“With the January transfer window closed and Boro having cut various deals to expel some players and recruit others, what have we learned? Let’s start with a look at the Outgoing column. The most significant of these was of course the transfer of Adam Johnson, a deal that should benefit both Manchester City and ourselves, let alone giving the player an opportunity to thrive on the biggest of stages. In letting him go, we have effectively jettisoned the last of the crown jewels, albeit one that caught us a bit by surprise as we didn’t know until his loan spell at Watford quite what a star we had on our hands.” (Smog Blog)

“History, it has been said many times, is written by the victors. It’s a thought that may pass through the heads of some older Manchester City supporters during their League Cup semi-final against Manchester United at The City of Manchester Stadium this evening. It is a scarcely believable twenty-nine years since the blue half of Manchester made so much as the semi-final of a major competition. Much has happened to City since then, but what is often forgotten in the fog of history is just how close they came to winning the 1981 FA Cup and what sort of a difference to the club such a win may have made. There would certainly have been few that would have confidently predicted in 1981 that the club would not get as close again to winning a trophy in the next three decades.” (twohundredpercent)