The gospel according to Real Madrid is evidently required reading at Manchester City. First the unprecedented spending spree, then the grand unveiling in front of a stadium agog with expectant fans. For Eastlands, read the budget Bernabeu.
They attracted 10,000 to their fans' open day on Thursday, compared to almost 10 times that number who trooped to Real's aristocratic home in the heart of old money Madrid to see Cristiano Ronaldo in white.
They watched new arrivals worth £100 million, half Real's summer spend, put through their paces by Mark Hughes, a man who no doubt spent many of his pre-seasons as a player being put through hill sprints as far from the glare of publicity as is humanly possible.
But it could nevertheless have been seen as a subconscious homage to Florentino Perez's guide to mass rallies, those evenings when he invites his legions of devotees to gaze upon his latest trinket from one of Europe's most exclusive boutiques, and, of course, the president who makes such purchases possible.
There was an absence of the evangelical fervour that characterise Perez's gatherings, but the sense of destiny sweeping a club once emblematic of Manchester's downtrodden is unmistakable.
Pre-season is usually a time of dread for those associated with City. It is a time of dark looks and black humour as the other Manchester, United, unveil yet another superstar, preparation for an assault on yet another trophy.
Now, though, the supporters are shouting their hopes from the rooftops. They have even reworked Bill Shankly's old maxim, joking that Eastlands is home to the best, and second best, team in Manchester. The fear among the game's established order is palpable.
Even Sir Alex Ferguson has noticed. The grand old knight reserves his sharpest, most acerbic words for those rivals he sees as threats, so Hughes should consider his summer's work a success purely because he is now deemed worthy of his old mentor's vitriol.
The United manager took the bait dangled on City's poster hook, prominently placed on Deansgate, welcoming Carlos Tevez to Manchester. Small-time, he called them. Once, maybe. Not any more. Not with this money.
Ferguson is not the only one who has been quick to condemn City's new-found wealth, their primacy in the transfer market, enjoying their role as easily-loathed nouveaux riches. David Moyes, the Everton manager, has accused them of a lack of respect over their pursuit of Joleon Lescott.
He will be pleased to know that Hughes on Thursday insisted again that the England international – in Moyes's squad for Friday night's friendly against Malaga – remains Everton's player, and it is now up to the Goodison Park club, who have already rejected two bids, to help any potential transfer progress.
Rafael Benitez, the Liverpool manager, suggested it was the wallet, not the project, that attracted players to Eastlands, while Chelsea's Carlo Ancelotti believes they will not be able to tempt the very best players and even the usually cerebral Arsene Wenger, the Arsenal manager, has been drawn into the debate.
They make an easy, almost lazy, target. They are presumptuous, after all. Look at them, mimicking the might of Madrid, just because they have come into some cash.
Yet City's feet remain firmly on the ground. The stands on Thursday were not packed with tourists enjoying Mexican waves, but with parents and children, grateful for a glimpse, free of charge, of new signings and old heroes. It was a school holidays day out, rather than a display of power.
The players come from all over the world, the money from deep underneath the Persian Gulf, but, as another, older City poster campaign put it, this is their city. They may now exist in the global spotlight, but they intend to keep it that way.
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