FFP reprise ..an article about our owners

[waspish]

Also the way he has written that is like it's easy, spend millions in players and hey presto you win leagues and cups get sponsor galore break even!

Liverpool are one of the biggest spenders in the premier over the last 20 years! How many premier leagues have they won?

 

[hutton who blue]

Also the way he has written that is like it's easy, spend millions in players and hey presto you win leagues and cups get sponsor galore break even!

Liverpool are one of the biggest spenders in the premier over the last 20 years! How many premier leagues have they won?

Imagine the gobfuls of scouse being spat over the table if this was posted on Rawk?

 

[sir baconface]

You'd think an Independent journalist might be able to spell. Or, failing that, that they might employ proof-readers. Tsk.

 

[dario2739]

Also the way he has written that is like it's easy, spend millions in players and hey presto you win leagues and cups get sponsor galore break even!

Liverpool are one of the biggest spenders in the premier over the last 20 years! How many premier leagues have they won?

Just after the take over, you couldn't move for so-called pundits telling everyone that would listen that "You can't buy success!"

Then after we started winning trophies, those same people were saying "we bought success!"

Can't have it both ways you pricks!

 

[Prestwich_Blue]

The author is a Villa fan.

Bwahahahaha!

 

[Kinkys Left Foot]

Thought it had Gooner fingerprints on it before its Villa roots were outed.
Both clubs fans think we cheated our way through FFP so enjoy their faux outrage. WANKERS!

 

[capiloton]

jealousy article

 

[ChicagoBlue]

At this point, who cares? We have been bought out by a large investor (just like almost every other top club in the world, albeit some are a bit slyer than others, read Bayern and their stranglehold on top German endorsement deals!), spent money on players (shocker!), and had some success. Accordingly, because it is City and Arab investment, it has been denigrated to within an inch of its life, with all comers saying we have bought success.

Apparently, the success City have bought is substantially and qualitatively different than the success Blackburn bought, United bought, Arsenal have been trying to buy, and that Chelsea almost wrote the book on...not to mention PSG in France, Bayern in Germany, Real and Barca in Spain, etc...

Sheikh Mansour has taken City from the clutches of a disgraced Shinawatra and turned them into a global sports franchise, with teams in England, Australia, USA and Japan....and soon to be China, no doubt... with his investment turning into a £2B global football empire with some of the best facilities in the world. We are the most successful British team for the past five years, having won the Premier League twice, finishing second twice, and winning three domestic trophies while also losing one domestic final. We are poised to go deeper into the Champions League than the club have ever been and have also signed the most successful manager in the world today to be our new manager next season.

So, while others point and cry, I simply sit back and enjoy it. For those of us for whom this has been a 50 year roller coaster, let's enjoy the ride, because I'd venture we've had more downs than ups. Thankfully, though, the future looks SKY BLUE!

 

[ChicagoBlue]

glad to hear that Pep makes an early preparation for next season. like someone said here, he will not have much time with Euro waiting in the corner. almost half of the squad will get extension leave and shall miss for the pre-season at China.

I would imagine he will use the pre-season to decide which youngsters and aging non-intls will be in and around the first team squad, and how they will fit in. It is clear who the core of the squad will be, because he doesn't have the ability to change 25 players, but with a few key additions, that should round out that core to about 6-7 players who are almost automatic first choice players. The key for him will be to find the non-superstars that fill out the team and bench, so that quality doesn't degrade too much when we get an injury or three, a fixture pile up, or so,e other unforeseen issue.

Coaching in the Prem will be different if only for the intensity of every game, as there are few games that provide a pushover opponent. That almost has to be earned in the first hour, so that you can rest players for the last 30-20-10 minutes in this league. It would be great to see us close out a game or two in the first half, so that peripheral and younger players could get a game, and I think it is important that at last two of the 7 on the bench be younger players with a chance of a cameo. It is those cameos that breed confidence and the ability to fit in without looking too out of place. I also think Pep will not use an old second keeper and will promote one of the younger lads, while not messing around with cup competitions etc... Reserve keeper is a reserve keeper and should be used sparingly, as needed, not given carte blanche for an entire tournament. Hart should be the keeper and when he needs resting, the reserve steps in. I also think this is an important way to nurture full back talent. No one wants to spend megabucks on a full back, but our cadre of four is long in the tooth and this season needs to see some younger talent bloodied, as able, I those positions.

For me, it is key that the keeper, two CBs, two MFs and two strikers are world class quality. If he only plans to use one (Aguero) then it is important that the wide players (attacking midfielders) be world class, too. From there, you can fill in the team with players who might not be world class, but who won't let you down.

I'm looking forward to seeing who our Busquets/Alonso will be when the FBs go and the CBs spread. I think Yaya can do that job, but I'm not sure if Pep does, in which case it might be Fernandinho in the current squad. He is the only other highly technically gifted player who can play that role (distribute and defend) in my book.

The 4-1-4-1 quickly becomes a 3-4-3 with the ball in possession, and if it is lost and not won back almost immediately, then we suck back into the 4-1-4-1 until we get it back....then off to the races again!

Exciting times ahead!

 

[Walking on the blue moon]

At this point, who cares? We have been bought out by a large investor (just like almost every other top club in the world, albeit some are a bit slyer than others, read Bayern and their stranglehold on top German endorsement deals!), spent money on players (shocker!), and had some success. Accordingly, because it is City and Arab investment, it has been denigrated to within an inch of its life, with all comers saying we have bought success.

Apparently, the success City have bought is substantially and qualitatively different than the success Blackburn bought, United bought, Arsenal have been trying to buy, and that Chelsea almost wrote the book on...not to mention PSG in France, Bayern in Germany, Real and Barca in Spain, etc...

Sheikh Mansour has taken City from the clutches of a disgraced Shinawatra and turned them into a global sports franchise, with teams in England, Australia, USA and Japan....and soon to be China, no doubt... with his investment turning into a £2B global football empire with some of the best facilities in the world. We are the most successful British team for the past five years, having won the Premier League twice, finishing second twice, and winning three domestic trophies while also losing one domestic final. We are poised to go deeper into the Champions League than the club have ever been and have also signed the most successful manager in the world today to be our new manager next season.

So, while others point and cry, I simply sit back and enjoy it. For those of us for whom this has been a 50 year roller coaster, let's enjoy the ride, because I'd venture we've had more downs than ups. Thankfully, though, the future looks SKY BLUE!

It still amazes me how delusional some football fans can be. They literally have the memory of a goldfish! Quick to discriminate against clubs with a "Sugar Daddy" but forgetting that in football, only past success and money can breed more success. Occasionally some teams break away from the norm and win an odd title or two, like Atleti (not really; they have always been one of the most successful clubs in Spain), or perhaps Leicester this year. But how many of these teams can achieve sustainable success? None in the past twenty years.

By the way, how on earth could this article get published? Weren't there any editors proofreading it? The author got the entire purpose of FFP wrong. Not sure if it is because of my own bias or not, but somehow I got the impression that FFP was to promote fairer competition between rich clubs and poorer clubs. Sadly, it is not. It has more to do with monitoring the financial stability of clubs so they can have a healthy piggy bank for long-term development (stadium, academy, etc.). It has more to do with ensuring that clubs do not buy more players than they can afford to (Lazio in the early 2000s came to mind), rather than protecting football integrity, which was damaged far more from corruption of governing bodies and extremely uneven distribution of TV money in some leagues than building a successful and sustainable club with oil money and meticulous long-term planning.

And FFP being a toothless tiger? Yes and no. Yes in that clubs like Real and Barca are, to date, still operating in debt with a large proportion of expenditure spent in wage bills. No as in how our last season was affected, and how the sanctions played a huge role in the fall of La Masia.