Media Thread - 2021/22

[bluenova]

Bbc article: Liverpool quadruple bid - how the Reds are already closer than ever to landing the 'Fab Four'​

They go on to talk about other close calls and how theyve failed... Wanna guess which team has a video of them being knocked out of a cup one year?

Is my memory failing me, or did we not spend the last four years complaining about the media banging on about the quadruple, and asking Pep about it constantly?

 

[Atypical]

I must say though I was a bit disturbed at the recent meeting with Assad

Not a great look, but Assad being bought back into the Arab council just as Putin calls in his debt might not be a bad thing. Doesn’t leave him isolated.

 

[feedmpenzaandhewillscore]

Funny how, since City became successful, the football-covering media, firstly, became obsessed with the finances of football and now with world politics. Anything, in fact, but what is going on on the pitch. Strange.

People caring about human rights because their football team isn’t successful anymore are a bit strange.

 

[cookster]

Ah well, that absolves the Queen and royal family of all responsibility then.

It could be pointed out the she and her upstanding family have met every dictator and despot of the 20th and 21st century all at the behest of whoever held power in the government of the day, and cosied up to whichever lunatic might serve our interests best at that particular time.

Not forgetting her direct family being very sympathetic to a certain odd looking goose stepping moustached fella who caused 60 million plus deaths, but yes she only met Assad pre genocide, well pointed out.

Exactly the type of deflection that I would expect from Liverpool fans.

It you can't acknowledge the UAE hosting the mass murdering **** Assad on its own merit is fucking atrocious, I give up.

 

[bobbyowenquiff]

That's before 350,000 people were killed in Syria which include chemical weapons and bombing of hospitals. How anyone can make light of this is beyond me.

I've defended SM and UAE pretty much since the takeover in 2008, this is not defendable and the timing is horrific.

I agree about the timing. However I think it confirms that Sheikh Mansour didn't buy City for "sportswashing" purposes. It seems clear there is no link between UAE policy and the business side of CFG. The UAE just ploughs on with its foreign policy. Don't forget they upset a lot of people in their region when they normalised relations with Israel. To be honest Sheikh Mansour has never seemed the slightest bit bothered about his reputation. I have always believed his motivation was purely to make money (nothing wrong with that) and he has done pretty well so far.

 

[FootballSense]

Barmy Barney Dissects Haaland - Was it the "Private Zoo" ?

Here`s yet another pretentious diatribe from Barney.

https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...nd-and-the-300m-question-how-much-is-too-much

It would be laughable if not for the fact that he takes himself so seriously, and unfortunately there are far too many others who lap up this bias in a national newspaper.

Once proud and respected, The Guardian`s fall from grace is concerning. Its Sportblog is now an example of little more than a fabricated, skewed, space filler.

 

[laserblue]

Yes that was before he butchered hundreds of thousands of his own people

Assad and his father before him have butchered their own people for decades. While I was on a business trip to Syria in the 80s Assad senior flattened the city of Homs and killed countless thousands of his own people.

I used to stay at the Meridien Hotel in Damascus which is situated virtually opposite the Syrian Secret Service building. Unshaved leather jacketed thugs would be hanging out at the buiding entrance picking their fingernails with a knife and eyeing up everyone passing. Terrified taxi drivers would drop me of and fuck off as fast as they could for fear of being randomly hauled into the building and gratuitously beaten up or worse.

 

[cheekybids]

Exactly the type of deflection that I would expect from Liverpool fans.

It you can't acknowledge the UAE hosting the mass murdering **** Assad on its own merit is fucking atrocious, I give up.

I know fck all about world politics but I get a feeling that at times you have to meet & greet some right cunts for diplomatic purposes.

The worlds full of despot leaders from East & West all armed from outside & at times the West doesn’t give a fck. I tell you one thing if they didn’t want the world to know of a mtg then they wouldn’t see it & certainly not the most high profile person from the region.

 

[bobbyowenquiff]

Barmy Barney Dissects Haaland - Was it the "Private Zoo" ?

Here`s yet another pretentious diatribe from Barney.

https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...nd-and-the-300m-question-how-much-is-too-much

It would be laughable if not for the fact that he takes himself so seriously, and unfortunately there are far too many others who lap up this bias in a national newspaper.

Once proud and respected, The Guardian`s fall from grace is concerning. Its Sportblog is now an example of little more than a fabricated, skewed, space filler.

I hate his pretentious and flowery writing style. He epitomises everything that is bad about modern sports writers, especially those at the Guardian. They like to show off with words but never reveal anything significant. Opinion has no value unless it is based on facts. People like Ronay don't do any research. It is obvious Ronay knows Jack Shit about football. He doesn't tell people anything new.

 

[cashmereundies]

Now I don't know alot about middle east politics but the picture of mansour and the syrian leader just dosent look good and like people say it's another stick to beat us with...mansour will not stop his business just because he owns Manchester City football club but to alot of gobshites it's guilt by association..the whats app wankers will be tossing each other off...

Does this also apply to Boris Johnson who was there a couple of days earlier. The parallels with Russia and what has happened in this country (though a diluted version) are very significant. Lies, overriding people's concerns, writing off billions handed to their mates etc.. and a leader who apparently is popular to a large chunk of the population because he plays to the gallery.Politicians in Government have little if any qualms about dealing with dictators if it meets their own ends.I'm not a political animal but an observer who sees the good and bad in all but there is so much hypocracy in this country that it makes you more of a person if you can form your own opinion than follow the herd.

 

[BeerIsTheBest]

Barmy Barney Dissects Haaland - Was it the "Private Zoo" ?

Here`s yet another pretentious diatribe from Barney.

https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...nd-and-the-300m-question-how-much-is-too-much

It would be laughable if not for the fact that he takes himself so seriously, and unfortunately there are far too many others who lap up this bias in a national newspaper.

Once proud and respected, The Guardian`s fall from grace is concerning. Its Sportblog is now an example of little more than a fabricated, skewed, space filler.

Just maybe the Barmy one knows where Haaland might end up and is beginning to do his inner Clough and equalise before the other team score.

 

[The Future’s Blue!]

Al Jazeera - Assad Visit to UAE

• A key motive for some of the Arab countries of the Gulf, such as the UAE and Saudi Arabia, is to blunt the involvement of their foe, Iran, which saw its influence expand rapidly in the chaos of Syria’s war.

 

[BlueMoonday]

If this was a City player, the press would be having a field day. Or is it more that the journalists don't take issue with homophobia. I don't care it was from a few years a go.

Redirect Notice

www.google.com

 

[KS55]

It doesn't look like Assad is going anywhere, so what is the problem engaging in some diplomacy? If they were arming him, then we would have something to talk about. Let them take care of their own regional politics without some smartarse football journalist sending emoji tweets.

Look, we can't get away from the fact that Mansour is part of the royal family and involved in some capacity as a government representative. It only matters in two situations: i) he owns us as a proxy for the state. He doesn't and, imho, that will never be challenged where it actually matters, or ii) the UAE detaches itself from a policy of what we call modernisation, and starts working against western foreign policy and then he becomes the UAE's Abramovich to the UAE's Putin. That won't happen, either.

I would relax a little.

Yes. Plus if he was ever tempted to get us state funding as opposed to his own rather large pocket. That won't happen either.
Footy journos segueing to international politics is just so naff. Gets the clicks though. Calling Simon Jorden....tells us about the situation in Belize.

 

[KS55]

That's before 350,000 people were killed in Syria which include chemical weapons and bombing of hospitals. How anyone can make light of this is beyond me.

I've defended SM and UAE pretty much since the takeover in 2008, this is not defendable and the timing is horrific.

Lots of scenarios where this meeting might be helpful to Ukraine and is defensible . We don't know what the agenda was.

 

[Bonzo Nododo]

Barmy Barney Dissects Haaland - Was it the "Private Zoo" ?

Here`s yet another pretentious diatribe from Barney.

https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...nd-and-the-300m-question-how-much-is-too-much

It would be laughable if not for the fact that he takes himself so seriously, and unfortunately there are far too many others who lap up this bias in a national newspaper.
Dy
Once proud and respected, The Guardian`s fall from grace is concerning. Its Sportblog is now an example of little more than a fabricated, skewed, space filler

So far up his own arse that he has two heads on his weedy shoulders, neither head having much in them.

 

[KS55]

I agree about the timing. However I think it confirms that Sheikh Mansour didn't buy City for "sportswashing" purposes. It seems clear there is no link between UAE policy and the business side of CFG. The UAE just ploughs on with its foreign policy. Don't forget they upset a lot of people in their region when they normalised relations with Israel. To be honest Sheikh Mansour has never seemed the slightest bit bothered about his reputation. I have always believed his motivation was purely to make money (nothing wrong with that) and he has done pretty well so far.

Khaldoon is on record as saying the Abu Dhabi connection is not helpful to CFG. Maybe that is why ADUG changed their name.

 

[IrishBlueSince92]

If it was Liverpool getting Haaland for a transfer fee of the reported £68m which is his release clause, that would be being lauded as great business

 

[halfcenturyup]

I’m not sure what gotcha you’re trying to make here but there’s an ocean of difference between the admittedly authoritarian figure Assad was in 2002 and the chemical weapons-using genocidist of 2010 onwards. Pretending otherwise in order to defend the UAE for meeting with him is pretty desperate stuff

Really, I wasn't judging the 2002 visit and I am not judging the 2022 visit either. Then again, I am not offended by the current visit. It's diplomacy. You know as well as I do that often you have to do things you rather wouldn't to get the outcome you want, and if the current meeting reduces Russian and Iranian influence in Syria in any small way, then it's probably a good thing for the UAE and the West.

 

[bluenova]

I hate his pretentious and flowery writing style. He epitomises everything that is bad about modern sports writers, especially those at the Guardian. They like to show off with words but never reveal anything significant. Opinion has no value unless it is based on facts. People like Ronay don't do any research. It is obvious Ronay knows Jack Shit about football. He doesn't tell people anything new.

He seems to have started doing a few more serious pieces and, while the subject matter is fair game, he's just not very good at it. I used to listen to the Guardian football podcast, and he always came across as reasonably thoughtful, but mostly a bit laissez faire on stuff. As in, the world is a complicated place, and anyone looking for the moral highground is wasting their time.

Last week he was writing about Shearer being a hypocrite as he hadn't condemned Saudi Arabia over the Yemen, as this was exactly the same as the Ukraine. On twitter, he admitted that he tried to write a little about the war in Yemen, but it was too complicated, so decided that he may as well make the point that all war is complicated, but ultimately it's all the same, which is clearly simplistic nonsense masquerading as profundity.

If I'm honest, I think the guy is simply struggling for content, now that Andy Carroll is no longer in the Premier League.