He works mainly on the BBC doesn't he? So indirectly WE pay his wages, but he toes the Salford based BBC sports department company line; snide little digs and spouted vitriol directed directly in our direction (NEVER a penalty, not enough contact for me - CITY; DEFINITE contact, every right to go down - "other" teams; He looked a cm offside to me, correct decision to disallow that - CITY; Right on the edge of offside, but you can't disallow a goal for that - "other" teams; etc.etc.etc) that we've heard constantly dripped out for over a decade (and more) spewed out of the mouth of Shearer et al. Oh how the reds laugh and the blues get angry at their childish little jibes.
As for the "bigger/deeper quality" discussion. As above, it's just yet another single example, of which there are many, that amalgamate to form the bigger :) picture (hence why I used the drip, drip, drip terminology); City cheat the financial rule, City have more money than everybody else, City can buy whoever they like, City have a BIGGER squad, etc.etc.etc. with which they get their biased opinion forming messages across and into the minds of the masses.
When you ask "The man on the Clapham omnibus" what his opinions of Manchester City are, guess what opinions they have?
As another poster wrote earlier, if it were simple slips of the tongue then why is it used again and again and again?
It's a conscious attempt to belittle, denigrate, undermine and form opinion; and it all started in 2008. Coincidence? I would say that coincidence doesn't strictly follow patterns so meticulously, but my understanding of the Law of Large Numbers isn't so hot, so maybe I'm wrong and it's all in my head.