Distin Exit Leaves Sour Taste

It was one of the worst kept secrets that ex-City skipper Sylvain Distin wanted out of the club to "seek a fresh challenge". None of us will be surprised that he's left, especially as he's come close to leaving several times over the course of the last few transfer windows.

What will come as a surprise though is that despite interest from quite a few clubs, including an 11th hour attempt by Liverpool to sign him, he's opted to join Portsmouth to pursue his dreams of major domestic and European honours.

Now with respect to Pompey, Distin has taken a big gamble in what at his age will probably be his last "big" move. I know that big Harry has done a sterling job to revive Pompey's fortunes, but as a manager he's got very little European pedigree as indeed do Portsmouth. It is a surprise therefore that Distin has chosen to follow David James to the south coast.

I don't blame Distin at all for wanting to move. He's been a great servant for City; a model professional, without whom, Christ knows we're City would have ended up. His partnership with Dunny has consistently been the best central defensive partnership for the last two to three seasons and we'll miss him next season for sure.

In a sense and now at 29, poor old Distin has wasted his best years at a club that's been in turmoil for a while, and with a recent string of managers that were never going to seriously challenge for any sort of honours.

What really leaves a sour taste though, is that a club like Portsmouth is considered a much better option for winning honours than City. Sadly, at the moment you'd probably have to agree, but that is a damning indictment of the years of under-investment and lack of ambition shown by the board; that's the thing that really hurts the fans.

His swift move and cryptic comments also raise some darker questions about City's future and the ongoing saga of the takeover. Like many fans, I'll believe it when I see it happen and I suspect there will be a few stings in the tail before it actually happens, if indeed it ever does.

I just have a bad feeling about the Thai takeover, especially reading today about the restrictive financial regulations for taking such large sums of money out of Thailand. Given that the ex-PM has a bit of a "colourful" past, it is by no means certain that the deal will actually materialise and it could all end up like it did when he attempted to take control of Liverpool.

So, farewell Sylvain and thanks for five years of service. He is a class act and Harry has again pulled off a bit of a coup. Personally, I think he's rushed into the wrong move, but time will tell.