I felt conflicted, I must admit, as having seen too many disappointing and downright incompetent owners at the club, I feared this lot would be similar for all their talk. They have proved my fears unfounded, and I'm ashamed of my initial misgivings.
When you say regime, do you mean AD, or the UAE which it is part of? Either way, City were purchased by Sheikh Mansour as an individual, under the umbrella of ADUG. For some time he has owned, I think, around 70% of shares, with the rest being owned by the US company Silverlake. What you call elaborate justifications are usually explanations of truths about the matter that you find inconvenient. However, no City fan (and no supporter of any other club for that matter) has to justify anything to anybody. As you say, old loyalties die hard, as you will see if United get bought by Qataris, so why should somebody be expected to justify something that will happen anyway whether you like it or not? Furthermore, people who demand as you do usually seem to forget that most people, again no matter who they support in football, do not share the principles that they love to loudly trumpet (these days mainly online it seems.)
Which journalists have been attacked btw? Were they badly injured?