Premier League or Champions League?

[Blue and true]

Fans develop defensive mechanisms to deal with the success of the rivals. You have noticed the defensive mechanisms of United and Liverpool fans: City's success is hollow, based on (financial) cheating, facilitated by human rights abusers, etc. And our fans have similar defensive mechanisms regarding the CL: it's corrupt, organized by the cartel, etc. If/when we start to win the CL on a regular basis, it will be accepted by our fans as a great competition.

The reality is that the CL is rated above the PL by most fans in the world. Rightly or not, it is more prestigious to win the CL than the PL. If fans, pundits, media rate the CL above the PL, you go and win it if you want to shut them up. If you don't care about other fans and the media, then you don't moan about their opinions.

This sums it up perfectly.

It's the final ingredient to us becoming an elite team. Pep and the players deserve the recognition that will come with it; it'll be a crying shame if another generation of players (Kev, Eddie, Raheem, etc.) go without club footballs most prestigious medal. The likes of Serg, David and Vinny missed out and if I had a billion pound in the bank I'd stake it on that being their biggest regret.

 

[Marvin]

Fans develop defensive mechanisms to deal with the success of the rivals. You have noticed the defensive mechanisms of United and Liverpool fans: City's success is hollow, based on (financial) cheating, facilitated by human rights abusers, etc. And our fans have similar defensive mechanisms regarding the CL: it's corrupt, organized by the cartel, etc. If/when we start to win the CL on a regular basis, it will be accepted by our fans as a great competition.

The reality is that the CL is rated above the PL by most fans in the world. Rightly or not, it is more prestigious to win the CL than the PL. If fans, pundits, media rate the CL above the PL, you go and win it if you want to shut them up. If you don't care about other fans and the media, then you don't moan about their opinions.

I doubt there are any match-going fans who seriously regard the Champions League as a priority over the Premier League. I know there are plenty in this topic who say just that but in their gut I know they do not feel it.

We were brought up as City fans, whose rival was Man Utd, and whose rival is now Liverpool. Every day I think about football and winning the league title. The Champions League runs temporarily in parallel but the affairs of Real Madrid and Bayern Munich scarcely register on my horizon. I am glad that we are no longer abusing the competition which was a bit self-defeating but I know where my priorities lie. Some people are just reacting to critics like Jamie Jackson who will continue to bait Pep until he wins this trophy for City. But these people will always bait City. It does not matter what we do, they will always find an angle with which to criticise City.

This City builds on all the others that went before and a century of football in England and we are all creatures of tradition. The CL will eventually morph into a super-league and leave domestic competition behind and I reckon that that is the moment that many supporters of Manchester City, Manchester Utd and Liverpool will leave their clubs behind because for us that local rivalry is what really matters. For our owners it is the relentless pursuit of revenue. Sheikh Mansour bought Manchester to play Football like billionaires are want to do. I would do the same if I were him but they have no ideas of the traditions of the game. We are our nothers and father children who lived and breathed football. Where we place in some European super league I am not interested in. That is where this is going.

 

[Gingers Dad]

I doubt there are any match-going fans who seriously regard the Champions League as a priority over the Premier League. I know there are plenty in this topic who say just that but in their gut I know they do not feel it.

We were brought up as City fans, whose rival was Man Utd, and whose rival is now Liverpool. Every day I think about football and winning the league title. The Champions League runs temporarily in parallel but the affairs of Real Madrid and Bayern Munich scarcely register on my horizon. I am glad that we are no longer abusing the competition which was a bit self-defeating but I know where my priorities lie. Some people are just reacting to critics like Jamie Jackson who will continue to bait Pep until he wins this trophy for City. But these people will always bait City. It does not matter what we do, they will always find an angle with which to criticise City.

This City builds on all the others that went before and a century of football in England and we are all creatures of tradition. The CL will eventually morph into a super-league and leave domestic competition behind and I reckon that that is the moment that many supporters of Manchester City, Manchester Utd and Liverpool will leave their clubs behind because for us that local rivalry is what really matters. For our owners it is the relentless pursuit of revenue. Sheikh Mansour bought Manchester to play Football like billionaires are want to do. I would do the same if I were him but they have no ideas of the traditions of the game. We are our nothers and father children who lived and breathed football. Where we place in some European super league I am not interested in. That is where this is going.

I'm a match going fan and I disagree. I also think that the CL in its current format is the main thing stopping the formation of an ESL

 

[alexmcity]

I doubt there are any match-going fans who seriously regard the Champions League as a priority over the Premier League. I know there are plenty in this topic who say just that but in their gut I know they do not feel it.

We were brought up as City fans, whose rival was Man Utd, and whose rival is now Liverpool. Every day I think about football and winning the league title. The Champions League runs temporarily in parallel but the affairs of Real Madrid and Bayern Munich scarcely register on my horizon. I am glad that we are no longer abusing the competition which was a bit self-defeating but I know where my priorities lie. Some people are just reacting to critics like Jamie Jackson who will continue to bait Pep until he wins this trophy for City. But these people will always bait City. It does not matter what we do, they will always find an angle with which to criticise City.

This City builds on all the others that went before and a century of football in England and we are all creatures of tradition. The CL will eventually morph into a super-league and leave domestic competition behind and I reckon that that is the moment that many supporters of Manchester City, Manchester Utd and Liverpool will leave their clubs behind because for us that local rivalry is what really matters. For our owners it is the relentless pursuit of revenue. Sheikh Mansour bought Manchester to play Football like billionaires are want to do. I would do the same if I were him but they have no ideas of the traditions of the game. We are our nothers and father children who lived and breathed football. Where we place in some European super league I am not interested in. That is where this is going.

The rivalry with United and Liverpool extends beyond the PL into the domestic cups, and beyond the domestic cups into the European cups. Once City begin to win the CL our fans will change their attitude. Of course, the PL will always be very, very important. It's one of the best domestic competitions in the world, if not the best. More importantly, the local fans are the most significant part of the club. They are foundational to the club's identity.

But in order to grow as a club, we have to compete with Liverpool and United not only in England, but also in Europe, and also with Real, Barca and Bayern. It's not about choosing between the PL and the CL. We want to win both. Nobody can accuse Pep and the club bosses that they don't take the PL seriously, right?

 

[Blue and true]

I doubt there are any match-going fans who seriously regard the Champions League as a priority over the Premier League. I know there are plenty in this topic who say just that but in their gut I know they do not feel it.

We were brought up as City fans, whose rival was Man Utd, and whose rival is now Liverpool. Every day I think about football and winning the league title. The Champions League runs temporarily in parallel but the affairs of Real Madrid and Bayern Munich scarcely register on my horizon. I am glad that we are no longer abusing the competition which was a bit self-defeating but I know where my priorities lie. Some people are just reacting to critics like Jamie Jackson who will continue to bait Pep until he wins this trophy for City. But these people will always bait City. It does not matter what we do, they will always find an angle with which to criticise City.

This City builds on all the others that went before and a century of football in England and we are all creatures of tradition. The CL will eventually morph into a super-league and leave domestic competition behind and I reckon that that is the moment that many supporters of Manchester City, Manchester Utd and Liverpool will leave their clubs behind because for us that local rivalry is what really matters. For our owners it is the relentless pursuit of revenue. Sheikh Mansour bought Manchester to play Football like billionaires are want to do. I would do the same if I were him but they have no ideas of the traditions of the game. We are our nothers and father children who lived and breathed football. Where we place in some European super league I am not interested in. That is where this is going.

Respectfully disagree. I was brought up a City fan and will be till the day I die. I dreamed about winning the Premier League, we've done that. I dream about winning the Champions League, we haven't done that.

It's the biggest competition in club football and if as a City fan you have the club's best interests, and the players interests at heart, then you should want us to win it. It's as simple as that.

We could win ten consecutive league titles but if we can't add a CL trophy to them, we aren't going to progress off the field. This trophy is the priority for every world class player out there.

 

[vmsuhail]

Plus, you can win the CL on penalties which makes it a lottery.

You can also lose the CL after winning 11 games, drawing 1 and losing 1.

 

[hilts]

I doubt there are any match-going fans who seriously regard the Champions League as a priority over the Premier League. I know there are plenty in this topic who say just that but in their gut I know they do not feel it.

We were brought up as City fans, whose rival was Man Utd, and whose rival is now Liverpool. Every day I think about football and winning the league title. The Champions League runs temporarily in parallel but the affairs of Real Madrid and Bayern Munich scarcely register on my horizon. I am glad that we are no longer abusing the competition which was a bit self-defeating but I know where my priorities lie. Some people are just reacting to critics like Jamie Jackson who will continue to bait Pep until he wins this trophy for City. But these people will always bait City. It does not matter what we do, they will always find an angle with which to criticise City.

This City builds on all the others that went before and a century of football in England and we are all creatures of tradition. The CL will eventually morph into a super-league and leave domestic competition behind and I reckon that that is the moment that many supporters of Manchester City, Manchester Utd and Liverpool will leave their clubs behind because for us that local rivalry is what really matters. For our owners it is the relentless pursuit of revenue. Sheikh Mansour bought Manchester to play Football like billionaires are want to do. I would do the same if I were him but they have no ideas of the traditions of the game. We are our nothers and father children who lived and breathed football. Where we place in some European super league I am not interested in. That is where this is going.

Marvin the mind reader

 

[Didsbury Dave]

I doubt there are any match-going fans who seriously regard the Champions League as a priority over the Premier League. I know there are plenty in this topic who say just that but in their gut I know they do not feel it.

We were brought up as City fans, whose rival was Man Utd, and whose rival is now Liverpool. Every day I think about football and winning the league title. The Champions League runs temporarily in parallel but the affairs of Real Madrid and Bayern Munich scarcely register on my horizon. I am glad that we are no longer abusing the competition which was a bit self-defeating but I know where my priorities lie. Some people are just reacting to critics like Jamie Jackson who will continue to bait Pep until he wins this trophy for City. But these people will always bait City. It does not matter what we do, they will always find an angle with which to criticise City.

This City builds on all the others that went before and a century of football in England and we are all creatures of tradition. The CL will eventually morph into a super-league and leave domestic competition behind and I reckon that that is the moment that many supporters of Manchester City, Manchester Utd and Liverpool will leave their clubs behind because for us that local rivalry is what really matters. For our owners it is the relentless pursuit of revenue. Sheikh Mansour bought Manchester to play Football like billionaires are want to do. I would do the same if I were him but they have no ideas of the traditions of the game. We are our nothers and father children who lived and breathed football. Where we place in some European super league I am not interested in. That is where this is going.

Don't speak for me. I've been going home and away for 45 years and I disagree totally. This season I'd give up the league tomorrow in exchange for the Champions League and I'd celebrate a victory in it ten times as much.

And your comments about Mansour are absurd. Revenue means nothing to any business owner. He bought City for exposure and prestige for Abu Dhabi and there's nothing more exposed or prestigious than winning the Champions League in front of the whole world.

 

[Didsbury Dave]

Respectfully disagree. I was brought up a City fan and will be till the day I die. I dreamed about winning the Premier League, we've done that. I dream about winning the Champions League, we haven't done that.

It's the biggest competition in club football and if as a City fan you have the club's best interests, and the players interests at heart, then you should want us to win it. It's as simple as that.

We could win ten consecutive league titles but if we can't add a CL trophy to them, we aren't going to progress off the field. This trophy is the priority for every world class player out there.

Good summary and I would posit that this is the view of everyone at the club and every sensible City fan.

The question is what would you prefer THIS SEASON. I have pride in my club and to be recognised as one of the greatest teams and to cement this entire era and Pep's legacy we need to win the biggest club trophy in the world. Pep deserves it and the players deserve it.

In any case, I think we will win both this season which will be even better.

 

[Gray]

You're possibly right but we still haven't been good enough to win a CL in a period when we've won 5 league titles

Because we always have a bollock waiting to happen.