I do not either. What is clear, and has been since before I was born, is there is extreme favouritism in the footballing world. We will fight it, and should, but it will be the case for a while to come. What shocks me is Blatter and Platini's utter business incompetence. The main reason why they bemoan City's spending or almost spending is not because they see it has fundamentally unethical. Although it is, let's be honest; so is United's, Real's, Inter's, and every club's spending of enormous amounts on mere entertainers that could be used for millions of much more positive functions. I am economist by trade and so I do understand the principle of market wage--the price that is paid is nearly always equal to the value perceived--but let's not delude ourselves into believing that 80 million pounds, while perceived to be proportionate to likely return revenue, is in any way justifiable socio-economically. No, Blatter and Platini denounce our actions because they see us as Jack eyeing their golden goose. We are a threat to the established breadwinners for FIFA and UEFA. Real Madrid is allowed such fiscal flamboyance because they are storied part of UEFA's thriving scheme. As is the big four in England, several other clubs in La Liga, and many in Serie A (which Platini wishes to infuse this term in order to allow the league to challenge the other two leagues dominance). City is now a player likely to upset the balance and they are worried what that might mean. They worry about more competition. Another club taking a piece of their precious pie, and perhaps driving down value. But the reason I saw I am surprised is because our rise could mean the pie actually gets bigger. There are still significantly untapped regions and our expansion into them could help increase overall demand leading to visibility and potential revenue (through broadcasting rights, merchandising, tour gates, etc). And the competition they fear so much could in reality cause prices and overall interest to soar. Imagine more parity within just the top 5 or 10 clubs in the Premiership. Or considerably more clubs legitimately vying for Champions League glory. The title being contested by a fair number of clubs each campaign. What sort of involvement would that garner from supporters? I believe quite a bit more than even exists now. United, Liverpool, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Milan, Inter, Bayern, Lyon, and the like may lose a very small contingent of fairweather supporters, but they would go to other prominent clubs. There would be no loss of revenue source. In fact, it would likely increase with expansion into those underutilised markets. Blatter and Platini falliciously associate oligopoly with long-term financial success. They are very much mistaken in my mind. We will have to put up with this unfair treatment for time to come, no doubt. But I can only hope they eventually come around to the business potential they are so ineptly ignoring. Note: I just looked it over after submitting and I realised I really went on a rant here. I apologise.
I want us to succeed so much and break this cozy cabal. I sort of admire how Chelsea have started to do it too, although have yet to really complete it by not winning the Champions League. It seems like all the "famous" and "historic" clubs are protected, preferred, and if anyone dares challenge them they are lambasted as our club have been. I want to see the Premier League's "Big 4" system compromised by City and any other realistic candidates (possibly only Spurs right now, maybe Portsmouth if they can spend and get a good manager) and then those teams to do well in the Champions League as a great big FU to Platini, Blatter, and any other of the "old boys" who don't like it.
Once you start competing for trophies you'll get plenty of stick. It's annoying, but you enjoy it more when you win in the end.
True. It's amazing how much shit we have heaped on us already, and we've really only had one transfer that could be considered 'major' or an excessive amount of money and that was Robinho. Yet were killing football. The double standards in football astound me sometimes .. I too cannot wait to destroy the 'conventional powers'. Something thats making me laugh is the vitriol being thrown at fake Ronaldo. Geez, i thought we were meant to be the bitter ones... I got this from a mate who two weeks ago loved Ronaldo. "You put your transfer in, your transfer out, your transfer in, and you **** your club about, you do the Cristiano and you change your mind, that's what it's all about. Ohhhh Ronaldo is a wanker, Ohhhh Ronaldo is a wanker, Ohhhh Ronaldo is a wanker, knees bent, arms stretched, dive dive dive!"
A nice example of the hypocrisy we are talking about in action: http://www.skysports.com/video/clips/0,23791,15855_5377576,00.html Apparently our bid for Kaka was not valuing a star.
Milan accepted Man City's bid, it was just that Kaka didn't want to go there. Ultimately it comes down to the players' decision and Kaka always said that if he left Milan it would be for Madrid. No doubt that Milan would've preferred the City offer instead.
Owen to the Rags Not sure what Baconface is up to ? They have replaced the so called "the best player in the world ?" with a Wigan Athletic midfielder. Now he is seemingly battling it out tooth and nail with Stoke & Hull City to sign Michael Owen as a replacement for previous fans favorite Carlos Tevez. He must have been impressed by the brochure produced by Owens management company. Of course we all know sales brochures never lie.
Re: Owen to the Rags 08/09 Premier League Carlos Tevez - 29 games, 5 goals Michael Owen - 27 games, 8 goals
Re: Owen to the Rags 08/09 Premier League Carlos Tevez Mins Played: 1859 Goals: 5 (0 Penalties) Assists: 3 Injuries: Bruised Foot Tevez played the majority of the season out of position and behind first-choice strikers Rooney and Berbatov. Michael Owen Mins Played: 1894 Goals: 8 (1 Penalties) Assists: 0 Injuries: Calf Muscle Strain, Mumps, Groin Strain, Ankle/Foot Injury, Groin Strain Owen played in position as the top-choice striker when healthy.
Re: Owen to the Rags 08/09 Season Carlos Tevez - 51 games, 15 goals Michael Owen - 31 games, 10 goals Cristiano Ronaldo - 51 games. 26 goals Antonio Valencia - 35 games 3 goals TDB where are the other 28 goals going to come from ? Also... I'm a little curious which league "other" play in Not ashamed of showing your colours are you
Re: Owen to the Rags Haha, that is excellent, pasting stats as if this is Football Manager, ignoring so many variables that show how -clearly- Tevez was a far superior player last season to Owen and was so instrumental for your success late in the season when Berbaflop showed himself to be average. Reminds me of my parents, staunch Man U fans. My father (a Man U season ticket holder) last week: "Owen is past it" My father this week: "This is a great buy" I admire Owen as an England fan but this is a strange move by Taggart who could have chosen many young and hungry strikers (or even brought Van Nistlerooy back, also prone to injuries but a much bigger goalscorer in recent seasons), but maybe Owen will pop a few goals in if he stays out of the sickbed. Certainly a step down - Ronaldo and Tevez to Valencia and Owen - in the eyes of any objectional person. Then again, maybe DCI Taggart will still make a couple of big signings to fill the void if the remaining transfer money isn't going into paying off Man U's extraordinary debts.
Re: Owen to the Rags I particularly liked the way he only mentioned Owen & Tevez and then chose to just use figures for Premier League games. How does the saying go "lies, dammed lies & statistics". I was reading one of the Rag transfer threads during the day Madrid signed Benzema and one of his posts made me crack up. His argument went along the lines that Benzema had taken the easy option and didn't have the bottle to join a team such as Utd. Is TDB the local comedian round these parts ?
Re: Owen to the Rags So you admit that Owen, who was rushed back by Newcastle countless times resulting in several additional injuries, was superior to Tevez? Good to know. We need end product not work rate. Tevez can run about all he wants and pad his meagre goal tally in the league cup but it is frankly not good enough to merit the massive financial outlay to make his signing permanent. With Ronaldo now gone and the added defensive Valencia provides there is no need for what Tevez brought to the side. Tevez worked, to an extent, because it enabled Ronaldo to concentrate on attacking but with Ronaldo gone we simply have no need for him or his constant whining. I also completely dispute your claims that Tevez was somehow misused as it is a bogus attempt at excusing his poor form. He also featured in more games than Rooney and Berbatov coming fourth overall in the squad for appearances overall. In the league he was only one and two games back respectively. We were never going to replace Ronaldo with one player nor what he provided. Our attack has been erratic since the second half of season 06/07 when Saha broke down. It is what led to our change in system to enable Ronaldo to increase his output and cover the underlying issues. Our attack, going forward, will be in much better shape overall from fixing these underlying issues instead of relying on our defense and moments of individual quality instead of cohesive attacking play. It will see Rooney finally freed to resume his central role, Berbatov fully integrated, Owen backing them up in the rotation and cameo appearances from our youngsters. Last season there were two major things that our squad lacked and these were a traditional winger and striker of the #9 variety. We relied upon our lateral defenders to hug the touchline and cross while we lacked a player to provide the composure in front of goal and a different, direct, option during our run of 1-0 victories. Three days into the transfer window and we have secured both without being ripped off by the inflated state of the transfer market. It is a good start and I doubt we are finished. We will also be looking for other players to step up this season like Nani and Tosic in addition to an increased presence from our youngsters. Most on BS know full well who I support so I will ignore your pathetic posturing. It only has other instead of my usual blank profile because of the latest update. Stick to the discussion at hand. How was Tevez clearly superior when the reality of the situation is he disappointed, notably in the league? We did not need someone to run about a lot as we already had Park doing precisely that. What we did need was incisive attacking play and end product which Tevez consistently underwhelmed at. Try to dismiss what I posted all you want but it proves my point perfectly. A striking stable of Rooney (released centrally again), Berbatov (fully integrated) and Owen (as back up) with our youngsters just behind is better than last season and we are only, now, four days into the transfer window! We also have a lot of money left in the bank despite these moves. You have fickle fans at every club. The key is to ignore them. I fail to see how it is a strange move when we have consistently been linked with and discussed Owen for the last four full seasons. In an inflated market and with the striking options that are available being limited it is a move that makes sense at every level. We could either pay more and take the risk on a youngster who would have demanded more playing time and effectively blocked the progression of our youth or target an experienced player who is happy to operate in the rotation. Owen is the latter. Van Nistelrooy would have been more expensive, demanded more playing time and players rarely go back at the elite level. The only possible reason for a person to be shocked is if they lived under a rock for the last four years and were ignorant enough to expect Man Utd to throw money around in an inflated market for a third choice strike option. The chance of that happening was slim and that is before you consider we rarely target the top tier of player and instead prefer to mould potential. We might still sign another option but at least we are going that from a position of strength and with Owen already in the bag. Anyone is a step down from Ronaldo and the key is how to manage the composition of the squad going forward. It is the 4th of July and we have already filled two squad needs in addition to signing several youngsters. We can also expect improved performances from certain players, our youngsters improving, the possibility of Hargreaves returning and the highly rated Ljajić coming in January. Considering the state of the transfer market it is a promising start.
Re: Owen to the Rags I reduced your post to the portion that directly referenced mine, while you reduced my response to what you wished mine to be (interestingly removing portions within my post in your quote). How does my post implicitly or explicitly express my admission that Owen was superior? I did not make any claims as to personal beliefs, nor did I state that Tevez played more or less than Rooney or Berbatov. "Behind" means physically to the rear relative to something else, implying the previous statement he played outside of the CF or ST positions, in a more wing role. I only included a generally recognised assessment by the majority of professional and amatuer analysts that Tevez did not normally play in his dominant position. I also included information that Owen had significant injury problems, which is also generally accepted to be true. I extended your statistics to include other sets of relevant data. Seems you like to make assumptions and skew other's posts. Did you feel threatened in some way?
Re: Owen to the Rags I see a lot of posturing, some whining and little in the way of continued discussion. All I did was strip your post of what was irrelevant and stuck to the main points you raised which were injuries and utilisation. Two things I had already discussed in my post. Your 'behind' complaints are down to your word choice and sentence structure with the phrase 'and behind first-choice' being particularly relevant. It does not change the inaccuracy of your claims. In future you should spend more time constructing your post to avoid any further confusion. Now would you like to engage with the actual discussion at any stage? If you cannot simply avoid the thread in future. Over to you.
Re: Owen to the Rags So you constructed my post as you liked (without regard to possible confusion), were confused by a simple sentence structure expressing literal meaning, chose relevance based on your current preference rather than all those things you had originally expressed, and still have not explained why you were disputing a personal statement that Owen was better or worse than Tevez that never actually occurred, and I need to reassess my ability to take part in the discussion? Again, I merely extended your statistics and included well accepted opinions and you began debating phantom points. It seems to me you are attacking windmills my friend.
Re: Owen to the Rags I would advise you to give up before you cause any further embarrassment for yourself.
Re: Owen to the Rags Is there a reason you seemingly feel this threatened by a post with no real dispute of your own? You seem very combative for a simple discussion about something that in reality has very little importance. What you have just said is tantamount to a threat. Do you really feel that my actions are those that are really bringing embarrassment or do you think perhaps the manner in which you are handling yourself may be causing this to occur?
Re: Owen to the Rags You are a hungry little fish TDB, but humorous in a way I think you fail to realize
Re: Owen to the Rags With every further post you are proving me correct. Stop whining about quotations, word choice and sentence structure and start contributing to the actual discussion. It is becoming quite apparent that you have nothing constructive to say. Care to join in with the discussion and actually respond to my post? If you are incapable of doing so a simple admission of that will suffice instead of the utter tripe being served up by some of your peers
Re: Owen to the Rags Hmm, I am not exactly sure what you are referring to when you say I am proving you correct. I have contributed what I have wished to. And I did not change the course of conversation. If you read back through our posts you will find that you originally began speaking about sentence structure, in that you found my word usage confusing. And then you began to become increasingly combative, culminating in a threat. I am merely continuing what you began and trying to bring this sub-conversation to a positive conclusion by making lighthearted comments and asking you questions stemming from my genuine caring for your well-being. I am concerned that you are seemingly this agitated about for all intents and purposes silly discussion. I want us to have a constructive, mature, thoughtful conversation without need for abrasive or indignant language.
Re: Owen to the Rags If you want to carry on making yourself look a verbose fool you are most welcome... As to me, I try to never argue with a fool, as others may not be able to tell the difference.
Re: Owen to the Rags And I always try to reform them. My vice, I suppose. I apologise for continuing the distraction; my efforts are obviously in vain. I am done, I assure you.