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@viRdjil @AngryofTuebrook

HAHAHAHAHA!

Pretty cool comments these.

Fucking FIFTY Jesus Christ

Was that posted by someone called Blue Phoenix?

Dunno mate, I'm not into social media enough to know. But aside from our mates from county road, I can't see why everyone wouldn't want to rip them. Surely the measure of the leagues quality can only be in how it compares to other leagues, unless all of a sudden we're supposed to believe they don't count either? Last season we had all 4 finalists in the European competitions. This year, everybody has qualified in both the CL and EL. Man City are broadly seen (despite them being cheating cunts) as the best side in the history of English football and have only been eliminated from European competition in the last 2 seasons when they've met another English side. Since klopp was manager Liverpool have only lost European ties in finals. Out of the 8 finalists in the uefa cup England have provided 4 places, winning 2 and have provided 3 finalist from the last 8 in the champions League, winning one. In the same time of the 5 major leagues, Italy have taken 1 of those 16 final births, France 1 and Germany none. Only Spain competes providing 6 finalists to England's 7, while taking 5 trophies to England's 3. But the tradjectory is in going towards England. It would feel to me with all the evidence we have available to us at this moment in time, English football is about as strong as it has ever been, is either the strongest or 2nd strongest in Europe depending how you want to measure it. Any idea we are winning a weak league is just a bunch of bad losers trying to reason why our win has no value.

Have you ever wondered how many Twitter followers Oscar Wilde would have had if he had been born into this generation? All those exquisite one-liners, razor-sharp put-downs, witty assassinations of the bumptious and the bluffers. I thought of something Wilde said when news of Manchester City’s two-year ban from European competition broke on Friday. It came with a warning not to feel too much sympathy for City. In 1889 Wilde wrote an essay called The Decay of Lying: An Observation. It is a conversation between two characters, Vivian and Cyril. At one point, Vivian addresses the central issue. “After all, what is a fine lie? Simply that which is its own evidence. If a man is sufficiently unimaginative to produce evidence in support of a lie, he might just as well speak the truth at once.” In November 2018 the German magazine Der Spiegel, using stolen documents, wrote a series of articles about how Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain circumvented Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules. As Der Spiegelhad in its possession a multitude of internal emails from Manchester City, its four-part story on the English club offered damning evidence that they had broken the rules. The response from the club was the perfect epitome of Wilde’s “fine lie”. City did not argue that the incriminatory emails were fake but that they had been stolen. Neither did the response address the principal allegation that the owner, Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, was secretly funnelling hundreds of millions into the club, in contravention of FFP regulations. City just battened down the hatches. “The attempt to damage the club’s reputation is organised and clear,” it said in a statement. Without evidence to support its lie, City would indeed have been better off telling the truth from the beginning. Perhaps it was because the case against the club, written in its own emails, was irrefutable. Like confetti, the examples were scattered among Der Spiegel’s four pieces. Chief executive Ferran Soriano returning from a meeting of the European Club Association where it had become clear FFP rules were becoming important: “We will need to fight this and do it in a way that is not visible, or we will be pointed out as the global enemies of football.” The challenge for City was to increase revenue and this was achieved through lucrative sponsorship deals with Abu Dhabi-based companies: the airline Etihad, the investment company Aabar, the telecoms business Etisalat and the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority. The deals, though, weren’t what they seemed. The annual £15 million from Aabar was just £3 million from the sponsor. Simon Pearce, a board member, explained in an internal communication where the rest came from: “£12 million coming from alternative sources provided by His Highness.” In another email Pearce, responding to a question from the chief financial officer Jorge Chumillas about whether the club could change the date of payments made by sponsors, wrote, “Of course, we can do what we want.” Perhaps emboldened by the brilliance of the team and encouraged by the weak, softly-softly approach taken by Uefa’s general secretary, Gianni Infantino, the club seemed to believe it should be beyond reproach. It threatened Uefa with lawsuits and there is one email that club lawyer Simon Cliff will deeply regret. “1 down, 6 to go,” he wrote to a colleague about the sudden death of former Belgian prime minister Jean-Luc Dehaene, who was leading the investigation into FFR irregularities. Most lovers of fine football never wanted to see this day. “They do play beautiful football, for that you could forgive them everything,” commented a Sunday Times reader in 2018. That may be how we feel in the moment of Kevin De Bruyne’s incisive dribble and pinpoint pass or when Sergio Agüero rifles the ball into the net. In the cold light of the following day, it is not so easy to ignore the lengths to which City went to disguise and misrepresent the sources of their revenue. Justice is not always evenly dispensed. In this case it certainly hasn’t been. Uefa’s Investigatory Chamber considered what went on at PSG , especially around the time the club paid €180 million (about £149 million) for Kylian Mbappé and then, a year later, €222 million (about £184m) for Neymar. Yves Leterme, another former Belgian prime minister, concluded that PSG had not broken FFP rules. Leterme’s report was released on June 18, 2018, four days after the start of the World Cup. Uefa’s adjudicatory committee chairman, Jose Narciso da Cunha Rodrigues, was astonished by Leterme’s exoneration of PSG and tried, unsuccessfully, to initiate a new investigation. “The decision to close the case was manifestly erroneous,” Da Cunha Rodrigues said. It may not have hurt PSG’s case that its president, Nasser al-Khelaifa, is on Uefa’s executive board and is chairman of the beIN Media Group, a major player when it comes to the sale of Uefa’s TV rights. The City story is another version of Saracens in rugby and Team Sky’s rise in cycling. At the beginning there is optimism and idealism, a desire to create an empire that will be successful and admirable. City have done much that is right and made a significant contribution to the regeneration of their part of east Manchester. From the beginning the team set out to play entertaining football and since the coming of Pep Guardiola they have been a joy to watch. So, too, Saracens played great rugby in becoming three-time European champions and they have also done much for the community around them. City under Guardiola, Saracens under Mark McCall and Team Sky under Dave Brailsford created cultures that were the envy of their rivals. Alas, when the time came for proper scrutiny all three cultures were less than they purported to be. The cost of that will not be counted in the millions City will lose from being excluded from the Champions League or in Saracens’ relegation. The true punishment comes in how their victories are remembered. City’s championships, Saracens’ titles, Team Sky’s success at the 2012 Tour de France; they all remain on the books but with asterisks alongside their names.

I always admire the dedication Anubis shows to monitoring other team’s forums. We’re not playing Leicester any time soon but he’s still given up his Saturday night to bring us that selection of posts. Incredible.

We would be mad to let any of the front 3 go anywhere for at least 2 more seasons. We wont sign Mbappe or Sancho unless Nike are paying. Even then, i doubt Klopp would go for it. We are the best and they are the best front 3. Let's just enjoy it. Salah's record is out of this world but i get the sense some would let him go - insane.

Or have to walk out to this

There are times I miss pre internet, pre mobile phone days. Alongside being a kid it was an adventure just to find your mates sometimes, you couldn't text where are you. You'd tread familiar grounds pick up clues speak to witnesses. There's nostalgia with the past I grow more nostalgic by the year. For all the technology and comfort of today I wouldn't trade being a kid in the 80s for it, I'm sure plenty of people from earlier decades feel the same about their childhood if it was a good one surrounded by good people.

When he was fit and on it, he was excellent. Especially that season with Suarez and Sterling. Wish him nothing but the best in his hotdog Enterprise.

That fat cunt will have wind rush every few minutes, the slobbering mess.

It'll be interesting to see what Guardiola does. He's an exceptional coach, but also pretty naive, as shown by his yellow ribbon stand. His Cruyffian idealism has made him blind to the means that facilitate his aesthetically beautiful football ends. If they lose the CAS appeal, and drag this out for months/years in order to delay any ban, it'll just be hanging over him. Any success achieved in the interim is like a goal that's due to be VAR checked. He's looking pretty tired. The questions aren't going away, and it'll be a constant drip effect over the course of his final season. Each win written up with a parting shot, a paragraph about ongoing legal action, framing their success against alleged offences. It'll hurt them in the short term, but an expedited process, a clean break from Guardiola, those who oversaw the cheating, and accepting the ban (bartered down to one season) is the only way to draw a line under the affair and salvage what little dignity they have left. I won't hold my breath.

62, not out yet

Since the storm started down here my mrs hasnt stopped looking through the window. If it gets any worse i'll have to let her in.

I await JP's glorious return to the forum if this ever happens

Negged. I can't let that slide. No-one disses the Proclaimers in my house.

Not for me yet. I'm celebrating the individual wins, but I'm holding back the proper celebrations for when it's done.

Coñolos en el bastardo

I'll be at Otterspool Prom waiting! ...well...once the weather becomes a little less inclement.

Barney Ronay For City supporters the response will no doubt be one of weary defiance. Perhaps there might be some gallows consolation to be found in the fact history suggests they don’t stand to lose too much in any case. Read more A few desultory midweek home games. A VAR-inspired outrage, with attendant basement conspiracy theories. A quarter-final defeat to a heavyweight European power where Pep Guardiola gets the tactics wrong and sits looking sad and frail in his dugout.

There would be something rather spectacular about winning 2 titles in one season but then again we run D wing you slags, so why not?

Outrageous slander, I can only assume you have tasted some 5th rate shite version because the real thing is sheer art.

Going to be honest lads, I don't think I'd last very long.

The fallacy that everton and other fans like to believe is that English clubs caused no trouble at all in Europe and the banning of all English clubs was merely the result of that terrible night in Belgium. But the truth is far removed from that. English clubs had a litany of trouble in Europe in and around grounds. united were the FIRST English team banned by Uefa after their fans rioted at a Cup Winners Cup 1st leg game in St Etienne in 1978. They appealled, were strangely supported in that appeal by St Etienne and re instated with the 2nd leg ordered to be played hundreds of miles from old trafford. The game was eventually played at Plymouth Argyle's ground which united won on aggregate. Leeds fans had rioted earlier in 1975 during their Champions Cup Final when some would say dodgey reffing went against them. Everton are not blemish free either having seen their fans trash Vienna on their way to winning the Cup Winners Cup. I think Spurs fans had some dodgey encounters but cannot remember whether that was after being goaded by Dutch fans. In any case, the terms of the UEFA ban spells out that while Liverpool and Heysel was the final straw, the litany of English troubles abroad resulted in a 5 year ban for Liverpool and 4 years for all other English clubs. If we were the sole cause, UEFA would only have banned us. But they did not because other English clubs had troubles as well. As usual, the blue hordes and others ignore these clear and obvious facts saying we got everyone kicked out of Europe. No we didnt but we were the final straw for UEFA.

"City will want answers" Hey you cheating fucking twats - you are answering the questions in this, not asking them.

Not to forget, for all their flouting of the rules, they still couldn’t get near a European Cup Final. Even Spurs stopped them. Spurs.

Not entirely sure blaming the CPS for taking domestic violence so seriously is the right course in the aftermath of such a tragedy. Victims often ask for charges to be dropped, find themselves drawn back to their partner and re-enter a cycle of abuse.

Fucking hell, I'm staying quiet.

And so the Champions league can wait Sheikh knows it's too late as he walks on by Pep slides away,don't look back in anger I heard UEFA say. (Fuck you and your team Noel Gallagher)

I love how you disappear when you get shown up for the lying bullshitting arse that you are. You just walk away. It’s honourable. I wish I had the same steel

I watched this on iPlayer. What a woman. Her hubby seems a bit of a character too. The twist at the end with the other lawyer was a bit mad though. It appears that we are amongst the lucky ones who've managed to see this, as Miri Regev, the Israeli minister for culture and sport, has been doing her best to stop screenings of the documentary in Israel. The only democracy....

Just a pity hail showers weren't forecast in the Irish Sea.

Maybe stop trying to claim the moral high ground. Stop engaging in tit for tat oneupmanship on the internet. nobody has mentioned heysel to me.

Batfink rep.

Us smashing the league and this city scandal has truly shown just how much the entire country hates out guts. It's just constant fume and bile being directed towards our achievements and trying to undermine us. With the city city scandal every liverpool fan is having Heysel thrown in our faces as we a trying to claim the moral high ground yet the fucking idiots forget that people went to prison and the club took the punishment with no complaints unlike this lot who are owned by some of the biggest human rights abusers in the world and think they can do what they want when it's clear they have broken the rules. I hope more than anything this is the beginning of the end for the utter scumnag club. All 19 other premier League clubs should not only vote to deduct historic points to strip them of the title but also vote to relegate them to league 2. If I was a chairman of a premier League club I would be pushing for that as they have made a mockery of English football and completely undermined its image. The years the FA have gone on about corruption in FIFA and all these years it was right under their own nose on their own doorstep makes them look like fools. Flush the turds back down where they belong.

One of my favourites but I prefer the Time Fades Away version.

Cheating cunts robbed us of the title in 2014. I'd love for us to be handed that title. If it were to happen then the club should get the entire squad from 2014 together and throw a massive party with them being presented the medals and trophy.

When Leicester won the league all the big team were transitioning, I doubt anyone here cares Quote Unabomber 10,375 Posted 1 hour ago Nah that’s bollocks. Liverpool are about 25 points clear in February - completely different scenario. Quote The Bear 2,292 Posted 1 hour ago We have them next week at home. Nailed on 5-0 trouncing................... 1 Quote twister 394 Posted 1 hour ago the league reminds of celtics domination they win every week never look great its a huge chasm of dominance, with city being in trouble I see a scottish league type dominance for a couple of years. Quote The Bear 2,292 Posted 1 hour ago Yeah must be awful being 25 points clear and winning every game. I'm amazed any of them turn up every home game. 2 Quote Facecloth 9,239 Posted 1 hour ago Must be terrible that they look like they'll win every game bar one, and their only dropped points will be against their biggest rivals 1 Quote Unabomber 10,375 Posted 1 hour ago Yeah just such a shit way to win it Hahaha. Im loving all this 'I couldnt give a shit if Liverpool win it, the league is in transition.' Really, then why do you turn out in such large numbers at your home ground if you're not arsed about us winning it? And if the league really is 'in transition,' how come your shitcunt of a club is not closer to challenging for the title? I mean Leicester fans reckoned they were going to catch us in January until we pulled their shorts down and spanked their arses red raw at the 'King Power'? In a way, I suppose the league is transitioning, it's transitioning from one dominated by a cheating oil rich club to probably Liverpool with Jurgen. How do you like them fucking onions?

I didn’t see your post about Cantwell and I can’t be arsed looking for it so I’m gonna neg you here instead.

This reminds me in some respects of how we dealt with the Suarez/Evra situation. I’m not talking about whether Suarez actually did it as that has been done to death, rather the respective responses from the clubs. At the time I was all for taking the FA to court and slagging everyone off in the press, but I’m just a fan and we always want that. In reality cooler heads should prevail at the club and deal it with quietly and professionally. In retrospect it would have been much better just releasing a statement saying we wouldn’t comment while investigations were ongoing and then going on the offensive behind closed doors. All the stuff with the players wearing the T-shirts in support etc... just poisoned the atmosphere around it all even more. Since then we’ve learnt to do our business quietly and influence things behind the scenes like the Mancs did under Ferguson. City are making the same mistakes being so belligerent about the whole thing and doing stuff like complaining about Uefa leaking to the press while they leak things to the press themselves, similarly the statement they released was ridiculous and I doubt it’ll impress people at the CAS, it would have been much better for them releasing a less combative statement and saving their arguments for the appeal. As it is stands now they look deranged blaming Uefa for being judge, jury and executioner. I mean, who else was meant to enforce the Uefa rules and bring charges if they had evidence of wrongdoing? I’m not bothered if they get the ban reduced to one year, the symbolism of having the guilty verdict upheld and permanently tarring their reputation as the cheating cunts they are is all important.