Source: Daily_Mail
Des Kelly: Great joke City, but Fergie has the punchline
He's right about one thing, you know. It's all very well sticking up those too-clever-by-half posters, the ones that make everyone snigger, but on Sunday we'll see what's beneath the boasts. We'll find out who the real Smart Alec is.
Tevez poster
Sign of cockiness: the Tevez poster that so angered Sir Alex Ferguson
The mere fact that Sir Alex Ferguson has been irritated by that 'Welcome To Manchester' billboard with Carlos Tevez's face plastered all over it is - as everybody appears at great pains to point out - being taken as a sign he fears City will eclipse United this season.
We're told Ferguson is merely advertising his own insecurities. When he spits that United will never be underdogs, 'not in my lifetime', Old Trafford is meant to be shifting on its foundations.
But I wouldn't get too carried away with that idea, not this season anyway.
United still believe their main rivals are Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal, Barcelona, Real Madrid and Inter Milan. City remain on the outside, shouting the odds, heckling their neighbour and trying to claim a slice of the limelight, as their posters demonstrate.
It's a desire the advertising world feeds upon. The industry is full of Smart Alecs; media types not quite literate enough to be decent journalists nor gifted enough to be acknowledged as artists, so they spend their lunchtimes dreaming up jingles for washing powder and soft drinks instead.
It's easy money because we're all suckers for slogans; they stick. If you're of a certain age I'll wager you can remember every part of the Shake'n'Vac advert, but have absolutely no idea when your Godchild's birthday might be.
City seized on this phenomenon when the club became the first Premier League outfit to employ a major advertising agency. So that Tevez poster is far from a one-off, City have had their needling little messages stuck up all over Manchester since 2005.
Buses and billboards have long carried signs saying: 'This is our City', 'Real Manchester', 'Pure Manchester', and my own favourite, 'Greater Manchester', at a time when they clearly were anything but.
Back then, it was an understandable ploy; they were sniping at United's global brand and pushing their more local appeal. The tactic also obeyed the immutable law - the ugly one has to be funnier if they want any attention.
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There was also the fact that they didn't have much to shout about. The last time City won the league the Vietnam War was in full swing, Martin Luther King Jnr was in a sniper's sights and United were becoming the first English club to win the European Cup.
But now things have changed dramatically and City's owners are mushrooming into the type of international entity their supporters used to mock (and secretly admire) at United.
Recently installed chairman, Khaldoon Al Mubarak. talks about City being used to boost Abu Dhabi's image. Sheik Mansour's minion bandies around words like franchise, value and brand, corporate- speak that doesn't sit with the image of mickey-taking billboards slapped up in Deansgate.
Had Ferguson taken a little media advice before he stepped into his press conference (hilarious idea, I know) he could have dealt with City's poster stunt with arch indifference.
Rather than gripe that City were 'cocky and arrogant', he could have brushed them away, saying with a chuckle: 'The poster made me smile, but not as much as winning an 11th league title did last season.'
Put down their quip with your own quip.
But that's not his way. Ferguson can be charming out of the football arena, but show him a red rag before a game, or even a sky blue one, and he will come charging at it with a snort. It's the desire that has kept him so competitive for all these years.
It is why Ferguson called City a 'small club with a small mentality'. This is not some sign he is suddenly rattled. If that were the case, he has been rattled these past twentysomething years.
He just likes a scrap.
His 'small club' jibe is obviously wrong. City have the backing to be considered a very large club indeed. They might not reach their full potential this season, but it would defy logic if they were not a major force within a couple of seasons, a factor that has invigorated the Premier League and made this encounter so exciting.
But, for now, Ferguson is right about the charge about clinging on to a small mentality. Amusing as it was, the poster was the proof. City have to be be bigger than that now.
Besides, the last laugh is always had on the pitch, as Ferguson knows better than anyone.
