Preview: Insider's guide to Man City

Ric Turner, Pete Wright and Paul Edwards preview their club Man City ahead of the new Barclays Premier League season.

What is the best or worst your club can achieve this coming season?

Ric Turner: The best we can achieve is a top four finish, and hopefully a cup too. The worst would be finishing outside the top six, which would see the manager lose his job I suspect.

Pete Wright: For Manchester City I believe the best we can realistically finish is third. The club have the potential to win the league, but I believe City is at least a year away. The worst is sixth. City cannot finish any lower, there will be big trouble if they do.

Paul Edwards: Best - We win the league, no reason on paper why not. Worst - relegation you can never say never. Most likely result is top six/seven.

Who is your key player?

Ric Turner: Stephen Ireland is crucial to the way the team play. Everything comes through him in midfield, and he contributes an impressive number of goals too.

Pete Wright: I agree - Ireland. Home-grown, 2009 player-of-the-year for City. He is the heartbeat of the club. His goals were huge last season but he is also a midfield who plays box to box. You never see him slacking off on the pitch, or off. He only took four days off during the close season. Then it was back to training. This kid is an example of how a player can turn around for the good.

Who is the unsung hero in your team?

Ric Turner: Nedum Onuoha performed consistently well last season and looks to be free of the injuries that have hampered his earlier career.

Pete Wright: With all of the transfers rumors about defenders flying around, Onuoha has quietly gone about his business. He was solid last season when he finally regained his full fitness. He is one of the brightest young defensive talents in England right now.

Who is a waste of space?

Ric Turner: Much of the deadwood from last season have now left the club. Whilst I wouldn't describe them as a waste of space, I suspect Benjani and Javier Garrido will be moved on once replacements are found.

Pete Wright: Benjani. Yes, I know he scored at Old Trafford to beat United, but he hasn't done anything since. He wants to leave, he acts like it at least. Tal Ben-Haim is also in that category...absolutely useless.

Paul Edwards: Dimitar Berbatov - £32million and he's rubbish. I'll never slag anyone from my club, players and staff have thier ups and downs its our job as fans to back them regardless and try to reduce the downs.

Describe your best moment of last season.

Ric Turner: Robinho's sublime chip in the 3-0 thrashing of Arsenal.

Pete Wright: The day the A.D.U.G. bought City. They saved the club from the embarrassment of the Thaksin regime. On the pitch it has to be the 6-0 thrashing of Pompey.

Paul Edwards: My best was away at Aalborg when we won the penalty shoot-out

Is your manager the right person for the job?

Ric Turner: Mark Hughes polarised the fans last season, although I think more people are behind him now after his dealings in the transfer market and his very public backing from the owners.

Pete Wright: I feel Mark Hughes is the right man for right now. City need a tough, hard working manager right now. City had a dangerous culture of losing when Hughes took over. It is very difficult no matter who is playing for you to change that culture. Hughes has brought in players who all have Premier League experience and only one player that he has bought has been a flop. Not a bad record.

Paul Edwards: Yes because he's our manager... Gary Cook and Khaldoon have faith in him so I do too.

Which area do you think your team needs strengthening?

Ric Turner: Central defence. Last season we scored plenty of goals, but clean sheets were hard to come by. The addition of Kolo Toure will help, but another centre half is still needed.

Pete Wright: I think City need one more defender. After that I don't see many other trouble spots. After that its just about getting all of the players on the same page for the new season.

Young player to look out for?

Ric Turner: Vladimir Weiss, an exceptionally talented, if somewhat raw, winger from Slovakia.

Pete Wright: Weiss. He is just 19 and he made his debut in the last game of the season. Made his name in the FA Youth Cup in 2008 when City's kids took the cup. He is pacey and has great vision for the pitch. A truly exciting player who I believe will get a chance to shine after Elano's departure.

Paul Edwards: Ben Mee - Has been fantastic for the reserves and youth teams.

Where will your club finish this season?

Ric Turner: Fifth.

Pete Wright: I predict City will finish fourth or fifth. The spots from 3-5 will be decided by only a few points. This will be the most exciting season in the Premiership in many years. I'm rather superstitious so I would rather not jinx the Blues.

Paul Edwards: Seventh was an improvement on last season, but we need a season to gel as a team after so many ins and outs. The 10/11 season is when we can push for a top four finish.

How long have you supported Man City?

Ric Turner: All my life. I attended my first City game in 1985.

Pete Wright: I became a City supporter in 1997.

Paul Edwards: 24 years (all my life)

Name your all-time favourite player at the club?

Ric Turner: Georgi Kinkladze is my all time favourite City player. The most naturally gifted player I've ever seen in sky blue, and the one shining light during a dark time in the club's history.

Pete Wright: Shaun Goater is my all-time favorite. "Feed the Goat!!!" Through the bad years of relegation he was one of those guys who helped the club get back up to the top flight. I will never forget his 2 Derby Day goals at Maine Road...especially when Neville assisted on the first goal.

Paul Edwards: Marc Vivien Foe: Absolute gentleman, loved playing football and always had a smile on his face and scored the last goal at Maine Road. Uwe Rosler: My first real City hero, always brings back memories of being at Maine Road with my dad.

Which three teams will be relegated this season?

Ric Turner: Wolves, Wigan, Burnley

Pete Wright: Hull City, Burnley, Wolves.

Paul Edwards: Pompey, Burnley, Birmingham

And lastly do you think other teams' fans will knock City more this season?

Paul Edwards: Yes, we've spent big in the summer so were the team to beat in some ways. I suspect we'll come in for quite a lot of banter about wasting money and never winning anything etc, water off a ducks back though. The Fun Is Supporting - Winning Is A Bonus

* Pete and Paul are part of the fansite bluewatchmcfc.co.uk while Ric is the site owner of bluemoon-mcfc.co.uk.

Thank you to ESPNStar for the interviews and for giving Bluewatch a larger forum.  We were grateful for the oppprtunity to share our views on a larger scale.

Embrace the Hate

It's was always the same story. You were abroad or in another part of the country, wearing your City shirt and you would strike up a conversation about football. The reaction you would get 90% of the time when they saw you were a blue would be 'ahhhh Man City, don't mind them!'.

Whereas teams like Chelsea, Liverpool and the Scum would be loathed for their success we would be complimented for our failings. Certainly this is true in my lifetime anyway. For the 19 years I have been on this earth and following City, we have had nothing but shit.

True the occasional Derby win and F.A. Cup run would entice excitement and joy from my fellow Blues and I but we have never had the type of success that has made people want to hate and avoid us.

Now my friends, the tide is changing.

It's amazing how an Arab Sheikh and bucket load of cash can change peoples' views. We are no longer the likeable blue half of Manchester, we are slayers of the beautiful game. If sporting a City shirt abroad used to get you a beer and a friendly chat, you are more likely to get a dirty look and sand kicked in your face....and you know what?  I love it.

If you were to ask any businessman about their success, I am sure a word the word they would use is ruthless. There is no room for niceties in the hunt for success. Men like Donald Trump and Alan Sugar are prime examples of this. Sure, they are not going to win any popularity contests, but when you are pulling up at traffic lights in a 1.8 Ford Fiesta and they roll up in the back seat of Bentley with a cigar in one hand and glass of Bollinger in the other, who cares about popularity?

I would much rather stand on a few toes and rattle a few cages on the way to Richard Dunne (or whoever our captain will be) lifting a trophy than being the whipping boys and everyone's favourite other team.

To say we are killing football is a hugely misguided comment, but still it will echo from the lips of fans up and down the country.

“You are buying the league” is what they will say. Oh in the same way Jack Walker and Roman Abramovich did you mean?

Football fans are fickle creatures. Die hards of clubs like Everton will comment on how they have to live on harsh budgets and gel a squad together.  Yet I am sure if some Texan oligarch rode into town on his solid gold horse, they would use all their scouse elegance and ask them to kindly move on as they are 'gelling a team' and don't need their money.

The fact is we were lucky. Sheikh Mansour and his associates saw our potential and took a gamble on us. It is yet to become apparent whether this gamble will pay off, but one thing is for sure, whether we win the Champions League or The Etihad Trophy, we will be from now on a team that has bought success, so altogether now.....

“We're gonna buy the league, We're gonna buy the league and now you're gonna believe ussssss, We're gonna buy the league!!!

Breaking City News

KOLO TOURE IS A BLUE!!!

Breaking news from Eastlands today as City have completed the signing of former Arsenal defender Kolo Toure.  Toure served 7 seasons with Arsenal and was the last remaining member of the famous "invincibles" team of 2003-2004.

Mark Hughes was truly delighted by his latest signing by saying: "I am delighted to welcome Kolo to Manchester City. It is no secret that we have been looking to strengthen our defence, and in Kolo I feel we have recruited a world class player. He brings a wealth of Premier League experience from his seven seasons with Arsenal,” he declared.

Toure passed a medical late this afternoon after jetting back from Hungary after playing his final match in an Arsenal shirt monday night.  Toure is City's 6th signing of the transfer season. He signed a 4 year deal.

NEDUM COMMITS!!!

In a second bit of good news for Blues fans, Nedum Onuoha has committed to the Blues for 5 years.

Nedum expressed his happiness by stating:  “I am really, really happy,” he declared. “This is a great place for any young player to be. Hopefully it will be the start of another good five years for me and for the club. This is a season that we will be looking right towards the top of the table.

Onuoha is yet another superb product of Jim Cassell's acclaimed academy.

 

BlueInUSA

Choose United - BORN CITY

Choose to Support a club from a city you've never been to
Choose to wear Shit Grey Shirts, and then blame them when Southampton Stuff you
Choose your own Referee and Assistants
Choose to change the team you support every 10 Years
Choose to forget 1969 to 1993 ever existed
Choose to be Snubbed by every decent player around the world, and then pretend you didnt want them anyway
Choose not knowing the history of your club.
Choose Busby the Blue.
Choose Dennis Law’s backheel.
Choose Sir Bobby Ticket Tout.
Choose staging the World Cup in '66 and being handed a huge sum from the FA to develop your stadium but continue to bang on about City’s ground.
Choose opening the gates at Old Trafford in the 60s after kick off to let people in for free.
Choose forgetting you went 41 years without winning a trophy.
Choose your highest ever attendance being at Maine Road.
Choose that attendance still being lower than City's.
Choose United’s globalism and domination since the late '90s whilst forgetting the past.
Choose an air disaster as a marketing tool.
Choose forgetting about the survivors of ****** and kicking them out of their houses (which you owned) because they could no longer play football.
Choose waiting 22 years to set up a charity match for the families of ******.
Choose milking ****** for 50 years and then getting beat by ickle ciddy on your own soil.
Choose asking AIG to sponsor the ****** memorial.
Choose having statues of two City players outside your ground.
Choose being so obsessed with City that you have a permanent banner dedicated to us on the Stretford End.
Choose paying £28 million for Veron.
Choose 19,000 fans at Old Trafford to watch you play Middlesbrough when you were in Division One but pretend you have loyal support.
Choose the have-to-go-to-all-cup-games-because-you're-forced-to ticket policy.
Choose the USA.
Choose debt.
Choose pricing out your own fans in favour of corporate Londoners.
Choose having your own manager and players criticise your fans.
Choose prawn sandwiches.
Choose not being able to stand.
Choose being outsung by 3,000 travelling away fans each game.
Choose having Mick Hucknall and Eamon Holmes as your celebrity fans.
Choose FC United…if they become successful.
Choose to whinge all summer about clubs tapping up your best player, while you r busy tapping up Spurs’ best player
Choose Kidnap him at the airport while not even having permission to speak to him and then pay other £30Million for the wanker
Choose to buy Alan Smith as a forward then when found out to be shit put him in mid-field and call Fergie a 'genius' and call Smith the 'new roy keane'.
Choose to go after Batistuta for 5yrs and him stil wanting nothing to do with you.
Choose to demonstrate about 'No yanks' in a New York Yankee cap.
Choose to complain about a fixture pile-up but go to Asia in your time off.
Choose to cheat.
Choose to agree to the 'respect campaign' but pay no attention to it when you don't get the Throw-in you want.
Choose 10 Goalkeepers in an attempt to replace Schmeichel.
Choose to sing songs about hating Scousers and pretend the granny shagger isnt 1.
Choose a winger that wants to play for Madrid but claim its all 'paper talk'.
Choose to have your players 'injured' for mid-week England matches yet play 90mins the following Saturday.
Choose to complain about away games after Champs League games dispite 1 being 'away' in Manchester.
Choose to mock Leeds fans about the events in Istambul.
Choose to make airplane signs towards City fans on Derby matches.
Choose to be the only club in the country where every corner results in every fan becoming a Photographer.
Choose to 'watch' united in the pub with your back to the screen, cheer like **** when they score, then ask someone 'who scored that'?
Choose to be the wanker no fan of any other club wants too speak to on holiday
Choose united cos you have to know much about football except is it sky setanta or itv
Choose United so you can buy the tacky fake merchandise on the Market
Choose the FA
Choose to get away with everything.
Choose to be first on match of the day rather than waiting 2 hours
Choose Trafford.
Choose United.

Born City

This was posted in the Bluewatch forum.  I saw it as worth front page material.  Great work Toof!