Barnes: There’s no time like the present for city

If Manchester City’s new owners are serious about taking the club into football’s elite, they need to set the ball rolling immediately this season according to John Barnes.

"You cannot think long term in football," Barnes told XPRESS.

The former Anfield favourite explained that a five- or 10-year plan as revealed by new owners Abu Dhabi United Group Investment and Development Limited could make success harder to achieve.

"Rather than people here thinking ‘how long it will take for us to be there’, all they have to think is how can we progress this season and the following one. So if you think, ‘it’s going to take us five years’, you are not looking at year one, two, three, four. You may get relegated in year one, but is that OK because you’re thinking of five years?

"To say how long it will take doesn’t make sense to me. Let’s not talk about the top four, let’s talk about when are they going to finish fifth? When are they going to win a cup? When are they going to improve to compete against the big boys. Let’s talk about that rather than think five years.

"Unless you take care of the first, second, third, fourth year, that fifth year never comes," he added.

Barnes, speaking on the sidelines of his punditry stint with Showtime, said success for City that hasn’t arrived since their second League Cup win 32 years ago would also depend on the liberty handed to manager Mark Hughes.

"The manager is the most important person. So, are they going to allow Hughes to manage? Mark Hughes didn’t sign Robinho. He may or may not be happy with him. But the issue of whether he’s happy with him or not is not important. What’s important is he didn’t sign him.

"Even if he is happy with him but he didn’t sign him, if that is the strategy of the club, they may sign someone whom he’s not happy with.

"Therefore he has to be the one who signs the players. So if they are now the ones who are going to want to be signing Ronaldo and Mark Hughes isn’t happy, that’s a recipe for disaster," warned Barnes.