Torres bid reported

Reports in Spain suggest that Manchester City have lodged a
bid for Fernando Torres but the Spanish international is still set for a move to
Liverpool.
It is believed that three clubs, Liverpool, Internazionale and
Man City have met the demands of Atletico for their prized striker.

-Sky Sports.

Since the takeover and appoint of Eriksson was (all but) confirmed this week there have been countless reports and speculation about 'top ten' lists and potential targets to be brought into the club, but none quite so as outlandish as this one.

Regardless of the fact that the bid is doomed to failure as Torres seemingly has his heart set on a move to Anfield, I hope the bid isn't a signal that certain players are going to be targeted for the sake of grabbing a headline or the new regime trying to prove to the fans how serious they are.

The current squad is already two top players (Barton and Distin) light whilst two more regulars (Weaver and Ball) are in limbo with their contracts having run down. It is clear that there needs to be an influx of five or six players who are of good first team calibre to take us forward, and now matter how good a player Torres is (of which I'm not wholly convinced), there needs to be far more work done on the squad than landing one or two marquee names.

Former City duo take the helm at Macc

Macclesfield Town have appointed Ian Brightwell as their new
manager.
Brightwell succeeds Paul Ince, who recently joined the Silkmen's
League Two rivals Milton Keynes Dons.
The 39-year-old former Manchester City
defender has signed a two-year contract at Moss Rose, and will be assisted by
former Scotland star Asa Hartford.

-BBC Sport.

Sell your shares....or else

"On Friday Thaksin secured the last two holdings of 3 per cent, leaving only small shareholders of 2 per cent or less.
With City's players to return to pre-season training next week, the club are eager for Thaksin to wrap up his takeover as soon as possible.
"We would appeal to our fans now with small shareholdings to sell as quickly as possible," said a City spokesman.
"Thaksin is approaching the 70 per cent mark now. Things have not been helped by the postal strike today which has delayed things, but he could reach 75 per cent by early next week if things go well.
"If our fans want to see the pace towards a new future they want, then they need to get cracking and sell quickly to speed things along"

-Sky Sports.



Nothing like a nice bit of gentle prodding to move things along eh?

Beasley joins Rangers

Rangers have completed the signing of DaMarcus Beasley form
PSV Eindhoven, subject to a work permit being granted.
The 25-year-old
United States international has signed a three-year deal with the Ibrox club for
an undisclosed fee.

-BBC Sport.

It isn't a surprise that Beasley has managed to land himself at a decent level, as I thought at times last season he showed he was a capable player who added a different option to the rather pedestrian midfield that was on display last season.

Unfortunately, he clearly wasn't fit at the beginning of the season when he joined us and it took him a while to settle in and perhaps never gained the full confidence of Stuart Pearce which translated itself into his inconsistent performances.

I don't doubt for a minute that he is capable of being a success in the SPL, and finds himself joining a side who under the returning Walter Smith are looking to wrestle back the initiative from a Celtic side who have dominated the past few seasons.


Audio of Beasley from the press conference.

Shinawatra's increase share

Thaksin Shinawatra's bid to gain control of more than 75% of the club appears to be gathering pace with the news that a further 5,343,622 shares were sold today, at the offer price of 40p - likely BSkyB's share of just under 10% in the club.

This holding would give him around 65% of the club and further push on with plans to rubber-stamp the appointment of Sven-Goran Eriksson as manager.

Nearly there...

So it seems that the appointment of Sven-Goran Eriksson as our next manager is all but assured, given that reports suggest he has agreed 'in principle' to a three-year deal at the club and already lined up Roland Andersson as his number 2.

What seems to be holding the official announcement of the appointment is the need for Thaksin Shinawatra to acquire (at least) a holding of 75% in the club, following on from the announcement of the offer document to the Plus Markets earlier this morning (and something the club confirmed):

On 21st June 2007 the Boards of Manchester City and UK
Sports Investmentsannounced a recommended cash offer by UK Sports Investments to
acquire theentire issued and to be issued share capital of Manchester City other
than theManchester City Deferred Shares. The Board of UK Sports Investments
announcesthat the Offer Document and Form of Acceptance relating to the Offer
are beingposted to Manchester City Shareholders today.The Offer will remain open
for acceptance until no later than 1.00 p.m. on 17July 2007.

Once the announcement is official I'll post up more on the appointment, but suffice to say at this stage I'm very much behind the appointment and think this is a positive long term move for us.

It hasn't stopped the cynics from piping up though.

MP questions Shinawatra takeover

Thanks to Ed for the link on this story.

It seems that the subject of our takeover (and Dr. Shinawatra in general) has made parliament.

The right honourable David Taylor MP (Leicester NW) has waded into the issue, asking the Sports Minister Richard Caborn:

"The Stevens inquiry into corruption has shrunk to
investigating just 17 transfer deals whilst wide concerns about the
vulnerability of clubs to takeover by international moguls and politicians
remain unaddressed.
"Will you say what protections, for instance, the
Manchester City supporters have against the attentions of the unsavoury Thaksin
Shinawatra or is it forever the fate of football fans to be fleeced by flaky
foreign financiers?"

Caborn replied to Taylor that he wanted to avoid the top flight becoming "a billionaire's playground" and intended to meet the football bodies.

As Ed pointed out, quite what the issue of a takeover of a football club based in Manchester has to do with an MP responsible for Leicester NW is anyone's guess, and by associating the 'unsavoury' Shinawatra with the phrase 'flaky foreign financier' is a little rich perhaps considering that Leicester City (his local club) have in recent times been taken over by Milan Mandaric.

Whatever the outcome of Shinawatra's tenure at the club, if not for nothing it is certainly set to be an interesting time, and undoubtedly will command a high media profile.

Onouha pens new deal

One good bit of positive news today came in the shape of Nedum Onouha signing a new four year deal at the club, something that had been put on hold until after the recent under-21 championships in which Onouha impressed in England's run to the semi-finals.

Onouha himself saying:

"I'm delighted the contract is sorted out, I just want to
get back to working hard and playing well when pre-season starts next week,"
said Onuoha.
"I like to think I have been improving game-on-game recently, I
think I have come on massively from two years ago."

Whilst the loss of Sylvain Distin is still a disappointing blow, at least it provides the opportunity to allow Onouha to become a regular along the side, overcoming the injury problems that have stalled his progress the past couple of seasons, and allow him to display his undoubted talent.

Claim and counter-claim

In what is likely to be an all-too familiar episode over the coming months, the club found itself dragged into the Shinawatra affair as it was announced that there was to be an investigation into the origin of the funds used to finance the bid for the club.

After recently having a vast chunk of his assets frozen by the current Thai regime, they are seemingly none too happy at him having managed to be able to lodge his bid for the club, with Chalongphob Sussangkarn, Thailand's finance minister saying:

"This money which would be used for Manchester City is still
a mystery to Thailand, so I cannot tell where the money will be coming from," he
said."I am sure the asset examination commission will look at the source of
these funds and try to see whether they are legal funds that were taken out or
by other means."If the deal goes ahead and the money is paid they will try to
look at it."We don't know yet how he is going to finance it. We won't know until
the deal is finalised."

This was something which was refuted by Keith Harris, who is confident that the monies used to purchase the club is all above board, saying:

"The money to buy Man City is clean. It has been
legitimately and transparently transferred to the UK."
"A number of his bank accounts have been frozen. Some
of them are personal and some corporate," said Harris.
"But the money used to
finance the takeover and used to invest in the club are in bank accounts in
England and beyond their (the Thai government's) reach".

As I have mentioned previously, one of the dangers attached to the Shinawatra takeover is this very scenario, where his political opponents try to make gain by continually investigating his activities.

This may well just be political manouevering onbehalf of the Thai government, an attempt to put a dampener on some of the publicity generated by his takeover, but still, it doesn't reflect too well on the club and merely provides further ammunition to those in the media who seemingly have an appetite to continually target and criticise the club.

Just what the doctor ordered

Manchester City's Box Office has reported brisk business in
Seasoncard sales following yesterday's offer from Dr Thaksin Shinawatra to buy
the Club and "awake the sleeping giant."
Prior to the news that broke
yesterday, over 22,000 Seasoncards had already been sold ahead of the 2007/08
Barclays Premier League campaign and you still have time to take your place to
witness what promises to be an exciting new era for the Blues and its
supporters.
The Club's chief executive Alistair Mackintosh said: "We were
initially delighted with the number of early renewals we received from
Seasoncard holders, along with the new applicants, but with a new Manager and
new players to come in before the start of the season, we look forward to more
supporters becoming City Seasoncard holders.”

-mcfc.co.uk.

Shinawatra makes formal offer for Manchester City

The good doctor has finally completed his due diligence and has made an offer of £81.6 million pounds for what appears to be 55% of mcfc and clears the debt. I say appears as the official announcement from the club is really too long and complicated for the likes of me !

Here are some of the key points :

The shares to be sold :

Walbrook Trustees (Guernsey) Limited 10,140,461 18.75
John Carruthers Wardle/ John Stephen Riches 5,431,681 10.04
Dawn Elizabeth Makin/ David Martin Makin 5,431,680 10.04
Francis H Lee 3,857,044 7.13
John Carruthers Wardle 3,275,233 6.06
David Martin Makin 2,061,406 3.81
Dennis Tueart 36,258 0.07
Bryan Bodek 10,000 0.02
Alistair Mackintosh 9,100 0.02

The walbrook trustees is The Boler estate (probably!)

Board Changes

· Dr. Thaksin Shinawatra will assume the position of Chairman of the Board of Manchester City and Manchester City Football Club;
· John Wardle will resign as non-executive Chairman of Manchester City and will be appointed non-executive Deputy Chairman of Manchester City;
· Alistair Mackintosh will remain as Chief Executive of Manchester City and a director of Manchester City Group;
· Bryan Bodek will remain on the boards of Manchester City and Manchester City Group as a non-executive director;
· Panthongtae and Pintongta Shinawatra, together with Sasin Monvoisin, will be appointed to the boards of both Manchester City and Manchester City Football Club as non-executive directors;
· Dennis Tueart has agreed to resign from the boards of both Manchester City and Manchester City Football Club;
· Mark Boler has agreed to resign from the Board of Manchester City; and
· David Makin has agreed to resign from the board of Manchester City Football Club.

So surprisingly Wardle stays as deputy whilst Mackintosh and Bodek also remain Makin, Tueart, Boler all go.

Obviously Dannys criticism and calls for the club to terminate talks with Mr Shinawatra stung him into action.

As a voice of the fans I can state as a fact that 71.24536% of City fans are behind this bid.

Eriksson in new City link

Typical eh.

After posting this morning regarding the suggestion we should consider pulling the plug on negotiations with Thaksin Shinawatra, I receive word stating that the BBC are about to break a story indicating negotiations are at an extremely advanced stage (with a bid I have been told likely in the next couple of days that is acceptable to Wardle and Makin) and that Sven-Goran Eriksson is lined up as the manager-elect, having already been interviewed by the Shinawatra group. A couple of hours later and the piece duly appears on the BBC site.

The Eriksson link is the interesting story of the day though, and in particular comments attributed to The Supporters Trust) that the general opinion of City fans is 70/30 against Eriksson taking charge. The comments have not been received too well judging by the initial response on their blog (or indeed this one) and message boards alike.

As ever with Eriksson their is a great deal of interest in him, and the story (and comments) was duly picked up in this country by most of the media outlets, but also world wide with the thread of the pieces being very anti-Eriksson.

Personally, if there is a chance of Eriksson I would be delighted to capture him. According to sources, Juande Ramos will not be leaving Sevilla at the end of the season - preferring to have next seasons Champions League on his CV whilst luminaries such as Hughes, Coleman and Jewell should undoubtedly be given a wide berth.

Eriksson has a fantastic club record, both at large and small sides, and his England record stands comparison with all of his peers. Undoubtedly his name would attract players of note to the club and he would be armed with financial muscle to compete for signings, yet he was never welcomed by the media and England fans alike, and of course with a potential owner who would be fair game for the press corps, they will be drooling over the prospect of getting stuck into Eriksson.

For me though he is the strongest and obvious candidate. Hopefully his denials (via his agent) today are merely lip service to the press and before too long he will be arriving at the club along with new ownership to at the very least put an end to the drawn out proceedings of the past six weeks.

Then the real saga can begin.

Time to end the Shinawatra saga?

With further developments in the Thaksin Shinawatra takeover saga yesterday, is it time that the club now pulled the plug on negotiations with him?

After having had several of his bank accounts frozen last week, his advisor announced that the takeover deal was still on - but this left the club to supposedly 'demand assurances' from him that he could still complete a deal.

Now comes the news that Shinawatra and his wife have been ordered back to Thailand to face further charges of concealing assets, and must do so before June 29th.

Despite all of this, there were further assurances that the takeover is again at an 'advanced stage' and a £120 million bid could be imminent - all of this linked in with the search for a new manager.

Shinawatra (and his wife) may well be innocent of all charges, but the interest generated by the takeover has hardly been positive for the club, and should he complete a takeover could well be damaging in the long term as media interest would surely increase should he become the new owner.

From afar, it appears that in Thailand there is currently a very political battle going on between Shinawatra and the new rulers of the country, with Shinawatra seemingly keen to trade on his populist status whilst the military rulers are seemingly determined to crush Shinawatra. The problem in all of this is that the club, our club, is in danger of being used as a political pawn in this battle.

If he does complete a takeover then it will hardly be the end of investigations into his time as PM, and the same people who are currently gunning for him may well only step up their attempts to discredit him if his ownership of the club portrays him in a good light with the Thai people.

Regardless of the financial impact he may be able to bring to the club - and the undeniable fact that the current regime have thrown everything into the Shinawatra lot (including sacking a manager), is it now time to reconsider our dealings with him and cut our losses before we get further along into something which could have an altogether more signifcant impact further down the line?

No news is no news

THAKSIN Shinawatra, the would-be owner of Manchester City,
has had a further £123million frozen by authorities in Thailand.
The Asset
Examination Committee froze £830m last week, believed to be from the sale of
telecommunications company Shin Corp.
After that initial suspension of funds
Shinawatra's representatives insisted that the ex-Prime Minister of Thailand
still had enough funds to complete the takeover deal.

-MEN.

This coming only hours after he apparantly 'assured' the board that he has sufficient funds in place to continue with the takeover, and that a deal could be completed 'this week'.

I guess it is the dog days of summer news wise at the moment as the slightest inkling of news is sending most of the media outlets scurrying to fill up the required column and online inches.

This is none moreso than with any 'news' of the impending managerial appointment. From today's newsfeeds the press is split between the opinion that either Sven-Goran Eriksson or Juande Ramos were set to be appointed, although the weekend brought us new candidates in the shape of Didier Deschamps,Mark Hughes, Jean Tigana and Chris Coleman.

One thing is for certain with all of this. Whoever is ultimately appointed will have beaten off the biggest ever reported shortlist in managerial history.

Corradi heading for the exit

Manchester City flop Bernardo Corradi is almost certain to
be playing in Italy next season, his agent has revealed.“I’m 90 per cent certain
that Corradi will return to Serie A,” noted Moreno Roggi on Monday evening.The
Italian international only joined the Premiership outfit last summer, but has
struggled to settle and he looks to be peninsula bound yet again.“He would be of
real use to sides like Sampdoria, Parma and Torino – teams who all need a target
man.”

Channel4.co.uk

A look at the Academy

One of the big plusses of recent years has been the fantastic work Jim Cassell and his colleagues have been doing over at the Academy - not just in terms of the players who have come through and progressed to the first team, but also both in terms of those who have not quite made the grade but have brought in transfer fees when sold on, and of course the big profits made on the sales of Shaun Wright-Phillips and Joey Barton (although Sam Allardyce's bleating would indicate he feels we should allow these players to move on for nothing).

The official City site does from time to time show some interesting features (although not the recent Q&A's), and one thing they are running at the moment is a focus on all twenty-one players who have come through Academy (in its current guise).

Although they are just two players in at the moment, once they have worked through the list it will surely illustrate just how succesful the Academy has been over the past ten years, and perhaps give an indication of what to expect in the future.

Lord Stevens Report : Allardyce, Redknapp and McKay are bent*

Well there's a surprise eh ?

Stevens also confirmed the pope is catholic and bears do indeed shit in the woods.

Nice to good old Willie McKay up to his eyes in it as well, particularly interesting that he registered a race horse in the name of a certain Harry Redknapp. Allthough the real Mr Redknapp never benefitted from it, he said so himself, and you know how the cockney press love the spiv.

Newcastle, Bolton and Chelsea seem to be heart of the enquiry along with Pini Zahavi and the much loved Willie McKay.

From what I have read so far at lot of clubs supporters (particularly) those named and shamed think there clubs will escape punishment. It will be interesting to see what happens and the thing to remember is that clubs that have allowed payments to be made to unlicensed agents have had an advantage over the more scrupulous clubs in the transfer market. Allowing the cheats to potentially prosper.

So expect the FA to do nothing, just ask Sheffield United.

* or have at least been named into an enquiry into corruption.

Everyone's a winner

Well, that was all wrapped up very nicely in the end eh?

How to solve a dispute over whether a player is owed a £300,000 payment? Simple. The buying club makes an improved offer of £300,000 for said player. Selling club accepts and said player presumably pockets the payment leaving both clubs able to claim the upper hand in the matter.

All it realistically leaves is another hole in the line-up from last season - and on the day the fixtures are released, in which scanning through them doesn't reveal a whole lot of points on offer at the moment

Manchester City Premiership Fixtures 2007/8

Well here we go ! God knows who will be managing, owning, or even playing for us !

Hmm , im a tad worried now !!

Saturday, 11 August 2007
Barclays Premier League
West Ham v Man City, 15:00
Wednesday, 15 August 2007
Barclays Premier League
Man City v Derby, 19:45
Saturday, 18 August 2007
Barclays Premier League
Man City v Man Utd, 15:00
Saturday, 25 August 2007
Barclays Premier League
Arsenal v Man City, 15:00
Saturday, 01 September 2007
Barclays Premier League
Blackburn v Man City, 15:00
Saturday, 15 September 2007
Barclays Premier League
Man City v Aston Villa, 15:00
Saturday, 22 September 2007
Barclays Premier League
Fulham v Man City, 15:00
Saturday, 29 September 2007
Barclays Premier League
Man City v Middlesbro', 15:00
Saturday, 06 October 2007
Barclays Premier League
Newcastle v Man City, 15:00
Saturday, 20 October 2007
Barclays Premier League
Man City v Birmingham, 15:00
Saturday, 27 October 2007
Barclays Premier League
Chelsea v Man City, 15:00
Saturday, 03 November 2007
Barclays Premier League
Man City v Sunderland, 15:00
Saturday, 10 November 2007
Barclays Premier League
Portsmouth v Man City, 15:00
Saturday, 24 November 2007
Barclays Premier League
Man City v Reading, 15:00
Saturday, 01 December 2007
Barclays Premier League
Wigan v Man City, 15:00
Saturday, 08 December 2007
Barclays Premier League
Tottenham v Man City, 15:00
Saturday, 15 December 2007
Barclays Premier League
Man City v Bolton, 15:00
Saturday, 22 December 2007
Barclays Premier League
Aston Villa v Man City, 15:00
Wednesday, 26 December 2007
Barclays Premier League
Man City v Blackburn, 15:00
Saturday, 29 December 2007
Barclays Premier League
Man City v Liverpool, 15:00
Tuesday, 01 January 2008
Barclays Premier League
Middlesbro' v Man City, 15:00
Saturday, 12 January 2008
Barclays Premier League
Everton v Man City, 15:00
Saturday, 19 January 2008
Barclays Premier League
Man City v West Ham, 15:00
Tuesday, 29 January 2008
Barclays Premier League
Derby v Man City, 19:45
Saturday, 02 February 2008
Barclays Premier League
Man City v Arsenal, 15:00
Saturday, 09 February 2008
Barclays Premier League
Man Utd v Man City, 15:00
Saturday, 23 February 2008
Barclays Premier League
Man City v Everton, 15:00
Saturday, 01 March 2008
Barclays Premier League
Man City v Wigan, 15:00
Saturday, 08 March 2008
Barclays Premier League
Reading v Man City, 15:00
Saturday, 15 March 2008
Barclays Premier League
Man City v Tottenham, 15:00
Saturday, 22 March 2008
Barclays Premier League
Bolton v Man City, 15:00
Saturday, 29 March 2008
Barclays Premier League
Birmingham v Man City, 15:00
Saturday, 05 April 2008
Barclays Premier League
Man City v Chelsea, 15:00
Saturday, 12 April 2008
Barclays Premier League
Sunderland v Man City, 15:00
Saturday, 19 April 2008
Barclays Premier League
Man City v Portsmouth, 15:00
Saturday, 26 April 2008
Barclays Premier League
Man City v Fulham, 15:00
Saturday, 03 May 2008
Barclays Premier League
Liverpool v Man City, 15:00
Sunday, 11 May 2008
Barclays Premier League
Man City v Newcastle, 15:00

City hit back in Barton contract row

"At no time have we divulged the details of Joey's contract,
or would we ever do so with any player.
"Sadly this is now in the public
domain through no fault of Manchester City.
"It is disappointing that Sam
Allardyce has chosen to make these claims public. We will continue to have a
good relationship with Newcastle."

- Paul Tyrrell.

I'm pleased that the club appear to be digging in over this issue, and hope it is not just being done for good PR. It is a difficult one as technically both parties can make a strong claim to be in the right (contractually not morally), but I believe City to hold the upper hand as his release-fee clause is effectively Barton's transfer request, something confirmed by the Mick McGuire of The PFA:

"But this is not an easy situation because City believe Joey
is not entitled to the money, because it was the player who triggered to move by
activating the part of his contract that says he can talk to other clubs who bid
£5.5m. City believe that by doing that, he effectively asked for a
transfer."

With all instances such as this, there is likely to be a degree of mediation involved from various bodies but I suspect it may well come down to who wants it more - us to get rid of Barton, or Newcastle to bring him in.

Noel Gallagher on matters City related

"This takeover is never going to happen now, because the
government has had his bank accounts frozen. It's pure Man City. I'm loving
it."The fixture list comes out on Thursday, we haven't got a manager, we've only
got half a team and we haven't sold any season tickets. It's brilliant."I'm
thinking of mounting a hostile takeover - me and Mike Pickering. I reckon we
could scrape together about £400,000 in cash. I reckon we would get it for
that."

Noel Gallagher - sounding a touch well oiled, had a brief interview with the BBC about the takeover, managerial situation and Joey Barton.

Unlike myself, his actually aired and the full link is here.

Allardyce 'Flabbergasted' Over Barton

Well you have to hand it too Fat Sam, his teams might not entertain but he certainly does ! In what can only be described as a joke interview , Allardyce has dragged his huge head into the row between City and Barton stating City are out of order.

Interview in Full

Just a few points Sam :

"They are out of order. This is a private matter, a confidential issue that should not have been made public,"

Your right Sam it is a private matter, so dont go shooting your mouth off to the Manchester Evening News.

"I'm flabbergasted and want the situation resolved"

Not as flabbergasted as I was that the so principled NUFC that sacked Kevin bond for been involved in the bung scandal then appointed who a TV show perpetrated to be the main protagonist.

"I am just trying as Newcastle manager to secure a player of this kind and quality and the deal has been held up"

Fair Point Sam, should have been your only statement on the issue.

"I cannot understand it because City didn't pay anything for this player as he came through the youth system and are selling him for over £5million"

What ? So City believe they are in the right (as does Barton) but they should give him the money because he came through the Youth Team ? Ok Sam.

"It's not really for me to comment. All I know is that this is a matter for Joey to sort out and I hope it is resolved as it has stopped him putting pen to paper."

Your fucking right you alleged bung taking Fat Twat 'ITS NOT FOR YOU TO COMMENT' first bit of sense you have made.

For it what its worth I think Barton will end up with the money, and whilst I was originally a bit disappointed that Barton was leaving, Though he had made his position at the club untenable, Im now glad to see the back of the Chav Scum.

The club and supporters have stood by him through THREE Assaults one on a minor, a couple of FA charges and asking for a transfer on deadline day. In Joeys world we 'owe him' the world 'owes him'

So well done to club for showing Joey Barton up for all that he is. When the PFA / FA or whoever finally make us pay up send the money in a big brown envelope to St James Park FAO Sam Allardyce asking when the hypocrite is going to take legal action against Panorama like he promised and ask him to pass it on too the other hypocrite.

Takeover deal up in the air

Reports emerged this morning suggesting that a full, formal bid for the club by Thaksin Shinawatra was imminent and that weeks of uncertainty was shortly to come to an end.

However, news this afternoon shot those reports out of the water, and at a very best scenario it now leaves the club hoping Shinawatra can somehow re-structure his takeover deal, whilst a worse case scenario sees us back to square one with a board keen to sell, no manager in place and having lost two of the better players in recent seasons.

All of this of course stems from the news that his assets and numerous bank accounts in Thailand have been frozen today. The Times reported:

Thaksin Shinawatra, the former Prime Minister of Thailand,
had his assets frozen today just as he was closing in on a deal to buy
Manchester City.
An anti-graft committee, investigating Mr Thaksin in
Bangkok, say they have sufficient evidence of corruption to freeze his bank
accounts.
Mr Thaksin, who was removed from power in a bloodless coup last
year, was undergoing due diligence inquiries and thought to be on the verge of
making an official bid for the Premiership club. His aides refused to accept
that the deal would be aborted.
“The committee found evidence that Thaksin
during his time as prime minister committed corruption and illegal acts as well
as being unusually rich.”

Following this announcement, Shinawatra's lawyers announced that “Of course this is going to affect the Manchester City bid, but it is not off. Some things may have to be restructured.” All of which led the club to issue the following statement:

“The board notes the information emanating out of Thailand
today in respect of Dr Shinawatra and the freezing of his assets.“The board and
its advisers are in discussion with Dr Shinawatra’s advisers to confirm the
implications of these developments in respect of their client’s interest in
potentially making an offer for the company.“These discussions and those between
the company and other interested parties may or may not lead to an offer being
made for the company.”

Shinawatra can appeal against the decision, but this is believed to take anywhere upto 60 days to go through - which will of course take us upto the start of the season, leaving us in a situation that is beyond thinking but may become a reality if the board have burnt bridges with other potential investors (Ray Ranson) to try and seduce Shinawatra.

Is the Shinawatra deal dead in the water? It seems likely that it now is, as in effect he will have to submit a brand new and re-structured proposal to the board to buy the club. The worrying prospect is of course his interest in the club was merely a flirtation to drum up publicity and PR to attempt to avoid the very decision which has now been handed down today.

Once again we appear to be in a bit of a mess from top to bottom and as we head towards pre-season, there is little appearing on the horizon to foster much optimism.

City Take Over 'Frozen Out'

So 7 weeks on from the initial announcement that the board were in 'preliminary discussions' regarding investment, and 5 weeks since they announced they were in 'advanced discussions' the plug may or may not have been pulled on Dr Shinawatra's potential buy out following the Thai authorities unsurprising move to 'Freeze' his assets held in Thailand.

The Nation - Thai governments 'propaganda' paper

The BBC

According to who you are speaking to this is a 'deal breaker' as he was using city to remove funds from Thailand - was expected and he has already got 1.5 billion out of the country - forces Wardles hand as the 60 day appeal period would take us into the new season.

Add in to the mix the Mysterons , sorry mystery Americans who are reputed to only be bidding for part of the club (Wardle and Makins Share) and the fact that no 'real' reasons were given for Ray Ransons bid getting short thrift and it all becomes clear.

Sorry no it doesn't ! I really don't have a clue whats going and neither do 99.99% of message board users / amateur journo's / bloggers. See the Koeman betting 'spree; from this week as conclusive proof.

What I do know is that Messers Warnock and Souness don't have clubs at the moment.......

What price loyalty?

JOEY Barton's transfer from City to Newcastle has hit a
delay over a £300,000 "loyalty" pay-off.The midfielder would be due the money
from the Blues if he was sold on without putting in a transfer
request.
Barton has not put in a transfer request - but City
insist they will only allow him to complete his move to St James' Park if he
does.The 24-year-old England international has been on his way out of Eastlands
ever since an alleged training ground incident involving Ousmane Dabo in April,
which sparked a police investigation.
City allowed Barton to speak to Newcastle and West Ham
under the terms of his contract, which allowed him to have talks with any club
who put in a minimum offer of £5.5m for the player. Despite that, City are
adamant that they never listed him, and that they have not granted him
permission to leave Eastlands.

-MEN.

It strikes as amazing that Barton can seemingly demand a 'loyalty' bonus after having engineered a transfer to a side where he admitted he felt 'wanted' - not to mention a doubling of his salary.

The 'loyalty' payment is something that a player that is entitled to if he is effectively sold against his wishes - in effect not having submitted a transfer request to the club. It is therefore a difficult situation with Barton as it appears that after the Dabo incident it was more or less mutually agreed that Barton would be allowed to leave.

For me what strikes as not right about Barton's actions is whilst there could be an argument he is 'entitled' to the money, after the loyalty (not to mention the overwhelming support) the club has shown him over the past couple of years throughout his various midemeanours.

Checking out some of the message boards the opinion is strong that the club should dig in over this and refuse to make the payment.

I agree entirely and if Barton and Newcastle are that desperate to make a deal, then surely they can come to sort of arrangement between themselves.

Now Koeman, Ramos in the frame?

Bookies have seen a major punt on Ronald Koeman to be the
next permanent manager of Manchester City.
bet365 spokesman were among the
first to see the money, spokesman Steve Freeth explaining: "Koeman has been
drifting for weeks now, but the vultures pounced on Friday morning to take any
big price they could.
"A couple of bets were taked at 40/1, followed by 20/1,
12/1 and then 5/1 before we waved the white flag by going 2/1 favourite.
"All
this frenzied betting activity took place in less than two hours."
It was a
similar story at Hills, with spokesman Graham Sharpe revealing: "After taking a
number of bets of up to £200 at 16/1 we have been forced to cut his odds all the
way down to 2/1 at which price we have still been taking bets.
PSV boss
Koeman has been well backed elsewhere too, though Blue Square and Sky Bet still
offer 5/1 and he's trading at around the 4/1 mark on Betfair.

-Bettingzone.co.uk

Generally the bookies don't get it wrong all that often, but is being the favourite for the City job a sure sign that a manager is anything but guaranteed to take the job?

There were also reports today Juande Ramos's agent had contacted the club - but how much of this maybe merely used as leverage in his contract contract negotiations with Seville.

Billy Davies was also linked as well today, perhaps signalling that the press (and bookies) know as much as the rest of us?

Barton signs for Newcastle

The BBC are reporting that Joey Barton has turned down a late offer from West Ham in order to join Newcastle United.

The club announced it had accepted bids of £5.5 million from both West Ham and Newcastle, leaving Barton with a straight choice between the two sides - but it appears as though he has hitch his load to Big Sam's bandwagon.

All academic now I guess, but I thought it would have come down to an interesting choice between the two sides as although West Ham put in a great escape to avoid dropping into the Championship, both sides have new(ish) managers looking to strengthen the side and have money behind them both in terms of players and what financial deal they could offer Barton (with the BBC report suggesting a figure of around £70,000 per week).

Status wise, both sides have a history and tradition that is not too disimilar - although Newcastle clearly have the edge in terms of attendance figures.

Did it come down to Allardyce being the deciding factor?

Ranieri takes charge at Juve

I expected the stories linking the vacant job at Juve with Claudio Ranieri to be nothing more than idle speculation - especially given the comments attributed to him that appeared to suggest he had all but taken the City job (in principle at least), but today's announcement that he has succeeded Didier Deschamps at the newly-promoted side was certainly a shock and has left most Blues in a state of flux.

No real reasons have come out thus far to suggest his reasons for taking the Juve job over he City one (merely some hyperbole at the press conference), so it appears that either:

a) He was keen to take the City job, and may have tentatively agreed to take charge, only for the lure of the Juve post to turn his head at the last minute.

Or perhaps more worryingly,

b) He became disenchanted/concerned at the time the takeover appears to be taking and decided he couldn't wait around for something that may not come to fruition - particularly with an offer from Juve landing on his doorstep.

It has certainly put people in pessimistic mood, with a shortlist of Ranieri, Houllier, Eriksson etc now appearing to comprise Jewell, Warnock and Souness.

Perhaps ofmost concern is that this is now throwing weight behind the rumour that the Shinawatra takeover is soon to be dead in the water - leading to the prospect of the current board remaining in charge and scratching around for a replacement for Pearce (how foolish would they then appear) echoing a situation just over ten years ago when Alan Ball arrived at the club ludicrously late in the day to try and assemble a side with little or no budget.

Yet again though, our board are remaining extremely quiet over the whole affair - not even so much as a 'We are conducting a thorough search for the next manager and have targets in sight' type message, leaving most to the conclusion that there is nothing but confusion reigning at the club at the present time.

The silence is beginning to speak volumes.

Barton heading to Newcastle

Sky Sports News understands that Joey Barton will sign for
Newcastle United on Monday - assuming that captain Scott Parker completes his
own move to West Ham.
Sam Allardyce has instigated a transfer merry-go-round
since arriving on Tyneside and, having opted to allow Parker to return to
London, is on the brink of signing Manchester City's controversial midfielder
Barton. -

Sky Sports

It appears that Barton will arrive as Scott Parker departs St. James' Park for West Ham, bringing a disappointing end to his City career.

It was inevitable that he was on his way out of the club, and the only thankful bit of news is that we appear to have received the £5.5 million 'asking price' as stipulated in his contract. Hopefully, once the takeover business has been resolved, this money will be earmarked for his replacement - something that will be sorely needed.