For me, nobody can call us glory hunters or mercs with a straight face without showing a complete 'open mouth before engaging brain' mentality, akin to picking a team purely because you like yellow or hate blue. That kind of attitude is evident in football, but such whimsical beliefs should only be ever regarded as such, and their authors can therefore never expect to be taken seriously.
Most of us who were old enough have been through the mill with City. I've seen Macc beat us in the league, actually seen more relegations than promotions. I've sworn I'd never go again and then felt guilty and been there the very next game, watching the same dull uninspired mess.
When the takeover happened, and before that the Thai takeover, I was whole-heartedly worried that my club would lose it's identity. Even now, as we look like being closer to success than ever before, there is a morbid part of me that thinks 'this isn't like the old days' and I know other City fans feel it a bit too, that we're no longer always the plucky underdog club that just has a laugh regardless. It used to be that we'd have a laugh anway, first to laugh at ourselves. I do have a problem with the money we spend on one level, especially when I'm struggling to get any kind of savings together myself in this economic climate, yet on another level football is uncontrollable at present and it's almost as if the industry is on another planet. It's no one clubs fault that wages are so high, transfers are so expensive. We are exploiting the system, sure, but at least we are not taking undue risks like some clubs have done.
If anything, the money pumped into football by our club is benefiting many other clubs financially rather than harming them. And it's not as if we just buy whoever we please - fans may think that (ours as well as other clubs) but for a player to come here and succeed he has got to show to the club and fans that he has a real desire to win, not just an desire to get rich. If we do sign a load of mercs on a high wage, we will fail in our ambitions, at which time we can all agree we signed a load of crap with just money on their agendas. But is that going to happen? I don;t believe so. Sure, a few turkeys and those who won't take to the club or our style of play, but we have to get predominantly the correct players to achieve anything.
The reality is that, no matter how much we romanticise them, the old days were often dire on the pitch, great off them. So basically, now that we are a real threat on the pitch, heading towards the top, we are there to be shot at. Fair play, but these lippy don't underestimate the strength of the fans feeling for this club - they were not bought and are not temporary.
We, as fans, can do very little about ownership of our club - it was a huge surprise but in reality our owners have been very much more decent that the majority of owners in football. And not just foreign owners before that little gem is thrown at us - Risdale comes to mind instantly.
Whatever happens with the ownership side, I've always been there and I always will be. The vast majority will be too. I love the club, not just for the football but also for the feeling I get on match day, the knowledge that it's a journey we've all been through together, that noting is ever certain with City even with the richest owners in the world. At least we are having a go at it. We are not the first to spend to bring success, nor will we be the last. We don't set mid-table as our goal any more, which is a breath of fresh air that I wish other clubs could aspire to instead of feel threatened by. We all want to see attacking, adventurous football played by guys who want to win regardless of the opposition. I think partly that the mindset of some clubs and fans does not always allow that in the modern game.
We are in a position others would like to be in, I get it and I'm prepared to take a bit of stick, as long as it's fair. Yet there is no guarantee even that we'll succeed. Burnley beat Man United earlier this season, we beat Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, so why not try something different, aim a bit higher? Football's funny like that, always will be regardless of money. All anyone can do is try and relax and enjoy it as best you can.
Be jealous, say you hate us, call us names, write nasty little pieces about us. I probably would too if it had been Villa or Sunderland or whoever that had been invested in, threatening to upset the order of the league, while my own club languished in mid-table. But know that it will never stick with us fans, never mean a thing really, and says a lot more about you than us. We have seen and experienced far too much to let it do so, and we encourage a support that is definitely not short term or fickle, and such views ultimately just shows a lack of understanding of us and our club by others. Our club, what it means to us, can never be taken away by name-calling, media articles or foreign ownership. Maybe fans of other clubs fear that their identity is not as strong.
Apologies for the long post, but as I hope you can see I'm pretty passionate about my club. I will take my medication now :P
