Featured: That was the week that was (May 11-17 2019)

[tlw content]

 

Saturday May 11:

 

Barcelona want Andy Robbo. I want a yacht like John Henry’s. Well see who gets lucky first. Things aren’t going well over at Camp Nou though. Reports today reckon Messi has told them to ‘sell Coutinho’. Wow, with friends like him who needs enemies. They’ve probably got Suarez house hunting for him again. In England. Pricks. I know I should probably be taking pleasure in how things have gone for Phil, but I’m genuinely not. 

 

I mean don’t get me wrong, I definitely don’t want to see him tearing it up for them, but that’s more to do with how I feel about Barca than any beef I have with Coutinho. I almost feel bad for him now as those fans are fucking gobshites. He should have known that though, the white hankie waving twats. He was loved here. He had it made, but he wanted to follow his dream and it’s turned sour on him. Let that be a lesson to anyone else who is thinking of walking away from Kloppo’s Reds. As for Phil? Bring him home, Jurgen.

 

On the field today, Leeds beat Derby in the first leg of the playoffs. I don’t want Leeds to come back up but only because I’d be concerned that Milner might be tempted back there. Let them stay where they are, for now, even though I’m intrigued by Bielsa and think he’d be a welcome addition to the top flight. We’ve just lost Neil Warnock, we could do with another entertainer. Yes, I did just compare Bielsa with Warnock, but obviously I don’t mean their football. Just that the game is full of boring bastards and those two are off their heads.

 

Ideally I don’t want Lampard getting promotion (not even sure why as I quite like him these days) but it might be good for Wilson if they wanted to take him for another year. I don’t have any major beef with West Brom but I don’t like the way they treated Darren Moore so fuck them. I think the one thing we can all agree on is that Villa need to stay where they are, the boring, unfunny, witless pricks.

 

Sunday May 12:

 

L 2 Wolves 0 Definitely a bit of after the Lord Mayor’s Show about this. The efforts from the other night meant there were a lot of heavy legs out there, and the whole emotional drain of what was happening at Brighton made it worse. 

The players will have had that brief moment of “fucking hell, City are losing? Maybe this is on” but it was only fleeting as they will have picked up on the sense of deflation around the ground almost immediately after. With no more cheers after that they knew it was over, and it would have been so easy for them to subconsciously ease off and let the fatigue win.

 

Wolves were pushing hard for an equaliser but as they have done all season, the lads dug deep and managed to get it done. I couldn’t be prouder of them. 97 points, only one defeat (courtesy of bad luck and a bad Manc ref) and a second Champions League Final in a row. 

 

The best LFC team of my lifetime, title or not. Let every sad jealous prick around the country have their fun. The only people entitled to gloat are those connected to City. Everyone else is a fucking million miles behind us and any piss taking coming from them is like water of a duck’s back.

 

Gary Neville laughing at us? Yeah, you’ve got your own problems lad. Your mate Ole is presiding over a sinking ship and will be lucky to hold onto a top six spot next year. Wolves fans taunting us about ‘you fucked it up again’ when less than a month ago they blew a 2-0 lead with 10 minutes left in an FA Cup semi.

 

Then there was Everton’s official twitter account offering congratulations to City about a minute after the final whistle. I mean fucking hell, that was shameful even by their non-existent standards.

 

It hurts not winning the title, but the difference between this time and other near misses is this team hasn’t even peaked yet. They’ll get better. No-one is swooping in and taking our best players, none of our players will want to leave and pretty much every top player on the market this summer would be desperate to come here. Great manager, great team, great fans. Who wouldn’t want to join us right now? 

 

I can’t remember the last time we were in a position as strong as this. Even when Kenny’s side were at the peak of their powers they wouldn’t have been the top destination for overseas players because Italy and Spain was still where it was at. Now? Players all over the world will be intrigued by what’s happening here. Klopp will be able to get pretty much whoever he wants this summer.

 

Up the Reds, fuck everyone else and let’s go and win that European Cup to make up for the injustice of what happened a year ago.

 

 

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[derykw]

I find the English football authorities 'code of omerta' regarding City's financial transgressions absolutely infuriating.

 

We've got our best team in a long while but it counts for little in league terms while these fuckers can basicly field two top quality 1st elevens on the back of illegal financial doping.

 

These cunts have directly cost us two league titles in 5 years when in truth if it wasnt for the blood money they'd just as likely be in the championship as not.

 

And boy am I fucking bitter about it.

[suzy]

Top ranting there Dave.

[Anubis]

Disappointed there was no piss-taking of their title celebration in front of that piss-poor excuse for a crowd outside their stadium.

[Paul]

That De Ligt is a bit too “Waffen SS Stormtrooper” for my liking. 

[dave u]

59 minutes ago, Anubis said:

Disappointed there was no piss-taking of their title celebration in front of that piss-poor excuse for a crowd outside their stadium.

I didn't watch it, been avoiding all of that stuff. I did see a piss take of it on twitter comparing it with Ajax though. 

[RedHeadedRed]

The main reason the media don't mention their cheating is because of the current political climate. The UAE are ludicrously considered an ally by Europe and America. Stories about their cheating would be suppressed by the media executives because they don't want to annoy an ally.  It reminds me of the attitude towards Stalin's Russia during and after the second world war it was more or less the same. George Orwell couldn't get Animal Farm published because it was an anti Stalin novel and publishers didn't want to go near it for fear of pissing off the Russians. Orwell called it "intellectual cowardice".  What's needed is the political climate to change towards the UAE the way it did with Russia but that doesn't look like it's going to happen anytime soon unfortunately.

[Vincent Vega]

Love how pissy Guardiola is here. City are a small parochial club and UAE money will not change that overnight. The papers lead with stories they know people are interested in, and Man City buying more trophies doesn’t really do it.

 

The City manager claimed winners are never liked as he aims to lift the FA Cup for the first time when they take on Watford at Wembley.

 

'People don't like winners,' Guardiola said. 'Here, in Spain, in Italy, everywhere. We feel our people are happy with what we have done. I feel our fans in the street, the letters I receive from the people. They are incredibly satisfied.'

 

Guardiola suggested City are fighting against the weight of history in how Liverpool and Manchester United are viewed in comparison to his team.

'Liverpool have gone 29 years without winning the Premier League — it's normal people are waiting for them finally to win,' he added. 'If Liverpool had won the Premier League it would have been an "incredible" achievement. When City win it is, "oh, it's OK. It's an achievement".

 

'I think we did an incredible two seasons, but to be the best you have to do it a bit longer. I'm not going to say it's the best when you have Sir Alex Ferguson's period at United or Liverpool and Bob Paisley in the 1980s.

'An example of how important Liverpool and United are is the website for the Daily Mail. The first story (last Monday) is the Paul Pogba discussion with fans at Old Trafford, not that we won the Premier League. It is not because I am not satisfied with the Daily Mail. I know we are not being compared like that (to their rivals) which is why we are incredibly satisfied over the last decade.'

[Mikhail]

Man City is a nothing club and they know it.

 

Their fans are complaining about us, their players are singing about us and their manager is complaining about us...

 

Amazing how Liverpool manages to wind up these financial dopers by just existing 15 years ago it was Chelsea and now it's City.

 

It's such an empty existence they won an FA Cup today and a fan decided to complain about Salah. I expect this is how Everton would act if they ever got their shit together and won anything. 

 

As for the rivalry it has definitely kicked up a gear since the release of that video and UEFA announcing their investigation, when they won the league most Liverpool fans were concentrating on our amazing performance while putting their victory into context by referring to the FFP allegations. But now most Liverpool fans on Twitter are completely invalidating their achievements this season and it's driving them up the wall because they can't even hold the fact that they won the league over our heads. Next year is gonna be a ride and a war with every match feeling like a must win affair and if we do come face to face with City it's gonna be crazy.

 

I welcome that war tho because I fucking loathe every fibre of that club with every fibre of my being... As Derek said above they have cost us two titles with their blood money and cheating next year will be a reckoning...

 

Before that tho lets win that fucking Champions League...

 

PS: Nah Dave I find it impossible to forgive Coutinho for faking a back injury when we had to play a Champions League qualifier...   

 

 

[Paul]

The media gloves are finally starting to come off with Ben Johnson FC now. Miguel Delaney and Rob Harris both going in hard on their sports washing. That Wembley cake walk yesterday is proving to be a watershed moment for a few journalists now. Harris really rattled that entitled prick Guardiola in the post-match press conference.

 

The shithouse cheating bastards are probably very relieved they get to step away from the media for a couple of months now. I’ll be very interested to see how critical the guests are on Sunday Supplement this morning. The pressure needs to get much stronger than this if there are going to be real repercussions. 

[Paul]

On Coutinho, I think he’d be good for us but I wouldn’t go back. I reckon Edwards will have someone just as good, if not better, for less than even a cut price deal would be.

 

Barca will deffo cut their losses but we’d still be talking £60m+ and when players like Ziyech are available for £25m, Coutinho makes no sense.

 

Yes, fucking Barca over for a second time in 18 months for the same player would be sweet as fuck. However, I’d rather prioritise our bank balance over poking a rival in the eye. 

[Numero Veinticinco]

I wouldn’t have Coutinho back. We are a better balanced side without him. I agree with the Ziyech calls. 

[RedPaul]

I wouldn't be surprised at all if the media had been barred from writing about the FFP 'allegations'. There's a lot of stuff that the media can't print for similar reasons. Now that there is a possibility of a charge and ban the papers can report that factually. Like you said, the leaked emails clearly reveal City's mindset when it comes to any off field challenge - we have the cash to make you suffer in court for years and years, basically we can bankrupt you. Do you dare take us on? They're a state funded club and how they have arrived at where they are is totally relevant in the context of football history. Their absolute domination domestically this year (and almost last year) is a direct result of their state funded investment in their players and bringing in the best managers who have access to unlimited resources.  There is no question about it. It is right that this is investigated and basically questioned in terms of is this a 'fair' way to bankroll success and do we want this to be a model for the future? Is this going to make football more exciting or is this going to lead to a hollow soulless sport where only a few clubs dominate year on year?

 

Whether the footballing powers that be (and media) have the courage to actually challenge this remains to be seen, but I expect there a number of squeaky bums when those City emails are received at the various HQs. I hope we can challenge them again next season and push on to win it, but it's going to be a gruelling season especially when a number of teams now in the PL accept defeat before the game starts as evidenced when they don't even register corners/shots on target at their home games against them!

 

Regardless, we have been incredible this season, and to a large extent, last season too. The football, the passion, the team have been a revelation and I have enjoyed every minute of it. Klopp brings joy to the sport and has built this team up over a number of seasons, bringing in youth and a fair play philosophy which encourages a special enjoyment in the game and how it is played on the pitch. It's no coincicdence, although perhaps a little ironic given the bigger picture, that we have topped the fair play league for the past three seasons.

[Dr Nowt]

Delaney’s piece was brilliant.

 

This line in it is perfect:

 

Many City supporters have similarly wrestled with their identity over that time, albeit in a different way. It often feels like they are still in the midst of a long adjustment process as they continue to adapt from being one of the most endearingly neurotic English clubs to – yes – the most lavishly-funded project in football. It is, in truth, probably more difficult to mentally square the two than it is for Watford to beat them.