Independent Article - City's Identity - Feels spot on :(

[TBooksbluearmy]

As I said in some previous articles on this forum, all the media is against us. I include most of the papers, tv, and radio in this.

 

[Blue&whitestripes]

I don't doubt that many of us, to varying degrees, are feeling a disconnect with the Club. But - once again - it's Mark Ogden. Here's a very recent, and classic, example of Ogden's lack of consistency & credibility

Yesterday: http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/...nches-and-hummels-hints-at-more-a7022366.html

Manchester United shown up by Bayern Munich as failure to sign Sanches and Hummels hints at more embarrassment
Final paragraph: Sanches now joins a lengthy list of players who appeared destined for United, only for the deal never to get done.
Cesc Fabregas, Toni Kroos, Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale, Sergio Ramos – the list goes on.

Bayern, meanwhile, simply get down to business and head off on their summer holidays with no such thing as loose ends to tie up.

The past three summers have been a tale of near misses and embarrassing failures in the transfer market for United and missing out on Sanches suggests history may well repeat itself once again.

Today:
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/...ted-will-keep-faith-in-van-gaal-a7022926.html
Manchester United transfers: Scrapping of Renato Sanches deal suggests United will keep faith in Louis van Gaal
Final Paragraph: And with Van Gaal having the final say on Sanches, a player Mourinho is understood to rate highly, United’s readiness to back their current manager’s judgement hints at a faith in his ability to continue in the job next season.

Following his appointment as United manager in May 2014, Van Gaal ripped up plans by predecessor David Moyes to sign midfielders Cesc Fabregas and Toni Kroos, but rubber-stamped the completion of pre-existing deals for Luke Shaw and Ander Herrera.

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Consistency & credibility? I think not.

 

[BlueAnorak]

I accept that there is a bigger picture but my point would be that there is no need to have 12 months of pain to get the next man in. There was absolutely no reason why we couldn't have done the ground work with Pep, got him completely lined up but not let things at the club feel like we were just treading water, waiting. If a manager is doing badly, he is doing badly, he shouldn't be guaranteed to keep his job until the summer just because we have a manager lined up. Other clubs use interim managers to pick things up a bit and there is absolutely no reason why we could not have done the same. I don't for one minute expect to win the league every season but if you think we need to seriously jeopardise our top 4 status just to get Pep in, I think you're wrong. And bottom line is whether you like it or not, if people aren't excited going to the match then they aren't excited. You can't expect people to pay their money, turn up and watch players and management look like they're going through the motions for 12 months and not be impacted by that, it is only natural. As I said, I think most of that article is horseshit, but in the very short term it is just a basic reality, if the club make it fairly clear that the current season doesn't matter quite as much as other seasons then all they are going to get is fans who reflect that. There's no learning lessons to be done by supporters, we will always, broadly speaking, reflect the efforts of those we are supporting, they put it in, we will put it in. Maybe those supporters who travelled down to Southampton only to be treated with contempt by a manager with his team selection and a group of players strolling around not giving a shit should learn their lessons and realise that it's all necessary to get Pep in? And whilst Southampton was an extreme example, the whole season has felt a little that way. It'll all pick up once this season is over but if we miss out on top 4 because we tried to muddle through there will still be a lingering sourness for me and I would imagine for a lot of other supporters too.

Great post. Agree 100%

 

[Dogtanian]

I feel a disconnect with the club and a lot of the players, most of the players can't even be arsed to thank you for spending 3 days wages on an away game, preferred Garry Cook

 

[moomba]

Football has changed at the top level, it happened a long time ago, certainly long before the takeover and I think most fans understand that and largely accept it, although there will always be a bit of misty eyed stuff about the past. There didn't appear to be a big disconnect a couple of years ago even though you could argue at that point the club wasn't what it once was (or the soul has gone if people prefer to characterise it that way).

I disagree, I think discontent has been around for a couple of years. You could see it here with threads on ticket pricing, Platinum scheme, northstand and L2 evictions etc. Maybe our performances this year have put a bit of an extra spotlight on things, and I think Guardiola will improve things to an extent. But it's about more than that IMO.

Football has changed, but (and maybe I'm being naive) mainly because we as supporters have allowed it to. Again, maybe being naive, but I've always considered that the club belongs to the supporters, and as long as the supporters continue to fight for how we want the club to be run it always will belong to us. When we become apathetic, when we accept that we have no say in the club. Thats when it stops being a football club IMO.

 

[Lancet Fluke]

I disagree, I think discontent has been around for a couple of years. You could see it here with threads on ticket pricing, Platinum scheme, northstand and L2 evictions etc. Maybe our performances this year have put a bit of an extra spotlight on things, and I think Guardiola will improve things to an extent. But it's about more than that IMO.

Football has changed, but (and maybe I'm being naive) mainly because we as supporters have allowed it to. Again, maybe being naive, but I've always considered that the club belongs to the supporters, and as long as the supporters continue to fight for how we want the club to be run it always will belong to us. When we become apathetic, when we accept that we have no say in the club. Thats when it stops being a football club IMO.

I know what you are saying and I don't disagree. Just I think football as a whole has been heading in this direction since grounds went all seater and the start of the Premier League tbh so the apathy that has become so horribly tangible relatively recently hasn't anywhere near been completely about that IMO. Of course fans will never be completely happy with the way the club is run, I literally never remember a time when fans weren't pissed off about plenty of stuff going on at the club but I haven't been in the ground too much over the years before this season feeling that most people don't give a shit. This season has felt like the Pearce era to me in terms of the supporter apathy/disconnect, I don't think prices, Platinum scheme etc are even approaching the main reason for that although I accept they play a part. I stopped going to most aways years ago because prices were getting too high for my liking so I do have issues with the price of football generally but for me that caused a disconnect with top flight football in general rather than specifically with City. My season ticket last season (and this) is £380 so I think the club have done plenty of good things in recent years (as well as getting plenty wrong) but the club is for better or worse part of an industry that as a whole has "lost its soul" to some extent. I feel incredibly confident that if Pep gets the players working hard again and looking like they give a shit, there won't be that discernible apathy in the stands, people will still have valid gripes about all manner of stuff but I don't think it will feel anything like this season has.

 

[Shaelumstash]

A lot of it does ring true, from what I've heard. The culture inside the club has changed, and there is little warmth for Soriano from staff. Plenty of apathy from fans too, but Ogden is still a bad tit getting in petty jibes like "Emptyhad". Hopefully Guardiola will reinvigorate the club, and fans, next season.

I think the problem with Sorriano is that he's a bean counter, he's not a public figure. Laporte was the charismatic face of the Barcelona board when he was the president, and Sorriano was the guy in the back working on spreadsheets.

We were lucky under Garry Cook in that we had an excellent CEO who was happy in front of the camera, and engaged with fans, he understood them. Yes he made some gaffes, but I've never heard about word said about him from any of his staff. They adored him and he completely changed the culture and mentality of the football club.

Sorriano just wants to be a good CEO and doesn't want to worry about the rest of it. It's completely short sighted from him. He's so obsessed in gaining new noodle partners and developing our "global brand" that he's forgetting about the core stakeholders in the business - the local fans.

He's completely distanced himself from us. I've heard him speak English twice. Once was at an NYCFC event, and the other time was at a management conference in Abu Dhabi. He's been the City CEO for over 3 years and has actively taken the decision to never once speak to the fans about the football club. He's carried on with his work behind the scenes like he did at Barca. The difference is, we don't have a Joan Laporte. In fact, all we have is a Manuel Pellegrini, and he does more harm than good in front of the media.

I also think the fact that the employees at the club are left cold by him speaks volumes. He obviously just gets on with his job and doesn't engage with staff. That's a grave error. Garry Cook changed the whole culture and mentality by engaging with staff and making them believe in his vision, to pull in the same direction. Now the only thing that comes from staff is negativity.

I think the whole CFG model is a fascinating concept and I can't wait to see how it turns out. Sorriano has obviously put the infrastructure in place to build the group and create a network of clubs around the world and the benefits of that could be huge. But perhaps by adopting that far-reaching, worldwide strategy, he's forgotten about the most import part in all of this. Manchester City and our fans.

 

[Hogcity]

No. There is too much criticism of supporters nowadays. We have kept this club alive through the bad times and don't deserve the slagging we routinely get in the good times.

I agree the press and media give us too much shit, but the club have never given the fans any stick, that is my point. I am sure the owners will be concerned about the reaction to Sunday's result, particularly as we had our best ever UCL season and won a trophy, threw the FA Cup to try to keep Louis at OT and still have a good chance of a top 4 finish. we would have given limbs and kidneys for this kind of thing 5 years ago.

 

[cibaman]

Every person's relationship with the club is individual and personal to them. You can no more tell me that I'm wrong to feel a distance from the club than I can tell you that you're wrong to feel that everything is hunky dory.

But the fact that some pretty intelligent and articulate people, long-standing City fans, have been expressing the same sort of view that Ogden has, suggests that there's something wrong. Some of that is football related undoubtedly. We're unfit and under-prepared as a team and the manager's actions are often baffling or downright annoying. Even you now agree with that. We both agree that a lot of this will be put right when Pep arrives and won't accept just doing the bare minimum.

Gab Marcotti was making a similar point in his 'The Game' podcast this week. He thinks Begiristain has done a poor job both in terms of recruitment and visibility. Him and Soriano are completely invisible. Hearing what their objective and plans are every so often might help their cause as would some attempt to engage with fans in a meaningful way. It may be that what we see as major irritations could be put right quite easily.

Isn't it the norm that D of F's maintain a low profile? If the didn't they'd be accused of trying to overshadow the manager. Soriano should be more visible but not necessarily Begiristain. I agree wiuth Marcotti that his recruitment hasn't been great.

 

[Tim of the Oak]

Not sure Pep will have much say over who presents MOTD2?

Pep's reach is far and wide lol!