Who Says Ten Men Can't Win?

"Premier League refereeing is truly beyond words!"

In the directors' box, Soriano and Begiristain were accompanying Mansour and Mubarak as they watched the match.

They had watched Man City breach Arsenal's goal in just forty-five seconds. They had watched Micah Richards get sent off for a completely unnecessary foul. And they had watched Nasri finish off a beautiful attacking move to score.

Likewise, they had felt the changing emotions of the Man City fans in the stands.

Most of them had fallen silent.

Just like the silent majority in real life, they had suffered grievances and run into trouble, yet endured it quietly.

Without Mansour's investment, Man City would have been an utterly ordinary Premier League team: no star players, no heritage, and not even a stadium of their own. Every season, they would have struggled to avoid relegation.

What did it mean for a team to have the mentality of a strong side, the heritage of a giant?

When everything went smoothly, they remained neither arrogant nor impatient. When facing adversity, they stayed neither discouraged nor dispirited.

Even Rooney had dared to declare to the media after renewing his contract with Manchester United, "We aren't afraid of how far behind we are right now, because we're used to turning things around in the second half of the season."

The players were like that, and so were the fans.

No matter how many goals you put past Liverpool at Anfield, their fans would keep supporting and cheering for the team without end.

They wouldn't cheer simply because you won, then fall into despair because you lost.

Perhaps this was putting it too strongly, but in truth, fans also needed to be educated and shaped.

They were the inheritors of a club's culture and the embodiment of its character.

It was