Manchester City F.C. for sale.

With no English Football Club safe from predatory billionaires, we have to ask ourselves if "the beautiful game" has now become a rich man's toy?

So, is owning a Football Club the new 'must have' accessory for the fashionable man about town? Is a seat on the Board of a Premier Division Club a tax off-set for the successful bidder, or is it another way of courting fame, a wannabe way of mixing with the footballing stars and their celebrity hangers-on? Just another bit of arm candy for the boys in the money club?

It seems we can't halt the inexorable march of the billionaire predators who have set their sights on Football Clubs that will enhance their standing. And now we await the outcome of the bid for Manchester City by the ex-Prime Minister of Thailand Mr. Thaksin Shinawatra, the business tycoon over whose head hangs a corruption charge that won't go away. WIll the powers-that-be pronounce him a "fit and proper person" to run a Premiership Club? Will the Thai Government seek extradition of the man they ousted in a military coup nine months ago, as they have threatened? If they do, where will Man. City stand?

In Mr. Thaksin Shinawatra's case, is possession of an English Premiership Club, a political ploy? The Thai people are passionate about football and the owner of one of the top Clubs would have a fan club that would give him a very good political base in the country. As Thaksin has already tried to buy Liverpool Football Club, put feelers out for Manchester United and now is bidding for Manchester City, one has to ask whether this is a genuine football fan anxious to help, or a man who wants to use the possession of the club as a political lever back home. To be fair to Mr. Thaksin, he has legions of friends in the impoverished Thai countryside who benefited from his debt relief schemes and cheap medical care and they, football club or not, would welcome him back home.

Today promises to be the day when the Club will announce whether or not his bid has been successful. Maybe then, Sven-Goran Ericksson, from whom it has been as hard to elicit a statement as from his fellow national, Greta Garbo, will tell us whether he will take the job as Manager. The Swede is nobody's fool and maybe he awaits the outcome of the charges hanging over Mr. Thaksin. A 9-judge panel in Bangkok has until July to decide whether to press ahead with the charges that are dogging Mr. Thaksin.

There is speculation that more Clubs could be up for grabs. Since Chelsea went for £140 Million to Roman Abramovich in 2003, investors have been increasingly lured by the heady mix of glamour, media exposure and profits (albeit modest compared with their holdings in other commodities).

As a football fan, I view the future with jaundiced eyes and deep-seated cynicism. What do the readers think? email me with your opinions or start a discussion.