Various interesting player statements

It must have been a busy day in the Press Office yesterday, there's interviews and statements from players all over the media.

First is Stephen Ireland, who said lots of stuff we love to hear:

"I would like to achieve at City what Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs have done at United. They have been fantastic servants to the club and won cupboards full of medals," said 13-goal Ireland.

"I would love to think that at 33 or 34 years of age I would still be playing for City in midfield, still loving the game, enjoying a bond with the fans and winning things."

"Those two United players are legends at Old Trafford and that is a path I want to follow and what I want to be at Eastlands, in fact one of my aims is to play so well for so long here I have a stand named after me!"

Then there's Richard Dunne, claiming that the uncertainty after the takeover affected some players but that they're over it now:

"Over the years, the club had possibly settled into a comfort zone, but that’s what the manager wanted to change. He had to change the mentality of the players already here and bring new ones in.

“The money came in, expectations rose and it was unsettling for a lot of people. Maybe we were dwelling on what was said in the papers every day, but I think everyone has grown into it"

Elano has an interview with Ian Herbert which has some interesting insights into his relationship with Hughes:

But the 27-year-old, who is fervently hoping for a starting place in tomorrow's Manchester derby, offers a different perspective on belonging to the richest club in the world; of how it feels to be behind closed doors at City's Carrington training complex when the outside world is linking virtually every available decent player with a move to a club where you are already struggling to command a place. "This has been one of the reasons for our difficulties this season," Elano says. "We can't go to the press and express our feelings because otherwise we get fined and punished. But in a way it seems unfair because all the time, on a daily basis, there are reports of a new player coming and it seems to us that we are not worth that much. The players should also have the right to talk about certain things."

And finally a Nigel de Jong interview with Daniel Taylor when he says all the right things (and by right I don't mean 'true' as much as 'what City fans like to hear'):

"There are so many more Blues than Reds," he says. "If I take a cab, the driver is a City fan. If I go to the shopping centre, all I see are City shirts. I was astonished when I first arrived because everyone was a Blue and I was asking everyone: 'How does that work? Manchester United are the biggest club in the world, aren't they?'

"People would explain to me: 'That's just a global thing, the real workers' club is Manchester City.' And it's true, it's a working club, and the people in Manchester can relate to this club because they are working people. They are very proud of it. That's why Manchester City is so big locally – not worldwide maybe, but definitely locally."