IAN HERBERT: Sheikh Mansour is the unlikely saviour of football. Man City's owner knows his manager, players and fans don't want the Super League... His early decision to pull out was the catalyst for this greedy scheme to QUICKLY crumble

From Day One, the very point of Abu Dhabi buying Manchester City was reputation and image. Winning friends and influencing people.

It was all about the Gulf state revealing qualities of sophistication and imagination - differentiating itself from Qatar, brash Dubai, or anywhere you cared to mention on earth.

This brand image would be there in perpetuity, good for the time when the oilfields were drained dry. In other words, it was never about the money.

And that is why City’s decision to join the desultory, avaricious band of money-grabbers plotting their Super League breakaway was so baffling to behold in the first place.