The Manchester City Project

Below is footage taken 18 July 2009 at the City Of Manchester Stadium at the City Live II event that presented big screen showing of Orlando Pirates versus Manchester City and the signing of Emmanuel Adebayor.

On Saturday the stadium was surrounded by hundreds of fans for the release of the new umbro kit and the big screen showing of the Vodacom Challenge opener. Many of the families took advantage of the entertainment on offer free of charge around the ground. Despite a technical hitch that prevented the match being beamed live for the first 30 minutes of the game and the 2-0 score line to the Pirates – the day was an enjoyable one.

After the game fans began to gather outside of the main entrance of the stadium as word began to spread that City’s next new signing was travelling to the stadium after agreeing to sign for the club. Adebayor was finally signed yesterday, arriving to hundreds of cheering fans. All of City’s latest signings did not play a part in the opening game of the Vodacom Challenge. City’s display highlighted the need for the new blood after an inept display. The only moments of real note for City were the return of Michael Johnson from injury and the energetic displays of youngsters Vlad Wiess and Mee.

City found themselves behind after 35 minutes when Thwala converted a harsh penalty for shirt pulling by Mee. After the break Mogale scored a long range screamer to the delight of the passionate home fans.

The team fielded by the blues consisted of largely “C” players that would be challenging for a place on the bench at best for the opening game against Blackburn. The result was therefore not a huge surprise. With defensive reinforcements on the way before the end of the transfer window City’s squad on paper will support Robinho’s claims that there is no longer a “top 4” in the premiership but a “top 5”.

Full Time: Orlando Pirates 2 Manchester City 0
Goals: Thwala 41` (pen) Mogale 55`

Orlando Pirates: Josephs, Thwala, Makonese, Lekgwathi, Mahamutsa, Mabalane, Chenene, Mthembu, Jali, Olivier, Kiaku.

Manchester City: Taylor, Zabaleta, Ben-Haim, Mee, Garrido, Weiss, Ireland, Johnson, Bojinov, Petrov, Bellamy.