Balotelli (continued)

[br62]

This court drama is the final straw for me....I don't believe he really cares about the fans or the club. I am trying to figure out why I have defended him for the past two years or so. I am totally fed up with all the arguments about him....he gets 170,000 pounds a week...a million for 6 weeks work...for what exactly as he barely makes any effort most of the time. He is a friggin disgrace and Mancini has made a monumental cock-up bringing him to our club. I just hope we can sell him.....one of the so called ''greatest players in the world''.....what a sick joke that is.

 

[dzeko01]

Some interesting quotes from Prandelli on mario:

"We have an advantage over Roberto – we only have Mario for three or four days with the national side.

“He does not have the time to make us mad!”

"Everything depends on Mario. Coaches can stimulate you.

“But everything starts with him, and it is up to him to decide what he is to become.

“I think what is most important is he has continuity in his play – he needs to play games and not be out of the team. If he listens to Mancini then he can play games in Manchester, it is not a problem of city or country."

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/manchester-city-mario-balotelli-needs-1494604?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/ ... um=twitter</a>

 

[CitytillIdie74]

The guys got too much talent and not enough willpower to knuckle down and get the job done on the pitch. If we can get the 28m in Jan then snap whoevers hands off.
But just like Tevez last year he could be a great asset to our team

 

[TCIB]

Well i'm not going to gloat as i really did want him to make me eat my words.

I really think to much cash has not helped him at all.

Some of these fellas should be looked at and told we will pay you x but x of it goes to a secure trust of sorts ?.

I am miffed as when we bought him i thought he could be a rough diamond we could polish and cut into one of the most brilliant stones around.
His head though is to busy with bright lights and pretty ladies.

Don't get me wrong i would probably be worse but that doesn't change the reality.

The main pisser is he will one day wake up and it won't be with us but we can't pander to a talent that has given no hint of being realized forever.

A great talent that refuses to push through the top soil and reach it's full potential.

 

[NPBlue]

Balotelli has had two and a half years at the club, and has done nothing but exasperate us.

He is now 22 years old, and given the talent he is supposed to possess, he should now be a first choice team member. He isn't. If he was 17, I would give him licence, but to still be a fringe player at 22 years of age speaks volumes about his attitude.

We have a player who is younger than Balotelli, who did the business in Holland last year, and, when he fully recovers from his illness, would probably play his heart out for the team, something we have rarely seen from Balotelli.

It ain't particle physics. Ship Balotelli out to the highest bidder, and put a young, talented lad with the correct attitude his chance.

John Guidetti.<br /><br />-- Tue Dec 18, 2012 3:38 am --<br /><br />Balotelli has had two and a half years at the club, and has done nothing but exasperate us.

He is now 22 years old, and given the talent he is supposed to possess, he should now be a first choice team member. He isn't. If he was 17, I would give him licence, but to still be a fringe player at 22 years of age speaks volumes about his attitude.

We have a player who is younger than Balotelli, who did the business in Holland last year, and, when he fully recovers from his illness, would probably play his heart out for the team, something we have rarely seen from Balotelli.

It ain't particle physics. Ship Balotelli out to the highest bidder, and put a young, talented lad with the correct attitude his chance.

John Guidetti.

 

[Gelsons Dad]

Manchester City are taking a substantial risk by going outside of disciplinary guidelines to fine Mario Balotelli £340,000, resulting in a legal case which could drag on into next year. The Professional Footballers' Association (PFA) is surprised that City have charged the Italian with misconduct and fined him two weeks' wages, because guidelines they have put in place with all clubs and the Premier League do not entitle sides to fine players for a general accumulation of yellow and red cards – as the Premier League champions are doing in Balotelli's case.

City can point to the disrepute Balotelli has brought upon the club and manager Roberto Mancini's persistent attempts to tackle a disciplinary record which saw the striker miss 11 of the club's 54 games – 20.37 per cent – last season.

The Premier League champions, who ascribe huge importance to the way players' conduct reflects on the positive image of the club, will argue the 22-year-old Italian is in breach of his own contract when they face him at a Premier League tribunal in London tomorrow. But experts in the field believe that the PFA/Premier League guidelines – which only allow clubs to fine players for a sequence of dissent and violent conduct charges – will take precedence over the contract. City are confident they will win their highly unusual case against Balotelli, whom they fined at the end of last season because of a pattern of on-field behaviour. But even if the two-man tribunal rejects Balotelli's appeal against their fine, the player can take it to a Football League appeals committee, dragging the public dispute into next year. Potentially the legal case could stretch beyond his career at the Etihad, if this public spat does prove the last straw for him there.

City also went outside PFA and Premier League guidelines last season, when they attempted to fine Carlos Tevez four weeks wages, later reduced to two, after the PFA backed the striker's argument that he had not refused to play as a substitute against Bayern Munich.

This time, Balotelli's lawyers are expected to draw heavily on the disciplinary template agreed several years ago by the PFA, the Premier League, Football League and all clubs, relating to "field discipline." It provided a way of clubs being able to fine players for violent conduct and dissent – the two acts which the clubs were very keen to wipe out of the game – with fines ratcheting up each time a player was cautioned or dismissed for those two offences, in the course of a season.

The guidelines were laid down to prevent players challenging clubs' attempts to fine them and the PFA feel that the system is robust. The accumulation system means that players cautioned a third time for dissent are fined 40 per cent of their weekly wages, while a third dismissal for violent conduct brings the maximum fine of two weeks' wages.

But nowhere is there anything agreed for a general accumulation of yellows and reds and that is why Balotelli is within his rights to take the case to tribunal. His lawyers are likely to argue that clubs cannot use the guidelines when it suits them and then cherry pick the cases where they want to disregard them. There are few precedents in cases like this as few clubs have attempted to go beyond the guidelines.

Mancini's senior players and some of his coaching staff are so disenchanted with Balotelli and his distracting dressing room presence that they have told the manager he should jettison him in January. They contend that Balotelli's occasional moments of effectiveness on the field are now far outweighed by the detriment he is causing the club, on and off the field. Senior figures hope Mancini leaves him out of the first-team picture over Christmas, starting with Saturday's home game with Reading.

Balotelli will have Italian lawyers representing him at the Premier League tribunal, where the PFA will be acting for him in an advisory capacity to translate the nuances, with the union's former chairman, Richard Jobson, liaising.

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/city-risk-long-battle-with-balotelli-over-disrepute-fine-8423036.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/foot ... 23036.html</a>

Such a shame this is playing out like this. People will blame Mancini for persevering with him but the boy has talent and we paid big money for him. I hope whatever is going to happen next, happens quietly.

wow!

 

[lawmanreturns]

I'm trying to remember why he left Inter? Was it because of uncontrolled behavior on and off the pitch, trouble with coaches, trouble with authority, that sort of thing? The current situation should not be surprising.

 

[Ladybarn Blue .]

I still dream he will be a success , but it is looking doubtful .

 

[HellasLEAF]

The problem with Balo is he's still to young and immature to really focus on being at his best game in game out. The time to own Balo will be in his late twenties, when he realizes he is in his prime and he must perform at his best each match to ensure his legend status as a player.

Right now he just doesn't care enough about reaching his full potential.

 

[gordondaviesmoustache]

massive shame

i hope he comes back to haunt us. cause he will. and then watch every mug in this thread try and claim they wanted him to stay

good luck mario. thanks for the memories

Good to see you've got your priorities right.