The season belongs to the red half of Manchester

They've got 3 stars on their shirt and I don't know what they mean, because City are a massive club.

In a year of drama, where Fabrice Muamba and Stillian Petrov put the overpaid performances of foreign prima donnas into perspective in a poor league, at a time when the finances of football point to more Rangers than City’s, the on field collapse of the largest investment in football history continues to make headlines.

Just like the billions spent in Dubai never really raised it above the desert sands upon which it was built, the same oil revenue has given Manchester City a set of players with skill but no heart.

Watching Balotelli fight Aleksander Kolarov for the right to take a free kick while his defensive minded colleagues of Yaya Toure, Vincent Kompany and Nigel De Jong push them apart said a lot to me.

Firstly, why play such a defensive team at home to Sunderland? Surely City didn't need Toure and De Jong to sit in front of a back four to protect them.

But as they did put 7 behind the ball, why then didn't they defend crosses and why did they keep Micah Richards so far back and also leave him on after he was injured early in the game?

Strange decisions.

Other oddball antics included the human lamppost that is Edin Dzeko and the brat Mario Balotelli proving they have no chemistry, while David Silva runs around like Tinkerbell sprinkling passes with nobody penetrating, all very odd.

James Milner, Adam Johnson and Carlos Tevez all deserve to leave for their own reasons, and Gareth Barry must wonder what he has done wrong

Spoiled for choice Roberto Mancini, but without heart it's just spoiled.

City are choking, they aren't a team.

Brian Kidd, the perennial loser, has found his home.

The team is also in financial trouble. The wages are too high to offload the useless overpaid players, think Wayne Bridge on steroids for Toure and Tevez, so City will have to sell very cheap for the players to break their contracts.

Meanwhile who will come? Only players who lack ambition and are mercenary selfish heartless players will go there, and they already have plenty of them.

It's great to know that you can't buy success, City have proved it, just as Chelsea did before them and Liverpool are showing it’s a disease.

The season belongs to others.

It belongs to Manchester United who are showing that class is permanent as Paul Scholes rules the league, it belongs to Muamba and his Bolton team mates who are proving that heart matters to both in their own way, and God bless Fabrice’s recovery.

It belongs to Petrov whose fight is ahead of him and for whom we pray for a recovery from a terrible illness and it belongs to Arsenal who have had a wonderful run to prove that they care, despite losing to QPR.

This season shows football is not just about money, and in seeing that we learn much about ourselves, what really matters and why this game we love is just a game that no oil money can change.

Long live football, and goodbye to the pretenders, you were never anything more than a passing fad anyway....yes you City!!!!!!

@ifollowsteve

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