Biggest mistake City have ever made?

[ManCityJordan]

Ive heard a story that in the early 70s (way before my time), we had the chance to sign Gordon Banks. At the time we were one of the top sides in England and finished 3rd or 4th. Either Allison or Mercer said no and Banks ended up at Stoke.

The game against Stoke at home the same season apprantly cost us the league and Banks saved everything we threw at him and it ended up either a draw or a loss. If it springs any light it was the season Brian Cloughs Derby County won the league. Can anyone else clarify any of this?

Also is it true that we had Ian Rush on trial before he went to the dippers and we turned him down?

 

[Robbiejd]

Selling Balotelli

This is the one for me .

I agree big mistake !!!!

 

[Cheadle Blue]

There have been a few, but in this new chapter / era, definitely letting that tit hughes in the front door.

 

[Jnr Kisby]

Selling Balotelli

This is the one for me .

Anyone who thinks the above is our biggest mistake in our history is either wumming,under 21,or been supporting us for only three seasons,or all three!

I dont qualify for the last two, nor the first. When Balotelli is picking up his Balon d'Or in a few years then we'll see how you feel about it. The guy has the ability to change a game and we could have done with him in a few games since he left.

 

[Prestwich_Blue]

It was only when his assets were frozen that he struggled financially and was unable to do what he had planned to do.

Good points about Thaksin Gary but the above isn't right. His assets were actually frozen just before he took over City (about 10 days before) so in view of that, City's lawyers wanted to ensure he still had the wherewithal to complete the deal and asked him the question.

It's my understanding that he produced statements from a number of offshore accounts that were beyond the reach of the Thai authorities, as they were nominee accounts or otherwise couldn't be traced back to him legally. Those accounts held over £1bn allegedly so he wasn't short of money. I don't believe he had any intention of using his funds to further City's cause as one year later we were on the very cusp of going into administration. He'd have seen us go under without a second thought by then.

Just to illustrate how money minded he was, when he took over he also took over the £20m+ of loans that John Wardle & David Makin had made to the club. We never had to pay any capital or even interest on these but interest had accumulated. I think the total owing to them was £25m at that time. He paid them far less than this in return for assigning these loans to him so they lost money.

When ADUG took over, I believe he took the full £25m (which he was entitled to do) but it might have been nice if he had at least split the difference with Wardle and Makin, particularly as Wardle had lent the club money to pay wages while Shinawatra owned us. Instead he made a profit of around £10m on those loans alone. David Conn reckons he made about £60m overall (although I think £20m of that related to a loan he'd made soon after the takeover.

 

[Mr Ed (The Stables)]

Getting Malcolm Allison back for a second time.Disastrous !

I agree in fact virtually the whole of the Swales era was one mistake after another. I know he was a fan and loved the club but he was also a bigwig at the FA, sacking Peter Reid 4 games into a season after we had finished 5th 5th 9th under him/Kendel.

But the dismantling of that team in the late 70's Barnes, Hartford, Watson, Owen and replacing them with young untried expensive replacements Daly, Robinson, Mackenzie, Shinton, Malcolm second time round was an unmitigated disaster.

 

[paulchapo]

This is the one for me .

Anyone who thinks the above is our biggest mistake in our history is either wumming,under 21,or been supporting us for only three seasons,or all three!

I dont qualify for the last two, nor the first. When Balotelli is picking up his Balon d'Or in a few years then we'll see how you feel about it. The guy has the ability to change a game and we could have done with him in a few games since he left.

We are talking about the biggest mistake the club made,selling one player,who on the whole underperformed for us,doesn't come close,no matter WHAT he does in the future.

 

[john@staustell]

Getting Malcolm Allison back for a second time.Disastrous !

Definitely. Took us from a title-challenging team to bankrupt also-rans for the next 25 years.

 

[Churchill123]

Mark Hughes!

 

[isab23502]

Getting Malcolm Allison back for a second time.Disastrous !

I agree in fact virtually the whole of the Swales era was one mistake after another. I know he was a fan and loved the club but he was also a bigwig at the FA, sacking Peter Reid 4 games into a season after we had finished 5th 5th 9th under him/Kendel.

But the dismantling of that team in the late 70's Barnes, Hartford, Watson, Owen and replacing them with young untried expensive replacements Daly, Robinson, Mackenzie, Shinton, Malcolm second time round was an unmitigated disaster.

Being the age I am, I always think back to that year of 1979 and what happened to the great team that I had begun to support a couple of years earlier. Without speaking in MA's defence - but trying to put the thing in context - we had declined quite badly in the year up to when he came back. To me it all started when Denis Tueart went to the Cosmos. We never seemed to find a real groove after that and by the beginning of 1979 we had failed to win for something like 14 games - and that was with Watson, Barnes et al, who all seemed to be playing like strangers, and Book's signings for that season, especially the expensive Futcher, failed to perform. I think MA tried to change the way the existing team played in order to change things round but didn't get much co-operation from the existing squad. I think then it was a case of them choosing to leave in several cases rather than him pushing them out - especially those going abroad like Watson where the big money was. I think Barnes went as he didn't want to play with wingers. Owen - not sure. So the clearout was perhaps less of a problem than the buying. Unfortunately we spent money that put us in debt for years. Whether that was Swales' fault or MA's, seems disputed. One could say that MA only had one season with his newbuilt team (give or take a few months) and the gelling under Bond might have happened anyway given time. So perhaps it was not the appointment of MA but rather PS's agreeing such huge spending in 1979-80 (two million pounders plus 3/4 on Robinson) that could be said to be the mistake that triggered 1983-2002 since cash was always the problem in that period.