David Conn book - Richer Than God: Manchester City.....

[01282]

I cannot fathom how someone who pretends to be a city fan can set foot anywhere near FCUM.

I found that bit to be sickening to be honest.

I also can't understand how you can detach yourself from how you feel about a club that has been through as much shit as ours.

These middle class journalists always give it the big one about how money ruins football yet he is comfortable charging £16.99 for his book and I bet he doesn't live in a two up two down in tower hamlets.

Amazingly is has just turned up in the Book Club at work for a fiver so I'd imagine they're not expecting to sell many at £16.99.

 

[1_barry_conlon]

Barry Conlon........sure was and I got a line but not a full house...........................great day.......

Lol. Justin Bieber was winning far too much for it to be coincidence;-)


Number 1 is Colin Bell....:-)

 

[kismet]

I agree BC he was winning too much. I was a little perturbed to see Soulboy in a skirt and those chocolate dogs on the cake.

I hope he is having a good tour of Europe.

As for the book by DC it's not bad so far but he misses a trick in not getting much out of his interview with Khaldoon !!!!!

 

[Ric]

Here's my review of the book, for anyone who's interested:

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.bluemoon-mcfc.co.uk/Blog/index.php/2012/07/05/richer-than-god-david-conn/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.bluemoon-mcfc.co.uk/Blog/ind ... avid-conn/</a>

 

[Didsbury Dave]

Just ordered this

 

[The Pink Panther]

David conn is not only the son of aliens but he's also a united fan so I definitely won't be buying it. Ugly red twat.

Wrong! Met him at QPR ten years ago or so. City fan and knows his stuff, especially on the money side of things. Where do you get your info from???

Heard him yesterday on 5 Live and he contributed nothing to the debate about the finances of the rags
He sounded like someone who was going to steal other peoples comments from during the day and work them into a piece of his own

 

[Ash Blue]

I agree with Ric's comments and review of the book , in particular the full chapter on FCUM which does look out of place , what I found odd in a story about City is he tends mention Manu quite a lot in many chapters which smacks of either jealousy or just plain obsession.

Franny doesn't come out of it with much credit either in the ousting of swales and the dismissing of Bell & Book during his takeover .

 

[Prestwich_Blue]

Here's my review of the book, for anyone who's interested:

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.bluemoon-mcfc.co.uk/Blog/index.php/2012/07/05/richer-than-god-david-conn/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.bluemoon-mcfc.co.uk/Blog/ind ... avid-conn/</a>

I've not read it yet but flicked through it in W.H.Smith and you seem to have hit the nail on the head with that review. DC has fallen out of love with modern football (not just the PL) and you only have to read his superb book "The Beautiful Game?" to understand the reasons for that. However he's still very much a City fan at heart and likes where we are, even if he questions the fundamental structure of the PL, which allowed us to get there. He's different to Colin Shindler who has set his heart firmly against the current owners and won't be moved.

He's chosen to write about the seamy side of football and we should be grateful that he has. But he's been exposed to it for so long that I think believe it's made him quite cynical. I think he just automatically assumes there is a down-side to any given scenario and that's what has driven the particular action in question.

So he even questioned the Etihad campus development, which most of us see unquestionably as a good thing. His view is that it sounds great on paper but where is Manchester Council, which is looking to implement huge cuts to essential services, going to find the money for a sixth-form college in East Manchester? He may be right or he may be being overly pessimistic. Time will tell.

 

[blue44]

I cannot fathom how someone who pretends to be a city fan can set foot anywhere near FCUM.

I found that bit to be sickening to be honest.

I also can't understand how you can detach yourself from how you feel about a club that has been through as much shit as ours.

These middle class journalists always give it the big one about how money ruins football yet he is comfortable charging £16.99 for his book and I bet he doesn't live in a two up two down in tower hamlets.

Amazingly is has just turned up in the Book Club at work for a fiver so I'd imagine they're not expecting to sell many at £16.99.

Me too,i bought it about 3 weeks ago now 5 quid at our book club at work,im about half way through,ok up to now but he's starting going on about money and the lost soul and things changed for him even during the 80's concerning money in the game ,and his enlightenment that his beloved club wasn't a club but a money making machine for the select few,so city is not city to him anymore as opposed to in his youth.

whats he gonna do then ? give up and turn his back on probably 99 % of everything he buys or wants to buy ?

stay away then,and stop writing books or newspaper articles if the " money " involved pisses him off

 

[TueartsOHK]

Bought the book last week on Kindle and now I'm half way through it...

I didn't spot the mistakes (bit ashamed of not noticing the Charlton score and I was at the game!) but I think Conn is getting a hard time on this thread. Despite the errors he's clearly a City fan and he's attempting to contrast the fortunes of the club through the dismal Swales years (and even more dismal years with Franny Lee at the helm) with our current situation. What I like about the book is he goes into a lot of detail on the business side of the game and why the Shiek purchased the club and also the history of the Abu Dhabi dynasty. He's clearly an intelligent writer and he's clearly knowledgeable about business. My impression is that he thinks the takeover was a good thing and that the owners have been nothing more than professsional in the way they've handled everything.

Although he's a Guardian writer he comes across as left wing - contrasting the deprivation of Manchester with the fortunes of the club. The "Richer than God" is a quote from a guy in Abu Dhabi regarding their billions - it's not a reference to City as a club.

I've only read the first half so he may beome a complete twat in the second half :-)