Manchester City at home. Keep Sunday special.
We’re back at Villa Park, at 2pm on Sunday afternoon. It’s the sort of post-European thing we’re getting used to, which is just as well because it’s going to be happening now until the end of time.
Another thing that’s probably going to happen until the end of time is Manchester City being able to make up their own rules. Their friends from just outside the seventh city make theirs up as well, but at lest they don’t have the whole financial structure of football throughout Europe geared towards keeping them at the position they found themselves in at the most fortuitous time in history.
Manchester City used to be a bit of a joke. They were best-known for having the tallest floodlights in the country (apparently) and for having been promoted and relegated from the top division a joint record number of times. By coincidence the team they held the record with also play in blue, have ‘City’ in their name and keep going on and on and on about being the proper club of their city.
Then came sportswashing and the rest, sadly, is history. They won the Premier League four times in a row, then last season they didn’t. That isn’t allowed so the league and Uefa looked the other way while they spent another fortune on new players. A lot of numbers were mentioned while they were spending, but 115 wasn’t one of them. Their supporters used to be decent as well. In fact, most people had a lot of respect for their attitude in the face of adversity. That’s gone now.
Anyway, Sunday. They’ve got their collection of Galacticos, although for the first time in a long while there isn’t one of them to inspire anything stronger than mild dislike. We’ve got Unai Emery, the fittest squad we can hope for and a decent recent record against them at home. Another win, another step forward.
