
July 5, 2008
Some good news for new Manchester City boss Mark Hughes this week as their captain, Richard Dunne, has put pen to paper for a new four-year deal. Dunne has been one of City’s star performers for the last few years and could have been tempted away with interest from other clubs, including Portsmouth.
Richard Dunne told the Manchester City website:
My first priority is, was and always has been to stay at City.
When Mark Hughes got the manager’s job I think everyone was pleased. I was thrilled he seemed to make it a priority to sort my contract out
Sparky, formerly of Manchester United of course, added:
I’m delighted with the outcome and Richard is a really important player for us.
It was one of my priorities when I took the job that I made sure that he was one of the players we needed to keep
Now Hughes can look at signing new targets to take the club forward to the level their ambitious owners want.
Sven-Goran Eriksson
June 2, 2008
Sven-Goran Eriksson has gone as expected from Manchester City, it looks like he’s been the next manager of Mexico slightly nicer place to live than Manchester!
Replacing Sven it might be Mark Hughes the current Blackburn boss. Rovers have accepted a request for Manchester City to talk to the former Manchester United legend about the vacant post at the City of Manchester Stadium.
Sven had some great times including a double over rivals Manchester City and the hey leave our Sven along song, pity he didn’t leave Sven alone.
Manchester City Fans sing to save Sven
May 7, 2008
We mentioned today about Scolari and a possible move to Manchester City. But the City faithful are not going to let Sven go easily. At the recent City V Liverpool game the City fans adapted the Pink Floyd classic Another Brick in the Wall to get thier message across to Thaksin.
We don’t need no Phil Scolari, We don’t need Mourinho
Hey, Thaksin, leave our Sven alone!’
