Too Rich to care

[itsnevereasy]

I think 90% of the players don't give a toss compared to how much the fans care.

The problem is how does the club change this?

If you look at Barca all the players play for each other, all of them show that they care and have a passion for the club.

Its naive to expect us to like Barca at this stage in our development, for a number of reasons - the main ones as I see it being:

1 - They have have the best Academy in the world, and promote from within. This fills the team with players who have grown up with playing the Barca way in their blood - they love the Club and buy into a coherent, consistent way of playing. Just look at their current starting 11 - Valdes, Puyol, Pique, Busquets, Xavi, Iniesta, Pedro and Messi (that's 8 out of 11) all came from the Barca Academy, and have the Club in their blood. Players can be plucked from the Academy, and fit in seamlessley with the First Team, because they have played the same systems and the same tactics with the same style all their lives.

2 - They have a long history of being one of the best Clubs in the world, which means its far easier to get big players to buy into their ethos, and play their way. Alves, Abidal/Maxwell and Villa will have watched and admired Barca as kids, therefore convicing them to a) come to the Club and b) play their way, putting the team first when they are at the Club, is much easier.

We have a recent history of winning fook all, and of being in the third tier of English Football just over a decade ago. We have an average Academy, with no consistency of thinking/style/footballing ethos linking the Academy to the First Team. The Academy produces players that are good for the Academy, but these same players often don't fit in with the way the first team wants to play. The Academy is still very much in a good honest English style, wheraes the first team (as with much of the Premier League these days) is infused with Continental Coaching methods, tactics and ideas.

Put together, what this means is that we promote very few from within, therefore we have to buy expensive players in who have no particular feel for the Club, and who have never heard much about us prior to out takeover due to our piss poor recent history. This leads to a lack of coherence through the Club, and a first team which can easily have the mercenary tag levelled at it.

We aren't Barca, and to compare us to them ignores the very particular challenges that we face at the moment - problems which Barca simply don't have to deal with.

We are City, and need to deal with the situation we find ourselves in.

We need a unification of the coaching ehtos between the Academy and the first team. FFS - Mancini had three First Team Coaches last time I checked - Platt, Lombardo and Salsano. Surely one of these could oversee the Academy in line with the First Team.

We also need to start winning Trophies soon, so players who have no affinity with us start to look at us as an attractive place to achieve the aims and goals they have for their careers, rather than just as an overblown cash cow with no history of success.

Once we address these issues, we'll be on the way to Barca's model - still a long, long distance off, but at least on the right path.

Great points. I don't expect us to be Barca - but somewhere something has gone wrong and we now have a fair few players who play for the wage packet and not the shirt, I hope over the next 10 years that we start moving towards the point of being a club top players want to join.

Yes we have come from being right down in the dumps - and now we find over club in this amazing position and yes we are a million miles away from being a team of Barca's ilk but as fans (well me at least) I would like to see the players show some passion for the club.

 

[Sigh]

I've noticed that whenever a young player is mentioned, it is ALWAYS followed by posters that say one or more of the following:

"Not good enough yet."
"Not good enough and never will be".
"Still much to learn."
"Some way off yet."

etc.

Sad state of affairs.

 

[Prestwich_Blue]

I think 90% of the players don't give a toss compared to how much the fans care. The problem is how does the club change this?

Pay them based on their performance. If you were a salesman and your OTE was 100k with the possibility of doubling that if you achieved 150% of your target, would you try as hard if your boss said in January "I'm sure you'll do it so here's your 200k?"

 

[Dux]

In late 2002 or early 2003 (can't remember exactly) I took notice of this club, which is strange because I wasn't really into football, at all. It was the World Cup year and I was still fairly new to the game. I was just starting to watch matches with genuine interest. Yet City still managed to get my attention somehow, around that time. I also remember watching Jimmy Grimble on cable. There was something special about Maine Road and the club as a whole. You could say that my interest in football started with City, because it fascinated me. There was something there which seperated it from all other clubs. I know now that I'll never be anything other than a City fan. You can't switch it off.

When things started to happen with the club, Shinawatra and all that jazz, I didn't know what to feel. Robinho arrived and left. Carlos Tevez arrived, handed in a transfer request and will probably leave in the summer. Adebayor arrived and couldn't be arsed, even though he makes more money a month than an entire neighbourhood, probably. Mario Balotelli arrived and sulks around. Would he go the distance for City? I doubt it. Would Kompany? You're damn right he would.

I turn to Kompany, Zabaleta, Hart and De Jong (forgot about him, I'll spank myself later.) when I need to be reminded of what I'm supporting. These are the players that were bought for modest fees and yet play the most important parts of our club. I'm sure many of you have another opinion about the matter, but these "mercenaries" (you know who) are really testing my faith. I'm starting to feel disillusioned about this so-called project, and I'm starting to think about that day when we actually DO win something. We've thrown 500M around and all of a sudden we're lifting a trophy. I mean, so what? I reminded about the Birmingham players, giving their all for 90 minutes and then running around like crazy when they realised they had actually won it. I can't imagine how their fans felt. How would we feel? Is the Carling Cup beneath us now?

Can you really manufacture a big club? Look at Chelsea. They're a big club, yes, but there is something about them that doesn't feel right. The same can be said about Real Madrid, despite their history. When you start to lose respect for your players, where does it end? My point is that we have a squad right now that I have very little respect for. I salute Kompany, Richards, Hart, Zabaleta and De Jong, they are true to the cause. Then there's the rest. Carlos Tevez have scored bucket loads for us and yet I still can't respect him. If he does leave in the summer I will just shrug my shoulders. I don't give a shit, to be frank. If Balotelli wants to be at another club, whatever. I certainly wouldn't be fussed about him leaving. There's many other players of that sort. I'd rather have a lower-profile player - bought for a smaller sum - that would actually give his all and be proud of the shirt. If that ultimately would mean us losing out of a trophy, then so be it. I know people will disagree with me here, especially those who have waited for too long. I know there's a fair few who want a trophy no matter what the cost. I don't share that because I don't know that pain. I'm not like many others here, people born in City and raised City. I'm just an average fan from somewhere else in the world, watching matches over the Internet.

But I am concerned and I do get offended when players disrespect the shirt, either through childish behaviour or laziness.

 

[redmizzle]

You're not alone .....

Garther Barry reckons his team mates just don't care either!







Barry, who has accused his team-mates of failing to take responsibility against Fulham, admits that a top-four place is now the priority - although City can find solace in their continued involvement in the Europa League and FA Cup.

"It was strange [against Fulham]," he said. "The atmosphere wasn't really there. Everybody seemed to be waiting for everybody else to do something.

"Once we got the goal, I thought it would kick-start us and we would go and get another one. But then they scored and we found it difficult to break them down. If you are going to challenge for the title, you have to win games like this at home.

"The cup competitions have been important to us all season, although fourth spot in the league is our main target."

Personally i thought that line refered to the fans as much as the players.

 

[LoveCity]

Some ideas to change that, not entirely realistic though...

1. Make youth products the core of the side. Wouldn't that be nice but totally unrealistic right now. Our academy is years away from the point where we may be able to produce first team starters regularly.

2. Specifically identify targets with the fighting mentality like De Jong, Silva, Kompany, and Zabaleta. A problem is these are often not "Grade A" ready-made players so you have to take a risk on them, but those four have been excellent signings. De Jong and Kompany have developed into two of the top players in Europe in their position while at our club and Silva already was but is a rare luxury of a top class player without the arrogant mercenary-esque ego. BTW, I think Dzeko could also be one of those rare luxuries when he settles, he has an excellent work ethic.

3. A ruthless manager who can almost brainwash a certain mentality into the players. Mancini is trying but is in a difficult situation where he has often signed players from bigger or equal clubs than us so some of them like Yaya and Balotelli seem to have problems believing they should bleed for their shirt. Adebayor, Robinho, Yaya, and Balotelli are examples of gifted players but who don't (or didn't in two cases) feel the need to give 100% regularly so you only saw glimpses. Yaya at times seems to care a bit then at others plods around, seemingly pondering how to spend his wages this week.

 

[VOOMER]

I've noticed that whenever a young player is mentioned, it is ALWAYS followed by posters that say one or more of the following:

"Not good enough yet."
"Not good enough and never will be".
"Still much to learn."
"Some way off yet."

etc.

Sad state of affairs.

Dude the last decent crop was back with the brightwell's, white, redmond, hinchcliffe and lake. The rest has been in dribs and drabs, or simply poached. Despite all the plaudits Jim Cassel, was hamstrung by the constant change in direction and woefull profile that the club had. The truth is that in terms of youth developement, we have been developing players to help us survive. These players won't be capable of breaking into a team designed to win things, but this like everything else will change.

 

[briand]

I said this in another thread yesterday and it is something that does worry me.
The only way to stop the players from lack of effort or not caring enough is to dock thier wages (which is never going to happen in modern day football) if they don't put in a shift on the pitch. Against Fulham on Sunday with 15 mins to go all we as fans want to see is our players running and busting a gut to try get the ball back and and win the game. That didn't happen and it just angers me concidering the money these guys are getting.

 

[kalouk]

I agree with Dux post above. It said it all to me on Sunday when the one busting a gut and trying to get the team going was Zab, a team player. Half of our team have great individual talent but for me are not team players willing to go above and beyond. Watching Birmingham at the weekend it did strike me that I couldn't see that sort of heart coming from most of our players.They were dead on their feet but they kept on and how much did that trophy mean to them! I can't see Balo or YaYa feeling the same they have already been there and done that. Obviously we need some players with exceptional talent but I think we also need players with heart and passion, we have a few at the moment, but I think we need more because on paper we might say they aren't good enough but what they could add to the team could be priceless.

 

[UweGoater]

What footballers do care though...

When we were terrible under pearce you rekon they cared...

At least were 3rd in the league. we were lucky not to go down and they didnt care!

we'll win tomorrow night and sunday is all forgotten! i hope!