Once again Martin Samuel speaks for us

[nelsons willie]

whoa whoa what have the quo got to do with this.im sick and tired of them being blamed for everthing from mid east crisis to the world economy..enoughs enough..rock on francis and rick...quooooooooooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooo oooo

And I like it, I like it, I like it, I like it
I li-li-li-like it, li-li-li-li
Here we go
City all over the world

nice 1 lol

 

[Uwe Rosler's Grandad]

Great article from Martin Samuel which helps put things in perspective and remind us that there is absolutely nothing wrong in signing Kaka. In fact, if we were not as rich as we were and Kaka was going to another Premiership team, I would be a little jealous but would keep thinking how great the Premiership is and how seeing Kaka play there would be great to watch.

If Kaka comes to City it will not only help put City on the map but will also raise the profile of the Premiership further and maybe, just maybe, even more cash will come from the next TV deal which will then benefit all Premiership clubs. If you said to Dave Whelan that Kaka coming to the Premiership will see his annual TV income rise by say £10m a season, do you think he will rub his hands with glee or turn it down?

 

[mrbelfry]

if a man is spending his last penny to watch a game, who would he rather see: Kaka or Darius Vassell?

I was gonna sell Vassell. Now I realise it is time to lay of the crack!

 

[Cheltblue]

And another one - Martin Kelner in the Guardian. Martin Kelner Link

Here's a sample:

What is obscene? A man making love to a slumbering wildebeest, and posting footage of it on YouTube? A naked churchwarden bathing in syrup of figs? We all have our favourites, but Kaka being offered £500,000 a week? How many fantasies does that figure in, outside the sky-blue half of Manchester?

Arguably, it is less of an obscenity than Lucas Neill finding 70 grand in his little brown envelope every Friday. (But look at the tax!) Out in phone-in land, though, "obscene" was definitely the word of choice for the Kaka deal, and it was echoed by the BBC's lovable Jeremiah for all seasons, Mark Lawrenson, on Football Focus. "Quite obscene," thundered Lawro. Actually, Lawro does not thunder so much as drizzle, but the details of the Kaka move had clearly got in amongst him. It was, he said, the "death knell for English football", a sign that football "had lost its soul". Ah, soul. Excuse me, but if we are talking about football as the working man's theatre, did that not happen a long time ago, about the time it started costing the average weekly wage to take a child or two to a Premier League match?

The Kaka pay packet was on Gary Lineker's mind on Match of the Day, too. "There comes a moment when every professional footballer wishes he was born 10 years later," said Lineker, "For me and Mark Lawrenson, it came years ago, but it has just come to Alan Shearer." Ho, ho.

It is all relative, of course, and I have no exact figures, but I should say the boys are quite handsomely remunerated for what they do on Match of the Day. I hesitate to place terms like "money" and "old rope" in any kind of juxtaposition, but if Shearer receives a thousandth of Kaka's wedge for putting on a nice shirt and telling us every week that Aston Villa have got pace up front in Ashley Young and Gabby Agbonlahor, and "you'll always pose problems with that sort of pace", he should trouser it gratefully. What with the crisp adverts and everything, I would suggest Lineker has not done too badly either for a goal hanger with a certain blokey charm.

"Let's go back to the way we was," suggested Ray Parlour on Setanta's Friday Football Show, a sentiment those of us in the veteran stage of our career would readily endorse, although recognising it as unlikely in a business that long ago lost sight of the old ways. If you want a sport where tradition has some importance, may I suggest the World Eskimo-Indian Olympics, featured on Transworld Sport on Sky, held annually for the past 47 years to "celebrate a rapidly vanishing culture".

Quality write-up.

 

[Balti]

Well said Martin. Especially like the bit about Arsenal's Champions League revenues distorting the league and the market for Stoke and everyone who doesn't manage to come fourth. They have grown comfortable in their exclusive little extra revenue rich boys club and don't want to be forced out where they'll have to feed on the crumbs like everyone else - unless they are able to get the money to compete elsewhere.

 

[jrio]

If Kaka comes to City it will not only help put City on the map but will also raise the profile of the Premiership further and maybe, just maybe, even more cash will come from the next TV deal which will then benefit all Premiership clubs. If you said to Dave Whelan that Kaka coming to the Premiership will see his annual TV income rise by say £10m a season, do you think he will rub his hands with glee or turn it down?

You could say it but it would be meaningless, as one player won't alter what tv pays for the rights. City have got Robinho but still had several thousand empty seats on Saturday. A winning side fills stadiums but possibly not even Wigan's.

 

[Dobsy87]

Hate to burst the idea of Samuel as an honest broker but do we not suspect that the Mail, with its apparent inside contact at City, has an interest in keeping on the right side of that contact?

 

[mackenzie]

Hate to burst the idea of Samuel as an honest broker but do we not suspect that the Mail, with its apparent inside contact at City, has an interest in keeping on the right side of that contact?

Depends which edition you read. Des Kelly (in particular) has been a complete tw*t whilst Samuels and IL have been OK.

IL today posted an article from Milan that suggested that Kaka's antics the other night were simply showboating for the Milan fans.

 

[mcfc78]

the best article to put this issue into perspective iv'e read.....