Media Thread 2020/21

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It is exactly this sort of thing which justifies this sort of thread, and I agree about harris and that question, not enough was made of it at the time.

He was a proper bitter **** trying to put a stick in the spokes of the most successful domestic side over a season ever. When any credible football journalist should have been singing our praises from the rooftops.
Rob Harris is a snake. Take it from me.
 
In my view that Rob Harris intervention just minutes after we had completed the first (and last) ever domestic treble is the most malicious taunt we have endured from the media in the last decade. Harris (still being paid by Qatari-run Al Jazeera TV) has still not produced a single piece of evidence to back his question to Pep at Wembley which suggested "he had been paid off books" by our owner.
I don't recall Harris ever asking Mourhino the same question after he was given a suspended jail sentence (while United manager) for "being paid off books" while at Real Madrid. That was one of the many Footyleaks stories which was airbrushed out of history.

There are 3 things that annoy me about that question.

1) If Pep had been getting paid separately like Mancini, der Spiegel would have known. They had all of Pep's contract details, and ran several articles on it, including stuff about Girona, and the had the record of Mancini's 2 contracts. Anyone with half a brain would realise that if all documents related to Pep have been hacked and there's no mention of it, then he's not got a second contract.

2) The whole FFP angle is complete fantasy. Mancini got given the second contract before FFP was announced, and it ended years before FFP came into effect.

3) Pep did 85 press conferences between the Mancini story coming out and Rob Harris' question. EIGHTY FIVE. Rob Harris was present at many of them.


There was no reason to ask it except to try and tarnish a great accomplishment.
 
There are 3 things that annoy me about that question.

1) If Pep had been getting paid separately like Mancini, der Spiegel would have known. They had all of Pep's contract details, and ran several articles on it, including stuff about Girona, and the had the record of Mancini's 2 contracts. Anyone with half a brain would realise that if all documents related to Pep have been hacked and there's no mention of it, then he's not got a second contract.

2) The whole FFP angle is complete fantasy. Mancini got given the second contract before FFP was announced, and it ended years before FFP came into effect.

3) Pep did 85 press conferences between the Mancini story coming out and Rob Harris' question. EIGHTY FIVE. Rob Harris was present at many of them.


There was no reason to ask it except to try and tarnish a great accomplishment.
Absolutely spot on.
 
There are 3 things that annoy me about that question.

1) If Pep had been getting paid separately like Mancini, der Spiegel would have known. They had all of Pep's contract details, and ran several articles on it, including stuff about Girona, and the had the record of Mancini's 2 contracts. Anyone with half a brain would realise that if all documents related to Pep have been hacked and there's no mention of it, then he's not got a second contract.

2) The whole FFP angle is complete fantasy. Mancini got given the second contract before FFP was announced, and it ended years before FFP came into effect.

3) Pep did 85 press conferences between the Mancini story coming out and Rob Harris' question. EIGHTY FIVE. Rob Harris was present at many of them.


There was no reason to ask it except to try and tarnish a great accomplishment.
Absolutely correct. And my understanding of why Mancini was paid in the way he was is that it was for a separate contract he had with Abu Dhabi relating to consultancy BEFORE he became City manager. He was already doing work for them, which is why Khaldoon was able to get him to take over at City at short notice.

I've said before on here that the Hughes situation didn't play out as planned, with Hughes effectively forcing City to sack him earlier than they would have liked. So we needed someone quickly and Mancini was available and already commercially linked with Abu Dhabi.

If I'm employed by company A and do a side gig for company B, I'd expect B to pay me separately to A.
 
In my view that Rob Harris intervention just minutes after we had completed the first (and last) ever domestic treble is the most malicious taunt we have endured from the media in the last decade. Harris (still being paid by Qatari-run Al Jazeera TV) has still not produced a single piece of evidence to back his question to Pep at Wembley which suggested "he had been paid off books" by our owner.
I don't recall Harris ever asking Mourhino the same question after he was given a suspended jail sentence (while United manager) for "being paid off books" while at Real Madrid. That was one of the many Footyleaks stories which was airbrushed out of history.
RHIAC!
Harris, could write rave reviews of City for the rest of his sorry life, and would still be hated for that one question.
He not only questioned the integrity of Pep, but that of our club and owner, for that to be asked at all in a press conference, never mind it being just after completing an historic domestic season, following on from the 100 point total the year before.
How the FA, or the Premier League, didn’t take action against him begs belief, surely they should have banned him from all future association press conferences.

anyway, I shake my head in disgust and leave it there!
 
There are 3 things that annoy me about that question.

1) If Pep had been getting paid separately like Mancini, der Spiegel would have known. They had all of Pep's contract details, and ran several articles on it, including stuff about Girona, and the had the record of Mancini's 2 contracts. Anyone with half a brain would realise that if all documents related to Pep have been hacked and there's no mention of it, then he's not got a second contract.

2) The whole FFP angle is complete fantasy. Mancini got given the second contract before FFP was announced, and it ended years before FFP came into effect.

3) Pep did 85 press conferences between the Mancini story coming out and Rob Harris' question. EIGHTY FIVE. Rob Harris was present at many of them.


There was no reason to ask it except to try and tarnish a great accomplishment.
Spot on. And if Rob Harris was a genuine journalist who did have any evidence that Pep was evading tax then why would he give his "exclusive story" away to all his rivals at a public press conference. The motive for asking the question was not journalistic, it wasn't even a fishing expedition. It was a malicious attempt to embarrass Pep at one of his greatest moments.
I was angry at the club at the time for not taking action against Harris. To introduce that allegation in public is defamatory unless Harris can prove it is true. Putting the allegations in the form of a question makes no difference legally. We could have taken him to the cleaners and headed off further defamatory coverage from others as the FFP case continued.
 
There are 3 things that annoy me about that question.

1) If Pep had been getting paid separately like Mancini, der Spiegel would have known. They had all of Pep's contract details, and ran several articles on it, including stuff about Girona, and the had the record of Mancini's 2 contracts. Anyone with half a brain would realise that if all documents related to Pep have been hacked and there's no mention of it, then he's not got a second contract.

2) The whole FFP angle is complete fantasy. Mancini got given the second contract before FFP was announced, and it ended years before FFP came into effect.

3) Pep did 85 press conferences between the Mancini story coming out and Rob Harris' question. EIGHTY FIVE. Rob Harris was present at many of them.


There was no reason to ask it except to try and tarnish a great accomplishment.

It was a pathetic question only matched by the defence that they had tried to contact City, for a response, a number of times. The timing, as you said, was only designed to try and diminish our achievements. Luckily his bleating has long since been forgotten but the history books still show the treble.

Questioning and journalists like that fully deserves to be called out for what they are.
 
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Spot on. And if Rob Harris was a genuine journalist who did have any evidence that Pep was evading tax then why would he give his "exclusive story" away to all his rivals at a public press conference. The motive for asking the question was not journalistic, it wasn't even a fishing expedition. It was a malicious attempt to embarrass Pep at one of his greatest moments.
I was angry at the club at the time for not taking action against Harris. To introduce that allegation in public is defamatory unless Harris can prove it is true. Putting the allegations in the form of a question makes no difference legally. We could have taken him to the cleaners and headed off further defamatory coverage from others as the FFP case continued.

I would have decked him personally.

But as he asked a question and did not formally accuse him, would a lawsuit against Harris have been successful ?, or are you suggesting other means of retribution, a sniper has been suggested.
 

Looks like you cant use the term 'handbags' now on the bbc ! What is the world coming to.
Yet the same bbc are happy for people like Dan Roan to spout lies about City or say comments just after a helicopter crash , but say 'handbags' when talking about a scuffle on the pitch, that's really bad.
 
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