Cheaty are the living, breathing proof that the old adage “cheats don’t prosper” is just a pack of lies.
11 Likes
I have long believed that there is a secret, unspoken desire amongst clubs to want Man City to dominate the game. To welcome that cheating club grinding them into the dirt. There are a whole raft of owners, players and fans who want to be able to shrug their shoulders and say ‘ah well, what can you do…’
2 Likes
I’m not sure I believe that. Chelsea were the original Man City and their financial doping is pretty much forgotten about these days by fans and I doubt there’s any differentiation made between them and Arse, Liverpool And United.
There’s that meme format “who are you”, “I’m you but stronger” that can be applied to Chelsea and Man City situation. Chelsea were completely abominable to me once Abramovich got hold of them, while Man City were just laughable because they regularly flushed money down the drain - until sheikhs really took over and decided to overhaul the recruitment process. They are here to stay, no two ways about it. Just like I didn’t see Chelsea falling away, I don’t see them either. I did think it would be more difficult for them to dominate English football because there are many stronger clubs now that in 2004, though, but their recent trophy haul speaks otherwise - and now they are going to add CL triumph to that. Ugh.
Pep has his detractors, but there is no doubt that their recent success is a specific combination of massive ownership support coupled with footballing excellence. Once he goes, and that will happen sooner than later, there is no guarantee at all that their money alone will be sufficient to maintain that.
2 Likes
Funnily enough, I remember people saying something similar about Mourinho in his first spell at Chelsea. I do hope their plastic empire crumbles but beneath all that plastic are massive wads of cash - it served Chelsea well and I expect the same when Guardiola departs. They’ll have as tough time finding his successor as FSG will finding Klopp’s but Guardiola’s successor will have a massive head start on everyone else plus insane budget to get his own players, that’s a major worry.
4 Likes
Sure, and I think that demonstrates my point. Since the end of his first tenure they have had periodic success, but have spent a lot of time treading water as they go from underwhelming manager to underwhelming manager who could not be propped up by the money available to him alone.
For City, they have a pool of very good players, but there are a fair number who player there who a manager with a different perspective may struggle to get the same level from. Yes they’ll have a head start, but it’s still going to be a big challenge to remain on top once Pep leaves.
2 Likes
7 Likes
It’s like choosing which STD would you prefer. Gonorrhea, syphilis, chlamydia or pubic lice.
I can’t bring myself to want any outcome.
I guess pubic lice is the least worst outcome, but the fact these were the top 4 teams shows the core isuuses of European football. 
10 Likes
Is there a way to unread this 
Yeah; they make a great emergency snack.
Handy tip: try offering a handful to your fellow commuters on the tube; it’s a great way to get some breathing space.
4 Likes
Imagine the players they’ve got now and then add in Mbappe or Haaland next season where is the barf emoji
Look at this… They don’t even realise themselves how fake this is, how void. It means literally nothing.
3 Likes
I also look at those clubs around Pep, before and after.
What do we do with Mancini and Pellegrini? Were they this good before Pep with pretty much a similar sort of spend in the context of that time and market? They couldn’t bloody qualify from the group stages for a few years. Had that semi final with Real under Pellegrini which was, in brutal honesty, the worst semi final I’ve seen in my life (Real were literally less crap than City and went through).
Kovac and Ancelotti at Bayern? I didn’t see so much criticism towards them for not winning the CL with Bayern (credit to the likes of Heynckes and Flick, though they were more short term options).
I don’t think City gets enough credit for actually good selection (more than getting the end product, would make them an old side, which they were in some key positions when Pep took over) in last years, compared to some really weird moves before. And of course the manage has something important to do with it.
Mangala, Javi Garcia, Fernando, Bony, Rodwell… just to name a few, I could go on?
1 Like
Piece of piss “selecting well” when if you fail you go back and spend the same over and over. How many fullbacks has Pep signed? How many central defenders? He’s had multiple “goes” at the same position till he gets the player who is good enough… No other club in the world has that luxory. On the bench v’s PSG he had around £400mil + worth of talent, the game after the 1st SF he could rotate in 7 players of similar value/ability… It’s an abomination.
Honestly, anyone trying to say anything other than City are playing FM with cheats on I simply will never get.
I fucking detest them, everything they stand for. I will never give them credit, they’ve earnt none of it the right way. Dirty cheating human rights abusing cunt of a club and will be forever, they could dominate football for a decade and I’d still not respect them.
8 Likes
Well, exactly. They can afford to throw enough shit at the wall hoping it sticks. Unless you’re an oil club going through as much shit as they have done means you go bust. That’s why the arguments how good they are fall flat.
A few bits of fun facts, they lost £120mil revenue last year to around May (2nd most in the league)… Their wages were no.1 in the UK at around £350mil (same period) and that is just players, all management, staff, coaches etc. Get paid by their parent company…
They are cheating in all areas and are an abomination on the game.
5 Likes
Pep is vastly overrated. He got lucky with Barca bringing together a - probably never to be bettered for that club - confluence of amazing players who were well adapted to Barca’s style. He reaped the reward but he has never really shown the ability to build a team that can dominate Europe. What he is good at is setting very high standards and winning one team leagues by even more points than previously but in doing so he also weakens these teams as he creates an ethos that is very brittle emotionally and ultimately he has underperformed in terms of the calibre of squads he has had versus their European knock out performances. On top of that he is a snide, sanctimonious, hypocritical fucker who pretends he cares about human rights (but works for citeh), cares about fair play (but has taken the systematic instruction and rewarding of cynical fouling to new levels, endorses financial cheating and is a confirmed doper) and is humourless and often mean spirited when interviewed. Plus he can’t stop taking about ‘tittles’. The silly jumper wearing tit.
In case you can’t tell - I’m not a fan of Josep Guardiola.
5 Likes
Maybe it was better for Pep that he couldn’t sign Sanchez, Jorginho and Maguire. But especially the last one.
Okay, we can disagree.
I’m a fan. I don’t think he needs to be called the best of his age or one of the best of all times. But I think he’s brilliant and that most people in football think he is as well.