I helped start the Man City project and still watch the 2007/08 DVD - I really regret leaving

The very moment Elano Blumer's right leg swung forward, boot cutting across the iconic Nike Total 90 ball placed 25 yards from goal, everyone inside the City of Manchester Stadium knew what the outcome was going to be.

It takes something special to change the mindset of a long-suffering fanbase, one that has come to accept its fate of turgid football, inevitable let-downs and lower-table malaise. Nothing exciting happened at Manchester City, particularly in 2007.

The 2006/07 season was a case of same-old for City. The optimism and positivity that slowly built throughout the previous year of Stuart Pearce's management evaporated, as did any suggestion that City could score a goal. The Blues scored just 10 at home all season, 29 in all. It felt like the words 'City' and 'entertainment' didn't belong in the same language, never mind the same sentence.

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The summer of 2007 brought chaos and change in equal measure. The former Prime Minister of Thailand, Thaksin Shinawatra, saved City from the very real threat of bankruptcy when he bought the club, and he didn't waste any time in injecting much-needed funds into his project.

Former England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson was convinced to join by the promise of investment in the playing squad, and that's exactly what he got. The eight new players who came in were, in truth, pretty hit-and-miss, but one still manages to hold a place in City hearts despite only staying in Manchester for two years.

City were not in the business of signing Brazilian midfielders, but when they decided that they were, they did it well. Two weeks