8th August

[Neil Mcnab]

The first game of the new season will be shortly upon us. We have bought 3 British players just because of their nationality. We all know the rules, they needed to come in. Who really wanted Delph or laughing gas? The lad from Fulham is a prospect.

For trying to win the league, or going anywhere in Europe, we have fallen behind our rivals. Burgerstain has and will continue to be a disaster. The club is fixated with getting Guardiola in. Why else would Burgerstain be still here?

A world class central midfield player is needed. What the Feck are we waiting for. If Pogba aint coming (overrated, overpriced), move on sharpish. (Delph, youre having a laff).

De Bruyne is a must now.

Didnt they spot a player at the Copa?

Pissed off big time.

[Rowley Birkin QC]

I think (and have always thought) that "laughing gas" was potentially a good buy for us. Think I posted on here during his break out year (the season before last) that Sterling was a player we should keep an eye on. Time will tell...

I agree about the "world class" central mid though. Yaya isn't getting any younger, or quicker.

[Stephen Paul]

i think sterling might step up that knotch playing quality players around him. another quality signing in midfield is required though

[Ludo]

Look at the players we had playing in wide positions over the last few seasons.

Nasri, Navas, Milner and Kolarov on occasions. Sterling's a step up from any of them. Delph may not be everyone's first choice but he's a hard working, industrious midfielder and certainly a better player than Fernando.

[nimrod]

Look at the players we had playing in wide positions over the last few seasons.

Nasri, Navas, Milner and Kolarov on occasions. Sterling's a step up from any of them. Delph may not be everyone's first choice but he's a hard working, industrious midfielder and certainly a better player than Fernando.

Fuckin well should be for 49 million quid

[Swiss]

oh shush, still plenty of time left, almost 3 weeks. Plenty of teams yet to complete their business.

We've still to sell player too.

Arsenal in for Dzeko, which surprises me as he doesn't fit in with a "footballing team".

[Ludo]

Look at the players we had playing in wide positions over the last few seasons.

Nasri, Navas, Milner and Kolarov on occasions. Sterling's a step up from any of them. Delph may not be everyone's first choice but he's a hard working, industrious midfielder and certainly a better player than Fernando.

Fuckin well should be for 49 million quid

What are you moaning about it's not your money.

We're rich, mega rich. Other clubs are going to put their arm in when it comes to transfer fees but so long as the Sheik's happy I'm happy.

[Swiss]

also, LFC drove the price up because of the sell on clause they had. They're only guaranteed £33mil from it if that makes you happier!

[nimrod]

Look at the players we had playing in wide positions over the last few seasons.

Nasri, Navas, Milner and Kolarov on occasions. Sterling's a step up from any of them. Delph may not be everyone's first choice but he's a hard working, industrious midfielder and certainly a better player than Fernando.

Fuckin well should be for 49 million quid

What are you moaning about it's not your money.

We're rich, mega rich. Other clubs are going to put their arm in when it comes to transfer fees but so long as the Sheik's happy I'm happy.

Im not moaning, just stating a fact ie he should be better than the others as he cost way more

why are you whinging about me stating a fact?

[The Blue Blooded Maniac]

Arsenal in for Dzeko, which surprises me as he doesn't fit in with a "footballing team".

Makes sense to me. They never replaced Bentner

[bluebrendan]

Look at the players we had playing in wide positions over the last few seasons.

Nasri, Navas, Milner and Kolarov on occasions. Sterling's a step up from any of them. Delph may not be everyone's first choice but he's a hard working, industrious midfielder and certainly a better player than Fernando.

Fuckin well should be for 49 million quid

What are you moaning about it's not your money.

We're rich, mega rich. Other clubs are going to put their arm in when it comes to transfer fees but so long as the Sheik's happy I'm happy.

Im not moaning, just stating a fact ie he should be better than the others as he cost way more

why are you whinging about me stating a fact?

So if we signed Messi on a Bosman he'd be worse than the rest of the squad because he cost nowt? 

[Ludo]

Look at the players we had playing in wide positions over the last few seasons.

Nasri, Navas, Milner and Kolarov on occasions. Sterling's a step up from any of them. Delph may not be everyone's first choice but he's a hard working, industrious midfielder and certainly a better player than Fernando.

Fuckin well should be for 49 million quid

What are you moaning about it's not your money.

We're rich, mega rich. Other clubs are going to put their arm in when it comes to transfer fees but so long as the Sheik's happy I'm happy.

Im not moaning, just stating a fact ie he should be better than the others as he cost way more

why are you whinging about me stating a fact?

Going on that warped piece of logic Fernando is a better player than Vinnie and Sergi's worse than Torres???

[nimrod]

Look at the players we had playing in wide positions over the last few seasons.

Nasri, Navas, Milner and Kolarov on occasions. Sterling's a step up from any of them. Delph may not be everyone's first choice but he's a hard working, industrious midfielder and certainly a better player than Fernando.

Fuckin well should be for 49 million quid

What are you moaning about it's not your money.

We're rich, mega rich. Other clubs are going to put their arm in when it comes to transfer fees but so long as the Sheik's happy I'm happy.

Im not moaning, just stating a fact ie he should be better than the others as he cost way more

why are you whinging about me stating a fact?

Going on that warped piece of logic Fernando is a better player than Vinnie and Sergi's worse than Torres???

you lost me now

[Tricky Trev]

Look at the players we had playing in wide positions over the last few seasons.

Nasri, Navas, Milner and Kolarov on occasions. Sterling's a step up from any of them. Delph may not be everyone's first choice but he's a hard working, industrious midfielder and certainly a better player than Fernando.

Fuckin well should be for 49 million quid

What are you moaning about it's not your money.

We're rich, mega rich. Other clubs are going to put their arm in when it comes to transfer fees but so long as the Sheik's happy I'm happy.

Oh god this forum, you couldn't even make a worse argument even if YOU TRIED. You godamn idiot.

[goat]

shoot em tex, that will show em


back to original point

can we offer much other than money for these world class players?

[Rowley Birkin QC]

can we offer much other than money for these world class players?

Which indeed is the point.

You don't become a big draw, glamour club overnight - or even five seasons. Especially not when you (re)start from the relatively low base we did. We're getting there, but it will take a few more Premierships and a couple of decent runs at the Champions League before big name players start falling over themselves to play for us irrespective of the money we offer.

At the moment all we have to offer (for the most part) is money. This is why we pay through the nose (it has little to do with the actual worth of the player), and this is why the prospect of playing for us doesn't immediately quicken the pulse of every star footballer doing the rounds. Yet some of you seem to think we are already Barcelona and judge every thing we do, every signing we make - on that false premise. It will happen - but we're not there yet.

[goat]

instead of looking for the big shiny toy we should do what we did a few years back

aguero was on the edge of  world class at a messy atletico and ill admit i knew silva was good but had no idea he was this good at not that huge valencia

best bet then is get a couple of these players and nudge them towards greatness. fuckload lot cheaper too

[Swiss]

The infrastructure is there, but we won't hit the big time until we win the Champs League.

instead of looking for the big shiny toy we should do what we did a few years back

aguero was on the edge of  world class at a messy atletico and ill admit i knew silva was good but had no idea he was this good at not that huge valencia

best bet then is get a couple of these players and nudge them towards greatness. fuckload lot cheaper too

You prob wont agree with me here, but isn't that what we've already done?

Delph & Sterling: Not there but have potential (Ok we paid over the odds for Sterling, but if he turns out as good as Bale and Ronaldo, then we've just saved £40m; I said if!).

We don't need Delph to be Xavi, but we do need him to be Makelele.

Then we've got the future:
Roberts, Faupala, Unal: Highly spoken of

Sums of money wise: Pogba, an almost there. And like Ludo says, we can't really bemoan the money we spend on the players as "we" don't spend it.

We haven't spent a penny on a player over 25 this window.

[goat]

i see your point but sterling cost about the price of dave and sergio

and delph isnt the same kind of quality, best i can see him being is a de jong that can move a bit more...which to be fair we do need


your future names are good, add to that pozo, the new zlatan lad they got from malmo and your nigerian lovechild and weve a good little group there when paddy v takes over

[Swiss]

Add "English" to Dave and Kun and you've got an extra £50 mil yet Dyke can't see the HG rule hikes the prices up... but then the money stays in the UK for a little while longer... We pretty much kept Everton and Villa afloat.

Delph's got some promising stats in that 66.5% of his passes were forward.

61 out of 74 "Take ons" were successful

[goat]

i ignore most of those stats, fernando..the shit one..had about 90 odd % but that counts 3 yard passes and sideways shit

[nimrod]

can we offer much other than money for these world class players?

Which indeed is the point.

You don't become a big draw, glamour club overnight - or even five seasons. Especially not when you (re)start from the relatively low base we did. We're getting there, but it will take a few more Premierships and a couple of decent runs at the Champions League before big name players start falling over themselves to play for us irrespective of the money we offer.

At the moment all we have to offer (for the most part) is money. This is why we pay through the nose (it has little to do with the actual worth of the player), and this is why the prospect of playing for us doesn't immediately quicken the pulse of every star footballer doing the rounds. Yet some of you seem to think we are already Barcelona and judge every thing we do, every signing we make - on that false premise. It will happen - but we're not there yet.

I can see this obviously and you've been saying it for a few seasons now, but I still think we didnt need to pay 49 million for RS, nobody else was in for him it seems and he practically went on strike AND he already lives in the north of England (so he wasnt swapping sunshine or bright lights of a Rome or Madrid) he's used to ice and freezing his balls off.
I can also see the point that the sheik is made of money so to him its like buying a loaf.........my point is it makes us look like spoilt brats and gives ammo to the ........well. everybody who doesnt support us, just because you can pay well over the odds doesnt mean you should, we shouldve played hardball, 35 mill take it or leave it, we always seem to make ourselves look dim.............if he turns out to be another Tranny, I'll eat my words. I guess time will tell........maybe he will be better with better players.

In the words of the great administrator Brendo, 'not a moan, an opinion'

[Swiss]

You're right. We could have let it drag on all summer with the hope lfc accept a lower offer and get a player with no pre-season under him and who hasn't trained with the squad. Or risk it falling apart and not signing him at all, us panicking and signing downing.... ha ha!

[Lekos]

can we offer much other than money for these world class players?

Which indeed is the point.

You don't become a big draw, glamour club overnight - or even five seasons. Especially not when you (re)start from the relatively low base we did. We're getting there, but it will take a few more Premierships and a couple of decent runs at the Champions League before big name players start falling over themselves to play for us irrespective of the money we offer.

At the moment all we have to offer (for the most part) is money. This is why we pay through the nose (it has little to do with the actual worth of the player), and this is why the prospect of playing for us doesn't immediately quicken the pulse of every star footballer doing the rounds. Yet some of you seem to think we are already Barcelona and judge every thing we do, every signing we make - on that false premise. It will happen - but we're not there yet.

I can see this obviously and you've been saying it for a few seasons now, but I still think we didnt need to pay 49 million for RS, nobody else was in for him it seems and he practically went on strike AND he already lives in the north of England (so he wasnt swapping sunshine or bright lights of a Rome or Madrid) he's used to ice and freezing his balls off.
I can also see the point that the sheik is made of money so to him its like buying a loaf.........my point is it makes us look like spoilt brats and gives ammo to the ........well. everybody who doesnt support us, just because you can pay well over the odds doesnt mean you should, we shouldve played hardball, 35 mill take it or leave it, we always seem to make ourselves look dim.............if he turns out to be another Tranny, I'll eat my words. I guess time will tell........maybe he will be better with better players.

In the words of the great administrator Brendo, 'not a moan, an opinion'

If it makes you feel any better, the Dippers did only get 35m of the fee...and then spent 32.5m of that on Benteke!   

[nimrod]

can we offer much other than money for these world class players?

Which indeed is the point.

You don't become a big draw, glamour club overnight - or even five seasons. Especially not when you (re)start from the relatively low base we did. We're getting there, but it will take a few more Premierships and a couple of decent runs at the Champions League before big name players start falling over themselves to play for us irrespective of the money we offer.

At the moment all we have to offer (for the most part) is money. This is why we pay through the nose (it has little to do with the actual worth of the player), and this is why the prospect of playing for us doesn't immediately quicken the pulse of every star footballer doing the rounds. Yet some of you seem to think we are already Barcelona and judge every thing we do, every signing we make - on that false premise. It will happen - but we're not there yet.

I can see this obviously and you've been saying it for a few seasons now, but I still think we didnt need to pay 49 million for RS, nobody else was in for him it seems and he practically went on strike AND he already lives in the north of England (so he wasnt swapping sunshine or bright lights of a Rome or Madrid) he's used to ice and freezing his balls off.
I can also see the point that the sheik is made of money so to him its like buying a loaf.........my point is it makes us look like spoilt brats and gives ammo to the ........well. everybody who doesnt support us, just because you can pay well over the odds doesnt mean you should, we shouldve played hardball, 35 mill take it or leave it, we always seem to make ourselves look dim.............if he turns out to be another Tranny, I'll eat my words. I guess time will tell........maybe he will be better with better players.

In the words of the great administrator Brendo, 'not a moan, an opinion'

If it makes you feel any better, the Dippers did only get 35m of the fee...and then spent 32.5m of that on Benteke!   

yeah it does, another Andy Carroll ffs

[Neil Mcnab]

"we shouldve played hardball, 35 mill take it or leave it"

Completely agree with this. Was anyone else going to buy him, or if they were, for more than that.

[Ludo]

Liverpool didn't need to sell.

We needed pacey, young, British talent.

We're loaded.

We bought him.

[Rowley Birkin QC]

If the price had been stick at 35 million I suspect there would have been a couple of late comers trying to hi-jack the deal.

But whatever... I don't really understand why the size of the fee bothers some people so much. If people think we shouldn't have bought Sterling because they think he's no good, then that's a fair enough opinion - but worrying about the odd 10 million here or there is fairly irrelevant for City. I think Ludo's last post sums the whole thing up succinctly.

[goat]

price annoyed me because im tight...even with other peoples money

read somewhere our arab lad makes 115k a minute , i doubt he will be that arsed

[nimrod]

If the price had been stick at 35 million I suspect there would have been a couple of late comers trying to hi-jack the deal.

But whatever... I don't really understand why the size of the fee bothers some people so much. If people think we shouldn't have bought Sterling because they think he's no good, then that's a fair enough opinion - but worrying about the odd 10 million here or there is fairly irrelevant for City. I think Ludo's last post sums the whole thing up succinctly.

just dont like being taken for a ride every time we buy someone

I used to negotiate contracts in my job and Im used to achieving the best deal, so its part of my dna, the way I was trained in the art of negotiation.
City being a company hugely in the public eye, it is important that they are perceived to be clever in their dealings, both for future deals and so as not to give ammunition to journalists/media. Every time he got the ball last night they (the commentators) were already calling him the $107 million man.
If someone else had entered the race for RS at 35 mill then we have a case for upping the ante, but as far as we know we were the only potential buyers.
I see the 'paying 10 million over the odds' as something that DOES matter, it will/could have a significant effect on future deals, and has an effect on our profit margin.

Its just an opinion though.

[Rowley Birkin QC]

I take your point (and it's a good one) regarding how City are perceived in terms of future deals, but I don"t think it will remain this way, as our success and profile increases. The rags spending ludicrous amounts of money (for the time) on Ferdinand and Rooney didn't do them much harm.