City’s 10-year miracle ... from comedy central to serious players

TEN years ago, Manchester City were little more than English football’s punchline. A throwaway joke.

Yes, there used to be a time when, if putting your foot in it was an art form, you need look no further than either Maine Road, or Eastlands. No one laughs at them these days. Yes, it is one decade ago this week that Middle Eastern petro dollars reshaped the landscape of the Premier League, promising the creation of ‘a dynasty.’ And they have delivered. And then some. Before 2008, those not connected with City had sympathy for a sizeable football club that appeared to be cast in the shadows of an allconsuming behemoth, being guided by a man who became the undisputed Godfather of the English game.

Since then, Manchester City supporters have been taken on the most glorious joyride – almost paying them back for the years when their noses were being permanently rubbed in it by Sir Alex Ferguson.

They have conquered those demons. Conquered English football.

Manchester City have shaken up the old order – breathing fresh life into a cartel that, thanks to annual Champions League money – was threatening to establish a league of its own.

When Sheikh Mansour and the Abu Dhabi Investment Group assumed control, they promised not to do crazy stuff.

They didn’t want to buy a team of all-stars but to develop the club’s academy. Well, you can’t have everything. But a City Football Academy has not been forgotten. Nor has the City Football Group, a global organisation. The area in and around the 2002 Commonwealth Stadium has been transformed.

We all wondered what it meant at the time, didn’t we? Well, we now know.

Since then, Manchester City have taken away our breath a few times. And Roberto Mancini forced Manchester United’s supporters to bin the banner about how long it had been since a worthwhile pot was plonked on the sideboard to replace the 1999 League One play-off final trophy.

It is frightening to think what the next decade will bring – potentially through the likes of Phil Foden and the academy. Perhaps Manchester City can make the impossible happen.

And while they haven’t quite blown away the opposition, the building blocks of that dynasty are being put into place. Their only failed conquest is Europe. But in the absence of a truly outstanding team on the continent – their most likely challengers are on Merseyside it would seem – their time might be nigh.

However, the truest sign of the impact Manchester City are having on our game hit me when I attended a wedding this week.

Sitting next to a forty-something finance director at dinner, I was told how her husband – who hails from West Yorkshire – was harangued constantly to take their eldest son to the Etihad, despite their family home being in the Midlands.

That kind of behaviour used to be the preserve of other clubs. The Manchester Uniteds, Liverpools and Arsenals of this world. With the odd Chelsea fan thrown in whenever they tasted success.

I’d rather the kids in question followed their local team. But children are attracted to winners. As the song goes, they have no time for losers.

It is why Manchester United have a fanbase that spans the globe. The gags about their core support hailing from Surrey’s stockbroker belt have worn a little thin. More like Singapore’s stockbroker belt these days.

But not only are Manchester City usurping their neighbours on the pitch. They are now making inroads off it, too. It would have been laughable to think of the club as gaining this much ground on Manchester United back in 2008.

No one is laughing in Manchester any longer. Least of all at Old Trafford.