It may not be this year.

[KentBlue]

My own view is that we are all -to a certain extent- suffering a bit of pre-season anxiety. The expectations this year will be absolutely immense and the pressure on us to do well will be colossal, far more than at any other time in the clubs history. One mistake, one defeat from a side we should perhaps have beaten comfortably, and the flak we will recieve from the media and other supporters will be like an avalanche of open hostility, verbal abuse: we'll be made to feel that Manchester City F.C. murdered Princess Diana, Mother Theresa and John Lennon.

All we can ask for is a bit of patience. It will take a bit of time, but we'll get there. It's just going to be the toughest, rockiest ride any of us will have experienced.

 

[woolleyback blue]

That's odd. I seem to recall our owners saying something about "top 6" this season.

Seem to remember Frank saying a top half finish was our aim first season, Sven delivered and got the boot.......................

I seem to remember Frank sold the Club to ADUG so why should they emulate Frank??

 

[Unknown_Genius]

The owners said Top 6 is the target this season, and if we achieve that then MH will be in charge next season, I'm sure of that. At the moment I don't think the defence is good enough for a Top 4 finish. A solid defence is what gets you places. Another problem is Everton and Villa have had the nucleus of their squad for years, City haven't really, alot will depend on how MH uses the squad, and finds a formation and system that works best, and how quickly the new team gels. That could be a challenge as MH has never really managed big squads before, and he will have a selection headache before every match. Having said that though, I like him as a manager, and I rate him with Moyes and O'Neill as one of the brightest, young British managers around.

Our owners are not stupid. If they wanted to get rid of MH, I doubt they would do it a Christmas, as its not easy to get managers in work, halfway through their season. They would leave it until the end of the season, and try and get the best man available, rather than anyone just for the sake of replacing MH. You will just end up with similar or worse problems as the person you appointed isnt really the one you wanted. They won't settle for 3rd or 4th best.

 

[Kirkstall Blue]

OK, a few here settling for top 6. Fine. I'm sure I've heard some of our new players talking about 'winning trophies' and 'challenging for the league' in their press conferences.

What's the manager gonna do - say 'Hold on lads, don't be too ambitious, we can't achieve Sky 4 yet, we need a few more transfer windows?'

Let me play Devil's Advocate one moment...

Imagine this - if Jose M was City's manager TODAY, he'd be setting the teams out to win every game, he's be talking up the club, and he's be talking up himself.

Why should MH set up his team 'to get something out of the game, to see how the group progresses, and not set any targets ?'

Let's see how much patience the owner really has as we progress through the season.

Off to the match soon....

Any one off to the match, you might struggle on Ashton New Road lots of road work's for the new tram system.
I'm off now.

 

[robbieh]

Obviously this is deveoping into a bit of a Hughes in/out thread!

Many of us are commenting on individual players along the lines of

"well, he´d have been OK 2 years ago but now we should be aiming a bit higher"

"and if we didn´t have Dunne would we try to buy him, obviously not as we are trying to bring in the best"

And given the amount of money being thrown at players it is obvious that average premier league players are not really being considered. Hence the efforts to entice Terry and others.


The big question is why does this same quality control not apply to the man at the helm?

We are not buying promising but unproven players. Yet our future at least this season will depend to a huge extent on a promising but unproven, at this level, manager.

Maybe no top quality managers wanted the job and it was therefore easier to stick with Hughes. However there may be a small queue developing and so any more WBA away, Stoke away, Forest at home type performances will surely spell the end for Hughes. Regardless of whether we come 6th or not.

 

[1894]

After watching yesterday's game against Celtic, I'm hoping for great things this coming season - and 'NO' - I'm not in the Hughes Out corner.

Hughes has already had 3 transfer windows to work in, and has brought in 15 of his own players - only Berti has not stayed beyond one season, the other 14 are still with us. His transfer spend alone is estimated at £201.45 million. Add the wages bill to this, and we are at a staggering £500 million in a little over 12 months.

(Source : Times Online today <a class="postlink" href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/manchester_city/article6788598.ece" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/ ... 788598.ece</a> )

Critics are already saying this won't be enough to achieve too much this season, so my question is : how many more players, and how much more money will Hughes need to spend to achieve success ?

Even a recent FA Cup win doesn't seem to be helping Portsmouth now, so the big target has got to be the Premier League title and Champions League football.

Unless we buck the trend, it may be some time before we achieve that, but I'm still looking for 9 points in August to give us a great start to the season.

 

[blueinbolton77]

Perhaps I missed something but the Chairman said the target was top 6 unlike Frank who broke his promise, I get the impression that Khaldoon is a man of Honour and will stick to his word 6th is acceptable anymore is a bonus

He has, and in an interview said the same and so has Mark Hughes. I think it's more about the few fans who want to see Mark Hughes fail that keep saying anything but top four is a failure. We're seriously becoming like Newcastle, which would be dire. I have one fan in front of me who does nothing but shout Huges you m*n*ch bastard, even when we're winning, which is most times at home!

Anyway, Top 6, and I think we will go all the way in one of the two cups so I've already signed my direct debit form for cup matches. After yesterday's game, I'd not rule out top 4. But we need some of the other teams around us to also perform and take points off the top 4, we can't do it all ourselves, so that might be a problem and not us.

 

[Patientman63]

The owners said Top 6 is the target this season, and if we achieve that then MH will be in charge next season, I'm sure of that. At the moment I don't think the defence is good enough for a Top 4 finish. A solid defence is what gets you places. Another problem is Everton and Villa have had the nucleus of their squad for years, City haven't really, alot will depend on how MH uses the squad, and finds a formation and system that works best, and how quickly the new team gels. That could be a challenge as MH has never really managed big squads before, and he will have a selection headache before every match. Having said that though, I like him as a manager, and I rate him with Moyes and O'Neill as one of the brightest, young British managers around.

Our owners are not stupid. If they wanted to get rid of MH, I doubt they would do it a Christmas, as its not easy to get managers in work, halfway through their season. They would leave it until the end of the season, and try and get the best man available, rather than anyone just for the sake of replacing MH. You will just end up with similar or worse problems as the person you appointed isnt really the one you wanted. They won't settle for 3rd or 4th best.

Agree completely.

Of all the things going on at the club at the moment, the one thing that really cheers me up is the apparent patience of our owners. They are talking "ten year horizons" and appreciating that it takes time to build a team that will gel and deliver the required results. They seem to have a better grasp of football reality than some of the posters on this site, and certainly some of the berks working for the national media!

 

[Dhenry]

1894, I do believe we have the players for a good top 4 fight.

The problem is, the players have not played together yet really (watching Ade, Robinho and Tevez together yesterday..there were bits of real promise there but it always ended with a pass gone astray or getting stuck).

Plus we have the older players who seem to be stuck with the small club mentality - something Robinho talked about in a recent interview. I'm thinking here players like Dunne, who's appearance on the field is as if he wore a Stoke shirt, etc. Robinho said he has seen change in the mentality and with the names that have joined, how could he not? I just do not think we're there yet.


Finishing in the top 4 is a possibility this season, however I do not see it being overly likely. We've brought in a lot of players, and I can promise that not all of them will be great successes. Someone who does well in one place may not just fit in with us. And therefore there will be further areas of the squad needing to be built upon.

What concerns me is the idea that:

Players not yet fully understanding eachother on the field + a def signing still necessary + def injuries will lead to:
Disappointing results (comparable to the high expectations here) > Bad attitude from the fans (Hughes outers) > Bad press (these two compliment each other in both ways, actually) > Less confidence in the dressing room.

I don't expect the amazing start of the season everyone else here seems to. But I do expect improvement on these as time goes on.

 

[1894]

Clearly, I'm far too ahead of myself in thinking we should be aiming for the top. In that case, I'll disregard much of the hype going on around City, and settle for a mediocre 6th place finish, just four more wins than last season, maybe 30 points off the top spot, all in a season with no European fixtures. That settles it.

No matter what noises the club is making, I can't see too many of the players being impressed with that. World class signings, full internationals, world cup year - and they settle for a place in the Europa League ???

Sorry, I'm unreal, I've just enjoyed lunch, must have had a glass too many, but most of all I remember the Mercer/Allison 'can do' years.