He is intelligent as I said, he’s not correct on everything he says and he is disingenuous when it comes to City, he makes some ridiculous comments, no doubt about that but his job is to promote his bullish views without upsetting the rags and dippers, it’s a clear agenda. I’d love
@petrusha @Prestwich_Blue or Rabin to challenge him live in the studio, that would be worth listening to.
A bit late coming back to this, but I feel more at home putting my views forward in writing, in fact, so I might not be the best person for such a discussion. As for Jordan, I live abroad and therefore don't hear much of him, only odd snippets on Twitter when someone retweets them.
I quite enjoyed his book, actually, which suggested that he has some uncommon but interesting views and is prepared to argue them quite forcefully. On the other hand, I can't help thinking there's a major irony in him being presented as knowledgeable about the business side of football when he left Palace in administration and in a white-knuckle ride trying to avoid the drop to the third tier.
I strongly resent his constant references to us as a 'Frankenstein club'. Unlike some posters on here, I don't think City and the way we do things are beyond criticism and we're hardly poster boys for romance in football given that our success is due to investment that was on an eye-watering scale, albeit consummately executed. If people want to lament that the modern game is set up so as to make that necessary for an also-ran to compete at the top, then fine.
But Frankenstein implies something grotesquely monstrous (and most likely turning on its creator), which simply isn't so IMO. At least, it's no truer of us than is the case for top clubs across the sport in view of the way they've relinquished any connection with their roots in their pursuit of cold hard cash. I can see an argument that we've become no better than them, but the idea that we're worse is IMO simply unsustainable.
As for getting into debates with City's detractors, I tend invariably to avoid doing so. I'm happy enough to do it if people are prepared to argue in good faith and listen to facts of which they were previously unaware, but I rarely find this the case.
There's certainly a coterie of journalists (let's use the common shorthand 'the WhatsApp Group' for convenience) at least a couple of whom have admitted that they try to set the tone for any debate about us. It's they who've initially pushed all the jibes about 'sportswashing', 'unlimited resources', 'backed by a state' and so on. But so many people who want to believe it swallow it whole. There's no point in presenting them with facts from our accounts and so on, as they generally just refuse to believe you and it's basically a waste of time.