We’ve got no fans… well we don’t have as many as some, and as far as I can see that’s mainly because they were successful at a time when football became more global and money entered the game on a massive scale.
We have no history… everything is history, not just trophies. Everyone has a story, League 2 was part of ours, and our story does include trophies, some that we won before they had any themselves, but a reason why we don’t have as many as some is the same as the above.
It’s just oil money… to compete properly at the top, we had to spend big, we had to spend more than we have and more than we generate. We’ve probably broken some rules along the way, as well as being clever about it, but I don’t care that we’ve broken rules that are there partly to keep the status quo.
The story around our rivals 'history' isn't just about success, a lot of it is to do with high-profile tragedy. I think it's a good thing that we haven't lost any players or fans in horrible circumstances - if that's history, you can keep it.
Our real history - from inner city lads club to the greatest side in the world, from second division to Premier League champions, is incredible. We might be talked about entirely differently if we were successful and widely televised all the way through the 90s, but we weren't. By the time we were, the fashionable teams and the PL mythology had already been decided.
That means the quality of our diverse fanbase is not as dependent on success and glamour, but loyalty and local pride, even though we've got loads of fans all over the world. For a long time the only way to be a City fan was either to go to the games, or to be from the area. That has to be more sustainable than United's fanbase, who don't really know how to handle not being great, having developed much more around events or personalities - the plane crash, Best, Cantona, Beckham, Ronaldo - which made being a United fan easy for them because the media and marketing hype machine supported them in it.
That popularity has become a millstone around their neck. It means that the ownership can monetise the club independently of success on the pitch. We don't have that problem. Which brings me to the money. Money has ALWAYS been part of the game, but it's not what you've got, it's how you spend it.
All ownership wants something out of a club, whether it's money, fun, or to advance a reputation. The idea that the first is purer than the second two is just nonsense. If City behaved like United or PSG when it came to signing players, then people could complain about the money. But the backbone of our team are generally humble blokes who came at a reasonable price before the club brought them on and added value. The money has been used to create structure. It's been invested rather than frittered away, and that gets other teams' backs up.
I'd just say enjoy these times for what they are, because in thirty years people will be saying how good they were.
