Club could be set for period of dominance in England and Europe with Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan's backing
Manchester City's first league title since 1968 lands the Holy Grail for Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan, who has spent close to £1bn since buying the club from Thaksin Shinawatra, the former prime minister of Thailand, in 2008.
The money has gone on the recruitment and pay of a supremely talented squad: Carlos Tevez (£47m), Sergio Aguero (£38m), Edin Dzeko (£27m), Emmanuel Adebayor (£25m), James Milner (£26m), Yaya Toure (£24m), Mario Balotelli (both £24m) and Joleon Lescott (£22m).
Tevez and Toure head up Mansour's highest earners with their £250,000 annual salaries. The owner has also invested millions in upgrading the club's Etihad Stadium and Carrington training complex and other requisite infrastructure.
The Abu Dhabi United Group, Mansour's investment vehicle, has transformed City from a perennial hard-luck story and laughing stock to a destination club.
When City dropped into English football's third tier in 1998 and crosstown rivals Manchester United continued their domination of the domestic scene, City supporters' gallows humour moved them to a new song. "We are not, we're not really here, just like the fans of the Invisible Man we're not really here," they sang, to underscore what Joe Royle, one former manager, called "Cityitis".
The prevailing criticism of the Mansour project has been that the stream of high-class footballers flowing through the club in the past four years have been a band of extravagantly paid mercenaries lacking the requisite team spirit and winning mentality to land trophies.
When this began changing with last season's FA Cup triumph – the first trophy for 35 years – the disparagement became that if City were to win the title they would merely have "bought" it.
Yet splurging cash on the English football's premier prize is a proud tradition. Since buying Chelsea in 2003, Roman Abramovich has also spent around £1bn to claim three titles. In 1995, Blackburn Rovers became one of only four clubs to win the Premier League courtesy of Jack Walker's millions, after the steel magnate had bought his local team four years earlier.
City fans care nothing of finance. As Roberto Mancini, the City manager, said before kick off against QPR: "Most of all, it could be a day for our supporters to forget all the bad days and enjoy again the feeling of being on top of the table at the end of the season." Read More
انسخ الكود التالى و ضعه فى موقعك او مدونتك.
