Source: Daily_Mail
Man City 1 Wolves 0: Mick's awestruck by colour of money
Mick McCarthy played at a time when the only oil in Manchester City was being used by chairman Peter Swales to keep his comb-over in place.
There were no wealthy Arab owners then. No international stars from Brazil, Argentina or Togo in the dressing room. And certainly no centre backs costing £23million.
McCarthy occupied that position for City in the mid-Eighties after moving to Maine Road from Barnsley. Times change of course but his £218,000 transfer fee seems ridiculous now set against the price his old team have agreed to pay Everton for Joleon Lescott.
'They still play in the same colour,' replied McCarthy when asked if the club he encountered at Eastlands on Saturday bore any resemblance to the City he once knew.
The transformation will take some getting used to. Even City fans, you suspect, are still coming to terms with the seismic shift in power. Still trying to convince themselves it is not a bad joke that will go wrong at any moment. Their club are still adapting to the change as well. Eager to embrace the future and harness the past.
The match programme for the opening home game of the season introduced a new column with cult hero Shaun Goater (Feed the Goat has been replaced by Read the Goat) opposite an advert for Abu Dhabi and Etihad Airways, while announcing a popular move to appoint City stalwart Mike Summerbee as a club ambassador. An interview with Steve Daley, once a British record transfer at £1,450,277, reminded us that City have been big spenders before.
Up in the stands, TV cameras panned from chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak to Oasis star Noel Gallagher, and supporters expressed their appreciation by unveiling a banner proclaiming: 'Manchester thanks you, Sheik Mansour' (United fans might not agree with that one).
The arrival of Lescott will take the sheik's spending past the £120m mark this summer alone. Ironically, Wolves will benefit from the deal under the terms of Lescott's £5m move from Molineux to Everton three years ago, although it is unlikely to make much difference to McCarthy's buying power.
'Twenty-two million is more than we've got for the whole summer spending,' he said. 'Wright-Phillips, Robinho, Adebayor - take Tevez off and put Bellamy on. Do me a favour. Gareth Barry was terrific. If there's a better midfield player around I've yet to see him.'
And yet McCarthy knows just how close he got to taking a point. City had enough chances to win this one comfortably after Adebayor had put them ahead with his second goal in as many games, but they were hanging on anxiously at the end and Andy Keogh rattled their bar from 20 yards.
While it is difficult to fault a return of six points from two games without conceding a goal, it cannot hide the fact that City have looked vulnerable at times against Blackburn and Wolves.
Portsmouth are next up in the Premier League but then come Arsenal and neighbours United at Old Trafford in what will be one of the most eagerly awaited Manchester derbies of recent years. Those games will provide a more accurate reading of City's progress.
Certainly the open, attacking football that Mark Hughes's side have played in their opening two games will leave them exposed at the back. Lescott will have to work for his bigger pay packet.
'The mentality is different from last season,' said defender Micah Richards. 'Now it's win, win, win.
'We go into a game thinking it's a must-win if we want to get where we want to be. We have players like Tevez, Robinho, Petrov, Ireland, Adebayor - one of the best attacks in the league -and we must deliver.
'Last season we were good going forward but didn't have the base at the back. Now, with the likes of Barry and Nigel de Jong we have a bit of steel and, mentally, Toure being here has changed things. 'But it's a bonus to have a player like Lescott coming in.'
