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Toure begins to pay off massive investment

The 74th-minute strike that secured a 1-0 FA Cup Final win over Stoke City will be celebrated wildly by the club's supporters, just as they lauded his effort in the same net that beat Manchester United in the semi-final to set up the club's fifth FA Cup success and first trophy since 1976.

The seemingly bottomless pockets of owner Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan enabled City to pay 24 million pounds to prize Toure away from Barcelona and pay him a wage reported by local media to be a startling 200,000 pounds per week.

As other big names arrived at Eastlands, Toure told Reuters at the start of the season: "We can make this club huge."

"The dream is now real and it's so fantastic to win, fantastic for the history of the club," the Ivorian told reporters.

"For me when we started the season, I said to the other players it would be fantastic to win something, and I think it is amazing we have won this final to go with our Champions League place."

Although Stoke failed to offer anything much more than battling defence in their first final appearance the game was heading extra time as City's chances began to dry up.

However, instead of lining up at the heart of City's defence and lifting the famous trophy, Kolo Toure was sitting in the stands as he has done since March when he was suspended following a positive drugs test.