Manchester City no longer exists. It has becoming the most sickening example of how a club, a culture and a wave of community can be bought just like any other commodity. Carlos Tevez has been branded many things in the past 24hrs but quite simply his actions were just that of the latest naughty schoolboy in a club swelled by delinquents.
Gary Cook left the club earlier this month in a spectacular fall from grace. Not that you would find much of that written by the local or national press. Instead they fell over themselves one by one to ask the public to remember the good things that Cook had done. The truth of the matter is hard to promote in the face of the beautiful hospitality the press receive.
City have done whatever it has taken to get to were they have. They trampled over Aston Villa and Everton by taking their better players and now Arsenal are being eaten up. They have accepted that the players have effectively gone on strike to get to their transfer - Joleon Lescott and Samir Nasri have not been mentally right to play for their previous clubs - their head turned by the riches on offer. Now that very battle comes from within.
It is written with no sense of lost irony that City welcomed everybody to Manchester with the open arms of Tevez on a massive poster. Come and get it ... Oh and they have - in bucket loads.
Mark Hughes sat in a Sky studio on Tuesday night attempting to play down the Tevez spat. The same Mark Hughes who was apparently shifted by City unfairly who went on to shift himself from Fulham unfairly. Hughes is a man who clearly remembers well the City etiquette. A man who himself signed Emmanuel Adebayour, Craig Bellamy, Robinho, Lescott and Tevez has little thought for character anymore.
His reluctance to back up Graham Souness in the most simple of statements said more about his sharing of Tevez's agent than it spoke for anything else. Sky would do well to remember his bias.
Hughes cut a strange figure as manager at City. A player and a manager who previously had fire in his belly often referred to 'the people who make the decisions' regarding transfers and was sacked behind his back while he stood on the touchline in front of a watching public. He said nothing. We all can assume why.
The party for Manchester City has simply got out of hand. There is no doubt they will keep the music playing and there is no doubt it won't be the end in Munich but they showcased on a massive stage what they are all about.
There is a scene at the end of the brilliant movie Scarface when Tony Montana sits alone - poisoned by his own greed and paranoia. He sits in the middle of his empire - the empire he built from a humble start - living the dream. Ultimately he kills everything he loves and everything that is good about himself in his search for ultimate dominance. City would do well to remember that image.
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