Sorry cant find anywhere to post this and I wanted to before I leave work and head home for my flight to Manchester and pie and pies in Heald Green....
Hello all, amongst all the fun and fiction, here are some FACTS to brighten up your day. I spent this morning in Rottach watching City train. Thought Id lucked out when noone was there at 10:30, lazy lot, still in bed or munching on a good breakfast. Then Eddie Ned and Hitchcock turned up for a quick chin wag and to set up the field.
Just before 1100 the rest of the squad turned up. To quell many of the rumours these are the players who WERE there.
Stuart Taylor, Clayton Mcdonald (big lad!) Kasper Schmeichal, Pablo Zabaleta, Javier Garrido, Vincent Kompany, Michael Johnson (even bigger lad, my god whats happened to him!) Stevie Ireland, Gelson Fernandes, Paul Marshall, Martin Petrov, Kelvin Etuhu, Valeri Bojinov (wow - he looks trim now, dont think hes eaten anything since May! Looks sharp as nails too) Ched Evans, Craig Bellamy, Benjani, Vladimir Weiss, Ryan McGivern, Ben Mee....there were some others who I didnt recognise (perhaps that German lad from Schalke??) Interesting bits and bobs.. * Boji looks real fit and has gained 2 yards of pace, he got mad and shouted at anyone who didnt give him the ball. Eddie Nedz had to tell him to calm down or hell get injured!!! * Vince Kompany was grouped with the defenders. they were playing a training game and he was at the centre of all the ploys from the back. A sign of where hell play next year??? * Michael Johnson, looks less fit than he did last year, and that is saying something. Much work to be done to save this talent.
All in all the lads seemed to be enjoying it, and it was a regular hard training sesh but nothing like a boot camp whatsoever. The new training gear looks tops though!!!
There was NO Richard Dunne (nothing sinister I dont think, probably something to do with the WC Qualifiers, as Shay wasnt there either) However didnt Ireland play Bulgaria?? So why were Boji and Martin there???
There was no Caicedo, England U21s Micah and Ned, and Confed Cup lads Elano and Robinho were also missing. No SWP or Bridge, did the England lads get a few days extra off too?? There was NO sign of Tal Ben Haim whatsoever.
And that was it...not much time to chat with the players, they were "at work" as Hughes would say.
BTW its ALL OVER the German press about Lucio signing for City for 8 Million EUROS. They say a delegation of City and Bayern met yesterday in Berlin to conclude a deal. Its on teletext and radio too. Bayern have since denied that a deal was complete. Loads of Bayern fans turned up at Tegernsee looking for him. He was NOT there, incase any rumours get circulated.
No much juicy gossip just hard facts Im afraid, but it may be of interest. I did get some cracking pictures, if the sun bouncing of Irelands head didnt ruin the piccies.
Cheers