4 in a row with 115 hanging over them would be beyond ridiculous.
No way the league can claim to be the most competitive in the world.
No way the league can claim to be the most competitive in the world.
City and Financial Doping | Charged by PL with numerous FFP breaches
- Thread starter VanGaalEra
- Start date
My understanding is that this isn't like a full legal trial. If the PL are convinced they have enough evidence then I'm not sure they have to worry too much about legal loopholes.
But clearly I'm not an expert. I'm just going on what I've read.
I was arguing the same a couple of weeks ago but people don’t seem to grasp this concept.
They can replace Kalvin Philips with Kovacic and Nunes, both of whom barely featured anyways, and they can bench Grealish for Doku, who himself replaced Ferran Torres, and you can be sure Doku can be replaced by another winger this summer if he fails to deliver, same as Joao Cancelo has been loaned and replaced by a 90m Gvardiol without batting an eyelid.
I’m not even talking about the life expectancy of their defenders such as Mangala, Laporte, or Otamendi.
They can also offer the best manager around when Pep finishes a king’s ransom and an extra off the books deal, and if he’s failing after 8 months, fire him for the next best thing because compensation means feck all to them.
The very fact they managed to convince Pep to not only come to Manchester City, but to spend by far the largest part of his managerial career there tells you just how persuasive their bottomless pit is.
They will never have to pay a price for a few poor buys, or be burdened by some bad decisions.
They simply aren’t a football club, and will never operate like one, they are an oil state.
Better if everyone stops the facade of calling them a football club. They are the Abu Dhabi State Football project.
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Not even Scottish football has this level of dominance. At least in Scotland there are two teams competing for the title - Celtic and Rangers. Obviously that’s not really a wise thing to say considering that either one of them has won the league for the past forty years, but still. Winning three trebles in a row is ridiculous and unprecedented. Winning two trebles in a row is unprecedented, as is winning four leagues in the row in England or an English club winning two consecutive champions leagues since it became known as the champions leagues. It should be viewed as illegitimate and ridiculous, which it is, but unfortunately too few people view it as that, which will ultimately result in them overtaking us. Hell, them beating two of our achievements this season will be unprecedented. That’s fecking upsetting, and as United fans we should be rooting against them as a result.
Hypothetically what you're saying is true. City hypothetically doesn't need to live with their bad decisions. They haven't really made many bad decisions (at least not since Pep arrived, they obviously bought a whole slew of overpriced players in the first few years after the takeover), though, so it's more hypothetical than anything. What you're describing with sacking managers at first sight of poor performances, buying players and replacing them at once is actually a lot closer to how Chelsea have operated over the past 15 years than City. No club in the Premier League has gone through as many players and managers as Chelsea has over the past 15 years. So they have actually been doing exactly what you accuse City of being able to do. The only reason they haven't been able to perform as well on the pitch as City as because they've had much worse upper management (now obviously, City being as well run as they are is part of their cheating). And even so, until Pep's second season Chelsea was just as successful, and even more so than City.
What duds has City really had since the arrival of Pep that they moved on from fast? I'll give you Bravo obviously, Nolito didn't make any mark whatsoever, Danilo as well and then obviously Mendy was a terrible transfers all things considered. Lately Kalvin Phillips hasn't lit the world on fire. But that's about it. The rest of the big transfers has worked out for them, they have all contributed considerably to their success during these years (even someone like Ferran Torres who only was there 18 months clearly did contribute and then sold for a considerable profit).
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The difference between city and Liverpool is when Liverpool win the toss, we never hear the end of it.
City winning the treble is barely audible.
I haven't lived in Manchester for 28 years so I'm sure it's a lot worse in the city. But in northern Ireland, you see a city shirt once a month let alone having to suffer listening to them at all tbh. Liverpool on the other hand, you come across them every day.
And they got around the flop of Mendy by playing inexpensive midfielders at the LB position (Delph/Zinchenko) for 5 years.
League is theirs to lose and they won’t. Madrid are our last hope but based on the first leg it’s hard to see them winning at City.
Two trebles in a row for these cheating fecks is just making a mockery of the sport. Time for the governing bodies to do something and give football it's soul back.
I can't stand them.
If they go unpunished, the sport is finished.
If they go unpunished, the sport is finished.
4 in a row and 2 trebles. They would eclipse two records that United hold. Maybe at that point something might actually be done. Media would rather laugh at United rather than discuss the real story of football.
The FA does not have the courage to put the sword to these fukking scandalous cheats. Better to prove their recruited by by making an example of hapless clubs like Everton than tarnish the brand of the PL by defrocking its “champion”.
People can keep saying City doesn’t matter but as their achievements and records grow so will media coverage, public opinion and hence stature in the game. I used to feel this way but the CL win has given them a different sort of reach and appeal as will 4 PL in a row.
Well they are feck all interested in sports. They only want money, and the easier way to get into western markets was through sports.
Hopefully they change the focus soon and leave football alone. Or maybe they end up buying the whole thing and leave clubs alone.
FA are cowards. There's a higher chance that Real Madrid does something about it rather than anything in England.
You kid yourself thinking their achievements don’t matter. See you in a decade.
Stupid Arsenal. At least it won't probably be Liverpool. Hope Madrid will do us a favor.
I've met 1 Man City fan in my life. That's not hyperbole or a lie. I know a feckload of Arsenal and Liverpool fans. That's why I don't care if they win stuff.
People can’t see beyond their nose
Yeah but neutrals and casuals love them and they represent the 99,9% of football viewers.
Just check their instagram account, over 50 million followers.
I was making this point in another thread. I don't want them to win, but when they do, it is less annoying (i live overseas and know zero City fans).
Never rely on Arsenal to not bottle something.
What will happen in a decade?
The quadruple quadruple
Again, I've never met a neutral or casual fan who loves them.
I'm sure you're right about online social media followers, I just don't care as I don't interact with that world.
Neutral fans are mostly African football experts to be fair. Who write stuff like we all know Manchester City is the best club that has ever existed and its an end of an argument.
Yeah same. There is no one to brag or be obnoxious about it
Bravo 18m
Nolito 18m
Sane 52m
Laporte 65
Mendy 57
Danilo 30
Cancel 65
Torres 35
Grealish 115
Philips 50
Nunes 62
570 million for that lot. In addition why cap it at when Pep took over? It’s what they did to get themselves into a position where they can sign players with no consequence that made the bigger difference. It didn’t matter that this lot didn’t work out because they just discarded them and signed the next one. Prior to Pep they did that on an even bigger scale. In fact we don’t even know the scale.
This seems to be the popular new line that is emerging, but the reality is that unless they are proven to be found innocent of these charges then their current 'achievements' will be forever tainted by most everyday fans.
It's the media that are helping with this notion that what they are doing right now whilst been accused of such serious charges is somehow all ok. They should be doing the exact opposite of what they are doing, ie actually talking about it properly on a regular basis.
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who says the bolded didn't work out?Sane and Laporte were successes. Cancelo too. Torres did well before being sold for a profit. Grealish was overpriced but is an important player in the squad. Too early to judge Nunes.
Sane, Laporte, Cancelo and Grealish all clearly have been major part of their succes over the past 7 year, hardly players they've just moved on from. Torres was bought as a youngster and sold for a considerable profit 18 months later having already contributed to a league win. The jury is out on Nunes, and all the other players I mentioned.
So true.
I live in the midlands and I never saw a Man City fan down here when I was growing up, now most of the kids I see are either wearing City or Liverpool shirts.
People who make the fickle decision to 'support' them will also abandon ship when they have to follow them in League One.
This. We need to keep making this point over and over again because people will forget in time.
The comparison I like to use is that of a billionaire "entrepreneur" vs a self-made businessperson.
The billionaire entrepreneur can take more risks, they can use their family connections, they can run at break even or even a loss for long periods, they can spend huge money upfront on the best PR or the best tools or the best location or the best marketing etc...they can pay over the odds for the best staff.
The self-made person has to get their decisions correct or they go bust, and they have to do that from their first day in business. They have to build gradually over time, making do with less than ideal situations until they can afford to invest.
It's also worth pointing out that City spent the bulk of their cash over a decade ago. So of course, when you compare net spend now over a long period of time, they don't look too awful overall.
However, let's say FFP wasn't a thing and the Saudi's wanted to have Newcastle challenging for a title in three or four seasons...how much would that cost in todays' market? £2BN? £3BN? When City were throwing cash around £30m was still a huge transfer fee.
Is there any suggestion of what's actually.going to happen here? Has anybody heard or read anything from experts on it or is everyone afraid to offer commentary given the legal firepower City have?
I agree, pretty much all my "neutral" friends over here in Germany despise City, mainly because of what they represent. They don't particularly like Manchester United either, for them it's the "Bayern of England". Weirdly enough no one cares if I point out that Liverpool has as many league title as we have and it's not really comparable. Most of them favour Liverpool because of Klopp, one is rooting for Arsenal for reasons I can't really explain but I think they all pretty much despise City.
It's a small sample though, I admit.
Net spend is also misleading as City have built and spent massive sums on infrastructure and an academy that no other regular club could possibly compete with. Only an oil state could afford it and it’s now giving them a conveyor belt of young talent to sell off.
Then there’s the money paid to everyone behind the scenes and to get them all from Barca to City and stay for a decade, that tells you it’s mega money. There’s just so many things they have done and continue to do that no regular football club could ever hope to compete with.
As I say, it’s simple really, regular football businesses are competing against the Abu Dhabi football project.
If they aren’t punished they will dominate for as long as they feel interested in doing so.
It's a complete joke these days that governing bodies don't have the balls to make a decision.
Cheating cnuts they are.
Cheating cnuts they are.
They will bottle the charges, or it will make their 'best league in the world' moniker look ridiculous. Better to sweep all the cheating under the rug.