Biggest mistakes of the decade.

[mcfc49]

bony in dzeko out

 

[OntarioBlue]

It’s hard to come up with anything that hasn’t already been said.

Unlike some others on here I am happy with the way the “business” side of the Club is being run. We are a rich club with high revenue and lots of lucrative sponsorship and partnerships deals. We are debt free and profitable. Financial stability is how we are going to sustain success on the pitch going forward.

My gripes are pretty much exclusively limited to our transfer activity. We have consistently failed to deal with the centre back and full back issues. We have bought a whole bunch of stiffs (already named by others so I won’t go over them again) and failed to sign players who would have really added value mostly because we weren’t prepared to pay the price - Van Dijk looks like a bargain now ! My biggest moan is that we failed to strengthen the squad after we won the league again last season. In fact, with Vinny going and not being replaced we actually weakened the squad. We had the opportunity to create a dynasty but instead this season is in danger of fizzling out into mediocrity. This Club, with all its financial resources, the players, the facilities and the coaching staff should not be doing mediocre.

I can’t imagine we’ll make the same mistake this summer.

 

[OntarioBlue]

Spending too much time on this forum

Ain’t that the truth !

 

[g180aj]

Not signing frenkie Dejong and matijas De light in the summer before Barca and Juve did. Had we signed these 2 we would be fighting for the tittle still.

 

[Hoghead]

Taking to the field after the coach attack, we should have taken the forfeit, made a stand and killed the momentum and edge they were building on us.

This, being the victim for a change.

 

[Prestwich_Blue]

Upon consideration...

The biggest mistake of the decade absolutely has to be failure to back Mancini in the 2012-2013 season... at all.

At the start of the season, Mancini pleaded with management for big signings... at one point he made an important trip to Milan meeting with Thiago Silva and Ibrahiminovic, both players on the market and willing - and indeed did - transfer.

Instead of landing these marque players... we signed, at the last minute, and overpaying...

Javi Garcia
Matija Nastasic
Jack Rodwell
Soctt Sinclair
Maicon
Richard Wright

Mostly complete crap, though Nastasic did perform rather well in his first season for us.

Back Mancini, sign high caliber players, and we might well have won the 2012-2013 title.

Which is not to say that Mancini should have been our manager long term - his substitutions/tactics were frequently misjudged, and his man-management and lack of ability to get on with others - players, and management both - meant that a better manager was always going to be available.

Nonetheless.... the 2012-2013 treatment of Mancini is, I think our biggest missed opportunity of the decade.

This is an interesting point but I think, from what I know, that it's a bit simplistic and the the real situation was much more complicated.

Mancini was already making waves and had put Brian Marwood's back up, refusing to accept his input. Marwood's title was "Football Administrator" but effectively he was Technical Director. Mancini however didn't have any intention of working with a Technical Director. We could and should have had van Persie in the summer of 2012. The deal had effectively been done before Xmas 2011 but the stipulation was that one of Tevez, Aguero, Dzeko or Ballotelli had to go to accomodate him. The first two were seen as non-negotiable at any price but Dzeko & Mario were seen as sellable. We had an offer for Mario (from PSG I believe) but either Mancini wouldn't have it or Mario refused to go, maybe a bit of both. So van Persie/Arsenal waited for us as long as they could but the deal couldn't be finalised.

Mancini had also handed in his notice right after we won the title. Eventually he was talked out of it and got a new 5-year deal although we insisted on a clause limiting his payout in the event of his sacking, which we knew was going to happen sooner rather than later. But in the meantime we were in limdo so nothing got done transfer wise and we ended up dealing late on, with the result that we undeniably had a second-rate transfer window. But much of that was to do with what was going on behind the scenes.

Also, of Mancini's wish-list, De Rossi simply had no intention of moving and Hazard's people, having agreed a deal, tried to stiff us at the last moment. That's something we always say no to when we've supposedly shaken hands on a deal and it also cost us Isco. You can say that's being a bit precious but if one gets away with it, others will try it on so I think the club is right to stick to their guns. Others do similar. United, for example, won't pay players' agents the fee that the player owes them. They insist on the player doing it himself. That's their red line.

So it's simply not correct that the club failed to back Mancini. Had he not been stupid then our transfer dealings might have been much better that summer but the fact he was intent on walking out for a while and wouldn't agree ot Mario going, cost us that summer. And we sacked him anyway at the end of the season, as we knew was likely to be the case. Yes, Mancini was probably the manager we needed to get us to the top and he'll always be remembered for that, but frankly he was an arrogant and egotistical dickhead, who had no intention of working with Marwood or Begiristain. We should have called his bluff & said thank you and goodbye after the title win when he handed in his notice. But he probably had us over a barrel as the chances of getting anyone half decent at that short notice was small to zero.

 

[uncle fester]

This is an interesting point but I think, from what I know, that it's a bit simplistic and the the real situation was much more complicated.

Mancini was already making waves and had put Brian Marwood's back up, refusing to accept his input. Marwood's title was "Football Administrator" but effectively he was Technical Director. Mancini however didn't have any intention of working with a Technical Director. We could and should have had van Persie in the summer of 2012. The deal had effectively been done before Xmas 2011 but the stipulation was that one of Tevez, Aguero, Dzeko or Ballotelli had to go to accomodate him. The first two were seen as non-negotiable at any price but Dzeko & Mario were seen as sellable. We had an offer for Mario (from PSG I believe) but either Mancini wouldn't have it or Mario refused to go, maybe a bit of both. So van Persie/Arsenal waited for us as long as they could but the deal couldn't be finalised.

Mancini had also handed in his notice right after we won the title. Eventually he was talked out of it and got a new 5-year deal although we insisted on a clause limiting his payout in the event of his sacking, which we knew was going to happen sooner rather than later. But in the meantime we were in limdo so nothing got done transfer wise and we ended up dealing late on, with the result that we undeniably had a second-rate transfer window. But much of that was to do with what was going on behind the scenes.

Also, of Mancini's wish-list, De Rossi simply had no intention of moving and Hazard's people, having agreed a deal, tried to stiff us at the last moment. That's something we always say no to when we've supposedly shaken hands on a deal and it also cost us Isco. You can say that's being a bit precious but if one gets away with it, others will try it on so I think the club is right to stick to their guns. Others do similar. United, for example, won't pay players' agents the fee that the player owes them. They insist on the player doing it himself. That's their red line.

So it's simply not correct that the club failed ot back Mancini. Had he not been stupid then our transfer dealings might have been much better that summer but the fact he was intent on walking out for a while and wouldn't agree ot Mario going, cost us that summer. And we sacked him anyway at the end of the season, as we knew was likely to be the case. Yes, Mancini was probably the manager we needed to get us to the top and he'll always be remembered for that but, frankly he was an arrogant and egotistical dickhead, who had no intention of working with Marwood or Begiristain. We should have called his bluff & said thank you and goodbye after the title win when he handed in his notice. But he probably had us over a barrel as the chances of getting anyone half decent at that short notice was small to zero.

Not that I doubt/disagree with what you are saying because I honestly don't know

but was there not talk at the time that Mancini had got wind of the discussions with Guardiola and the clubs desire to sack him once the season was over - once the Aguero moment occurred his position strengthened massively and he took advantage of that - he only did to the club what they were going to do to him

Also can see what your saying re Mario but if that's the case did no one make the call on Edin - surely if he was expendable then he could have been sacrificed to keep everyone happy?

anyways all water under the bridge...

 

[jimmygrimblesboots]

Accepting UEFA's FFP fine , we should have dragged them through every court in europe.

 

[Prestwich_Blue]

Not that I doubt/disagree with what you are saying because I honestly don't know

but was there not talk at the time that Mancini had got wind of the discussions with Guardiola and the clubs desire to sack him once the season was over - once the Aguero moment occurred his position strengthened massively and he took advantage of that - he only did to the club what they were going to do to him

Also can see what your saying re Mario but if that's the case did no one make the call on Edin - surely if he was expendable then he could have been sacrificed to keep everyone happy?

anyways all water under the bridge...

The possibility of us getting Pep in 2012 is one thing I've never got to the bottom of and would love to get the answer to. The timing fits, as he'd left Barcelona so would have been available, then announced he was taking a sabbatical, basically to learn English. So it's entirely possible that we had him lined up but bottled it after Mancini won us the title, even though he was seemingly prepared to walk away from City. Then Pep, thinking Mancini was there for the longer term, decided to go to Bayern.

As for Dzeko, surprisingly we had no takers.

 

[Bill Walker]

Brexit

Not happened yet hahaha

It's been said before I know but not signing VVD was the biggest mistake for me, not only would we have him but we would have stopped those manky twats getting him.