Edin Dzeko

[jimharri]

Those who were offended by various unchecked anti-Bosnian statements here, might very well not want anything to do with the club any more.

You are saying people may base their fandom of a club on the comments of the tiniest minority of a large fanbase? Wow.

Its not tiny... there are many.

And don't get me wrong - I am not bothered one way or the other - but if City is to become the international powerhouse, that small-town mindset will have to change.

You mean, something similar to following (not supporting) a club because a player from your country plays for them? That sort of small town mindset? Parochialism at its worst. I can't understand that line of thinking (them, not you). I don't give a flying fuck what nationality any of our players are (though I might have to draw a line at those bloody Irish!); all I ask is that they give their best for the club. Is that so unreasonable?

 

[LoveCity]

Those who were offended by various unchecked anti-Bosnian statements here, might very well not want anything to do with the club any more.

You are saying people may base their fandom of a club on the comments of the tiniest minority of a large fanbase? Wow.

Its not tiny... there are many.

And don't get me wrong - I am not bothered one way or the other - but if City is to become the international powerhouse, that small-town mindset will have to change.

There are millions of City fans. Your sample size is what... 10 people? 20 people? The whole idea of not supporting City because some people on a message board don't like the "Dzeko is God" crew from Bosnia is absurd. If it's that easy to stop 'supporting' a club then I don't think those people really are 'supporting' City in the first place.

 

[humantrain]

Do we think the Bosnians on here will move to his new teams forum?

Many Bosnians will no longer support City after Dzeko departs. This is because our Bosnian friends have received too much racial abuse from some Man City fans.

 

[cleavers]

Do we think the Bosnians on here will move to his new teams forum?

Many Bosnians will no longer support City after Dzeko departs. This is because our Bosnian friends have received too much racial abuse from some Man City fans.

Anyone who thinks they have been racially abused on this forum should have reported it, and it would have been dealt with, as all other racist posted stuff has been, its strange then that nobody did. There have been plenty of arguments, but that wasn't based on race, it was based on effort and ability of a certain player, based mainly on those of us who regularly attend the games, and not watch highlights packages.

When/if Dzeko moves on, so will the majority of his followers on here, those Bosnians that stay, will be truly converted city supporters, and will be as welcome as any other city supporter.

 

[LookIfoundmyKnob]

Meh,

I'm Bosnian, never really wanted to admit it on here in case of backlash.

I've travelled over 5,000 miles and payed thousands of dollars to watch one City game because I love City and I love Edin. If someone were to try and take that away from me there would be a shit storm. I see all this anti-Bosnian comments, people will say some really stupid stuff on the internet when they assume they are anonymous.

As a Bosnian I'll naturally be rooting for Edin to succeed wherever he goes, but not at the expense of my club. I also root for Asmir Begovic, you don't see me hanging out over at the Potters now do ya?

The most prominent issue that seems to escape some people on this forum is the culture gap. Back home there aren't too many of us, 4.5 million give or take. When we meet another Bosnian somewhere else in the world we are usually happy because a large majority of us have been displaced.

The ones who were displaced have had to adapt to a different culture, different language, different friends, different football, different girls, different jokes, different schools, different jobs & most important of all a different life, a life you didn't have a choice in.

Not many of you English would know much about that.

So when we have a professional footballer who ends up playing for the best team in the world, of course you will get followers. All these people wish Edin the best because a lot of people think he's the best our country has produced (jury is still out for that one, see Miralem Pjanic). A majority of insults/critiques placed on Edin have very little to do with his actual job -- score goals. Hence the frusteration from the Bosnian section.

But I'm sure this post will fall to deaf ears. At the end of the day, City will win and so will Edin, wherever they go, seperate or together.

 

[mcfc_nyc]

The main problem I have is that most of the Bosnians posting on here are only here because of Edin. If (when?) he goes, most of those posters will disappear as well. That, to me anyway, is not being a City fan. I support the club, not any individual within the club. Look at Mancio as an example; he was manic on here while Mario and Bob were at the club. Since they've gone, barely a peep out of him. Sorry, but I will never understand that mentality of following a player from club to club, simply because he comes from your country.

Guess what - you can't have it both ways. Sooner you accept us internationals there is less chance you will develop ulcer ;) Today it's the Bosnians, tomorrow could be some new fanatics following "asian Neymar" as someone joked...

Kidding aside, please hear me out…

No more stats, opinions etc. Lets just try to agree on some things, identify where the gap is in our understanding of each other and try to see if we can bridge this gap and make this forum better place…

FACT: City no longer belongs only to you local supporters and expats who grew up with it proudly wearing blue throughout all these hard years. It now belongs to whoever identifies with what this club is all about - resilience, persistence, determination, loyalty, hope, even humility…. That's why I fell in love with this club, I caught the bug. It's about knowing where this club was, where it's now and where it wants to be and I want to be part of this journey. If that will pass your litmus test of what City fan should be-great; if not, I don't give a shit, I am still blue.

But always keep in mind that primary reason for recent success of this club are the new owners… Don't forget that and be grateful that you have chairman and owners who deeply care about the history of the club and what it means to locals and community. At the end of the day it's all about money..

FACT: When I recently took my brother to see MCFC team for the first time at the Yankee stadium, I think we were outnumbered 1:10. Believe me 95% of those Chelsea fans were not from London. How is that possible? Even Mou noted today when he took team to US first time for pre-season not many knew about Chelsea. Today there is no day that passes that I don't see someone in Chelsea, Arsenal or scum kit around NYC.

Forgive me but what's wrong with these nomadic City fans anyways? You believe that right now there are no Argentinian fanboys around the world rooting for Barca only because of Messi or City because of Tevez / Kun ? We don't hear them here cuz they may be unaware of Bluemoon or possibly cuz their english skills may not be good enough for written discussion. Unfortunately, fking Balkan war dispersed hundreds of thousands of us around world forcing us to learn new languages as @LookIfoundmyKnob eloquently explained. Edin (and others on our NT team) is the only bright spot in otherwise grim picture of our country and it means a LOT to us for them to succeed.

We became "fanatical" defenders of Edin only when we felt that over longer period of time he started to be unjustly and disproportionally singled out for failures/mistakes and labeled with names that no real City supporter should say about ANY player wearing Blue.

Here is what all of Bosnians on this forum would agree with:
- No, he will never suddenly slalom through defense like Messi does to score brilliant goal...
- Yes, he is sloppy sometimes with ball bouncing off of him.
- No, he will never run and be workhorse that Tevez/Milner/Zabaleta mostly are
- Yes, last few chances he was given he should've given better impression that he cared


All we tried (EagleFan, AntiUnited, noise and others even though I am not sure if they even identified themselves as Bosnians) to portray in this endless dissuasion is that he was not utilized properly playing to his strengths. In the end we even agreed that "he simply does not fit the system".

Yet, reality is that he was brought into team by Mancini who either somehow wasn't aware what kind of player he was getting and how to best utilize him or he was hoping Edin would suddenly start dribbling like Messi or Maradona.

HARD FACT: Overall, Edin did his job for the club with the opportunities manager gave him. I say that as a City fan, not as Bosnian.

I think it's important not to just count his time and contribution on the pitch, but to keep in mind formation and tactics that Mancini employed while playing him. There was nothing more frustrating to me to watch and wait eternity for midfield to pass that ball up front. I would rather see him play every 2nd or 3rd game but played to his strengths when he did. Just like the team played with Edin coming off the bench to bail Mancini out on more than few occasions.


So in the end, is it fair for me to generalize and paint a picture of typical 'true' City supporter simply based on image pominoz is portraying here? No, because I know he is the minority (and I wouldn't call him racist either) . Posters like CC1, Blue_Rossy, SilvaisSkyBlue here and thousands of others who went to Etihad and away games and sung Edin's name countless of times in support cuz I know they appreciate his contributions even though they have every right to be frustrated when the ball bounces off of him at times or when he is apparently not running around enough.

 

[Bluesiam]

Meh,

I'm Bosnian, never really wanted to admit it on here in case of backlash.

I've travelled over 5,000 miles and payed thousands of dollars to watch one City game because I love City and I love Edin. If someone were to try and take that away from me there would be a shit storm. I see all this anti-Bosnian comments, people will say some really stupid stuff on the internet when they assume they are anonymous.

As a Bosnian I'll naturally be rooting for Edin to succeed wherever he goes, but not at the expense of my club. I also root for Asmir Begovic, you don't see me hanging out over at the Potters now do ya?

The most prominent issue that seems to escape some people on this forum is the culture gap. Back home there aren't too many of us, 4.5 million give or take. When we meet another Bosnian somewhere else in the world we are usually happy because a large majority of us have been displaced.

The ones who were displaced have had to adapt to a different culture, different language, different friends, different football, different girls, different jokes, different schools, different jobs & most important of all a different life, a life you didn't have a choice in.

Not many of you English would know much about that.

So when we have a professional footballer who ends up playing for the best team in the world, of course you will get followers. All these people wish Edin the best because a lot of people think he's the best our country has produced (jury is still out for that one, see Miralem Pjanic). A majority of insults/critiques placed on Edin have very little to do with his actual job -- score goals. Hence the frusteration from the Bosnian section.

But I'm sure this post will fall to deaf ears. At the end of the day, City will win and so will Edin, wherever they go, seperate or together.

I think this is a great post and very, very well written from and English let alone non English native. BUT, the very fact this fellow has felt to take time to write such a post means something is WRONG. No one should be derided for showing their Patriotism if they are stating it in a positive way and supporting City.
You don't need to be Bosnian to be an Edin Dzeko fan. I personally think he will still be with us next season and I think we will see one of the world's best pure goalscorers doing what he was brought to City to do..... not track back and defend..... not break up play in the midfield ..... to score a boatload of goals!
If it doesn't work out next season then we should agree Dzeko's critics were right and he should move on to a club where he can get back to doing what he does best.

 

[pominoz]

Do we think the Bosnians on here will move to his new teams forum?

Many Bosnians will no longer support City after Dzeko departs. This is because our Bosnian friends have received too much racial abuse from some Man City fans.

Still waiting for an example of where i have been racist, you liar.

 

[AntiUnited]

Do we think the Bosnians on here will move to his new teams forum?

Many Bosnians will no longer support City after Dzeko departs. This is because our Bosnian friends have received too much racial abuse from some Man City fans.

Still waiting for an example of where i have been racist, you liar.

na i agree your not racist that other guy is Sosa :P.

 

[pominoz]

We became "fanatical" defenders of Edin only when we felt that over longer period of time he started to be unjustly and disproportionally singled out for failures/mistakes and labeled with names that no real City supporter should say about ANY player wearing Blue.

Every single player in our team has been criticised and we have fans from every country that we have players from, none of them carry on like you guys do when "their" player is criticised.
That is the problem.