Fortunes have been on the slide since Adebayor goal
Intense rivalry between City and Arsenal stems from famous celebration, writes Mike Mcgrath
‘Where are you going, I thought. He went over the halfway line and I knew’
It was one of the Premier League’s iconic celebrations. Emmanuel Adebayor skipping around his teammates and sprinting the length of the pitch at the Etihad Stadium. As he slid on his knees, missiles from the Arsenal supporters were hurled in his direction.
In their eyes, Adebayor had betrayed them by joining Manchester City, selling out for the new money on offer from Sheikh Mansour. He got to his feet to accept his yellow card from Mark Clattenburg and it seemed power had shifted in English football.
The rivalry between the clubs has simmered since. Micah Richards, who played in that 2009 game, believes money was a factor in the rivalry as City tried to recruit world-class talent to make them title contenders. “City were in a transition period at the time and they could pay players probably more than they were worth,” Richards told The Daily Telegraph. “They were just starting out under the new owners and had to overpay to get the players.
“Don’t forget that Arsenal had lost Ashley Cole to Chelsea and that move was hammered by fans as it was seen to be about the money.
“But I think players also thought they had a better chance of winning things at City and they had done all they could at Arsenal. [Samir] Nasri ended up winning the title. [Gael] Clichy showed what a good signing he was. We had [Bacary] Sagna as well on a free transfer.”
Adebayor and Kolo Toure were the first of the City signings from Arsenal, for a combined total of £41 million that summer.
Arsene Wenger made no secret of his thoughts on City buying their way to success and shaking up the Premier League in the same way Roman Abramovich did at Chelsea a few years previously.
Wenger had coined the phrase “financial doping” when Jose Mourinho rivalled him for the title, then was asked if that was his view of City’s emergence. “Of course,” Wenger said.
His disdain for City was clearly down to their spending after he took years building Arsenal without breaking the bank, but he also had an intense rivalry with Mark Hughes at the time.
The teams met in the League Cup three months after Adebayor’s wild celebrations and this time there was no handshake between the managers at the full-time whistle. Arsenal had been beaten again, but Wenger was not happy with Hughes’s conduct in the dugout, with the City manager angrily shouting at his counterpart.
“I feel the ceremonial is important, but it’s not the most important. The most important is how you behave,” Wenger said. “I would have done exactly the same if we had won. I knew at half-time what I would do.”
Within a couple of years, City had progressed further and had Manchester United in their sights as the rival to overtake.
At the 2011 FA Cup semi-final against United, City had an Arsenal legend to thank for their inspirational team-talk.
Patrick Vieira had his final season as a player at the Etihad and made a big impact. He was given the floor by Roberto Mancini at
Wembley and his speech was seen as one of the turning points in City’s history.
“He stood everyone up and told us this was an opportunity for City to overtake United, our dressing room was as good and there was no reason we couldn’t go out and beat them,” said Gareth Barry. “I think that was the game where it started to turn, the levels began to rise.”
Nasri and Clichy were the next to head to the Etihad from Arsenal, with Wenger feeling the effects of City’s emergence more than most.
Nasri ended up winning the title and took aim at Arsenal fans, saying that City was an easy choice as there was more chance of success. The rivalry has surfaced again this week as Arsenal moved to make Mikel Arteta their new head coach, which leaves Pep Guardiola without an assistant coach.
City have been upset with Arsenal’s conduct, with the bad blood traced back to a decade ago when Adebayor played against the team he had just left.
“He didn’t give any indication that he felt that strongly about the Arsenal fans,” Richards said. “So, we were all surprised when he did it. When the game started they were singing about his family and when he scored all of his emotions came out. It was just a reaction.
“When he starting running I just thought, “where are you going?’ When he went past the halfway line I think we knew.”