If we don't finish in the top 4.

[crossan]

But qualify for next season's Europa cup, do you regard this season as an unmitigating failure after the signings made and the change of manager?
I think it will be disappointing but another step forward towards us eventually winning silverware.
We need to be patient,we have been spoilt by all of the talk about getting in the worlds best players............we need classy players to help us progress.

[kinkylola]

Don't think it will be a failure if we get 5th ... even 6th.

People will mock us for spending money on "nothing" but in truth they will all be scared shitless. We finished completely out of Europe last season and we still managed to attract great talent and we will continue to do so.

The reality is that people's perceptions of us are changing. Player's perceptions as well. We are known. It isn't the end of the world that we aren't in the Chumps league yet, our progress is plain for all to see. A player will respect that nearly as much as being in the qualifying rounds of the chumps league, and they will come. We will attract big players because we can pay big fees and big salaries, and we have no where to go but up.

The only failure would be if we do not continue our progress next season

[Mike J]

i said in a thread a few weeks back, at the start of the season i would of been happy with 5th. but now if we lost 4th itd be a massive disappointment as we have been in such a good position in the race for it.

i still have faith though (wouldnt of thought that last weekend, i was a miserable bastard).

[FA cup winners 2006]

it will be such a blow if we dont finish 4th, its in our own hands now. finishing 4th this year was more important that any cup win, we need it to move onto the next level.

finishing 4th allows us to move onto the next level and leave the likes of liverpool and spurs behind and challenge chelsea and utd

if liverpool get taken over this summer then finishing 4th next year will be alot tougher

[saulman]

I've had a good time.

Ups, downs, inbetweens. New manager, old manager. Cup runs. Scum wins, scum defeats. Quality wins, astonishing defeats. Optimism, pesimism.

Typical City. Bring on next season, regardless of the finish.

[crossan]

I've had a good time.

Ups, downs, inbetweens. New manager, old manager. Cup runs. Scum wins, scum defeats. Quality wins, astonishing defeats. Optimism, pesimism.

Typical City. Bring on next season, regardless of the finish.

Great attitude there Saulman.............we are CITY forever no matter what.

[Original Dub]

Don't think it will be a failure if we get 5th ... even 6th.

People will mock us for spending money on "nothing" but in truth they will all be scared shitless. We finished completely out of Europe last season and we still managed to attract great talent and we will continue to do so.

The reality is that people's perceptions of us are changing. Player's perceptions as well. We are known. It isn't the end of the world that we aren't in the Chumps league yet, our progress is plain for all to see. A player will respect that nearly as much as being in the qualifying rounds of the chumps league, and they will come. We will attract big players because we can pay big fees and big salaries, and we have no where to go but up.

The only failure would be if we do not continue our progress next season

Cracking post. However the very upper echilon of players aged late 20's will not want to risk giving up champs league IMO.

[Blue in North London]

I've had a good time.

Ups, downs, inbetweens. New manager, old manager. Cup runs. Scum wins, scum defeats. Quality wins, astonishing defeats. Optimism, pesimism.

Typical City. Bring on next season, regardless of the finish.

Excellent post. IMO that's what it is all about. Entertainment, some top class football at times, lots of incident and drama, plenty of emotion and excitement. A great season. I'd put it up there with KKs party/promotion season as my favourite time to be a Blue. However, this time we have a real genuine hope of even more exciting times. The future is very bright. There's no way on earth I would have been happier if I had supported another team.

[Blue in North London]

I've had a good time.

Ups, downs, inbetweens. New manager, old manager. Cup runs. Scum wins, scum defeats. Quality wins, astonishing defeats. Optimism, pesimism.

Typical City. Bring on next season, regardless of the finish.

Excellent post. IMO that's what it is all about. Entertainment, some top class football at times, lots of incident and drama, plenty of emotion and excitement. A great season. I'd put it up there with KKs party/promotion season as my favourite time to be a Blue. However, this time we have a real genuine hope of even more exciting times. The future is very bright. There's no way on earth I would have been happier if I had supported another team.

[crossan]

What inspired me to start this thread was watching the second half of the 4-3 cup win at Spurs,Macken,Tarnat,SWP, et el.

[LookMumImOnMCF.net]

Part of me would be slightly disappointed. With the calibre of players we have now we should be challenging for titles. 5th would be a failure.

Though of course remembering the past and looking forward to our future, it's hard to stay too disappointed for long.

[HeyMark]

I'll be disappointed, but that just shows how far we have come in such a short space of time.

A few years ago we couldn't even have dreamed of finishing this high in the premier league.

It's going to happen for us eventually!

[yankmanc]

Part of me would be slightly disappointed. With the calibre of players we have now we should be challenging for titles. 5th would be a failure.

Though of course remembering the past and looking forward to our future, it's hard to stay too disappointed for long.

I hear this line of reasoning a lot and though I support our players I don't think it matches up with reality. Most of the big names that we've brought in have been second choice for top clubs (Tevez, Bridge, Toure, Vieira) or troubled/on their way out anyway (Adebayor). The couple of genuine starters that we poached from "smaller" clubs have had injury problems and/or hugely underperformed (Lescott, Santa Cruz). Our top performers were here last year and are not globally recognized worldbeaters by any stretch (Zabs, De Jong, Bellamy, Kompany). The only acquisition who has really fulfilled promise has had a couple of rough patches as well (Barry).

Given all of this, I actually think our squad right now worth about 4-6 place. In that sense we've overachieved and we're lucky to be in the mix for 4th.

BUT, if we don't get 4th I won't help but be disappointed because of the WAY that we arrived there:
- Liverpool's laughable season which won't happen too often
- Untd's last second winner and continued title challenge
- Losing out on 4th to Spurs!

Our squad at the moment is the kind of squad you can assemble with a good homegrown base plus some money. Champions League would allow us to add some recognized world class players and THEN we would be on our way for challenging for the league.

[LookMumImOnMCF.net]

Part of me would be slightly disappointed. With the calibre of players we have now we should be challenging for titles. 5th would be a failure.

Though of course remembering the past and looking forward to our future, it's hard to stay too disappointed for long.

I hear this line of reasoning a lot and though I support our players I don't think it matches up with reality. Most of the big names that we've brought in have been second choice for top clubs (Tevez, Bridge, Toure, Vieira) or troubled/on their way out anyway (Adebayor). The couple of genuine starters that we poached from "smaller" clubs have had injury problems and/or hugely underperformed (Lescott, Santa Cruz). Our top performers were here last year and are not globally recognized worldbeaters by any stretch (Zabs, De Jong, Bellamy, Kompany). The only acquisition who has really fulfilled promise has had a couple of rough patches as well (Barry).

Given all of this, I actually think our squad right now worth about 4-6 place. In that sense we've overachieved and we're lucky to be in the mix for 4th.

BUT, if we don't get 4th I won't help but be disappointed because of the WAY that we arrived there:
- Liverpool's laughable season which won't happen too often
- Untd's last second winner and continued title challenge
- Losing out on 4th to Spurs!

Our squad at the moment is the kind of squad you can assemble with a good homegrown base plus some money. Champions League would allow us to add some recognized world class players and THEN we would be on our way for challenging for the league.

Wowzers. I probably couldn't disagree more on your assessment of our signings! However that's getting off topic.

I see the strength in your argument but I think if we compare or squad, man for man, with United's, Arsenal's, Spurs's we stack up. Plus Spurs have had similar circumstances to what you argue and they spent most of their money at a club that's bottom of the league!

I'm also not convinced that getting into 4th will bring great players flooding in, but again, that's another issue.

[carl_feedthegoat]

Mancini was brought in to get 4th and if he doesnt then I want Mourinho....if we cant get Mourinho then stick with Mancini.

Brutal but fair Imo.

[Sister of fu]

I've had a good time.

Ups, downs, inbetweens. New manager, old manager. Cup runs. Scum wins, scum defeats. Quality wins, astonishing defeats. Optimism, pesimism.

Typical City. Bring on next season, regardless of the finish.

Great attitude there Saulman.............we are CITY forever no matter what.

Got to agree where ever we finish you know damm well we will all be back and taking on the world and Salford!!

[brite blu sky]

think that is pretty cynical yankmanc tbh.
i rekon most fans would be disappointed now mainly because we are in the position that we are in now.
If you took what the expectations were at the beginning of the season im not sure that many fans would not be that disappointed with 5th. In fact for me anyways if we got 5th i would only be slightly disappointed that we didn't achieve more than what it looked like we might at the start of the season.
I dont agree that a lot of our players are second rate at all, on the contrary we have some quality players and the main reason for not achieving more this season is more to do with forming a team and all that goes with it.
It is easy to get overexcited with expectation and then not see the wood for the trees. As a team in formation and a club in process of change we are doing perhaps better than we should be, especially after swapping managers half way through. IMO it is possibly the quality of players that we do have that have taken us this far already. Im holding to the idea that they can take us further as well, but if they dont manage to grab 4th spot i for one wont be on any witch hunt over the players. We will need to strengthen for sure but imo we are not that far off and i want to wait and see what their response is in these final games before passing judgment on each of them.

[Niall Quinns Discopants]

I said in the beginning of the season that I'd be happy/satisfied with 5th and good push for 4th. We are certainly giving whoever finishes 4th a run for their money so I'll be satisfied. I haven't seen any reasons to change the targets. No big money has been splashed or anything like that since.

[Ted Hughes]

I'd be disappointed now but only because we're close. To put together a bunch of players in a short space of time & finish top 4, above clubs who've been trying to do it for years, would be quite an achievement irrespective of spending money. Ferguson spent an equivalent amount at Utd in his early years & missed it several times, sometimes finishing below us.

Having got into the position to do it, I'll feel quite miserable if we don't do it now though, especially as I hate Spurs. One of them is on the radio right now telling everyone it will be better for football if we don't do it.

Please City, finish above those wankers.

[carl_feedthegoat]

I said in the beginning of the season that I'd be happy/satisfied with 5th and good push for 4th. We are certainly giving whoever finishes 4th a run for their money so I'll be satisfied. I haven't seen any reasons to change the targets. No big money has been splashed or anything like that since.

I also said 5th before the season but I also set the budget for our company and changed it after the first quarter due to changes within the industry...therefore I did a revised budget....very much like the Arabs did , hence getting rid of numbnuts.

4th it has to be and I see no reason to think otherwise.