BluessinceHydeRoad
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- 26 Mar 2012
- Messages
- 2,562
Interesting and thought provoking, and I think you hit some pretty big nails fairly and squarely on the head. When I first went to Maine Rod with my dad and uncles in the 1950s I wasn't big enough to see if we went behind the goals, so they took me in the best seats in the ground - for the princely sum of 5/-. It really was a lot cheaper than the Roma game, and 5/- was what the seat cost, whoever we were playing. So price is an issue, especially in a competition where everything has been done to make sure neither we, nor Roma, have as little chance of winning the damned cup. I used to think it was great playing top teams, until it became clear the we'd play the same top team every season, plus another 2 or 3 teams who could be put into a different pot while being better than the other seeds we can't be chosen against.
This brings me to the City songs, which are the kind you might have sung on the deck of the Titanic sometime around midnight. They do belong to an age of defiant support for a load of rubbish, and it's ground into people who actually support the team of 11 concert pianists and not a piano shifter in sight. We still remember the bad old days, when we actually were 'ere, and it's now that we have doubts! The media do their best to keep us negative, in stark contrast to the other English teams. Every year we are told that this year could be Arsenal's year, despite their lousy record of complete failure stretching back 17 years. In 1994, the TV panel watched AC Milan annihilate Barcelona 4-0, but joined in a chorus, when prompted by the Chiles of his day, of "Manchester United are clearly the best team in Europe." That year they had lost to Galatassaray - then the joke of Europe : "Clearly no obstacle to United's progress" had opined Elton Welsby(remember him?), after staggering past Honved. Even last season we were assured that they had a great chance of winning the trophy yet again - as they got off the bus in the Allianz. "What a great run they've had this year!" We were also assured that Liverpool are made for the CL and the Anfield crowd would be hard for Real to cope with - as hard as the Bulgarians? This doesn't compare with the build up given to the PL champions, "not exactly a team of mercenaries" but a team which "can never get it right on or off the pitch in Europe." So why are they going to fail again?!!! Just the invitation Scholes needed to dig the knife in and twist it. No wonder our fans sing songs of defiant inferiority.
We laugh at conspiracy theories and say that it's paranoia and stops us developing "the winning mentality", but just imagine what any other team in Europe would be screaming if the got what we got. We comply with Platini's rules, but post facto not the ones he was actually going to apply, so a record fine, a CL squad restriction, limits on spending on transfers (all in the name of fair play) and, seeing as we're the champions, Arsenal and Chelsea go in pot 1 while we go in pot 2 (and the runners up in pot 3. Seeing as we got a decent group last season and, even worse, qualified from it, we're back to groups of death again, led by the ever reliable Bayern. And just to make sure they don't come unstuck, how about Arsenal (a) and Chelsea (h) to prevent any ideas of "resting" or "rotating" players like last season! It makes you think.
So I' not enamoured with the CL but I thank my lucky stars that the only bloke in the world that Platini and his band of Gerrymen aren't remotely bright enough to cheat is our very own Sheikh. I'm sure he'll be a model of Abu Dhabi courtesy, as always, when Platini has to present the trophy to Vinnie Kompany, about 18 months from now.
This brings me to the City songs, which are the kind you might have sung on the deck of the Titanic sometime around midnight. They do belong to an age of defiant support for a load of rubbish, and it's ground into people who actually support the team of 11 concert pianists and not a piano shifter in sight. We still remember the bad old days, when we actually were 'ere, and it's now that we have doubts! The media do their best to keep us negative, in stark contrast to the other English teams. Every year we are told that this year could be Arsenal's year, despite their lousy record of complete failure stretching back 17 years. In 1994, the TV panel watched AC Milan annihilate Barcelona 4-0, but joined in a chorus, when prompted by the Chiles of his day, of "Manchester United are clearly the best team in Europe." That year they had lost to Galatassaray - then the joke of Europe : "Clearly no obstacle to United's progress" had opined Elton Welsby(remember him?), after staggering past Honved. Even last season we were assured that they had a great chance of winning the trophy yet again - as they got off the bus in the Allianz. "What a great run they've had this year!" We were also assured that Liverpool are made for the CL and the Anfield crowd would be hard for Real to cope with - as hard as the Bulgarians? This doesn't compare with the build up given to the PL champions, "not exactly a team of mercenaries" but a team which "can never get it right on or off the pitch in Europe." So why are they going to fail again?!!! Just the invitation Scholes needed to dig the knife in and twist it. No wonder our fans sing songs of defiant inferiority.
We laugh at conspiracy theories and say that it's paranoia and stops us developing "the winning mentality", but just imagine what any other team in Europe would be screaming if the got what we got. We comply with Platini's rules, but post facto not the ones he was actually going to apply, so a record fine, a CL squad restriction, limits on spending on transfers (all in the name of fair play) and, seeing as we're the champions, Arsenal and Chelsea go in pot 1 while we go in pot 2 (and the runners up in pot 3. Seeing as we got a decent group last season and, even worse, qualified from it, we're back to groups of death again, led by the ever reliable Bayern. And just to make sure they don't come unstuck, how about Arsenal (a) and Chelsea (h) to prevent any ideas of "resting" or "rotating" players like last season! It makes you think.
So I' not enamoured with the CL but I thank my lucky stars that the only bloke in the world that Platini and his band of Gerrymen aren't remotely bright enough to cheat is our very own Sheikh. I'm sure he'll be a model of Abu Dhabi courtesy, as always, when Platini has to present the trophy to Vinnie Kompany, about 18 months from now.