The Knock On Effect....

[Biggsy1]

Left Back, Winger, Centre Back and Centre Mid should be bought!

Kolarov Just hasn't impressed me enough. Squad player Bridge Out
Another wide player to give us options , SWP out
Quality defender to replace Toure, Lescott Squad player
Centre Mid, Barry Squad Player

I thought Milner played well last night just thought I'd share that!!

 

[Big G]

Finishing 3rd enhances everything I've said above IMO. More importantly, finishing above Arsenal. It's a statement of intent to the rest of the footballing world that the 'project' is taking flight. Players who maybe were tempted by City but worried about the mercenary tag will now be able to talk about direct qualification into the CL, finishing above Arsenal, and the FA Cup, as proof positive that you come to City for footballing reasons and not for financial ones.

I think youve nailed it there, were not fucking about now, were in the CL and were not just there for a few beery football nights away, were there because we want to play and compete with Europes best, Weve lifted 1 piece of silverware and it felt good all round, we want that feeling again every season, and maybe in due course 2 or even 3 times a season.
City are here and we mean business, players can either hop on and enjoy or miss it and miss out.

Regarding Carlos, it will be very difficult to find a replacement, who else has his attitude on the pitch, work ethic and importantly goals, he is in the top 5 strikers in the world at the moment and they dont come up that often. If we lose Carlos then it will be a big miss to us, and when you say to buy a top player and weaken the opposition, Carlos is 1 of our top players.

 

[matt99is]

From an FFPR point of view, I imagine that Carlos staying will have some impact on how much we spend on players this summer because we won't be banking 50 million for him and getting him off the wage bill. I imagine that in turn will make it all the more important that we shed the wages of Ade, Bellamy, RSC, Bridge, et al before bringing in new players.

From an FFPR point of view I would have thought it better if Tevez stays. We will already have written off about 1/2 his transfer fee, and if we brought somebody else in - say Ibra - then we would have the full fee to write off over the next few years and still have to pay a wage that must be about the same?

Am I thinking about this the wrong way?

Other than that I agree completely with everything you've posted. Oh! how times have changed :-)

Actually I think you're right as I do recall people saying that Ade and Tevez's transfer fees were paid out before the FFPR's cut off point. His wages however will still be an issue as he's our highest paid player. Just make it more imperative as I said, to get big earners who have no future at the club out the door asap.

Don't forget that our revenue is improving quite dramatically year on year and looks set to continue that way if we continue to play champs league football. Carlos sells a lot of shirts too!

If need be im sure our owners could have a few words with a company they own and hook us up with a lucrative sponsorship deal! these rules are bullshit, financial fair play my arse when they don't penalize a team for having £600m debt just like the homegrown players rules which actually FAVOUR arsenal.

 

[Prestwich_Blue]

Finishing third obviously guarantees us direct entry into the CL group stages so removes any doubt that players who sign or stay might be playing in the Europa League.

From an FFPR perspective that's good as we also guarantee ourselves a sizeable pot of money and the prospect of even more if we qualify for the knock-out stages.

While the reality is that Carlos staying may well be because no one else can afford him, it also sends out a message that we're a club worth staying at. Him going might have sent the opposite message to other players.

It also stops the taunts that players will only come to us for mercenary reasons.

 

[more lazy than useless]

I appreciate you're all very excited about your recent achievements and feel like you're going to win the quadruple next season, brushing all the traditional heavy weights aside with ease. And as a rival fan I'm happy for you. I'm happy that you've upset United, I'm happy that you beat Spurs to 4th and overtaken Arsenal. I'm happy that the league will be more competitive in future seasons ending the reign of the "Sky 4".

However I think that many of you need to get some perspective. This season was a big step, but next season is a whole new ball game. This will be the first time you've had to compete on multiple fronts at the very highest level. Which means league games and excruciating CL ties against ridiculously talented sides week in week out. You cannot underestimate how taxing this is on a squad. Last season Man United lost the premiership to us (Chelsea) because of their mid week tie to Bayern which shot them to pieces. At this level things can and will go wrong extremely fast and in every way.

The line between success and failure is extremely thin, and the smallest mistakes or miscalculations can cost you everything. Look at what happened to Spurs. They did extremely well when they broke into the top 4, one season later, the toll of the CL crushed their league campaign so badly that they could end up without any European football at all. Should you get into the knock out stages of the CL and finish within the top 4 again, I'd consider it a success next season.

I'm sure there are some who think we will, and should win everything next season, just as there were this one! Hopefully not many though.

I'd take top 4 and CL knock out stages and be glad. TBH though, I think that should be a minimum, anything more a huge bonus.
On a practical level a 3rd place is important for the same reasons as this year, only less so.

I'd say we have a better squad than Spurs, certainly depth wise, so would have less problem, but its easy to get caught out!

As for perspective, I'll get that when the new season kicks off. Until then ...........

 

[chesterguy]

I appreciate you're all very excited about your recent achievements and feel like you're going to win the quadruple next season, brushing all the traditional heavy weights aside with ease. And as a rival fan I'm happy for you. I'm happy that you've upset United, I'm happy that you beat Spurs to 4th and overtaken Arsenal. I'm happy that the league will be more competitive in future seasons ending the reign of the "Sky 4".

However I think that many of you need to get some perspective. This season was a big step, but next season is a whole new ball game. This will be the first time you've had to compete on multiple fronts at the very highest level. Which means league games and excruciating CL ties against ridiculously talented sides week in week out. You cannot underestimate how taxing this is on a squad. Last season Man United lost the premiership to us (Chelsea) because of their mid week tie to Bayern which shot them to pieces. At this level things can and will go wrong extremely fast and in every way.

The line between success and failure is extremely thin, and the smallest mistakes or miscalculations can cost you everything. Look at what happened to Spurs. They did extremely well when they broke into the top 4, one season later, the toll of the CL crushed their league campaign so badly that they could end up without any European football at all. Should you get into the knock out stages of the CL and finish within the top 4 again, I'd consider it a success next season.

The thing that you seem to forget is that we were playing in the Europa league last season, got to an FA cup final and whilst the sides in Europe may not, across the board, have been as good as Champions League the physical demands on the squad are harder as there are more games with less recovery time.

Also you along with the media have not given enough understanding to the number of injuries and the fact that this is a young newly assembled squad.

Next year they will be more experienced, more together and now I think Mancini knows who he wants as his first XI and it has taken a while to get all the players fit and available at the same time

 

[Marvin]

I appreciate you're all very excited about your recent achievements and feel like you're going to win the quadruple next season, brushing all the traditional heavy weights aside with ease. And as a rival fan I'm happy for you. I'm happy that you've upset United, I'm happy that you beat Spurs to 4th and overtaken Arsenal. I'm happy that the league will be more competitive in future seasons ending the reign of the "Sky 4".

However I think that many of you need to get some perspective. This season was a big step, but next season is a whole new ball game. This will be the first time you've had to compete on multiple fronts at the very highest level. Which means league games and excruciating CL ties against ridiculously talented sides week in week out. You cannot underestimate how taxing this is on a squad. Last season Man United lost the premiership to us (Chelsea) because of their mid week tie to Bayern which shot them to pieces. At this level things can and will go wrong extremely fast and in every way.

The line between success and failure is extremely thin, and the smallest mistakes or miscalculations can cost you everything. Look at what happened to Spurs. They did extremely well when they broke into the top 4, one season later, the toll of the CL crushed their league campaign so badly that they could end up without any European football at all. Should you get into the knock out stages of the CL and finish within the top 4 again, I'd consider it a success next season.

Just because we haven't been involved in the Champions League doesn't mean that we don't know and appreciate the point you are making. We know that the best time to play a top 4 side is the the weekend after they have played away in Europe

But to an extent we had that this season with playing the Europa League on a Thursday and then the Premiership on a Sunday. These Europa League games lacked the intensity of Champions League games, but it was still a taster.

Our squad is also a lot smaller than Arsenal's and United's. We couldn't put out a reserve team against Schalke and win, and we can't do it in League games either, but even if we don't buy anyone next season we will be mentally stronger next season and the self-belief from what we have done this season will move us on.

There are players who started this season like Lescott and Richards who a lot of fans dismissed as not being good enough, but now these players are key parts of our team. The likes of Dzeko, Silva, Balotelli, Yaya Toure and Kolarov will all improve now that they know what the physical requirements of the Premier League are.

 

[matt99is]

The thing that you seem to forget is that we were playing in the Europa league last season, got to an FA cup final and whilst the sides in Europe may not, across the board, have been as good as Champions League the physical demands on the squad are harder as there are more games with less recovery time.

Also you along with the media have not given enough understanding to the number of injuries and the fact that this is a young newly assembled squad.

Next year they will be more experienced, more together and now I think Mancini knows who he wants as his first XI and it has taken a while to get all the players fit and available at the same time

My sentiments exactly, spurs were a 2 man team and they ran into problems when they got injured or tired. we have more depth and hope to add to it in summer. the europa league involved traveling further for matches and that with injures (especially defense) really effected our league performances in January.
mancini is more experienced with this than rednap is, I think we can expect to stay in the top 4 next season. how we will perform in the CL I have no idea.