Media bias against City

[feedmpenzaandhewillscore]

My recollection is that Richards didn't fail at City. He had several good seasons as first choice RB including 2011/12 when we won the prem. He was also in the FA cup winning team. It went wrong for him when he got injured at the Olympics and by the time he was properly fit Zaba had made the RB position his own. He played nearly 200 times for City so there's no way anyone should say he failed.

He fell down the pecking order towards the back end of the 11-12 season. Can't remember if he dropped a clanger or Mancini fancied zabaleta more at the time.

I hope he gets back to the standard where he was at for us as he seems like a decent guy and deserves a good run in a premier league team.He looked alright today but not the standard where we need to be unfortunalty.

 

[Bentheblue]

My recollection is that Richards didn't fail at City. He had several good seasons as first choice RB including 2011/12 when we won the prem. He was also in the FA cup winning team. It went wrong for him when he got injured at the Olympics and by the time he was properly fit Zaba had made the RB position his own. He played nearly 200 times for City so there's no way anyone should say he failed.

Your recollections are spot on. Micah also won a number of England caps whilst playing for us. Can n't expect pundits to know basic stuff like this as in the main they are incompetent morons who talk a load of crap. Really do not see the need for them.

 

[2sheikhs]

I think his downfall was pumping himself up in the gym. A muscle bound body won't take 90 minutes of action.
This was evident in one of our games (I think it was a European match) when he literally just sat down on the pitch, exhausted.

 

[Sergio Picasso Aguero]

I find it funny how people like Stan Doggymore criticise our youth policy and yet the captain of the team he supports won 2 league titles after coming through our academy.

 

[Silva_Spell]

Danny Murphy with a piss poor theory why Mica Richards failed at City. Not the fact he was made of glass but the fact that City decided to go spend hundreds of millions of pounds on players.

Did he not lose his place in the team to Zabba who signed before the take over and has developed into one of the best full backs on the planet during his time with us?

You're talking rubbish, mate. We've definitely spent hundreds of millions on Right Backs since 08/09!!!

Sagna and Boateng were both world record fees

 

[bluelol]

You're talking rubbish, mate. We've definitely spent hundreds of millions on Right Backs since 08/09!!!

Sagna and Boateng were both world record fees

It doesn't matter though what the true facts are as the only people to really understand is us, City supporters. The bit that pisses me off is that millions of people that watched the programs will soak it up like a sponge. Then again, are we really bothered what others think?

 

[BlueSkyBlue]

RIchards was a good player for us, when we were at that level. He came through the youth setup, played for England and was eventually replaced by a better player. His career wasn't a failure with us.

The irritating thing about the media is they don't mention how Cech was binned by Chelsea, how Angel Di Maria and Falcao have been treated at OT.

Or what about poor Ste Gerrard not being offered a new contract by the team he played for for 400 years?

Sentimentality about players no longer at their peak has no place at successful football clubs - never has and never will.

 

[RipleysCat]

RIchards was a good player for us, when we were at that level. He came through the youth setup, played for England and was eventually replaced by a better player. His career wasn't a failure with us.

The irritating thing about the media is they don't mention how Cech was binned by Chelsea, how Angel Di Maria and Falcao have been treated at OT.

Or what about poor Ste Gerrard not being offered a new contract by the team he played for for 400 years?

Sentimentality about players no longer at their peak has no place at successful football clubs - never has and never will.

This ^

It's easier to promote youth players the further down the league you go, simply because the youth players coming through do not have to be of a higher standard.

Richards was a successful graduate for us. He was never a failure. What simply happened was that we became a better team, and so the level that Richards was expected to perform was also higher. Instead of criticising us for not giving Richards a chance (we did, for a number of years), we should in fact be praised for finding a player (Zab) who pretty much cost peanuts but has gone on to prove that he can cope at the highest level. We didn't replace Zab with a high-cost player after all. Simply because we didn't need to.

 

[Exeter Blue I am here]

saw a poster for Sky Sports at Stockport train station and I stopped to look in amusement as it had a few club badges floating around, I am pretty sure it had United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool, Totenham and a couple of others like Norwich and Newcastle but no City badge :(

Hmmmmmm. Sniff sniff......

 

[The Northern Baptist]

Yeah, it was either a bit ill-informed or disingenuous of Murphy that. I think he's alright as a pundit, so I'll give home the benefit of the doubt and assume the former.

Richards was immensely injury prone, and only kept out of the side by the exceptional form of Zabaleta, who incidentally cost just £6m.

Indeed, he was offered a new contract and chose not to stay at City. Not sure what more we could've done, other than pick him consistently (when fit) ahead of a superior player which would've been madness.

I must admit I thought the same when I heard Murphy's comment at first. Richards had his best season, imo, at centre back next to Dunne. Is there no way we could have nurtured him into a quality centre back? We decided to spend huge amounts of money on so called ready made versions in Lescott, Kolo Toure and Mangala. I think Murphy has a point.