THE newest suitor for the hand of Manchester City, the former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, is reported to be ready to invest £50m pounds into bringing new players to the club and how desperately that money is needed.

City surrendered without barely a fight to a goal in each half to an Aston Villa side that is no more than efficient at the moment and Stuart Pearce’s side have now gone eight games at home without scoring.

Pearce’s position at City was the subject of renewed speculation following reports that Sam Allardyce was leaving Bolton Wanderers and his players did little in the first half to increase their manager’s chances of keeping his job.

Besides Pearce’s future there wasn’t much else City were playing for, save for the chances of jumping over their opponents should they manage to achieve a rare home victory.

However, after steadily falling towards the relegation zone for most of the season, Aston Villa were on a six-game unbeaten run and they displayed a confidence in the first 45 minutes that will have heartened Randy Lerner, their new American owner.

City had started brightly, Joey Barton forcing a flying save from Thomas Sorensen on four minutes with a shot from 25 yards.

He again worked his way into an attacking position eight minutes later and when his shot cannoned off a Villa defender, it fell nicely to Darius Vassell, but the former Aston Villa striker could only shoot weakly at Sorensen, much to the amusement of the away fans behind the goal.

At the other end however, the pace of Gabriel Agbonlahor and Ashley Young down the flanks was causing problems, and it was the former Watford player who combined for the opening goal with another Martin O’Neill signing in the January transfer window.

Young found space down the left and crossed into the edge of the six yard box where John Carew, drifting between Richard Dunne and Sylvain Distin, headed in a simple goal.

Villa should have gone further ahead on the half hour when City’s defence was again caught napping, this time Distin not following the run of Agbonlahor from a Gareth Barry free kick midway just inside the City half.

The 20-year-old had a clear header but would have seen Andreas Isaksson rushing towards him as well and he headed wide. He then required treatment after colliding with the City keeper.

Though they hardly deserved it, City were given a golden opportunity to equalise on the stroke of half-time, but they blew it spectacularly.

Barton’s corner from the right was headed on by Dunne and bounced in the path of Vassell, who had his back to goal on the six-yard line.

As he waited for the ball to land at his feet he was bundled over by Sorensen, who was guilty of profound stupidity.

Barton, however was guilty of profound carelessness, as he stepped up casually and sidefooted the subsequent penalty several feet over the bar.

City marginally stepped up their effort to find an equaliser after the interval, but their execution was no less wayward.

Distin headed over a Dietmar Hamann free kick on 61 minutes and then Georgios Samaras, Pearce’s much derided £6m signing, was sent through on goal from an excellent Barton pass off the outside of his right boot, but the Greek could only scoop a weak shot straight at the encroaching Sorensen.

At the other end Wilfred Bouma might have done better after the busy Agbonlahor had set him up.

Watching in the stands, Steve McClaren must have been impressed by the way Gareth Barry effortlessly controlled affairs in the middle of the park and Villa’s peace of mind was further eased when they went a second goal up on 75 minutes.

Martin O’Neill’s decision to haul off Carew was a defensive move, but his replacement, Shaun Maloney had scored within four minutes. When Villa were awarded a free kick 25 yards out, Maloney, who played under O’Neill at Celtic, stepped up and curled a shot over the wall and then watched it dip low into the left hand corner of Isaksson’s net.

It was Maloney’s first League goal since arriving at the club in January, though Isaksson will probably feel he might have denied him the distinction.

City have a home game against Manchester United next Saturday to rescue some pride, but yesterday they trooped off with their heads bowed and boos ringing in their ears.