Manchester City Woes: The Curse Of the Rich, Stupid Owner

It was the summer of 2007, and I was working nights at my local supermarket stacking shelves. In the cafeteria, the day staff would leave the day's newspapers strewn about the tables, allowing us night crew a form of mild stimulation.

It was in one of these papers that I first learned Manchester City, my beloved Manchester City, was being bought by former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shiniwatra.

I was on top of the world.

Money was coming to City.

I almost wish it had stayed where it damn well was.

In the time that followed the announcement was made that Sven Goran Eriksson would be taking the reins as manager—he promptly spent £48 million (near enough $100 million) of the new owner's money, giving Manchester City a whole new look.

And it was fantastic.

City began the season strongly, having their best start in over half a century.

The inevitable decline came, however, not once did they ever drop into the bottom half of the table. That has not occurred since City returned to the top flight in 2003.

So now the season is winding down.

City are guaranteed to finish no lower than ninth.

The future is bright, with Sven now knowing his team well can make further adjustments over the off season.

Oh yeah, one more thing...

He's getting fired. 

What?

When I learnt of this little tidbit I took a step back and began to think. I thought about it for about a week.

It just doesn't make sense.

What does make sense is this:

The rich owners in the EPL are generally idiots.

Another case in point: Roman Abramovich.

After firing Jose Mourinho following a clash of two mighty egos, Avram Grant was promoted to the top spot.

He proceeded to better Mourinho's record, has brought out the best in his team who have been playing better football and still have the League's longest unbeaten-at-home record.

Rumour is however:

He's getting fired too.

Excuse me? Isn't this all slightly ridiculous?

Well, no not really. It's more rather... moronic. 

At the other end of the spectrum is Mohammed Al Fayed, Fulham's infamous owner. For years Fulham have struggled, while showing great spirit, and fighting off relegation for a few years, with this year's best escape just one result away.

As for Fayed?

Well, he wrongly fired Chris Coleman, then Lawrie Sanchez, and I would not be at all surprised to see Roy Hodgson go at the end of this year.

Oh, and all those managers have had pretty much no money to spend, leading to relegation battles and bottom-half finishes ever since they came up from the Championship in 2001.

There's an important lesson that only a couple of the mega-rich owners have learnt, and that is this:

Stay out of it.

Don't interfere with your manager, don't question his decisions, (This means you too Mr. Steinbrenner) and enjoy what your money has bought you.

Leave the running of the club to the manager and keep your ego in check. You may have run a mega-huge business, or even a country. But this is football.

And you know nothing about it.