Thanks for that. I had spotted two Schindlers, but still made the error!I didn't see this thread at the time, so apologies for going back nearly four months, but just to pick up on this. There are in fact two Colin Shindlers who are academic historians and the one who's a specialist in the history of Israel isn't the one who's the subject of this thread: https://www.soas.ac.uk/staff/staff31810.php
I actually like several of the Manchester-born Colin Shindler's books. As MES says, the one about the Summerbees is very good, as is the one looking at the fates of the 22 players in the City v United 1963/4 FA Youth Cup semi-final, notwithstanding the shameless populism of the title (it was called 'George Best and 21 Others'). I thought 'Manchester United Ruined My Life' had a degree of charm and I seem to remember the accompanying TV documentary being viewed very favourably at the time by Blues. And 'The Worst of Friends' was, I thought, a readable and convincing fictional portrayal of the breakdown in the relationship between Mercer and Allison, albeit that reliable sources report that the title upset the families of the two men.
I don't agree, to put it mildly, with his view on the current regime at City and I think that he imputes many ills to the regime at our club which apply more or less universally throughout the modern game. For that reason, I haven't felt any urge to seek out 'Manchester City Ruined My Life'. I also think he's a guy in his seventies who's maybe excessively prone to nostalgia for a football era that was almost certainly never as wholesome as he recalls. But I personally don't regard him as an enemy of MCFC on anything like the level that David Conn's reporting in the last month shows Conn to be.
Conn is vicious in his crit of City and it is difficult to see exactly why. Ok, he fell out of love but some stuff is beyond the pale. When PB pointed him in the direction of the open skies case, he accepted that ADEC 'covered' the sponsorship for Etihad, but said that was state sponsorship, which mangles the truth. See Arsenal and Emirates.
The press generally has been very slack in this case, so many things they should have picked up on but went with the click seeking crowd.
None picked up on Leterme's connection with Bayern, or his dodgy record (see Juve), none asked why the long delay before AC pronounced, none picked up on Parry or Gill, etc etc.
I would not go so far as 'conspiracy' but G14 colluding with each other to protect their position is clear.
Agnelli's recent intervention confirms their aim of permanent membership of the elite competition. Have the press picked up on this?