WEST BROM V CITY Agent F is playing key role – on and off field
AGENT F was at his most effective again this summer as Pep Guardiola sought to overhaul his City squad.
A budget of £300m can go so far - but that wasn’t the only weapon in the Catalan’s arsenal.
Increasingly, Guardiola and City have turned to the persuasive powers of Fernandinho when landing targets.
He was influential in Gabriel Jesus’ move from Palmeiras in January. So much so that the then teenager rejected potential moves to Barcelona, Real Madrid and United before signing for City in a £27m deal.
Fernandinho was not only used to sell Manchester and the club to Jesus, but served as something of a mentor and translator.
And the midfielder - who is still to agree a new contract himself was in action again over the summer as Guardiola closed in on more Brazilian players in a bid to turn City into genuine title contenders.
He made contact with both goalkeeper Ederson and Danilo before their moves - talking in glowing terms of the club.
Danilo revealed the 32-yearold’s part in his move from Real Madrid after City had missed out on another Brazilian, Dani Alves.
“I spoke to Fernandinho a lot before moving here,” he said. “He’s a player I knew a lot from the Brazilian national side.
“He knows the good things about the club, except of course the weather in Manchester.
“Obviously, having Fernandinho helped me to make my decision to come here.
“On the day-to-day, mainly Fernandinho has helped me a lot to settle in and to integrate with the rest of the players, to know about the city, the dynamics of the club. Fernandinho has been really important to me. Ederson and Gabriel Jesus too, but mostly Fernandinho” ERIC Brook would no doubt have approved of the speed, strength and finishing power of Sergio Aguero, the man who could break his all-time City goalscoring record when they play West Brom tonight.
But the blunt Yorkshireman would certainly have had no truck with the various shades of purple, RECENTLY Pep Guardiola, when asked about squad rotation ahead of a run of seven games in 22 days, described tonight’s League Cup trip to West Bromich as a ‘cup final’. yellow and orange which bedeck the modern player.
Casting a baleful eye over City’s 1955 FA Cup final team, dressed in bright blue tracksuits, retired Blues hero Brook passed judgment in his best Mexborough accent.
After the game he told City skipper Roy Paul in no uncertain terms how he felt about the ‘pantaloons.’ It was Brook all over, a nononsense player who scored goals from left wing and centre forward
Not for one second was he suggesting the players would be parading around the Hawthorns with a trophy if they win the tie, but the words he chose showed this year’s ‘fourth priority’ wouldn’t be tossed away like it was at Old Trafford last season.
The justification for fielding a weakened team in this competition has become part of accepted football culture, but it certainly wasn’t back in and at one stage did not miss a game for ELEVEN seasons.
On one occasion, he tucked the blankets around Frank Swift as the legendary City keeper was being stretchered off, and then hauled the jersey over his head, put it on and took his place between the sticks.
Brook played for the Blues for 12 seasons after joining them in 1928, he and his fellow Barnsley player Fred Tilson costing a joint fee of £6,000.
City were big news at the time – the best-supported team in the country, although even then one capable of shooting themselves in both feet simultaneously.
With Brook as one of the stars, City reached the 1933 FA Cup final against Everton when, with both teams changing to avoid a colour clash, the Blues became the Reds for the day.
The unlikely sight of City fans heading for Wembley decked out in red and white perhaps disturbed the gods of football, as the Merseysiders ran out 3-0 winners.
They were back on the Wembley trail the following season and faced Stoke City – and Stanley Matthews – in front of a pulsating 84,569 crowd at Maine Road, which remained an my formative football years. Admittedly, there was no European campaign to navigate back in the 1970s, but watching the Blues fight their way past United in November 1975 - even though that was also the day Colin Bell suffered the terrible injury that effectively ended his career - was a massive highlight of my early days on the terraces.
Last season’s cheap exit at the hands of our derby rivals was a English record until Spurs played Bayer Leverkusen at Wembley last year.
Brook scored a wonder goal in that game, haring down the left wing and then lobbing the Stoke keeper from a wide angle.
Some claimed it was a cross, but those who knew Brook said it was the type of unconventional thing he would try.
City sailed into the final, and Brook treated his team-mates to a rendition of his favourite song in the dressing room before they trotted out to beat Portsmouth 2-1.
In 1936-37 City were champions, and there have been echoes of that time in the recent Aguero goalscoring run that has taken him within two of Brook’s record.
On their way to being champions, City won 5-0 at Liverpool, with Brook claiming a hat-trick at Anfield. It was a win it would take the Blues over 80 years to emulate – with Aguero opening the scoring.
They clinched the title with a 4-1 win over Sheffield Wednesday, Brook opening the scoring – one of the 22 he net that season – and to make the triumph even sweeter, neighbours United were relegated!
City were kings of English football personal low. I’ll never forget the semifinal at Maine Road against Middlesbrough back in 1976, the atmosphere was electric, it was an emphatic 4-0 win (4-1 on aggregate) and included an absolute belting goal from oft unsung hero Alan Oakes.
The final at Wembley was my first taste of glory. I wore my mum’s knitted scarf adorned with huge metal picture badges of the team. I cried when Mike Doyle lifted the trophy.