Former Thai president Thaksin Shinawatra seems to have pocketed as much as £50million as a result of selling Manchester City to the Abu Dhabi-based group ADUG earlier this month.

Shinawatra invested less than £80m pounds of his own cash into City when he became the club chairman in June 2007 but he decided to sell to ADUG for £200m, pocketing a cool £50m.

Even though the sale was forced, the fact that Shinawatra was able to flip the club like some kind of beach-side villa for a massive profit is likely to invite interest from more bored billionaires to do the same. Football clubs as a plaything to spend some money on is bad enough, but if football clubs are looked at as short-term investments to be sold immediately then we’re in real trouble.

Goodness gracious me, this is supposed to be a time when clubs tie up last-minute deals for players, yet it appears that Manchester City are about to fall into the hands of new owners. Only a few weeks ago, it had appeared that the club were in dire financial straits, with Thaksin Shinawatra having his assets frozen by the Thai government. Now it looks like they’re going to be cash-rich! [Read the rest of this entry »]

The soap opera that is Manchester City Football Club continues to provide plenty of entertainment for us all. What do you expect when the owner used to be Prime Minister of Thailand, recruits and sacks the former manager of England, hires the former manager of Wales and then has his assets frozen after failing to attend a court hearing. Oh, and fails to sign the former World Player of the Year. [Read the rest of this entry »]

As Man City go into meltdown, many contentious issues are thrown up: the owner even being allowed to be the owner, the state of the finances, the rumours of loans to pay player wages and, of course, the murmurings of Spurs taking them to court. [Read the rest of this entry »]

If you’re a newspaper desperate to sell copies every day, how do you make the stories more enticing? One of the things you can do is get some quotes from players or managers, that always spices things up. But what about if nobody will speak to you about the subject in hand, such as the potential disaster waiting to happen at Eastlands? [Read the rest of this entry »]

This time last season, season-ticket holders at Eastlands were bouyant. Thaksin Shinawatra had taken over the club, installed Sven as the manager and funded a number of transfers, including Elano, Petrov and Corluka. A bright start to their Premier League campaign, including a defeat of Man United, contributed to the feelgood factor, although there’s currently a very different atmosphere at Eastlands with the season about to start. [Read the rest of this entry »]

Thaksin Shinawatra is not the only ambitious man at Eastlands. The Manchester Evening News report that [Read the rest of this entry »]

With Manchester City slowing things down just a tad in their pursuit of CSKA’s Brazilian Jo, Ac Milan and a mysterious unnamed Spanish club are having a sniff around the striker….

“Manchester City’s desire to slow down negotiations for the £18m-rated Brazilian striker Jo to give their new manager, Mark Hughes, a proper sight of him, appears to be a luxury they cannot afford with Milan and an unnamed Spanish club expressing interest.” (Independent)

So it looks like Man City better move sharpish for their Brazilian or someone could hijack the deal!

It is a generally-held belief that Sven-Goran Eriksson should have been given more time to weave his magic at Manchester City. Although the Swede failed to prevent a series of abject performances away from home last season, he acquired some exciting players and ensured (due to a strong home record) that City finished in the top-half of the Premier League.

However, this wasn’t enough for Dr Thaksin, who hints in the Daily Mail that Sven wasn’t a strong enough disciplinarian at Eastlands and that progress has to be made in a much quicker fashion under Hughes. Does somebody want to tell him that they won’t win the Premier League in the next five years?

‘I want you to know that Sven is a good man. I brought him to the club and supported him with investment (more than £50m spent last season) and we still have a good friendship.

‘But I want this club to advance faster, much faster. Sven is a good football general, but we need more. We must play with more consistency, much more urgency. In the second half of the season, the slide was too bad, too much. We lost 8-1 at Middlesbrough! The shame of that.’

That was actually quite embarrassing, although it was clear that the players heads were down that day due to, yes you’ve guessed it, Shinawatra already making utterances about how he wanted to replace Eriksson. It will be interesting to see how the owner will react if the Citizens get off to a poor start next term, somebody should tell these people that they all can’t finish in the top four!

It’s clear that 9th-place won’t be good enough for Thaksin Shinawatra next season – Sven-Goran Eriksson found that to his cost. Quite simply, Mark Hughes knows he’s under pressure from the loveable ex-Thai prime minister, despite the latter speaking so highly of the Welshman after his appointment. Will Sparky deliver the goods? According to the BBC website, he’s certainly in a determined mood after taking over the reigns at Eastlands:

“The ambition of the club is to challenge at the top table – not only in this country but in Europe,” said ex-Manchester United striker Hughes.

“If we get the right players in right positions it is more than realistic.”

“If I’m successful here I don’t need any stepping stones,” said the 44-year-old.

Although Hughes has previously managed Wales in addition to Blackburn, he’s inexperienced as far as European club management is concerned, faring pretty poorly with Rovers on the occasions they have made it into the UEFA Cup. It will be interesting to see which new faces he brings in, and whether he can persuade the likes of Richard Dunne to stay.

Surely City can’t break into the top four anytime soon can they?

In a story normally reserved for the usual tabloid purveyors of transfer tripe and doggerel, The Times is reporting that Thaksin Shinawatra is set to double his efforts in his pursuit of Ronaldinho.

Mark Hughes has given his backing to Manchester City’s ambitious attempts to sign Ronaldinho, the Barcelona and Brazil playmaker, after being confirmed as the Barclays Premier League club’s new manager yesterday. (Times)

The idea of partnering soon-to-be-new-signing Jo with fellow Brazilian and all-round superstar Ronaldinho is definitely mouth-watering, but would the fizzy-haired Barca star be a success at Man City? It is no secret that many people at Barca were getting annoyed with Ronaldinho’s utter lack of form, fitness, drive, and effort – and it is surely a little telling that a big European club haven’t leapt in to buy him. Can Ronaldinho really handle the Premier League?

Goodness me, we know who Mark Hughes’ biggest fan is (and it’s not Mrs Hughes). It appears that Manchester City owner only has eyes for the Welshman as the club get ever closer to snaring him from Blackburn Rovers. The Daily Mail report that the former Thailand prime minister is chuffed to bits that they’ve landed Sparky as their manager, despite previously chasing after Phil Scolari to be Sven-Goran Eriksson’s replacement.

“He’s an outstanding manager who has achieved many things with Blackburn,” Thaksin told Sportsmail last night. “Mark was always the first choice of our new executive chairman, Garry Cook. Together they will make a great team. They will both prove to be excellent acquisitions, I’m sure.

“These are exciting times for Manchester City and I hope the supporters can understand that I share their goals.

“That sometimes means making ruthless decisions. Now we can go forward to a new era, with a new management structure and great hope and ambition.”

Until next summer that is, when Hughes is cruelly axed after taking the club to an eight-placed finish and a semi-final place in the FA Cup. Although it’s always hard to know what goes on behind the scenes, Shinawatra is misguided if he thinks that his new manager can guide City to a top-four finish next season or the season after. To believe this can happen shows a massive amount of naivety on his part.

Or should that be who will replace him? After all, it appears that Mark Hughes is nailed-on for the position, with Blackburn reluctantly allowing their manager to hold talks at Eastlands. The BBC report that the Swede and Manchester City have finally parted ways after just one full season, are we all in agreement that Eriksson has been treated pretty poorly by Thaksin Shinawatra and his cronies?

BBC Sport revealed in April that Eriksson was no longer wanted by owner Thaksin Shinawatra, despite the Swede guiding City to a Uefa Cup place.

“I have enjoyed my time at Manchester City very much and I would like to thank the fans, players and staff for their amazing support,” said Eriksson.

While it’s a little rich to suggest Sven ‘guided’ them to a UEFA Cup place (they only got that through a fair play award), he did mastermind home and away victories over Manchester United, as well as a top-half finish in the Premier League. Will the ‘squad that Sven built’ now disintegrate and be replaced by a Mark Hughes outfit instead?

With everyone’s favourite manager, Sven-Göran Eriksson, currently hanging by a thread at Manchester City, owner Thaksin Shinawatra has decided that the only way to get a bunch of rightly-brassed-off supporters off his back is to pacify the masses. That means breaking the transfer record by purchasing a shifty Brazilian, while also adding a highly-touted Mexican striker for the future.

The Times Online is reporting that Shinawatra is prepared to break the bank for CSKA Moscow striker, Jo. The £18 million figure currently being thrown around right now would make it the most expensive move in Manchester City history. The Thai is also keen on signing Barca striker Giovani Dos Santos for £8 million.

Jo was in Manchester over the weekend to discuss personal terms and City are hopeful that the deal, worth about £18million, will be concluded within the week once the final details of the move have been ironed out. (Times Online)

…moves are also afoot to sign Giovani Dos Santos, the £8million-rated Barcelona and Mexico striker. (Times Online)

£18million is a lot to spend on any player – especially one that has only one cap for his country – but adding two young strikers to the squad could be proof enough that Shinawatra is truly ready to move ahead with his proposed plan on cleaning house at Man City and starting fresh next season.

Has Thaksin gone completely mad thinking that Jo and Giovani Dos Santos are worth £26 million, or are these the type of signings Man City need going forward?

Who would you prefer as your manager – sneaky Sven-Goran Eriksson or Avram Grant? It appears that in the case of Thaksin Shinawatra, the latter ticks all the right boxes as far as a potential replacement for the Swede is concerned. That bastion of truth and honesty, The Sun, reports that the Israeli, who’s currently laughing all the way to the bank, might make a swift return to the Premier League. Is this about as unbelievable as it gets or is the ex-Blues boss about to get even richer?

Portugal chief Luiz Felipe Scolari is also in the frame but a source close to the deal said: “Thaksin has made no secret of his wish to employ Scolari but he’s going cold on that deal.

Replacing Sven Goran Eriksson has stirred up a hornet’s nest but Grant’s achievements at Chelsea make him a very credible successor.

“City expect Scolari to snub them and reckon Grant fits the bill.”

While the club might have the first part of that statement spot on (the Portuguese coach not wanting the job), it’s hard to imagine the City fans would be best pleased with Eriksson being replaced by Grant, especially when you consider both men’s track record. Sven might not have been brilliant as England coach but he achieved a top-half finish for City and has previous history of winning a lot of silverware for clubs he has managed. Contrast this with Grant, whose Chelsea team finished the season potless despite having a squad full of world-class players at his disposal.