The workings of their sports (football) department is a disgrace. But has nothing to do with Tory/Gammon accusations of bias, or why they’ve had their funding frozen.One of my takes on the way we play football is to think of Bob Ross the American painter who had his own shows doing a portrait in about 45 minutes. If you get the chance look him up on you tube. He starts with a blank canvas, we start with the pitch as our canvas. He has brushes and paint and also uses items you can buy at any hardware store to paint with, we have players who you could say also came as unfinished, a work in progress. Bob Ross moved around all the canvas doing bits here and there, we play to the full diameters of the pitch. At the end he has built or created a wonderful picture. At the end of our game we have used all the pitch to create our own little masterpiece slowly but surely. We watch in awe as this wonderful team of ours play football the like of which has never been seen before in English football. Journalists and commentators are now saying it is boring and soulless when the problem is they just cannot see the beauty of our football through the bitterness and bias they have. If you want to understand why the BBC are accused of bias and are having some of their funding withdrawn go and see the workings of the sports department at media city. Like Bob Ross we create something beautiful in the time allowed.
Adam Crafton is also a United fan. I agree with your post.So I just listened to this...
You had Adam Crafton, no fan of City, and Chapman, a United fan defending City...
A mate of mine was released from Blackpool by Sam Ellis due to being too short to play in his midfield. He said the ball used to bypass the midfield anywayOk - my point was an over simplification but I clearly remember Taylor recalling in his early years at Watford (I assume when they were still a third or fourth tier club) that he came across a statistical report (the one you mention above) about the number of average number of passes needed to score when measured against the percentage of possession. The conclusion was that the fewer touches in getting the ball nearer the opposition's goal made the probability of scoring higher. In Taylor's words "I thought he [the report's author] is on to something here..." It was the work of Wing Commander Charles Reep who way back in the 1950s had invented a strategy known as Match Analysis.
Hence Taylor adopted hoof ball tactics - bypassing the midfield and then pressing the opposition deep in their own half and soon it began to pay dividends as Watford climbed the leagues and reached Division 1. Honing their tactics and fitness levels to a fine degree they soon finished Division One runners up and reached an FA Cup final. However Taylor was a successful small club and should have been nowhere near the England job. Players like Carlton Palmer and Geoff Thomas were given debuts under his reign. Taylor predated Wimbledon's physical and intimidatory approach and it's no wonder England were simply woeful under his tenure. Jack Charlton employed similar tactics with the ROI but it was football of it's time and that's where it should be left.
I occasionally watch non league football if City aren't playing or on international breaks and seeing teams now playing out from the back is something unthinkable before Pep's influence. I guess it's all about what people think of an entertainment - the Irish journalist would presumably welcome a tardis to take him back to the football he watched in 1985 ? If not, he can always go and watch Burnley in 2022.
Let’s have it right, if Pep was doing what he’s done for us at any of the super Sunday bandwagon clubs it would be rightly creamed over for what it is and then some. In fact the press would forget any allegiances and all become fans of whichever club he was at. It’s just because it’s ickle old ciddy. Any fucker banging on about sport washing or FFP or unfair spending power would be in a minority of tiny percentages, shouted down by the media throng (especially if it was the rags or dippers) in fact the reverse of anyone saying anything good about us (see the comments below anything Samuel writes about us). There’d be no talk of paid shills, dodgy emails, group letters to UEFA or the Premier League, ex players and out of work managers groaning on tv when we score, no exclusion of last season’s champions from football discussion in the media or on tv and the amount of puff pieces you’d have to trawl through to get to your club would be off the scale.And continue to write shit today. The inner sanctum of premier league football was breached by Pep. He ripped up the old hoof ball playbook and they can’t stand it. City being the vehicle of choice did not help his cause.
If Pep was called Allardyce or Warnock we wouldn’t be having this discussion. Tho we would also probably be still in division 3 ;)
To be fair we’ve acquired many ex players that have become dyed in the wool blues especially from our ups and downs. Dunney, Goater, Horlock, Dickov, Morrison, Given to name a few. They would have all had boyhood clubs they grew up supporting . Where I would agree is I’m sure none of them would bag their former club out.I can't get my head around how Dixon thinks, how can anybody who claims to have been a City fan wish defeat on us.
It amounts to treason, how could you turn your back on your club ( I know money talks ) could never have been a proper fan, it's like that prick Conn, why go after your own club, why give the enemy ammunition.
We have few friends in the media so why do so called blues join in, you never see an ex dipper or dipper supporting journalist go after them with all the shit and tricks they've done down the years.
Here’s a few points from me.
1. As a Stretford Blue, I do t get all this self-pitying guff. You had to give the rags as good as yku git on a daily basis.
2. Countless peole have bemoaned the Club being “soft” on an anti City media. The Club were straight on to Beglin, effectively forcing an apology, but I’ve seen little credit for thst action. Personally, I think there are too many apologies around eg Harry Maguire apologises for most rag non performances.
3. Take a step back and have a good laugh at some of the media bias. Here’s a modern classic.
Haha. You are probably right. One of my favourites is the Sky video of Phil Thomson and Paul Mersin ridiculing us for paying 50 off £mil for KDB. Comedy Gold.Do you reckon he wakes up some mornings and cringes at shit like that, you know what I mean. Like when you've been on the piss, you wake can't remember anything. Then, It starts coming back in little bits, and you think oh shit do I ever learn.
I haven't followed exactly what was claimed but I have a spreadsheet with net spending of City and Utd populated by transfermkt that has City and Utd's net spending back to 2012/13 season (Fergie's last year).Had a look at the Ken Early stuff
He's used Transfermarkt as his justification of costs and which has meant that various City players have jumped up the list ie Sterling above Fred who cost 3 mil more
| United | City | ||||
| Buys | Sales | Buys | Sales | ||
| 2021/22 | 126 | 27.63 | 114.75 | 84.42 | |
| 2020/21 | 75.42 | 17.55 | 155.07 | 68.99 | |
| 2019/20 | 211.32 | 73.06 | 143.57 | 63.9 | |
| 2018/19 | 74.43 | 27.5 | 70.73 | 51.84 | |
| 2017/18 | 178.56 | 40.95 | 285.75 | 82.22 | |
| 2016/17 | 166.5 | 42.53 | 193.5 | 31.82 | |
| 2015/16 | 140.4 | 90.6 | 187.38 | 60.69 | |
| 2014/15 | 175.82 | 42.03 | 92.52 | 27.27 | |
| 2013/14 | 69.42 | 1.62 | 103.95 | 10.17 | |
| 2012/13 | 68.81 | 8.69 | 55.76 | 39.87 | |
1286.68 | 372.16 | 1402.98 | 521.19 | ||
-914.52 | -881.79 |
Here’s a few points from me.
1. As a Stretford Blue, I do t get all this self-pitying guff. You had to give the rags as good as yku git on a daily basis.
2. Countless peole have bemoaned the Club being “soft” on an anti City media. The Club were straight on to Beglin, effectively forcing an apology, but I’ve seen little credit for thst action. Personally, I think there are too many apologies around eg Harry Maguire apologises for most rag non performances.
3. Take a step back and have a good laugh at some of the media bias. Here’s a modern classic.