Richard Dunne: Manchester City have lost their soul chasing Premier League and European dominance
Chasing the dream could see Manchester City lose it's soul according to former skipper Richard Dunne
FORMER Manchester City skipper Richard Dunne thinks his former club could lose their soul in the pursuit of European dominance.
Dunne, 36, spent nine years at City and was appointed club captain in 2006.
The defender was at the club when Sheikh Mansour took over in 2008 and started splashing the cash.
He feels the club moving training base from Carrington to the Etihad Campus could have a detrimental effect.
Dunne told "Carrington [the previous training ground], you knew everyone, because the building was so small. Everyone was on top of each other and everyone knew each other.
"There (the new Etihad Campus), I’d imagine you wouldn’t know half the people in the building because it’s so big. It will lose its soul a bit but that’s just the way football is.
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The former Republic of Ireland defender took his son the new multi million pound state of the art Etihad Campus and was struck by how the club was unrecognisable for the one he left for Aston Villa in 2009.
He added "When we went [to the new training campus], the Saudi Arabian women’s team was playing on one pitch. There was another match, I don't know who they were on another pitch. It was just like What is this place?’
"There are 17 pitches in it. There are different entrances for different people on different sides of the people – one for the academy and one for the first team.
"One dressing-room on one side and ten on the other. They don’t come across each other at all. But I think the new manager is trying to introduce some of the academy players getting picked to train with the first team for experience. That will help.
"The way we had it, we knew everybody. You mix with them and play games, and you had reserve games.
It will lose its soul bit, but that's the way football has gone."