Well up until a big wedge of cash was plonked in front of him, Robinho was at Stamford Bridge, I think that shows his ambition really – or lack of it. The rather maligned Dimitar Berbatov shunned the massive wages and joined the other half of Manchester in a very sensible move.
The Abu Dhabi United Group in the short space of a few hours turned the world of English Premier League football on its head! With an estimated wealth of around £600-800 Billion, makes Roman Abramovich look rather Coca Cola League 2 which in turn leaves our Laurel & Hardy owners somewhere around the Blue Square leagues!
However, what happened in the hours after the deadline closed was even more interesting. Dr Sulaiman Al-Fahim, (the public face of Abu Dhabli United Group) also nicknamed the Donald Trump of Abu Dhabi, decided to wade through all the headlines and create some more of his own and for Man City. £135 million for Ronaldo then we will try for Fabregas and Torres!
Now correct me if I am wrong, much maligned as Ronaldo has been this past couple of months he is staying at United for now and he cannot help but play his best for them as he really seems to love the game. Torres and Fabregas seem exactly the same. So why would they show the severe lack of ambition that Robinho has shown and join City!? Do not get me wrong I actually like City, their fans are amazing. Afterall, other than maybe ourselves and United in fact throw in Everton and Leeds, what other team could probably go through a really bad patch and end up relegated a division or two yet still pull in gates of 20,000 plus?
Surely the Abu Dhabi cash would have been better spent on going to someone in the top four with their wedge of cash and buying one of the 2 who have had some upheaval in the last few years but do not already have good financial footings. Namely Arsenal and ourselves! Oh how nice it would have been to see the two cowboys that own our beloved club get on their horses and ride off into the rather damp wet sunset.
Having said that, and knowing when it seems to come to sport, the Arabs are extremely competitive that the fact that one of the Dubai ruling family is married to one of the Abu Dhabi ruling family, that may kick start a family rivalry that we re-ignite the determination of DIC to get hold of Liverpool. Robinho would not have been questioned as much had he moved to Arsenal, United or Liverpool instead of Chelsea. It really does show that money is the catalyst to society (I suppose we all knew that already!)
Now more pressing matters! We have had a very poor start to the season. Regardless of where we sit at present, the fact we have played 2 mediocre sides and 1 side who are ok, that does not bode well at all for our next league match against United! If we win the game then great but it has been so long when we have even looked close to doing that, I will not hold my breath.
I will continue to support Rafa in his endeavours but he is now into his ‘œHoullier Years’. Those being where he seems to be bringing in players that add little to the squad. Degen whilst not yet played for real, looked out of his depth in most of the pre season games. Dossena has done ok but seems nothing spectacular. Cavileri is just cover and does actually look really good for cover. Keane is obviously THE buy of the year for us so far. I think he will have a bit of a ‘œCrouch’ start to his life here but will go on to do well. As for the others that we managed to get before the transfer window closed, I am not ‘œwhooping’ with joy over. Gulacsi is just another reserve keeper. Flora is an unknown kid from South America who we will see maybe in a few years.
That said, having watch Nabil El Zhar in his little amounts of match time, I have been impressed. I had seen him for the reserve and he looked decent but he really looks like it could be stepped up. He likes to run at players and is quick. Babel will hopefully get a better look in this season also.
This is Rafa’s fifth season and he did say to give him five. This season we must challenge and come February / March we must be still able to win the league. We must also win one cup just to have something to show for it. I am trying to take heart in the fact that after a few lackluster performances , we are where we are. However there does not really seem to be a major improvement over those first few games. I suppose the good news is that both Torres and Gerrard will not be on international duty so they can chill out and get fit. Torres especially as he looks a little jaded (regardless of THAT strike against Sunderland!). He has pretty much played all year.
The craziness continues’¦’¦’¦..
At time of writing West Ham are now managerless as Curbishley has resigned for a breach of trust. Just who the hell is running the things on the field these days. Keegan , well no one really knows where the hell King Kev is and what is going on. One side say he has resigned, the other says he is still their manager! In all seriousness though I would have wanted to offload Joey Barton. How many chances does he need for god sake!
When will all the madness end? The minute the January transfer window opens Dr Sulaiman Al-Fahim will have the Abu Dhabi United cheque book open again. I certainly don’t think Torres will want to move regardless of the golden carrot dangled. The worry there is the muppets that own our club! If they come in and say £100 million then you never know whether Torres wants to go or not!
Yet again, the most successful club in Britain (Yes Mancs we still are!) will try to make their way through the jesters in the boardroom to try and do it all on the pitch.
There may be some hope as, according to the usually reliable ‘Shanklegend’ on Red And White Kop, DIC are back in talks with ‘œFat Head’ and ‘œFrodo’ (my words not his!) as they realize they can go no further.
Here’s hoping eh!
