Cook falls on a sword, but it is not his own

This week Garry Cook resigned as the club’s Chief Executive Officer. A sorry end to a sorry affair that could not have concluded any other way.

A debacle whichever way you look at it

By now I suppose readers know of unfortunate details. It seems as if Cook had sent an e-mail to Brian Marwood (City's football administrator) about Nedum Onuhoa’s agent/Mother, apparently mocking her battle with cancer. Unbelievably, Onuhoa’s Mother (Dr Anthonia Onuhoa) was copied into the e-mail. She recently went to the papers (the actual e-mail was sent months ago) and suddenly alarm bells were ringing in Manchester and, most importantly, in Abu Dhabi.

In an effort to save his own skin, or perhaps in an effort to tell the truth (we still don’t quite know) Cook painted himself as the victim. He said that his account had been hacked into and the message in question had been sent without his knowledge. At the time he apologised to Dr Onuhoa and ordered an internal investigation to establish who had been responsible.

It’s unclear at what point the upper echelons of Manchester City (i.e. Mansour and Khaldoon) got wind of this – or indeed whether they knew about the investigation Cook himself seems to have launched. But as soon as the whole thing appeared in the press, they ordered an investigation of their own. This week, that process – to put it bluntly – appears to have smelt a rat with Cook’s explanation.

And so this week Garry Cook ‘jumped’. The more realistic explanation would perhaps be that he was ‘shoved and then jumped’. There can be no doubt over who has done the shoving and on whose sword Cook has fallen.

The values of Mansour’s Abu Dhabi

At the beginning of Mansour’s involvement with City, Khaldoon gave an excellent interview to David Conn of The Guardian. It was part of a trilogy of reports focusing on the birth of a new era at City. In that interview, Khaldoon gave a fascinating insight into how Mansour saw his involvement at City:

“We are acknowledging that how we are handling this project is telling a lot to the world about how we are. This is showing the world the true essence of who Abu Dhabi is and what Abu Dhabi is about.”

Khaldoon went on to talk about the values of Mansour’s Abu Dhabi: loyalty, commitment, discipline, long-term thinking, respect, appreciation of history. Interestingly enough, on the value of loyalty, Khaldoon chose to elaborate. "We believe in loyalty," he said. "We don't leave our men behind, we stick with them.”

These are admirable values indeed, but the Cook resignation proves that – for Mansour and Khaldoon at least – they are finite. At the end of the day these values may form the belief system of Abu Dhabi’s leadership, but they still remain subservient to image of Abu Dhabi itself. This image is synonymous with Mansour, and that is why it must prevail over everyone else - even the man in charge of running the day to day affairs of the club.

Don’t get me wrong, there’s no doubt that Garry Cook has done a lot of good for the club. Being the head of Nike’s ‘Air Jordan’ brand he clearly came highly recommended and most importantly well connected across sport. Cook has presided over a complete revamp of the club’s image, which whilst uber slick and right up to date with the latest trends, somehow feels like it has remained true to Manchester, the club’s history and the club’s fans. Using the imagery of the Blue Moon has been a master stoke, as has the ‘Welcome to Manchester’ poster, and the nod to Neil Young with this year’s classic black and red away kit.

Indeed the club’s image is currently very healthy. I still don’t think we are hated as much as other clubs would be if they had the resources we have. This is in part testament to innovative way the club does things now and how it is expertly marketed. Then of course we have the new City store and the new ticket office – both world class. Ultimately, Cook is responsible for all of this, so he should take the credit.

Cook’s gaffes: a short history

Ironic though that someone so heavily involved in marketing and relations with the public should be so prone to making PR gaffes.

Many of these gaffes were storms in teacups. Cook inducted City legend Uwe Rosler into the Manchester United (!) hall of fame. Robinho made a similar gaffe when he joined the club, but I can’t remember him being berated for it. Then there was the collapse of our audacious attempt to lure Kaka from Milan to Eastlands. Cook accused Milan of bottling the move.

Whilst you would prefer your CEO not to put his foot in it, these are minor errors, rather comical in the case of Rosler, and perhaps a bit of sour grapes in the case of Kaka.

Then there was the quote on the cusp of our Carling Cup Semi derby with United, when Cook talked about how not if, but when City would beat United again. United went on to knock us out of the cup, but this was nothing more than a bit of pre-match jousting.

But there’s always the other side of the coin. In his resignation statement Cook seems to have alluded to a bit of negative attitude against in the nation’s media. That might be correct, indeed the media may have blown up some of Cook’s throw away gaffes (one only has to look at the picture of Cook in the papers to see how the media love to dislike him) but they’ve done this for a reason. The Onuhoa incident is not the first Cook has made a gaffe of a more serious nature.

The obvious one was when Cook remarked what a pleasant guy Thaksin Shinawatra was – ‘a nice guy to play golf with’ I think the exact words were. When attention was drawn to Thaksin’s dubious human rights record, Cook basically said it was of no concern to him. This showed a complete lack of awareness. A club CEO shouldn’t be saying stuff that like that.

Then there was the comment about Richard Dunne. Cook said that Dunne wasn’t a name that City should be associated with because the name ‘Dunne’ doesn’t roll off the tongue in places like China and by association is not a shirt seller. Again, this showed a complete lack of awareness, this time of footballing matters. Cook failed to appreciate that Dunne had been City’s player of the year for four seasons on the run and had been a rock at the back for the Blues. At the time Dunne was the captain of the club. Your CEO should not be making disrespectful comments in public to the club captain – completely unprofessional.

One gaffe too far

These serious gaffes were both made under the tenure of Thaksin. The Onohua comment - firmly in the realm of PR – is the first big mistake Cook has made under Mansour.

For Mansour and Khaldoon, this is about the prestige and reputation of Abu Dhabi. Being one of several key overseas investments, like it or not City is an element of Abu Dhabi’s foreign policy, a factor in how the rest of the world sees Abu Dhabi itself.

Mansour and Khaldoon are not stupid. It would have been completely understand if, upon taking the reins of the club, they had said goodbye to Cook (given that he was gaffe prone). The fact that they simply did not jettison Cook proves that they liked what he brought to City.

But in the Abu Dhabi-City connection, business and politics are intertwined, and unfortunately for Cook, his employers are both astute businessmen and politicians. I believe that Mansour and Khaldoon have nothing personal against Cook, but business is business, and at the end of the day, Cook was harming the business of Manchester City and therein the prestige of Abu Dhabi.

When Khaldoon said that Abu Dhabi doesn’t leave its men behind, perhaps what he really meant was that Abu Dhabi doesn’t leave behind the men worth saving.

The age of the 'Manchester duopoly'

Here's a guest post from Murray Withers, with some interesting predications about the future of Mancunian and Premier League football. Check it out below.

___________________________________________________

Sometimes the scores alone tell a much bigger story; Spurs 1 City 5, United 8 Arsenal 2 or why not Manchester 13 North London 3? Tabloid hacks and broadsheetcolumnists were in unanimous agreement; Sunday 28 August was the start of a new era that would see Manchester placed firmly at the centre of world football (if it’s not already). 

Leaving aside the shrill nature of such a big statement just three games in, both games being live on the same day as well as some specific circumstances helped the media to come to such a historical verdict – Harry Redknapp decided to fight with fire by naming no defensive midfielder (ignoring the fact that we usually have two performing that role, freeing the rest up) while Arsene Wenger, who wouldn’t have expected Djourou to be so easily shoved aside for the first or Van Persie to miss a penalty, of course blamed injuries (only on deadline day has he realised modern football is all about the depth of the squad!). However, that took nothing away from the sheer power and skill on display by Roberto Mancini and Alex Ferguson’s men. All the carping about wages, transfer fees and the general commercialisation of the game went away, as breathless commentators remembered that aesthetics over-ride ethics. Headlines swooned over the performances of Rooney and Young, Nasri and Dzeko.

For City, where we were often criticised last season despite our third place finish and Cup win because Mancini kept the handbrakes on, it all went through Tevez, other expensive buys hadn’t clicked, etc, now there’s varying degrees of admiration, respect and fear from the other clubs as we look the Real Deal. Wewere told our Champions League group was a ‘baptism of fire’ but I saw City as arguably the best of a strong bunch, as did Frank Ribery. Suddenly all the commentators are not looking beyond City or United for the major honours, overlooking the truism that nothing’s decided in August or September.

When Ferguson started as manager in 1986 with the stated intention of knocking Liverpool ‘off their perch’ he could never imagine then that the biggest challenge to United’s two-decade ascendancy would come from City. But for a man as schooled in the game as the canny Scot, he would have realised straight away in September 2008 that the football map was going to change following Shaikh Mansour bin Zayed al-Nayhan’s takeover. City have since had their false starts – buying Robinho for a British record only to find him non-committal to playing at Fratton Park and the KC Stadium, trying to buy the likes of Kaka at blatantly inappropriate moments in the club’s development, finishing fifth in Mancini’s first half season. Our semi-final win was a major turning point, to overcome the early let-offs before charging back into the game and denying them a sniff proved a sea change. The final win over Stoke delivered another nail in the coffin of Cityitis. 

Yet continued criticism of City’s new found status usually has three lines of attack; ‘no history’; we have just bought success; and no team spirit aka they’re only in it for the money. Well it’s true we don’t have the success of the big three but share trophy space with the likes of Newcastle, Tottenham, Wolves, but a club like Chelsea had even less and that didn’t stop Roman Abramovich. City fans have had to rely on less tangible elements over three decades (the bananas, the loyal support, cult heroes like Kinky, Rosler and Goater, cult moments like the 10-1, 5-1 and Dickov in stoppage time) but that does mean that the wider perception of City as one of the teams that matter has been downplayed in the public eye. To the second we are, er, guilty as charged; the outlay from both Hughes (including in the last days under Shinawatra) and Mancini has been considerable, although inflated by City operating in a price bracket of their own and ultimately only about half the players have worked). The third is just ignorant of how football teams operate; anyone who’s played on a muddy pitch on a Sunday morning will appreciate how vital team spirit is to any side. There may be the odd disagreement between individuals or the odd uncontrollable ego like Tevez but it is swallowed up by the collective will. Make no mistake, it’s not just the paycheck that will make our ‘galacticos’ dig deep for each other.

But the armchair crowd should remember how it was a few years ago. Buoyed along by their Champions league harvest every year, the monopoly exerted by the ‘Big Four’ had become so powerful that ‘organic’ development of a team and club stood no chance of breaking the glass ceiling. Every season it was just a question of where Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and United would finish. The cartel needed breaking up by force. As a City fan, I’m just grateful for the chance we have to compete. People who lead perfectly capitalist lifestyles baulk at the beautiful game being thrown to the markets where regulation is a joke and inequality is a given, but that’s what’s happened. This is not the 70s any more. At the top level football is about investment, brands and capitalising on overseas support, survival of the fittest. United started it in the 1990s; the rest of us had to swim with the tide or sink. The business models, as in the real world, may be different, but it’s about the willingness to attract the top players that counts. Everything else is just excuses. Purists can head to the non-leagues if they don’t like it, but the majority just slag it off because their team isn’t the lucky benefactor, all the while praying for similar salvation.

City have stolen a march on the field – the fact that world-class players like Aguero now want to come to Eastlands tells its own story; the ‘project’ is working. There’s professional satisfaction to be had from being part of building up a new force rather than adding to an established presence. However, one thing the real business world usually won’t allow is continued domination and that’s why the so-called Manchester duopoly probably won’t happen as scripted, at least not for very long. Look at Liverpool’s American turnround (despite the odd gem in Suarez, Dalglish seems to have gone for quantity rather than quality), Abramovich’s ongoing investment at Chelsea and the wake-up call at Arsenal. Allow also that serious investment can strike a sleeping giant at any moment. The overinflated bubble cosseting football from the wider economic slump will survive a while yet.

Buoyed by the extraordinary tenure of Ferguson, Reds have had two decades of constant gratification. And just as City fans would love to do a Poznan all over the decline of United, wiser Blues know this isn’t going to happen either. The top teams stay top teams now, rather than burning brightly and fading away. The true test will of course be when Ferguson steps down, but there is much less likelihood of this rupturing the club and leading to a decline. A top-class manager will want to ensure the legacy, and so it goes. But they’ll have to get used to sharing the success.

So though the prospect of Mancunian domination whets the appetite, bet on neither a Manchester duopoly or a City monopoly in the long term. More likely a much wider playing field of a top five or six competing for the pots, and new oligarchs, petrodollar benefactors and American or Asian investors making contenders of other teams. 

___________________________________________________

Like what you read? Check out Murray's blog: http://originalsonictruth.blogspot.com and his twitter page: http://www.twitter.com/managedpellets.

Mancityaway.co.uk

Readers should check out a new City website that has recently appeared on the City online scene.

The site is called mancityaway.co.uk and aims to bring travelling Blues fans tips for all away fixtures this season and beyond, with particular focus on City's Champions League campaign.

Currently on the website are comprehensive guides to all of City's group stage opponents in Europe this term: Bayern Munich, Villareal and Napoli. Fans can find tips on flights, airports, general info on the local city / town - plus expert insider knowledge from locals.

Go to mancityaway.co.uk and check out the site now!

What a difference a year makes

Well, well well.

After our last trip to White Hart Lane (last season’s opener) I wrote about how Joe Hart dragged us through toscrape a 0-0 draw after Spurs had absolutely taken us to the cleaners. But that was last year. This time around, Redknapp’s men found themselves facing a different proposition altogether. At the end of 90 minutes, they were on the end of a 5-1 hammering, destroyed amidst a display of attacking fluency from Mancini's men.

  

There will be those of course who emphasise the ‘what ifs’ of this game. Gareth Bale had a glorious chance to open the scoring when found unmarked in the area, only to slice his effort over the bar. And then after Dzeko’s opener, Bale found Peter Crouch with a magnificent cross, with Crouch’s effort swerving inches past the post. Big chances, but in truth they were rarities in match where the home side experienced the full force of City’s attacking prowess.

It makes you wonder whether Mancini has had a brain transplant over the summer. There certainly won’t be many sides that win 5-1 at White Hart Lane this season. It is a total credit to Mancini that we set out in the right frame of mind and with right players on the pitch to issue Spurs this defeat. Samir Nasri, Sergio Aguero, David Silva and of course, Edin Dzeko all combined brilliantly to play football that the watching support must have been proud to witness in the flesh.

The switch from Arsenal to City appears to have been seamless for Nasri, with the Frenchman setting up Dzeko’s first two goals, and then exchanging a sweet one two with Aguero to allow the Argentinean to power past Matt Dawson and strike a goal of unbelievable drive and skill.

I wrote recently about how we might still need to add natural width in the attacking department. It was clear here though, that with Nasri and Silva adopting wide positions and Aguero dropping off Dzeko, we didn’t need it. Nasri provided two excellent crosses from wide for Dzeko to score his first two goals. We were going narrow and wide and were having success every time.

The afternoon belonged to the Bosnian, the scorer of four goals that will certainly do his confidence no harm. Dzeko’s goals finally demonstrated to the Premier League how he is a striker that can do it all. Two poacher-like tap ins, an exquisitely re-directed header that completely wrong footed Brad Friedel, and finally, the icing on the cake, a fantastic curling shot in open play, sailing into the top corner after a neat interchange of passes with Gareth Barry – surely the pick of all the goals scored last Sunday.

A mention must also go to Yaya Toure. The towering Ivorian is playing a deeper midfield role than last season but – to his and his manager’s credit – this role is not necessarily less attacking. Yaya made the vital initial pass to set off the blistering counter attack that led to the second goal. Almost acting as a makeshift wing back, the Ivorian also overlapped Nasri on the right flank, receiving a perfectly weighted pass from the Frenchman, and crossing for Dzeko to tap in.

Naturally the comparison will be made with the exploits of our neighbours, who if score lines are anything to go by issued an even more emphatic 8-2 defeat to Arsenal. To look solely at the scoreboard though misses the context that gives meaning to these two results. United are playing some scintillating stuff at the moment, but Arsenal are a team in disarray, many players injured or suspended, morale through the floor with the loss of Fabregas and Nasri. Spurs however have no such weakness – this was after all a team consisting of Dawson, Bale, Modric, Lennon, Van Der Vaart and Crouch. So which is the more resounding victory?

Time will tell, but I don’t think I’ve seen City play with as much attacking fluency since the days of Eyal Berkovic and Ali Bernarbia circa 2001-02. Back then of course, a lot of things were different – we were playing against the likes of Crewe Alexandra, Grimsby Town and Rotherham United. Last weekend, we were a proposition that Spurs simply could not handle.

Nasri joins the revolution

This week brought the news that Samir Nasri signed on the dotted line to become Roberto Mancini’s fifth signing of the summer. A protracted saga indeed, but what a player to land.

We now have so many options in attack that the mind boggles. Tevez, Dzeko, Balotelli, Aguero, Silva, Yaya, Adam Johnson and now Samir Nasri. In spite of this wealth, you can never have the complete attacking line up. I still think we are short a little bit in the width department. However, this shortage will only be highlighted if we run out of ideas going forward and start drawing too many games. I get the sense that Mancini is probably never going to be a fan of out and out wingers and will probably check their presence to Adam Johnson. Mancini probably thinks his current crop of forward thinking players have the ability to both – play through the middle and round the back of defences. I can’t argue with him. For me he has been an excellent manager for us on balance so far.

What we do have now going forward is intelligence and movement in abundance. I’ve not seen Aguero in the flesh but from what I hear he sounds like a player that operates several moves ahead of most. With Dzeko starting to fire on all cylinders, bringing more movement, and now with us adding Nasri to the likes of Silva in the creativity department, there is no doubt that we have on paper some of the finest attacking talent not just in the Premier League but in Europe.

We’ll need it if we are to navigate what must be the nearest thing to a ‘group of death’ in the Champions League. Bayern Munich, Villareal and Napoli all await as we launch ourselves into the promised land for the first time since 1968. I’m excited and gutted at the same time. We’ve been placed in such an action packed group with some quality teams and players: Ribery, Robben, Schweinsteiger, Senna, Rossi, Cavani, Pandev, Hamsik et al. Of course I’ll be missing the whole lot!

If nothing else, the Nasri and Aguero signings perhaps indicate that we are no longer in the throes of revolution. Rather Eastlands is now home to a full blown, established regime. FA Cup winners, third place Premier League finish, Champions League football and now attracting players on the cusp of entering their prime years (Aguero at 23 and Nasri at 24) – all these things show that players are coming here to win things now rather than solely for the money, as was the criticism during the Robinho, Adebayor and Lescott signings.

Contenders for the Premier League and somewhat of a wild card in the Champions League, Blues fans must ask – have we ever had it so good? Has there ever been a better time to be a City fan?

A day to forget

Well let’s put it this way, there’s certainly better ways to start a season.

It should have been a tale of how a young Spanish goalkeeper withered under the pressure of his first competitive match in English football. Instead what we had was a tale of City’s complete and utter Charity Shield capitulation to Manchester United. A hard and (given last season’s FA Semi final victory) strange pill to swallow. Two goals up at half time and we throw it away. Unbelievable.

It feels worse than the 4-3 loss at Old Trafford and the Carling Cup semi final defeat of a couple of seasons ago. Then, on both occasions we were always up against it. Here we had the foundations of control in our grasp but somehow could not hold on to that control. It’s incredibly frustrating.

This of course was not just another game, not just another run out to sharpen up the limbs before the Premier League kick off this weekend. This was a Manchester derby, played at times with frenetic pace and passion. The reactions on the players and managers faces at the end of the game told you all you needed to know.

What happened to City’s pre-season?

By all accounts the Blues have had a good pre-season on the pitch, no massive injuries to worry about, winning many games (if not all) and dispatching Inter Milan convincingly on the way. But at Wembley we just didn’t turn up. We weren’t in the game for large periods. Joleon Lescott took his header well, and as for Edin Dzeko’s freak goal, well I said at the time that we should’ve been testing De Gea more. We did, and we got our reward, but both goals came as surprises, against the run of play.

United, with the wind knocked from their sails, should have been put to the sword. We should have gone on and finished them, but instead showed none of the composure and defensive steel of the Mancini era to date. Instead we came out during the second half looking even less up for the battle than we did the first. Possession football – another mantra of Mancini – was thrown out with the bath water as we easily allowed United back into the game.

How not to play against United

You would have thought our current squad would by now have learnt its lesson. One thing you do not do against United is give them – freely – the incentive to attack. Without possession you must fight and press as a team to get ball. If you don’t it becomes a mental thing. They build up attack after attack, you find yourself retreating and then suddenly you’re thinking of how United have this ‘knack’ of retrieving even the most irretrievable of causes.

There’s a reason why United do this so many times and that because they have the courage of their conviction. They ask the question, and you must answer it.

Unfortunately last Saturday City didn’t come up with the answer. I do feel that this was a question of mentality, not a question of picking the wrong players, the wrong formation, using the wrong substitutes to freshen things up.

Replacing Balotelli with Barry was correct. The Italian was ineffectual and we weren’t seeing any of the ball, so I can understand why he was sacrificed for someone who was more adept at getting the ball back and giving it. The formation – again I think correct. It served us well last season, but here our two key individuals (Yaya Toure and De Jong) could not impose themselves on the game in an attacking / defensive sense respectively. In terms of line up we went with pretty much our stronger available. Aside from the Tevez circus, the only question marks for me were Kolarov over Clichy and Milner over Johnson. Kolarov did surprisingly well, and Milner will always give you more defensive cover than AJ. I thought it was a side well balanced, as you can’t go gung-ho against United.

Mentality

With so many things appearing to be correct from the outset, the gaping deficiency was the way we went about our business, the way we allowed United to cut through us, almost at will in the second half. At times it was as if we were not up for the battle.

After we had conceded we did muster some resistance. Silva had a glorious opportunity to put someone (maybe Dzeko) clean through on goal, but his pass was snuffed out. Adam Johnson’s ferocious shot was saved by the unimpressive De Gea, and Micah Richards’ header, again forcing a save out of the young keeper, was judged to be a foul. In the end we have only ourselves to blame. I truly believe that in every other way we are now a squad that stands ready to win the league. Only the mentality – not any other football club – stands in our way now.

United will always be United but we are much better than the offering we gave here. Our detractors are having a field day of course – they love to cast us in the mould of expensive strangers, players driven by big wage packets and by the same coin, United as the purists, a team that places never say die team spirit above all else. But for City at least this is wide of the mark and fails to take into account all that was good about us last season. A team of expensive strangers would not have topped the league in December, would not have finished third, and would not have won the FA Cup, defeating United on the way.

Talk of us being taught a ‘footballing lesson’ is pure gamesmanship (I would like to hear how Mr Rooney describes his team's Champions League performance against Barcelona last May). The fact is that last season we were much closer to United than they would like to think, but still the glaring error of Vincent Kompany, our most assured defender of recent years, capped off a day to forget. Mancini must now ensure that this does not set the tone for the rest of the season.

An Asian angle

Admittedly posts have been a bit thin on the ground recently, mainly due to me moving to Jakarta (as you do). I hope to continue posting, if for anything else then to partially compensate for the trauma of giving up my season ticket. What can I say, maybe I’m typical City myself – just as the club is becoming successful I do one to other climbs.

So for the foreseeable I’ll be posting about City from afar whilst looking for a supporters club out here (if anyone knows then give me a shout).

I’ll also be doing my best to let Indonesians know exactly who is the only football team to come from Manchester…