Media Thread - 2021/22

[Franny 1234]

Have you told her to keep an eye on the sports news?

She looks for our results so she knows what mood to expect me to come home in. Lol

 

[Kippax77]

Journalism these days is akin to a reality TV show.
Freaks acting out prescripted scenarios and dialogue to gain viewing figures, hits and likes.

Sad sad industry

 

[bluemanchester]

One of my takes on the way we play football is to think of Bob Ross the American painter who had his own shows doing a portrait in about 45 minutes. If you get the chance look him up on you tube. He starts with a blank canvas, we start with the pitch as our canvas. He has brushes and paint and also uses items you can buy at any hardware store to paint with, we have players who you could say also came as unfinished, a work in progress. Bob Ross moved around all the canvas doing bits here and there, we play to the full diameters of the pitch. At the end he has built or created a wonderful picture. At the end of our game we have used all the pitch to create our own little masterpiece slowly but surely. We watch in awe as this wonderful team of ours play football the like of which has never been seen before in English football. Journalists and commentators are now saying it is boring and soulless when the problem is they just cannot see the beauty of our football through the bitterness and bias they have. If you want to understand why the BBC are accused of bias and are having some of their funding withdrawn go and see the workings of the sports department at media city. Like Bob Ross we create something beautiful in the time allowed.

 

[stonerblue]

James Ducker isn't in the whatsapp group. Great piece on Bernardo today and the game report yesterday was without any of the crap:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/footbal...merged-darkness-become-player-year-contender/

Pep Guardiola creates a winning culture not seen since Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United

One of the biggest compliments you can pay Manchester City under Pep Guardiola is that you can easily forget when big players are missing.

www.telegraph.co.uk

Usually telegraph behind paywall but these aren't for me.

He for that. It's a Great piece of work

 

[Mid Wales blue]

I don’t think there’s anything I’ve wanted more in a very very long time than a Pep extension.

 

[CharliesRightPeg]

Had a look at the Ken Early stuff
He's used Transfermarkt as his justification of costs and which has meant that various City players have jumped up the list ie Sterling above Fred who cost 3 mil more

 

[wolviedinho]

Exactly.

We OWN this game now. And they know it and it’s killing them. It wasnt supposed to be like this. We were supposed to buy a bunch of mercenaries, managed by a fool, and then noisily disappear back into nothingness after a few years howling at the moon. In short, we were supposed to be a direct message to other non sky-4 clubs to never get ideas above their station, to know their place as fodder to the history boys.

Instead our owner turned out to be a humble genius who appointed a bona fide Godfather as chairman, ably assisted by Ferran and Txiki, who between them eventually lured the best manager of the last 50 years to these shores to manage us. And in said manager‘s own words he “destroyed the game in England”.

I bloody adore this club. We are blessed by God.

Fantastic post @Kazzydeyna. Sums up the state of play nicely.

 

[chesterbells]

Journalism these days is akin to a reality TV show.
Freaks acting out prescripted scenarios and dialogue to gain viewing figures, hits and likes.

Sad sad industry

Ripe for an episode of Brooker’s Black Mirror. Would only need to exaggerate the real thing by 5% to turn it into a dystopian freak show…

 

[wolviedinho]

I love that bald fraud ;)

 

[Blue Pete]

If people find us boring, then what do they think of the opposition?

Chelsea, having beaten us 3 times last year, show up at the Etihad, and park the bus like nearly every other team we play home or away.

Time wasting from the first minute, 20 seconds from their goalkeeper getting the ball before he releases.

Want to talk about boring and soulless, watch the opposition in nearly every City game for the last 2-3 years.

 

[chesterbells]

One of my takes on the way we play football is to think of Bob Ross the American painter who had his own shows doing a portrait in about 45 minutes. If you get the chance look him up on you tube. He starts with a blank canvas, we start with the pitch as our canvas. He has brushes and paint and also uses items you can buy at any hardware store to paint with, we have players who you could say also came as unfinished, a work in progress. Bob Ross moved around all the canvas doing bits here and there, we play to the full diameters of the pitch. At the end he has built or created a wonderful picture. At the end of our game we have used all the pitch to create our own little masterpiece slowly but surely. We watch in awe as this wonderful team of ours play football the like of which has never been seen before in English football. Journalists and commentators are now saying it is boring and soulless when the problem is they just cannot see the beauty of our football through the bitterness and bias they have. If you want to understand why the BBC are accused of bias and are having some of their funding withdrawn go and see the workings of the sports department at media city. Like Bob Ross we create something beautiful in the time allowed.

The workings of their sports (football) department is a disgrace. But has nothing to do with Tory/Gammon accusations of bias, or why they’ve had their funding frozen.
Imho.
That aside, great to read your post. Don’t think I’ve ever seen Bob Ross crop up on here before tbf. The joy of painting (football pictures) indeed!

 

[Drewmanc]

What really really upsets me about the seemingly non stop negativity in the media about our club is that it's totally undeserved. I've been a city fan since about 1984/5 when I attended Maine Road with my dad to watch City vs Shrewsbury and we won 4-0. I have no recollection of this game and apparently I also fell asleep but I fell in love with a club in the 2nd division immediately. I remember walking into the stand and seeing this huge green pitch that seemed to go on forever and I was hooked. My old man who had 5 brothers (all rags) had made me a city fan. So since then I've seen some real shite, some mediocre and some amazing things done by City. I've cried at relegations and cheered to promotions, and celebrated trophy wins (all of which I thought I would never never see). I grew up in the 80s/90s in Manchester and EVERYONE was a scum fan. I was the butt of every bodies jokes at school for being shitty city etc while the rags cleaned up and were lauded in the media as this beautiful English machine that were the pride of the UK, everything they did was amazing, they forgave a player an outright assault on a fan and saw him as a great etc even when they played shite the commentators found a way to make it a positive.
Then after years and years of hurt and always being in their shadow we start to win things, Mancini, Pelegrini win a few trophies here and there and there was some begrudging praise but almost like they expected us to be a flash in the pan then dissappear. Up steps Guardiola, he turns us into a total football machine, well ran from top to bottom with a definitive style of play, mimicked now throughout the world as 'the way to play' we are beautiful to watch, not just the technical play but the closing down of space and passes and players to win the ball back. We're THE best team playing THE best, most pure form of football the world is likely to see. Yet they deride us (the media) and the public are buying into it. We're now 'boring' and it's a one horse race. What were the 80s? 90s? When Liverpool and the rags were mopping up trophies they were legendary, they were celebrated. We've been nothing but slated and mocked and called all the names under the sun. For fans like me and there's many many others with similar stories I'm sure it hurts a fair bit because this is our time in the sun, our time to be lauded and applauded and celebrated but we get none of it and I'm really not sure why.

Sorry for the long (possibly boring) post but I'm sick to the back teeth of it now.

 

[Plain Speaking]

So I just listened to this...
You had Adam Crafton, no fan of City, and Chapman, a United fan defending City...

Adam Crafton is also a United fan. I agree with your post.

 

[blueju]

View attachment 34685

Ok - my point was an over simplification but I clearly remember Taylor recalling in his early years at Watford (I assume when they were still a third or fourth tier club) that he came across a statistical report (the one you mention above) about the number of average number of passes needed to score when measured against the percentage of possession. The conclusion was that the fewer touches in getting the ball nearer the opposition's goal made the probability of scoring higher. In Taylor's words "I thought he [the report's author] is on to something here..." It was the work of Wing Commander Charles Reep who way back in the 1950s had invented a strategy known as Match Analysis.

Hence Taylor adopted hoof ball tactics - bypassing the midfield and then pressing the opposition deep in their own half and soon it began to pay dividends as Watford climbed the leagues and reached Division 1. Honing their tactics and fitness levels to a fine degree they soon finished Division One runners up and reached an FA Cup final. However Taylor was a successful small club and should have been nowhere near the England job. Players like Carlton Palmer and Geoff Thomas were given debuts under his reign. Taylor predated Wimbledon's physical and intimidatory approach and it's no wonder England were simply woeful under his tenure. Jack Charlton employed similar tactics with the ROI but it was football of it's time and that's where it should be left.

I occasionally watch non league football if City aren't playing or on international breaks and seeing teams now playing out from the back is something unthinkable before Pep's influence. I guess it's all about what people think of an entertainment - the Irish journalist would presumably welcome a tardis to take him back to the football he watched in 1985 ? If not, he can always go and watch Burnley in 2022.

A mate of mine was released from Blackpool by Sam Ellis due to being too short to play in his midfield. He said the ball used to bypass the midfield anyway

And continue to write shit today. The inner sanctum of premier league football was breached by Pep. He ripped up the old hoof ball playbook and they can’t stand it. City being the vehicle of choice did not help his cause.

If Pep was called Allardyce or Warnock we wouldn’t be having this discussion. Tho we would also probably be still in division 3 ;)

Let’s have it right, if Pep was doing what he’s done for us at any of the super Sunday bandwagon clubs it would be rightly creamed over for what it is and then some. In fact the press would forget any allegiances and all become fans of whichever club he was at. It’s just because it’s ickle old ciddy. Any fucker banging on about sport washing or FFP or unfair spending power would be in a minority of tiny percentages, shouted down by the media throng (especially if it was the rags or dippers) in fact the reverse of anyone saying anything good about us (see the comments below anything Samuel writes about us). There’d be no talk of paid shills, dodgy emails, group letters to UEFA or the Premier League, ex players and out of work managers groaning on tv when we score, no exclusion of last season’s champions from football discussion in the media or on tv and the amount of puff pieces you’d have to trawl through to get to your club would be off the scale.

 

[blueju]

I can't get my head around how Dixon thinks, how can anybody who claims to have been a City fan wish defeat on us.
It amounts to treason, how could you turn your back on your club ( I know money talks ) could never have been a proper fan, it's like that prick Conn, why go after your own club, why give the enemy ammunition.
We have few friends in the media so why do so called blues join in, you never see an ex dipper or dipper supporting journalist go after them with all the shit and tricks they've done down the years.

To be fair we’ve acquired many ex players that have become dyed in the wool blues especially from our ups and downs. Dunney, Goater, Horlock, Dickov, Morrison, Given to name a few. They would have all had boyhood clubs they grew up supporting . Where I would agree is I’m sure none of them would bag their former club out.

 

[Tim of the Oak]

Here’s a few points from me.

1. As a Stretford Blue, I do t get all this self-pitying guff. You had to give the rags as good as yku git on a daily basis.

2. Countless peole have bemoaned the Club being “soft” on an anti City media. The Club were straight on to Beglin, effectively forcing an apology, but I’ve seen little credit for thst action. Personally, I think there are too many apologies around eg Harry Maguire apologises for most rag non performances.

3. Take a step back and have a good laugh at some of the media bias. Here’s a modern classic.

 

[whipper]

Here’s a few points from me.

1. As a Stretford Blue, I do t get all this self-pitying guff. You had to give the rags as good as yku git on a daily basis.

2. Countless peole have bemoaned the Club being “soft” on an anti City media. The Club were straight on to Beglin, effectively forcing an apology, but I’ve seen little credit for thst action. Personally, I think there are too many apologies around eg Harry Maguire apologises for most rag non performances.

3. Take a step back and have a good laugh at some of the media bias. Here’s a modern classic.

Do you reckon he wakes up some mornings and cringes at shit like that, you know what I mean. Like when you've been on the piss, you wake can't remember anything. Then, It starts coming back in little bits, and you think oh shit do I ever learn.

 

[Tim of the Oak]

Do you reckon he wakes up some mornings and cringes at shit like that, you know what I mean. Like when you've been on the piss, you wake can't remember anything. Then, It starts coming back in little bits, and you think oh shit do I ever learn.

Haha. You are probably right. One of my favourites is the Sky video of Phil Thomson and Paul Mersin ridiculing us for paying 50 off £mil for KDB. Comedy Gold.

FWIW, I used to be like that but then one day in my 20s, I woke up from a big night out and just laughed as a few memories returned from a drunken night out. I got rid of that hangover shame for decades lol.

 

[Marvin]

Had a look at the Ken Early stuff
He's used Transfermarkt as his justification of costs and which has meant that various City players have jumped up the list ie Sterling above Fred who cost 3 mil more

I haven't followed exactly what was claimed but I have a spreadsheet with net spending of City and Utd populated by transfermkt that has City and Utd's net spending back to 2012/13 season (Fergie's last year).

The figures are in £m.

You can justify whatever you want if you select the right time period but over the last decade, using transfermarkt data, Man Utd have a higher net spend than City. A decade seems a fair enough time period to me. That takes us into the Fergsuon era.

	United			City
	Buys	Sales		Buys	Sales
2021/22	126​	27.63​		114.75​	84.42​
2020/21	75.42​	17.55​		155.07​	68.99​
2019/20	211.32​	73.06​		143.57​	63.9​
2018/19	74.43​	27.5​		70.73​	51.84​
2017/18	178.56​	40.95​		285.75​	82.22​
2016/17	166.5​	42.53​		193.5​	31.82​
2015/16	140.4​	90.6​		187.38​	60.69​
2014/15	175.82​	42.03​		92.52​	27.27​
2013/14	69.42​	1.62​		103.95​	10.17​
2012/13	68.81​	8.69​		55.76​	39.87​
	1286.68​	372.16​		1402.98​	521.19​
		-914.52​			-881.79​

 

[Marvin]

Here’s a few points from me.

1. As a Stretford Blue, I do t get all this self-pitying guff. You had to give the rags as good as yku git on a daily basis.

2. Countless peole have bemoaned the Club being “soft” on an anti City media. The Club were straight on to Beglin, effectively forcing an apology, but I’ve seen little credit for thst action. Personally, I think there are too many apologies around eg Harry Maguire apologises for most rag non performances.

3. Take a step back and have a good laugh at some of the media bias. Here’s a modern classic.

if Man Utd management are briefing the press undermining Man Utd players then that is a new low for that football club.