Probably the most investigative and thorough City blog or site out there is purelymancity, and this week they did a nice job of looking at some of the headlines and stories written about the club over what has been a newsworthy summer of events.
In a mock awards post, they dished out gongs to some of the more 'creative' of stories that have appeared the past month or so.
Well worth checking out.
I had a feeling we would get something at either Sheffield United or West Ham, and all three points from the boxing day clash sets us up nicely for the trip to the capital where if we can come away with a point (or more) it will be a nice return from two games which were tricky on paper.
I caught the game listening on Radio Sheffield, and even given that it was the home commentary it did not sound a game where we really exerted a great deal of control, and their commentary team were almost in disbelief when Stephen Ireland put us ahead - a goal which of course won us all three points.
Reports in the press following the game were not in the main overly encouraging from a performance perspective and Andrew at purelymancity does a nice job rounding up the reports - and lays into Stuart Pearce's managerial approach a little as well.
I was interested in the formation that was adopted by Pearce for the game and feel it could be one that brings out the best in some of the players we have - namely Onouha more central, Dabo in a holding role and of course allowing Stephen Ireland a more advanced role which frees him up to exert more of the undoubted creativity that he has.
Playing this formation though requires a strong performance from the front man, and by all accounts Corradi had somewhat of a shocker, with Samaras not faring much better - although it was a cute chest down for Ireland's finish.
A good win overall, a welcome three points and helps us put a bit of breathing space between ourselves and the drop zone, but as usual we need to guard against falling back a step again in the next game and Pearce needs to challenge the side to actually put back to back wins together.
Andrew over at purelymancity takes a look today at the falling attendances seen at City (and the rest of the Premiership) this season, and finds some mitigating factors in explaining the drop in crowd numbers.
I had the chance to meet up with various members of the proposed Supporters Trust group on Saturday prior to the Sheffield United game, and amongst the various topics of discussion was the news that the naming rights to the City of Manchester Stadium are believed to have been sold to a former sponsor of the club for a fee of £3 million per season.
There wasn't too much detail on the proposed terms of any deal in respect of what percentage of the money will actually be received by the club but as Purelymancity points out, although far less than the sum Arsenal receive on average per season from Emirates it would still be one of the highest sponsorship amounts received for stadium naming rights outside of the big NFL sides.
In football, the issue of stadium naming rights is still a contentious one with many fans against the 'traditional' grounds being re-named after corporations - and it is telling that it is only the recently built stadiums that carry this, the older grounds which carry the weight of history and tradition behind them have been left untouched.
Would re-naming the City of Manchester Stadium cause a furore amongst supporters? I'm not necessarily sure that it would do in quite the same way that it would have done at Maine Road as it is still to get a real identity of it's own as it is still referred to by many names - City of Manchester Stadium/Eastlands/The new ground and so on, so in that respect it may be a little more palatable although the issue I'm sure would not sit all that easily with fans as another sign of football 'selling out'.
At this stage, nothing has been confirmed regarding the deal and it may just be little more than rumour - but even so, I'm sure it is something the board has considered exploring at some stage.
Check out the excellent PurelyManCity site (if you haven't already) as they are running a few features this week on City's recent history of transfer spending - following on nicely from the comments by Alastair Mackintosh which are currently doing the rounds.
