INTI Orion.com

Article by CHONG MING KANG

Manchester City – the richest club in the world – is fast becoming the biggest joke in town. Fresh from being rejected by Kaka, they turned their attention to Chelsea’s Didier Drogba. But that turned out to be pure speculation. Nevertheless, they managed to get their men; Shay Given for £8 million, Nigel De Jong for £19 million, Wayne Bridge for an undisclosed fee and Craig Bellamy for £14 million. Of all, the biggest joke was when they paid over the top to Hamburg for Nigel De Jong, a player the Germans signed for only £2.3 mil a few months back!!

Manchester City was condemned to their sixth away defeat of the season by Stoke City despite having a host of new signing to their side proving that they were unable to live up to the expectations of many. The hype surrounding all the new players that Mark Hughes brought in was almost close to negligible. Neither of the new signings was able to leave an immediate impact on the English game.

Another 1-0 victory against Middlesbrough showed that new signings were not portraying any sign of adapting to the physical of the English game just yet. This could have been the indication that Mark Hughes should not continue with his intention of purchasing expensive foreign players. Expensive players do not necessarily guarantee success.

Perhaps Hughes should in fact turn to his ex-gaffer for advice on how to transform the current status of the Manchester team from a mid-table one to a possible real tittle contender in the near future.

Millions of dollars have been invested by Sheikh Mansour into the club but the results are definitely not reflective of this. A couple of years back, when Chelsea was bought over by Roman Abramovich, the whole team had revolutionized rapidly under the tenure of Jose Mourinho who led the Blues to two Premier League tittles and a FA Cup. However, Manchester City has not fallen short of glory. The league has become more competitive and the pace of the game has significantly improved through the championship seasons.

Hence, success for football clubs does not rely merely on the amount of cash spent but on the acute leadership of the club’s manager and attitude of the whole team as a whole. Manchester City would not be able to win titles if they keep spending exorbitantly on players frequently. Such measures would only lead to adverse effects on the world of football and the financial prospect of the sport. It is no doubt absurd to sign a player for more than £100 million. It is not far-fetched to say that such an act would be considered outrageous.

A player’s morale would be hit hard if another player gets better payment just because of his fame. The world of football would be divided and we all know that unity is one of the key components in the strategy for a successful game. The true meaning of football will be obscured as more and more rich tycoons view the football arena as a playground for their ‘little investment’ game.

The financial credit crunch took its toll on several clubs, notably, West Ham United. Their Icelander owners suffered millions of loses which indirectly resulted in the sale of central players to retain some cash in order to ensure survival in such a critical economic nosedive. Therefore, it is paramount that a limit is set to prevent investors from turning the league into toys of their own so that the people get ‘real’ football not just a manipulated sport of sorts.