Re: Sunday Supplement
First post so go easy please!
Watch Custis with disbelief. He at one point mentioned that Sheikh Mansour had been in control since 2008 and we hadn't seen any young English talent. What a moron, he must surely realise that it's not just about producing players for the English national team any more. We are regularCL entrants, have won league and cup, are playing possibly the best football of any British team in 25 years, are selling out week after week. The club is moving forward on a global scale at a pace which outstrips any other premiership club, which any owner would want. But he fails to see some important points. Whilst we are growing in popularity overseas, the soul of the club is still very much intact. The Abu Dhabi group have went to very great lengths to ensure that our heritage is protected. And unlike many takeovers from foreign ownership, they are doing their business with integrity, as befits the Sheikhs ethos.
The second point around player development, not forgetting Barton, Wright Phillips, Onouha, Sturridge, we have a club produced a number of English players in the recent past. Now maybe I'm getting this wrong, but which other clubs under foreign ownership have committed and built an academy that will be the Campus within 6 years of taking over, Not Abramovitch, not Kroenke, not any of the Liverpool owners! Does this idiot feel that an a campus built on the doorstep of the stadium two miles from the centre of Manchester is going to be exclusively for overseas players. Of course not. Let the thing get built, and judge us in a couple of years, but why not Mr Custis ask the Chelsea's, Arsenals, Liverpool's and Manure's who have been ahead of city on performance and have also littered their team with non English nationals AND not provided a development system worth the name.
The sad reality is that unless someone makes the first step, it is very likely that in 20 years not one living Englishman will have won a World Cup medal. For all their PR the golden generation of Beckham, Gerrard, Lampard, Cole etc may be multi millionaires but have not one semi final never mind winners medal to show on the international stage. City have taken a huge stride, and Custis should be praising that, not panning it.
I'll make my second post a bit shorter!!.....
