so this agenda thing.

[Blue Is the Opposite of Blue]

I believe the origins of the agenda belief are based entirely on extreme tribalism as a result of fear of failure.

When I originally joined in 2009 UEFA agenda/media bias talk wasn't anywhere near as popular or as widespread as it is on the forum today. There were a few threads here and there every two months or so about articles in newspapers or an off-comment on Sky Sports News, but nothing more. We were a mid-table side with a lot of money, and our only concerns were "City's going down with a billion in the bank" and whether we'd sign Gareth Barry instead of Liverpool.

But the following season I believe everything changed on one day. The 7 minutes of injury time that gave Michael Owen the chance to score that goal was greeted by vitriolic conspiracy on another level. We'd been on the end of rough decisions before, but this seemed to have another edge to it. It was suggested as such that the FA were attempting to destabilise our rise into the top 4. From that day on I don't remember this place being any different with regards to City vs. The World.

At the time we were going to toe-to-toe with Everton and Tottenham for both players and Champions' League qualification, and tensions were running high. Suddenly there'd be a thread every day about something said on Sky Sports in relation to how Spurs or Everton were better than City. The term "media darlings" was first used on this forum in January 2009, right when things were starting to get very competitive for us, and the way the press celebrated Spurs' qualification for the Champions' League rubbed people up the wrong way.

This line of thinking continued over the 2010/11 season, which was Mancini's first season in charge - one poster accused Redknapp and Mike Dean of being in cahoots with each other to ensure Spurs qualified ahead of us again. Only that year we qualified for the Champions' League and left Spurs behind for good. The first instance of Spurs being specifically referred to as "media darlings" was March 2009, the last time they were seriously referred to as "media darlings" was back in 2012, which is coincidentally the last time Spurs ever came close to troubling us in the league.

If you search "Scousers media", it returns 514 results. The first 180 results come after the start of the season in 2013. Sure, there's a few mentions between 2009 and 2013, but there's 18 pages of results over the space of a few months. The talk of Spurs and Everton being "media darlings" has disappeared almost completely, while the talk of Mourinho & Rodgers being "media darlings" has risen sharply since they challenged us for the title. I'll repeat what I said at the very beginning of this post: I believe the origins of the agenda belief are based entirely on extreme tribalism as a result of fear of failure.

Because there is one club that, throughout all of this forum's history, most people have been convinced are the biggest "media darlings" of them all. Our biggest rivals both geographically and domestically for some time, up until very, very recently. Their every move greeted with disdain. While other "media darlings" have come and gone, a City fan's biggest fear, their one true enemy, has stayed strong when attempt to remain synonymous with this term. If you search "media rags" you get a whopping 7620 results.

I think that says everything.

 

[Dextersmate]

I believe the origins of the agenda belief are based entirely on extreme tribalism as a result of fear of failure.

When I originally joined in 2009 UEFA agenda/media bias talk wasn't anywhere near as popular or as widespread as it is on the forum today. There were a few threads here and there every two months or so about articles in newspapers or an off-comment on Sky Sports News, but nothing more. We were a mid-table side with a lot of money, and our only concerns were "City's going down with a billion in the bank" and whether we'd sign Gareth Barry instead of Liverpool.

But the following season I believe everything changed on one day. The 7 minutes of injury time that gave Michael Owen the chance to score that goal was greeted by vitriolic conspiracy on another level. We'd been on the end of rough decisions before, but this seemed to have another edge to it. It was suggested as such that the FA were attempting to destabilise our rise into the top 4. From that day on I don't remember this place being any different with regards to City vs. The World.

At the time we were going to toe-to-toe with Everton and Tottenham for both players and Champions' League qualification, and tensions were running high. Suddenly there'd be a thread every day about something said on Sky Sports in relation to how Spurs or Everton were better than City. The term "media darlings" was first used on this forum in January 2009, right when things were starting to get very competitive for us, and the way the press celebrated Spurs' qualification for the Champions' League rubbed people up the wrong way.

This line of thinking continued over the 2010/11 season, which was Mancini's first season in charge - one poster accused Redknapp and Mike Dean of being in cahoots with each other to ensure Spurs qualified ahead of us again. Only that year we qualified for the Champions' League and left Spurs behind for good. The first instance of Spurs being specifically referred to as "media darlings" was March 2009, the last time they were seriously referred to as "media darlings" was back in 2012, which is coincidentally the last time Spurs ever came close to troubling us in the league.

If you search "Scousers media", it returns 514 results. The first 180 results come after the start of the season in 2013. Sure, there's a few mentions between 2009 and 2013, but there's 18 pages of results over the space of a few months. The talk of Spurs and Everton being "media darlings" has disappeared almost completely, while the talk of Mourinho & Rodgers being "media darlings" has risen sharply since they challenged us for the title. I'll repeat what I said at the very beginning of this post: I believe the origins of the agenda belief are based entirely on extreme tribalism as a result of fear of failure.

Because there is one club that, throughout all of this forum's history, most people have been convinced are the biggest "media darlings" of them all. Our biggest rivals both geographically and domestically for some time, up until very, very recently. Their every move greeted with disdain. While other "media darlings" have come and gone, a City fan's biggest fear, their one true enemy, has stayed strong when attempt to remain synonymous with this term. If you search "media rags" you get a whopping 7620 results.

I think that says everything.

Correct, and the reason that the scum and the Pool have been bitter enemies.

 

[tonea2003]

I've had a few arguments with non City fans about media bias against City. A couple of times after a few pints I might even have used the "A" word.

But joining the Bluemoon Agenda-ists would seem like joining a cult that might also require me to declare that I believed the moon landings were faked, Elvis is still alive and Phil killed Di. Its just way too extreme. The constant search to find anti City bias in every press story, even adverts, must be extremely draining. As must be the constant need to perform 180 degree changes in opinion. "The CL draw is fixed against City" so they announce proposals to change the draw. "The changes to the CL draw are fixed against City". I just don't have the energy to become an Agenda-ist.

I spent just five days posting positive City things and negative United things from the media last week. There were fucking shit loads! (go back to page 182 and have a look through the next five to ten pages after that) and i wasn't even really trying, i was off work and was just putting on here things i'd seen over that day or gone through threads on this site and had a look online to see if there were any positives on that topic. If i did that every day of the year, which i'm not sad enough to do, i'd fill the website with positivity towards us - it's fucking there so open your fucking eyes people! and stop just trawling the internet for ridiculous little things that the oversensitive souls on here thinks makes their argument a worthy one. Some of it is so fucking trivial it's laughable!

The paranoia stretches beyond ridiculous on this website. It's not just in this thread, it's across many threads with people constantly saying things in relation to the world being against our football club. It really does bring down the quality of the forum.

By no means am i saying that there isn't any media bias towards certain clubs but for me it's just trying to pander to their largest supporter bases to maximise their revenue; it is not a agenda against City! Some journos and pundits clearly don't like us but they aren't in a media wide agenda against City. But there's so much decent stuff out there about us! If you're open enough to see it, that is!

so what is platini's game then?
has it held us back?
is the CL draw coincidence?

look at it in another light what's munich's moscow and roma's take on the draw?
did they agree to go in city's group as part of the agenda?
i mean bayern must be pissed off having to lead the line 3 years out of 4

 

[Latics Fan SJK]

I spent just five days posting positive City things and negative United things from the media last week. There were fucking shit loads! (go back to page 182 and have a look through the next five to ten pages after that) and i wasn't even really trying, i was off work and was just putting on here things i'd seen over that day or gone through threads on this site and had a look online to see if there were any positives on that topic. If i did that every day of the year, which i'm not sad enough to do, i'd fill the website with positivity towards us - it's fucking there so open your fucking eyes people! and stop just trawling the internet for ridiculous little things that the oversensitive souls on here thinks makes their argument a worthy one. Some of it is so fucking trivial it's laughable!

The paranoia stretches beyond ridiculous on this website. It's not just in this thread, it's across many threads with people constantly saying things in relation to the world being against our football club. It really does bring down the quality of the forum.

By no means am i saying that there isn't any media bias towards certain clubs but for me it's just trying to pander to their largest supporter bases to maximise their revenue; it is not a agenda against City! Some journos and pundits clearly don't like us but they aren't in a media wide agenda against City. But there's so much decent stuff out there about us! If you're open enough to see it, that is!

so what is platini's game then?
has it held us back?
is the CL draw coincidence?

look at it in another light what's munich's moscow and roma's take on the draw?
did they agree to go in city's group as part of the agenda?
i mean bayern must be pissed off having to lead the line 3 years out of 4

That's pretty much what I've said on a few occasions but with no reply.

Teams like Bayern Munich are regularly mentioned on here as one of UEFA's "darlings", much like Barcelona, Real Madrid & Man United.

Yet UEFA have handed one of their darlings a bloody hard group, containing the Champions of England and, pretty much, a pot 1 team on paper, and the standout team in Pot 4, Roma. You'd think that the likes of Beckenbauer and Platini would have gone over this over a spot of Garlic Sauerkraut and ensure shit like this wouldn't happen.

 

[George Hannah]

so what is platini's game then?
has it held us back?
is the CL draw coincidence?

look at it in another light what's munich's moscow and roma's take on the draw?
did they agree to go in city's group as part of the agenda?
i mean bayern must be pissed off having to lead the line 3 years out of 4

That's pretty much what I've said on a few occasions but with no reply.

Teams like Bayern Munich are regularly mentioned on here as one of UEFA's "darlings", much like Barcelona, Real Madrid & Man United.

Yet UEFA have handed one of their darlings a bloody hard group, containing the Champions of England and, pretty much, a pot 1 team on paper, and the standout team in Pot 4, Roma. You'd think that the likes of Beckenbauer and Platini would have gone over this over a spot of Garlic Sauerkraut and ensure shit like this wouldn't happen.

Their prime target is us. Collateral damage is just unfortunate

 

[Didsbury Dave]

look at it in another light what's munich's moscow and roma's take on the draw?
did they agree to go in city's group as part of the agenda?
i mean bayern must be pissed off having to lead the line 3 years out of 4

That's pretty much what I've said on a few occasions but with no reply.

Teams like Bayern Munich are regularly mentioned on here as one of UEFA's "darlings", much like Barcelona, Real Madrid & Man United.

Yet UEFA have handed one of their darlings a bloody hard group, containing the Champions of England and, pretty much, a pot 1 team on paper, and the standout team in Pot 4, Roma. You'd think that the likes of Beckenbauer and Platini would have gone over this over a spot of Garlic Sauerkraut and ensure shit like this wouldn't happen.

Their prime target is us. Collateral damage is just unfortunate

I reckon you actually believe that,too.

Funny.

 

[Latics Fan SJK]

That's pretty much what I've said on a few occasions but with no reply.

Teams like Bayern Munich are regularly mentioned on here as one of UEFA's "darlings", much like Barcelona, Real Madrid & Man United.

Yet UEFA have handed one of their darlings a bloody hard group, containing the Champions of England and, pretty much, a pot 1 team on paper, and the standout team in Pot 4, Roma. You'd think that the likes of Beckenbauer and Platini would have gone over this over a spot of Garlic Sauerkraut and ensure shit like this wouldn't happen.

Their prime target is us. Collateral damage is just unfortunate

I reckon you actually believe that,too.

Funny.

Absolutely fucking hilarious.

"Collateral damage". Good fucking grief.

I suppose it was purely down to collateral damage when City were drawn in Real Madrid's group a few years back. You know, another one of UEFA's darlings.

 

[Didsbury Dave]

Their prime target is us. Collateral damage is just unfortunate

I reckon you actually believe that,too.

Funny.

Absolutely fucking hilarious.

"Collateral damage". Good fucking grief.

I suppose it was purely down to collateral damage when City were drawn in Real Madrid's group a few years back. You know, another one of UEFA's darlings.

Imagine what goes on in these minds, It's funny but a bit scary.

A football club viewed from too close can distort reality. Clearly, in some cases, pretty badly.

 

[tonea2003]

look at it in another light what's munich's moscow and roma's take on the draw?
did they agree to go in city's group as part of the agenda?
i mean bayern must be pissed off having to lead the line 3 years out of 4

That's pretty much what I've said on a few occasions but with no reply.

Teams like Bayern Munich are regularly mentioned on here as one of UEFA's "darlings", much like Barcelona, Real Madrid & Man United.

Yet UEFA have handed one of their darlings a bloody hard group, containing the Champions of England and, pretty much, a pot 1 team on paper, and the standout team in Pot 4, Roma. You'd think that the likes of Beckenbauer and Platini would have gone over this over a spot of Garlic Sauerkraut and ensure shit like this wouldn't happen.

Their prime target is us. Collateral damage is just unfortunate

george, what have i told you about descending into farce

 

[George Hannah]

Their prime target is us. Collateral damage is just unfortunate

I reckon you actually believe that,too.
Funny.

Absolutely fucking hilarious.
"Collateral damage". Good fucking grief.
I suppose it was purely down to collateral damage when City were drawn in Real Madrid's group a few years back. You know, another one of UEFA's darlings.

Well if you wise gentlemen think that the UEFA attack on us is illusory it obviously didn't happen and we've got a 25 man squad with no financial restrictions