11/23/24
September 01, 2008
Manchester City make it the Big Five.: The final day of the EPL's season-opener transfer window turns out to be a historic day for the blue side of Manchester.
First, Manchester City's announced that their new owners were the Abu Dhabi United Group (ADUG). Next, they captured Chelsea target Robinho for 32.5 million pounds, a British record that overshadowed city neighbors Manchester United's acquisition of Dimitar Berbatov for a paltry sum of 30.75 million pounds. Time to welcome our new blue overlords.
posted by worldcup2002 to soccer at 08:32 PM - 10 comments
I can't help thinking thet Man City were the second choice. Didn't a Dubai concern put in a bid for Liverpool a while back?
Maybe I'm just jealous that no-one's buying into Derby. We've won the league title twice since City last did.
/come-hither, rich guy
posted by owlhouse at 08:52 PM on September 01, 2008
This is one of the best days of my City supporting life.
AND we got Robinho!
posted by igottheblues at 11:39 PM on September 01, 2008
What lineup is Hughes going to put out when play resumes in two weeks?
posted by billsaysthis at 11:01 AM on September 02, 2008
Ironic that a group called United bought City..
The real losers in all this are Liverpool. As it is, they seem to be struggling to hang on to the coat-tails of Man Utd, Chelsea and Arsenal. If they are to be deprived of Champions League football that could be disasterous, considering the debt the owners have accrued.
posted by salmacis at 02:30 PM on September 02, 2008
Congrats IGB! In saw 'city signs Robinho' on the scroll line during the TN/UCLA game and was positive the guys at ESPN just didn't know the difference between City and Chelski.
Can you imagine what it was like for Hughes yesterday? He comes in to work and finds out he has a blank check and 12 hours left in the transfer window. It reminds me of the Richard Pryor movie, Brewsters Millions. As I recall it didn't work out so well for Brewster, maybe Sparky will fare better....
posted by r8rh8r27 at 05:33 PM on September 02, 2008
Man, you should check this BBC article.
Sheikh Mansour, a member of Abu Dhabi royalty, is the purported real power behind ADUG. Money is nothing to this guy. The supposed 200m pounds to buy City is a drop in this guy's oil bucket. The article says if the price of oil goes up just $1, this guys gets an extra $500m (250m pounds) _that day_! And his family's combined wealth is estimated at US$1 TRILLION (yes, with a T, a thousand billion, 500 billion pounds). Abramovich can suck his balls!
posted by worldcup2002 at 11:10 PM on September 02, 2008
Also, yeah, to salmacis's point, Liverpool looks to be playing catch-up now.
Per the article in my previous comment, ADUG had considered Arsenal (shareholders won't sell), Newcastle (400m valuation too high) and Liverpool (expenditure for new stadium scared them off), in addition to Man City.
posted by worldcup2002 at 11:17 PM on September 02, 2008
I've been following City through three divisions of English football, with the nagging reminder that we haven't won a legitimate trophy since the 1976 League Cup and a major trophy since the 1969 FA Cup. It's been rough. Ten years ago we were in Division Two. Just ten years ago. Now look.
Sure, Liverpool and Man United supporters will say you can't buy history, but you know what? We just bought a future.
posted by igottheblues at 12:09 AM on September 03, 2008
1976? Luxury! My lot haven't won anything since 1968. BTW, I was born in 1971.
posted by salmacis at 07:57 PM on September 03, 2008
What a week for Citeh.
Second 3-0 win on the trot, moving up to third in the league and 2 points ahead of United (albeit with one more game played), the return of Shaun Wright-Phillips with 2 goals, new financially stable ownership, an audacious late 34 million-pound bid for Berbatov and the record-breaking arrival of Robinho.
If I were a City fan, I'd be throwing back a few pints.