Spurs fan in peace, addressing any City fans who skived off from work today due to 'terrible headaches and blurred vision'. First off- well done on the thumping victory. David Silva is awesome. Being utterly ignorant of the basic tenets of economics, i wanted to pose the following question: What exactly are the sheiks aiming to get at the end of this very expensive experiment they are currently conducting? Logic would dictate that they seek financial gain as well as worldwide recognition. But let's take a look at the coffers of your dear rivals. Like it or not, Utd have dominated english football for nigh on 2 decades. In addition to regular EPL titles, they have been shipping in trophies and awards by the lorry-load. Like it or not, they remain a FAR more widely "supported" team than City (especially where I come from in London!), and have an international fan base that makes Lady Gaga's look like a small private funeral for family members only. Put simply, their revenue from TV rights, trophies and club merchandise is astronomical. And just recently, there was great fanfare as it was announced that the club had taken in a record-breaking annual profit of <drum roll smiley>...... £110.9m Call me Ebeneezer Scrooge, but in today's crazy game, that is NOT a lot of money. That would buy you Lionel Messi plus a year or two's wages. Finito. The sheiks probably use that sort of money as toilet paper. More than that, the recent flotation of United shares in Singapore indicates that things are NOT as financially stable as the Glazers would have you believe. Compare to the situation at City, where your wage bill alone already EXCEEDED United's ENTIRE profit, LAST YEAR (£133m). I shudder to think what heights it has hit this season, with the arrival of Aguero, Nasri and co. Transfer fees FAR exceed United's, signing-on fees are exorbitant, you're apparently about to begin construction of a whopping great big academy and training ground so brand-spankingly new and shiny you could put it in a tin and call it Mr.Muscle. I'll quickly get to the point b/c you're probably too hungover to continue reading this drivel, but HOW ON EARTH will the Mansours EVER turn over a profit from their expensive little toy? United have been taking in far more revenue than you for 2 decades, spending (slightly) less on wages and less on transfer fees. They haven't built a new stadium, nor have they built a whole club town adjacent to Old Trafford. And yet, they still struggle to show a decent profit (hence the fanfare when that figure was announced in August 2011). It looks like a power-shift is occurring in the EPL. Perhaps City will eventually come to dominate Europe too. But so what? No amount of trophies or TV rights or merchandise or fans or awards seem to turn the financial tide. It would seem (and this is where i need the economics advice) that your wage-bill and transfer fees/other investments will ALWAYS outweigh income. So, Sheik Mansour, what exactly are you hoping to accomplish with your new toy?
As i said in the cross board thread posted earlier (where did it go?), he is going to take us to the top of the PL then with the money we earn buy all the sugar in the country, he is then going to give a little to all you bitter ****s so you can sprinkle it on your sour grapes. Have a nice evening.
Thank you father. I shall. Please see my reply to your post on the original thread (you can still access it on the spurs board). Put simply, Im not at all bitter. Its up to you to believe me on that. My point was- and you illustrate it nicely here- that "going to the top of the premiership", as your rivals have been proving for over 2 decades, CANNOT "buy all the sugar in the country". It just does. not. work. I honestly do not begrudge for a second the investment Mansour has poured into you club- having the likes of David Silva and Yaya Toure in the PL can only be a good thing. However, it seems as clear as mud that the sheik WILL NOT make a penny of profit out of this project, and therefore (i asked), WHAT are his aims and long term goals?
Thanks for accusing me of being a racist mc72, much appreciated. As for bitterness, City have actually been my '2nd team' since the day i bumped into Shaun Goater, SWP and Eyal Berkovic in a restaurant up there and had a thoroughly enjoyable conversation with them. That was 10 years ago. Since both a newbie and a mod have taken such offence at what is little more than a polite and civil question (I've enclosed my reply to your Mod below), I'll just retreat with my dignity and intelligence intact. All the best for the rest of the season, and please take some points off arsenal & liverpool for us!
TBH i would rather not so will take your word for it I guess as money probably means little to him as he has so much it is the challenge of taking a mid table club to the top and keeping them there.
more about winning than money. winning is at sport is like winning a battle (arguably one has replaced the other to an extent) much like Kings of England cared not about expense when fighting the French the oil rich care not about expense when winning the premier league. Fighting over the 'best league in football' is a modern equivalent of fighting over the most plentiful land I also doubt it is anything to do with the challenge of taking a club from mid table to the top, there is no challenge in that when you can buy players in an unlimited fashion, also, surely, if challenge was the goal then the sheiks would have started with a non-league club. So, I believe it is solely to do with ego and power. Nothing to do with sport, nothing to do with business
That is the reason they are spending all that money on building 1 of the finest academys in the world. So that they can scour the world and look for the best youingsters and bring them through the acadamy and thus savea huge fortune on developing their own players as opposed to buying them.
