It would be nice to have the national press being positive about the way City have pushed forwards the levels of football at all levels in this country.
Any positive they mention is fleeting, and the many negatives pile on top of that one positive like team mates on a last minute cup final goal scorer.
Our glory years will not be remembered fondly by anyone other than our fans. The nation has been groomed to believe what City are doing is actually bad for the sport.
Never in the history of the game have so many railed against one club. It's like we are Milwall of the 80s with a European cup in the trophy cabinet!
The reality is we are the league whipping boys because we have made the other (more influential) teams look amateurish. That is our biggest crime. To show their business model up for the lazy, money grabbing, fan rip-off, outdated, shitty way they operate and play.
These writers just don't get that by being so holistically good we have dragged these other teams to higher levels.
Since City have come to the fore there has been more competition for the league title, not less. Just because we have edged out the scousers on many occasions,, doesn't mean it was at a canter.
The press revisionism reads like a fairytale of the old days when utd and scouse we vying together for the top spot. THIS NEVER HAPPENED!
Just an elaborate smokescreen to plant a seed of wistful nostalgia into the minds of the vocal red top fans, having them believe that "the good old days" belong to them only, and the future is theirs to divvy up between them, also. Like the sport is their own coffee shop franchise with an outlet on every high street corner, pissed off because an new vendor is on the scene picking up their disenfranchised customer base.
They remind me of the banks during the financial crisis (that the same banks caused) knowing that they will never face the music for their misdeeds, and will be forever propped up by the rest of us as they are "too big to fail".
As with the banks, they must be allowed to fail. To be artificially allowed to operate outside of normal financial, or sporting, market forces, they do not adapt and provide efficient and robust product. Always at risk of making the same mistakes again.
In slight defense of the scousers, they have adapted their ways, but we get no credit for forcing them to up their game to compete.
Utd are just a basket case and cannot work on current methods to be successful. They only know "throw money at problem, problem goes away" method. From the state of their operation, this doesn't work anymore. And so it shouldn't.
Maybe Chemical Jim will change them, maybe they become a force again, but I tell you something, if they do it will not be City credited as being the catalyst for the change, it will be the scousers. Because that "great historical rivalry" is the narrative that must be planted and nurtured in your 'common or garden' level fan roaming around the Internet sports pages.
I look forward to the days when City are written about with honesty and appreciation, when a * or 115 aren't immediately tagged onto any hollow praise we receive, from a journalist who bestows this credit not because to not do so makes him/her look petty, but because they understand a team that has made a generational jump forward in the sport, and dragged the rest of the rabble with them, to everyone's financial gain.
I await those days with forlorn anticipation.
