Are we dining at the top table or not?

[Deleted member 58619]

Buzzing if it means Iheanacho gets his work Permit and breaks into first team

Our very own Messi?

 

[Blue Mooner]

Of course we do.

It is true that the gap between us and few top PL clubs is less significant than 2-3 years ago but it is not due to us but other teams spending and strengthening their squads. That was always to be expected - neither we could continue to spend as we did on the beginning to keep that gap, even without FFP on our back, neither other top clubs could sit and wait for others taking the Champions League places they want.

One thing is sure - City is out there and it's appearance is pushing other clubs to their limits, there is no more free run for them, and it was always expected to be tough in Premier League. There is going to be periods when we won't win the titles and even fight for CL places. It's extremely competitive league and there is 4 more clubs that are among the biggest in the world so there won't be always easy to run them over.

But what happened so far was a miracle, we managed to come to top of most competitive league on the world despite being tackled on that way from all sides, we're still yet to establish ourselves as real European force but it will come, that's not easy job to do, competition is scary out there.

Best and most sensible post I have read on this topic.

 

[Criminally Insane]

These financial restrictions have not helped and players pele may not have fancied at city before he arrived difficult to unload.

However the lost opportunity to bring in a world class goalkeeper to add to what is quite a good squad could be the position which costs city and pele dearly.

These mega rich owners should start to talk champions league winners when they dig deeper into there riches and bring real class to city

You really are "insane" !!!

To the criminal standard!

so your backing city for the knockout stages of the champions league then?

And with the squad will go on to win it?

and before the insults come my way i am not a rag so don;t go there

 

[Criminally Insane]

You really are "insane" !!!

To the criminal standard!

People need to realise that we and many teams will never,ever have 11 World Class Players.What we do have is a Management Team and an owner who I trust and believe in,to give us continued success.
Some fuckers mate,should stick to playing on their fanciful and Fantasy Football Games and ignore the real world.
I truly despair at times with some of our so called "fans".
Perhaps some are becoming too "Raginess" !!

whats raginess got to do with not dining at the top table?

 

[gordondaviesmoustache]

You really are "insane" !!!

To the criminal standard!

so your backing city for the knockout stages of the champions league then?

And with the squad will go on to win it?

and before the insults come my way i am not a rag so don;t go there

I wouldn't say you were necessarily a rag, more someone who has a somewhat unsophisticated mind, as borne out by the contents of the final part of the last paragraph of your post which I commented upon.

These mega rich owners should start to talk champions league winners when they dig deeper into there riches and bring real class to city

 

[OB1]

With respect mate, none of us know what Txiki and Pellegrini had planned. You are arguing something none of us can prove. Yes selling a player from the first 22, regardless of the player, without replacing him is on the face of it, weakening the squad. But again, we simply don't know the WHAT/WHY.

Whether something can be proved or not does not mean that we cannot debate it or have an opinion. However, I would suggest that the idea that selling a 20 goal a season striker at the last minute weakens the team is about as incontrovertible as opinions get.
Based on today’s piece by M Samuel it seems a fair bet that Txiki & Co’s strategy coming into this transfer window did not include the objective of exiting the window with only three strikers in the squad.

If there really was a serious feeling that selling Negredo needed another player brought in, then rest assured that the scouts at City have a list of players for each position who is available and at what price. They could've pulled the trigger on any one of them at any point yesterday. They didn't, because IMO they didn't want to. As we said calculated gamble.

I hope they do have a list but I would suggest that they could not pull the trigger on Monday.

 

[Deleted member 58678]

Buzzing if it means Iheanacho gets his work Permit and breaks into first team

Our very own Messi?

Steady on.

 

[BillyShears]

Whether something can be proved or not does not mean that we cannot debate it or have an opinion. However, I would suggest that the idea that selling a 20 goal a season striker at the last minute weakens the team is about as incontrovertible as opinions get.

Based on today’s piece by M Samuel it seems a fair bet that Txiki & Co’s strategy coming into this transfer window did not include the objective of exiting the window with only three strikers in the squad.

Sure we can debate it and sure you can have an opinion. I'm not sure how you've decided that I'm trying to censor you or your opinion. If you took offence to my comments on flapping, I can only apologise. Don't know how many times I need to say they weren't aimed at you.

I've not seen Samuel's piece, however everything I've read points to City having made the call to sell Negredo at the start of the window. The waiting game was about extricating every last penny of value from the deal, but the offers were always there. Based on that, I don't think it's difficult to opine that they had more than just Falcao as potential incomings if they really were certain 4 strikers were needed.

Maybe I'm placing too much faith in the people who deal with these things, but I find it impossible to imagine a scenario where the eventuality wasn't planned for that the Falcao deal would fall at the last hurdle. That's the kind of incompetence I'd associate with previous regimes, not with Txiki, Pellegrini, and Soriano.

Hence I'm comfortable thinking that they planned to sell him and were pretty sanguine about sourcing a replacement or not sourcing one.

 

[Didsbury Dave]

So when we're spending we're running football, and when we're not, it's "Hah!, You're money has run out"

It's a combination of FFP sanctions, and where we are in team-building

We were never going to carry on spending £100m per season.

But I think in 12 months you'll see City do what Real Madrid, Barcelona and Bayern do and cherry-pick the world's best players which might involve fees of £50m plus.

In a couple of years time, the North and South Stands will have been extended. We'll have one of Europe's iconic stadium and rather than struggling to get out of our Champions League groups, we'll be one of a small group of favourites.

The last 5 years have been special, so will the next 5.

As others have said, it's a great post by Marvin.

He lets himself down by underestimating us. "In a couple of years time we'll be one of the small group of favourites".

Right at this moment I honestly believe we may have the strongest side in Europe. The only side out there that I wouldn't fancy playing right now is Real Madrid. I honestly think that we could and should take Chelsea, Barcelona and Bayern over a two legged tie.

Our players walk out to the tune on home match days "Right here, right now" - this is it and where we are at this point in time is what dining at the top table is like.

I think we are right on the shoulders of the best, too. I'm glad you've said that amidst all the silly paranoia that one defeat seems to have triggered. I'm really hoping we have better luck with injuries than last year and prove it, too.

The funny thing is that if we'd not performed so abysmally in 12 and 13 we'd have been in pot one where we deserve to be.

 

[citizens_1976]

I really can't comprehend some of the stuff that has been branded on this forum over the last couple of days in terms of the Falcao transfer.
I thought we were beyond those days of chasing ''world megastars'' just for the sake of it. The player is ageing, he has not played football for a whole year and his knees are playing up, yet people regard paying 24 million in a total loan deal for a year to be good business?

Let's do the math: 6 million loan fee + 18 million wages (in a year) and United don't even own the player. The player has a good season and will be at Chelsea, City or Madrid next season if he performs well and United do not get Champions League football. It's a calculated risk in any form of the game and how can that ever be good business for any side? United were that desperate to pay what they wanted for a megastar after getting thumped by MK Dons 4-0 that they had to pay whatever the player and his agent demanded.

In the end United have got an ageing player who has not played football for a season and a mercenary at the highest order, with evidence of this being that he signed for a rubbish team in France for the £££££££££. No thank you. Now let's see that club fail to get Champions League football for another season and lose more money. Lovely stuff.

Isco or Reus would be nice next transfer window.