The Milner Novela... Final episode page 296

[The Situation]

Yes, I know all that, but now they have so much money that all normal football thinking goes out of the window. If we are REALLY lucky then Man City will fail to get into the Chumps League this season and the owners will get bored and throw their cash at something else, but in all likelihood they will just carry on buying everything until they win lots of stuff.

Man City are not just rich enough to buy good players in the hope they gel, they are also clever enough to know that dangling their riches in front of the better players from their rivals will ensure they have less challengers for that fourth spot.

Perhaps, not so clever as I think giving us £25-30m will make us stronger.

Well we don't know that we'll get £25-30 million for a start, and when a player starts the whole "I want to leave" thing the price can drop (and yes I know about Barry and Liverpool!).
The thing is, will £25-30 million make us stronger than Man City, Spurs and (maybe) Arsenal? Not forgetting that the first thing we have to do with that £25-30 million is replace one of our best midfielders?

I thought we were going to get Ireland in part exchange? It'd be completly pointless selling Milner at a high price and then go out and expect us to try and sign someone worth that value. Tbh, I'd just be happy with £20 million plus Ireland, we don't need to stretch this one out. Accept the £20 million and get Ireland then move onto new targets.

[PaulTheVillan]

He mentions money here

[curiousorange]

I agree, part-ex is the way forward. But looking at the General's comments re: sell-to-buy, it's not so much the transfer fee as the wages that we're trying to get a handle on. So Ireland, who as a former City player of the year and first-teamer, would have been put on a generous wage by City to keep him at the club. Now he's surplus to requirements, would he need to take a massive drop in wages to come down the M6? And if Barry came back, we'd have to have some sort of wage-matching incentive thing. All these issues go far beyond the actual 'fee' being bandied about.

[eamonn]

The key for Abramovich was appointing Mourinho, to date Mancini has done nothing to suggest he's in that class.

He's not as good as Mourinho maybe, but three successive Serie A titles isn't the mark of a shit manager.

Those titles were in the wake of calciopoli though which saw one of their main rivals, Juve, automatically relegated and AC suffered too (points deduction I think?).
I remember two years ago the toughest game Inter had had in a long time saw them surrender meekly to Liverpool in the last 16 of the Chumps League. This hastened his demise and despite winning Serie A in 2008 it was more due to a lack of competition from the rest rather than great managing, and Mourinho has already usurped him there in half the time.

I think he's too green for the Premier League.

[TheSandman]

I agree, part-ex is the way forward. But looking at the General's comments re: sell-to-buy, it's not so much the transfer fee as the wages that we're trying to get a handle on. So Ireland, who as a former City player of the year and first-teamer, would have been put on a generous wage by City to keep him at the club. Now he's surplus to requirements, would he need to take a massive drop in wages to come down the M6? And if Barry came back, we'd have to have some sort of wage-matching incentive thing. All these issues go far beyond the actual 'fee' being bandied about.

Most sources suggest Ireland is desperate to leave City. No top clubs have expressed interest and so he will have to take a pay cut to come to someone like us.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

How ever much I liked him, he is not worth the money we can  get for him, and lets move on.

MON wants 3 top players to come straight into the team and knows who he wants , so lets sell the fooker and get things moving.

I know MON wants Ireland in the deal.

I agree with you about Milner and I hope you're right, JP. Who ever we sign needs to be good enough to go straight in the team. No more squad fillers, thank you very much. I do hope Ireland is heading to B6. It's about time we pissed off the groundsman and start using the middle of the pitch.

Hopefully the McGready story is just a piss take.

[Macho Man Randy Savage]

Milner can join the club of mercenaries... at the end of the day we'll be the ones who are laughing with £25-30 million in the bank and also taking Stephen Ireland at the same time.

It's sad that Milner has been sucked into the most maniacal, narcissistic, hated football club in the world. More fool Milner when Man City come up with another shocking tactic next season spending another £100 million after they fail to qualify for the Champions League again leaving him thinking sitting on the bench "what the fuck am I doing at this joke club?".

Or polishing his medals. Which at the moment looks more likely.

I'd say somewhere in the middle - 3rd/4th place with potential league cup win.

[Chris Jameson]

football is well and truly fucked...

Has been for a long time.

[march]

Milner can join the club of mercenaries... at the end of the day we'll be the ones who are laughing with £25-30 million in the bank and also taking Stephen Ireland at the same time.

It's sad that Milner has been sucked into the most maniacal, narcissistic, hated football club in the world. More fool Milner when Man City come up with another shocking tactic next season spending another £100 million after they fail to qualify for the Champions League again leaving him thinking sitting on the bench "what the fuck am I doing at this joke club?".

Or polishing his medals. Which at the moment looks more likely.

people said that Barry would be in the CL and maybe medals that did not work out.

Milner is taking a huge risk, check out the City forums, hardly falling over themselves with glee. Man city start off anything other than top 2 (they want the title this season not just CL) then new manager and all changes.

Of course Milner could win the lot and play every game, we will see

[nechells]

That's all very well, but according to an article in the Independent right at the very beginning of this saga, and which I posted here, sources at Man City said they were confident of getting Milner, but did not think it would happen until very late in the transfer window.

It is not stretching things too far to see that they will be quite happy to let this drag on as long as possible before coughing up the necessary dosh as it will fuck us, one of their rivals,  big time. The Liverpool/Barry business is not a good analogy because they were relatively cash strapped.

Looking at it this way, the question is how valuable each passing week is. That is, suppose we get an extra 5 million  by waiting until  5 days before the deadline closes; what would be the opportunity cost in terms of possible transfers in?

If the Independant know this and you know this then theres a strong chance of MON knowing this.You have to understand that quite often,the press are used by various parties in these sagas as a tool for turning the screw.It might even be an educated guess by the paper as many deals are not finalised untill the end of a particular window.

Milner only played around half the season in centre midfield-I'm sure we coped ok before he played there.We have several options already including a change of formation so don't get overly worried about not replacing Milner within 30 seconds of his departure-If MON wants a replacement then I'm sure things are in place for a bid once Milner leaves.

The point about Liverpool/Barry was our resolve to sit it out-Something I hope we do with Man City & not cave in to them because they are not "cash strapped" as you put it.We do not sell now at a lower price just because big bad Man City are flexing their muscels.We are in the driving seat my friend.

[curiousorange]

At some point City will win something. And it's likely to be soon so the players that moved there will feel justified. No matter how grotesque you find it, the only way we can compete with them is directly on the pitch when we're playing against them.

[Macho Man Randy Savage]

Milner can join the club of mercenaries... at the end of the day we'll be the ones who are laughing with £25-30 million in the bank and also taking Stephen Ireland at the same time.

It's sad that Milner has been sucked into the most maniacal, narcissistic, hated football club in the world. More fool Milner when Man City come up with another shocking tactic next season spending another £100 million after they fail to qualify for the Champions League again leaving him thinking sitting on the bench "what the fuck am I doing at this joke club?".

Or polishing his medals. Which at the moment looks more likely.

people said that Barry would be in the CL and maybe medals that did not work out.

Milner is taking a huge risk, check out the City forums, hardly falling over themselves with glee. Man city start off anything other than top 2 (they want the title this season not just CL) then new manager and all changes.

Of course Milner could win the lot and play every game, we will see

Man City's prospects are realistically better than ours but in a way I'm surprised Milner wants to go there. I think if he waited another year Man Utd would come in with a bid which would be a much better career move for him.

[march]

Milner can join the club of mercenaries... at the end of the day we'll be the ones who are laughing with £25-30 million in the bank and also taking Stephen Ireland at the same time.

It's sad that Milner has been sucked into the most maniacal, narcissistic, hated football club in the world. More fool Milner when Man City come up with another shocking tactic next season spending another £100 million after they fail to qualify for the Champions League again leaving him thinking sitting on the bench "what the fuck am I doing at this joke club?".

Or polishing his medals. Which at the moment looks more likely.

people said that Barry would be in the CL and maybe medals that did not work out.

Milner is taking a huge risk, check out the City forums, hardly falling over themselves with glee. Man city start off anything other than top 2 (they want the title this season not just CL) then new manager and all changes.

Of course Milner could win the lot and play every game, we will see

Man City's prospects are realistically better than ours but in a way I'm surprised Milner wants to go there. I think if he waited another year Man Utd would come in with a bid which would be a much better career move for him.

Or Chelsea when fat Frank is 33

Man City is something so unknown it is a risk for anyone but the wages help and the signing on fee. No one is certain of trophies but look at Dunne for how he found leaving was the better option.

What happens if they got CL or won the league as I think is possible, they will look to get the real world stars exactly in Milner's position, maybe the PL medal is worth that.

[Karl Bridges]

So Ireland, who as a former City player of the year and first-teamer, would have been put on a generous wage by City to keep him at the club. Now he's surplus to requirements, would he need to take a massive drop in wages to come down the M6?

As he hasn't asked to leave no doubt he will trouser a fat loyalty bonus to soften the blow of being paid a bit less elsewhere.



http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/may/13/stephen-ireland-manchester-city-new-contract

[march]

So Ireland, who as a former City player of the year and first-teamer, would have been put on a generous wage by City to keep him at the club. Now he's surplus to requirements, would he need to take a massive drop in wages to come down the M6?

As he hasn't asked to leave no doubt he will trouser a fat loyalty bonus to soften the blow of being paid a bit less elsewhere.



http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/may/13/stephen-ireland-manchester-city-new-contract

exactly what happened with Sidwell who was on £70k a week at Chelsea

Ireland would have the choice of £90k a week and no games or £70k a week with games every week with his Irish mate at the club selling it to him.

The Dunne factor should not be underestimated