I wouldn't say they were so **** to be honest, they had some pretty class players before the takeover, which happened on deadline day, and their first signing was robinho... players they signed before the takeover in that window were Jo, Shaun Wright Phillips, Tal Ben Haim, Vincent Kompany, Pablo Zabaleta... but even before those they still had a pretty decent team... Michah Richards, Steven Ireland, Geovanni was immense, so was Elano and Martin Petrov, Richard Dunne was a tank at the back.. and they had the likes of Joey Barton, and Benjani, who was in pretty decent form back then.
So to say they were **** before the new owners is a bit disrespectful to Man City imo.