Manchester City: Txiki Begiristain and Ferran Soriano rode into The Etihad carrying the Barcelona model that was to transform the club but after spending £722million in four years under three managers, the pressure is now on
Spanish duo have gone through three managers in the last four years but have only delivered a single Premier League title
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TXIKI BEGIRISTAIN AND Ferran Soriano rode into The Etihad carrying the Barcelona model that was to transform Manchester City.
As Director of Football and Vice President respectively what they had overseen at The Nou Camp during the noughties had every club in Europe drooling.
So they came with big ideas and big plans and in the four years they have been running the club City have won one title.
In that time they have also had three different managers and spent £722million on players.
Their first act was to get rid of fans hero Roberto Mancini who had delivered the club’s first trophy for 35 years and first title in 44 years.
It seems his downfall was being plotted from the New Year of 2013 before his ugly departure after the FA Cup Final defeat to Wigan.
He had lost the dressing room apparently, yet he still finished second in the league and reached a major Cup Final which makes you wonder what would have happened had everyone been behind him.
Too many with influence behind the scenes were unhappy at how much power Mancini wanted.
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The two Spaniards wanted their own man in, and duly negotiated with Manuel Pellegrini while Mancini was still fighting for to retain the title and win a Cup.
The long game of course, as Pellegrini revealed himself rather prematurely was always to get Pep Guardiola.
Chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak and owner Sheikh Mansour trust in Begiristain and Soriano implicitly.
Yet can we really say things have worked since they took the helm.
There is nothing to show for the first year in the new and wonderful era of Guardiola.
In the meantime down the road Jose Mourinho delivered two major trophies.
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Some around the club will tell you that the triumvirate of Begiristain, Soriano and Guardiola have become increasingly distant from everyone else at the club.
They answer to Khaldoon and Abu Dhabi and nobody else seems able to question them.
Guardiola was the only high profile manager on a summer pre-season tour who refused to engage privately with the national English media who had travelled across the globe to chart the preparations for the new campaign.
Even feisty Sir Alex only denied us that privilege on a couple of occasions.
Like Pellegrini before him Guardiola seems above answering to the media and often cuts a frustrated figure in press conferences.
At least he does not audibly sigh when he walks into the expensively built media theatre at the Etihad campus for his Friday press conferences as his predecessor did.
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After another massive summer spend there is so much hanging on this season not just for Guardiola but those tasked with running the club as well.
The managers CV and the squad assembled suggests glory should come in the league and they will make a better job of Europe.
They went out at the first knockout stage last season after Pellegrini had reached the semi-finals the previous season.
Yet it was Guardiola who was supposed to crack the nut in the Champions League.
So the pressure is on, even if the big names and big reputations may make the trio feel infallible.
As one former City employee told me, ‘With Abu Dhabi they are just interested in results, that’s all.’