so this agenda thing.

[Dave Ewing's Back 'eader]

Article in the Telegraph last week: their nine football journalists gave their tips for who will win (a) the Premier League and (b) the FA Cup this season.

0/9 predicted City to win the Premier
1/9 predicted City to win the FA Cup

Man United got 6 nominations.

It does seem a bit odd / hard to explain.

Anyone who predicted united to win the league knows the princely sum of fuck-all about football.

This in a nutshell. These hacks were marginally better than their peers at written English and fell into the journalism profession. I cannot understand why people get upset by their frequent outbursts of idiocy. They know as much or as little as the average punter in the stands.
Yes, some write well such as Mcilvanney or Samuel but they offer no professional insight.

It's the clichéd former pro's that get on my nerves, bowing to their former clubs wherever possible.

I must admit I'm struggling to bring an example or two to mind!!!

 

[Blue Is the Opposite of Blue]

Anyone else notice this? On Tuesday I was watching the rags game after they went 1 down and following the other scores on the BBC site on my iPad. They showed live scores from the first 10 or so games, then you had to hit the 'More Scores' button to see the rest. The games were supposedly listed in alphabetical order but the MK Dons v the rags score wasn't there on the main page where it should have been.

When I pressed the 'More Scores' button, it was listed between West Brom and West Ham, as though they wanted to hide it away. Very odd.

It was highly prominent in the live text coverage, to say the least. They were printing people in hysterics of laughter writing in. So I'd say a glitch.

Don't be silly. The BBC definitely thought, even in the days of social networking and mass TV coverage, that if it wasn't the very first score on their website then people would have no idea United lost.

 

[OB1]

If the anti-City illuminati have been trying to ignore Man United's latest embarrasment, then they've done a pretty poor job, seeing as the entire media has been wall to wall with it, with many commentators drawing parallels with City.

It's been great for City to go "under the radar" this summer because of the world cup and United's new manager. Perfect for Abu Dhabi, the players and Pellegrini, and oerfect to ramp up the pressure on our rivals as they fail to deliver. It won't last, as we are starting to see this week, as the world wakes up to how formidable a unit we are. This will be the season that we become the country's beacons for modern football.

I'm with you DD. Keep ourselves injury free and I think we will take things to a level this season, not seen even in our 2 most recent title wins. The only discernible weakness (and you can't even really call it that) I saw against Liverpool on Monday, was a lack of real pace on the counter attack, and the possibility that a top team with a greater cutting edge than the dippers might be able to exploit the gap between our midfield and back 4 that Fernando currently has to try and cover by himself. Other than that we were power personified

Seeing you get giddy has me worried now about what is about to go wrong ;-)

I confess that I thought of you as I mentioned at the game that the one thing the Scousers had more of than us was pace. We did - and DD mentions this in reply to you - introduce more pace later in the game: all three substitutes upped things in that regard. Defensively, Mangala should add pace to the back four but when we next strengthen the squad, I hope we raise both the levels of pace and technique in the squad further.

I honestly do not think English football has ever seen a 22 man club squad as strong as ours; although we cannot yet claim to have the best ever first XI.

 

[Didsbury Dave]

If the anti-City illuminati have been trying to ignore Man United's latest embarrasment, then they've done a pretty poor job, seeing as the entire media has been wall to wall with it, with many commentators drawing parallels with City.

It's been great for City to go "under the radar" this summer because of the world cup and United's new manager. Perfect for Abu Dhabi, the players and Pellegrini, and oerfect to ramp up the pressure on our rivals as they fail to deliver. It won't last, as we are starting to see this week, as the world wakes up to how formidable a unit we are. This will be the season that we become the country's beacons for modern football.

I'm with you DD. Keep ourselves injury free and I think we will take things to a level this season, not seen even in our 2 most recent title wins. The only discernible weakness (and you can't even really call it that) I saw against Liverpool on Monday, was a lack of real pace on the counter attack, and the possibility that a top team with a greater cutting edge than the dippers might be able to exploit the gap between our midfield and back 4 that Fernando currently has to try and cover by himself. Other than that we were power personified

Seeing you get giddy has me worried now about what is about to go wrong ;-)

I confess that I thought of you as I mentioned at the game that the one thing the Scousers had more of than us was pace. We did - and DD mentions this in reply to you - introduce more pace later in the game: all three substitutes upped things in that regard. Defensively, Mangala should add pace to the back four but when we next strengthen the squad, I hope we raise both the levels of pace and technique in the squad further.

I honestly do not think English football has ever seen a 22 man club squad as strong as ours; although we cannot yet claim to have the best ever first XI.

That's the point I tried to make in my reply, OB.

There are no limitations to this squad now. We have the personnel to play any way we want.

 

[Exeter Blue I am here]

If the anti-City illuminati have been trying to ignore Man United's latest embarrasment, then they've done a pretty poor job, seeing as the entire media has been wall to wall with it, with many commentators drawing parallels with City.

It's been great for City to go "under the radar" this summer because of the world cup and United's new manager. Perfect for Abu Dhabi, the players and Pellegrini, and oerfect to ramp up the pressure on our rivals as they fail to deliver. It won't last, as we are starting to see this week, as the world wakes up to how formidable a unit we are. This will be the season that we become the country's beacons for modern football.

I'm with you DD. Keep ourselves injury free and I think we will take things to a level this season, not seen even in our 2 most recent title wins. The only discernible weakness (and you can't even really call it that) I saw against Liverpool on Monday, was a lack of real pace on the counter attack, and the possibility that a top team with a greater cutting edge than the dippers might be able to exploit the gap between our midfield and back 4 that Fernando currently has to try and cover by himself. Other than that we were power personified

Seeing you get giddy has me worried now about what is about to go wrong ;-)

I confess that I thought of you as I mentioned at the game that the one thing the Scousers had more of than us was pace. We did - and DD mentions this in reply to you - introduce more pace later in the game: all three substitutes upped things in that regard. Defensively, Mangala should add pace to the back four but when we next strengthen the squad, I hope we raise both the levels of pace and technique in the squad further.

I honestly do not think English football has ever seen a 22 man club squad as strong as ours; although we cannot yet claim to have the best ever first XI.

To be fair, I am on some fairly strong meds for my back at the moment, but once cured I'll be back to worrying about 5th place finishes, have no fear! ;)
You going the Arse by the way? Drop me a line if you are

 

[BlueAnorak]

If there is no Agenda by SKY and ITV then the TV companies will pair us with Liverpool for the CL draw.
If there is an agenda then we will be paired with Chelsea or Arsenal that will make the Champions League draw much harder for us.

http://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/season=2015/draws/round=2000548/index.html

Where two sides from the same association qualify, they are paired to split their matches between Tuesday and Wednesday, so one club will always play at home on one day and the other will play away on the other day. In the case of associations with three representatives, only two teams are paired in terms of their fixtures; in the case of associations with four representatives, two pairings are made based on the TV audience.

It will be interesting to know what the TV parings are decided by the European broadcasters (Sky/ITV for English teams) - as it radically RESTRICTS the groups we can be placed in and therefore the teams we can draw. Last season we were paired with Arsenal with Chelsea and Utd paired.

I suspect we will be paired with Arsenal again, with Chelsea and Liverpool also paired.

If so, then when Arsenal are assigned to a RED/BLUE group then we can only be drawn in a group of the other colour (BLUE/RED). In this case then as soon as Arsenal are assigned to a group then half the groups in the draw are excluded to us.

The only way we can have an unrestricted draw is if the TV companies pair us with Liverpool when the restriction doesn't apply (assuming we are assigned to a group before Liverpool).

 

[OB1]

I'm with you DD. Keep ourselves injury free and I think we will take things to a level this season, not seen even in our 2 most recent title wins. The only discernible weakness (and you can't even really call it that) I saw against Liverpool on Monday, was a lack of real pace on the counter attack, and the possibility that a top team with a greater cutting edge than the dippers might be able to exploit the gap between our midfield and back 4 that Fernando currently has to try and cover by himself. Other than that we were power personified

Seeing you get giddy has me worried now about what is about to go wrong ;-)

I confess that I thought of you as I mentioned at the game that the one thing the Scousers had more of than us was pace. We did - and DD mentions this in reply to you - introduce more pace later in the game: all three substitutes upped things in that regard. Defensively, Mangala should add pace to the back four but when we next strengthen the squad, I hope we raise both the levels of pace and technique in the squad further.

I honestly do not think English football has ever seen a 22 man club squad as strong as ours; although we cannot yet claim to have the best ever first XI.

To be fair, I am on some fairly strong meds for my back at the moment, but once cured I'll be back to worrying about 5th place finishes, have no fear! ;)
You going the Arse by the way? Drop me a line if you are

That explains it.

Didn't get a ticket for Arse: didn't have enough points. 42 straight seasons as a season ticket holder and don't have enough points - don't get me started. Might have been tempted as they were half price but it saves me raiding the school fees fund.

 

[ianw16]

If there is no Agenda by SKY and ITV then the TV companies will pair us with Liverpool for the CL draw.
If there is an agenda then we will be paired with Chelsea or Arsenal that will make the Champions League draw much harder for us.

http://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/season=2015/draws/round=2000548/index.html

Where two sides from the same association qualify, they are paired to split their matches between Tuesday and Wednesday, so one club will always play at home on one day and the other will play away on the other day. In the case of associations with three representatives, only two teams are paired in terms of their fixtures; in the case of associations with four representatives, two pairings are made based on the TV audience.

It will be interesting to know what the TV parings are decided by the European broadcasters (Sky/ITV for English teams) - as it radically RESTRICTS the groups we can be placed in and therefore the teams we can draw. Last season we were paired with Arsenal with Chelsea and Utd paired.

I suspect we will be paired with Arsenal again, with Chelsea and Liverpool also paired.

If so, then when Arsenal are assigned to a RED/BLUE group then we can only be drawn in a group of the other colour (BLUE/RED). In this case then as soon as Arsenal are assigned to a group then half the groups in the draw are excluded to us.

The only way we can have an unrestricted draw is if the TV companies pair us with Liverpool when the restriction doesn't apply (assuming we are assigned to a group before Liverpool).

The Logical thing to do would be to pair the 2 London clubs, purely from the Met's point of view. Don't suppose they take that into account though.

 

[squirtyflower]

If there is no Agenda by SKY and ITV then the TV companies will pair us with Liverpool for the CL draw.
If there is an agenda then we will be paired with Chelsea or Arsenal that will make the Champions League draw much harder for us.

http://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/season=2015/draws/round=2000548/index.html


It will be interesting to know what the TV parings are decided by the European broadcasters (Sky/ITV for English teams) - as it radically RESTRICTS the groups we can be placed in and therefore the teams we can draw. Last season we were paired with Arsenal with Chelsea and Utd paired.

I suspect we will be paired with Arsenal again, with Chelsea and Liverpool also paired.

If so, then when Arsenal are assigned to a RED/BLUE group then we can only be drawn in a group of the other colour (BLUE/RED). In this case then as soon as Arsenal are assigned to a group then half the groups in the draw are excluded to us.

The only way we can have an unrestricted draw is if the TV companies pair us with Liverpool when the restriction doesn't apply (assuming we are assigned to a group before Liverpool).

The Logical thing to do would be to pair the 2 London clubs, purely from the Met's point of view. Don't suppose they take that into account though.

for some reason they didn't last year

i can see why we're paired with scum, but why on earth with the Arse

 

[Deleted member 58678]

Does make me laugh. All the hype they were gettin preseason. Now they're doin so shit, its a case of 'we cant find anything good to say, so we best say nothing at all'.

One convincing win and theyll be all over our screens etc, yet again.

Have you been asleep for the last two weeks? They've been getting hammered by the media since they lost to Swansea and it hasn't stopped since. It's been a great few weeks!

(Have a look over the last ten pages or so, I've posted loads of stuff, anti-Rags and pro-City...unless you're purposely choosing to ignore it like so many others do).