Sven-Goran Eriksson’s appointment as Manchester City boss in July 2007 set in motion a whirlwind period that remains fondly remembered by the Blues faithful.

Following the move to what was then known as the City of Manchester Stadium in 2003, enthusiasm swiftly evaporated as a period of drift took hold during the later days of Kevin Keegan’s reign and the duration of Stuart Pearce’s tenure.

A buyout by former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra would prove to be every bit as dubious as many feared at the time.

But the accompanying arrival of former England manager Eriksson gave the club a shot in the arm it badly needed.

At West Ham on the opening day of the 2007/08 season, 36 days on from his appointment, eight City players made their first-team debuts following a trolley dash around Europe.

Some of those new signings became instant heroes, while others missed the mark – as you’d expect from a squad that went on to beat Manchester United home and away but concluded their campaign with a farcical 8-1 loss at Middlesbrough.

Here, we have a look at Sven’s men, what they brought to City and what happened next.

Vedran Corluka

A cultured defender, equally at home at right-back and centre-half at this early stage of his career, Corluka looked set to have a long and fruitful City career ahead of him.

However, he was one of the faces that didn’t fit when Mark Hughes replaced Eriksson a year later. Pablo Zabaleta’s arrival signposted Corluka’s departure, with his winning spot-kick in the UEFA Cup shoot-out win over FC Midtjylland his final contribution in a sky blue shirt.

The absurd 2008 deadline day that ended with Robinho signing for City in a British record deal began with Corluka switching to Tottenham. He spent three-and-a-half seasons in north London before joining Lokomotiv Moscow via a loan stint at Bayer Leverkusen.

Vedran retired earlier this year after almost a decade in the Russian capital and he is now an assistant coach with his country Croatia, having become a cap centurion alongside the likes of Luka Modric and Ivan Rakitic at international level.

Charting the path from Shakhtar Donetsk to Manchester that Fernandinho would follow over half a decade later, silky Brazilian playmaker Elano quickly won the hearts of City fans.

He set up the opening goal in that celebratory 2-0 opening day win at West Ham, while his unerring free-kick missile into the top corner during a 3-1 September win over Newcastle United remains one of the finest goals the Etihad Stadium has ever seen.

Elano was also a virtual guarantee from the penalty spot, although his on-field union with Robinho ultimately promised more than it was allowed to deliver under Hughes. He still had a bravura UEFA Cup performance against Hamburg in the locker, where he scored and clattered both posts as City heroically bowed out in a quarter-final thriller.

Fans were still sad to see Elano go, given he was a player who could certainly have thrived alongside the calibre of players signed as the money rolled in. A return to Santos in his homeland followed and the 40-year-old largely remained in Brazil thereafter, where he left his job as head coach of Serie D club Ferroviaria on a mutual agreement after their relegation last season.

Martin Petrov

As City made a flying start to the season, Petrov starred alongside Elano. A winger with elite pedigree, his rampaging performances down the left-flank evoked City greats of old.

Like Elano, he suffered some frustrations under Hughes but managed to outlast the Welshman, scoring in Roberto Mancini’s first game at the helm against Stoke City on Boxing Day 2009.

Injuries then took a toll, however, and Petrov left when his contract expired in June 2010. Spells with Bolton and Espanyol followed before returning to his native Bulgaria with CSKA Sofia.

Unlike some who returned for Vincent Kompany’s testimonial in 2019, Petrov had kept himself in very good shape and displayed plenty of the tricks of old.

Rolando Bianchi

Italian striker Bianchi was the beneficiary of Elano’s dreamy ball across the West Ham area on that balmy east London afternoon. The £8.8 million signing from Reggina looked like the perfect attacking spearhead of the Sven revolution.

He didn’t manage a second Premier League goal until December and, although that prompted a flurry of three in four outings, he was back in Italy on loan at Lazio the following month.

“I am learning the language but I have raised the white flag with English food. I don’t like it,” Bianchi said at the time, having unapologetically struggled to adapt to new surroundings. “I think I am the only teetotaller in the whole Premier League. My teammates were surprised when I refused a mouthful of beer. They looked at me as if I was an extra-terrestrial.”

Bianchi joined Torino on a permanent deal in 2008 and scored 77 times in 179 appearances for the Turin club, before considerably less-fruitful jaunts to Atalanta, Mallorca, Perugia and Pro Vercelli.

Valeri Bojinov

Bianchi’s culture shock wouldn’t have been such a problem for Eriksson had it not been for the cruciate ligament injury that Bojinov suffered on his full debut in August’s Manchester derby.

The highly-rated Bulgarian arrived from Fiorentina but cruel injury blows would remain the theme of his time in Manchester. A prolific pre-season in 2008 merely preceded him rupturing an Achilles tendon in the warm-up before an opening Premier League match at Aston Villa.

By the time Bojinov returned, City were under new ownership. He scored his first Premier League goal for the Blues on his final appearance versus Tottenham on the last day of the 2008/09 campaign. Carlos Tevez, Roque Santa Cruz and Emmanuel Adebayor all arrived the following summer.

A nomadic career followed, including stints with Parma, Sporting Lisbon, Partizan Belgrade and Levski Sofia, where the 35-year-old signed a one-year contract extension earlier this year to prolong a third spell with the club.

He became assistant manager at Septemvri Sofia in June 2022, while still playing for the club.

Former Barcelona attacker Geovanni completed the opening victory at West Ham with a debut goal from the bench and his deflected long-range strike sent Eastlands into raptures in the Manchester derby.

It proved to be the only goal as the Blues held out for a hard-fought win over Sir Alex Ferguson’s side, although the impressive form of Elano and Stephen Ireland meant he struggled for regular starts and that derby-day strike remained the high point of a one-season City career.

Geovanni then joined Premier League newcomers Hull City and another early-season goal rush followed, including memorable efforts in upset triumphs at Tottenham and Arsenal.

A stint with San Jose Earthquakes followed before Geovanni concluded his career back in Brazil with Vitoria.

Javier Garrido

A technically gifted left-back, Garrido began the season as Eriksson’s first-choice before defensive vulnerabilities saw him fall behind the experienced Michael Ball in the pecking order.

Garrido’s wand of a left foot saw him dispatch a free-kick the following season against Liverpool and, as one of the few Sven buys to outlast Hughes, he did likewise at the start of the Mancini era in a win at Wolves.

He moved to Lazio in 2010 and returned to England as a more rounded performer with Norwich City in 2012. Garrido, 36, joined Las Palmas after four years in Norfolk and closed out his playing days at Real Union after a spell with Cypriot club AEK Larnaca.

“He comes from Zimbabwe, he scores on derby day.”

Benjani enjoyed an unforgettable debut, glancing home Petrov’s first-half cross for what would prove to be the decisive goal in City’s first win at Old Trafford since 1974.

Like Geovanni, a derby goal would remain his standalone City highlight following a deadline day move from Portsmouth.

Persistent thigh injuries hampered his progress under Hughes and an FA Cup winner at Middlesbrough during the early days of Mancini was effectively a swansong before he was loaned to Sunderland.

A move to Blackburn and a return to Portsmouth followed before Benjani completed his professional career in South Africa. A goal in Kompany’s testimonial was rapturously received at the Etihad Stadium, as the old song cranked up one more time.

Felipe Caicedo

Bojinov’s injury and Bianchi’s departure left Eriksson scrambling for January attacking reinforcements as City’s designs on reaching Europe started to meet with harsh reality.

Hulking forward Caicedo joined from Basel and made his debut from the bench in the Benjani derby. All 10 of his appearances under Sven came from the bench and did not yield a goal.

The Ecuadorian youngster was incredibly raw at the time and, although he showed flashes of his potential in amassing seven goals in 2008/09, he was another player whose development was outstripped by that of the club as a whole.

Nevertheless, Caicedo has gone on to enjoy a fine career, largely in Spain and Italy. His final loan spell away from City at Levante in 2010/11 saw him score 14 times in 29 appearances, although he played for Lokomotiv Moscow and Al-Jazira before returning LaLiga with Espanyol in 2014.

At Lazio, where he played for four seasons from August 2017, Caicedo became something of a late-goal specialist. HE had further Serie A stints with Genoa and then on loan at Inter, before a move to Saudi Arabian club Abha..

Nery Castillo

Plenty of the names above, for one reason or another, fall into the cult hero category. But, be honest, you’d forgotten Nery Castillo ever played for City, hadn’t you?

And yet, the Mexico forward’s one-year loan signing from Shakhtar in December 2008 was one that caused plenty of buzz. Castillo had been a highly-rated youngster at Olympiacos and his arrival was supposed to propel the Blues’ charge for a UEFA Cup spot.

Eriksson marvelled at Castillo paying half of his loan fee to make the move happen, but his City career never got going after he suffered a fractured shoulder in an FA Cup replay against West Ham.

The diminutive attacker did not require surgery but he was restricted to two league starts and nine appearances overall, the last of which came in the Middlesbrough mauling.

Further loans at Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk, Chicago Fire and Aris followed. Castillo then went back to Mexico with Pachuca and Leon and turned 30 after a season with Spanish club Rayo Vallecano in 2013/14. He never played professionally again.

Farmer Blake Shelton is at it again! The country superstar is busy planting seeds on his sprawling Oklahoma farm and he once again took to social media to commemorate the occasion. 

In a new video shared on social media, Shelton takes fans along for the seed-planting process in a hilarious way.

“Got my old friend out of the barn today!!! It’s Kubota time people. Kubota time….,” Shelton captioned the brief clip. 

Got my old friend out of the barn today!!! It’s Kubota time people. Kubota time…. pic.twitter.com/Q6Uaz2rcYj

— Blake Shelton (@blakeshelton)

In the video, the “No Body” singer is seen riding a Kubota tractor on the fields of his ranch as he jokingly sings a song, which appears to be a parody of the 4 Non Blondes’ hit, “What’s Up.”

“We’re doing it baby,” he shouts. 

He later begins to sing, “I’m writing this song as I’m planting my seed. I ain’t got time to stop and I might’ve just peed.”

Oklahoma Farming

Despite being a world-renowned star, Shelton’s heart remains firmly rooted in the land he calls home. He often shares videos from his farm where he grows vegetables and flowers. Most recently, Shelton began work on his fall food plots.  

“It’s Kubota time my friends… #farming,” Shelton wrote in a post dated August 17. 

In the video, he says: “It is time to prepare the fall food plots, yee haw!  I’m sure there’s a lot of really smart people out there that are saying ‘but Blake it’s too soon to be preparing your fall food plots’ and to those people I say ‘so.’” 

Nods To Gwen Stefani’s Latest Single

Prior to readying his farm for fall seeding, Shelton removed a dead tree from his property as he switched up some of the lyrics to his wife Gwen Stefani’s single, “True Babe.”

“Playing the SHIT out of @gwenstefani‘s new song “True Babe”!!! Even writing new lyrics!!” Shelton captioned the clip.

“Take the truck and cut up this tree, up this tree,” he sings in the video.

Blake Shelton wrapped his Back to the Honky Tonk Tour earlier this year. The trek, which featured support from Carly Pearce and Jackson Dean, kicked off on February 16 and ran through March 25. 

While his tour may be over, Shelton has a few dates left on the books for the remainder of the year. On September, 16, he’s slated to headline Coastal Country Jam in Long Beach California. He’s also scheduled to perform at Boots in the Park in Tempe, Arizona on September 23. He’ll ring in the new year in Thackerville, Oklahoma at the WinStar World Casino on December 31. 

Blake Shelton wrapped his time on The Voice this spring, but he has plenty to keep him busy. 

On top of his stepdad duties to Gwen Stefani’s three sons, his show, Barmageddon, is set to return for a second season. Details surrounding season two of the show have yet to be announced, however, Old Red Nashville was recently closed for Barmageddon filming.  

People’s Choice Country Awards

Additionally, Blake Shelton is currently nominated for four trophies at the inaugural People’s Choice Country Awards, which will take place at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville on Thursday, September 28.

At the event, Shelton will also honor Toby Keith as he presents his fellow Oklahoma native with the Country Icon Award.