The Manchester City Project

Oakland is a good ground with decent fans, however after getting off the train in Barnsley I did feel as though I’d just entered an episode of Life on Mars or Boys From The Blackstuff. If any where needs investment then it’s Barnsley City Centre.



There was a good atmosphere at Oakwell on Saturday for the preseason friendly between Barnsley and Manchester City. Both sets of fans honoured the late Bobby Robson with a minute’s applause before the game along with chants of “There’s only one Bobby Robson” and “England”. At half time both sets of fans roundly applauded Barnsley’s Academy player’s as they paraded their trophy from the final of the Swedish International Tournament.

The only complaint must be against the stadium announcer. Surely there are two skills required in order to be an announcer – first you must be able to pronounce the names of the players, and secondly announce the details of the subs correctly. This guy couldn’t do either – I mean if that was my job I’d at least try and practice the player names the night before. Instead of practising the Barnsley announcer simply miss-pronounced “Adebayor” and then giggled and sighed.

City dominated the game even though many of the players were under par since they are preparing for the start of the premiership campaign. Shaun Wright-Phillips, Robinho and Ireland showed some good moments but never really went 100% in essentially a training match. A major positive was the pairing of Adebayor and Bellamy upfront. Despite both players missing chances from inside the box – it was obvious the two strikers could develop a promising partnership (however Tevez will have a lot to say about that).

Former Man City player Jon Macken caused numerous problems for City’s defence and almost scored after 16 minutes but his six yard header sailed over the bar. City responded on 22 minutes with Bellamy forcing Luke Steele to palm away a shot before Steele completed a double save from Adebayor’s follow-up.

In the second half Macken almost scored again after a (typical city) slip from new man Kolo Toure, but he failed to capitalise.

Toure came off the pitch injured after a clash in the six-yard-box. However Hughes later confirmed that Kolo was removed as he was suffering from cramp and removed him as a precaution.

Adebayor could have scored after lobbing the keeper but saw his effort hit the bar and he couldn’t convert the rebound. Moments later Robinho hit the bar after a cut back from Zabletta.
After 74 minutes City broke from a Barnsley corner, Adebayor slipped Bellamy through on goal – however the Welshman failed to hit the target from 10 yards, hitting the side netting.

Bogdanovic put the homeside ahead on 84 minutes after an impressive counter attack. Five minutes later Stephen Ireland and Vlad Wiess combined on the right wing to set up Martin Petrov for a close range finish to end the game 1-1.



Mark Hughes was pleased with the run out against Barnsley, he told the official Man City website:

“We played some good stuff and in the second half I thought our interplay was excellent,

“The final ball was lacking on occasions but we created enough chances to have won quite comfortably. The finishing will come as we get nearer the start of the season. It is just a matter of the timing being off here and there.

“Overall I was pleased with the test and both teams benefitted from the run out. It will have brought us on a lot. On another day we would have won quite comfortably.

“I am happy with what I am seeing. It was good for Kolo (Toure) to get his debut behind him. He gives us comfort on the ball and his ability with it at his feet was there for everyone to see.

“Once he starts to understand those in front of him and the qualities they have and the best way to bring out those qualities the bigger the impact he will have. I was pleased with his debut and he came off early because of a bit of cramp. He has integrated well into the dressing room. He is a great guy and we are delighted to have him at the club.”

Full Time: Barnsley 1 (Bogdanovic, 84) – Manchester City 1 (Petrov, 87)

Barnsley Team: Steele, Hassell, Kozluk, Moore, Foster, Campbell-Ryce, Thompson, Devaney, Butterfield, Odejayi, Macken. Subs: Preece, Sodje, Hibbert, Bogdanovic, Noble-Lazarus, El Haimour, Coulson, Hume.

Manchester City Team: Give, Richards, Toure, Onuoha, Garrido, Wright-Phillips, De Jong, Robinho, Bellamy, Ireland, Adebayor. Subs: Taylor, Zabaleta, Ben Haim, McGiven, Vidal, Petrov, Weiss, Etuhu.

Footage Taken From Oakwell 01/08/2009