It's all going wrong already at Unreal City. They continue to splash the cash and what is being achieved? Yes fifth place was progress last season but it was only achieved because Liverpool were so crap. Based on pre season form, City are going to go backwards this year!
The spending is continuing but are Balotelli and Milner better than players already at City? I don't think so. Mancini is turning over the squad to put his own men in place but that is weakness personified. He has the personnel already, bloating the squad still further is just adding to the fat and building unrest. Now City have to shed players to meet the 25 player squad cap but players won't want to walk away from mega contracts, so City will have to fund inflated wages for players playing for rival clubs. What a mess! What a dog's dinner!
How long will Mancini stay in the job? The players don't like him and Jose's achievements at Inter have put the Italian's efforts into perspective. It takes time to build a team but will Mancini be afforded that time, or will he go the same way as Hughes some time in October? My money is on an early departure with player unrest and supporter protests forcing the hand of the money to burn owners.
City fans will yell "Jealousy" but everybody in the country outside of Eastlands wants the mercityenaries to fall flat on their wallets. Titles have been won by bank balances for a long time now but the Arabs have taken spending to new ridiculous levels. It isn't good for the game so it would be great to see the venture fail.
The 3-0 defeat to Inter Milan puts things nicely into perspective. You can buy a team but you can't buy class. In terms of cost, Man City are anything but cheap, but in terms of pedigree, they are more Chum than class!
36 comments:
And I thought City fans were supposed to be bitter.
Is that Slick as in Oil Slick?
What's this?! Are my eyes deceiving me HF?! A piece NOT containing the name's 'Parker' and/or 'Zola'?
I would say I was impressed....if it didn't happen to be about Citeh!
Mind you, after THIRTEEN 'Parker-related' posts, anything's a plus I suppose!
Best thing about the Inter-City match...Brian Kidd's post-match interview....priceless!!
dumb headline and dumb statement, not worthy of a response.
Oi, I said he would go first! It was my TGGC exclusive. Only if I was allowed to bet, I would have put money on it.
Did you see how many squad numbers they gave out HF? It was 50 something!
We should buy Ireland. A creative goal-scoring midfielder.
Dumb response then 1224. (No not you Stani!)
Stani... 'We should buy Ireland'? and 'a creative goal-scoring midfielder'??
Easy mate! How about we just start with a prospective enquiry for the Isle of Man and source a tough-tackling speedy right-back?!
That was Brian Kidd! How old does he now look?
Damn you Shaun, that's the best reply this year! Why didn't I think of that?
City fans will yell "Jealousy"...no mate, City fans will say "take a long hard look at yourselves before having a go at us".
City fans are very excited about the new season, players like your much loved son Tevez, Koralov, Silva (who Chelsea and the rags have been tracking for the last couple of years), Boateng who had a great world cup, De Jong, and one or maybe 2 world class forwards all to come into the side. Why would City fans get angry with that?
As for Bobby Manc, fans love him, he has brought stability and organisation into the team and is someone who can change the formation during a game, unlike Hughes who just looked on nonplussed unable to work out what to do during that run of 7 draws last season.
As for our owners, its not just about spending big on players in the transfer window. We academies all over the world, employing the best coaches to enable us to bring through the best talent available. They will also investing the best part of £1 Billion pounds in the re-development of East Manchester, with new, world class training facilities, an innovative fan zone for match days, and probably an 80,000 seater stadium to accommodate all the additional plastic fans we will no doubt attract. What's not to like?
City fans have always had an affinity with Hammers fans, but your bile filled missive won't help the love flow.
Easy topic to get a few irate City fans on.
Well, I've taken your transparent bait, well fished that man!
If I was you I'd be more concerned about your new maverick owners, who saw fit to destroy Zola at the end of last season, undermining a universally-loved legend of world football, a man who would have sorted out your sorry club given time.
The way Hughes was shown the door was clinical but quick, the Zola saga was a disgrace and shameful on all levels.
If this is the way your new owners behave, and they're not new to football, then God help you when things don't go the way you all hope they will this season.
All the players can go at the right price apart from Scott Parker, because they're rubbish? This is straight from the Alan Ball manual entitled "How to send your football club rocketing down the leagues in one easy step"
I predict your playing staff morale is rock-bottom at this moment in time, and your owners will start to dig deeper when the defeats come rolling in, as they surely will.
You are doomed, take it from me, I've seen it first hand at City.
In contrast, City are in footballing heaven, if this is a mess, then God knows what you're about to experience.
This is a sorry situation which I do not wish on your club, except for the author of this particular article, who is clearly "deflecting" the issues putting West Ham on the brink of oblivion.
Hmmmm. Wasn't Mancini at the ground during Hughes' last game in charge? Classy mate, classy. Even Tottenham didn't sink THAT low with Oneday and Jol!
Err? How but some credit for the comment that prompted the response?
Well we can raid City Shaun. Who have they got at RB?
We should get Weiss off them as well. He's gonna be a top player. Still young and won't get a chance in City's team as Mancini begins to struggle and sticks with the tried and tested.
Yeah, fair play Stani...you DID present me with an easy opportunity, but I've got all my own material as well ya know!
HF, it's not how Kidd looks, it's what he says! I was frantically hitting '888' on my remote but apparently subtitles weren't available!!
Ha Ha, Liverpool finished 7th you halfwit and isn't football about better than other teams. City hope to buy another 2 players and will have to then shed 5 men who won't really be missed. BTW, who exactly built Jose's Inter team? Answers on a postcard to Roberto Mancini. Bitter, jealous and thick - what a combination.
*bout
hmmm, I did lose my notebook of witty remarks the other week. Didn't find it did you Shaun?
Speaking of subtitles, I reckon Bellamy's saying "For heaven's sake" in that pic.
Boris, did I say they finished 6th? Nope, I said City only finished 5th because Liverpool were so crap.
Yep Mancini built a good team at Inter but will he be allowed to build at Man City? For all his building, he couldn't deliver what Jose could deliver, could he?
Yeh, he's a good builder is Roberto...or should I say Bob? (I'm composing a new book. Be afraid Shaun)
Let's go through point by point. '..only acheived because Liverpool were so crap' - complete throwaway comment - double over Chelsea ring any bells?
Pre-season form - who cares? Jo's been playing most of the games if you didn't notice!
Changing the squad is 'weakness personified' - I don't understand where you're coming from - apparently he should not buy any players whatsoever. Hmmmmm.
A lot of teams have to shed players - Liverpool, Arsenal & Chelsea amongst them.
So shedding players is your cause of 'Dog's Dinner' - so the above teams are also Dog's Dinners - hold on, the 2009/10 Champs are in that list aren't they??! Weird logic once again.
Mancini has been given the all clear to stay & spend the money - my bet is that he will stay, because we'll do OK - only time will tell.
'It takes time to build a team' - your only sensible comment in the whole article.
Jealousy - no City fan's care what Hammers fans think - we're too busy looking onwards & upwards. 3-0 defeat by Inter - only after we were down to 10 men - half of those were kids. Inter are European Champs after all - if you hadn't noticed. I would be more surprised if we'd have won!
So sensible comments in your article = 1. Don't give up your day job. What d'you mean you're a journo - oh dear!
nice piece of bait there pal.
Really really a joke of an article with so many things clearly not understood by the writer.
50 odd shirts numbers includes kids from the junior teams.
All pre season wehave been without Tevez, Boateng, Silva, Y Toure plus others joining in the last few days. Most of the games we have been playing with kids.
Pre season games is abut getting fitness not going 100%, wining at all costs and getting injured.
I WH had been purchsed and bought exactly the same players and at the same stage you would really have a different view of things. I said years ago for all the slagging Chelsea got if your team was in that position you wouldn't be moaning like and old woman.
One of the posters stating that Mancini was in the ground when Hughes got the bullet just shows hows gullable you lot are for believing drivel.
Narrow minded and short sighted beyond belief. I cannot get this "Unreal City" tag that only WH use. Oh don't get , me wrong I know its supposed to be a pisstake of us trying to be Real Madrid but come on how childish.
STOP FKIN CRYING AND CONCENTRATE ON WHATS GOING ON AT YOUR OWN CLUB
Are other West Ham fans using it? Thought it was only me. Unreal can be understood in a praiseworthy way too, as in "That's unreal man!" However, the full dictionary definition of Unreal is:
1. Not real or substantial; illusory.
2. Slang So remarkable as to elicit disbelief; fantastic.
3. Surreal.
Now, depending on where you are seeing this from, those three definitions pretty much cover EVERYBODY'S opinion on City! But yes, I also want people to make comparisons with Real Madrid. They balls up year or year by packing their team with "names" too!
Wasn't Mancini in the ground for Markie's last game? Well he was in the car park then! Hughes knew he was going before kick off. Talk about bad taste and classless! At least Sullivan & Gold maintained the pretence that Zola was staying as manager until the season ended. And Zola went before a new manager was appointed. Out of interest, how many managers have Man City had since the war?
We City fans know we ballsed up serially, and we recognise a train wreck in progress as well.
You know that light at the end of the tunnel? In your case it's the train coming.
In our case it's the shiny silverware beckoning.
We are hoping Mancini gets a good crack at the whip, and at least he's being backed financially, and our owners know how to keep their gobs shut, and not air our dirty laundry in public.
Sullivan and Giold maintained the pretence Zola was staying? Do me a favour, if they hadn't undermined his every move, you wouldn't have been so near to relegation, and he'd have kept you up comfortably.
We've been badly mismanaged for years, of course we have, but crucially we're not now, despite this ridiculous article trying to suggest we're in some sort of a mess!
To reiterate, you're in a mess, not us, you're going to have a long, horrible season, whereas we will be competing in all competitions till the very end of the season.
Come on, surely some of you Hammers must have the nuts to be wary of the psychological damage visited upon your players by Sullivan and Gold's public slating of the entire squad apart from Parker?
On the contrary, what was said, needed to be said. Results picked up after Sullivan's "outbutst".
On the contrary, no they didn't, results were relegation form, and none of it needed to be said in public.
Grow a pair and admit you're in the poo.
Anon 17.55.....
Before you even contemplate having the fat neck or the audacity to criticise our owners in any way, shape or form...may I just take this opportunity to chuck a name at you....Thaksin Shinawatra!!
Yeah....as a result of HIS actions, the Premier League were forced to change their terms and conditions on 'Foreign Ownership'!!
...but not before he walked away with £111.4million big ones in profit from you suckers!! Truth hurt now??
The comments were made 5 games into a 6 game losing run. We then lost at home to Stoke immediately afterwards but results picked up from there. After Sullivan's comments we collected 8 points from 7 games. Over a full season that would equate to 43 points which is NOT relegation form! Prior to his comments, we had secured 27 points from 31 games, which WAS relegation form. Case proven. If you want to take me on, check out your facts first eh, there's a good chap.
Thaksin Shinawatra?
He had the ambition to try to make us a top four club, shame he was not as nice as your porn barons.
Of course when he had his billions frozen, he had to get out, and thank God he did, because he found the best possible owners you could hope for, the rest is history, and I can't see how his profiting from the deal could be construed as hurtful to the fans?
I personally feel a debt of gratitude to him for his part in our resurgence.
I stand by my comments about destroying team morale and the disgusting treatment of Zola, and a projected 43 points is nothing to boast about is it? You could argue it was the team's love of Zola and his abilities that saved you from relegation, despite the best efforts of your big-mouthed chairman.
Again, I predict you will reap the costs of Sullivan's foolishness this season, your club is more akin to the "dog's dinner" you accuse MCFC of being.
You know deep down what went on was very wrong, the same as we City fans knew what Alan Ball and Franny Lee were doing was suicidal, please don't try to justify Sullivan's behaviour as acceptable.
Alan Ball was out of his depth as a manager, the same as Zola. Perhaps it was because neither could put his arm aroud the shoulder of a player, the highest they could reach was the waist. Bremner failed as a manager too. So did Giles. Keegan flirted with success but didn't ever deliver. Strachan succeeded in Scotlansd but my wife could manage Rangers or Celtic to success. Dear God, even Sounness managed! So, any little guys good in football management?
If the players were trying their hearts out for Zola and Sullivan's comments were harmful, why were results so poor under Zola before the comments and why did they improve afterwards? Over to you Einstein!
Oh wow, I can't compete with your superior intellect Hammersfan, I didn't realise success as a football manager had anything to do with physical stature!
Seriously, do you also believe in the study of bumps on the cranium as an indicator of personality, particularly popular in the Victorian era as a means of identifying criminal personalities!
Am I going to have to search through the annals of history to find examples of diminutive success stories?
Have you never seen Time Bandits?
As a counter to your argument, the late Sir Matt Busby was 5 foot 2inches tall, Bill Shankly was 4 foot 3 inches tall, and Jose Mourinho comes in at a dazzling five foot six.
And Kenny Dalglish was a giant.
I followed the West Ham saga quite closely last season, aghast at what went on. Having had to sell your best players over the last couple of seasons without replacing them, I thought Zola had worked miracles with what he had, then the master thinker Sullivan used the media in many different channels to undermine Zola, probably to try to get him to walk without having to pay him out the rest of his contract to save money.
I thought Zola was turning things round slowly, and results would have been much better than they were towards the end of the season, 8 points from 7 games is very poor, and hardly to be proud of?
Do you honestly think that all those players Sullivan labelled overpaid, lazy and not good enough will play their hearts out for West Ham this season? Or will they be treading water hoping to move somewhere they can feel the love, rather than the contempt?
Perhaps all will be well this season and a collective amnesia will spread through your club, but I doubt it.
Anon 18.41 and no doubt, 19.08,
Oh peeeerlease do not attempt to plaster over the dodgy Manchester mortar!
AMBITION?? Bollocks!! Shinawatra only had dollar signs in his eyes! He was, and still is, a money-laundering, embezzling, defrauding criminal....and he was welcomed into your club with open arms! The Citeh faithful lemmings merely served to gilt his silk-lined pockets...just as he predicted they would!
Such class! Why don't you ask the Thai Military what they think of his 'ambition'??!
1908, my tongue was firmly in my cheek but you are too wound up to notice something like that. Why the angst? Personal life or deep seated anxiety about the coming season?
Zola was a disaster as a manager, full stop. The squad he had last season included Parker, Green, Upson and Cole, all of whom were in with a shout of going to the World Cup. Franco played in the World Cup and so did Behrami. Spector was out there with the USA. Ilunga, McCarthy, Collison, Faubert, Gabbidon, Kovac and Jimenez are all full internationals, as indeed are Mido and Dyer. It wasn't the greatest squad but it was a long way from being the 4th worst! Zola's tactics and poor management explain our dreadful season.
Why so obsessed with the Bad Doctor?
Of course we City fans had no say in him buying and selling the club, or in his dodgy background.
Same as you have no say in dirty old men buying your club, or flaky Icelandic bankers.
You can't argue with his stated ambition to make City a top club, he put plenty of money in and appointed a top manager in Sven to get to the top.
He came, he went, and we moved on, I suggest you do too.
I first commented on this article because it seemed to me rather like the kettle calling the pot black for a West Ham blogger to say City are in a mess, and a dog's dinner, and so pointed out the irony of your situation.
I repeat, City are in footballing heaven, West Ham will have a mediocre season at best, which I would normally sympathise with if you hadn't had the brass necks to diss my clubs situation, when yours is in quite a state.
You also conveniently ignored my question as to how the players now feel about playing for Sullivan, given his criticism of them.
It won't go away anytime soon you know?
Hammersfan,
if your squad is so packed full of decent internationals, how come Sullivan said everyone bar Parker could go?
Ok, you're better placed than me to judge Zola's management skills, and perhaps he should have been replaced, but the way it happenend was counter-productive.
If Sullivan had just called him in, sacked him and got on with his replacement without saying publicly what he did about the players, than fair enough, or even kept his silence till the end of the season then sacked Zola, again fair enough. But he didn't, he has left a legacy of mistrust for the incoming manager to sort out, good luck with that little task.
Oh, and I too am a state registered "person of diminutive stature", you have insulted me and my kind, and we will have our revenge when you least expect it.
You have been warned.
Oh bloody hell mate, I already have Grumpy from the Org on my case, which one of Snow White's helpers are you?
You keep missing the point that without Sullivan's intervention, we would have gone down. Tell me, if the players were so upset, why haven't they submitted transfer requests? Boa-Morte criticised Sulllivan on MOTD but promptly apologised and retracted his comments. He was out of contract but signed a new contract!
Green and Upson were both leaving before the outburst but they are still at the club. Cole has said he doesn't want to go. Where is the evidence of player unrest? We have played five pre season friendlies and won all 5, beating the Greek Champions and the Germans who defeated Liverpool 1-0 today. That was achieved without Green, Upson, Parker, Behrami, Berrara and Piquionne. So where is this player unrest? Where are these sulking players? Where was the support for Zola when he was sacked?
The truth is, the players loved Zola the man but knew Zola the manager was useless. Sullivan's comments hurt but the players needed to be told some home truths, and if they are honest individuals, they now know that is the case. Were your best teachers the most popular teachers? Do you think the best managers are nice guys?
14:06
double over chelse4a? means f**k all mate. We did the double over Arsenal and united in our great escape season but dont see anyone sayign wow you're amaxing you ddid the double over at the time two of the best teams in the country. its a season that counts and when you fail to deliver again , peopel will be lookign at th money you splash out on over paid prema donnas.
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