Mansour buoyed by City progress

01 July 2009 15:45
Manchester City owner Sheikh Mansour has declared himself delighted at the progress made at the Eastlands outfit since his takeover last year. Mansour has been largely content to stay in the background and leave the day-to-day running of the club to chairman Khaldoon al-Mubarak and chief executive Garry Cook. However, to coincide with the launch of City's new website, he has given an exclusive interview with www.mcfc.co.uk in which he outlines his vision for the Blues. "We continue to be very clear in regard to our expectations and ambitions," he said. "We are competitors. We are here to win and to build a club that will be in a position to win trophies." He added: "That said, we know that will take time, and this is where a patient and pragmatic approach will be essential. "What we have done in the last 10 months sets the tone of the way we will do things very clearly. "However, 10 months on since the acquisition I am more convinced than ever of the potential that is there to be realised." Having already spent £30million this summer on Gareth Barry and Roque Santa Cruz and with the prospect of much more to come if current targets Samuel Eto'o, Carlos Tevez and Joleon Lescott can be acquired, Mansour is clearly a man with a mission. His backing has certainly blown out of the water any suggestion of a half-hearted approach. Indeed, so skeptical were some supporters at the time of his takeover from disgraced former Thailand Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra that it was suggested he had bought the wrong club, and that Manchester United were his actual target. "It was very clear that Manchester City was a sleeping giant of English football," he said. "Waking that giant is going to be very rewarding on a number of levels." Meanwhile, Manchester City have confirmed four senior stars have left the club. Danny Mills, Darius Vassell, Dietmar Hamann and Michael Ball were not offered new contracts by manager Mark Hughes and are now free to take up other offers.

Source: Eurosport