@BluePhil8 said:Van Gaal's £200m dilemma: Whichever 11 he fields are shit.
gordondaviesmoustache said:I think there is something that deserves comment about the Manchester press pack.
To understand their current make up , one needs to appreciate how and why they came to hold their current roles.
Seven or eight years ago being a football writer in Manchester was a good gig. Definitely the best outside London. united were (and are) a truly global sporting brand and the fact that the city itself had a Premier League club in City, meant there was plenty to write about and keep them occupied. City's enduring ability to create drama probably added to the attraction, journalistically.
How did we end up with the currently collection of Manchester based journalists? To my mind, for two primary reasons, that once greatly complemented each other.
Firstly, who did the national papers seek to appoint to report on footballing matters in the city? People with sympathies towards united. Anyone displaying tendencies towards City would be a hinderence to the commercial aspirations of the newspaper. It simply wouldn't make any sense.
Secondly, what type of journalist was attracted to these roles? Not the best, or the cream of the crop - they would want to be based in London - but rather reporters who placed greater currency on reporting on united than being sports journalists per se. Quite simply, fans or sympathisers with united, who had displayed a modicum of journalistic talent.
The fact that most of the local press pack are united fans clearly supports both these assertions, most manifestly when casting your eyes at Ogden's erstwhile role as a united fanzine editor and current role as a Manchester correspondent for the Telegraph.
And for a while that arrangement was, for all its unfairness towards City and its supporters, congruous. The fact was united dominated the city from a media perspective, nationally and globally.
What Manchester now represents in footballing terms has fundamentally changed in recent years, however. It now boasts two clubs based in and around it that are both truly global giants in terms of their exposure. Sporting entities which are both talked about and reported upon across the planet on a daily basis.
And for me this is the rub. Rather than see the rise of City, and being at the centre of an incredible footballing story, as an opportunity for professional fulfillment, these reporters have instead maintained their MO of reporting favourably on one club at the expense of the other. Rather than recognise that the pieces in the board have shifted and be professional and ambitious about it, they have, instead, elected to remain tendentious in a pathetic and forlorn attempt to hold back the tide. Any one of them could have recognised that the chance to excel journalistically was being presented to them, and for them to rise from the pack. None of them have. The fact that not one of them has demonstrates that they do not posses the talent to do so - and that itself is lamentable in the extreme.
There are so many legitimate questions that this rabble fail to ask of united collectively and individually because of their lack of professionalism and journalistic talent: the poor recent return on investment in players; the putative abandonment of the club's much vaunted youth policy; the club's financial base being in the Cayman Islands are all examples of this.
Like it or not both City and united are going to be at the top table for the foreseeable and the city and its surrounding areas deserve that narrative to be chronicled in a way that is more fitting and worthy.
Quite simply the local press pack are like a group of middle managers who have all been working for the same poorly run company that gets taken over by a bigger, better organisation. They don't posses the talent or the wherewithal to cope in their new working environment, but they know that although they're no longer up to the job it's going to take a long time and a lot of aggro to remove them from their roles.
Manchester will be, there or thereabouts, at the centre of the footballing world in the years ahead and it is unfortunate in the extreme that there is nothing better than this bunch, who are clearly not fit for purpose, to report on this story with more gravitas and presence.
It's a great footballing story and it deserves much, much better than this bunch of glorified united fanzine editors.
The rags should be under scrutiny for having the most expensive team in premier league history,and no shots on target...ManCityX said:@MOgdenTelegraph: Manchester City finances under scrutiny from Uefa | via @Telegraph <a class="postlink" href="http://t.co/yDOTZfqAKv" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://t.co/yDOTZfqAKv</a>
Ogden's reaction to the United defeat. It's pure comedy at this point.
gordondaviesmoustache said:I think there is something that deserves comment about the Manchester press pack.
To understand their current make up , one needs to appreciate how and why they came to hold their current roles.
Seven or eight years ago being a football writer in Manchester was a good gig. Definitely the best outside London. united were (and are) a truly global sporting brand and the fact that the city itself had a Premier League club in City, meant there was plenty to write about and keep them occupied. City's enduring ability to create drama probably added to the attraction, journalistically.
How did we end up with the currently collection of Manchester based journalists? To my mind, for two primary reasons, that once greatly complemented each other.
Firstly, who did the national papers seek to appoint to report on footballing matters in the city? People with sympathies towards united. Anyone displaying tendencies towards City would be a hinderence to the commercial aspirations of the newspaper. It simply wouldn't make any sense.
Secondly, what type of journalist was attracted to these roles? Not the best, or the cream of the crop - they would want to be based in London - but rather reporters who placed greater currency on reporting on united than being sports journalists per se. Quite simply, fans or sympathisers with united, who had displayed a modicum of journalistic talent.
The fact that most of the local press pack are united fans clearly supports both these assertions, most manifestly when casting your eyes at Ogden's erstwhile role as a united fanzine editor and current role as a Manchester correspondent for the Telegraph.
And for a while that arrangement was, for all its unfairness towards City and its supporters, congruous. The fact was united dominated the city from a media perspective, nationally and globally.
What Manchester now represents in footballing terms has fundamentally changed in recent years, however. It now boasts two clubs based in and around it that are both truly global giants in terms of their exposure. Sporting entities which are both talked about and reported upon across the planet on a daily basis.
And for me this is the rub. Rather than see the rise of City, and being at the centre of an incredible footballing story, as an opportunity for professional fulfillment, these reporters have instead maintained their MO of reporting favourably on one club at the expense of the other. Rather than recognise that the pieces in the board have shifted and be professional and ambitious about it, they have, instead, elected to remain tendentious in a pathetic and forlorn attempt to hold back the tide. Any one of them could have recognised that the chance to excel journalistically was being presented to them, and for them to rise from the pack. None of them have. The fact that not one of them has demonstrates that they do not posses the talent to do so - and that itself is lamentable in the extreme.
There are so many legitimate questions that this rabble fail to ask of united collectively and individually because of their lack of professionalism and journalistic talent: the poor recent return on investment in players; the putative abandonment of the club's much vaunted youth policy; the club's financial base being in the Cayman Islands are all examples of this.
Like it or not both City and united are going to be at the top table for the foreseeable and the city and its surrounding areas deserve that narrative to be chronicled in a way that is more fitting and worthy.
Quite simply the local press pack are like a group of middle managers who have all been working for the same poorly run company that gets taken over by a bigger, better organisation. They don't posses the talent or the wherewithal to cope in their new working environment, but they know that although they're no longer up to the job it's going to take a long time and a lot of aggro to remove them from their roles.
Manchester will be, there or thereabouts, at the centre of the footballing world in the years ahead and it is unfortunate in the extreme that there is nothing better than this bunch, who are clearly not fit for purpose, to report on this story with more gravitas and presence.
It's a great footballing story and it deserves much, much better than this bunch of glorified united fanzine editors.
But the way United are going the British record signing may not be needed, a fair indication of how Van Gaal is moulding them into a formidable side.
Jamie Jackson is a clown.Blue Punter said:Excellent post GDM.
I hope you include Jamie Jackson within your description:
But the way United are going the British record signing may not be needed, a fair indication of how Van Gaal is moulding them into a formidable side.
Observer 27 December 2014.