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It was a bit rich of Jose Mourinho to tell Manchester City that they can't buy history.

After all, this is a man who works for a club that has done just that.

Real Madrid are one of the biggest clubs in football, with a record nine European Cup triumphs and 32 La Liga titles.

Arguably, they are THE biggest, thanks to a world-wide fan base that only Manchester United and Barcelona can compete with.

But scratch beneath the surface of Real's success and you wonder whether all those triumphs and trophies are worth boasting about.

This is a club that were founded in 1902 – 22 years after City were formed as West Gorton FC – that won just two titles in the first half century of its existence.

It wasn't until fascist dictator General Franco realised that he could use the people's game as a tool to keep his heel on the throats of the Catalans and Basques that the Real Madrid legend began to grow outside the club's own city.

Franco's methods to quell political opposition would have even made former City owner Thaksin Shinawatra blush.

The general's lackeys used government funds and political power to turn Madrid into the most successful club in Europe in the 1950s.

It is still a source of some rancour in Barcelona how Argentine genius Alfredo Di Stefano was able to help Real win the first five European Cups after he had already agreed a deal to play at the Nou Camp.

In the final 21 years of Franco's life, his favoured team were crowned Spanish champions 14 times.

During this period of success there were constant allegations of referees and officials being bribed and intimidated.

Ironically, it was this fight against the system that made Barcelona more than a club as they became the force behind which the people of Catalonia became united.

In terms of financial doping, Real Madrid has no equal.

The club's links with government remain incestuous.

(Image: Matt Lewis / Getty)

In 2001, even Sir Alex Ferguson was moved to publicly criticise a deal which saw Madrid sell their training ground to the city council for an overinflated price that enabled them to wipe out debts of £170million accrued during the Galaticos period.

It was typical Mourinho to fire the first shots in the inevitable mind games he will play with Roberto Mancini in the build up to Real's Champions League opener against City at the Bernabeu on Tuesday week.

You can be certain at some point that the Special One will also remind Mancini that he was the man who turned the team the Italian left behind at Inter Milan into European champions.

But when Madrid play in Manchester in November, I would advise Mourinho to give former City historian Gary James a call so that he can fill in the glaring gaps in his education.

James has just launched a book that gives an astonishingly detailed history of the Premier League champions called 'The Manchester City Years.'

At the book's launch, James told me: “Since Sheikh Mansour took over at City, rival fans have tried to paint City as a club with no history.

“Every club has history – both good and bad – but if you are measuring heritage purely in terms of success than I'd like to point out that when City won the FA Cup in 1904 it was the first time a major national trophy had been won by a Mancunian club.

“City won a trophy four years before Manchester United, 26 years before Arsenal and 51 years before Chelsea.

“They won the FA Cup 61 years before Liverpool and were the first English club to win a domestic and European trophy in the same season.

“This is the club that was playing in third tier of English football as recently as 13 years ago, but once drew a Maine Road crowd of 84,569 that remains the biggest attendance at any English ground outside of Wembley.”