Discussion: Txiki Begiristain (2015/16)

[chesterguy]

I think the great thing about City is that players are identified and brought in with the input of the manager and others but that it is the DoF signings therefore players are bought by the club for the club. Rather than at other clubs where players are bought by the manager for the manager and we have seen instances where a manager is sacked and within 12 months the whole team has changed this would never happen at City

The other point to note is that it is clear that the thought City can turn a players head. Wolfsburg wanted to sell him to PSG and Bayern rather than us but clearly Txiki had sold the City, no excuses to win mantra, and this together with chats to Vinny had meant that despite all the other pressure KdB wanted to come here I am not sure having the same converstaion with a manager would carry the same weight

 

[Damocles]

Just one last note, many in the transfer thread have been gushing over Klaus Allofs and his abilities in the De Bruyne saga. He actually made a key mistake; he spoke about the transfer directly in the press and made it less about the player and more about him. Constantly getting a quote in, reassuring everyone that Wolfsburg were this big club and not selling and then trying some of the absolute worse press handling strategies that I'd ever seen in any transfer by back channeling and getting him linked to Chelsea, Bayern and United right near the end of the transfer.

One of my favourite things about Txiki is that he's not in the press. He uses the press as a weapon through our communications department when need be but never anything that can be attributed back to him. It's that old game whereby everybody knows it came from him but unless you see him say something then nobody can mention it in a meeting without looking like a bit of a tinfoil hat signee. Allofs should have constantly ducked questions about KDB but instead became a bit of a grandstander, and as soon as he did that and started to use the attention and saga to fellate his ego then the war was lost and the deal inevitable. I suspect much of those final negotiations were us allowing him to become and more and more involved in the transfer personally, but more and more of himself on the table whilst we rode out the storm. £51m for KDB sounds like a lot until you start looking at other transfers in the modern age. Falcao was quoted at £60m, James Rodriguez went for £63m, Di Maria went to United for £59m, Suarez for £75m, Luiz for £50m. £30m is the old £20m and £50m is the old £30m.

If you can't storm the castle by the front door then always check to see if the windows are unlocked.

 

[jimharri]

He still didn't manage to sign Messi. And that's with his Barca connections. Poor really. Txiki out, Marwood back in that role.

 

[eastmanc]

I've been critical of Tixi in the past, but fair play to him in this window, he has shown his worth and played a blinder and in the process proved a lot of people, like myself, wrong.

 

[eastmanc]

Just another guy passing through to voice my appreciation for Txiki, did one hell of a job this window, can't imagine having to deal with Liverpool and Allofs in person when they're already so unbearable in the media.

De Bruynes agent on boiled bollocks show just quoted as saying that it was all down to Tixi and his negotiation skills in getting Wolfsburg to agree to the transfer, because they really didn't want to sell.

 

[Damocles]

boiled bollocks show

Who?

 

[eastmanc]

Who?

That twat on talkshite, Alan Brazil.

 

[Centurions]

Was surprised to see that this thread has not been added to recently.

Recognising the quality and integrity of personality of our fans I would have expected to see an orderly queue to be forming to set right some of the unfounded criticism that was so casually dished out in the last few weeks.

I know - they are all just waiting for the formal signature before lining up for a large slice of Humble Pie. I would paste a picture of a pie in if I knew how.

He deserves his own song if he gets the kev deal done

I would humbly (arf) suggest this for him:

 

[malg]

Fair play, he's done the business. The thing about our club is that it is all done with dignity. No one talks to the press, no one shoots their mouth off. The Sterling transfer was all about Liverpool slating the player, and doing it all in the public domain - absolutely shocking when you look back at it. KdB was played out in the press by Wolfsburg. The press fucking hate it, and long may it continue.

Well played by the club at all levels.

 

[BillyShears]

De Bruynes agent on boiled bollocks show just quoted as saying that it was all down to Tixi and his negotiation skills in getting Wolfsburg to agree to the transfer, because they really didn't want to sell.

Heard very similar story with regards the Sterling transfer.

I can't stress enough. We've bought players who essentially weren't available for transfer.

Another interesting thing is Everton/West Brom refusing to sell one of their top players to another PL club. Doing the Sterling deal early was a stroke of genius. Fee would probably have been exponentially bigger had we fucked around until August before going in for him. Or worst case scenario Liverpool would've been forced to keep him simply because of what Everton are doing with Stones.