Thursday gossip

It's a long time since Owen Hargreaves hogged the headlines,
but then the England midfielder deserves every one after his long battle
to regain fitness despite his injuries.

His scoring debut for City, three years to the day since he last
completed 90 minutes, means he's the only tale in town, and the Telegraph picks up on his Sky Sports interview later.

They report that "he scored with a superb shot from 22 metres
after 17 minutes and was also impressive linking the play and giving
City the edge.

"Hargreaves
was given a rapturous round of applause when he went off, injury free
after 57 minutes, proving that he had regained his fitness."

Then, having given older readers time to stop spluttering as to
how metres could have supplanted yards in Her Majesty's Telegraph, they
continue with Owen's TV quotes.

"The last three years have been a learning curve for me - I could
never have anticipated myself being in that position, which was trying
to make the most of a difficult situation.

Meanwhile, goal.com are among those who spotted the best news line in Roberto Mancini's conference after the 2-0 win over Birmingham.

They report, as we did, that he "feels Owen Hargreaves can force
his way back into the England team if his recovery continues as it has,
having watched the midfielder score on his City debut."

They quote Roberto: “It’s important we don’t overdo it with him
because if he can become the fantastic player he was, I think he will be
important for us and also for the England team.”

The New York Times
is still digesting plans for the new Academy and Etihad campus:
"Manchester City Invests in Itself, Using Barcelona as a Model" is the
rather quaint headline. Only in America.

Over at the Times of Malta, they've heard that Carlos Tevez was caught doing 38 in, er, Stretford. "City’s Tevez fined for speeding in Bentley," they report.

Now if it had been a Skoda, that would be news, chaps ...

I refuse to comment until lee1 gets back!