The big one

Oof. A tsunami of hyperbole is already buffeting all of football, and it hardly needs saying, but good grief. Tomorrow night is pretty huge. United fans I've been speaking to have been trying the usual dismissive arrogance ('It's never mattered before...') but their hearts aren't in it. I just heard the derby described as 'the biggest in living memory', which is a bit over the top, but it is a match to make the mouth water.

Now, I don't want to enrage the football gods, so I'm not going to make any definite predictions, but I think it's clear from how United fans and management are talking that they are worried. I've also had a few comments along the lines of 'We've thrown it away' from Reds I've spoken to - I know they've got short memories, so I'm not even going to bother taking the bait.

City have got to name an unchanged side (actually, mostly unchanged, but with Richards in for Zab) - I'm slightly worried by Mancini's hints about bringing back Super Mario, partly because I can easily see the red mist descending again, but more because Tevez and Aguero are such an exhilarating combination. Jonny Evans must be waking up sweating from night terrors of two grinning Argentines, and Rio's creaky legs will need a lot of magic sponge and WD40.

In fact, on paper I fancy us to win every key battle (attack/defence, midfield), but that's the key - will we live up to our potential? We need everyone to step up, so I think performance from people like Nasri (not enough all season), Silva (needs a winter break?) and even Yaya (it's not quite coming off for him at the moment) will make the difference.

If we can avoid getting our captain sent off for a perfectly timed challenge, and the attack do their job, I think we've got a decent chance. It is exciting though isn't it! Come on the blues!

Norwich

Sergio Aguero is class isn't he. What a great player - pace, movement, can strike a ball, and great attitude. You can also say most of those things about his compatriot who also got on the scoresheet once or twice yesterday.

I think Mancini has handled it well. Although he did announce he would never play again, it was in the immediate aftermath when tempers were still running high, and he softened his stance almost straight away. There have been times when I, like most fans I'd imagine, have thought that we're better off without him, but saying that I think Mancini has done as well as could be expected.

One of the many problems with the transfer window is that this situation can arise. A club can be stuck with a player who doesn't want to play, which of course can mean that one of their most valuable assets is effectively rendered worthless. What then?

I don't agree with the Ferguson 'cross me once, you're dead to me' mentality. Football clubs are not the Mafia, people make mistakes and have changes of heart. I'm sure there are workplaces, families, Sunday league teams even where this kind of thing has happened, but people apologise, forgive, generally behave like mature adults. I'm sure that everyone involved is big enough to put it behind them.

This is not to say I'm sure it's in our best interests to keep Tevez next season. This is not exactly an isolated incident, and he has been involved in various silliness before. Can Carlitos be trusted not to do something similar next season? I don't know if we can take that gamble. I'll happily take a couple more hat-tricks this season, but I'd need a lot of convincing that he has changed his character before I'm desperate to keep him.

Great performance though, despite a couple of nervous moments at 2-1. For the last goal, I don't think Norwich touched it from Hart's roll out to it hitting the net. And what a pass from Aguero. Hopefully a strong finish to the season will convince the owners not to sack Mancini, not because I'm a huge fan (I love his press conferences, not so sure about his substitutions/team selections) but because I think stability is important. Bring on Wolves!

Sheik Mansour's Millions

Nothing Man City do or don't do in the next few seasons will be discussed without mention of the billions of petrodollars spent on improving the team. This is understandable - the spending is, admittedly, on a scale never seen before in this country. Of course, it is highly unlikely that City would be anywhere near the position they are currently in without this level of investment, and it obviously gives us a massive advantage over other clubs who were in a similar position to us pre-takeover.

That said, I feel that the way we are presented in the media is slightly unfair. Our team is always referred to as (something along the lines of) 'Mancini's collection of millionaires' or 'Mancini's expensively assembled squad'. Why suggest that City are the only club with millionaires on the books? I know that 'everyone else does it' is not an excuse, but to mention the City players' wages and not those of every other team in the division creates the false impression that every week, Man City's band of super-rich mercenaries deign to leave their collection of Hummer limos and solid gold toilets to play moneyball against some scruffy urchins who were signed for a set of tracksuits and play for nothing more than their bus fare and a packet of L&B. The vast majority of Prem footballers are paid inconceivably large amounts; City, through a combination of luck and judgement, happen to be able to spend the most at this point in time. Clubs challenging for the league have been paying £20+ mill for players for years, people just don't like the fact that it is now us doing it.

The fact is, in order to break the Champions League hegemony of the 'Big Four' it has been necessary to spend this much. Every fan knows that the creation of the Premier League and the Champions League has led to a huge influx of wealth, but that this wealth has been unfairly distributed in a system designed to keep the rich clubs rich, leading to the situation where the league standings can be predicted before a ball has been kicked in August, a mid-table finish being considered a huge achievement, etc. This being the situation we found ourselves in, it is no surprise that the investment was eagerly accepted, and undertaken on a grand scale.

Every club who has won the league in the Premier League era has done so with the help of a lot of cash. The United team that won the league in 92-93 had plenty of expensive (for the time) signings; Blackburn in 95; Abramovic's Chelsea; even Arsenal had players like Overmars and Bergkamp who were bought for a lot of money (certainly more than what City were paying at the time, Lee Bradbury excepted). When I've suggested this to people, one reply is that our spending is arbitrary - that these clubs built on previous 'success' while ours just came out of the blue. City laid the foundations for their current fortunes in various ways: the season we had attendances of 30,000+ every week in Division Two and managed to climb out (look at Leeds, Shef Utd and Shef Wed); the excellent academy which showed we could be a sound investment; the stadium; the fan base.

Are these things any more or less arbitrary than the deliberately self-sustaining monopoly of the Champions League or the increase in revenue from selling replica shirts in Africa or duvet sets in Thailand? Each club has responded in different ways to the increased global profile of the English league. Should those who were not fortunate enough to have the best side at the beginning of the Premier League era be doomed to an eternity of mediocrity?

Some critics have suggested that Balotelli's admission that he hadn't heard of Man City before he came is an example of further proof that we do not 'deserve' to be at the top table - he's only there for the money, doesn't care about the club, etc. Of course, youngsters in other countries are more likely to have heard of United or Arsenal - these are the Champions League teams! Just as young kids in this country are more likely to have heard of Bayern Munich than Wolfsburg, so young players in other countries will have dreamt of playing for Liverpool or Chelsea rather than City. Does this mean, though, that we should just accept that this is how it should always be, tug our forelocks and be grateful for simply being named in the same league as United and Liverpool? I don't think so. How will this ever change, if clubs don't take whatever chance they get to raise their profile?

This is not to say I am completely comfortable with the money that's been spent. The ideal team to support would be made up of a good selection of youth team players, bargain signings to complement what's already there, and then a few megastar signings to get excited about. Richards, Hart, Kompany fit the first two categories; Aguero and Silva the latter. However, we also have quite a lot of players who are overpriced for what they do - Lescott, Milner, Barry (no surprise these are all English) - and some who would be a waste of money even if they came on a free (don't talk to me about Kolarov).

I am actually glad the Financial Fair Play is coming into operation, as this will at least give us the chance to say that we are in fact spending a 'fair' amount. It will only serve to further widen the gap between the richest clubs and the rest though, as there will be no chance of any teams in the future doing what we have. A wage cap and transfer cap would be a much fairer way of doing things, but I think I've gone on long enough.

It's still the same club, the same history, the same fans in the ground. If we shake the league up a bit, then great; if we shake the league up while playing some excellent, entertaining football, even better. Yes, there is a lot of money in football, and chances of success are largely based on who's got the deepest pockets. At the moment this happens to be City; even if it wasn't, we'd still be supporting them. I'm not going to accept criticism from the fans of the teams whose spending has led to the inflated market we were only able to enter three years ago, I just hope that we can beat them at their own game, if not this season then in the coming years.

Uwe Rosler's Grandad

Welcome to Uwe Rosler's Grandad, a new blog about Manchester City in particular and football in general. I would like to clarify that I am not actually related to Uwe Rosler in any way.