No class, no dignity, no hope
By Neil Humphreys
The New Paper
Saturday, Nov 10, 2012
Manchester City may buy domestic success, but they are cannot buy international popularity.
Like a movie gangster, they command respect through wealth and spending power but it is not a sincere respect, only one that is bought.
A proper pedigree has no price tag.
Few will shed a tear for City's Champions League demise.
The 2-2 home draw with Ajax Wednesday morning (Singapore time) leaves their European hopes hanging by a thread, but there is little sympathy.
There is even less empathy. How does one empathise with such untold riches? A team thrown together for the GDP of an impoverished African nation being held at home by an enterprising Ajax side that cost £10 million ($19m) has no support outside of Manchester.
A manager blessed with a bank balance that David Moyes dabbles with only in his dreams and yet continually laments what he doesn't have is a man out of touch with reality.
And when team and manager came together at the final whistle yesterday - to berate officials with all the irritating petulance of kindergarten kids surrounding a teacher who has denied them sandpit access - was the moment when any remaining patience was snapped.
The Citizens have everything and behave like a team who have nothing.
Roberto Mancini's self-appointed role of the wronged man fits neither his position nor his club's embarrassment of riches.
In the dying moments of the game, the home side suffered an injustice.
With the score tied at 2-2 and victory necessary to keep City's Champions League flame burning, Mario Balotelli was tugged in the box by Ricardo van Rhijn.
A penalty and some public sympathy belonged to City.
They were denied one by referee Peter Rasmussen and lost the other by what happened next.
The real Man City was crystallised in that moment: selfish, brutish and short-tempered.
Balotelli harangued the referee. Nothing less was expected from this tiresome adolescent. His teammates followed.
And then came Mancini. He fuelled fires he should have been putting out.
Like an over-zealous security guard outside a condo, he ran across to challenge the perceived invader; the man who had trespassed on City's trophy hopes.
As the multi-millionaires surrounded the referee, taking turns to abuse, shout and swear at him like Saturday night hooligans provoking skinny teenagers in a pub, the modern multi-millionaires of Manchester City revealed their ugly selves.
The mask of corporate respectability and PR spin slipped to reveal a desperate club increasingly bereft of composure, confidence and ideas.
Where there was once a vague notion of a masterplan, Mancini's men are muddled and meandering.
If City truly represent the future of the game, count me out.
If the future is the bright red and white of Ajax, show me where to sign.
Ajax's 18-man squad come not from petro dollars, but from persisting with an ideal.
The Dutch may not conquer Africa or Asia, conduct pre-season tours of gullible Asean countries and top rich lists, but they will produce footballers who conform to their aesthetic principles.
As Ajax closed in on the Eredivisie title in May, I spoke to coach Frank de Boer about the perennial problem of watching big fishes float up stream to larger seas.
He laughed and said the club would simply spawn some more.
There were eight graduates from Ajax's De Toekomst academy in the starting line-up against City on Wednesday in their hand-reared squad, but no ugly ducklings.
In the false No. 9 role, Christian Eriksen toyed with the distracted Vincent Kompany and the hapless Matija Nastasic, another confusing Mancini signing that poses more questions than answers.
Skipper Siem de Jong not only scored twice from corners, but he also inspired and galvanised a young, improving team to display a Dutch coverage so obviously absent in the home side.
Joe Hart was not the only one left scratching his head.
Static
City's defence was statuesque, twitching less than a presidential guard outside the Istana.
Yaya Toure's brilliant volley pulled City back into the contest, but he was strangely culpable at the back, losing de Jong in the penalty box.
Although City rallied in the second half, there was an unforgivable listlessness about their play.
Gareth Barry, Javi Garcia and Samir Nasri failed to ignite; the creative sparks all coming from Eriksen and de Jong.
With wearying predictability, Mancini pointed to the Balotelli penalty that wasn't given (probably because Balotelli made a 10-course wedding dinner meal of it) and Sergio Aguero's disallowed goal (Aleksandar Kolarov was just offside), but no one's interested in his complaints any more, least of all his players.
He cajoles and criticises, but rarely compliments.
Why should they listen?
After yesterday's uninspiring performance and undignified reaction, it's getting hard to hear the same, tired excuses from the world's wealthiest football club.
And it's getting even harder to care.
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