Pep - Doping (?) | Are PEDs being used by footballers

Bubz27

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Remember when Rooney was supposed to be out for a month after his ankle injury but came back 6 days later against Bayern.....
Didn't he get subbed off because he could barely even hobble around? Rooneys was clearly a painkiller and patch up job that didn't work and had further reaching consequences.
 

tomaldinho1

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De Bruyne has been in the league for 3 seasons, and most of that time has seemed physically inadequate over the course of season, and even individual games, making him chronically inconsistent. Now suddenly, without any kind of Bale/Ronaldo-like obvious physical development, can run harder than ever for 90 minutes 3 times a week?

Silva is suddenly playing with a nastiness he never had before, and Fernandinho who has had long periods of poor form in each of the previous 4 seasons due to fatigue suddenly sustains his stamina the older he gets? Otamendi was an animal at Valencia, looked weak in his first 2 seasons in England yet suddenly looks dominant again at the same time as all of these other abnormalities are happening?

These are not great athletes, just like the majority of the Spanish team the dominanted football weren’t, yet they could suddenly sustain crazy intensity late into games? Xavi went from riding bench behind Deco and Van Bommel in his mid 20s to the best midfielder in the world - it makes no sense.

I think it’s a Spanish thing that transcends into other sports - Rafa Nadal always seemed abnormally powerful to me; watching such an infinitely better technician like Federer struggling to handle his perpetual power and intensity always seemed suspicious.

It’s something that should be scrutinised accordingly - if the FBI can probe FIFAs dodgy internal financial dealings then surely clarifying something like this can be justified too.
Hasn't he actually been caught a couple of times by the random test? Tennis' system is setup for corruption, if a player fails the out of court test they go to a behind closed doors court ruling before next steps are decided. Sometimes results are made public, sometimes not. He's also linked to Eufemiano Fuentes who was banned for facilitating a massive drug ring in Spain among elite athletes.

On City, part of me thinks it's logical that something's going on because they seem tireless (I don't buy into the whole when in possession you run less stat because they still make the most high intensity sprints) especially when the other pressing teams often have lulls in games - I'm assuming Spurs, Liverpool & City aren't miles apart in sports science so you'd expect them to all tire. You also then have the magical healing abilities of Pep's doctor in Barcelona who halves the time players are out.

The other part hopes it's just jealousy at their very very good season because it'd be so bad for the game if this was true.
 

BRRRRAP

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Manchester City broke the Football Association's anti-doping rules three times in less than five months in 2017.

Nandrolone is an anabolic steroid which increases the growth of certain tissues in the body and has been shown to improve the oxygen-carrying ability of blood by increasing haemoglobin and the size of red blood cells.

In the summer of 2001, Pep Guardiola left Barcelona with numerous trophies and an abysmal disciplinary record to ply his trade with Brescia in Serie A.
A few months into his stay in Italy, the Spaniard tested positive for the steroid nandrolone
Guardiola and Barcelona have strong links to people who have been implicated in doping activities.

Guardiola’s doctor at Brescia, Ramon Segura, worked as the head doctor for FC Barcelona during Pep’s reign at the club. In addition, Segura was also treating Frank DeBoer in 2001 and 2002 when the Dutchman was caught doping with the same banned substance.

I have no doubt that doping happens in football We'd be very naive to believe that football, the sport with the most to gain in terms of succeeding, is the only sport that is clean, just look at cycling and tennis.

City deliberately failed to update the FA with information regarding players' whereabouts, thereby undermining the process of random drug sampling. As for City's official excuse why players missed their tests, does any body actually believe that a club as micromanaged as City had no idea of the whereabouts of their players.
City are well known for financial doping and it would not surprise me in the slightest if Pep's team will become known for their illegal medical doping too.

Now one would expect City supporters to defend Pep of course but you can not deny the reality of historical events. As for those United supporters who think this is just rawk style fantasy, you lot really need to stop being so naive.
 
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AP88

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Hasn't he actually been caught a couple of times by the random test? Tennis' system is setup for corruption, if a player fails the out of court test they go to a behind closed doors court ruling before next steps are decided. Sometimes results are made public, sometimes not. He's also linked to Eufemiano Fuentes who was banned for facilitating a massive drug ring in Spain among elite athletes.

On City, part of me thinks it's logical that something's going on because they seem tireless (I don't buy into the whole when in possession you run less stat because they still make the most high intensity sprints) especially when the other pressing teams often have lulls in games - I'm assuming Spurs, Liverpool & City aren't miles apart in sports science so you'd expect them to all tire. You also then have the magical healing abilities of Pep's doctor in Barcelona who halves the time players are out.

The other part hopes it's just jealousy at their very very good season because it'd be so bad for the game if this was true.
Yeah, these clubs obviously all employ the best available sports scientists and nutritionists to ensure they can maximise the performance potential of their squad - for one club to look a quantum leap ahead if the rest in that regard is clearly indicative of foul play; when said club is coached by a man who’s a proven drugs cheat, suspicions are even further substantiated.

These players have played at the highest level all of their careers, and from their mid-teens in academy football to their early 20s would have developed optimum core strength and stamina - yet working with Pep suddenly spikes their endurance capacity in their late 20s and even 30s in the case of David Silva and the almost ever-present Fernandinho.

Regarding the flawed possession spawns superior energy theory, Arsenal, Liverpool and Spurs are probably the three Premier League teams of the past decade who’ve attempted to play perpetual front-foot football in a style that resembles the current City team, and both have fallen short over the duration of a season because the intensity of it naturally burned them out physically and mentally.....despite having younger, more athletic players in midfield.

Even Sacchi’s great Milan team, that defied Calcio’s then-universal pragmatism to prioritise possession and aggressive attacking football, only won 1 of 5 Scudetti because it simply wasn’t sustainable over a league season without fatigue-induced fluctuation of form.

Something isn’t right; I hope it’s established, dealt with accordingly and puts Guardiola and his £800m squad of X-men into an abyss of indignation.
 

Fridge chutney

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Yeah, keep telling yourself it's "criticism" and not mostly a bitterness fueled circle jerk of gossip and rumours with very little evidence. Good for you.
It is a discussion. One based on the fact that the manager of the club in question failed a drug test, was banned for doping, and as a manager has had several testing infractions with former and current clubs that he manages. This will naturally spark conversation. This also clearly strikes a nerve with you. But you have the opportunity to contribute to and enrich the debate (like many City fans are doing), rather than just whinge. There are very real discussion points in this thread, but instead of addressing them you cry about circle jerks. We dont stifle conversation about specific topics just because they make you uncomfortable. Deal with it.

If you read this forum outside of City and General threads, you'll note that United are analyzed, criticized, and frankly insulted at almost every level, and on a greater scale than any other club (makes sense - It's a United forum). Other clubs are scrutinized too, especially City now that they are successful. Rochdale or Bournemouth may have managers who have as colourful a history with doping/testing infractions as Pep. But because they are not particularly successful, they do not garner as much scrutiny and people discuss them less. This shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone.
 

Maradona10

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They lost but the energy they had, even with 10 men was some very good Medical work, Their medical sciences department must have some great researching doctors for some substances that are probably not detectable to tests.
 

VP

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I'd suggest the non-skeptics on here to watch the first episode of Netflix's Dirty Money, which shows how Volkswagen cheated and then covered up their cheating. If there's undetected, systematic cheating in the automobile industry, an industry far bigger than football, assuming football, for no particular reason, to be more scrupulous is pure naivete. I'm sure there's some cheating - and I'm sure it's not limited to Pep.
 

Harry190

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Still missing the point. Everyone's on the juice, but why is City's juice better than the rest?
 

Keeps It tidy

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I'd suggest the non-skeptics on here to watch the first episode of Netflix's Dirty Money, which shows how Volkswagen cheated and then covered up their cheating. If there's undetected, systematic cheating in the automobile industry, an industry far bigger than football, assuming football, for no particular reason, to be more scrupulous is pure naivete. I'm sure there's some cheating - and I'm sure it's not limited to Pep.
Well judging by this thread it seems they are not doing a good job covering it up. And at this point especially at the highest levels of the game everyone knows everybody else why is Pep managed teams the only ones involved?
 

RMD83

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This thread is so bitter it’s embarsssing. This is the modern day version of listening to other fans saying how obvious it was that the refs were bribed by SAF. Sadly now we are the ones talking bollocks.
 

SER19

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I have many reasons for not liking guardiola.

Doping isn't one of them, in fact I'm surprised at the conspiracy theorists. Firstly, doping in football is not as beneficial as individual sports, unless of course an entire team is doping. In this day and age with so many transfers, so many bitter departures of players and so on, I don't even see how it would be feasible. Within national teams possibly, but at elite club level, barring individual players doing it, I do not see how a systematic club approach would even work.
 

Desert Eagle

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All those posters with their snide I'm embarrassed/This is RAWKish/City have broken our spirit shit can feck off. Noodle can feck off too just because. Is it such an incredulous idea that footballers dope? Or is it that it's Man city or the timing of this thread. I've long believed that some form of performance enhancement has become rife in most professional sports. Look at the likes of Lebron and Tom Brady breaking records at their age. You can attribute some of it to diet and medical science but lets not kid ourselves, if there is an edge most people would take it. Look at Ronaldo's incredible physical transformation and countless other examples where a players physique suddenly changed. Look at the evidence of the spanish doping trial. Makes perfect sense to me that in the most popular sport in the world where athletes have the most to gain, there will be plenty of shady stuff going on. The sad part is we probably aren't immune to that either.
 

NikSab

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Doping can be of many times and doesn't have to always improve performances. Taking drugs which can give superior recoveries is always doping something which is being discussed. I won't call it delusional, just wishful thinking because of basic logic.
 

Mart1974

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Footballers talk and hold grudges and can be quite petty sometimes. Same with managers. If Pep and City were doping then it would have leaked by now, either by mates chatting on international duty or a disgruntled ex player, coach etc... There is no way an organisation of that size could keep it quite. There is no way that Barca, Bayern and City could keep it quite.

Either City are not doping or every team is at it. Get a grip, we are not RAWK, we are not Liverpool fans.

P.S. I thought Pep was cleared of his doping charge as a player?
 

Lord SInister

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All those posters with their snide I'm embarrassed/This is RAWKish/City have broken our spirit shit can feck off. Noodle can feck off too just because. Is it such an incredulous idea that footballers dope? Or is it that it's Man city or the timing of this thread. I've long believed that some form of performance enhancement has become rife in most professional sports. Look at the likes of Lebron and Tom Brady breaking records at their age. You can attribute some of it to diet and medical science but lets not kid ourselves, if there is an edge most people would take it. Look at Ronaldo's incredible physical transformation and countless other examples where a players physique suddenly changed. Look at the evidence of the spanish doping trial. Makes perfect sense to me that in the most popular sport in the world where athletes have the most to gain, there will be plenty of shady stuff going on. The sad part is we probably aren't immune to that either.

Discussing drugs in sports is one thing. Saying City is doing good/great just because of Pep and his dope sticks is rawkish. It is similar to those days in rawk when they used to photoshop Howard Webb with United shirt on.
 

Kostur

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To be fair it would all make sense, how Guardiola tried to sell his fairy dust to Redmond after the Saints match but the brave Englishman was stalwart to his values and refused to 'reach in his pocket'. Yesterday's anger towards Wiggle's manager looked like a roids-induced rage, all's missing was a dirty syringe in Poop's hand.
 

Keeps It tidy

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Footballers talk and hold grudges and can be quite petty sometimes. Same with managers. If Pep and City were doping then it would have leaked by now, either by mates chatting on international duty or a disgruntled ex player, coach etc... There is no way an organisation of that size could keep it quite. There is no way that Barca, Bayern and City could keep it quite.

Either City are not doping or every team is at it. Get a grip, we are not RAWK, we are not Liverpool fans.

P.S. I thought Pep was cleared of his doping charge as a player?
In Basketball Derrick Lewis once tried to sell a story of doing Cocaine with his dead friends Len Bias and Reggie Lewis. In Baseball Jose Canseco released a book selling out almost everyone. Nothing gets kept a secret, nobody is loyal and everyone knows everyone by this point.
 

Keeps It tidy

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To be fair it would all make sense, how Guardiola tried to sell his fairy dust to Redmond after the Saints match but the brave Englishman was stalwart to his values and refused to 'reach in his pocket'. Yesterday's anger towards Wiggle's manager looked like a roids-induced rage, all's missing was a dirty syringe in Poop's hand.
Or maybe he is still a really intense competitor like he was in his playing days?
 

Classical Mechanic

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In Basketball Derrick Lewis once tried to sell a story of doing Cocaine with his dead friends Len Bias and Reggie Lewis. In Baseball Jose Canseco released a book selling out almost everyone. Nothing gets kept a secret, nobody is loyal and everyone knows everyone by this point.
Give it time.

We would know a lot more about Spanish sport if Fuentes's blood bags were identified. As it is, it looked like a concerted effort by the Spanish authorities to cover that up. There is proof of widespread doping in Spanish sport sat in a lab somewhere.

Many players have talked about being doped by clubs or teams, the key difference from what you are talking about is that those players were individuals that were cheating through their own agency.

Your point also falls down when you consider how few Olympic athletes are open about doping when so many fail tests.

Or maybe he is still a really intense competitor like he was in his playing days?
You do know he tested positive for steroids in his playing days?
 

Desert Eagle

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Discussing drugs in sports is one thing. Saying City is doing good/great just because of Pep and his dope sticks is rawkish. It is similar to those days in rawk when they used to photoshop Howard Webb with United shirt on.
I've only read the last 2/3 pages but has anyone suggested that?
 

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Give it time.

We would know a lot more about Spanish sport if Fuentes's blood bags were identified. As it is, it looked like a concerted effort by the Spanish authorities to cover that up. There is proof of widespread doping in Spanish sport sat in a lab somewhere.

Many players have talked about being doped by clubs or teams, the key difference from what you are talking about is that those players were individuals that were cheating through their own agency.

Your point also falls down when you consider how few Olympic athletes are open about doping when so many fail tests.



You do know he tested positive for steroids in his playing days?
He was cleared of charges and the Fuentes case was from 2006.
 

SteveJ

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"We cannot mock or criticise other clubs while we are in this predicament. Let us now contemplate the error of our ways..."
 

Classical Mechanic

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He was cleared of charges and the Fuentes case was from 2006.
He was controversially cleared on a technicality. WADA stated at the hearing that the chance of his his test throwing up a false positive was between 1/1000 and 1/10000.

So what if the Fuentes case is from 2006, it clearly prove a culture of doping and cover up in Spanish sport.
 

Keeps It tidy

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He was controversially cleared on a technicality. WADA stated at the hearing that the chance of his his test throwing up a false positive was between 1/1000 and 1/10000.

So what if the Fuentes case is from 2006, it clearly prove a culture of doping and cover up in Spanish sport.
But, people always try to connect it to the great Spain and Barca teams and the timeline does not match up.
 

Classical Mechanic

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But, people always try to connect it to the great Spain and Barca teams and the timeline does not match up.
What ties up is Pep taking his dope doctor to Barcelona with him, Barcelona breaching the whereabouts rules under his tenure. Lance Armstrong's dope doctor was also (credibly) alleged to have worked at Barca too.
 

B20

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The doping culture in spain is perhaps the most pervasive in the world alongside Italy and those with state sponsored doping programs. And it is well known that the authorities will do their best to shelter it.

I do get a whiff of the Lance Armstrongs from peps teams. Everyone said he would have been caught if he and his team were doing it that blatantly. It was only years after, and by testimony rather than tests,that he was exposed. In hindsight it was obvious that everyone who joined us postal became race horses. But it does stick out that his teams play with massive intensity and a very generous injury record.

Id expect more smoke though. The omerta in cycling was palpable when looked for. I haven't noticed much like that surrounding his teams.
 

Murder on Zidanes Floor

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De Bruyne has been in the league for 3 seasons, and most of that time has seemed physically inadequate over the course of season, and even individual games, making him chronically inconsistent. Now suddenly, without any kind of Bale/Ronaldo-like obvious physical development, can run harder than ever for 90 minutes 3 times a week?

Silva is suddenly playing with a nastiness he never had before, and Fernandinho who has had long periods of poor form in each of the previous 4 seasons due to fatigue suddenly sustains his stamina the older he gets? Otamendi was an animal at Valencia, looked weak in his first 2 seasons in England yet suddenly looks dominant again at the same time as all of these other abnormalities are happening?

These are not great athletes, just like the majority of the Spanish team the dominanted football weren’t, yet they could suddenly sustain crazy intensity late into games? Xavi went from riding bench behind Deco and Van Bommel in his mid 20s to the best midfielder in the world - it makes no sense.

I think it’s a Spanish thing that transcends into other sports - Rafa Nadal always seemed abnormally powerful to me; watching such an infinitely better technician like Federer struggling to handle his perpetual power and intensity always seemed suspicious.

It’s something that should be scrutinised accordingly - if the FBI can probe FIFAs dodgy internal financial dealings then surely clarifying something like this can be justified too.
That was because he's a left handed whose top spin forehand was the perfect weapon against the one hand backhand of Federer.

Djokovic with a two hand backhand has a much easier time dealing with Nadal's forehand.
 

Sidious

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The story about the evil Man City or Leicester sounds pretty naive to me.
After everything we know about doping it seems to be pretty obvious, that in a professional sport like football the medical treatment is highly "professional" too.
Football is about so much money and clubs pay a lot to get their players in the best shape and when there is a way to improve the performance (without taking high risks) they will do it.

To point at a single team/player sounds pretty familiar to cycling in the 90s/early 2000s: "Wow. The winner was so fast. He has to be doping". Today we know: everybody was/is. That's also the reason hardly anyone from the business talks about it.
The clubs are so professional. They analyse every part of the game. When there is a team, that is physically so much stronger than your own team: don't you think they would come to the conclusion, that there is something wrong?
Do you think Jose (for example) would just accept it?
Doping is just a part of professional sport.
 

Corey

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All those posters with their snide I'm embarrassed/This is RAWKish/City have broken our spirit shit can feck off. Noodle can feck off too just because. Is it such an incredulous idea that footballers dope? Or is it that it's Man city or the timing of this thread. I've long believed that some form of performance enhancement has become rife in most professional sports. Look at the likes of Lebron and Tom Brady breaking records at their age. You can attribute some of it to diet and medical science but lets not kid ourselves, if there is an edge most people would take it. Look at Ronaldo's incredible physical transformation and countless other examples where a players physique suddenly changed. Look at the evidence of the spanish doping trial. Makes perfect sense to me that in the most popular sport in the world where athletes have the most to gain, there will be plenty of shady stuff going on. The sad part is we probably aren't immune to that either.
Is it just me or is Ronaldo's physical transformation overstated? I've heard many claim that Ronaldo suddenly gained loads of muscle over the Summer of 2006, but he was already pretty muscular before.

Here's Ronaldo's physique in the Summer of 2004:
http://ronaldomessiwallpaper.com/wp...d-of-cristiano-ronaldo-portugal-euro-2004.jpg

And here's Ronaldo physique in February 2006:
https://i.guim.co.uk/img/static/Gua...=max&dpr=2&s=e80d59af9a0fb876d4231789888dcdef


Seems to me like Ronaldo's physique improved steadily, no? So I don't know why you're suspicious of doping here.
 

Desert Eagle

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Is it just me or is Ronaldo's physical transformation overstated? I've heard many claim that Ronaldo suddenly gained loads of muscle over the Summer of 2006, but he was already pretty muscular before.

Here's Ronaldo's physique in the Summer of 2004:
http://ronaldomessiwallpaper.com/wp...d-of-cristiano-ronaldo-portugal-euro-2004.jpg

And here's Ronaldo physique in February 2006:
https://i.guim.co.uk/img/static/Gua...=max&dpr=2&s=e80d59af9a0fb876d4231789888dcdef


Seems to me like Ronaldo's physique improved steadily, no? So I don't know why you're suspicious of doping here.
Fair enough that does look pretty standard and does not need peds. And even with Brady and Lebron i'm not saying it's a fact they both doped or had to dope to achieve those results. My larger point is looking at all the records in most sports being smashed, older atheletes prolonging their prime etc.it wouldn't surprise me in the slighest to hear about any top athelete being caught doping. Could just be me being a pessimistic cnut though