UPDATE -  Done deal as Shaun Wright-Phillips heads back north to City on a four year deal that some are saying is worth 80,000 Pound a week.

“To actually secure the deal and bring Shaun back home is a fantastic coup for us and I’m sure the supporters will be just as excited as we are to have him back at Manchester City,” said gaffer Mark “Sparky” Hughes.

IF reports about Shaun Wright-Phillips being in Manchester for a medical before a 9 Million Pound transfer to City are true, then City just pulled off one hell of a business deal.

Yup, that 21 Million Pound that Chelsea paid just three years ago looks even crazier now considering the fact they never truly gave him a constant run in the side.

With City in Denmark ahead of their return leg at Danny Califf’s FC Midtjylland on Thursday night and being down 1 - nil after City’s loss at home last week, Mark Hughes must be clamoring the board trying to get Phillips on his roster ASAP.

image via UniqueAutographs

Seeing players go down with injuries is part of the game. But sometimes, these injuries are much worse than what we are used to seeing. Petr Cech and Carlo Cudicini suffered suffered serious head injuries and more recently we saw Gilberto go down with an awful leg injury. This weekend in the Man City v West Ham game, City teammates Micah Richards and Tal Ben Haim clashed heads. The result was Micah Richards ended up being unconscious for eigth minutes and had to be stretchered off.  Luckily it looks like Micah escaped serious injury and he is expected to make a quick return to the game.

[Guardian]

UPDATE - Damn, this is just getting uglier and uglier.

Now Ukranian club Shaktar Donetsk have reported Manchester City to FIFA over the 475,ooo Pound still owed to them over the transfer last summer of Brazilian Elano.

A spokesman for FIFA said: ‘We can confirm Donetsk have lodged a claim with FIFA regarding this matter. As the relevant procedure will start in due course, we can’t provide further comments for the time being.’

Reports out of the Ukraine are suggesting City still owe 3.1 for this summer’s payment, but that check is in the mail.

Manchester City manager Mark Hughes has been given a boost in the transfer kitty market after a 30 Million Pound injection of cash as the Premiership side drew against their future television earnings.

If you’re wondering how risky this decision might be, then you’re spot on as once a club is relegated, their television earnings are depleted significantly.

From Mark Hughes’ capture from Blackburn, the failed signing of Ronaldinho, Thai owner Thaskin Sinawatra’s money and legal trouble, injuries that led to the depletion of Hughes’ offense (Benjani, Vassell, Bianchi and Bojinov all out) and a Uefa Cup loss at home to Danish side FC Midtjylland, this just keep getting worse for the baby blue of Manchester.

Wonder how long this will go before the English FA steps in?

First it was the Dabo attack, then the fist fight in downtown Liverpool, then a prison term behind bars, then dropped by Nike and now Barton gets to re-live the incident that saw him put out a cigar using his teammates eye three years ago.

James Tandy, a 19 year old trying to make his way through the ranks at Manchester City and Barton, a first team star got into an argument at the teams Christmas Party back in 2004.  Reports at the time had Barton putting the cigar out in youngsters eye and now Tandy’s suing, claiming he was permanently scarred from the incident.  Barton was fined 60,ooo Pound, three weeks wages at the time.

Tandy headed out on loan to Denmark after he had recovered, eventually suffering a broken leg that ended his career.  After that, Tandy turned to alcohol and eventually tried killing himself by crashing into a light pole.

Tandy, the father of two at the age of 23, decided to sue Barton after admitting to “driving with excess alcohol” on August 3rd while still facing the same offense from February.

Hmmm.. Interesting timing.

US International Danny Califf and his Danish SuperLiga side FC Midtjylland took down the Premiership’s Manchester City 1 - nil in Manchester for the first leg of the Uefa Cup second round Qualifying.

Via BBC

Manchester City boss Mark Hughes:
“Perhaps we were a bit behind them in terms of sharpness and match fitness but that is no excuse.

“In the first half we had too many unforced errors. We needed to be more dynamic, show more personality, and to try to drive the play.

“We need to get up to speed before the weekend and hopefully this game will let us know where we are at and what we need to do.”

Midtjylland defender Danny Calliff:
“We had to believe that we could get a result. We had to match the effort and tonight it was enough.

(more…)

UPDATE - With Sportsmail revealing that former Manchester City Chairman John Wardle (who resigned in protest against Sinawatra on July 9th) loaned Thaskin Sinawatra 2 Million Pound and that the Former Thai Prime Minister has had to borrow money THREE separate times to pay City staff , things just aren’t looking so good for City.

And now Barclay’s Premier League Chief Executive Richard Scudamore is demanding crisis talks with Shinawatra saying, ‘We are clearly going to have to establish the status of his return to England and where that leaves him in regard to the legal process in Thailand.

‘Our rules are clear that somebody has to be convicted of something to fail the “fit and proper person” criteria and, until someone does, he still falls within our rules. But there is no point in having this test unless it is meaningful, as we have always said it is, and it has to be applied.

‘We need to make sure that, if somebody is guilty of something, we will deal with it.’

Throw in new City Chief Operating Officer Paul Aldridge and the circus surrounding the Stephen Ireland to Sunderland talks, ol’ Sparky must be looking back over his shoulder at Blackurn wondering if he made the right decision.

Manchester City owner and Former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has refused return to Thailand to face corruption charges, which will now cast serious doubt over the future of the clubs ownership after an arrest warrant was issued after his missed court date.

(more…)

Former Manchester City Youth Team goalkeeper Ashley Timms has admitted to the charge of “making unwarranted demands with menaces” over blackmailing a current Premiership player.

Timms, 22, admitted to blackmailing the player (who the Manchester Court refers to as Witness A) 15,000 Pound over sexual images between March 1st and April 3rd of this year.

While the judge did grant Timms bail, he must return for September 5th sentencing in which the judge said “This case carries inevitably a prison sentence, no doubt about it.

“I am going to grant him bail but it must be on the clear understanding what the sentence will be.”

Wonder which papers gonna print the name of the player and how much they’ll drop to get it?

image via Gmgrd

While his career almost began with Manchester United until a work permit was denied, Nery Castillo’s career has seen him take the path less travelled.

Castillo started his professional career at the age of 16 with  Olympiacos in Greece, scoring 30 times in over 100 appearances. But around this time, things started to get a bit interesting.

(more…)

Bojinov upper v for City’s winner.

Doesn’t it seem like Milan’s form throughout the pre-season hasn’t been that sharp?

According to the DailyMail, Manchester City owner Thaskin Sinawatra has put his own touch into Manchester City Stadium after holding an official and mandatory Feng Shui burying ceremony at the midfield stripe in hope of energizing City players.

The 48,000 seat stadium will have the crystals buried near the corner flags, reception areas, offices and club shops as well.  Sinawatra also had three-legged toads and lucky trees spread around the stadium in hopes of promoting financial success.

image via Lightkit