Topic: Man City - cheating bastards rumbled

[reddebs]

I can't remember the pre Rafa days of the PL but was it competitive then? 

I know Arsenal had a bit of a go when Wenger first arrived, then Chelsea after Roman took over but it was pretty much a one horse race most seasons with the red mancs.

[rob1966]

I can't remember the pre Rafa days of the PL but was it competitive then? 

I know Arsenal had a bit of a go when Wenger first arrived, then Chelsea after Roman took over but it was pretty much a one horse race most seasons with the red mancs.

No it wasn't really that competitive, not until Wenger rocked up anyway. They never pulled constant 90+ pts seasons though. Without City, we'd be dominating the league

[Jm55]

I can't remember the pre Rafa days of the PL but was it competitive then? 

I know Arsenal had a bit of a go when Wenger first arrived, then Chelsea after Roman took over but it was pretty much a one horse race most seasons with the red mancs.

Arsenal won it in 1998, 2002 and 2004, they were also involved in a title race a few years in between (as were we in 1997).

I think the fundamental difference is that United’s dominance was a) self created and therefore impressive and b) wasn’t built on a model which could theoretically continue forever. With City’s stranglehold on the league you can see it continuing until at least someone as rich as them show up (which will probably happen with Newcastle).

It’s also o worth noting that the TV money in the 90s and early 00s was a fraction of what it is now, both in terms of the actual numbers when you factor in inflation but also in terms of the European equivalents at the same time, the disparity between clubs in Spain vs England or Ittaly vs England in terms of TV revenue was nowhere near what it is now.

[Elzar]

No it wasn't really that competitive, not until Wenger rocked up anyway. They never pulled constant 90+ pts seasons though. Without City, we'd be dominating the league

United won it with less than 2 points per game one season. Now you need at least 2.5 to be competitive.

[-Willo-]

I can't remember the pre Rafa days of the PL but was it competitive then? 

I know Arsenal had a bit of a go when Wenger first arrived, then Chelsea after Roman took over but it was pretty much a one horse race most seasons with the red mancs.

I remember Neville said the Utd lads used to dominate a lot in the 90s purely because they were one of the only teams who took it serious in terms of fitness.

Absolute joke in comparison to nowadays really isn't it, you draw away to someone like Spurs in November and you feel like the title is gone. Getting boring.

[reddebs]

I know the points totals weren't as high but they weren't as low at the bottom either.

I'm just not so sure there'll be that many fucks given until they start getting near to overtaking the red mancs number of titles.

The media's darlings won't want that to happen although I guess give it 3 or 4 years and Newcastle will be winning stuff then too

[Kenny's Jacket]

"We deserved it,” said Guardiola. “I like football when it is fair. "


https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/soccer/english-soccer/ken-early-manchester-city-s-dominance-a-reminder-the-rich-always-get-their-way-1.4778060

[Dim Glas]

If City win the next five league titles (not out of the question) the ability to market the Premier League as the "Best League in the World" is going to be severely damaged, whether Liverpool are successful or not.

Is that even a thing outside of England, and maybe the US though?

It’s almost uttered as a joke by plenty IN England these days too.

[Dim Glas]

"We deserved it,” said Guardiola. “I like football when it is fair. "


https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/soccer/english-soccer/ken-early-manchester-city-s-dominance-a-reminder-the-rich-always-get-their-way-1.4778060

Guardiola has no self awareness, in and outside of football.  It’d be funny if it wasn’t so disturbing.

Nice to see a journalist call out their robotic football.

Most of us don’t watch football for technical quality or tactical intrigue. We’re watching because we want to feel something – and the risk of defeat adds savour to the joy of victory. In the simplest terms, we like a bit of end-to-end. No coach despises end-to-end more than Guardiola. His teams are designed to exert the maximum of control and allow the absolute minimum of randomness and uncertainty.

Ken Early, who often writes a good article it seems, will feel the wrath of their robotic sportswashed fans for that piece.

[Fromola]

Guardiola has no self awareness, in and outside of football.  It’d be funny if it wasn’t so disturbing.

Nice to see a journalist call out their robotic football.

Most of us don’t watch football for technical quality or tactical intrigue. We’re watching because we want to feel something – and the risk of defeat adds savour to the joy of victory. In the simplest terms, we like a bit of end-to-end. No coach despises end-to-end more than Guardiola. His teams are designed to exert the maximum of control and allow the absolute minimum of randomness and uncertainty.

Ken Early, who often writes a good article it seems, will feel the wrath of their robotic sportswashed fans for that piece.

I don't usually watch them but I had on their game at Newcastle at the end of last season. They'd already won the league so there was nothing riding on the game. It developed into an exciting end-to-end game so I kept it on. Then City went 4-3 after an hour and with Guardiola screaming at them they spent the rest of the game passing the ball about in their own half, wasting time with stoppages and the game petered out and I switched it off with 10 minutes left.

They're great at managing a game, i'll give them that, but that encapsulates the joylessness of Guardiola's football teams (without Messi).

It takes two teams to make a game of football.

[PoetryInMotion]

Nobody is comparing him to Ole. He is a fantastic manager, no doubt, but he has never proved himself at a club with limited resources, or even resources the likes of a very big club such as Liverpool have. That is a fact you can't argue.

At Barca Pep inherited some of the best young talent in Spanish football history at the time that luckily happened to be there, he also happened to have the best footballer of possibly all time there. Not exactly Porto or Mainz.

He then inherited a treble winning Bayern Munich side who's job it is to walk the league almost every season, a shit ton of money but he still failed to win anything in Europe or do anything better than his predecessor or managers that would come after him.

Then he spent the odd billion pound at City managed through financial doping.

I made a list of all the League winning managers in the Top 5 Leagues since 2000 and it was interesting to note who worked their way up and who were born with a silver spoon.

Ottmar Hitzfeld - Did well in Switzerland, won Leagues and a European Cup with Dortmund and then made his way up to Bayern where he enjoyed even more success.

Carlo Ancelotti - Started his management career at Reggiana, then to Parma, Juventus - did well overall and then to Milan where his successes took shape. His win percentage kept increasing as he took over clubs with more money like Chelsea, PSG, Real Madrid and Bayern.

Louis van Gaal - Started at Ajax, which is a masive help, but apart from League titles, he won the European Cup with Ajax as well, which showed his mettle. Then moved to Barcelona, was successful, but one of his biggest successes would be to win the League with AZ Alkmaar, when the decade was largely dominated by PSV and Ajax. Then moved to Bayern to continue his success, did decently with the Dutch national team and then fizzled away at Man United.

Jupp Heynckes - Started his management career at Mönchengladbach, was successful, moved to Bayern, won Leagues, then moved to a few other clubs like Bilbao, Frankfurt and Tenerife, did well overall, earned a move to Real Madrid, won the European Cup, had stints at Benfica, Bilbao and Schalke and then went back to Bayern, winning Leagues and the Champions League.

Jürgen Klopp - Worked his way up starting from Mainz, earning promotion and doing very well, moving to Dortmund, winning Leagues and almost winning the Champions League, moved to Liverpool, won the League and the Champions League.

Hansi Flick - Started by managing a non League side, then moved to Hoffenheim, where he was hugely successful, earned a move to Bayern, won Leagues and the Champions League and is now the manager of German National team.

Felix Magath - Started his career with the reserve side of Hamburg, worked through a bunch of teams and then had a successful spell at Stuttgart that earned him a move to Bayern, where he won the League twice. The highlight of his career was when he won the Bundesliga with Wolfsburg in his next stint. He did well at Schalke before he fizzled out.

José Mourinho - Started at Benfica, and then made a big impression at Porto, winning both the UEFA Cup and the Champions League, moved to Chelsea, won Leagues, moved to Inter, won Leagues and the Champions League, did well at Real Madrid and return stint to Chelsea intially, before fizzling out.

Marcello Lippi - Started in Serie-B with Pistoiese, worked with a bunch of clubs, worked his way up, got the Napoli job, and then immediately got the Juve job where he was hugely successful. He won 5 League Titles and a Champions League, was runner-up thrice. Then managed Italy, won the World Cup and then fizzled out eventually.

Fabio Capello - Started at Milan after Sacchi, looks like he was handed it on the platter, won 4 Leagues and a Champions League, won the League at Real Madrid, but also went to Roma and won the League for them, which is probably his biggest achievement. Fizzled out after a successful return to Real Madrid, after the Juventus debacle.

Roberto Mancini - Started at Fiorentina, won a Cup with them, as he did with Lazio, then moved to Inter, where he won 3 Leagues, moved to Man City where he won the League once, and then won the Euros as the manager of Italian National team.

Massimiliano Allegri - Started with Aglianese in Serie-D, moved to several clubs, before winning the League with Milan, right at the start of their difficult period, and then earned a move to Juventus, where he won a further 5 Leagues.

Antonio Conte - Started at Serie -D, worked his way upto Serie-A, won 3 Leagues with Juventus, moved to Chelsea, won a League with them, then moved to Inter to win the League with them and break the Juventus monopoly.

Alex Ferguson - Started in the Lower tiers of Scotland, before being successful with Aberdeen and eventually moving to Man United where he won 13 Leagues and 2 Champions Leagues.

Arsène Wenger - Started as manager of Nancy, worked his way up to Monaco, where he did well and won the League, then moved to Japan and then came to Arsenal where he won 3 Leagues and was successful.

Vicente del Bosque - Kind of handed in a platter after working for Real Madrid academy, was successful with Real Madrid and the Spain National team, albeit with their Golden generation and some of the best players ever.

Zinedine Zidane - Similar to del Bosque, moved from the academy to Real Madrid to win 2 Leagues and 3 Champions Leagues.

Rafael Benítez - Started with Real Madrid reserves, but had to move to Valladolid, switched to several clubs, before finally landing at Valencia, where he was hugely successful in winning 2 League Titles and a UEFA Cup. Then moved to Liverpool, won the Champions League, moved to Chelsea and won the Europa League, won the Cup with Napoli, had a good stint with Newcastle, before fizzling out.

Diego Simeone - Started with Racing Club, worked through a number of clubs before landing at Atletico, with a successful stint of winning 2 Leagues, 2 Europa Leagues and reaching the Champions League finals twice.

Luis Enrique - Started with Barcelona reserves, moved to Roma, did okay and then to Celta before being successful with Barcelona winning 2 Leagues and a Champions League before taking up the Spain National team job.

Thomas Tuchel - Started with Augsburg reserves, did well at Mainz and Dortmund, landed the PSG job, won two Leagues, moved to Chelsea and won the Champions League.

Gérard Houllier - Started at amateur French club, won the League with PSG, took up Technical director roles, took over a struggling Liverpool, won the Europa League and two Cups, won two more Leagues with Lyon.

Most of these managers worked their way up from lower ranked clubs, some of them from lower leagues before reaching their successes. Guardiola is one of the few like del Bosque and Zidane to have started with the richest/one of the most successful clubs in their Top League with a Top class squad to choose from. As well as he has done, he is yet to prove that he can work his way up and still be successful.

I think more credit should be shown towards many of the above successful managers who have worked their way up from below, rather than just counting trophies that were won. Winning the League with Stuttgart, Wolfsburg, Dortmund, Roma, Atletico, Valencia, Liverpool (against current Man City), Leicester, AZ Alkmaar, or Lille (against current PSG), winning the Champions League with Dortmund, Porto are extraordinary achievements and are not equal to the routine League titles won by a few others. A few others did extremely well before earning moves to the big clubs as well.

Guardiola took over a Barcelona side that did the Double of League Title and Champions League just 2 years before. He took over Bayern who had just won the treble including the League Title and Champions League and still failed to win the Champions League in 3 years. Man City were winning League Titles before he was appointed. He's yet to win the Champions League with them. Yes, he made these teams stronger in their Leagues, but all of those three clubs were some of the richest clubs not in their Leagues, but in the whole world at the time of his appointment, not to mention, hugely successful as well. This has to be taken into context when we rate managers overall.

[redgriffin73]

https://twitter.com/City_Xtra/status/1482846305219133451

They've become such sensitive souls.

City officials complained while the game was ongoing? Were they watching on BT rather than actually watching the game live or what?! Maybe they were that bored by City's tedious football they were scrolling through Twitter.

[viewing only]

Southampton do them over on the weekend lads, just letting you know.

[JRed]

"We deserved it,” said Guardiola. “I like football when it is fair. "


https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/soccer/english-soccer/ken-early-manchester-city-s-dominance-a-reminder-the-rich-always-get-their-way-1.4778060

Haha. No you don’t Pep, you only like football when you play with cheat codes

[RedSince86]

Seems Swiss Ramble has been bought, they are waxing lyrical about his breakdown of their so called trusty turnover.

Apparently City have only had £50 million pumped into the club by the owner in the last 5 years.

 

[Samie]

Seems Swiss Ramble has been bought, they are waxing lyrical about his breakdown of their so called trusty turnover.

Apparently City have only had £50 million pumped into the club by the owner in the last 5 years.

 

And I've had Scarlett Johansson tied to my bedpost.

[Chip Evans]

"We deserved it,” said Guardiola. “I like football when it is fair. "


https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/soccer/english-soccer/ken-early-manchester-city-s-dominance-a-reminder-the-rich-always-get-their-way-1.4778060

Just read this and came to post it. Excellent article. Loved this paragraph.

"This clinical chloroforming of Chelsea . . . felt better? . . . than the deliciously unjust 2-1 victory at Arsenal, with the 93rd-minute winner by Rodri? Most fans would disagree. That crazy Arsenal match, with its chaos, controversies and violent swings in momentum, was the obvious dramatic highlight of this 12-match winning streak, which has mostly consisted of City taking candy from a series of babies. But then, the gap between football as understood and practised by top coaches like Guardiola, and football as understood and experienced by the fans, has never been wider."

And this:

"Even some City players don’t seem thrilled to be part of it. Ferran Torres came, saw and left. Bernardo Silva has been a standout performer, but he spent the summer trying to engineer a move to Spain. Raheem Sterling was recently named Premier League player of the month for December, yet he too recently admitted he was considering leaving. These are the star players for what is now the richest and most powerful club in the world, and yet they seem to be wondering, “Is this all there is?”

Why doesn’t the City experience feel as exciting as their record-shattering numbers suggest it should be? Partly it’s the style that makes their matches too one-sided to be interesting. Even Jack Grealish is hardly worth watching these days. The most exciting footballer of last season has been subsumed into the City system as a kind of glorified ballboy whose role is to stand on the sideline and pass it quickly to the main man, João Cancelo.

But of course the main problem is, and always has been, the money. City represent the ruthlessly efficient application of overwhelming financial firepower and there simply is not a lot of magic about that story."

That's the problem. They don't even feel like a real enemy because they are so fucking BLAND. I can't even raise myself to be annoyed by them most of the time - just what they've turned football into, and the lack of voices outlining what Ken does consistently like today.

[Tobelius]

Won't be long til writing critical stuff about these and not absolutely loving them is made illegal.

[Schmidt]

Seems Swiss Ramble has been bought, they are waxing lyrical about his breakdown of their so called trusty turnover.

Apparently City have only had £50 million pumped into the club by the owner in the last 5 years.

 

To be fair doesn't Swiss Ramble just read the numbers that are published? If the published numbers are heavily doctored that's not really on him.

[paulrazor]

Saw one or two tweets over the weekend (from David Conn) among others about their spending power

jesus they get awfully pissy on twitter when that is brought up

Bet they were saying the same when Chelsea did it first (mind you half them probably followed Chelsea back then)

[harleydanger]

Seems Swiss Ramble has been bought, they are waxing lyrical about his breakdown of their so called trusty turnover.

Apparently City have only had £50 million pumped into the club by the owner in the last 5 years.

 

Look just because 80% of the major sponsors are also owned by Man City’s owners means nothing

[newterp]

https://twitter.com/City_Xtra/status/1482846305219133451

They've become such sensitive souls.

[Alan_X]

Won't be long til writing critical stuff about these and not absolutely loving them is made illegal hit with massive defamation lawsuits.

[Alan_X]

I think you're all being a bit harsh - the fans love it - I've seen the videos:

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/v/tn6fNYwtGc4" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">https://www.youtube.com/v/tn6fNYwtGc4</a>

Just look at that passion...

[carling]

The optimist in me thinks that it’s unlikely the TV contracts get sold for their current value if City keep pissing the league every season (which hopefully they won’t this season but it’s far from beyond the realms).

Really, if you want to see a genuine title race, or at least start a season with 3 teams that have a genuine chance of winning it, then La Liga is the best bet currently with Real, Barca and Atletico (I know that Barca are nowhere near it currently but I can’t imagine it will be too long before they are again).

The annoying thing is you watch great matches like ours vs Spurs and Chelsea and the likes of Neville will hype it up suggesting that it’s illustrative of the competitiveness of the division, and in isolation he’d have a point, but the reality is that more often than not, these matches, despite being great to watch, will have little impact on where the title ends up because City will be streets ahead generally.

The hope has to be that Guardiola fucks off and City revert to their pre-Guardiola levels which meant that yes they still won the league, but it wasn’t every year and you didn’t need 95 points to have a realsitic chance of beating them, luckily Guardiola isn’t the type to hang around too long so hopefully that continues.

I honestly wouldn't pin your hopes on that.  Guardiola, City fans and parts of the media are doing their best to convince everyone it's less about the money and more about Pep magic or some footballing way the club is being ran.  But don't be suckered in.

It's been 12 years now of ridiculous spending with player after player after player brought in on eye-watering wages.  Any signing who wasn't quickly seen as being absolute top level has been duly shipped out and promptly replaced.  A few years ago their squad reached a level of maturity where they constantly have two full teams without much drop in quality - Pep knew his timing was right.  And it's easy to forget just how many players they signed to get to this stage.. a quick check on a transfer history site will show you.  It's easy to forget how many players they've been through.

Now it's just a case of topping up and selling the players who aren't happy with their game time, who of course will be incredible players and command big fees.  Leroy Sane last season for £50mil, Torres £50mil just now, Sterling will probably be next.  But they'll duly be replaced with other world class players and it's not an issue if they sign a few duds, because the squad is more than big enough to absorb it.

Really don't think their performance in the league will change much with their next manager unless they make a really silly amount of bad signings.

[Crosby Nick]

I honestly wouldn't pin your hopes on that.  Guardiola, City fans and parts of the media are doing their best to convince everyone it's less about the money and more about Pep magic or some footballing way the club is being ran.  But don't be suckered in.

It's been 12 years now of ridiculous spending with player after player after player brought in on eye-watering wages.  Any signing who wasn't quickly seen as being absolute top level has been duly shipped out and promptly replaced.  A few years ago their squad reached a level of maturity where they constantly have two full teams without much drop in quality - Pep knew his timing was right.  And it's easy to forget just how many players they signed to get to this stage.. a quick check on a transfer history site will show you.  It's easy to forget how many players they've been through.

Now it's just a case of topping up and selling the players who aren't happy with their game time, who of course will be incredible players and command big fees.  Leroy Sane last season for £50mil, Torres £50mil just now, Sterling will probably be next.  But they'll duly be replaced with other world class players and it's not an issue if they sign a few duds, because the squad is more than big enough to absorb it.

Really don't think their performance in the league will change much with their next manager unless they make a really silly amount of bad signings.

The intensity could drop a bit when he goes. City have probably had the strongest squad in the league since about 2011 but before Guardiola arrived they’d only won a couple of titles. They were good front runners but there were a few seasons where they fell behind and never really mustered a challenge.

They’ll still have the most financial power but I think it will level things up a bit.

[JRed]

Lance Armstrong got caught out eventually. Hopefully one day soon the authorities will make something stick. Maybe the CAS farce has created some enemies in UEFA who are just biding their time.
There could also be a whistleblower who leaks the truth to the media, whether they act on it is another matter tho.
It’s sad for the game really, everyone knows they are cheating yet not enough people seem arsed about it , many because they know their club wouldn’t win things anyway.

[Jshooters]

Lance Armstrong got caught out eventually. Hopefully one day soon the authorities will make something stick. Maybe the CAS farce has created some enemies in UEFA who are just biding their time.
There could also be a whistleblower who leaks the truth to the media, whether they act on it is another matter tho.
It’s sad for the game really, everyone knows they are cheating yet not enough people seem arsed about it , many because they know their club wouldn’t win things anyway.

The PL investigation is still ongoing.  Not that i'm holding out much hope for anything verging on competence from them but it's not been dropped so there's some hope....

[royhendo]

Ken Earlys with the stiletto to the underfundament.

[Timbo's Goals]

I understand that but it would have helped if people hadn't kept engaging with ridiculous posts. If I had an hour or two I'd have taken more time to read through each of those posts before cleaning up the thread but given the volume of shite I had to take a broad brush approach. It's a two way street  - we try not to over-moderate and prefer not to delete unless necessary, but the thread had descended into insults and was a complete mess.

It's a shame you didn't Al. [read them all that is]. For all that there were a few patronizing if pretty harmless insults it was a hell of a fucking read and full credit to all who took the trouble to make it so with some excellently constructed posts/responses.

Fact was it had turned into a highly entertaining and fascinating debate which a quick shufty might not have revealed as seems to have been the case in your instance. Fascinating mainly because the main protaganist [Stigen] and those arguing with him [quite a few] were actually all singing from the same hymn sheet of utter contempt for City and Abu Dhabi yet somehow still managing to make it seem like they were ferociously disagreeing.

All parties were thoroughly contemptuous of City and Abu Dhabi's obscene prostituting of that once great - albeit largely prior to Abu Dhabi trophy and glory challenged - club to further their own non-sporting ends. The sole bone of contention [and it really was compelling dog with a bone stuff] was Stigen's insistence that owing to the relentless recruitment of Pep and all City's sprawling backroom empire, Abu Dhabi had managed to attain a level of efficiency that ensured the endless Abu Dhabi reserves were employed to ensure that maximum efficiency.

This was interpreted - and as an non active observer I could see why such interpretation was the case - by those arguing with the hapless Stigen that he was supportive of City and Abu Dhabi when in fact he was of the completely opposite mindset. It was simply that in the ensuing debate it became clear he would rather lose his right arm than submit to any assertion that City/Abu Dhabi had not finally attained a position were they not fucking monstrously efficient however heinous a reality that might happen to be to all those like ourselves [and dear Stigen himself ]who happen to despise the heinous regime.

Anyroad, for those not privileged to read the lengthy discourse I thought I'd just chuck this in to let you all know what a terrific read you all missed.

     

PS To ensure no further misinterpretation/misrepresentation I'll just add that if it can be proven that anybody - and I really do mean anybody - despises City and the evil desecration of the game they've now become more than me then I'll willingly denote my plums to the Joe Mercer Remembrance Society.   

[Charlie Adams fried egg]

Look just because 80% of the major sponsors are also owned by Man City’s owners means nothing

Can't wait for Deloitte to comment on their impressive commercial growth, or some such neutral bollocks that would not preclude them from a nice consultancy gig. In my opinion of course.

[Kenny's Jacket]

The intensity could drop a bit when he goes. City have probably had the strongest squad in the league since about 2011 but before Guardiola arrived they’d only won a couple of titles. They were good front runners but there were a few seasons where they fell behind and never really mustered a challenge.

They’ll still have the most financial power but I think it will level things up a bit.

but we wont have Klopp 

[RedSince86]

These two guys famous for cooking the books at Enron work at Man City by any chance?

The documentaries on Enron are essential viewing BTW.

[Alan_X]

It's a shame you didn't Al. [read them all that is]. For all that there were a few patronizing if pretty harmless insults it was a hell of a fucking read and full credit to all who took the trouble to make it so with some excellently constructed posts/responses.

Fact was it had turned into a highly entertaining and fascinating debate which a quick shufty might not have revealed as seems to have been the case in your instance. Fascinating mainly because the main protaganist [Stigen] and those arguing with him [quite a few] were actually all singing from the same hymn sheet of utter contempt for City and Abu Dhabi yet somehow still managing to make it seem like they were ferociously disagreeing.

All parties were thoroughly contemptuous of City and Abu Dhabi's obscene prostituting of that once great - albeit largely prior to Abu Dhabi trophy and glory challenged - club to further their own non-sporting ends. The sole bone of contention [and it really was compelling dog with a bone stuff] was Stigen's insistence that owing to the relentless recruitment of Pep and all City's sprawling backroom empire, Abu Dhabi had managed to attain a level of efficiency that ensured the endless Abu Dhabi reserves were employed to ensure that maximum efficiency.

This was interpreted - and as an non active observer I could see why such interpretation was the case - by those arguing with the hapless Stigen that he was supportive of City and Abu Dhabi when in fact he was of the completely opposite mindset. It was simply that in the ensuing debate it became clear he would rather lose his right arm than submit to any assertion that City/Abu Dhabi had not finally attained a position were they not fucking monstrously efficient however heinous a reality that might happen to be to all those like ourselves [and dear Stigen himself ]who happen to despise the heinous regime.

Anyroad, for those not privileged to read the lengthy discourse I thought I'd just chuck this in to let you all know what a terrific read you all missed.

     

PS To ensure no further misinterpretation/misrepresentation I'll just add that if it can be proven that anybody - and I really do mean anybody - despises City and the evil desecration of the game they've now become more than me then I'll willingly denote my plums to the Joe Mercer Remembrance Society.   

They're not deleted - I'll go through them when I have more time later.

[Barneylfc∗]

The PL investigation is still ongoing.  Not that i'm holding out much hope for anything verging on competence from them but it's not been dropped so there's some hope....

Nothing will come of it, but in the unlikely event that the Premier League grow a backbone and actually find them guilty, they should be stripped of all titles they have won. They shouldn't be awarded to another side, but they shouldn't be allowed to hold them.
The issue there is it would be an obvious black mark against the Premier League, and they won't have that. It's the best league in the world and they won't do anything that tarnishes that reputation. Everything is great and having despot owners of clubs is cool.

[Alan_X]

Arsenal won it in 1998, 2002 and 2004, they were also involved in a title race a few years in between (as were we in 1997).

I think the fundamental difference is that United’s dominance was a) self created and therefore impressive and b) wasn’t built on a model which could theoretically continue forever. With City’s stranglehold on the league you can see it continuing until at least someone as rich as them show up (which will probably happen with Newcastle).

It’s also o worth noting that the TV money in the 90s and early 00s was a fraction of what it is now, both in terms of the actual numbers when you factor in inflation but also in terms of the European equivalents at the same time, the disparity between clubs in Spain vs England or Ittaly vs England in terms of TV revenue was nowhere near what it is now.

United dominated, but it was more competitive because as you say, they weren't winning leagues with 95+ points so another team that did well like Blackburn under Kenny, Wenger's early Arsenal, Mourinho's Chelsea Mk1, could win the league without having to be near-perfect. At their best (and at our best under Paisley) they only ever won three in a row.

[carling]

The intensity could drop a bit when he goes. City have probably had the strongest squad in the league since about 2011 but before Guardiola arrived they’d only won a couple of titles. They were good front runners but there were a few seasons where they fell behind and never really mustered a challenge.

They’ll still have the most financial power but I think it will level things up a bit.

When Guardiola arrived they did already have the strongest squad in the league, but the glut of signings he made in his first few seasons really took it to quite a surreal place.  Before you could kind of compare their squad to other teams in the league (and even pick a few holes in it), but as of the past 3 or 4 years it really has been two teams with virtually no drop off.  Every tactical sub they bring on is someone who could easily have started.

While the owners keep the squad as expensive as it is now (i.e. the most expensive in world footy), they should never finish below 90 points regardless of the manager.

[JRed]

When Guardiola arrived they did already have the strongest squad in the league, but the glut of signings he made in his first few seasons really took it to quite a surreal place.  Before you could kind of compare their squad to other teams in the league (and even pick a few holes in it), but as of the past 3 or 4 years it really has been two teams with virtually much no drop off.  Every tactical sub they bring on is someone who could easily have started.

While the owners keep the squad as expensive as it is now (i.e. the most expensive in world footy), they should never finish below 90 points regardless of the manager.

Pep has never managed anywhere he didn’t already have the best team to start off with. They don’t even try and hide the self-sponsorship now so I only expect the spending of state funds to increase. Particularly when Saudi start competing with them. 2 of the most horrific regimes on the planet spending billions on football clubs in England to deflect attention from what happens in their Middle East states. What a fucking marvellous thing the premier league is now.

[I've been a good boy]

I think you're all being a bit harsh - the fans love it - I've seen the videos:

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/v/tn6fNYwtGc4" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">https://www.youtube.com/v/tn6fNYwtGc4</a>

Just look at that passion...

State of that absolute weapon dancing away on the 11 second mark. This video sums them up really, all very fake and none of their success seems genuine, it's just a project for Abu Dhabi that's all.

[JRed]

According to the Cityzens ,  Jim Beglin should be sacked for his ‘Emptyhad’ moment on commentary at the weekend. This is because commentators should be impartial . I take it they never heard Gary Neville squealing  every week about wanting Man City to win the league ahead of Liverpool over the last few years? Man City actually made an official complaint about it! Fucking hilarious.