Essential Reading on City: David Conn Reports from Abu Dhabi (Updated)

By: Thad | September 17th, 2009

With as much attention as Manchester City gets these days, it’s rare to find a piece of journalism about the club that is truly essential reading.

Updated: new exclusive interview reveals Hughes almost left in August 2008; Garry Cook repudiates Thaksin.

But in the run-up to Sunday’s Manchester derby, the Guardian is running a detailed special report about the men who own Manchester City, based on a trip journalist David Conn made to Abu Dhabi where he interviewed in depth chairman Khaldoon al-Mubarak; and apparently had a guided tour around the emirate. Part one (of three) is linked above; the Guardian is also running a separate interview with Mubarak.

David Conn is unquestionably the leading reporter in the UK on the finances of football. Conn is a relentless critic of the Premier League and its top clubs, and the way money has become concentrated at the top of the English football pyramid while clubs in the lower leagues stay just this side of extinction. Conn is also a long-time Manchester City fan, and was an early and cogent critic of former owner Thaksin Shinawatra. (Included in the articles on City’s ownership are some references to the poor state of City’s finances when Thaksin sold up, a story that has never been fully told.)

It is thus rather striking that Conn appears to be quite impressed by the new ownership group and its plans for City, based on part one at least; I won’t give anything away here, but do read the article for yourself. I’ll post links to parts two and three as they appear in this same thread. See also this interview

As to the derby, the ban on Adebayor has been confirmed to begin Sunday, but Carlos Tevez may beat the clock with his injury recovery to be available. That would be a huge boost for City, to say the least. Not only would Tevez be well up for it–if he could emulate what Adebayor did to Arsenal, minus the controversy, no one at City would complain!–but it would allow Mark Hughes to stick with basically the same tactical scheme that has served the team so well this season.