article_snippet.sent: The truth is that a dark, cold night at Preston North End in mid-February is more significant.
article_snippet.sent: Previously there had been the transfer saga of autumn 2010.
article_snippet.sent: To this day, rumours persist of meetings in an underground car park at the Etihad Stadium — that one has always seemed a little fanciful — and promises of a salary in excess of £300,000 per week.
article_snippet.sent: What we do know is that there was a point when City and their manager Roberto Mancini thought the transfer was about to happen.
article_snippet.sent: You're Dead' warned graffiti on a city-centre poster carrying his image at the time.
article_snippet.sent: so then these fixtures would probably never have been the same again.
article_snippet.sent: City have won the last four and one only has to scroll through the tapes to watch the England centre forward's body language, especially during last season's 4-1 reverse at the Etihad, to see exactly how that has gone down.
article_snippet.sent: and it's little wonder.