Is Sheikh Mansour getting it wrong at Man City?

Is Sheikh Mansour getting it wrong at Man City?

ARTICLE BY Shane Edwards

Manchester City have entered an initial bid of £91million to buy Brazilian playmaker Kaka plus wages of £13.6m a year after tax.

Kaka who won World player of the year in 2007, is at the top of Sheikh Mansour shopping list this January.

City spent £60million in the summer on Robinho, Jo and Shaun Wright-Phillips, however find themselves in a relegation battle sitting in 15th place in the Premier League.

£91m could buy three or four top quality players however the Sheikh wants to send a message out to the football world. Kaka would certainly be a great acquisition for any football club in the world, however shouldn't City be looking to strengthen the squad by improving in other areas? Is Kaka really the player who can help push the Sky Blues back up the table?

Also with unrest in the dressing room at Eastlands, is City's transfer policy a recipe for disaster?

If they have the money they have the money. They might have some good attacking midfielders but none on the level of Kaka. Hughes should go cause he's not the man for that job.

Who do you think would be successful at City as they are currently?
I personally don't think Kaka is a player Hughes wants for that cash. If he was given the cash to spend, I am almost certain he wouldn't blow all that on Kaka.

I said it on another thread ,they don't know what they are doing.There's no science in it whatsoever and they will earn no respect from any player with the way they are gong about things.

It's more a statement of intent isn't it?

Let's lure Kaká from a massive Club with an offer they can't refuse and show everybody that we mean business and can dominate from here on in.

It's blowing up in their faces a bit, but this is an extraordinary case. Kaká is a special personality as well as a special player. But I do think Man City will get their way on the majority of their cases and it will have a hugely positive effect on their future.

I think with Kaka they expect that they will sell some merchandising products so the club will increase, it can work but there is Manchester United in the same town.

They will spend hunderds of millions of the arabs oil money and then in two or three years he will realise they are wasting way too much money and then Man City will be in financial ruin. Hopefully.

Mourinho is the man for the job imo. He doesn't seem that happy at Inter so I'm sure they could lure him away at the end of the season.

Do you think Mourinho would put up with having no control over who comes into the club? That is where it all went wrong at Chelsea in my opinion with Abramovic bringing Shevchenko into the club .... it went downhill from there. Mourinho likes to be in complete control, and I cant see Sheikh Mansour giving him that.

Who's to say Hughes doesn't have control? I can't imagine he'd object to having Kaka on his team sheet. Even if they bid £100m, who's to say that's his entire budget? He might have virtually unlimited funds.

He clearly knew nothing about the Robinho purchase.
You would have to be pretty naive to think he has full control of the comings and goings in my opinion. No manager in the world would turn down a Kaka, however it is clear that City need some battlers. If Hughes was in charge of who was coming in, then I think he would be going for a couple of defenders and a solid midfielder, not another creative attacking Brazilian.

He did know of the Robinho purchase. He said he was called on the day to give the transfer to go ahead before they made an offer.

He might not have full control like say Ferguson does but he has more control than Ramos did and they certainly aren't signing players against his will.

From what I've seen of Kaka he seems to have a high work rate.

City already have plenty battlers. They just aren't playing well. What City really need is a top class manager to get this side organised and working as a unit. Top class players like Robinho and Kaka need a top class manager.

Finally why can't they have battling midfielders/defenders AND Kaka. Everyone knows they have the money for them all. Who says they can only have one or the other?

I just don't see how you can instantly claim Hughes is not good enough to take this team further. He hasn't really been given a chance yet. He has been successful in every job he has had both as a player and manager. This is a different kind of task, we all know that, however I don't think he has full control. Scolari is a supposed Top Class manager, and he is not really setting the world alight right now - 3/1 to get the sack. Ramos was also a supposed Top Class manager, and he was a failure in the Premier League. Hughes only had money towards the very end of the transfer window - so hasn't really had time to get his own players in. As for your question regarding who says they can only have the one, nobody says that as nobody has a crystal ball. What we are doing however is discussing what we already do know and that is that City are going for Kaka for a ridiculous amount of cash.

As for Manchester City fans, I would be very interested in finding out if they are happy with the goings on right now at the club. Of course the younger fans will be delighted at the thought of world class players joining the club, however some of the older, wiser fans will surely be a little concerned about the future for the club. What happens if/when the owners leave? As mentioned before, we are starting to see cracks at Chelsea. If Abramovic were to pull out of the club, what would happen?

This sort of thing in my opinion is destroying football.

He has a worse team than Sven had and he's in the relgation zone. There a big difference between having the time to build a squad and being terrible. Scolari is still third in the league, still in the FA Cup and the Champions League. Hughes has a top 8 side in the relegation zone.

Let me ask you this, do you think Mark Hughes will ever break into the top four with Man City? Second question. If Mourinho took over would he make the top four in the 2009/2010 season?

Most Man City fans would love their day in the sun even if it meant they had to spend time in the lower leagues somewhere down the line. That's how City fans I know from spending time in Manchester feel.

Firstly, Manchester City are not in the Relegation Zone - they are 15th in the league with a game in hand over most above them. Winning that game could see them climb to 11th place in the table.

I will answer one question at a time.

Do you think Mark Hughes will ever break into the top four with Man City?

No I do not, but not because he is not good enough. I don't think he will make the top four as he will not be given the time to build his own team. He will also in my opinion not be given free reign over who comes in and who leaves. Obviously I do not know this for certain the same as you don't know, however this is how I see it.

If Hughes was given the cash to go out and buy his own players, and given time to turn City into a top four team, then I don't see why he wouldn't be able to do it. We will never know though because in my opinion it is only a matter of time before City look to bring in a big name manager.

If Mourinho took over would he make the top four in the 2009/2010 season?

Mourinho in my opinion is a fantastic manager, and of course I rate him better than Mark Hughes. His acheivements in world football command respect from anyone. The debate is not whether Hughes is better than Mourinho however, it is whether Hughes should be given a chance to spend the money on his own players to build his own squad. You are saying City need to bring in a world class manager, but who would you recommend other than Mourinho?

Most Man City fans would love their day in the sun even if it meant they had to spend time in the lower leagues somewhere down the line. That's how City fans I know from spending time in Manchester feel.

Thank you for answering this question. When did you spend time in Manchester? Recently?
If I was a City fan, alarm bells would be ringing if I was to be honest.

But does Hughes really deserve this opportunity? He hasn't earnt his chance for me and these guys are spending hundreds of millions so why should they not get their choice of who's spending it? If Hughes were up in fifth/sixth with his current squad I'd say yes he should get his chance but wasn't appointed by these guys and hasn't really earnt the opportunity I don't think.



I think Capello and Mourinho are the two best managers in the world right now. Not that Capello is especially likely but he is a genuis as far as I'm concerned. Were I in charge of a football club those are the two managers I'd want in charge. Elsewhere Lippi is a good coach and Rikjaard did a very good job at Barcelona for a few years.



My girlfriend is from Manchester and most of her friends support Man City, so I'm there a lot.

City are destroying football.

Abramovich throwing money about like candy was bad enough when you look back at it, but these guys are just obscene in the way they're doing it. Bragging about having £550Billion in their wallets and how they're going to buy all the top players. It's not right at all.

In my opinion, they're trying to run before they can walk, although in saying that they somehow managed to lure a top top player in Robinho to City, but he's just a little boy who threw his toys out of the pram when Real chased Ronaldo. He never WANTED to join them.

Anyway, I really hope Platini, Blatter or some footballing authority starts to look at these multi billionaires buying football clubs and trying to buy themselves glory.

You're spot on Johaldo, and it needs to be done sooner rather than later. These owners are able to buy whoever they want, knock up massive wage bills, and after a few years could essentially walk away with all the cash and leave the clubs in financial ruin. That would be my main concern if I was a Chelsea or Man City fan.

It really is a sad state of affairs and one which has been coming for a while now. The birth of the Prem was almost like a press conference stating that football is now a business. Didn't the same conversations happen in pubs (those crazy days before on-line forums) when Mr Walker "bought" the title for Blackburn. The difference there was Jack was a fan of Blackburn, just realising a dream and in doing so boosted the local economy beyond expectations... If it had stayed that way, rich local business men/women, buying the club they support, I don't think we'd have such a big problem now. But, when you brand something and, therefore, can buy/sell/profit from it, that's when it turns ugly!

In the "good old days" a recession wouldn't really hurt football apart from, maybe, a slight drop in gate receipts. Now, with the economy as bad as it is, there's talk of clubs going under and that is just plain sad. Unfortunately where there is business to be done, there are business men/women and, on the whole, they're a nasty bunch.

Back to the subject, now football is a business there is no way to stop the likes of Abramovich or Mr Mansour or our very own Gilette/Hicks coming in and either improving or ruining our beloved clubs. When DIC was in for Liverpool, I was excited because there was a fan heading up the bid and that can only be good, but with these sharks circling it can only mean bad news for football. I've no doubt these people (G&H aside) are fans of football and are just trying their hand at domination. But, what they learn in a boardroom, means little when it comes to the beautiful game. Yes, you can go and buy the best players, you can even buy the best manager (on paper) but you can't buy a team. A team has to be built over time and rejuvenated time and time again. As much as I hate them, just look at Man Utd... Yes, they've spent millions to stay where they are, but they got there on the backs of "a bunch of kids" and have not spent as much as the chasing pack (maybe gooners aside?) over the years. The one thing every club should learn from them (and Arsenal, to be fair) is pick the right man and then give him time. Then, even if the club is sold, you have a great foundation..... I've just vomited a little.....

Teeth brushed, minty fresh.... I agree with O Dogg, give Mark Hughes time and control and he will deliver. Give most managers time, control and HUGE wads of cash they would also deliver. I, really, can't see Mourinho going to Eastlands and, I for one, would be happy never to see him back in England. I never liked his style of play, breath of fresh air with the press, but boring and hypocritical with his tactics. As an attacker when he played MH will always play with flare and that will bring goals and entertainment, which will draw admirers. I hope the Sheikh sticks with him.

I agree with most of that,but having any faith in those clowns Blatter and platini would be a joke. I wouldn't be surprised if they greatly benefited from the current trend.