just like to say that as far as i know villareal is a centre of ceramic tile production not a fishing port. it is however small. about 51 thousand inhabitants so a crowd of 17 thou is pretty good i think. i think what pep meant to say is how they do so well to compete with the bigger clubs and at the moment city are still behind the big 3 but doing their best to catch up.
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Lu Martin: Allegedly Guardiola sees City as "small club"
- Thread starter 3rdgenerationblue
- Start date
I'm getting completely pissed off with all this now.
Firstly, somebody needs to control Pep if that's what the people close to him are coming out with as it's ignorant and full of untruths. It states Liverpool have more spending power than us FFS.
As to our stature in the English game, I really think there's a generation of blues who are overly influenced by reds slagging off City in the pub, playground or internet forums about empty seats and being that much used phrase 'Massive'.
Let's have a look at the evidence.
We've got a very respectable trophy haul although I admit our on field activity was fucking farcical at times, especially dropping to the third tier.
Regrdless, before the new owners, two championships, four FA cups, two league cups and a European trophy were not the hallmark of a small club.
Most sides would kill for that history. We’ve gone on and added to it significantly with the new investment and are one of the big boys now and can financially stand on our own two feet regardless of what some red fucking numpty tells you.
As fans of certain clubs love talking about history, let's delve a little further about our crowds.
We were the most supported club in the late 20's and bar a couple of years, one of the top three or four supported clubs in the 30's.
We were in the top three/four supported clubs in the land between 75-83 and had excellent support in lower tiers in our next period outside the top flight in the late 90's.
Everyone rightly mentions the third division average but what about the 2000 & 2002 averages in the second tier which were the 11th highest in the country.
Once we moved to the new ground, we've only had an average under 40,000 ONCE and that was 39,997!!
What would Leeds, Everton, Villa, Chelsea do for our numbers?
Let's see how many come back to the Olympic stadium next year with West Ham or if Spurs really are as well supported as they say when they redevelop WHL.
Truth is, only the three big boys are significantly ahead of us support wise.
If we're a small club, that leaves very few big clubs.
Well put, we have always been a big club, always will be.
I get sick of people outside putting us down and when stories start appearing from inside the club, it's simply time to say enough.
We are very fortunate to have Pep, but at the same time, he is very lucky and fortunate to be the manager of Manchester City FC at this point in our history.
YaYa's Left Peg
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If becoming more like Bayern, United, Liverpool and Barca is what it take to be a 'big club' then I'd happily stay just as we are.
I know the Sheikh and Ferran etc. have different ambitions for the club, but speaking as a fan, I don't give two shits if I never see a person wearing a City top from outside of Greater Manchester, never mind trying to be as universally known as United.
The media have an angle to drive though and the fact it has come to the big club/less fans debate shows every single person in the world where their allegiances lie. When they mocked us for not winning anything and saying we would never be successful, that bothered me. I wanted to see City compete with the best and win trophies. We made the hacks eat their words and then they changed the angle to us being a badly run, moneybags, financially doping club. Again, we made them eat their words and every club in the PL would love the have the model we have in place for the future.
Now their goalposts have moved to the only thing they have left and that is the big club/less fans/no history debate. What's the biggest irony in it all is that all of those plastic rags who lap it up used to mock the Dippers for saying exactly the same thing.
The real issue in football is not a 'small' club like City averaging 50k+ every other Saturday and having fans who have stuck with the club in the dark times, its all the other leeches who call themselves football supporters who latch onto the success of a 'big club' despite having zero affiliation to the club. Don't get me wrong, we are attracting a huge amount of those calibre of 'fans' to the Etihad and at the end of the day they have just as much as a right to be there as me.
However, it's the mindset that I don't understand and never will. How can you support a team just because they win things or are popular in the media? To actually support a club is much more than buying a shirt or turning up to the odd glamour fixture. It's about that feeling you get when you watch your side play. You can't just switch off those emotions, and trust me there are times when I wish I could! I was at Villa Park on Boxing Day with the family and it felt soulless me being there. I just didn't get that buzz I get when I watch City.
Fans who feel that way about a club know that they can never fully replicate it to another club. So all these people who claim "I'm a Northampton Town fan but my second team is United or Liverpool" are glory hunters or even worse, they're sheep who flock to something popular to feel wanted.
Well they'd better start winning soon or else I'm going to go and support Chelsea....oh wait! ;)
gkmcfc
Well-Known Member
Villareal is a poor comparison, given we've won the league twice and two domestic cups in recent years, but hard to argue with the rest of it.
Until we win the league consistently, retaining the league as well, and winning the Champs League, we won't be in that upper echelon no matter how much some fans like to think we are.
Pep's job is to put us there.
To be clear on this Villreal have won just two trophies in their entire history, so I'd say a comparison to Middlesborough or Swansea would be more appropriate for them! I would get being compared to Sevilla or even Valencia but Villareal, like the article shows the writer and the person quote didn't really do enough research before trying to score points!
hateutd
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Agreed....I just read the comments. My take on it, partly bad translation and partly City fans getting their knickers in a twist. In European terms we aren't a big club and pep has managed both Barca and Bayern who are in a different league to us so what the guy says is pretty true.
When cruyff took over Barca they weren't a particularly big club either. Times change things. Chelsea weren't a big club until recently (they still aren't in my eyes but are more known in Europe).
I just wish we could turn all this negativity into support for the team on machdays. Would be much more productive than moaning about every little thing said or printed.
We aren't compared to some, and our failure to keep replacing players with better younger talent has stopped our progress altogether
Let's not forget it has only been 8 years since the takeover. In that time we have won 5 major trophies. Semi final of the champions league also.
It still in its infancy for me. It was never going to be overnight or continuous success.
Football is not like that
Well put, we have always been a big club, always will be.
I get sick of people outside putting us down and when stories start appearing from inside the club, it's simply time to say enough.
We are very fortunate to have Pep, but at the same time, he is very lucky and fortunate to be the manager of Manchester City FC at this point in our history.
its a pure and simple rags/dippers/gooners trying to lord it over us because of previous successes, that are more than ours for now, thats all they have,
we are now at least their equals on the pitch, the thing that really matters, the rest is irrelevant.
they think they have a self entitlement to success and don't like it as we and chelsea have put their noses out of place.
they know we ain't going anywhere or don't understand we ain't going anywhere
Nice share, enjoyed that
gkmcfc
Well-Known Member
you could turn this around and say some City fans seem to have this attitude - 'you're so lucky to have us - you best win every
game, scoring shedloads of goals, never making defensive mistakes, playing beautiful football...before we are willing so show an
ounce of appreciation"
and I wouldn't disagree listening to some blues!
I'm taking this with a massive pinch of salt. There's no guarantee he said this, OR that he hasn't been mistranslated.
If he did say it, why is it insulting? The whole point about our current owners coming in was that they wanted to grow the club. There are milestones along that road: signing world class players, winning a trophy, attracting the world's best youngsters, qualifying for the CL, winning the League Cup, the FA Cup, the League, getting to a CL Final, winning the CL, etc. No one can argue that we have achieved all that. We've achieved some of it. There are other clubs that have done it all. I can't see even the most ardent City fan arguing that we have the same record of success as Real Madrid, Barcelona, AC Milan etc. Why shouldn't Pep say that in private to someone he knows well?
People are getting two things mixed up: our love for the club and its history on the one hand, and tangible success on the field. Saying that we've got more to achieve on the latter front should not be seen as dissing the former. Our fans need to be a bit more thick skinned and give our manager the benefit of the doubt.
If he did say it, why is it insulting? The whole point about our current owners coming in was that they wanted to grow the club. There are milestones along that road: signing world class players, winning a trophy, attracting the world's best youngsters, qualifying for the CL, winning the League Cup, the FA Cup, the League, getting to a CL Final, winning the CL, etc. No one can argue that we have achieved all that. We've achieved some of it. There are other clubs that have done it all. I can't see even the most ardent City fan arguing that we have the same record of success as Real Madrid, Barcelona, AC Milan etc. Why shouldn't Pep say that in private to someone he knows well?
People are getting two things mixed up: our love for the club and its history on the one hand, and tangible success on the field. Saying that we've got more to achieve on the latter front should not be seen as dissing the former. Our fans need to be a bit more thick skinned and give our manager the benefit of the doubt.