??% Villa - how bad are Citeh for football?

[richardhubbard]

How many Citeh threads do we need , who gives a shit

[Concrete John]

But we have to be honest and admit that in a way, we are a mini-Man City. Randy has been generous to the club but it is has been Sugar Daddy money, not money earned from drawing extra crowds and sponsorship deals, that paid for Milner, Young, Dunne and all the rest of our bought in stars. Yes, we have also attempted to balance this with a great youth policy, a strong charitable link and some of the most reasonable ticket prices in the top division but though I loathe Man City I have to say that we are not whiter than snow when it comes to trying to buy success. Blackburn, Newcastle and other clubs (Wolves even) have been in similar situations with wealthy backers but the Man City phenomenon is in a different league.

Don't agree with that.

Take it away from football for a minute and what you have is an established and successful business man buying a company, which he then invests in.  Same for us and Man City thus far.  Where we start to differ is Randy has now slowed up the investment side and is looking for the business to stand on it's own two feet and make a return, while the other lot are still throwing ridiculous sums of money around that they can never conceivably be make a return upon.  A little push to get the ball rolling or a continual funding with no care as to whether they make money or not - that's the difference between us and Man City!!   

[JUAN PABLO]

the arabs have invested 1 billion into that club...  What do they expect....

anyway  FOOK em 

[pauliewalnuts]

Too many Manchester Shitting City threads.

[TheSandman]

A quote from my colleague, who after pointing me to the BBC website informed me that "Manchester City's second team is better than Aston Villa's first."

For those of you who haven't seen it, the link and image in particular are below.

"Can Roberto Mancini keep sizable squad happy?" - BBC Sport



What gets me the most is that he rejected my statement of "...but Man City have spent over £300M in 3 years ... Villa haven't."

What else can I say? Yes, their second squad is of better 'quality' than ours, but they still don't play like a team, and (I hope) won't win jack shit.

IMHO, it's all over-inflated-money-jockies who never really wanted to play for Man City apart from the 100% pay rise (ie. Barry).


Discuss so I can fire more back at him.

He's a Man Utd fan who lives in Smethwick, FYI.

What do you expect? They've spent a bajillion pounds.

I hope their club implodes and they finish 11th and cup-less.

God I despair at the state of the game.

[Concrete John]

A quote from my colleague, who after pointing me to the BBC website informed me that "Manchester City's second team is better than Aston Villa's first."

For those of you who haven't seen it, the link and image in particular are below.

"Can Roberto Mancini keep sizable squad happy?" - BBC Sport



What gets me the most is that he rejected my statement of "...but Man City have spent over £300M in 3 years ... Villa haven't."

What else can I say? Yes, their second squad is of better 'quality' than ours, but they still don't play like a team, and (I hope) won't win jack shit.

IMHO, it's all over-inflated-money-jockies who never really wanted to play for Man City apart from the 100% pay rise (ie. Barry).


Discuss so I can fire more back at him.

He's a Man Utd fan who lives in Smethwick, FYI.

Therefore his opinion is about as relevant as Geri Haliwell speaking about the state of the world economy.  Ignore him, other than to remind him we won at the theatre of dysentery last season - any excuse.

[JUAN PABLO]

Given wont be their for long...         Its all going to implode at that club...
They are getting rid of their best players and replacing them with overpaid foreign  players who have come for the money, not the club... you cant keep all those players happy...  most of those players will soon be throwing their Ferraris out of the pram....    including the manager.....     

[Beijing Villan]

John M - I agree with your point and I was going to include a comment that we are now looking to balance the books etc. but I thought my post was lengthy enough!

But from the standpoint of clubs like Wigan or Bolton, they could say that they could not compete with our wallet, or rather Randy's wallet, for players like Dunne, Ashley or Milner. Those type of clubs are in a different financial league to us the same way that all clubs are now in a different financial league to Fantasy Football Man City. Hence from the perspective of having a greater freedom to spend we could have been seen as a mini-Man City.

My intention was not in any way to knock Mr Lerner. I think he has been a great owner of the club and he clearly wishes to do things the right way. He has also not been adverse to splashing out the cash in ways that other clubs could not match when he thought is was the right thing to do for his/our club.

I agree that the key difference is that Randy has a businessman's perspective with regards to return on investment and that the Sheiks look willing to spend crazy money with little or no expectation of realistic returns. Man City is now a plaything, an Arabian status symbol, little more than the crass show of opulance that is a Vertu phone.

[cdbearsfan]

Boateng isn't a centre-half is he?

Warnock's better than Bridge. Dunne, Collins, Cuellar and Clark are all better than Lescott. My nan's better than Vieira now. De Jong's not better than Petrov or Ireland. Wright-Phillips isn't as good as Young or Albrighton (or Downing if he plays like he did last week).  Robinho's a good player... for Brazil, but doesn't want to play for them.

Conclusion: he's talking shite.

[The Situation]

Boateng isn't a centre-half is he?

He is, but he can also play right-back too. His normal position is centre-back but for Germany he plays right-back, probably because Germany already have two good centre-backs.

[olaftab]

Very bad I hope they  self implode very very soon along with Ckelsea.

[hilts_coolerking]

Too many Manchester Shitting City threads.

Almost as many as Tottenham Shitting Hotspur threads.

[Jimbo]

I've been on a business appointment this morning to an arab owned venture (won't mention the name, but it's associated with Dolphins and God!!) and I'm still trying to come to terms with what I've seen. This is a money-no-object operation and it's an unbelievable set up which dwarfs any similar business which I've seen. If that's what vast Arab money can do then it's  hardly surprising that football players want a piece of it.
Today I've seen some of the best race horses in the World - not just one or two but dozens, and fields with their offspring worth millions all kept in opulent surroundings. This business is completely dominant in it's market, and if Citeh get a fraction of the success these lot have it will be scary.

I met a Lebanese 'celebrity' chef and his business manager at a restaurant in Beirut a few weeks ago, and they told me about a food festival they'd been invited to cook at in Abu Dhabi. They were based in the Yas Hotel on Abu Dhabi's Yas Island complex, of F1 fame. The chef told me that the first thing that struck him as being odd, was that the ovens in the vast kitchens were permanently fired up, 24 hours a day. He said that would never happen in a real kitchen as it would cost too much. Then he noticed the lack of people attending the festival. In fact, there was a distinct lack of guests at the hotel. When he asked the organisers of the event about this, they told him that the Yas Hotel - in fact Yas Island itself - was not built for people. It was built for prestige, first and foremost. If people come, then great. But they can get along just fine without them. In many ways this approach is reflected in Man City. It's not for people, it's for prestige.   

[BannedUserIAT]

That is simply amazing. And, as you say, probably an excellent gauge as to the mindset of the people running Man City.

[LeeS]

What's even more disgusting is that the poor sod's who built Yas island were treated as virtual slaves, made to work in dangerous conditions, paid a pittance and then discarded. The wealth is retained for the uber-rich. It is an utter violation of humanity.

Any Man Shitty fan who tells me I'm just jealous can take their despicable owners and shove them up a camel's arse.