Bernardo meets Paul Lake

chanceathefarpost said:
Lake was truly a special talent. In my opinion, Kendall had finally found his best position just prior to his injury - a ball playing centre half - fast, decent in the air, great range of passing, two-footed and impeccable reading of the game.

After his injury, on his comeback, Reid (who had played with him) played Lakey off Quinn just behind the big fella after a brilliant preseason in Italy.
Imagine that - it’d be like John Stones being played off Haaland because he was that good in any position he played!
I was always a bit miffed that Lake didn’t take the captaincy off Curle when he returned, albeit the comeback didn’t last long as we know.

Pep would have adored Lake - imagine he was around today, he’d be perfect in this City side.

Had the very good fortune of having Paul come into my classroom when I was teaching Y5/6 kids and he was an absolute joy to listen to - incredibly inspiring for the kids (and me!).

An absolute top blue - fabulous player and all round great guy. It was a good clip with Bernardo - really enjoyed it.
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He didn’t run, he glided. What a layer Lakey was. So sad that he and the King had career ending injuries, Some try hints arenot fair
 
bluetonium said:
Apparently only about £12m according to the website I just checked, which doesn't feel right. But you have to take it in context, Chris Waddle, an established international and true flair attacker had just gone to Marseille from Spuds for £4.5m, a record for any British player ever. So, a more fair comparison would be the £100m we paid for Grealish or Arsenal for Rice, minus around 12%, so the Liverpool offer would comparatively be around £88m. Although I've also heard the bid was slightly less, around £3m, so £60m would be about right in that case. The fact swales turned it down shows both the value we attributed to him, and maybe even a hint of ambition. He should have had every expense provided to get him back fit and playing.

One of my favourite players of all time and I have no doubt he could play in the modern game, Pep would have loved him. Probably most reminds me of Rodri now, although maybe slightly less physical but more mobile giving him a bigger goal threat.

But let's face it, if he hadn't got injured he'd have very likely been sold if the next bid was close to a British record fee. Either that or we'd have put together a serious title push and qualified for European competition, given that the European ban was lifted shortly thereafter. That team with those youth players was seriously talented. Just needed a couple more to get us in the mix and I really think Kendall leaving set us back years. If he'd brought in Beardsley even at 30 to us, as he did for Everton after he left us for them, and a couple more shrewd signings, I think we'd have been right up there by the time sky came along. But that was very much the problem, we had great young talent and end of career experience, and not much in-between, and probably not the money to go out and get players to replace and improve on the likes of Heath, Megson and Reid, for example.

As for Bernardo, liked the look of him since I saw him play against us for Monaco. Unless he's asked to go I'd be wanting him around the place next season easily. But what should stick out more than anything about this interview, aside from both of thek showing such love for our club, is how thoroughly decent they both are. I genuinely think it's a trait we now scout for as much as anything else, and the fact that despite our years of success now you rarely see a player causing grief or splashing the cash, shows that a sense of respect is present both ways between club and player.
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Really, really good post.
It got me thinking about an alternate reality where Kendall stayed, Lake didn’t get injured and we challenged.
However, we wouldn’t have had the pain of division 2. The magic of the playoff final and how good it felt to recover and win it all after that.

Incredible shame though for Lake having his career cut so short. He didn’t deserve that.
 
69FACUPfinal said:
I'm going to see later this week if I can find the highlights on YouTube. It was a crackling Tuesday evening iirc. That victory over them won us the league, my nerves were raw for the first 5 months of 2019. I never wanted to go through that again, fast forward 3 years on to 2022 and it was a last day repeat again with them. Last season v Arse to final day was a worry but not quite the same level of jeopardy.

Fancy pining for a night 6 years ago!! What am I like.... I so miss that team.
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We’ll be back, keep the faith.
 
There's a kind of bittersweet quality to it, I find. Lakey's a balanced guy, and you can see he's moved on, in so much as he can. He has a family, I think he does some jobbing journalistic work, he has consolations.
But it is two very gifted footballers chatting to each other. A lot of mutual respect. However, one realised his full potential, and won everything that could be won in the course of that. The other had an equally huge potential that he never realised, and won nothing. To have known that you were pencilled in for being England captain, and to have had it all cruelly cut short. That must have taken years to get over. If he actually has done.
I'd like to see more of these kinds of conversations within the club.
 
I really enjoyed that. I particularly liked seeing the Lakey goal at Millwall, which other than seeing it live, I’ve never seen again. And with classic understatement Lakey describes the Old Den as a bit unpleasant. Bernardo is such a humble man.
 
Brilliant lovely video. Two absolutely wonderful human beings and exceptional footballers. It will always make me sad that my 2 favourite players pre the Mancini and Pep eras had their careers ended so early by injury (Paul and the King).
 
CoventryBlue said:
The story of the guy he bumps into at the Chinese restaurant explaining why he couldn't attend the testimonial had me welling up when I first read it years back
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Many more parts like that ..............brilliant book pal glad i read it ...........some very sad bits and some very funny bits especially the Burnley part :)
Seriously if you saw him play or not you need to read it.
 
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FLManc said:
Not all of us have become cunts!
Social media allows 'invisible' arseoles to post any old shite without repercussions.
FFS, on some City forums, there's a 'Pep, should he go' topic.
Fookin insane!
All we have won since he took over.
My first City match was 1964, and in my wildest dreams did I ever think I would witness us win everything, albeit whilst living over here in the US.
I truly believe the vast (silent) majority of City fans have reasonable, realistic thoughts about how we are currently playing.
And, know (hope!!) it's just a matter of time before we are back playing well
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Spot on
 
Just watched it. A lovely video, really enjoyed it.

Would definitely like to see more in similar vein. I suppose there's a question of which old players you use. Lakey's great, but I fear he can't really do it every single time, or it'd get repetitive.

Anyone else doing it could really IMO do with being someone who, like Lakey, at least was recognised as a top player. Respect to the lads who pulled us out of the dark days, but would the modern players engage with someone whose big stories are about a third-tier play-off or whatever? Not meaning to be patronising, and maybe this is wrong.

Also, there aren't that many old players who talk City as well as Lakey. Any ideas for who else could do it, or am I wrong about it getting a bit samey were it to be Paul on a regular basis?
 
butlerkb said:
Watching this, makes me feel bad when I read in the recent match forums , how we denegrate brilliant players like Bernardo, KDB, John Stones Gundo, Ederson, who have all been stalwarts and brought massive success to our club.Now they are either ageing and slowing down( which is normal) or else susceptible to injuries( also normal) and we can’t wait to get rid of them.Instead they should be thanked and revered, yes they have to be replaced, but let’s not slag them off when they are City, through and through.Let’s thank them for taking us to such great heights.
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That’s the internet for you

Doesn’t happen in real life. These guys know how much they’re loved and appreciated.
 
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