A Turning Point

[The blue phantom]

^
¦

Any excuse to post this I suppose too

My mate has that picture hanging proudly in his summerhouse, now turned into a bar, and visited by blues & rags. Such a brilliant photo.

 

[Colin Bells Boots]

That is the most beautiful piece of music I have watched in a long time. A real up yours to years of lording it up to us and taking the p!ss out of us. To use the song that they twisted to put us down, reclaim it and shove it up their ar@es is karma.

1-6 on their own fucking ground !

So satisfying against the arrogant cnuts .

 

[Vienna_70]

The appointment of Eriksson marked the start of something very special. Didn't he give us the double over Manure?

He certainly did.

And the second one was the rags' showpiece game commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Munich air crash, in which we were supposed to just turn up, so that they could show the world what a great club they were and use us as their whipping boys to reinforce their superiority over Manchester City.

Both Dunnie and Micah were monstrous in the two derbies that season.

 

[Sky Blue Thinking]

This image should be as iconic as Sergio celebrating.

love Mario's couldnt give a f*** look! The fan cam of the 6-1 was also entertaining..."We're having that all day long!"

 

[Blue and still suffering]

The semi final was the turning point as it proved that we could beat them in a game that matters. The 6-1 let them know that they better get used to being the second team in the area (was going to use the word city but then remembered they reside in Trafford).
The best part of that second game was just after Sergio scored the third, the camera pans to the crowd showing some red saying " I've had enough, I'm off" it was only 3-0

 

[Pingu the Penguin]

I've posted this before but I was in Australia for the 6-1, right out in the sticks so no chance of getting it in a bar.

Turned the sports news on in the morning and the reporter said "it seems like the balance of footballing power has changed in Manchester".

How right they were

 

[Dribble]

I don't think we realise how well our club is run. Mancini was absolutely the 'right man at the right time', exactly what the club and, more importantly, the players needed at the time. Most clubs have a piss poor record of managerial appointments, ours since the takeover, have been incredible. Mancini was never going to be long term, his style is confrontational and generally that has a limited shelf life but his impact was huge. He brought that elusive 'winning mentality' with him, a touch of arrogance and no sign of the inferiority complex towards Man U and Ferguson that plagued most managers in the PL at that time. The atmosphere and the confidence in the club changed noticeably and that FA Cup semi-final definitely signaled a changing of the old order even down to Mario's cheeky wink!

Was Mancini any less 'confrontational' than Ferguson? The only difference I could see was the level of support offered to both men.

Ferguson - Absolute Power

Mancini - Eroded Power (after Cooke's departure)

 

[Bozzie]

Was Mancini any less 'confrontational' than Ferguson? The only difference I could see was the level of support offered to both men.

Ferguson - Absolute Power

Mancini - Eroded Power (after Cooke's departure)

Interesting point and, in all honesty, probably not. However Mancini came in towards the back end of Fergusons time at Old Trafford and (a) he (Ferguson) had earned the right to exercise the control he did and (b) it's hard to know how long his management style would have lasted .... plus he didn't have to deal with a Balotelli every day!

 

[Dribble]

Interesting point and, in all honesty, probably not. However Mancini came in towards the back end of Fergusons time at Old Trafford and (a) he (Ferguson) had earned the right to exercise the control he did and (b) it's hard to know how long his management style would have lasted .... plus he didn't have to deal with a Balotelli every day!

I've had utter knobheads to deal with in the workplace, & I learned several years ago to not allow one bad apple to spoil the barrel. A cliche, but very true.

Mancini's situation was utterly unique, & I doubt any other strong manager would have fared any different if faced with the circumstance. There was a total lack of support from the new management who were there to complete a specific task. Get Pep Guardiola. A weaker manager would have folded within months of the player power shown within our dressing room.

Nothing Mancini did could have stopped that plan. If you want to see the difference support can make, look at Pep v Yaya. Total support from the club, so there was only ever going to be one winner.

Conversely, look at the support Mancini got. Literally nothing after Soriano arrived, because to help Mancini build a dynasty, would have put 'Operation Pep' in severe doubt. Mancini's lack of support & subsequent sacking was collateral damage in our pursuit of the best living manager imo.

No one (including most City fans) ever thought we'd get Pep Guardiola. I still pinch myself fearing this is all a dream. However, I just wish it could have been done better, but 'Eeet's Futball si?

 

[mccity]

I was thinking recently actually, if we had Thaksin still as owner then whatever success we would have had would have been brushed off as worthless. All we'd get from the media is constant barrages about human rights issues and 'sportswashing' that they don't actually care about and our team would get nowhere near the credit it deserves.


Bullet dodged!