Will Manchester City Ever Be United?

This weekend sees Manchester United take on their city rivals, Manchester City, at Old Trafford, in what is certain to be one of the defining games of the season. Welcome to Manchester...

In recent years the game had just about become a guaranteed three points for City's more illustrious rivals, United. However, enter one Sheik with a bottomless pit of money, an interest in football, and a club starved of trophies, and you have all the ingredients for a phoenix-like rise for the blue club in Manchester.

In little over a year, Mark Hughes has been able to command the kind of transfer kitty that most clubs only dream about. He has spent just over £200m in those 12 months as City look to put themselves in a more prominent position on the football map.

Bookmakers have paid close attention, and City's odds for winning the English Premier League title have plummeted from 150/1 to only 15/1. And while they may still be distant fifth favourites for the title, they are recognised by all to be the closest team to breaking the top four's monopoly.

The club has been completely re-structured both on and off the field.

Not one player remains in the starting XI from the City team who played in the opening fixture of last year's league campaign.

Garry Cook has given Mark Hughes a mandate to put City on the footballing map, while he oversees the commercial overhaul of the club. Both he and Hughes have decided on certain players to bring to the club, both in terms of footballing ability and their commercial earning power.

Players such as Robinho, Emmanuel Adebayor, Kolo Toure, and Carlos Tevez have been targeted for massive sums of money but in signing these players, City have taken a leaf from Real Madrid's book and bought players who are well known in places like China, Japan, and India.

All are countries where City are looking to expand their commercial enterprise.

This is a part of the club that most fans don't see and pay little attention to, but the income stream that can be generated in these countries is vital for the club going forward, regardless of the vast financial wealth of their owners.

On the pitch, the club have bought exciting players like Robinho, Sean Wright-Philips, Adebayor, Craig Bellamy, and Roque Santa-Cruz. But they have been ably backed up by less luminous players like Gareth Barry and Nigel de Jong.

Actually, City's best player so far this season is easily Shay Given. The Irish international goalkeeper is a superb professional and has been on top form.

So far this season City have won four from four. And in doing so they have shown that they are capable of producing some exciting football. In their opening fixtures they struggled past Blackburn and Wolves before beating Portsmouth easily. Last week they claimed their biggest scalp to date when they beat Arsenal 4-2.

The first team squad have been strengthened significantly, and there is strength in depth there that has not been seen since the late '60s.

Perhaps City's greatest achievement was in winning an incredibly tough league in 1968. In a tight run in, Joe Mercer's team held off Matt Busby's Manchester United to claim the title by two points. Bill Shankley's Liverpool finished third while Don Revie's Leeds were fourth.

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