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How Do You Become Successful Without Money?
As a proper Man City fan (i.e. I go to games, including every game home and away when we was in Division 2) I can't say I am overjoyed at what is happening to my club. I don't like that everyone now hates us, whereas in the past people had a soft spot for us.
I don't like Adebayor - I watched the Kaiser Chiefs game and he just doesn't 'look' a City man to me.
I don't like Garry Cook - he comes across like a right snake-oil salesman.
And I am not convinced that Mark Hughes will be able to control all the monster egos kicking around the club now - I predict a normal season for us - 10th, if we're lucky.
However having said all that, one of the many things that confuses me about football fans is all this talk of 'buying success'. My question is this; what else are you supposed to do? It's not a question of money - managers can complain that we spend over the top for players but really, we're not because it's the value to City - the richest club in the world, meaning there is no benchmark - a player deemed expensive to one club is cheap to City. Is that not supremely obvious? Managers say players are only coming to City for the money - and they're probably right - but if City want to be successful, they need good players. Why are good players going to come to City? They're not as it's a club with no contemporary history to speak of, unlike Manchester United, Liverpool etc, so the only way we can get the players is to entice them with money.
Let's face it, if Adebayor couldv'e gone to United, he probably would have, fair enough - Fergie's a brilliant manager, Man United a fantastic club - so we had to try and make it irresistable to come to us. The only way to do it? With money. This isn't buying success, this is aiming to be successful. They are genuine questions - and one not about money as money is irrelevant to the richest club in the world - how do you get success without buying players? How do you get the best players to come to a club like City? And remember, we have plenty of home-grown players in the side - in fact probably more than most other clubs - so home grown talent isn't a problem. Instead of ranting, please tell me how YOU would become successful, without spending money.
Cal Loftus
We're All Hypocrites
I don't think everyone should get too carried away with Sir's hypocrisy. I reckon if all our comments were recorded in the written press, we'd all have said at one time that Heskey was rubbish only later to insist he be in the England team "to help Rooney". And we all would have called Sven the saviour of English football shortly before calling him the surfer head, money-grabbing, bottom pinching swine he really is. Hell we might have even said Jordan was half-way pretty at some stage.
I'm not excusing Sir's comments as it is quite laughable just how contradictory they are but to assume he is the only one guilty of this is definitely wrong. I think he was right to comment on how tasteless Citeh's Tevez poster was - not because it wasn't funny but because it was a suggestion that they 'grabbed' Tevez away from ManYoo and that's just not true. Tevez would have loved to stay but as Fergie said, he's just not worth £25m to them. I think he did well to get him on loan for a few million for a couple of years and then ditch him. He only scored a few goals last year and while he played more often than people think, was never as much of a threat as any of the other strikers. Citeh will see that although he is better than the likes of their past strikers - The Goat comes to mind - he will not get them into the top four. Arsenal will still be better.
Let Sir have his 'rants' as they make for good viewing and despite what everyone says, I think he speaks a good deal of sense. It's all about right place and right time. In the off-season everyone will take notice for a week and then forget it when the season starts. If you're Rafa and do it DURING the title run-in, you can expect it to bite you on the bum. Sir will avoid the press largely through the season anyway so it's nice to hear a bit from him now and then. ManYoo will benefit from getting rid of their two mercenaries in Tevez and Ronaldo while Citeh will suffer the dressing-room rows after player's commitment is pulled into question. Yes, Adebayor, that's you I am talking about!
Sizzle, Watford
Wouldn't You Be?
Having read the mailbox this morning and everyone giving out bout sir being a hypocrite, is there no-one else that thinks that if you were in a position where your every word is listened to and reported around the world wouldn't you just decide sod it I'm gonna have a bit of a laugh here and say something outrageous for the craic? I would definitely do it, possibly put money with my friends and see how much of a sh*tstorm I could create! Fergie playing mind games?? Not at all, fergie's just taking the p*** for the hell of it!!
Ray, Cork
He's Not Cracking Up...
I would like to respond to all those emailers who decided to go with some sort of 'Fergie is cracking up theme' and simply remind them of last season. Man Utd took the lead back from a pole-positioned Liverpool to win the Premier League, made their way to a consecutive Champions League Final only to be beaten by an unbelievable Barcelona side as well win the Club Championship and the League cup.
Yes he says some ridiculous things often enough, he certainly is a hippocrit and most definitely knows how to be disrespectful at times. But one thing is for certain about him and every Fergusen/Man Utd hating fan knows this;
Fergie isn't cracking up, you only hope he was.
Tom, Nottingham
...You have to love Liverpool and Man City supporters, out in full force force at Evil Fergie and his Evil Man Utd empire. Every year this man gets questioned on how United will win and every year United and Ferguson are written off.
If I remember correctly, around this time last year when everyone was praising Phil Scolari and handing Chelsea the tag of favorites, Ferguson came out and claimed Chelsea's squad is aging, they were unlikely to improve and that Scolari was untested in the Premier League. This website had hordes of fans writing in calling Ferguson a lunatic and how he has lost the plot. Ferguson just gives out his honest opinion at the start of each campaign and those are just his views on a certain topic. Everything in life doesn't need to come out sugary and nice.
On the topic of Man City, can any real and honest football fan claim that they are not seriously obsessed with United? You don't see United trying to play down City on every turn and putting up a poster of Tevez (celebrating after scoring a goal for United!) claiming welcome to Manchester is amazingly childish. As a United fan, I'm not even going to enter this discussion on how City are spending money (actually I am, United, Arsenal and Liverpool spend their own money, money generated by the clubs. I know this is a hard concept for many fans to understand, but sometimes you need an IQ greater than 20 to get it), however, when City win their first League title or Champions league, come back and mock us...but till then, start concentrating on your own club instead of following your superior neighbors.
Nikhil (Using American English unfortunately) Man Utd
It's Not Hypocrisy Actually
Whats this about Fergie's supposed hypocrisy anyway? The difference between what Rafa and Fergie said was that Everton actually are a big club if you go by their history (history is what Liverpool themselves use to cling on to their big club status). Manchester City, on the other hand, were the laughing stock of the leagues before Newcastle took over and they were bought out by the Arabs. They are a small club!!! Wheres the hypocrisy in criticizing an untrue statement and then making a true one yourself?
Zubair Umar
...Of course all the ABUs were going to jump over SAF for his 'small club' comments. Therein lies their pitiful sadness.
If you can't comprehend the difference between Rafa referring to a respectable Everton side as a small club, after being in the city for two minutes, and SAF using the same term to put a rather unsavoury City back in their box then you really do need your heads examined.
Marky B. MUFC
But Here's Some Hypocrisy...
What a hypocrite, how can he not see the inherent contradiction in what he says that everyone else can see?
No, I'm not talking about Fergie but about Pat Derham, the Chelsea fan who wrote in this morning's mailbox...'my main worry for football is that City could drive wage inflation to unacceptable levels for the rest of us.'
Babor Ahmed
...Interesting theme of hypocrisy is this morning's mailbox, and nice to see it running throughout.
Chelsea fan Pat Derham applauds those brave blue boys for hanging onto Captain Cash and helping him to resist the lure of City's millions, and includes quite possibly the funniest thing I've ever read on your website. Apparently, a Chelsea fan hopes that 'Mansour and his cronies learn that evolution is better than revolution'. What, in the same way that Chelsea did? Wow, I know Chelsea boast a lot of fans with short memories, but surely forgetting something that your own club did only 3-4 seasons ago is taking forgetfulness to new levels?
Let's hope City's owners heed Pat's wise words.
Andy Crisp
Anyone Need A Career Turnaround?
Israel (MUFC since 1977)'s letter this morning predicting Darren Fletcher's 'very big season' next season got me thinking. Last season, I'm sure it's fair to say, he exceeded most people's expectations and played really well, to the point that some fans were gutted he was missing the Champs Lge final. If he pushes on next season and performs as well, or even better, than last year will he have performed one of the most impressive career turnarounds in recent times. Pre 08/09 season he looked to be going the way of Chadwick, Greening etc and a career at West Brom. Does anyone else have some examples of great, unexpected career revivals?
Makes me think maybe Spurs should pick Johnnie Jackson back up from Colchester United. I read only last week that he was looking for a move. Maybe not.
Simeo, Spurs
Give Johnny A Hug Someone
Can somebody over at Football365 HQ please un-twist Johnny Nic's tampon, ever since Middlesborough have gone down he has been a right grumpus.
Take him out for a pint someone.
James (I would but I live down south) Le Beak
What Good Would Salary Caps Do?
Having read JN's article 'Grow Up...It's All About The Money', I noted one user comment stating 'salary caps should be the next move'. But on what basis?
A Premier League salary cap of say £500k p/w (number plucked out of the air!), would only serve to reduce the largest expense of clubs within the league. But what is the benefit of this to the average fan?
There would be no incentive to pass on this saving to the consumer, it would merely act as a vehicle to increase profits (or reduce losses). For example, if the Glaziers only had to pay Rooney £50k per week instead of £100k, great for them! - They wouldn't drop ticket prices as a result.
If however, the savings didn't just go straight in to the owner's pockets and were instead used to fund investment in new players, it is likely that the increased finance available to clubs would simply lead to further inflation of transfer fees. So what then? Transfer limits?! Ticket price regulation?!
Such restriction on the operations and profitability of clubs would simply lead to current investors doing one sharpish - either out of the game (sending more clubs into administration) or into some newly-formed Super League without regulation.
Let's not forget, the big clubs' drive for profit was the ultimate cause for the formation of the premier League in the first place.
The Original (<-BRACKETS->) Liverpool
Rafa Right About Xabi
Regarding Ian Hewison's plea in this morning's mailbox to Rafa Benitez to swallow his pride, admit he was wrong and apologise to Xabi Alonso, I have to disagree. To my mind he has been proven correct in his decision to make Alonso available for sale last summer. At that point he had been at Liverpool for four seasons, the first two of which he had been remarkably impressive, the second two considerably less so. In many people's eyes this drop in performance coincided with Frank Lampard breaking his ankle after 'mistaking it for the ball'. While still a quality midfielder, he had not shown the form he was clearly capable of in some time. Now maybe it is just a coincidence, but does it not seem that perhaps his superlative form last season is directly correlated to him being given a firm kick up the arse last summer?
John (give Degen a chance, he's only made two competitive appearances ffs!), LFC
Very Worried About Villa
I've just read the MON story on your website. It's now time for a Rafa style rant.
FACT - Villa have had one of the smallest squads for a number of years now. It was started by O'Dreary and has been continued by MON.
FACT - Marlene Harewood is one example of a panic buy when he left it too late to bring anyone decent in.
FACT - Mustafa Salifou - see Marlene above.
FACT - Villa are four players down on the squad from last season.
FACT - MON has bought a player who won't play half of next season. And paid £12m for the privilege. I will give Downing a chance to shine though.
FACT - MON always leaves it until the last possible time to make signings rather than get them in early to get them used to the players already there.
FACT - Out of the entire squad only the following are classed as genuine first team players. Friedel, Luke Young, Bouma, Sidwell, Ashley Young, Milner, Harewood, Carew, Agbonlahor, Delfouneso, Davies, Petrov, Reo-Coker, Shorey, Cuellar and Gardner.
FACT - Before you start counting that is 16 players. Downing makes it 17 but at the moment doesn't count due to his injury.
FACT - Unless eight new faces are brought in Villa will be relegated.
I think I can safely speak for all Villa fans concerned that the above is all a genuine worry for the forthcoming campaign. Martin - sort it now. NOW! If not, we're going down.
Iain Jones, an extremely disgruntled Villan who wonders why he has paid out £405 again!, Redditch
Lay Off Tantastic Brown
Tom Cartwright: Phil Brown can resign, I suppose. Quite why he'd do that I don't know. Yes, he's a prick; yes, he's embarrassing; yes, as a Hull City fan it's been a little frustrating seeing our various targets choose the likes the biggest club in the country, a team playing in the Champions League, and newly cash-rich Sunderland instead of us. But he's also taken a team from second-to-bottom of the Championship to being on the verge of a second season in the Premiership, after getting 50-1 shots promoted to the 'best league in the world' and then keeping them there when virtually everyone in the media had us down to 'do a Derby'.
I mention these points because they are somewhat lost among the various articles criticising the orangest man in football. Of course Phil Brown brings much of this criticism on himself. Of course he should be a bit duller in front of the cameras. Of course he shouldn't accuse opposition players of things he can't prove, regardless of how pathetic they have behaved after a game has finished. But despite the awful run we had in the back half of last season, despite the frustrating summer we're enduring, despite the fact that most Hull fans cringe when they hear him speaking, he's done an incredible job at Hull. And he deserves a decent crack at things this season, regardless of who we get (or don't get) to join us in the coming weeks.
Richard Gardham
Bent Out Of Shape
Bruce is already running out of patience with Bent?! Wait until he signs him.
Charlie (not guilty), Birmingham
