Last time I blogged, City still had Darius Va sell, Danny Mills and lest we forget, Glauber Leandro Honorato Berti. Quite a bit has happened since then!!Im sure that many of my, ahem, thousands of adoring fans noticed a lack of blogging updates from here, so I apologise if you were left traumatised and feeling upsetby this. Having been away for a couple of weeks representing my country in a worldwide sporting competition, I felt that blogging perhaps should take a back seat, so although the quantity of articles decreased, I sincerely hope that the quality in future efforts remains of a high standard. Just as a fore-warning me sage, due to school commitments, I plan on doing maybe only one or two articles per month, as opposed to my previous amount, which was rather higher and certainly more time consuming.Anyway, where were we? Oh yes, still talking about Berti! How times have changed during this pre-season, the first full summer transfer window where City have had the opportunity to make full use of Sheikh Mansours many billions. At the time of writing, there have been a total of seven new arrivals at Eastlands, andabout thirteen departures. Those seven include world-cla s stars such as Carlos Tevz and Emmanuel Adebadhairday, but also the likes of Nils Zander, an extremelypromising young left-back, signed form German Kevin Fiala Kids Jersey side FC Schalke.From Berti to Tevz A sign of the changing times Any new season brings about certain levels of excitement, but there can surely nothave been many other campaigns which have generated both the publicity and fervour that has accompanied the 2009/10 pre-season. Hopes are higher than ever before that the Blues can break into the top four and unsettle the hierarchy of English football that has developedin recent years. Many City supporters, myself included, would be more than contentwith a top five finish, and that would signal a major achievement for the Blues. Disappointingly, our attempts to break into the upper echelons of the Premier League, something that has eluded the grasp of Tottenham, Evertonand Aston Yannick Weber Men Jersey Villa in recent years, have been met with a wall of criticism, and in many cases, hypocrisy. The so called experts of the game have declared that City are ruining world football by signing the likes of Gareth Barry for 12 million. Nothing has been made of the fact that Spanish giants Real Madrid spent 80 million, almost seven times Citys amount, on Cristiano Ronaldo, whilst also breaking the world record for Kak. In addition to this, they spent over 30 million to acquire the services of former Liverpool midfielder Xabi Alonso. Despite his undoubted qualities, is the Spaniard really worth two and a half times as much as Barry?Enough of my personal grievances, I now move onto news of Citys pre-season form. Summed up in one word, it could be Pontus Aberg Men Jersey described as typical! Before the game at home to Celtic, a match which saw the return of goalscoring sensation Georgios Samaras (that just shows how bad the Scottish League is), the Blues had played five games and recorded just a solitary victory. However, defeats to the Kaiser Chiefs and Rangers among others have failed to dampen our enthusiasm for the forthcoming season, but it would have been nice to see some goals and victories. By all accounts, we have performed well without getting the end results, but Im fairly confident that Mark Hughes and his fellow coaching staff will sort things out before the season opener away at his former clubBlackburn.Samaras returned to face City, whilst the Blues were beaten by the Kaiser ChiefsTalking of that encounter, Citys trip to Ewood Park will be a fantastic early test of the Blues credentials. Will our team, a combination of skillful and talented players, the likes of Robinho and Stephen Ireland, and experienced and reliablecampaigners, such as Gareth Barry and Kolo Tour, be able to pull together and attain the three points? With this fixture being followed by a home tie against newly-promoted Wolves, City should be able to string together a couple of early wins and silence those doubters who believe that the Blues, as so often in the past, will fall by the wayside as our Viktor Arvidsson Women Jersey expensively a sembled squad fails to gel together.Generally, Im delighted withthenature of the squad that Hughes has built. There is depth in every department, and real quality at that. Lets take the striking department for example. If we imagine that Hughess first choice pairing is Adebuyonegetonefree and Tevz, then we still have two internationals, Roque Santa Cruz and Craig Bellamy in reserve. I challenge you to name any other Premier League sidethat has such quality in depth, and at that, such variety and choice. Having already considered this proposal, I would be mightily shocked of anyone was to come up with, and with reason, any group of forwards that can match or even better those at City.WithBellamy and Santa Cruz in reserve, City are a force to be reckoned withFor all the talk that City have been signing players by the bucketload and ruining world football, the truth is actually far from the rumours. Any club that has aspirations of challenging for titles has had to spend ma ses of money in the proce s, so what City are doing is nothing unusual. Perhaps people are concerned and worried by our efforts, something that has clearly affected Sir Alex Ferguson. Remember his rant at the blue half of Manchester? The le s thanplacid-natured Scotsman described City as a small club witha small mentality. On the face of it, we should be concerned withsuch a description, but actually, this rant by Ferguson merely highlights Citys growing impact in football. Ferguson only ever has a go at clubs which are Calle Jarnkrok Women Jersey a threat to Manchester United. His public warnings and confrontations with Arsene Wenger, Rafael Benitez and Jos Mourinho highlight this fact, so Mark Hughes should feel proud that Fegie now cla ses us as a threat. The Scot never has a rant at the likes ofFulham, Middlesborough or Bolton, so it should come as a pleasant surprise that he even thought about City.Anyway, enough of angry Scotsmen and back to our new signings. Stuart Taylor was acquired from Aston Villa for nothing and will be an experienced back-up in net for Shay Given. I believe that this is a shrewd move from Hughes who has let youngster Joe Hart find regular first team football on loan at Birmingham. In defence, City have made two additions, Kolo Tour and Nils Zander. The latter is a promising left-back whilst the former is a dependable and proven centre-back, who joined from Arsenal for close to 15 million. Tour is likely to slot straight into the City defence to partner Nedum Onuoha and will add solidity and know-how to the back four.Tour joins City and will hope to form a solid partnership with Nedum OnuohaIn midfield, Mark Hughes has added the undoubted qualities of England international Gareth Barry, a sni