Dion Fanning: For once Manchester City are compelling as Pep wrestles with a riddle

Man City have not usually engaged emotions which tend to be more pronounced when there is an element of jeopardy. 

VULNERABLE: Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola is enduring a historically bad run. Pic: Martin Rickett/PA Wire.

Happiness writes white, goes the old adage. So, according to a more recent version, does the success of a club driven by the limitless wealth of a petrostate with a questionable human rights record who have created the perfect conditions for success and yet are facing 115 financial charges which they deny.

Manchester City have not exactly risen without trace. Their journey has been charted and noted with all the emotion of a consultant studying a patient’s chart during his ward rounds on a Friday afternoon before he gets away early for 18 holes.