EARLIER in the summer Garry Cook, Manchester City’s executive chairman, said: “It’s time to move from the emotional to the economical”. While teams of linguistics professors still pore over that statement, and other Cook-isms (eg, “we’re living in the shadow of a mixed bag of success”) to define their meaning, Cook’s football club is suggesting that nothing, in fact, has changed.

“A new manager and fresh signings offer hope, but comedy will find a way of upsetting the apple cart, as always,” reads a smug profile of City on Manchester United’s website, and sometimes it is hard not to join in the mirth. After all, only City could lose to a Uefa Cup team so small, the radio commentator pronounced its name “Midget-land”.

Yet even by City’s standards the past week has been one of black and bewildering farce. It started with Thaksin Shinawatra, the club’s owner, skipping the start of a corruption trial in Bangkok and arriving in London seeking political asylum. This suggested that Shinawatra is kissing goodbye to his £800m of assets frozen in his native Thailand; doubts over his financial position thickened when it emerged that City had borrowed £2m from John Wardle, their former chairman, to pay wages.

Then there was a row over transfers, with Mark Hughes, City’s manager, moving to resolve a situation which developed when Vedran Corluka was almost sold to Tottenham against the player’s wishes. A £12m bid for Roque Santa Cruz was rejected by Blackburn. Then came Thursday’s debacle against FC Midtjylland of Denmark. City were booed by a tiny crowd at their own stadium as they went down 1-0 to a team of unknowns, formed nine years ago by a carpenter, and the odds must be against them extending their European misadventure past their Uefa Cup second qualifying round second leg on August 28.

Being dwarfed by Midtjylland had Hughes incandescent again. He complained about players’ effort and fitness levels and expects serious improvement against Aston Villa today. Richard Dunne, City’s long-serving/suffering captain, is treating with weary equanimity the crisis headlines that have somehow enveloped his club before it has even kicked off in the Premier League. “It’s strange because it’s not new at Manchester City, it happens all the time. The manager’s told us all this week: ‘The game, the game’. Obviously we hear other things, but we keep our own thoughts, it’s nothing to do with us,” Dunne said.

He admits that he came “very close” to leaving City before signing a new contract last month. “I spoke to a couple of clubs, but then Mark Hughes got the manager’s job and straight away he phoned me and asked me would I like to stay. That was all I needed to hear,” Dunne said. His belief in Hughes reflects the wider feeling among the City community. Players, supporters and officials alike see the Welshman as the positive to cling to in these bathetic times. His willingness to leave behind a good number at Blackburn and join the club sent a message that City were worth something. There remains hope that Hughes can prosper despite the mess. The fitness issue is important to him, given what he achieved against better sides with hard-running teams while in charge of Blackburn and Wales, and there will be more sweat on the practice ground after the Midtjylland defeat.

“You can feel the manager’s effect in training. The training is a lot more intense, everything is 100% and he basically has no time for anybody who’s slacking off. It’s good,” Dunne said. “Everyone is in every day, everyone is up for it every day and it has to be match tempo every day, so it’s going to benefit us in the long run. It’s aimed at getting us as fit as we can be and making sure that at the end of the season we are still in tiptop shape.”

In the wake of Corluka’s aborted transfer to Tottenham, Hughes called a meeting and made it clear to his players he was in charge of all comings and goings. Plans to sell Stephen Ireland to Sunderland were also cancelled. Dunne feels it is imperative that officials such as Cook and Paul Aldridge, the new chief operating officer, give the manager backing. “Mark is such a strong character, he won’t stand for anything else. He’s completely in charge of everything football-related at the club, and that’s the way every club should be run,” said Dunne.

“There’s a belief in our squad that we did really well for the majority of last season and now we have a manager who can bring us on and make sure we finish higher. I genuinely believe City will be a good place to be this season.”

Farce springs eternal at Manchester City. Their charm is that so does optimism. 13
The number of goals conceded by Manchester City in their past four Premier League away games. City have gone seven league games without a clean sheet, and have lost five and drawn one during that run