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Lets go back to 20th June 2007, imagine the takeover by Thaskin Shinawatra had never happened and we were stuck in the same position as Everton, deeply in debt and unable to find an owner.

I believe we would certainly have been relegated, however as history has proven time and time again I believe we would have come back. So when I hear blues moan about City and criticise our manager I cant help but think of West Brom and what might have been for us. I cant believe how lucky City are. I cant believe i'll live to see City on top of the world!!

Totally agree with you, mate! Too many fans forget today how difficult was our financial situation recently. I remember in the few months before Thaksin's surprising take-over a lot of Italians wished Gallagher bros should have bought the club!

We were in complete financial disarray. Whether we'd still be afloat is debatable.

Niall Quinns Discopants wrote:We were in complete financial disarray. Whether we'd still be afloat is debatable.

A terrible shame after David Bernstein had worked so hard to steady the ship and then KK spunked all our limited dough on has beens.

We would have been well and truely relegated that coming season.

We had 4 players who you could describe as premiership quality. Richards, Dunne, Distin, and Barton.

And the last 2 left that summer.

Burt wrote:

Niall Quinns Discopants wrote:We were in complete financial disarray. Whether we'd still be afloat is debatable.

A terrible shame after David Bernstein had worked so hard to steady the ship and then KK spunked all our limited dough on has beens.

it wasn't so much the Keegan's spending but the fact that Wardle was trying to live the dream and was funding buys with loans. That's the problem of having a supporter as an owner. They will always try to overcompensate. Would be probably the same for all of us if we had the money to buy the club and credibility to speculate with money. Wardle was a true Blue but we weren't living within our means.

We'd have DJ Campbell and Brett Ommeroid upfront.

Richards would be our most creative outlet and be deployed on the right wing, paid twice what everyone else was being paid, and a yearly beg to get him to stay.

Sturridge might have kept us up with some goals that season, but would have been off for 15million to Chelsea

Weaver would still be in goals.

We're City, what'd you expect?

Keegan effectively did with City what Redknapp did with Portsmouth; talked the chairman into spending too much money on fees & pushing up the wage bill beyond our means. If not for Frank, we would have been screwed. If not for the Sheikh rescuing us from Frank, we would have been even more screwed. We have, for once, been incredibly lucky. We could have been Portsmouth.

Interesting that when O'Neil recently tried to ruin Villa in the same way, all the football 'experts' & media who have been in uproar about clubs spending beyond their means, backed O'Neil rather than the owner who is sensible enough to try & keep them solvent rather than go chasing rainbows.

dont want to even think about it.. Leeds, Portsmouth.. being humiliated as a club in the Championship and going down to the old 3rd, again..

instead a bright blue butterfly took off on a river bank in Guatemala and flew straight into a net held by some twonk brother of an Asian Prime Minister and lucky for us he sent a foto of it to his brother just at the moment he was trying to make his mind up about buying us or Liverpool... Blue it was and the rest is history.

Thank fucxl we were Blue!

amen

I remember being at Villa Park on the opening day two seasons ago, Boji injured himself in the warm up, so we had Ched Evans up front with Etuhu playing off him. Ben-Haim at centre half. Everyone was feeling down because of what was going on with Frank, some people were going as far as to suggest we'd be going into administration within a week. Then they did us 4-2. Hughes' first game and already people screaming for the 'rag bastard out of my fucking club', tense as fuck.

Then, two weeks on, we're through to the UEFA Cup group stages, SWP's come home, we've signed Kompany, put 6 past West Ham and Sunderland, and Robinho's signed for £32million and some Sheikh's bought us and we're now the richest club in the world.

Wouldn't be City if it wasn't a fucking rollercoaster.

Colin the King wrote:I remember being at Villa Park on the opening day two seasons ago, Boji injured himself in the warm up, so we had Ched Evans up front with Etuhu playing off him. Ben-Haim at centre half. Everyone was feeling down because of what was going on with Frank, some people were going as far as to suggest we'd be going into administration within a week. Then they did us 4-2. Hughes' first game and already people screaming for the 'rag bastard out of my fucking club', tense as fuck.

Then, two weeks on, we're through to the UEFA Cup group stages, SWP's come home, we've signed Kompany, put 6 past West Ham and Sunderland, and Robinho's signed for £32million and some Sheikh's bought us and we're now the richest club in the world.

Wouldn't be City if it wasn't a fucking rollercoaster.

yeah, there was fairly reliable talk of us being inches away from going into administration.

At the end of the day we were just incredibly lucky to be the club that was ripe for a buyout at the time the Sheikh was looking to invest in the PL, there are lots of people to be thanked for getting us to that point, not least of which being John Wardle who's money bailed us out on numerous occasions, Frank also has to be thanked for selling up when it became obvious he wasn't going to have the funds to carry on (a glance along the M62 puts that into perspective) although he obviously needed the cash.

With Platini's rules it may also be the last time that a mega rich owner can come in and make such a difference so quickly, thank fuck it was us, thank you all the people that kept us afloat, thank you to all the players that contributed to our position at the time (both positively and negatively, yes even Joey) and most of all thank you Sheikh Mansour for rescuing the club from mediocrity

Colin the King wrote:I remember being at Villa Park on the opening day two seasons ago, Boji injured himself in the warm up, so we had Ched Evans up front with Etuhu playing off him. Ben-Haim at centre half. Everyone was feeling down because of what was going on with Frank, some people were going as far as to suggest we'd be going into administration within a week. Then they did us 4-2. Hughes' first game and already people screaming for the 'rag bastard out of my fucking club', tense as fuck.

Then, two weeks on, we're through to the UEFA Cup group stages, SWP's come home, we've signed Kompany, put 6 past West Ham and Sunderland, and Robinho's signed for £32million and some Sheikh's bought us and we're now the richest club in the world.

Wouldn't be City if it wasn't a fucking rollercoaster.

I recall the people screaming for the 'rag bastard out of my fucking club' actually started a few days early after our home to defeat to FC Spar.

Horrible times.

Without Franks takeover we were goners. That was an awful side that was destined for relegation. Not sure where the Everton comparison comes from as they may not have alot of money but they balance their books and finish top 10 most years. We would be in a Leeds Sheff Wednesday situation.

I think our destiny was decided as far back as 2002 when Manchester won the bid to host the Commonwealth Games. We would not have been as attractive had we still been at Maine Road imo.

People go on about our 'luck', but there are other factors which meant this happened to City.

Firstly our enormous potential, with historic fan base and success, with big city status.

Secondly thanks to Wardle and co, firstly for keeping us afloat and secondly for choosing Frank as a new owner who could take us forwards and had the cash to make us compete - this turned out not to be the case for various reasons, but plays a big part in the story.

Big thanks to Frank for doing all the messy buying up of all those piddly little shares from small shareholders - some of whom moaned their heads off - and therefore making the club a single entity easy to buy.

More thanks to Frank for spending the summer of the Olympics talking to his 'friends' and eventually meeting the Sheik.

Could it happen to any club? No not really because Frank did all the dirty work and it was his contacts that got us bought. All Liverpool's contacts can come up with is some dodgy Chinaman.

No Shinawatra, no Sheik Mansour.

We may have gone down a couple of divisions for sure, but look at the positives, we would have signed Mido and Crossan would have been happy with the soul of the club in tact.

Pass.

Thanks Joey

john@staustell wrote:People go on about our 'luck', but there are other factors which meant this happened to City.

Firstly our enormous potential, with historic fan base and success, with big city status.

Secondly thanks to Wardle and co, firstly for keeping us afloat and secondly for choosing Frank as a new owner who could take us forwards and had the cash to make us compete - this turned out not to be the case for various reasons, but plays a big part in the story.

Big thanks to Frank for doing all the messy buying up of all those piddly little shares from small shareholders - some of whom moaned their heads off - and therefore making the club a single entity easy to buy.

More thanks to Frank for spending the summer of the Olympics talking to his 'friends' and eventually meeting the Sheik.

Could it happen to any club? No not really because Frank did all the dirty work and it was his contacts that got us bought. All Liverpool's contacts can come up with is some dodgy Chinaman.

No Shinawatra, no Sheik Mansour.

The deal was brokered by the same firm that did Chelsea and Liverpool IIRC, it could just as easily have been Spurs, Arsenal, Newcastle, Liverpool or Everton had they been for sale at the time instead of us, we were bloody lucky. As I said earlier there are lots of contributing factors that put us in the position we were in at exactly the right time, a lot of them negative