Discussion: Txiki Begiristain (2015/16)

[Phil1]

I like his style. Start off slowly so all those who can't cope with not signing WC players in every position fly off the handle and call him every name under the Sun, then finish strongly, making those same folk look like reactionary fools.
Honestly, people need to get it out of their heads that this man is a chancer, someone who's in the right place at the right time or got the job because he's mates with somebody. He's the real deal and the club will go from strength to strength whilst he's here.
Sort KDB out and you're watching the start of a revolution that'll finish with us winning the fucking lot one day.

 

[Didsbury Dave]

Really does feel like we're building something stronger and more versatile than the previous side, particularly with regards European competition.

With regards Txiki, it's difficult to argue against the idea that as Ric put it earlier, it's been an exceptional window. But more importantly, and the thing which will probably go totally unnoticed by some of our supporters and the wider watching world is the fact that all these players only wanted City. Sterling, De Bruyne, Otamendi, these guys could literally have had their pick of Europe's top clubs. The fact they chose to come to City is IMO due not just to where the club is at and where it's going, but the person doing the selling. If you're Kevin DeBruyne and his agent or Sterling and his agent and you're talking to Txiki the footballing conversation is going to be a lot more impressive than if you're sat in front of the Russian lady who does Chelsea's deals or Ed Woodward or the old fella that Arsenal have doing their deals.

As the season unfolds, if it goes the way I expect it to go, then I reckon people in the wider footballing world will be lauding Txiki come the turn of the year.

He's gonna get a new contract at the end of this window.

Just how I see it mate, but don't forget Delph. At £8m there isn't a team in the premier league who wouldn't have wanted him. But we boxed him off early and did the deal. I have no basis for this, but even the fact that he U-Turned reflects well on Txiki and our club. I guess that when his agent delivered the bad news, Txiki was sensible and said he understood, maybe kept in touch, kept the door open etc, rather than being a bellend and acting all affronted.

What a window. What a squad we are assembling. A mate of mine was with one of our management team last week who said "ADUG will not stop until we win the Champions League". It's coming, and soon. What a club we are becoming, top to bottom.

 

[coleridge]

If you're Kevin DeBruyne and his agent or Sterling and his agent and you're talking to Txiki the footballing conversation is going to be a lot more impressive than if you're sat in front of the Russian lady who does Chelsea's deals or Ed Woodward or the old fella that Arsenal have doing their deals.

That's a good point about his age, approach and appearance. Looking at the club both here and in Abu Dhabi, it seems to be run by people of the appropriate age and with the relevant business experience, all the way up to the Sheikh himself. As you say, compare and contrast with other clubs. MCFC is the slick operation whereas that lot, for example, like a load of fussy old farts.

 

[BigOscar]

Some people will always look for reasons to ignore when he's done well unfortunately, that's probably never going to change. Personally, I'm loving how well he's convincing players that this is the club they have to sign for. To get Sterling to put up with all the flak and attacks he did, all to get a move to us is about as good as it gets from a DoF.

Also I think we're benfiting a lot from the fact that he's a footballer, not an accountant. So he knows the value of getting the right player, instead of losing targets over small amounts (ala Woodward and Levy).

 

[Danamy]

Just how I see it mate, but don't forget Delph. At £8m there isn't a team in the premier league who wouldn't have wanted him. But we boxed him off early and did the deal. I have no basis for this, but even the fact that he U-Turned reflects well on Txiki and our club. I guess that when his agent delivered the bad news, Txiki was sensible and said he understood, maybe kept in touch, kept the door open etc, rather than being a bellend and acting all affronted.

What a window. What a squad we are assembling. A mate of mine was with one of our management team last week who said "ADUG will not stop until we win the Champions League". It's coming, and soon. What a club we are becoming, top to bottom.

The script was on takeover, win the Prem in 5 and the Champs League in 10, it was a lot to ask at the time but we're on course.

The question is will we do it?

 

[BillyShears]

That's a good point about his age, approach and appearance. Looking at the club both here and in Abu Dhabi, it seems to be run by people of the appropriate age and with the relevant business experience, all the way up to the Sheikh himself. As you say, compare and contrast with other clubs. MCFC is the slick operation whereas that lot, for example, like a load of fussy old farts.

Sometimes as supporters we can be too close to the club and be much more critical of things than we need to be. Talking to other supporters though you really get a sense of how envious most English club supporters are of Begiristain. It isn't about anointing him as some sort of genius, but simply put, it's about how effective you are at selling what it is that you're selling to the players in question.

As other have stated, getting Sterling out of Liverpool, getting him to a point where City were the only club he wanted to join even though he's a London lad, this was a significant piece of work by Txiki. Even more myself i've learned how important it is to be patient with these things and not panic because we haven't signed everyone we want by the first day of pre season. That's an ideal, but clearly not always possible. De Bruyne deal is perfect proof of that. We're dealing with a situation where even the club we're buying him from would prefer to sell him to a rival in their own league than to sell him to us. That means you need the player to be strong willed in terms of saying he only wants to go to City and then you need to be strong willed in how you deal with the selling club.

On all levels it really feels like this summer has been a carefully planned window and for that alone not just Txiki, but Ferran, Khaldoon, the board, the manager, they all deserve a huge amount of credit. A year ago we lauded Chelsea for doing exactly what they needed to do. It's only fair that we laud our own club now for doing what Chelsea did but IMO with more difficult transfers and younger/better players.

 

[twosips]

The script was on takeover, win the Prem in 5 and the Champs League in 10, it was a lot to ask at the time but we're on course.

The question is will we do it?

It's very, very possible. We've got another 2/3 seasons to do it too.

The main thing holding us back, apart from some nagging insecurity issues, is the quality of Messi's Barca still. How they gonna cope when Messi and Iniesta start to wane? Neymar and Suarez are excellent, but they're not Messi. They don't have that same aura. Same as when Ronaldo leaves Madrid, and Robben at Bayern etc is already reaching his peak age too. I do wonder, are we building the next generation capable of dominance? Guess we'll see.

 

[coleridge]

It's very, very possible. We've got another 2/3 seasons to do it too.

The main thing holding us back, apart from some nagging insecurity issues, is the quality of Messi's Barca still. How they gonna cope when Messi and Iniesta start to wane? Neymar and Suarez are excellent, but they're not Messi. They don't have that same aura. Same as when Ronaldo leaves Madrid, and Robben at Bayern etc is already reaching his peak age too. I do wonder, are we building the next generation capable of dominance? Guess we'll see.

The CL is much more random than the Prem and, up to now, no-one has retained it. Better to just improve and get to QFs, SFs and eventually finals. The timescale is of relevance but not of utmost importance. It will come, one day. My faith in the progression and professionalism of CFG, ADUG and MCFC merely grows with every passing year.

 

[coleridge]

On all levels it really feels like this summer has been a carefully planned window and for that alone not just Txiki, but Ferran, Khaldoon, the board, the manager, they all deserve a huge amount of credit. A year ago we lauded Chelsea for doing exactly what they needed to do. It's only fair that we laud our own club now for doing what Chelsea did but IMO with more difficult transfers and younger/better players.

Agreed.

 

[Danamy]

It's very, very possible. We've got another 2/3 seasons to do it too.

The main thing holding us back, apart from some nagging insecurity issues, is the quality of Messi's Barca still. How they gonna cope when Messi and Iniesta start to wane? Neymar and Suarez are excellent, but they're not Messi. They don't have that same aura. Same as when Ronaldo leaves Madrid, and Robben at Bayern etc is already reaching his peak age too. I do wonder, are we building the next generation capable of dominance? Guess we'll see.

One thing's for sure, what a time to be a Blue, i keep reminding my nipper how lucky he is