‘Expect the players to be ruthless and act in their own interest.’ Will Man City lose their star names?

By Daniel Taylor Feb 15, 2020 125
The animosity goes back further than you perhaps would imagine. The distrust, the cold-shouldering, the politics. Officials from Manchester City can still remember the first time they qualified for Europe in the Abu Dhabi era and how, when they turned up in Monaco for the draw, they were left with the clear impression that the elite European clubs saw them through hard, suspicious eyes.

A small thing, perhaps, but it might offer some context as to why City have always suspected they were not welcome at the top table. One executive who was present told me a while back about the incredible awkwardness of realising they were being blanked. It became a running joke behind the scenes about how many times they would be accused of “ruining football” and how often Bayern Munich, in particular, felt it was their right to comment about the way City went about their business.

The fans in Manchester latched on to it, too, positioning a banner — “Ruining...