Great article in the Guardian incite into Elano and cliques.

[BobKowalski]

Kind of commented on this on another thread on the same article.

Two things though, it's uncanny how many times when things aren't going well on the field that a new article comes out and the names Jo, Elano and Sven appear in it. I wonder how long that will go on.

For as long as it works - which it still does by and large :) I reckon 12 months on with Ribery and Messi in the side and its getting a bit sticky we will have articles about what a stroppy bastard Elano was but with Robbie in place of Jo and as for that Sven - boy will he get a kicking!

The fascinating for me is that the article does not refer to this season at all - which is odd given the amount of players and investment etc. Elano and Jo et al are old news and Sven even older. Even the Ireland bit is a re run of comments from last year as well - in fact they are pretty much word for word the same as last year so go figure.

The article does help soften us up for Robbie's depature by tying him back to the old 'bad influences' but aside from that we are back to the glut of articles circa 2008 with how hard Hughes has had things following Sven's lax regime. Still amazes me that a guy who was here 11 months has such a dramatic impact that Hughes who has been here nearly 18 months and quarter of a billion quid later still hasn't erased him from the clubs DNA.

 

[Anonymous]

Kind of commented on this on another thread on the same article.

Two things though, it's uncanny how many times when things aren't going well on the field that a new article comes out and the names Jo, Elano and Sven appear in it. I wonder how long that will go on.

For as long as it works - which it still does by and large :) I reckon 12 months on with Ribery and Messi in the side and its getting a bit sticky we will have articles about what a stroppy bastard Elano was but with Robbie in place of Jo and as for that Sven - boy will he get a kicking!

The fascinating for me is that the article does not refer to this season at all - which is odd given the amount of players and investment etc. Elano and Jo et al are old news and Sven even older. Even the Ireland bit is a re run of comments from last year as well - in fact they are pretty much word for word the same as last year so go figure.

The article does help soften us up for Robbie's depature by tying him back to the old 'bad influences' but aside from that we are back to the glut of articles circa 2008 with how hard Hughes has had things following Sven's lax regime. Still amazes me that a guy who was here 11 months has such a dramatic impact that Hughes who has been here nearly 18 months and quarter of a billion quid later still hasn't erased him from the clubs DNA.

It's interesting that whilst the vast majority of the press wrote overnight that Robinho was going nowhere and that City weren't going to let him engineer a move away in January, the Guardian popped up with the "he doesn't want to spend another day in Manchester" quote. Followed up by this particular article a few hours later.

Personally, I think it's very lazy journalism from someone who has been given a word quota to fill by his paper, but can't get anywhere near the "real" story, so is just making shit up as he goes along. It wouldn't be the first time.

Stevie's quotes are nothing new - even if he said them in Abu Dhabi in the last 24 hours, he said pretty much the same thing for much of last season...

 

[BobKowalski]

For as long as it works - which it still does by and large :) I reckon 12 months on with Ribery and Messi in the side and its getting a bit sticky we will have articles about what a stroppy bastard Elano was but with Robbie in place of Jo and as for that Sven - boy will he get a kicking!

The fascinating for me is that the article does not refer to this season at all - which is odd given the amount of players and investment etc. Elano and Jo et al are old news and Sven even older. Even the Ireland bit is a re run of comments from last year as well - in fact they are pretty much word for word the same as last year so go figure.

The article does help soften us up for Robbie's depature by tying him back to the old 'bad influences' but aside from that we are back to the glut of articles circa 2008 with how hard Hughes has had things following Sven's lax regime. Still amazes me that a guy who was here 11 months has such a dramatic impact that Hughes who has been here nearly 18 months and quarter of a billion quid later still hasn't erased him from the clubs DNA.

It's interesting that whilst the vast majority of the press wrote overnight that Robinho was going nowhere and that City weren't going to let him engineer a move away in January, the Guardian popped up with the "he doesn't want to spend another day in Manchester" quote. Followed up by this particular article a few hours later.

Personally, I think it's very lazy journalism from someone who has been given a word quota to fill by his paper, but can't get anywhere near the "real" story, so is just making shit up as he goes along. It wouldn't be the first time.

Stevie's quotes are nothing new - even if he said them in Abu Dhabi in the last 24 hours, he said pretty much the same thing for much of last season...

It may be lazy journalism since the article is just a re run of 2008. I do find the absence of anything with respect to where the club is now somewhat odd. There is not even a comparison between now and 12 months ago which given the scale of the changes would make it a more relevant piece. Instead there is a comparison between 12 months ago and the year before which is bizarre. The only thing the article does do is big up Hughes with Ireland's quotes which as you say are nothing new.

Personally I think Robbie is off in Jan whereupon he will be lumped in with the other bad influences. It will be a shame if it happens. I love Robbie being at the club and still think he had a good first season especially bearing in mind he joined a month in and had no time to settle.

 

[Anonymous]

Personally I think Robbie is off in Jan whereupon he will be lumped in with the other bad influences. It will be a shame if it happens. I love Robbie being at the club and still think he had a good first season especially bearing in mind he joined a month in and had no time to settle.

Actually, what's more likely to happen, IF the club allow Robbie to force his own departure from the club, is that people will once again vilify Hughes and Cook and somehow make the entire episode about how selling Elano and Jo was a terrible thing to do because it unsettled Robinho. I suspect even if Elano and Jo were first team regulars at City alongside Robbie, the lure of Barcelona would still be too much, and we'd still be having this exact conversation...

Truth is that the club are in a position to do absolutely nothing about his departure. No point in keeping an unhappy player, and IF he really is THAT unhappy, then we should fuck him off...

 

[BobKowalski]

Actually, what's more likely to happen, IF the club allow Robbie to force his own departure from the club, is that people will once again vilify Hughes and Cook ...

pfft like we need anymore reasons to vilify Hughes :)

 

[Maine Rd]

Ireland is spot on with this, i was an Elano fan too but understood his all round workrate was not good enough. He did improve this, an example being the Hamburg game at home where he nearly inspired the win and had to be carried off with exhaustion! It was all too late though and i think we made the right decision to let him go. We have not replaced his craft and eye for a pass yet though.

 

[blue jim]

I wasn't too impressed with Jo, i hope he reads this.

Yeah, not many people were. Makes you wonder if it was a pure panic buy by Thaksin? I mean, I know he was tipped as a future star, and apparently a few clubs were tracking him - always telling though for me when you hear that and yet nobody else bids for them, just like Bianchi.

Yeah but unlike Jo, Bianchi was a good player for us in his 4 or something games. If he had of settled in England he'd have been decent.

 

[mammutly]

This kind of expose isn't good for the club. Stephen Ireland is a nice lad, but he really should not be talking to journalists about dressing room matters.

As for Robinho, I am increasingly beginning to believe that he was a step too far too soon for us. He ought to be playing at the very highest level and he isn't going to be doing that at City for at least another 2 to 3 years, and quite possibly longer.

 

[Nicky D]

This kind of expose isn't good for the club. Stephen Ireland is a nice lad, but he really should not be talking to journalists about dressing room matters.

As for Robinho, I am increasingly beginning to believe that he was a step too far too soon for us. He ought to be playing at the very highest level and he isn't going to be doing that at City for at least another 2 to 3 years, and quite possibly longer.

Too true. Maybe he could've come out with it in a few years, when the story of 'Mark Hughes: The Early Years' is told, but not now!