Thaksin Shinawatra is set to be the leading player in what has been described as a "pantomime" as Manchester City head for meltdown and possible financial and football disaster.

The former Thai Prime Minister's decision to part company with manager Sven-Goran Eriksson has sparked a player revolt, and now Richard Dunne, Micah Richards and Michael Johnson are set to lead an exodus from the City of Manchester Stadium.
They, and lots of other people apparently, just can't work with, or for, Thaksin any longer after he made it plain that Sven did not fit in with his plans for the club - despite the Swede avoiding what many thought would simply be a relegation battle in the Premier League last season.

Instead, City's early-season form saw them challenging for a top-four spot, and in the end they finished a very creditable ninth in the table and laid claim to a place in Europe via the UEFA Cup and the Fair Play League.
Whatever the arguments either way, Sven has done what he was asked to do - and more - since taking over at Eastlands last summer.

But a City insider has said: "Sven is going - but that will just be the start of the pantomime."
Thaksin has lost control and, what's more important, any respect he had from the employees at Manchester City and football folk in general.

And unless he brings in a really strong man to replace Eriksson, and gives him wads of cash, City look likely to be faced with a battle against relegation next season and, in time, the loss of all that highly lucrative Sky TV cash.