Daily Express Claims Thaksin To Sell Squad; City Denies Story; City Awarded UEFA Cup Slot

In normal times, the big happy news for Manchester City supporters would be confirmation that the club will enter the draw to qualify for the UEFA Cup this summer, based on its position in the Fair Play Table. Sven Goran Eriksson, still acting as manager, issued this statement about the news; Sven’s probably pleased to have something to comment on other than his job or the Boro game on Sunday.

That piece of good news is partly overshadowed by an explosive story which ran in the Daily Express today claiming Thaksin has plans to put the first team squad up for sale, that players received letters criticizing their second-half of the season performances from Thaksin, and that John Wardle had apologized to the players for selling the team. Parts of that story matches rumours that have been circulating on the internet for a couple of weeks.

City however have issued a strong statement denying the story and threatening legal action.

Finally, City have named the squad for the “Super Match” in Thailand tomorrow. Three Thai players signed by City will start on the bench. The club also opened a store in Bangkok selling club apparel.

Mexico Chases Sven; City Arrive in Thailand; Thaksin hires PR firm

It’s being reported in various outlets that Sven has been offered a job coaching the Mexican national team, partly it appears at the behest of Nery Castillo. Difficult to say that one coming off as there’s a not a lot to do in that job until 2010, other than lead Mexico through a rather tedious qualifying campaign for the next World Cup.

Meanwhile, Sven has traveled with the squad to Thailand. According to The Nation, turnout to greet City at the airport was sparse (though there was a heavy media presence). Sven refused to comment on his future at the club.

A Thai supporter of City on the Blue Moon message board has posted these pictures of the club’s arrival. It looks like most of the players were having a good time–there are worse fates than a free trip to Thailand.

Meanwhile, Thaksin has decided that hiring a PR firm in Manchester might help burnish his image in England. Good luck on that.

David Conn on Thaksin’s First Year

David Conn, lifelong City fan and one of the most important journalists covering world football, weighs in with an assessment of Thaksin’s first year at City. Conn reckons that City fans got what they bargained for, or at least what could have been easily predicted by anyone willing to do a little research into Thaksin’s track record: a ruthless, imperious, and unpredictable owner.

Especially interesting are some tidbits Conn has picked up on Thaksin’s reaction to the loss at Fulham in the home finale.

Also, in the rewind department, I’ve stumbled across a link from When Saturday Comes that quotes and comments on the “Selling City Out?” essay (linked on the right) from last summer that was the precursor of this blog. The writer predicted that if City succeeded on the pitch, sceptical voices about Thaksin would dissipate. He was right about that, but after recent events, the sceptics are back in full voice.

What’s perhaps most telling about all this is it’s now literally impossible to go to any City message board and not find a long, heartfelt (or in some cases, short and bitter) message from a lifelong City supporter saying that they are now ready to throw in the towel, not just on Thaksin but on the club itself (or in some cases, the club until Thaksin is gone). More on that phenomenon and what it may portend in a future post…

Thaksin Shares Award for “Worst Owner” in Premier League

No definitive word yet on Sven’s future, as the Swede flies out to lead City’s ten day Asian tour. Sven is expected to be dismissed following meetings in Thailand with Thaksin Shinawatra.

Other reports in Tuesday’s papers note that Richard Dunne is apparently on his way out.

Meanwhile, Thaksin earned a distinction Tuesday he probably wasn’t looking for, being named by veteran writer Henry Winter of The Telegraph as the “worst owner” in the English Premier League this year, an award he shares with American co-owner Tom Hicks of Liverpool. Congrats, Thaksin!

City Humiliated by Boro, 8-1; Sven Sacking Imminent

Manchester City supporters around the world are searching for explanations after a thoroughly disastrous, preposterous defeat to a mediocre Middlsebrough 8-1 in the season closer Sunday. City’s 9th place finish in the league was already secure, and even Richard Dunne’s red card apparently isn’t enough to threaten City’s entry into the UEFA Cup via the Fair Play table, but this was a humiliating outing for players, the outgoing manager, and the club as a whole.

The farcical display on the pitch reflects nearly a month of farce off the pitch. Thaksin Shinawatra was not on hand Sunday, but he must bear a large amount of responsibility for turning what was so nearly a successful first year as chairman into an absolute shambles. City played like a demoralized team with its mind elsewhere, and with Dunne gone no one else stepped up to lead on behalf of the shirt.

Suppose, by way of a thought experiment, Thaksin backed Sven publicly, Sven was clearly coming back for next year (and the 8-1 had not happened). City fans would say it had been a decent season that started strong and petered out, that the solution is to build a stronger squad that could withstand long-term absences of the likes of Richards and Johnson, and that the UEFA Cup place would be a nice carrot to dangle in front of potential recruits. City would be headed into year two of a coherent project with year one a qualified success.

Instead, the club at the moment are in an absolute shambles, with the man primarily responsible thousands of miles away, making decisions from afar while those in Manchester are left in the dark. Welcome to the Thaksin era at Manchester City.

City to Take Backdoor into Europe (Again); Fans Rally for Sven in Manchester; Sven Demands Decision on Future

Plenty of news has been unfolding in the buildup to City’s season-close fixture at Middlesbrough Sunday. On Friday, it was announced that England will get an extra place in next year’s UEFA Cup through the Fair Play table, a place Manchester City is in pole position to claim going into the season’s final match. City previously qualified for the UEFA Cup by this route under Kevin Keegan in 2003.

So Sven Goran Eriksson, albeit via the backdoor, is on the brink of delivering European football to City in his first season in charge. He’s still, however, also on the brink of losing his job, as he confirmed in comments during his Friday weekly press conference.

Meanwhile, on Saturday Blues fans gathered outside the City of Manchester Stadium to show their support for Sven. Press accounts of the rally have yet to appear, but poster Markmakaveli from the Mancityfans.net forum has posted some videos on Youtube providing a sense of the atmosphere.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZZ7GaWixjs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wN0wgkV9gSg&feature=user

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LngKewMc9r0&feature=user

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6O4oQUezogQ&feature=user

Finally, The Telegraph reports Sven’s comments from Saturday saying he expects as a matter of decency to receive word about his future very soon. This account is particularly interesting and insightful, as it suggests that even City insiders have little clue about Thaksin’s intentions; Thaksin is described as “volatile and unpredictable.”

Sven Wants Chelsea Job; Graham Lister on Thaksin and City’s Future

Goal.com has an excellent piece about the Thaksin-Sven fallout; I don’t disagree with a single point made by writer Graham Lister. He writes

Thaksin and his ilk, the new breed of billionaire club owners, need to take a large dose of realism on board in their new roles. As Harry Redknapp stressed this week, “The trouble is they all want to be winners and only one can win the title. Billionaires do not accept being losers.”

In other news, Sven apparently has put Benfica on hold to see if the Chelsea job opens up, where it’s believed he might be a strong candidate. A brief item from The Sun says Sven will wait to be officially sacked before committing anywhere. Meanwhile, various reports indicate that City’s post-season trip to Thailand is full steam ahead, with Sven to remain in charge.

Sven Meets Benfica Representatives; Bridges Burned?

In our previous post we noted Thaksin’s ambiguous comment suggesting that Sven still could yet have a job at Manchester City. Prospects for Sven to return seem to be completely dashed by his being caught on camera meeting with a delegation from Benfica in Manchester Wednesday night. Clearly Sven does not expect to be back, and it’s hard to imagine now Thaksin taking him back. Also, The Times reports that Michael Johnson, the outstanding young midfielder, could be on the way to Arsenal in the off-season, while The Sun links Micah Richards with a move to Chelsea.

Thaksin U-Turn? Sven Staying?

A surprising note of ambiguity into the future of Sven Goran Eriksson at Manchester City has been sounded by Thaksin Shinawatra, who stated Wednesday that “no decision” had been made yet about Sven’s future. Thaksin did volunteer that Scolari, Mourinho, and Sven are all “great coaches.” Perhaps Thaksin, having shopped the job to Scolari and Mourinho, now thinks Sven is fine after all? And would Sven be willing to stay, after all this?

An interesting development, in any case; this could simply be Thaksin trying to put a friendly face on things to placate fans, or even a money-saving effort to get Sven to resign rather than be sacked. We shall see. Sven for his part has been talking with Benfica about the job there.

An interesting question is whether Thaksin’s floating the possibility of Sven return will give encouragement to City fans who are planning a large pro-Sven rally for this Saturday.

Scolari Given Deadline; Why Thaksin Needs Phil To Say Yes

The Times reports Wednesday that Thaksin and his advising team have given Luiz Felipe Scolari (Big Phil) a deadline on a lucrative offer to take over at Manchester City. Big Phil is said to prefer to wait until after Euro 2008 before deciding his future, but Thaksin wants an answer much sooner than that.

Elsewhere, Richard Dunne (topic of our last post) has indeed collected his fourth consecutive fan’s player of the year award, while Paul Hince has stirred the pot with a particularly bitter attack on Thaksin’s sacking of Sven in the MEN.

Most Blue readers of the Hince story will take greatest note (and in some cases, great exception) of his closing shot that he’s willing to see City get relegated in order to be rid of Thaksin. The more important argument Hince is making is that City simply cannot be a high-level successful club under Thaksin, the thought being that you can’t have an owner who wants control of transfer policy, demands personal fealty from the manager, and who is willing to publicly undermine the manager (as happened with Sven) and create controversy where none existed before. That is a strong argument. To prove it wrong, Thaksin needs to show a) that he can attract another world class manager to the job even after how Sven has been treated b) let the new manager do his job without meddling and c) show reasonable patience and appreciation for progress made.

There’s strong reason to be very sceptical on each of those counts, based on the evidence seen so far.

At a minimum, Thaksin needs to deliver a) to have much hope of maintaining or regaining credibility with most City supporters. Stay tuned.