an article written by a Utd supporting journalist at the Manchester Evening News :
Shrewd City's eye for value showing United up
When you look at the two line-ups in Tueday’s one-sided derby, it is clear the Reds have been spending their way to mediocrity – their starting XI at Old Trafford cost £181m, and a superior City team cost £168m.
Well, at least United fans can console themselves that they haven’t bought their way to success, eh?
There are some staggering statistics which suggest that when it comes to Sir Alex Ferguson’s old mantra of ‘value for money’, City have been streets ahead of United in recent years.
Rio Ferdinand cost almost half as much again as the entire Blues defence, including Joe Hart. Marouane Fellaini cost more than Yaya Toure, David Silva and Samir Nasri, who weaved such elegant patterns around the floundering Belgian.
Juan Mata’s £37m fee overshadows the £30m City shelled out for the outstanding Fernandinho – a fee which some dismissed as over-priced at the time. No longer – the Brazilian has been a huge factor in taking City to the next level.
The Blues have been accused of ruining football, yet the evidence against United is there for all to see.
Spending record amounts on players is what inflates the transfer market, and United’s team on Tuesday included players who represent English record fees for a goalkeeper, defender and teenager. Even more daunting for the Reds is the amount of investment in players they need to achieve parity with a City team which will strengthen again this summer.
They might also consider that the Sheikh’s broad-based investment means City’s superiority goes much deeper than the first team.
The Blues are also better at every level below the first team – and that is acknowledged by Reds coach Phil Neville and their striker Robin van Persie, whose own sons are in the Blues academy.
Of course, youth development is an uncertain area, but there are far more prospects in the City set-up – both English and foreign – than there are at Carrington.
The money ploughed into developing the academy and its facilities, which will blossom into the crowning achievement of the Etihad Campus next year, is likely to be Sheikh Mansour’s greatest legacy to City, to Manchester and to English football.
Anyone who thinks that is over-blowing the facts should know that the Blues’ academy is largely stocked by local boys.
The flippant accusation levelled at City since Sheikh Mansour’s take-over is that their rise is somehow artificial, buoyed up by unearned money, and that it is all a little tasteless.
It is utter bunkum, of course. The investment from Abu Dhabi has been a good one – the motive was to boost the name of the emirate, and its state airline Etihad, and the association with City has done just that.
Etihad’s profits have surged since 2008, and the association with this classy City team enhances the airline’s reputation, while Abu Dhabi is now on the map as a tourist destination – something in which City have also played a big part. It is laughable United fans criticise a major investment by City’s owners which has been hugely beneficial to both parties, while the Reds’ owners have plunged their club into debt.
It is even dafter that Uefa thinks Sheikh Mansour’s investment, a huge boost to football and the community in Manchester, needs investigating under the Fair Play system, while the plunder of United is not.
Of course it is dangerous to dismiss United – they remain a great club with a big global standing. But it is City who are setting the pace in
Manchester now, and the Reds are limping along in their wake.
