So, if we don't win the Prem..

[Champions2012!]

Yes and I don't believe we we will win the league anymore.

 

[adrianr]

It's a question with a few interpretations.

I think the board would regard it as a failure if we finished with only a League Cup to our name, but I also don't think that Pellegrini's job would be under any scrutiny at all. I shouted this from the rafters when Mancini was here and I'll do it again now; expecting year on year progress in terms of league points or trophies won is totally unrealistic and has never happened with any manager in the history of football who has been at a club for longer than a few years. Football just isn't as simple as this.

From my perspective as a fan, I'd be disappointed if we didn't win the league but from a wider view (a more holistic one one might say), I'm pleased with our progress as a club this year. We've extended our reach into the major commercial markets of New York and Melbourne. Our Under 18s and EDS have both broken their modern unbeaten streak records and did so whilst playing City Football. Our under 13s and under 14s are both national champions. We've brought in the extremely highly respected Rodolfo Borrell to help with our youth development system. The City Football Academy construction is on time and looking good. We've refocused on City Women and are attempting to bring a professionalism to the Women's game that is previously unseen. We made it out of the CL group stages and had a Round of 16 game against Barca which was the best watched game of the season so far shown in over 70 countries. I think the game time given to Lopes is a sign of things to come and young Huws is making big waves over at Birmingham to the point of Vieira comparing him to Busquets. We're playing a style of football that is extremely attractive to watch and we have built the recent philosophy of the club around this, which is something that I've always wanted to happen since the takeover in 2008. Our manager seems personable and the players seem to like him; there are no rumours of training ground bust ups or falling outs and there seems to be a friendlier atmosphere around the place in general. Txiki Begiristain did an excellent job in the summer transfer window, bringing in players who have played an important part of our season and he did so within the first week rather than the last day. I thought the fact that he walked away from Porto in January rather than paying an extraordinary fee is something that may have hurt us for 4 months but have helped us over the next 5 years and showed that we're no longer a team that will pay over the odds. The FFP period ended with City (and all the analysts who aren't twats) believing that we've passed which sidestepped a potential hurdle.

All in all, I'm happy with this season taken in full context. It feels like we're on Year 1 of a new era where the club is being reshapen and expanded in a very particular way. After Mancini left I thought we had made an extremely poor decision but the more that I see the announcements unfold this year, the more it makes perfect sense why he had to leave and we needed a man like Pellegrini. I don't think anybody is under the illusion that Pellegrini will be our manager for the next 20 years, he's more likely to be a man brought in to bring a breath of fresh air and positivity to the players for the next 3-5 years which I'm okay with. I'm confident that he'll win us a league title or three within that time period and confident that he actually understands the vision of what City is attempting to be which I don't think Mancini ever did and ultimately cost him his job.

So as I say, it depends on how you interpret the question but I'm happy that we've progressed as a club

Agree with all except this part. This has been a common narrative on the forum since we signed Aguero, and frankly all it's lead us to is a string of average signings and teams like Porto still trying to take the piss (Along with teams like Barcelona, Chelsea and Real Madrid ignoring such ideas and beating us to great players). Really the best players we've bought since required us to either abandon this idea, or require the player to really want to come (Fernandinho, which was a combination of both). Sanchez, Hazard, Isco are three players that needed the money paying. Meanwhile we've got great deals on the likes of Navas and Negredo, but can you honestly say we're better with Navas than we would have been with Hazard, or Sanchez? Or that Negredo was a better buy than Aguero?

The only avenue this tactic is giving us for success is home grown players turning into super stars, because it will always leave us second best in the chase for top players until we're as big as Barca/Real etc. Plus as I've just said, even they still sometimes just have to put their hands in their pockets.

 

[BobKowalski]

One League Cup is a bit poor in two years I guess but as the LC was the one I wanted this season from a purely selfish perspective I'm relatively happy. We are making great strides in other areas of the club as Damocles has outlined although progress elsewhere especially on the commercial revenue side is tied to the fortunes of the team on the pitch so I can see the board thinking - well is that it?

How this would impact on Pellers future is anyones guess but doubt if it mean change in the summer unless Pep or Klopp suddenly decide City is the place to be then yes change would be made and that would apply even if we won the league. We made a mistake last time we won the league by bringing in F&T with their clear mandate to run the club and trying to keep Mancini who also wanted to run the club. Do one or the other but don't do both and if you have a clear plan then stick to it and don't let sentiment cloud your judgement.

One thing that is ticking me off is the idea that Pellers winning a trophy and finishing second is to some in the media a disaster whereas Moyes winning fuck all and finishing 6th is an opportunity for 'rebirth' and didn't he do well in difficult circumstances? Yeah like taking over the PL Champions was such a terrible hardship. Wankers.

 

[MSP]

People shouldn't compare us to PSG or Bayern because there's less competition there. There's one dominant club over a handful in the Premier League.

Plus they don't have 3 French clubs in CL pot 1 to have a great chance to pick one of the Bayerns, Madrids or Barcelonas in group stage and as such had piss poor groups in both last two seasons they won easily and then got easy pick in next rounds.

And on top of that they are in Paris, not in rainy Manchester and had guaranteed Champions League place since day 1 so could sign top players from day 1 and were not limited to Santa Cruzes, Lescotts, Barys, Milners who are with all due respect not world class players.

 

[ZZmaestro]

People shouldn't compare us to PSG or Bayern because there's less competition there. There's one dominant club over a handful in the Premier League.

Plus they don't have 3 French clubs in CL pot 1 to have a great chance to pick one of the Bayerns, Madrids or Barcelonas in group stage and as such had piss poor groups in both last two seasons they won easily and then got easy pick in next rounds.

And on top of that they are in Paris, not in rainy Manchester and had guaranteed Champions League place since day 1 so could sign top players from day 1 and were not limited to Santa Cruzes, Lescotts, Barys, Milners who are with all due respect not world class players.

Then you are proving my point : PSG were guaranted an "elite club" status from day 1, while we have to grind our way to the top, with all the backstabing and everything ...

 

[East Level 2]

I'm still pissed off at going out of two cups within a few days so I'm happy to say it's failure if we don't win the league.
But thinking more rationally we've won a cup - and I know we didn't have a difficult draw in any round, and progressed to the knock-out stages in the CL so there is improvement of a sort.
The real determining factor is how we end the season. Obviously winning the Prem will instantly turn on the sunshine.
If we're runners up by a few points then it might not be too bad, but we have to be aware Liverpool seem to be doing very well despite Rodgers being an arse and they, Chelsea and the rags will all strengthen in the summer.
If we finish third then it's back to partial failure. Fourth isn't much worse than third but that will mean qualifying for the CL next season and if we fail then this season will have been a disaster even though we won't know that until after next season has already started.
To me the most disappointing aspect is that we needed to spend in January. Nastasic has had injuries but all too often he's been praised not for playing well but simply for being better than Stefan Savic. Vince has picked up too many injuries, Jolo's form has been patchy and MDM is no longer good enough to play at this level week after week.
Meanwhile up front Sergio has been picking up more injuries than in the past, Jovetic makes Claudio Reyna and Jack Rodwell look like men of steel, Negredo can't get going after his recent injury and Dzeko needs five or six chances per goal. Mario might have been mad and Tevez high-maintenance but at least they stayed fit.
When we're good we're very good; the goalscoring stats from earlier in the season demonstrate that without doubt, but we've dropped some silly points and that is what might cause us to miss out on the title.
So it's the end of the season that matters. We should be OK with the six home games but have a look at the aways:
Hull – Where we couldn't manage a win in our last two visits even though they were struggling against relegation on each occasion.
Rags - We’ve won the last two but very few before that and beating us could be the highlight of their season.
Arsenal – One league win there since the 70s.
Liverpool – We’ve not won at Anfield for over ten years.
Palace – A bunch of aggressive bus-parkers managed by Tony Pulis. – Never a good combination.
Everton - We’ve not won at Goodison for five years.
When you fail at Cardiff, Stoke, Villa, Sunderland, Southampton and Norwich then you've got to win the tricky ones.
The good news is that we have the players to win those games.

 

[sam-caddick]

For us fans winning any sort of trophy is not failure, but in the eyes of the board and the owner to have only won a League Cup in two years would be an embarrassment for them.

With the team we have had in the past two season - which has been the overall outstanding team - it should have won the league last season and this season. OK, we are not out of it this season but two more defeats and game over I reckon!

I am being brutal here, but compared to PSG we have failed in the CL.

Lets not forget Chelsea got to a semi final in their first season under Abramovich if I remember, even Tottenham got to a quarter final in their first outing!

 

[TGR]

I would definitely, not just because we didn't win, but because for the second year running we have failed to capitalise on the relative weakness of our opposition.
If Chelsea win this year, and it's looking more and more likely, it will be even harder next year when Mourinho gets the players he wants to fit into his system. Don't forget, he's still making do with the players he inherited and they still lack a decent striker.

The biggest thing that's pissing me off about getting knocked out of the champs league tonight is that we prioritised a game that was always out of our reach, and it cost us a place in the semi final of the FA cup, and our players will be mentally and physically drained for our game against Hull, and that could cost us the league too.

Don't get me wrong, I was delighted with another trophy, but it's small consolation for the big prize. I'm not being a spoiled **** either, I remember the bad times, and I don't want to go back to them. I just think we are a different club with higher targets, and unfortunately we are falling short of them.
With this squad and with the current state of our rivals we are underachieving.
We're not "ickle city" anymore and we should rid ourselves of that attitude were we are grateful for just being there and competing with the big boys.

Good post stony and bang on the money.

 

[1.618034]

I personally don't regard any season where we win a trophy as a failure. Arsenal haven't won ANYTHING in 9 years and they don't all see that as a failure...

But, it kinda depends where we finish if not as winners.. 2nd isn't bad but 3rd? 4th??? 5th is right out!

If we don't pull things together quickly then we might be looking at Qualifying rounds for the CL... Now that would be a failure IMO, and possibly in the eyes of Khaldoon et al..?

I reckon we can only probably afford to drop 3 points from now on as I just can't see Chelsea dropping any more than that... We'll see.

 

[Marvin]

I would definitely, not just because we didn't win, but because for the second year running we have failed to capitalise on the relative weakness of our opposition.
If Chelsea win this year, and it's looking more and more likely, it will be even harder next year when Mourinho gets the players he wants to fit into his system. Don't forget, he's still making do with the players he inherited and they still lack a decent striker.

The biggest thing that's pissing me off about getting knocked out of the champs league tonight is that we prioritised a game that was always out of our reach, and it cost us a place in the semi final of the FA cup, and our players will be mentally and physically drained for our game against Hull, and that could cost us the league too.

Don't get me wrong, I was delighted with another trophy, but it's small consolation for the big prize. I'm not being a spoiled **** either, I remember the bad times, and I don't want to go back to them. I just think we are a different club with higher targets, and unfortunately we are falling short of them.
With this squad and with the current state of our rivals we are underachieving.
We're not "ickle city" anymore and we should rid ourselves of that attitude were we are grateful for just being there and competing with the big boys.

Good post stony and bang on the money.

I think this is quite a widespread feeling amongst City fans.

We had to play our strongest team against Barcelona. You can't not compete in such a high profile game. But the team should have been set up better and have been up for the Wigan game. City didn't talk about a treble. And clearly they weren't thinking about it either

A manager such as Mourinho would have made it a motivating issue.