Season Set To Open In Style

It cannot have escaped the notice of any football onlookers that hardly a day passes without some deadbeat bit of Stretford 'history' harping on about how spending heavily on footballers won't make City a bigger Club than their illustrious almost neighbours along Chester Road.

Is this not pitiful?

Eric Cantona is the latest to throw his seagull into the ring in a statement that may as well have been written by Tevez and in recent months we have seen Robson, Pallister, Neville, Giggs, Rooney, Evra and even the mighty SAF finally offer their recognition, in a roundabout sort of way, that there is a threat to their perceived stability emanating out of the (now) Etihad Stadium.

Each one in turn harps on about 'historic' events and none of them add any creedence in terms of the future.

Whilst a history comparison is indisputable, surely the green and golders must understand that at one point Stretford's finest had no history and that they have actually created that history.

Manchester City's history does exist though not in the same proportions in terms of silverware success, if indeed that is what the tourists believe 'history' to be. But we do have some.

What they are having difficulty dealing with is the fact that the future will turn out to be different. And if that produces more silverware and success in East Manchester then City will be creating history.

Our wonderful Club is on the threshold of something spectacular and the footballing world is generally unable to cope with it. Not only have we had Arsenal and Liverpool bemoaning our richesse but of all Clubs Chelsea!

A potential ally has surfaced in the form of Rummenigge, until recently a bit of a foe over the transfer of Jerome Boateng but at least now setting out his stall to upstage the nosers in Nyon, which could in turn work out in City's favour.

It is time that the players who made Stretford what they are simply get on with their lives. We don't care if we don't turn out like them. We wouldn't want to. City and their fans go about their business in their own way and get on with it.

It is perhaps never better demonstrated than the reluctance of our supporters to head to London (again) for the Community Shield. I am informed that there are still plenty of tickets left at the Box Office, whereas Stretford have gleefully put up the 'sold out' signs.

No doubt the southern scum that will attend the fixture hiding behind their Norwich scarves will produce their bile about us not being able to sell our seats, whereas there will be a shortage of Salford accents in and around the national stadium.

At the time of writing City still draws on the same group of supporters and not sundry camera laden tourists from all points of the world and I for one hope that it stays that way. Sifting through those who swell the gates at OT will tell you that it is not the same 78000 who go every week and the man in the Salford streets is the same as the man in Beswick or Moss Side. He simply can't afford to go every week and must select the matches he fancies.

The match itself will either be a typical blood and thunder Derby or a pre-season damp squib. We will see. But what makes me laugh is that in a recent conversation with a Stretford where he was telling me how much they'd won over the years, he included the Community Shield. When I asked him how that measures against winning the Football League Championship he told me that that didn't count because it wasn't a major trophy. Sadly these people, as we've always suspected, are not football fans. They simply follow their perception of success and in turn 'history'. Winning the Championship in 2003 took an exciting marathon 46 matches. Winning a meaningless pre-season friendly takes 90 minutes of general boredom. Dear Rags....discuss.

As the magnificent singer/songwriter, Richard Thompson told us ...you can't hide, from the turning of the tide.

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