This is not sour grapes but I think yesterday's result is a perfect example of how money has completely ruined football. Cast your minds back to the inaugural Premiership season and NCFC were more than a match for anyone. We were a well run club, with a good manager and always bringing players through the youth set up. Fast forward to the current world of mega bucks sheikhs and sugar daddys and teams like Norwich have probably got absolutely no chance of winning anything or even breaking into the top six. Success for Norwich is now regarded as a matter of survival in the top flight. When the all the mercenaries at Manchester City finally deliver the Premiership title, won't it feel a bit of a hollow victory for the fans, a bit like when Blackburn and Chelsea bought the title? No disrespects to Manchester City fans as you are obviously enjoying your new found success. I just wish we could bring back the old days....
Simcanary, I agree 110% with that. (?) Jack Walker at Blackburn started the financial imbalance which threatens to change/ ruin the game forever - but at least he was a self-made businessman with a passion for his local club. Now the influx of Arab shekels, USA dollars etc is/has changed the game forever. Fast forward 10 years and I'd say it's unlikely divisions 1 or 2 will exist as professional teams. Desparately sad for everyone outside the top two divisions. In fact I wish this mooted 'European Super League' would hurry up and arrive, taking both Manchester clubs, Liverpool, Arsenal etc with it - leaving the rest of us with a much more level playing field, which we had, as you say, twenty years ago, where anybody could beat anyone else on their day
Lads, agree with this entirely, although if the big investors suddenly pull out; (do I mean investors, they're never going to make money) and leave the teams in huge debts, they will be able to pay them off, by selling on players, so it comes back to a more level playing field (this is clearly just wishful thinking) The notion of a self financing team that can win the PL is a thing of the past, something really sad about that/
Totally agree on how money has ruined it all although it may be rose tinted glasses from the years between 85 and 94 when everything seemed possible.
Add in the forest years, and derby in the early 70's under an excellent manager. Talent won out, or nearly did. Not just rose tinted glasses, it was that anything was possible and you didn't need to be massively bankrolled
Agree with all the replies. Years ago it was all about the successful running of the club, i.e. good manager, good youth team set up. You didn't need huge money signings to be successful.
I thought I had heard everything, there is some nonsense talked on here how many of your team yesterday came through your youth ranks? You mean you actually go out and buy players in order to compete? I expect you all to be protesting outside your ground on Monday morning! The difference is some teams can afford to buy real quality players, some can't such is life I am afraid, some people shop at poundland other in Harrods. I guess you will want your club to hand back all the money the Prem will give to them, and if you get relegated you won't want the parachute payments? Why does the Prem have so much money? Because a world wide audience pays good money to see some of the best players playing in a competitive league, now cut out the sanctimonious sour grapes you knew (or should have done) the league you were coming into, it was a pretty even bet that you would get thrashed at least once most newly promoted teams usually do. As a City fan I am over the Blue Moon there was no way on this earth we could have arrived at this juncture without the investment, the Prem has never been a level playing field it was not designed to be that way! Sure you will get a few old blokes who are nostalgic for the past, but ask them if they are unhappy watching the fantastic football on display week in week out. I wish you well, and hope you manage to stay in the Prem
Also read the posts accurately, the question posed was would city fans be even happier if they won with mancunians captaining them a la paul power
Ducado - I don´t think any of us are bemoaning the fact that we lost, we deserved to lose, we were almost always going to lose, but that´s precisely the point some of us are trying to make. The days of the level playing field are long gone, and I guarantee I could find you as many `old blokes` who´ve given up watching and following football because so many games are one-sided, and results a foregone conclusion, as there are who enjoy the ´fantastic´ football on view. In my opinion, if we can hang on to 17th spot, that would be far more creditable, and a far greater achievement, than you or anyone else for that matter, buying your way to the title. That seems to illustrate better than anything, the sad state that football has gotten itself into.
It`s the same with QPR going on about Chelski being a plastic club owned by a Russian billionaire..... Now they have Tony Ferrino ,they were saying we are jealous of their money and in 5 years they will be a global brand..... The word used for Man City is VULGAR
Attendances have actually gone up in the Prem. It's the sheer breathtaking hypocrisy that really gets me, sure you don't have the money that we have got, nor the same type of money that many other clubs have got, but you still buy and sell players, just on a different level. As for level playing field, I guess it was OK when it was just 3 clubs winning everything, and dominating the transfer market, and dominate it they did, now there are in theory 6 clubs who could win the Prem title this year. The smaller clubs never had a chance under the old system, it was still the same big 3 that dominated! But you get a load more money for the privilege, you also get to see some great football, it's the way it is and it seems to be working for them all, every club gets paid handsomely, the TV revenues keep rising, the audience figures keep rising. You really do sound like sore losers, I can gurentee that should you be threatened with relegation some of you will be on here saying you will be glad of it, Blackpool fans were the same, funny how they all want to get back up again
Hmm, two posts, both missing the point entirely. It's not clubs having more money than others thats the issue. The 'big' clubs will always have more and be able to afford better players, it's just that now the gulf has become so huge because of the size of the outside investment that it takes away the 'sport'.
I must have dreamed of Crystal Palace beating Man United and Blackpool beating Liverpool twice last season not to mention Stoke getting to the FA Cup Final and finishing in a good position, to be honest you lot just sound like sore and jealous losers, your team played crap simple fact of the matter, wrong tactics we had 78% possession in the first half yes 78%, if you play like that against most team in the prem the results will be the same, it was very quiet there yesterday because from the get go, it was apparent that you were just going to try and park the bus, if was boring to watch
If you re-read the op I'm sure you'll see it aint sour grapes. Man City were by far the better side from start to finish, and totally deserved their comfortable win. Plenty of comments elsewhere on these pages that say the same thing.
Ducado, try and keep up and follow the thread mate. It was boring for you, watching your billion pound investment in your renamed ground, you are sounding like the new prawn eating brigade , when all anyone was trying to do was actually have a conversation about the overall state of football.
Ducado, I am really not sure you have grasped the point that people are trying to make. No one has said that Manchester City didn't deserve to win! Yes Crystal Palace did beat Man United - not the first team of course as Man United along with most of the other top teams don't really have a lot of time for the League Cup. Yes Stoke did reach the FA cup final but they didn't win it did they? Blackpool surprised some teams last season but their style of play was eventually found out and the rest is history. The fact is that teams that do not have huge sums at their disposal will not be successful, unlike years ago.
Ducado, you must have heard numerous pundits say that the prem is now "made up of two, maybe three mini-leagues" The top six - top 4 before you guys and Spurs joined the party, will continue to win 90% of silverware, purely because nobody else can compete on that level. Having said that, why don't the élite top six just go and form a breakaway league, one where they can parade their extravagant riches every week to that global audience of trillions. Leaving the remaining 14 clubs to battle it out on a playing surface which would then have been considerably levelled. I'm no sore loser, christ we've laost games 1 - 5 over the years, but when your substitutes are worth more than our entire squad it becomes a bit like damage limitation for clubs like ours, and not overly attractive for anyone to watch, as a result.
Okay fellas go easy on Ducado, he only joined today! Let's be kind to a new visitor and let him find his way around! Stay a while and chill Ducado, you'll find we are gentle folk and not at all jealous of your new found wealth!
