City on 5Live

I've just finished listening to the BBC Radio 5Live programme 'Abu Dhabi Blues', a fifty minute discussion programme about City. Chaired by Brian Alexander, it featured former chairman David Bernstein and City fan and author Colin Shindler as guests. There were interviews with Mark Hughes, Garry Cook and Steven Ireland. You can listen to it HERE.

The most interesting part of Hughes' interview concerned his relationship with Khaldoon al-Mubarak. He said that while he has only met Sheikh Mansour once, he speaks to Khaldoon two or three times weekly, and mentioned that Khaldoon has once eaten at Hughes' house. Khaldoon calls Hughes before games, but does not phone immediately after defeats because he 'very much understands' how Hughes feels. There was then the standard defence of Robinho - it's hard for attackers to adjust, he's not the only one to disappoint, and the denail of any personal problems between player and manager.

While discussing this David Bernstein appeared thoughtful and considered, saying that Hughes had 'a very difficult to play', and, in mentioning that different levels of management required different skils, implying that Hughes may not be the man to take us to the top level. (He also said of two managers he employed that: 'Joe Royle was great to deal with, Kevin [Keegan] was easy on a good day.') I'm a big fan of Colin Shindler's books so was disappointed that he chose to buy into the whole 'Sheikh Mansour = Florentino Pérez' discourse of which we hear so much. He suggested that Hughes was fighting a losing battle with the owners, and that the board are set on assembling a team of Galacticos over Hughes' head.

Garry Cook spoke about the Kaká, saying that the public criticism of the move was more to do with the fact that it was Manchester City rather than the sheer volume of money we offered. Which I don't think is at all true. Regarding why the deal failed, he said that 'there was a defining moment when it became public space and the agendas changed a little bit.' Bernstein said that it was 'the wrong move at the wrong time', and 'out of sync with wider social issues.' He voiced the criticism that we were too early in our progression to go for Kaká, which I do agree with. Shindler suggested that there ought to be more 'football people' involved in the running of the club. Brian Marwood wasn't mentioned.

They finished with a brief interview with Stephen Ireland (he really loves 'the gaffer', apparently) and a comparison of Sheikh Mansour and Randy Lerner. Shindler would rather the former was more like the latter. I can see his point, but I'm not going exactly upset with the whole ADUG project thus far.