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Man City - the new bitters?


Naz17
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20 minutes ago, Jairzinho said:

Did Aoral go down?


I guess so.

 

I liked the name Manu Ura in 5th.

 

The leaders Tefana with 103 goals in 21 games.

 

The table might look a bit confusing, but they get 4 points for a win, 2 points for a draw and 1 point for a loss. 

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Football 365 take on that article

 

Copy cat cocoa
‘How Jurgen Klopp copied Pep Guardiola to create Liverpool FC success’ is the preposterous headline in the Manchester Evening News that immediately gets the fingers of Mediawatch itching and a-twitching. So the team currently unbeaten and 22 points ahead of second place is only really successful because their manager ‘copied’ Pep Guardiola? Okay. This should be fun.

First of all – before we even read any of the actual piece – it is surely worth noting that Klopp did in fact win back-to-back Bundesliga titles with Borussia Dortmund so he does have some minor experience of building a successful side. It’s not like he is some bum who lucked his way into the Liverpool job and then decided that copying the best manager in Europe was the safest route to silverware. If it were, then why wouldn’t everybody simply do the same?

 

Anyway, let’s begin:

‘The narrative of this season’s title race has already been written – grand old Liverpool, steeped in history and tradition, conquering the dirty oil money of shallow, plastic Manchester City.

‘The fact that the tribe of media punditry is teeming with former Liverpool players has set that skewed narrative. But it simply isn’t true, whichever way you look at it.’

That’s one hell of a straw man you are fighting, fella. We’re not sure we have seen a single person – former Liverpool player or otherwise – painting this as a victory for tradition over money. Indeed, the only recent Google match for the phrase ‘grand old Liverpool’ is this piece. And the only match for ‘shallow, plastic Manchester City’ is this piece, too. Most are too busy marvelling at the mastery of this extraordinary Liverpool side to talk about any other narrative barring the end of a 30-year wait for the title. Largely because, well, it hasn’t actually been a ‘race’.

 

‘No-one should take away from what Liverpool have achieved – they are a brilliant team, the best in the world right now, and their brand of high-tempo, high-quality football has set a new bar so far this season.

 

‘Their coach has done a magnificent job of building a team and getting them toned and tuned to near-perfection.

 

‘But the likeable Jurgen Klopp has only become successful after tearing up his blueprint, dropping his principles, and following the example of Pep Guardiola.’

 

Except for all that success with Borussia Dortmund, you mean?

 

‘Three years ago, Klopp was sniffily having a pop at Manchester United for spending £89million on Paul Pogba, declaring he would walk away from football if it boiled down to spending big in order to win.

 

‘Roll on a couple of years, and Klopp was happily overseeing the biggest annual transfer spend in British football history, as the best part of £240million gave him Virgil Van Dijk, Fabinho, Naby Keita, Alisson, and Xherdan Shaqiri.’

 

Sorry, what? We have to stop you there because you appear to have discovered a whole new way of measuring transfer spend: the never-spotted ‘annual transfer spend’. We cannot stress enough that

 

THIS IS NOT A THING.

 

And even if it were a thing, it would mean nothing without the perspective of other ‘annual transfer spends’ – like £80m in 2017 and absolutely nothing in 2019 for example. That one in particular seems more instructive.

 

And it means even less without the perspective of Liverpool actually receiving over £150m in their – fine, we’ll play this game – annual transfer sales of 2018.

 

‘No quibble with that – all good buys, who have not only added value to the squad but have also increased their individual values on the transfer market.

 

‘Asked to explain his quite stunning U-turn, Klopp was, at least, honest, saying: “Did I change my opinion? Yes. It’s better to change your opinion than not have one at all. That’s a problem, whatever bull**** you say, no one will forget it.

 

‘”It’s still kind of true. I couldn’t have imagined the world could have changed. £100million was a crazy number but since then the world changed.”

 

‘So it was a huge change of mind and heart which turned Liverpool from contenders to Champions League winners and now Premier League certs.’

 

Well kind of. It’s true that Liverpool spending money did accelerate their progress but there are more than a few other factors: magnificent coaching, excellent scouting, extraordinary work in the transfer market to generate funds. They did spend significant money in 2018 but in the previous 18 months before the purchase of Virgil van Dijk, they had spent around £155m to City’s £368m. It was from that position of relative parsimony that they broke all those ‘annual transfer spend’ records.

In fact, in the four years since Guardiola took over at Manchester City in 2016, their spending has exceeded Liverpool’s by around £300m. Factor in incoming transfers and that figure rises to about £450m. To suggest that Klopp’s Liverpool are only winning the Premier League because they ‘copied Pep Guardiola’ is ludicrous.

 

‘Guardiola never had such noble pretences. He has always been up front about his position – he needs the best players in order to play the highly technical brand of football he loves. And the best players cost money.’

 

Well, some do. Liverpool have a right-back that cost nothing, a centre-half that cost £3.5m and a left-back that cost £8m. Klopp did not buy a whole team in those 12 heady months of 2018.

 

‘City have spent big under Guardiola, but since Klopp’s spectacular U-turn, there is little difference between the two – Liverpool have coughed up about £236million and City around £244million.

 

‘That alone is an admission that to be the best, you have to spend bigger than the rest.

Or alternatively, to be the best in a financially skewed competition, you have to spend significant sums – which you should try to part-fund yourselves through player sales – to compete with those who have already spent the equivalent of the GDP of Tonga.

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UEFA really need to make an example of these cunts. If they don’t, they may as well just scrap FFP

 

https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/manchester-city-uefa-champions-league-ffp-ban-appeal-news-latest-a9335136.html

 


It is hard to make sense of the strange dance Uefa and Manchester City are conducting over financial fair play. Two impenetrable organisations are locked in battle and the result will determine whether European football’s ruling body can exercise any control over the spending of the clubs that operate under its auspices.

This week the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) published details of City’s appeal against the decision of Uefa’s investigatory chamber to refer the club to the adjudicatory chamber over breaches of financial rules. CAS rejected City’s entreaties in November on the blindingly obvious grounds that there was no verdict or punishment to question. The adjudicatory chamber is yet to hand down its judgement. The documents provide a record of the arguments put before the Lausanne-based court four months ago.

 

Rewinding to the nub of the case, Uefa’s investigation began after the German magazine Der Spiegel published a cache of City’s internal emails three years ago. The hacked communications suggested that the club had misled the authorities over sponsorship that was supposed to have come from Etihad, the state airline of Abu Dhabi, but is alleged to have been provided by Sheikh Mansour, the owner and ruler of the Emirate.

 

City deny any wrongdoing but based their arguments to CAS on Uefa’s procedural mistakes in preparing the case. They also demanded damages for what they saw as “leaks” to the media by Uefa, which indicated that the club would be banned from the Champions League for at least a season.

 

This is where it gets interesting. Uefa were bullish about their position back in May when the investigatory chamber filed their charges but time has dragged on without an adjudicatory chamber ruling being declared. There has been a growing suspicion – even among Uefa insiders – that some sort of backroom deal was being arranged whereby City would escape a ban from European competition. The publication of CAS’s documents implies that this is not on the agenda. CAS makes its decisions public unless both parties agree to keep the details confidential. The paperwork of the Paris Saint-Germain case last year – where Uefa seemed to lose its nerve – was never released. Allowing the bitter exchanges with City into the open hints that a showdown is inevitable.

 

City’s complaints about the leaks raised eyebrows, too. Leaks, unattributed briefings – call them what you will – are common in football. All parties practise these dark arts and use them to set the agenda or heap pressure on their enemies. It is hard to take anyone who is sanctimonious about the use of leaks too seriously. In November, there were reports that a deal had been agreed and City would be hit with a fine rather than an expulsion from the Champions League. It is unlikely – given the mood in Uefa – that this came from Nyon.

 

Everybody likes to get their version of the tale out, ideally without leaving any fingerprints. Most football journalist could reel off countless occasions when the story for general consumption varied greatly with what was said in private when the Dictaphones were switched off.

It is still hard to predict what sentence the adjudicatory chamber will hand down. The decision has been made and if the worst-case scenario happens for City, there will likely be a number of time-consuming appeals. They already have one strike to their name at CAS but the club will probably challenge any ban any way they can, including through the Swiss courts.

 

If, as Uefa contend, City have transgressed against their financial fair play rules, then the Premier League will be forced to act, too. The same regulations will have been breached domestically. There is no real appetite to sanction the club but it would be inevitable. A points deduction would be the obvious option.

 

At that juncture it might make sense for City to back down, swallow their pride and take the punishment. In a season where they are 22 points behind Liverpool with no prospect of catching their rivals, being demoted a few places down the table would not be the worst thing, especially if they are suspended from the Champions League for next season. This would be painful but would have little long-term effect. Dragging everyone through the courts might end up significantly more damaging.
 

 

Uefa will make their decision clear soon. If the ruling body are feeling vindictive, they will announce it around City’s Champions League knockout round tie with Real Madrid. Real are leading lights in the old-money clique that have been ranged against the Etihad since the Abu Dhabi takeover. They would appreciate such spitefulness at the Bernabeu and Real would not be the only big club smirking if City and their nouveau riche ways get their comeuppance.

None of this is very edifying. At times like this the game feels dirty.

 

 

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Have you ever noticed on Twitter the number of City fans who have on their profile have ST holder as if they have to go out of their way to say "hey I've supported this club through thick and thin even when they were shit"

I mean this one is a season ticket holder from Spain??? Makes you wonder why they have to fiddle the attendances every week

 

 

@wendy1704

Manc living the dream in Tenerife!  Man City ST holder!  Love Spanish Dave!

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They should be fucking disbanded and made to start again in the 10th tier of English football. Play by the rules or fuck off.

 

Cunts like martin samuel actually condone these 'throw all the money you want' owners at a football club, it enables other smaller clubs to reach the heights city have quickly. Yeah right, never mind sporting integrity through evolution rather than revolution. How many nations dripping rich in a natural resource are going to invest in say, a Plymouth, a Doncaster Rovers or Gateshead and turn them into the next manchester city?

 

Id argue not a fucking one so the dream is never going to be within reach. Instead, you'll get clubs pushed out of existence because they've had to pay inflated transfer fees or increased wages because the 'throw all the money you want' owners at these clubs have hyper inflated the finances of the game at every level.

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2 minutes ago, Ne Moe Imya said:

Get in!

 

I mean, who knows if it will hold (knowing UEFA, it will have zero teeth and they'll back down as soon as City complain) but even if it doesn't it can't be a good thing for them.

Bye bye Pep.

 

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