City face a stern Italian test in the group stage of the Europa League as they were drawn in the same group as Juventus.

The blues, who easily won their play off tie against Romanians Timisoara, will also face Austrian side FC Salzburg and Polish side Lech

Juventus were one of Fulham’s victims as the Londoners powered their way to last season’s final, overcoming a 3-1 deficit from Turin to win 4-1 at Craven Cottage and the blues will be hoping to make it a miserable return for the Italians, while Salzburg is probably only known for being the birthplace of Mozart. I must admit, I know absolutely nothing about Lech apart from the fact that it’s in Poland.

Elsewhere in the draw Liverpool, the only other remaining British side in the competition, will face also face Italian opposition in Napoli, while Romanian side Steaua Bucharest and Celtic’s conquerors FC Utrecht.

What do you think of the draw? Could it have been worse? Let us know your thoughts

Liverpool new boy Christian Poulsen has given his opinions on City as is the fashion these days.

Poulsen has made comments concerning history and how big Liverpool are in Denmark, here is what the 30 year old Danes views are on City.

“You can’t compare City with the history of Liverpool and  United,” he said. “In Denmark we really love English football.

“It will take some time for City. Four or five years ago the Premier League was United, Liverpool,Arsenal and Chelsea.

“Now you have teams like City and Spurs. But in Denmark, Liverpool are No.1. You see the history, it’s really something special.

History is what has gone before and cannot be changed. Great things and terrible things alike stand in the past as a reminder.

In sport history only stands for past glories which fade into time, as the sporting world like time goes forward forging new champions and new memories.

History is not the here and now, or the future.  History does not win cups the players of today do .

Poulsen needs to remember one important thing,  history of great things lie on the shoulders of Liverpool and Untied players to produce even greater things as their fans are fickle and addicted to past glories. Time is already against you Christian.

The future however yet not written and never certain.

Keep your History lesson. City will write our own starting Monday night.

The future  is Blue , The future is  Manchester City .

In the last week or so City have been the talk of the town.

With Fergie ranting on about Kamikaze spending, ( I think we are all sick of Real Madrid and their £80m super buys) however I was shocked to learn He may have been talking about City ! Fergie has become like a dog with a bone he just wont let it go, sad really. Its seems that Sir Alex of Trafford has City on the mind, Himself , Fletcher and  Neville seem to be spokesmen for the anti city movement , watch out for it seems to be broadcast a lot on Sky Sports.

Paul Merson , and Phil Thompson had a right go on Soccer Saturday last week before the Spurs game, saying City would be Lucky to finish 6Th and the spending was a disgrace , fair play to Matt Le Tissier who gave City 3rd spot. Merson and Thompson continued on an anti City rant saying they wont beat this team and they wont do that really tried to bring City fans down minutes before kick off.

Now Ireland has been the latest to speak out against the Club and the manager,  Ireland said  felt unwanted and feels it was unfair the way he was treated. Ireland was on fire during the 08/09 campaign no doubt about that at all winning player of the year along the way. Ireland did have Robinho and Elano who were at the time both happy and playing some nice football so it was not all a one man show. He at the start of the 09/10 season could not adapt to the way Mark Hughes wanted to set up his midfield and fell out of favour long before Mancini came along. when Mancini arrived he again had his own style of play and Yes maybe Ireland was not seen as part of his plans as is the way of  football. Lets face it Elano didn’t fit into Hughes plans but after what we seen of him at World Cup he had who wishes he was still in the Blue of City ?  Ireland will be one of those players who may have been a City legend. ( then again he may just be just a crazy midfielder for Cork with a fish tank he spent over £115,000 on ) He surely will be remembered by all City fans fondly as Superman.

Arsene Wenger love him or hate him he has at least has not gone down the road of the green eyed monster, He says  ”We cannot be surprised because we knew once Abu Dhabi bought City, that at some stage they would spend money” have to give it to Wenger he understands that to get up there and compete with the top you have to have the players to do so. At present City have to use money to attract the big stars of world football, if however City should find themselves in the Champions League the pull of being in Europe’s Elite football competition will bring them in all the easier and the market prices will balance out.  Wenger also said as regards to Mancini  ”But there must be a plan in it. Mancini is not stupid. He is an intelligent guy and he has his idea behind his buys.”  I think we are all aware that Wenger himself  is no fool and can see the bigger picture of what may be going on behind  closed doors at Eastlands.

James Milner’s long drawn out transfer to City has finally concluded with the England man putting pen to paper with a five year contract.

James Milner - 5 Year Contract

The deal sees City’s Stephen Ireland moving in the opposite direction to once again link up with former City skipper Richard Dunne.

The signing of Milner will probably signal the end of City’s summer spending spree, which has coast the owners in excess of £100m and has again brought calls of ‘money won’t buy success’ from other quarters.

The deal for Milner looked to have stalled following Martin O’Neill’s resignation as Villa boss and Ireland’s apparent demand for a £2m pay off to leave Eastlands, but finally an agreement was made and both players passed medicals at their respective new clubs today.

Milner will be unavailable for the trip to Romania in the Europa League on Thursday but could make his City debut against Liverpool at Eastlands on Monday night.

As true blues, we would like to wish Ireland good luck at Villa (not too much luck though) and welcome Milner to Eastlands.

The fallout between City and Craig Bellamy will temporarily end today as the Welsh striker is set to sign for Cardiff on loan.

Cardiff Bound

Bellers has been omitted from City’s 25 man squad for the new Premiership season and has been linked to Spurs, Fulham and Celtic but Championship side Cardiff look to have beaten them all to Belles signature.

The striker has been unhappy at City since former boss Mark Hughes was sacked in December and replaced by Roberto Mancini. Since then, Bellamy has had a series of bust-ups with the manager and Brian Marwood which have resulted in fines and more recently, Bellers apparent expulsion from the City training ground.

Bellamy was one of City’s best players last season but is has been clear for some time that the striker doesn’t feature in Mancini’s future plans for the blues. Prior to his omission from the squad, Bellamy threatened to quit football altogether but now his home tow club have give him the opportunity to thrive again, despite Spurs boss Harry Redknapp’s efforts to tempt him to White Hart Lane.

Maybe this will be a good move for Bellers. With him moving out of the Premiership limelight, it could be the perfect opportunity to show the blues exactly what they are missing.

What do you think? Have the blues made a mistake in allowing Bellers to leave? Will Balotelli be any better? Let us know your thoughts

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