City stalwart Barnes has mixed feelings about brave new world

Exactly two years after his GBP210 million (HK$2.54 billion) takeover, Manchester City owner Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al-Nahyan chose last weekend's 3-0 victory over Liverpool to make his first visit to Eastlands. Watching with mixed feelings from Asian soil was one of the heroes from the club's last side to win a major trophy.

Former winger Peter Barnes scored the opening goal as Manchester City lifted the 1976 English League Cup with a 2-1 victory over Newcastle United in the final. Thirty-four years later, the Citizens are still chasing their next significant silverware, despite an unprecedented spending spree.

'Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought I'd see the royal family from Abu Dhabi owning our football club and opening satellite academies in places like New York and Dubai,' said Barnes, who lives in Kuala Lumpur. 'Hopefully, it's for the better and we won't lose our identity.'

The Barnes family was involved with Manchester City for almost six decades until the death last month of his father, Ken, at the age of 81. Between them, Peter and Ken Barnes made almost 400 league appearances for the club from 1951 to 1988. Ken also served as assistant manager in the early 1970s, scout in the 1980s and 1990s, and then president of the ex-players' association.

The link to Asia comes through the Ken Barnes Soccer Skills Academy, which has been developing youth talent across Malaysia for a decade and arranging training trips for talented hopefuls to clubs including Manchester City and Manchester United.

Peter Barnes joined City as an apprentice at 15, also played two seasons with United, and was capped 22 times by England between 1977 and 1982. But as he monitors developments 10,000 kilometres away, the 53-year-old is concerned the nurturing of junior players may suffer as City manager Roberto Mancini continues to woo expensive imports in the hope of quickly satisfying the wishes of his new bosses.