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Stu was on GoS today, couple of interesting things to say about his time at City comparing it to the way we are now.

Key thing was around finances and the sale of SWP, there was no choice in selling him as we desperately needed the cash and his sale to Chelsea pretty much kept our heads above water - its why we didn't see much of that cash ploughed into new players.

Prior to Thaksin takeover we were skint and close to going under apparently, club ended up an open shop and it was like a fire-sale he said, evident by the fact we only had about 15 players left when Sven took over!

Doubt Wardle/Meakin would have let us go to the dogs but it's a stark reminder, yet again, how close to tipping point we really where even before the Sheik came on the scene.

Lead me to thinking that the catalyst for the issues has to be placed partly at Keegan's feet, Wardle wasn't strong enough with him and the argument around buying Fowler that saw Bernstein walk was the beginning of the financial spiral.

What are peoples real thoughts on Pierce, his full season at City was dire - it has to go down as one of the dullest and most painful seasons in memory where we've stayed up - stark contrast to todays football! However when he took over from Keegan he injected a fighting spirit that did keep us from the drop. Also as a player could not fault his work and tenacity! Cliche (and even a rejuvenated Kolo) could learn a lot about defending from him!

As a manager, dull and tactically poor - he should remain as a coach/number 2 in my opinion.

i think people give stu an unfair time.

although we couldnt score for a long period - we had samaras in the team.

when he first took over i remember tearing teams up (villa away with swp from memory).

I also seem to remember us looking good when he brought cole in to partner vass. Then the dirty red got injured after a couple of months and we couldnt buy a goal.

I have mixed opinions on Wardle. He kept us going and from I recall I think he bailed out City when Thaksin's money got impounded by the Thai government so for that we should be thankful. But from the outside Bernstein was running a steady ship until Wardle and Makin made him resign. And the argument was over KK throwing his toys out of the pram for being denied the money to sign Fowler. As it turned out Bernstein was bang on with his stance. Fowler was total dross.
That Championship season under KK was a cracker. Berkovic, Ali B, the Goat, OneChop. Bit like now really. But KK got greedy. Started signing total shit which made us skint and forced Bernstein out.
Pearce never had a chance really. No money and no hope of any.
But thinks happen for a reason. Would Bernstein have sold out to dodgy Thaksin? Probably not. Wardle sold to him because we were on a financial precipice.
Its all history. Its all part of supporting a fantastic club. City fans , in my opinion, are humble enough to never forget those days, regardless of what happens now and will happen. Thats why the Dickov and Aguero goals mean that little bit more.
Neutral fans seem to like City and dont appear to resent our success. Probably they appreciate where we have come from and who we are as supporters. That should never be lost.

Nick wrote:i think people give stu an unfair time.

although we couldnt score for a long period - we had samaras in the team.

when he first took over i remember tearing teams up (villa away with swp from memory).

I also seem to remember us looking good when he brought cole in to partner vass. Then the dirty red got injured after a couple of months and we couldnt buy a goal.

Andy Cole was actually brilliant in his half a season for us before he got injured and then left. We always had a goal in us with him in the team and he really did bring the best out of Vassell.

Benjay wrote:I have mixed opinions on Wardle. He kept us going and from I recall I think he bailed out City when Thaksin's money got impounded by the Thai government so for that we should be thankful. But from the outside Bernstein was running a steady ship until Wardle and Makin made him resign. And the argument was over KK throwing his toys out of the pram for being denied the money to sign Fowler. As it turned out Bernstein was bang on with his stance. Fowler was total dross. That Championship season under KK was a cracker. Berkovic, Ali B, the Goat, OneChop. Bit like now really. But KK got greedy. Started signing total shit which made us skint and forced Bernstein out. Pearce never had a chance really. No money and no hope of any. But thinks happen for a reason. Would Bernstein have sold out to dodgy Thaksin? Probably not. Wardle sold to him because we were on a financial precipice. Its all history. Its all part of supporting a fantastic club. City fans , in my opinion, are humble enough to never forget those days, regardless of what happens now and will happen. Thats why the Dickov and Aguero goals mean that little bit more. Neutral fans seem to like City and dont appear to resent our success. Probably they appreciate where we have come from and who we are as supporters. That should never be lost.

Spot on with the whole Bernstein saga in as much as I recall - he steadied us and made us financially stable. W&M seemed loved and still do love City but ran things with their heart and not their heads - Keegan's ambition was infectious!

Who knows if the whole Fat-bob situation had t happened we would t have been sold at a knock down price to Thaksin and in turn re-resurrected by the Sheik!

We should have a bloody Phoenix in our crest not an eagle! ;-)

Pearce - We should have a statue of him outside our ground. How he kept that side up is beyond explanation. If he had nt then maybe we would never have met the good Sheikh. Pearce gets a bad rap for the footie we played but you can't look sexy if you're ugly. He made an error with Samaras but I will never forget his contribution to our destiny.

South Stand Balti wrote:Pearce - We should have a statue of him outside our ground. How he kept that side up is beyond explanation. If he had nt then maybe we would never have met the good Sheikh. Pearce gets a bad rap for the footie we played but you can't look sexy if you're ugly. He made an error with Samaras but I will never forget his contribution to our destiny.

Ditto Joe Royle. It says it all about our situation at the time that Big Fat Bob Taylor and Mark Kennedy were mildly exciting signings. Not sure where he unearthed Danny Tiatto from either.

Good insight.. hard to remember how dire it was.

You can only play with the cards you have and are dealt. Pearce had a shit hand. Made an error with Samaras but which manager hasn't made errors in transfers. He kept us up. Football was dire but we would be like Leeds or the Sheffield clubs or perish the thought, Coventry or Portsmouth, if we'd have gone down that season. We didn't go down and the rest, as they say, is history

I think agents were running the show after Bernstein left as we only ever seemed to buy 30 somethings on big contracts Michael Ball, Dabo, Bernardo Corradi, Hamann etc and never that 23 year old from the Championship who if failed would still have some sell on value.

You would realise how much in the shit we were when we couldn't even afford the £2m to buy van Buyten, him and dunne were awsome together and it showed later in years how much that was costly,

Keegan should have been stopped from signing the likes of John Macken, never mind Fowler. Just spunking money for the sake of it.

Pearce was an arsehole of a manager who only knew how to spoil games, & himself wasted money because he couldn't judge a player because he is purely a defender.

England U21's look like fucking Spain now compared to when Pearce was in charge.

He's the kind of person who has been ruiining English football for decades.

Ted Hughes wrote:Keegan should have been stopped from signing the likes of John Macken, never mind Fowler. Just spunking money for the sake of it.

Pearce was an arsehole of a manager who only knew how to spoil games, & himself wasted money because he couldn't judge a player because he is purely a defender.

England U21's look like fucking Spain now compared to when Pearce was in charge.

He's the kind of person who has been ruiining English football for decades.

Macken was shit but that goal against spuds in the cup. And from about the only decent cross Tarnat ever put in. Another memorable game where Barton managed to get sent off after the half time whistle.

bobby brows wrote:I think agents were running the show after Bernstein left as we only ever seemed to buy 30 somethings on big contracts Michael Ball, Dabo, Bernardo Corradi, Hamann etc and never that 23 year old from the Championship who if failed would still have some sell on value.

Ball was a great signing and initially was just a six month deal. We tried championship signings equivalents with the likes of bradbury never worked out for us.

Joe royle a legend, Stuart Pearce an imposter of a manager, we had no money yet blew six million on samaras, at the time it would of got us two or three good to very good mid table players. Made us a laughing stock with his beanie on the sideline, David James up front and not scoring for a lifetime at home.

Benjay wrote:

Ted Hughes wrote:Keegan should have been stopped from signing the likes of John Macken, never mind Fowler. Just spunking money for the sake of it.

Pearce was an arsehole of a manager who only knew how to spoil games, & himself wasted money because he couldn't judge a player because he is purely a defender.

England U21's look like fucking Spain now compared to when Pearce was in charge.

He's the kind of person who has been ruiining English football for decades.

Macken was shit but that goal against spuds in the cup. And from about the only decent cross Tarnat ever put in. Another memorable game where Barton managed to get sent off after the half time whistle.

He scored a nice finish in a rout of the rags too.

The best goal he ever scored in his career was against City for Moyes' Preston, when he lumped it in from 50 yards. I was just shouting out complaining about a foul from a previous header as the ball hit the net & the words stuck in my throat.

I recon that was the day Keegan decided to sign him, as nothing in his game really suited the way City played.

bobby brows wrote:I think agents were running the show after Bernstein left as we only ever seemed to buy 30 somethings on big contracts Michael Ball, Dabo, Bernardo Corradi, Hamann etc and never that 23 year old from the Championship who if failed would still have some sell on value.

I am pretty certain that the reason we bought so many of those players was mainly related to the ways we were able to structure payment for them

As most of their clubs wanted to get rid id strongly suspect that most were heavily instalment based purchases with low initial outlays

Goes some way to also showing why we ended up in such a pickle AND why we couldn't stump up the full price immediately for Van Buyten

Shitty times but without all that happening we very very likely would not be where we are now so.....

Ted Hughes wrote: He scored a nice finish in a rout of the rags too. The best goal he ever scored in his career was against City for Moyes' Preston, when he lumped it in from 50 yards. I was just shouting out complaining about a foul from a previous header as the ball hit the net & the words stuck in my throat. I recon that was the day Keegan decided to sign him, as nothing in his game really suited the way City played.

I was at that game too at Preston. We lost 2-1 and Dunne was dropped just before kick off if I'm on the right match. Was gutted to lose to Nob End but it was a great goal from the halfway line from Macken. He had a history of injuries but that has never stopped us from buying players.

People give Pearce a bit too much Shit. We need to remember he captained us during the glorious season of 2001/02 as well.