In the midst of a credit crunch, a financial meltdown, and the crumbling of the world beneath our feet, Mark Hughes, the Manchester City manager, has taken his current spending total to over 70 million pounds at the City of Manchester Stadium. Despite this influx of talent, which includes the likes of Jo, Robinho, and most recently - Wayne Bridge - Manchester City sit a meagre 13th in the English Premiership. To put this in a stark perspective, Hull City, who have spent a fraction of Hughes' transfer kitty, sit 5 points ahead of the Eastlands Club. Furthermore, the figure of "13th" is a paradoxical one; Man City are 2 points off the drop zone and 4 points clear of the league's bottom team, West Bromich Albion.
Hughes, backed by the Arab billionaires who took over the club in August, will argue that he has not been given the time in order to mold his squad together in order to make them capable of challenging for the upper echelons of the a Premier League which is deemed by many to be the fiercest in Europe, if not the world.
But this argument falls on its head if you consider Hughes' predecessor, Sven Goran Eriksson, spent markedly less than Hughes yet still had City competing for the European places for most of the season, and managed to get them into the UEFA Cup. A modest 9th place in the division, with the likes of Elano, Micah Richards, and Michael Johnson all firing on full cylinders - many in Manchester thought Sven had done a remarkable job, including the famous die hard Noel Gallagher of the band "Oasis".
Yet fast forward to January 2009 and City were just thrashed 0-3 by Championship strugglers Nottingham Forrest in the FA Cup. Their league form, as already stated, is appalling, and only a late, late Robinho strike saved them from a deserved defeat away at Blackburn Rovers. A 5-1 thumping of Hull City a rare recent feat.
Mark's problem is his inability to get any consistency out of City. In particular, they are lacking steel in the middle of the park, and Scott Parker has been touted as the man to fill this void. Whether Parker, a reject of Roman Abramovich's Chelski, is the right man for the job, only time will tell. But many are wondering whether the likes of Craig Bellamy and Scott Parker will be enough to satisfy the appetite of the club's owners - whom in September said that they would make audacious bids for Kaka, Ronaldo, and even Berbatov - who rejected City for Utd on August the 31st.
Hughes is a pragmatist. He achieved success at Blackburn by combining a strong under belly of the likes of Tugay, Christopher Samba with a rapier thrust of Pedersen, Bentley, and Jason Roberts.
If we're all being honest with ourselves, it seems as if Hughes is not so hot on the idea of going after pre-Madonnas who will cost an absolute fortune in wages, and they may also not respond kindly to Hughes' no-nonsense approach and management style. There have already been talks of a split between Hughes and Elano this season, and a general rift between the Brazilians in the changing room and the rest of the squad.
In effect, the debacle that is Manchester City is living proof of how talented a manager Jose Mourinho was at Chelsea, and is still currently at Inter Milan. Mourinho poignantly reminded journalists that the millions in oil money from a wealthy Russian owner meant nothing if there was not a chief conductor in place to get the orchestra performing in unison. The art of managing people who are earning upwards of 100,000 pounds per week is, arguably, the most challenging aspect of managing a super star club. This is a stumbling block that Hughes, given the rumours of dressing room fracas, has yet to master. It is a possible reason why he is not keen to add further "larger than life" players to the dressing room at Eastlands. Whether Sheikh Mansour is on board with Sparky's policy remains to be seen, especially given the FA Cup annihilation at the hands of Forrest.
Hughes' men need to bounce back against Portsmouth on Saturday. Defeat will only increase the pressure on Hughes, and put his position at the club in further jeopardy.
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