What do we know about the Abu Dhabi United Group for Development and Investment (ADUG)?

The actual group has only been created in the last 24-48 hours primarily as an investment vehicle to facilitate this takeover.

The man behind it, Dr Sulaiman Al Fahim, owns Hydra Property, and they are a major real-estate developer in the United Arab Emirates. However, the real people behind this are the Abu Dhabi Royal Family. Obviously, there is going to be some major financial muscle behind them.

Al Fahim is only 31 but he's a real emerging figure in the Emirates. He came 77th in the Arab world power 100 list last year and he's going to have a major role to play in the running of the club, with the Royal Family giving him their backing.

Is this a complete surprise?

We've known that City have been in talks with an Emirates-based consortium over the past few weeks.

Ten days ago Gary Cook, the chief executive, said that City were hopeful of getting something done before the transfer window closed, but there is a difference between saying you are going to do something and then pulling it off. So to have completed the deal like this is very impressive.

They have said they want to make City the biggest club in the Premier League. Is that realistic?

Well, we all laughed when Roman Abramovich came in and set out his intentions for Chelsea. But what followed was mind boggling.

So it would not surprise me if there was a comparable investment by this group in Manchester City. People will say it's Manchester City, who's going to want to go there? But if the club starts ploughing money in then players are going to want to come.

With serious, serious money a club's fortunes can be changed almost overnight. But as Chelsea have discovered, trying to topple Manchester United even with the £500m Abramovich has spent, is not easy. Making City a force on the pitch is a real possibility and that's going to be far easier than turning them into some global phenomenon.

How quickly will supporters see results?

Well I would expect the club to be active in the Januray transfer window and again in the summer, but I wouldn't rule out City bringing someone into the club in the next 11 or so hours.

You have to remember that City, from a financial point of view, are in an altogether different situation now.

Would you expect Mark Hughes to be sacked if he doesn't finish in the top four this season?

I think when a new group come in there is always a concern that could happen. They might talk about how much they know about football, but how many times have we heard that?

Hopefully the infrastructure of the club will be kept in place, or if there's going to be a new executive board, then they will bring in people with experience and knowledge to help run the club.

But if they are not going to back Mark Hughes he may as well just pack up and go home now, because he's as promising and talented a young manager as there is anywhere. If he finishes fifth or sixth this season and is sacked then that will be deplorable.

How will this affect the rest of the Premier League?

Mohamed Al Fayed apart, this is the first time we have seen an Arab consortium make a move for a Premier League club and it will be very interesting to see what effect this has on the proposed takeover of Liverpool by DIC. There will certainly be hope in Dubai that this could speed up their buy-out of Tom Hicks and George Gillett.

What's interesting here, is that Thaksin Shinawatra, who has been rightly pilloried for various reasons, has moved very quickly to not drag the name of the club through the mud.

Liverpool fans are upset that Hicks and Gillett haven't sold and they feel the name of their club has been dragged through the mud but it looks as though Shinawatra has been keen to ensure that doesn't happen in this case.

The City supporters might thank him for that in the future. What is certain is that it promises to be a very interesting time at Manchester City.