Grealish left out of the CWC squad (pg34)

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Moss Side's Finest said:
All the nonsense about a drinking problem is absolute bollocks. Is Jack a lad (pardon the pun), yes, absolutely. He enjoys going out and having it large with his mates when he can.

The key phrase is "when he can" (such as victory parades or a post season party), because elite level footballers are managed and tracked very differently from the days of having a pint or 3 before a game.

There is no way on this earth that he would be anywhere near the squad, or even the club, if he had an alcohol issue, he would fail all sorts of tests and fitness checks. Pep wouldn't want anything to do with him, let alone regularly defend him as a player and human being.
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Maybe the rules have changed this year, because most of our team have looked like they'd had 3 pints before kickoff most weeks.
 
Johnny Mars Bar said:
Maybe the rules have changed this year, because most of our team have looked like they'd had 3 pints before kickoff most weeks.
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I remember the good old days playing Sunday League football when two or three pints at half time was the norm.

(Purely for medicinal purposes obviously)
 
Mad Eyed Screamer said:
I agree and was a Rodney fan, but to this day he divides opinion as to whether he should have been bought or not / luxury player etc etc
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I've just read Colin Bell's autobiography and he was a big admirer of Marsh's talents and loved watching him on MOTD whilst he was at QPR. He was however of the opinion it cost us a league title as he changed the dynamic of the team too much. I know somebody that spoke to Bell personally and he said the same to them at the time.
 
Edghill OG said:
I've just read Colin Bell's autobiography and he was a big admirer of Marsh's talents and loved watching him on MOTD whilst he was at QPR. He was however of the opinion it cost us a league title as he changed the dynamic of the team too much. I know somebody that spoke to Bell personally and he said the same to them at the time.
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Even Rodney admits he probably cost us the league.
 
Edghill OG said:
I've just read Colin Bell's autobiography and he was a big admirer of Marsh's talents and loved watching him on MOTD whilst he was at QPR. He was however of the opinion it cost us a league title as he changed the dynamic of the team too much. I know somebody that spoke to Bell personally and he said the same to them at the time.
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Rodney Marsh was the type of player that absolutely everybody loved to watch, and dreamed of having in their team.

The 60s and 70s were littered with similar 'entertainers' like Stan Bowles, George Best, Tony Currie, Frank Worthington, etc.

The phrase 'flawed genius' was invariably used in any conversation about such players. The word 'flaw' was used for good reason; there was almost invariably a downside if they were in your team.

Personally, I think that Rodney was best value for money when he and George Best were at Fulham towards the end of their careers. Pure entertainment and fun for everyone who watched them at that time.

Luxury players can end up costing a club lot more than money.
 
Bill Walker said:
Even Rodney admits he probably cost us the league.
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True..! Allison was hell-bent on winning the title in 1972 with Rodney intended to be the 'cherry on the icing on the cake' in the run-in from Easter onwards. Only trouble was, he took Tony Towers out of the team without replacing his prodigious work rate that was vital to the rest of the team.. hence we finished fourth, instead of Champions!
 
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Edghill OG said:
I've just read Colin Bell's autobiography and he was a big admirer of Marsh's talents and loved watching him on MOTD whilst he was at QPR. He was however of the opinion it cost us a league title as he changed the dynamic of the team too much. I know somebody that spoke to Bell personally and he said the same to them at the time.
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Im digging into the memory bank here but I also remember reading an autobiography from that period (possibly Mike Doyle’s) but it also highlighted Franny Lee’s business was struggling, around this time and his form was also affected. It also mentioned, to support your point, losing Wyn Davies as a focal point, to accommodate Rodney, altered the dynamic of the build up play.
 
Eccles Blue said:
People are saying it was well documented that Jack has a drinking problem. I must walk around with my eyes closed as the only time I heard about him over imbibing was the parade and I wasn’t even sure then just thought it was over exuberance.
I still think he has a part to play for City though and hope we keep him. Pep will sort him out.
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Grealish is really fortunate that he doesn't live in an era where everyone carries their own personal recording device around with them. Imagine the number of videos there would be in the press if that was the case...
 
Bill Walker said:
Even Rodney admits he probably cost us the league.
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Lavinda Past said:
Rodney Marsh was the type of player that absolutely everybody loved to watch, and dreamed of having in their team.

The 60s and 70s were littered with similar 'entertainers' like Stan Bowles, George Best, Tony Currie, Frank Worthington, etc.

The phrase 'flawed genius' was invariably used in any conversation about such players. The word 'flaw' was used for good reason; there was almost invariably a downside if they were in your team.

Personally, I think that Rodney was best value for money when he and George Best were at Fulham towards the end of their careers. Pure entertainment and fun for everyone who watched them at that time.

Luxury players can end up costing a club lot more than money.
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Yes, I've heard others say it before including my old man. I guess Colin always struck me as somebody that wouldn't say anything negatively about anybody else. He didn't even hold it against that rag that caused his horrific injury. Probably why he felt he had to mention Rodney's period at QPR beforehand in the book. Well before my time fortunately/unfortunately depending on how you look at it.

One thing I was disappointed to read was that Colin had literally nothing to do with Franny Lee after being sacked from the youth set-up. Don't know what year the look was released and hope they patched things up before they both passed. Genuinely didn't have a clue about that and was sad to read knowing they're both no longer with us.
 
Txiki Txiki Bang Bang said:
Pep made Jack's dream come true, Jack didn't make Pep's dream come true. Pep had thoughts of creating a world beater out of Jack, that didn't work. In any other profession, the project would be filed under the failed projects column however in football, Fans can rationalise things in their favour.

No fan wants to admit it when their club gets rinsed by another club at the transfer market, It's kind of how Chelsea fans claim that goal Torress scored against Barcelona paid off his transfer fee, we all know that's a ridiculous take, now put yourself in the shoes of a fan from a different club and ask yourself if Jack has been a success here or not. The answer is right in front of you
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In a 4 year period in our greatest era, City have won more games when Grealish has played and lost more matches when he hasn't which I think deserves a lot of respect.

It also encompassed winning the treble and 4 in a row. The sheer magnitude of winning 4 league titles in a row for the first time in the history of English football seems to escape many on here, an achievement that will be spoken about in 100 years time yet posters are talking about not making dreams come true FFS.

Professional football is about building a balanced team to win football matches. And that's it.

And yet there's 57 pages in this thread and 488 pages in the other thread of tactical geniuses and transfer gurus endlessly repeating themselves, whilst missing the main fucking point of professional football.

Grealish fitted like hand in glove in an extremely high level team that suffocated the opposition both with and without the ball, death by 1000 cuts football, involving real patience, discipline and precision passing, requiring constant focus and concentration from opponents that couldn't be maintained.So rather than slurs, the only thing completely wasted was this level of football on the many on here stomping their feet and wanting the ball passed forward quicker to Haaland.

But the most analysed and popular sport moves on and it seems a narrower front three, a deeper midfield and getting the ball forward to Haaland is where it's now headed. This is probably due to a large extent in Haaland signing a long new contract. And now the foot stompers are complaining about the inevitable energy required in midfield for the increased number of turnovers.

Jimmy Greaves didn't become a bad player immediately because he couldn't force his way back into the 1966 team after injury where Ramsey liked the balance of the team he'd stumbled upon. Ian Bishop didn't become a bad player because Kendall preferred to play a different way in which Mark Ward was more suited. So I don't think Haaland signing a 9 year contract requires a full complement oi Hello magazine writers to pontificate and it may just be a different tactical approach is the now best option to get a balanced team in order to win professional football matches.

So rather than the armchair experts on here who've no real appreciation of what they've been witnessing over the last few years I'll leave the final word to the Godfather of modern football.


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Gingers Dad said:
Grealish will always be a treble winner to me.
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You're right he was a treble winner, but the credit in his bank for being a part in that season soon dissipated. Too many blues make that excuse about Grealish, they talk as if we wouldn't have won the treble without him. That's debatable but on the whole he's not lived up to expectations.
 
BlueMoonRisin’ said:
You're right he was a treble winner, but the credit in his bank for being a part in that season soon dissipated. Too many blues make that excuse about Grealish, they talk as if we wouldn't have won the treble without him. That's debatable but on the whole he's not lived up to expectations.
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There was a spell in that season when him, Ake and Foden were carrying the team. He always did the job Pep asked of him. He takes as much credit as anyone for the 'treble' season's achievements and I'll be very sad to see him leave.

Even in his few appearances this season he's never let us down. I hope he finds a club where he can be pivotal in the middle and get back to his very best - but not against us.
 
the blue panther said:
There was a spell in that season when him, Ake and Foden were carrying the team. He always did the job Pep asked of him. He takes as much credit as anyone for the 'treble' season's achievements and I'll be very sad to see him leave.

Even in his few appearances this season he's never let us down. I hope he finds a club where he can be pivotal in the middle and get back to his very best - but not against us.
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I cannot remember Jack carrying anybody in the treble season.
Or Ake or Foden for that matter.
 
Moss Side's Finest said:
All the nonsense about a drinking problem is absolute bollocks. Is Jack a lad (pardon the pun), yes, absolutely. He enjoys going out and having it large with his mates when he can.

The key phrase is "when he can" (such as victory parades or a post season party), because elite level footballers are managed and tracked very differently from the days of having a pint or 3 before a game.

There is no way on this earth that he would be anywhere near the squad, or even the club, if he had an alcohol issue, he would fail all sorts of tests and fitness checks. Pep wouldn't want anything to do with him, let alone regularly defend him as a player and human being.
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If you think it's nonsense about his drinking you're very naive. Do you think he's supping tea in nightclubs and parties? He had a drink problem at Villa when he crashed his Range Rover when too pissed to walk properly, never mind drive. He's been caught by paparazze several times since staggering out of clubs in the early hours whilst he should have been at home in bed.

The club know full well he has a drink problem but they're not going broadcast it are they because they want to sell him to the highest bidder. It was reported he was the last to leave at De Bruyne's leaving party, no surprise there. Maybe why Pep left him out of the squad against Fulham.
 
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