5/16/2023 0 Comments Ridiculous utterly ridiculous![]() There’s Paul with his London accent: ‘Pairoj, you got to tell me what we’re doing, it’s getting out of control.’ ![]() “The phone was on the table and he was speaking to Paul Aldridge, who had previously been with West Ham and got himself in trouble, and was also part of Thaksin’s world. “Piempongsant was getting heated,” Cook told The Athletic back in 2019. The Thai businessman – unbeknownst to himself – had also given the order for City to try and sign Messi. Pairoj Piempongsant, a former teacher who later served as vice-president of the Thai FA and Shinawatra’s chief of staff when he was prime minister of Thailand, helped facilitate the takeover and played a prominent role in getting the Robinho deal over the line. The new owners had their star signing, but it’s since been revealed that Robinho wasn’t the only big-name star City made a bid for that day. The tale of Robinho thinking he’d signed for United is said to be apocryphal but according to former City CEO Garry Cook, the Brazilian had flown to London to sign for Chelsea before the freshly-minted upstarts swooped in with a better offer. The new owners were keen to usher in the new dawn with a marquee signing.ĭimitar Berbatov later revealed that his agent told City to “fuck off” after they attempted to hijack the Bulgarian’s move from Tottenham to Manchester United. Manchester City’s takeover was formally announced on transfer deadline day. He was soon to be named on the Ballon d’Or podium for the first time and on the cusp of going stratospheric with a starring role in Barcelona’s 2008-09 treble-winning campaign.Īlong with future rival Ronaldo, he was the hottest property in world football.īut what if Messi had left Barcelona that summer? What if City had pulled off the signing of the century? This is the story of the ridiculous, bizarre circumstances that led to one of the silliest bids in football history. Sven Goran Eriksson was replaced in the dugout by Mark Hughes, a promising young defender by the name of Vincent Kompany was signed from Hamburg and soon enough the controversial Thaksin Shinawatra would sell up to the Abu Dhabi United Group in a move that would reshape European football.Ī 21-year-old rising star by the name of Lionel Messi had just won Olympic Gold at the Beijing Olympics. They qualified for the UEFA Cup by virtue of the fair play table, despite Richard Dunne getting sent off in the shellacking at the Riverside Stadium. ![]() Manchester City had just finished ninth in the Premier League, ending the season with an 8-1 defeat to Middlesbrough. Sir Alex Ferguson had built another great Manchester United side, fired to a Premier League and Champions League double by the goals of Wayne Rooney, Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez. Gordon Brown was prime minister of the United Kingdom and the era of New Labour was drawing to a close after the financial crash. ‘I Kissed A Girl’ by Katy Perry was top of the charts. Cast your mind back to the summer of 2008.
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