Key man
Peter Schmeichel Released by Aston Villa last spring, the man who was once the world’s greatest keeper is almost 39 now, so his reflexes are not what they were in his heyday. What about his fitness? A knee injury in the pre-season friendly at Preston could see him miss the start of the season, but having moved clubs to be guaranteed first-team football, he will be eager to prove that he has the skills to earn City more than a few points

Coach: Kevin Keegan
A true chameleon, Special K can be charming or churlish, insightful or introspective. Suffers from a tendency to personalise criticism but has consistently produced fluent, attacking, improvisational teams. May have his hands full this season coping with assorted gargantuan egos, but makes his players feel 10 feet tall

Full squad
Goalkeepers 12 Nicky Weaver 20 Carlo Nash 1 Peter Schmeichel 32 Kevin Stuhr Ellegaard 35 Brian Murphy	Midfielders 6 Kevin Horlock 13 Christian Negouai 14 Eyal Berkovic 19 Danny Tiatto 40 Chris Shuker 8 Ali Bernabia 18 Jeff Whitley, Marc-Vivien Foe 34 Stephen Jordan 36 Glenn Whelan 37 Terry Dunfield 38 Rhys Day
Defenders 3 Niclas Jensen 4 Gerard Wiekens 15 Alf-Inge Haaland 16 Paul Ritchie 17 Sun Jihai 22 Richard Dunne 24 Steve Howey 25 Lucien Mettomo 27 Mikkel Bischoff 5 Sylvain Distin 28 Tyrone Loran 30 Patrick McCarthy 31 Laurent Charvet	Forwards 7 Darren Huckerby 11 Jon Macken 10 Shaun Goater 23 Paulo Wanchope 29 Shaun Wright-Phillips 33 Chris Killen 39 Nicolas Anelka 21 Vicente Matias Vuoso

Strongest XI

Nationalities
England (8), Ireland (4), France (3), Denmark (3), Holland (3), Cameroon (2), Northern Ireland (2), Algeria (1), Argentina (1), Australia (1), Belgium (1), Bermuda (1), China (1), Costa Rica (1), Israel (1), New Zealand (1), Norway (1), Scotland (1) Wales (1) Canada (1) Total 38

Players in
Peter Schmeichel, Sylvain Distin, Mikkel Bischoff, Vicente Matias Vuoso, Nicolas Anelka, Tyrone Loran, Marc-Vivien Foe, Rhys Day

Players out
Alioune Toure, Stuart Pearce, Richard Edghill, Terry Cooke

Instant expert
Ground Maine Road, Moss Side, Manchester M14 7WN
Telephone 0161 232 3000
Capacity 34,026
Shirt sponsor First Advice
Ticket office 0161 226 2224
Can I get a ticket? “CityCard” members can apply for home games
How to get there By rail, from Manchester Piccadilly or Victoria
Club call 09068 121 191
Club shop 0161 232 1111

Nicolas Anelka
City have paid Paris St Germain £13m for his pace and goals. Still only 23, he possesses the potential to be the Premiership’s deadliest marksman, but has the capacity to poison the dressing room

Money talk
Top earners Schmeichel £41,000, Distin £34,000, Anelka £34,000

Total wage bill £18.1m
City may be happy with their mid-table figures but Kevin Keegan will no doubt want to aim higher. Their wage bill is the 14th highest and their turnover (£32.6m) is the 12th highest

Where are they now?
Paul Hince The one-time City midfielder is a football reporter on the Manchester Evening News, covering City