Ferran Soriano & Txiki Begiristain

[Phil1]

In all honesty Billy - I hope to have egg on my face come May - I will apologise gladly. But I can only go on what I've witnessed first hand so far - it's ok - not hurrendous - but not the improvemnt I was expecting.

Fair enough ... I've no problem with that at all. I know plenty of people who are currently unsure about Pellegrini ... it's natural with a new manager who people don't know a lot about, especially when he's replaced such a popular one.

But the discussions in this thread this morning, and I use the term discussion very loosely, was nothing more than a series of conspiracy theories about how Mancini was terribly hard done by by Txiki and Ferran and how they conspired to make his life difficult, conspired to fuck up last season, all with the sole aim of being able to sack him at the end of it all. It's hard not to sneer at stupidity like that, not least because of the enormous disservice it does our owners.

Billy,

You've touched on it earlier and it applies to this thread and other but the sheer lack of knowledge shown by supporters about subjects that they then go and spout off about is scary. I don't know it if is because people are stupid or lazy but it is scary because you get the blind leading the blind on here.

Unlike yourself and Billy who know all the ins and outs?

 

[tolmie's hairdoo]

It was the beginning of the end when Mancini attempted to assert his power over the Barca duo at the end of December.

Mancini thought he would call the bluff of the Balotelli camp and the club by bringing Sheikh Mansour's name into the equation.

He insisted Balotelli was our owner's favourite player and would not be sold.

Despite knowing the deal with AC was practically done and Mario had shipped all his stuff back to Italy in the middle of December.

 

[OB1]

Interesting point, well made ;). Except, I don't think the manager should carry the can for our transfer policy in the summer, although I'd expect Pellegrini to be asking for defensive reinforcements behind the scenes as we speak after having seen for himself how poor we are in that department.

We did, he's called Demichelis. The issue being that once Varane got injured Pepe's price shot up even higher than it already was, thus leaving us with little options.

You also can't just revolutionize a squad in 1 window, you need to spread it out over several to make the transitions more seamless.

I'm saying we needed strengthening defensively in the last window as a high priority due to the huge drop off in quality between Kompany and his potential replacements. We were basically gambling that he wouldn't get injured imo. Instead, we signed 4 forward thinking players relatively early in the window, and one defender as the window was about to shut. Is Demichelis the top quality centre back that we needed? We'll see, but I doubt it.

How many times do people need to go over this? MP wanted Pepe and we couldn't get him. Barcelona wanted a new top quality CB and came up short. Wanting and being able get are not the same thing. Maybe the club could have got someone suitable if they had offered enough money but perhaps there was not quite enough budget. In the circumstances, I think Demichelis was a decent pick. Maybe in January, this can be addressed further; maybe it will have to wait until the summer but I do not think that there can be much doubt that Txiki & Co know it needs action and have been trying to find someone.

 

[gelly]

Strikers should in no way be sold in the middle a season challenge for the league. Dont care how much he sulked. Sold from under the manager.

 

[Phil1]

It was the beginning of the end when Mancini attempted to assert his power over the Barca duo at the end of December.

Mancini thought he would call the bluff of the Balotelli camp and the club by bringing Sheikh Mansour's name into the equation.

He insisted Balotelli was our owner's favourite player and would not be sold.

Despite knowing the deal with AC was practically done and Mario had shipped all his stuff back to Italy in the middle of December.

In that case it seems like he made a calculated risk, probably knowing that he'd be gone one way or another if it didn't pay off.
That happens all the time, in everyday business as well as football.
Mancini had his reasons for being so against the two Spanish, where he cocked up was in thinking what he'd achieved so far was enough to keep the owners on board - when it patently wasn't.

 

[George Hannah]

Billy,

You've touched on it earlier and it applies to this thread and other but the sheer lack of knowledge shown by supporters about subjects that they then go and spout off about is scary. I don't know if it is because people are stupid or lazy but it is scary because you get the blind leading the blind on here.

you got it right there OB1

Cabal Annual Day Out

 

[OB1]

Fair enough ... I've no problem with that at all. I know plenty of people who are currently unsure about Pellegrini ... it's natural with a new manager who people don't know a lot about, especially when he's replaced such a popular one.

But the discussions in this thread this morning, and I use the term discussion very loosely, was nothing more than a series of conspiracy theories about how Mancini was terribly hard done by by Txiki and Ferran and how they conspired to make his life difficult, conspired to fuck up last season, all with the sole aim of being able to sack him at the end of it all. It's hard not to sneer at stupidity like that, not least because of the enormous disservice it does our owners.

Billy,

You've touched on it earlier and it applies to this thread and other but the sheer lack of knowledge shown by supporters about subjects that they then go and spout off about is scary. I don't know it if is because people are stupid or lazy but it is scary because you get the blind leading the blind on here.

Unlike yourself and Billy who know all the ins and outs?

Not what I was saying but I believe Billy and I have heard stuff that is not general knowledge. My point was though that you often see opinions that are clearly formed on the basis of little or no knowledge; knowledge that is freely available if you look. You can also find informed opinions about certain things , if you bother. If you haven't for instance in the past watched Pelle's Villareal side, talk to someone who has or pay some attention to post from someone, that you trust the opinon of , who has. Personally, I saw enough of Villareal to be impressed by MP's work there.

Earlier on this thread, someone talked about Pelle probably only being good at small clubs cos he was shit at Madrid. That is just a joke comment. Pelle didn't win anything but he got a record points haul for Madrid and had the misfortune to be contesting the title with the best club side I and a great many other people have ever seen so he ended up a loser; doesn't make him shit at big clubs though. If he had had three seasons at Madrid and won fuck all then you really would be able to doubt him.<br /><br />-- Wed Nov 13, 2013 1:38 pm --<br /><br />

Billy,

You've touched on it earlier and it applies to this thread and other but the sheer lack of knowledge shown by supporters about subjects that they then go and spout off about is scary. I don't know if it is because people are stupid or lazy but it is scary because you get the blind leading the blind on here.

you got it right there OB1

Cabal Annual Day Out

Ha, ha, ha. Funny how those guys were right about Mancini.

 

[tolmie's hairdoo]

It was the beginning of the end when Mancini attempted to assert his power over the Barca duo at the end of December.

Mancini thought he would call the bluff of the Balotelli camp and the club by bringing Sheikh Mansour's name into the equation.

He insisted Balotelli was our owner's favourite player and would not be sold.

Despite knowing the deal with AC was practically done and Mario had shipped all his stuff back to Italy in the middle of December.

In that case it seems like he made a calculated risk, probably knowing that he'd be gone one way or another if it didn't pay off.
That happens all the time, in everyday business as well as football.
Mancini had his reasons for being so against the two Spanish, where he cocked up was in thinking what he'd achieved so far was enough to keep the owners on board - when it patently wasn't.

Probably a decent assessment. It will sound ridiculous, but Mancini held the club to ransom over a new deal, despite the title win, and it caused further hostility down the line.

Mancini overplayed his hand time and again. For such a clever footballing politician, I found that strange.

 

[George Hannah]

Billy,

You've touched on it earlier and it applies to this thread and other but the sheer lack of knowledge shown by supporters about subjects that they then go and spout off about is scary. I don't know if it is because people are stupid or lazy but it is scary because you get the blind leading the blind on here.

you got it right there OB1

Cabal Annual Day Out

Ha, ha, ha. Funny how those guys were right about Mancini.

and after only three years - real insiders those boys!

 

[tolmie's hairdoo]

Strikers should in no way be sold in the middle a season challenge for the league. Dont care how much he sulked. Sold from under the manager.

Normally, I would agree, but Mario was a different situation.

He had downed tools in training, dragged out injuries and had gone weeks taking the piss out of Mancini and City.

Mario had been negotiating to leave from September, although he thought he was going to PSG before his actions on and off the field scared them away.

His agent is a miracle worker.

I would say we definitely should have reinvested the money in the January but City were not going to entrust it to a manager they thought might have one foot out of the door.

All water under the bridge now.