This could be one of the truest Articles of the season......

[JohnMaddocksAxe]

The usual shit-scared, terrified to print anything that might anger the club, concerned only with guaranteeing that they hold on to sources that help prop up circulation, PR puff piece from the MEN.

Chris Bailey, during the later stages of his time at the MEN was, in my opinion, and only my opinion, resembling a direct line from the PR department of the club.

Saying that, you have to appreciate that the MEN relies on sport for a lot of their ciruclation and to piss the club off in anyway would almost be professional suicide.

However, to have such blatant 'party line' stuff that simultaneously dismisses the talents of the likes of Ade, Robinho, Toure, Given, Barry, Ireland, etc is absolutely shocking.




I ask you this - how long before the people are on here spouting the usual MUEN shite?

Not long, I bet.

Which is amazing, because pieces like this - which read like they could have been written by Garry Cook/Mark Hughes himself - have been the norm at the MEN for years now. They are too scared of losing their contacts and therefore circulation to do anything else imo.

 

[moomba]

Adebayor isn't Drogba - correct
Tevez isn't Rooney - correct
Ireland isn't Lampard - correct (and for me thats a good thing)

Despite the fact i'd probably prefer Ireland over Lampard, that article was a fantastic one. Its spot on when it says 'money alone doesn't make us a peer to the top 4'. At no point, as again you've wrongly suggested, does that article say our players aren't good enough and our squad too weak to aspire for the top 4. Instead it actually suggests we should finish fourth.

It doesn't actually suggest we should finish 4th, it suggests that Hughes should be manager of the year if he can drag our sub par squad into 4th place.

How can it be "propaganda" when the article basically deals in facts?

When did I say anything about propaganda.

I'm sure you read what you want to see, rather than whats actually said.

I hate it when I see players hung out to dry to protect the manager. Why would I want to see an article like this?

 

[Neville Kneville]

So the consensus then is that Adebayor IS better than Drogba, Tevez IS better than Rooney, it doesn't make any difference if your side has been together for several years & any club that spends money should be able to go straight into the top 4 without a struggle.

That seems reasonable.

 

[Cheltblue]

You're happy to speculate after the drivel weve witnessed over the last 5 games?

The fact is, we could and I for one would rather be positive than have what most of you on here seem to have, a 'fuck it i've given up' attitude. What's wrong with you? I mean for fuck sake look at Everton and what they're having to suffer, and don't use the 'we've spent £200m' garbage, because having spent that money we are exactly where many of us, if not all, should want us to be, 3 points of joint 4th, a game in hand to put us right amongst it all, a place hopefully in the semi's and all that as xmas approaches? Why not just be happy with that potnential position, rather than act like its 1998 again in division 2?

Its far from the 'fuck it i've given up attitude'. I would say that those that are not as happy with the current situation as your good self will not settle for what is increasing looking like another wasted season under a very mediocre manager. You are happy with that, i and many others are not.

Many of you're posts seem content to ignore the funds that Hughes has been given whereas i believe those funds in a safer pair of hands would see us in a far more positive predicament than we currently find ourselves. Having said that, 3 points from 4th is a decent enough position to be in but we are we we are on the back of a constantly regressive performances. had we been lower and building up to our current position, the whole atmosphere on here would be a more positive one.

But, forget the ifs' the reality is we were 4th, 6th, now 7th on the back of garbage performances against like ot or not, the garbage end of the EPL clubs.

We are going backwards and the end of the season is now going to be 6 months too late to make the required changes.

 

[whp.blue]

forgot to mention our pathetic run of draws was against some of the weakest teams in the league and I am sure at least 75% of our games have been against the bottom 11 teams wait till we reverse that sequence our stats will be nowhere as good !

this artical looks like the muen backing a former rag now he is under attack from lots of blues

ps I always back this tool hughes at the ground but I have had enough of him and his silky pr machine ! he and cooke need to start looking elsewhere as there is no substance from them !

 

[Didsbury Dave]

So the consensus then is that Adebayor IS better than Drogba, Tevez IS better than Rooney, it doesn't make any difference if your side has been together for several years & any club that spends money should be able to go straight into the top 4 without a struggle.

That seems reasonable.

Drogba, Rooney and Lampard are three of the top 10 players in the premiership. I could make an argument that Shay Given and Stephen Ireland would be in that top ten, or very close.

The top 4 clubs each have a couple of these world class players surrounded by other reliable, top class internationals. So have we. Comparing like for like in isolation doesn't work: Ngog is no Adebayor, Carrick is no IReland, Hargreaves is no De Jong, Cole is no Robinho.

Our squad is as good as most of the top 4.

 

[Pigeonho]

The fact is, we could and I for one would rather be positive than have what most of you on here seem to have, a 'fuck it i've given up' attitude. What's wrong with you? I mean for fuck sake look at Everton and what they're having to suffer, and don't use the 'we've spent £200m' garbage, because having spent that money we are exactly where many of us, if not all, should want us to be, 3 points of joint 4th, a game in hand to put us right amongst it all, a place hopefully in the semi's and all that as xmas approaches? Why not just be happy with that potnential position, rather than act like its 1998 again in division 2?

Its far from the 'fuck it i've given up attitude'. I would say that those that are not as happy with the current situation as your good self will not settle for what is increasing looking like another wasted season under a very mediocre manager. You are happy with that, i and many others are not.

Many of you're posts seem content to ignore the funds that Hughes has been given whereas i believe those funds in a safer pair of hands would see us in a far more positive predicament than we currently find ourselves. Having said that, 3 points from 4th is a decent enough position to be in but we are we we are on the back of a constantly regressive performances. had we been lower and building up to our current position, the whole atmosphere on here would be a more positive one.

But, forget the ifs' the reality is we were 4th, 6th, now 7th on the back of garbage performances against like ot or not, the garbage end of the EPL clubs.

We are going backwards and the end of the season is now going to be 6 months too late to make the required changes.

Ok, i take those points, but if you had a choice, what would those 'required changes' be?

 

[Anonymous]

It's a crying shame that the players need to come out in support of the manager at a time when personally, I'd want the manager to be coming out at backing his underperforming players and taking the "heat" so to speak...

 

[GStar]

Adebayor isn't Drogba - correct
Tevez isn't Rooney - correct
Ireland isn't Lampard - correct (and for me thats a good thing)

Despite the fact i'd probably prefer Ireland over Lampard, that article was a fantastic one. Its spot on when it says 'money alone doesn't make us a peer to the top 4'. At no point, as again you've wrongly suggested, does that article say our players aren't good enough and our squad too weak to aspire for the top 4. Instead it actually suggests we should finish fourth.

It doesn't actually suggest we should finish 4th, it suggests that Hughes should be manager of the year if he can drag our sub par squad into 4th place.

How can it be "propaganda" when the article basically deals in facts?

When did I say anything about propaganda.

I'm sure you read what you want to see, rather than whats actually said.

I hate it when I see players hung out to dry to protect the manager. Why would I want to see an article like this?

Having read the article again, it does paint a very rosy picture. I'm not sure how to take the Manager of the year comment; this year 4th spot is there for the taking, i can see how us getting into that spot would be a great achievement and much like Roy Hodgson last season, our manager would have to be recognised. Manager of the year by a country mile? You're right i don't compeltely buy it.

By propaganda, i was reffering to what you took from the article; "our players aren't that good, we shouldn't aspire to compete with the Sky 4"

I can see why people have come to the conclusion that the article is cashing the players to deflect from the manager, however even if that were true, ultimately that comes right back round to the man who bought them. So, if our squad isn't good enough, thats becaue the person who assembled it hasn't done a good enough job... That would be Hughes.

I took it more that, we can't just expect to turn money into CL and title challenging football. it is much harder than that, with many more variants and without instant results.

 

[blueinsa]

It's a crying shame that the players need to come out in support of the manager at a time when personally, I'd want the manager to be coming out at backing his underperforming players and taking the "heat" so to speak...

Spot on Billy and just reiterates many of our views that Hughes, uses the press for his own ends and will never accept the responsibilty for the teams failings himself.