The demand for tickets for tonight's friendly clash with the United Arab Emirates national team has been so great that organisers have upped the original allocation of 26,000.
That means a crowd of 32,000 are expected for the prestige friendly, with Blues owner Sheikh Mansour among them.
And that beats the 8,000 who turned up to see Germany beat the local boys 7-2 in June.
THE taxi driver running me from the airport to the hotel on arrival passed the new Blue football test.
On hearing I had flown in from rainy England, he asked which part of England I was from.
When I answered "Manchester," he promptly said: "Ah, Manchester City!"
Maybe the tide has turned - at least in one small corner of the Middle East.
It is a good job that particular driver didn't pick up the man a few seats in front of me on the Etihad flight - it was Sir Bobby Charlton!
The locals are keen to show their liking for the Blues, but on being pressed, they tend to admit a preference for United or Arsenal.
THE City boys training at the Al Jazeera Stadium in the relative cool of the evening had a surprise visitor when Sheikh Mansour dropped into watch their impromptu session.
THE Blues have joined a prestigious threesome by signing a deal with the Abu Dhabi Sports Council.
The three-year agreement will see City youth coaches and technical staff visit the top professional clubs in the Emirates to help and advise the progression of football in the country.
The Sports Council already has agreements with Inter Milan and Valencia, and the deal with City completes their bid to link up with "the three best leagues in the world."
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Peter Doherty. As good as it gets. (Was it really 37 years?) , Levenshulme (12/11/2009 at 09:30)
Sven's Blonde Fajita (12/11/2009 at 10:00)
Why put that in MEN? Scientific survey? No.
Midfield General (12/11/2009 at 11:07)
I just see lots of money trying to quickly buy a superficial impersonation of prestige. It doesn't quite work like that in the real world
Kippax 36, High Heath (12/11/2009 at 11:20)
crazy p, sheffield (12/11/2009 at 11:21)
Like the one WE got when CITY beat Barca on their patch????
Paul6143, Manchester (12/11/2009 at 11:36)
timmy, manchester (12/11/2009 at 11:41)
RJKS, St Retford (12/11/2009 at 12:05)
SuperBlue22 (12/11/2009 at 12:11)
Been going round taking straw polls have you Stuart? This 'journalists' sources amount to alleged 'locals' and a 'taxi driver' Great work Stuart. It's embarrasing that in such an exciting period in City's history our own local paper can't even provide a City fan to comment on the clubs affairs, time for this clown to get back to writing loved up Fergie articles with Stuart Mathason.
Bluekev, Stockport (12/11/2009 at 13:10)
IS IT REALLY 33 YEARS, TAMESIDE
Yes , and it`s about as meaningful as the "world" club championship that your beloved rags crow about !
paul (12/11/2009 at 13:21)
Can i have the job please MEN??
Harry H, Manchester (12/11/2009 at 13:22)
simon23 (12/11/2009 at 13:27)
Jordie, Manchester (12/11/2009 at 13:35)
Paul6143, Manchester (12/11/2009 at 13:42)
Top Tip - Save yourself some money, send him back and we can do without our 'diary' in Abu Dhabi. Cheers.
Bill, Carlisle, Cumbria (12/11/2009 at 15:18)
A totally unneccessary sentence in the context of this article and one can only assume it was included as a bit of mischief making by a reporter who seemingly leans towards the dark side.
Paul Hince and Chris Bailey had their faults but their loyalties were/are 100% City.
I would have thought it preferable to the MEN's customers if their football reporters had a sense of belonging to the Clubs about which they write - Blue or Red.