Richer than God. Manchester City, Modern Football and Growing Up

Richer than God is an authoritative, emotional, provocative account of Manchester City's takeover by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan of Abu Dhabi, culminating in Roberto Mancini's team's remarkable last minute Premier League title victory in May 2012. David Conn chronicles the Manchester City story, from glories in the late 1960s and excellence in the 1970s, through decades of mishaps, to its new status as the richest club in the world. The book details from the inside how Sheikh Mansour's prodigious wealth has rebuilt the formerly rundown club, propelling it to that dramatic Premier League triumph, and into the European elite.

By placing the club's extraordinary current rise in the wider context of its patchy modern history, this is also the story of English football's transformation - from the battlegrounds of the 1980s to today's moneyed, seated, global entertainment. Conn grew up in Manchester, always a City fan, and in part this is a tale of innocence: a six year old boy transfixed by his football heroes who, as an adult and writer, comes of age with the mature understanding that both his club and the game are businesses. Conn is led to question the very nature of football clubs and being a supporter, as well as the underlying values and running of what used to be called 'the people's game'.

A labour of love, this is the powerfully told tale of Manchester City's fall and rise, based on years of meticulous research, and exclusive access and interviews with key figures. Richer Than God is written in the gripping, revelatory style Conn has made his trademark, with a depth and emotion borne of experience.