the spafia

[Mikhail Chigorin]

I think we should cut the Spafia some slack. They did a great job getting Mangala for £40m.

Money well spent........

I wonder if he could play up front ???

[Blue Since 76]

It's still very early in the window, so anything could change and if by September we've got Sterling, Pogba and maybe KDB in (although still don't see why we need all 3) and Jovetic and Dzeko out on decent money, them it all looks good. If we've paid £50m for Sterling and missed the others, the pressure will surely be on Txiki. There's no point paying top money for a negotiator who pays full price

Soriano appears to be doing his job pretty well in terms of growing the club.

[Nigels Tackle]

I think we should cut the Spafia some slack. They did a great job getting Mangala for £40m.

they did so well that they initially told everyone they only paid £30m for him
#humble

[Foreverinbluedreams]

It's reassuring that we have a scapegoat.

[Ted Hughes]

They brought in Negredo, Navas & Fernandinho & we won the double.

Then when Negredo's head went, they got a great deal for him going out, & brought in Bony, whilst under sanction from the cartel.

Now they are in the middle of trying to secure some very very difficult deals, one involving those scouse cunts, one with Barca trying to interfere & one with Bayern Munich lurking.

None of the deals has yet fallen through, in spite of the difficulty involved.

They are getting shit for exactly what again ?

[Niall Quinns Discopants]

They brought in Negredo, Navas & Fernandinho & we won the double.

Then when Negredo's head went, they got a great deal for him going out, & brought in Bony, whilst under sanction from the cartel.

Now they are in the middle of trying to secure some very very difficult deals, one involving those scouse cunts, one with Barca trying to interfere & one with Bayern Munich lurking.

None of the deals has yet fallen through, in spite of the difficulty involved.

They are getting shit for exactly what again ?

Wait, let me get this straight, you consider 28m for Bony a good bit of business?

In past seasons we were aiming for truly world class players like Hazard and ended up with "ok" guys like Navas. That's why we are failing to conquer Champion's League and are regressing a little in the league.

[Tokyo Blue]

They are getting shit for exactly what again ?

For not buying Fabian Delph, it seems, a midfielder that nobody really gave a shit about anyway.

And there are only six weeks of the transfer window left.

[Ted Hughes]

They brought in Negredo, Navas & Fernandinho & we won the double.

Then when Negredo's head went, they got a great deal for him going out, & brought in Bony, whilst under sanction from the cartel.

Now they are in the middle of trying to secure some very very difficult deals, one involving those scouse cunts, one with Barca trying to interfere & one with Bayern Munich lurking.

None of the deals has yet fallen through, in spite of the difficulty involved.

They are getting shit for exactly what again ?

Wait, let me get this straight, you consider 28m for Bony a good bit of business?

In past seasons we were aiming for truly world class players like Hazard and ended up with "ok" guys like Navas. That's why we are failing to conquer Champion's League and are regressing a little in the league.

25. 28 if we win the Champions League.

In January ? Absofuckingdingdangdongdilldlylutely.

Hazard was before Txiki arrived, which is my point. Every ceo, dof, is getting the same shit. It's the club who are doing the business this way, not the individuals involved. If people don't like it thay need to phone hrh & tell him off.

Now Sterling on his way, from those awkward cunts. Nobody would have believed that possible this time last year. Txiki has done it.

Nohing whatsoever to complain about imo. We are lucky to have such an owner & such quality people running the club.

[iwasthere2012]

Our club has become a club with many great qualities, yet still has the stigma of "nouveau riche," and one that players might be worried about joining due to the potential effect on their reputation. This has clearly been perpetuated by the media, now magnified via the Sterling saga, as well as our alleged "handling" of Rodwell, Sinclair and Micah further exacerbated by the departure of other English/homegrown players this close season, and the effects of FFP.

We cannot overpay as much as we used to and the fears and criticism of players who might join us is higher, versus leaving your club for Real, Barca, Chelsea, etc. We just somehow don't deserve these players and anyone trying to come to us must only be in it for the money, or is more in it for the money than if you go anywhere else. When we signed our core players that was an issue that was fresher in the traditional powers' minds who know know the way to beat us is make us look poor in the public eye, and raise prices so high that we are in the conversation, but too high for us to actually complete the move, hoping we will blink in desperation.

It seems to be a more wicked game now in the transfer market, where FFP has very much hindered us. It's a game of thrones...a battle for supremacy that we are not as able to win without consequences that hurt our reputation, risk of being "penalised", and enhance stereotypes of the club.

The Spafia, and Txiki in particular, has qualities, but they are not miracle workers. We have some budget restrictions, no? We are a target to the former powers, in particular, who want us to drop below them, no? We're not part of the clique and lower clubs who want "in" are naturally jealous of us even having a chance while they are frozen out post FFP. That's the environment, and I'm not sure anyone could do THAT much better.

I wrote something in the Delph thread last night, after a few glasses of wine, that should have echoed what you are saying here but I fear it was not as coherent on it's train of thought.
I agree largely with what you are saying. I can't help feel that there is an orchestrated dirty tactic being employed against us this summer, although I hate the whole conspiracy implication of that. They are back at working on our image and reputation in the media. I don't think it's accidental with FFP on death's door.
Whoever we have doing our negotiations has their work cut out for them.

[Spurge]

They brought in Negredo, Navas & Fernandinho & we won the double.

Then when Negredo's head went, they got a great deal for him going out, & brought in Bony, whilst under sanction from the cartel.

Now they are in the middle of trying to secure some very very difficult deals, one involving those scouse cunts, one with Barca trying to interfere & one with Bayern Munich lurking.

None of the deals has yet fallen through, in spite of the difficulty involved.

They are getting shit for exactly what again ?

Wait, let me get this straight, you consider 28m for Bony a good bit of business?

In past seasons we were aiming for truly world class players like Hazard and ended up with "ok" guys like Navas. That's why we are failing to conquer Champion's League and are regressing a little in the league.

25. 28 if we win the Champions League.

In January ? Absofuckingdingdangdongdilldlylutely.

Hazard was before Txiki arrived, which is my point. Every ceo, dof, is getting the same shit. It's the club who are doing the business this way, not the individuals involved. If people don't like it thay need to phone hrh & tell him off.

Now Sterling on his way, from those awkward cunts. Nobody would have believed that possible this time last year. Txiki has done it.

Nohing whatsoever to complain about imo. We are lucky to have such an owner & such quality people running the club.

I agree I think Bony was a good bit of business, if only on paper as of now at least.

He is proven in the premier league of that there is no doubt. He joined us in a season where at one point we were without our 3 top strikers through injury, his own injury record is excellent, so what happened when he arrived? He gets injured!

So he hasn't really had time to settle and when he got fit it coincided with a good run of form for the team playing Aguero up top on his own. That said he showed signs of setting in, scoring against his old club. So largely untested but I was happy enough with bringing im in and what we paid for him.

Looking forward to seeing him this season expecting at least 15 goals in all competitions

[Foreverinbluedreams]

They brought in Negredo, Navas & Fernandinho & we won the double.

Then when Negredo's head went, they got a great deal for him going out, & brought in Bony, whilst under sanction from the cartel.

Now they are in the middle of trying to secure some very very difficult deals, one involving those scouse cunts, one with Barca trying to interfere & one with Bayern Munich lurking.

None of the deals has yet fallen through, in spite of the difficulty involved.

They are getting shit for exactly what again ?

Wait, let me get this straight, you consider 28m for Bony a good bit of business?

In past seasons we were aiming for truly world class players like Hazard and ended up with "ok" guys like Navas. That's why we are failing to conquer Champion's League and are regressing a little in the league.

25. 28 if we win the Champions League.

In January ? Absofuckingdingdangdongdilldlylutely.

Hazard was before Txiki arrived, which is my point. Every ceo, dof, is getting the same shit. It's the club who are doing the business this way, not the individuals involved. If people don't like it thay need to phone hrh & tell him off.

Now Sterling on his way, from those awkward cunts. Nobody would have believed that possible this time last year. Txiki has done it.

Nohing whatsoever to complain about imo. We are lucky to have such an owner & such quality people running the club.

I agree I think Bony was a good bit of business, if only on paper as of now at least.

He is proven in the premier league of that there is no doubt. He joined us in a season where at one point we were without our 3 top strikers through injury, his own injury record is excellent, so what happened when he arrived? He gets injured!

So he hasn't really had time to settle and when he got fit it coincided with a good run of form for the team playing Aguero up top on his own. That said he showed signs of setting in, scoring against his old club. So largely untested but I was happy enough with bringing im in and what we paid for him.

Looking forward to seeing him this season expecting at least 15 goals in all competitions

2 starts 2 goals so far, can't really argue with that.

[phips]

They are getting shit for exactly what again ?

but its been 12 days, but actually a little bit longer…..

[Original Dub]

They are getting shit for exactly what again ?

but its been 12 days, but actually a little bit longer…..

Wtf?

[DoomMerchant]

The spafia need a summer with a couple really top top shelf signings. They rode their luck the summer that they made those Spanish buys come good. But they've all fallen off. Hats off to them for shipping negredo out. Not easy to do that.

But we need some serious shit and the Count has called them out and Khaldoon has echoed that he wants world class signings.

It isn't some fiction that they'll be under pressure to make some great signings this summer. What's wrong with talking about it in an open and honest way?

They're not infallible. and who would argue about our owner or professionalism? Of course every fan feels lucky And proud of that. Duh.

Cheers

[Pretty Boy Lee]

The spafia need a summer with a couple really top top shelf signings. They rode their luck the summer that they made those Spanish buys come good. But they've all fallen off. Hats off to them for shipping negredo out. Not easy to do that.

But we need some serious shit and the Count has called them out and Khaldoon has echoed that he wants world class signings.

It isn't some fiction that they'll be under pressure to make some great signings this summer. What's wrong with talking about it in an open and honest way?

They're not infallible. and who would argue about our owner or professionalism? Of course every fan feels lucky And proud of that. Duh.

Cheers

What a great post. Not even being sarcastic, agree entirely.

[Saul Goodman]

They are getting shit for exactly what again ?

but its been 12 days, but actually a little bit longer…..

Wtf?

I do believe he was being sarcastic

[Pretty Boy Lee]

It's hard to seperate facts from fiction in this area as the club aren't going to tell us.

That being said if you're trying to convince us that the past few windows have been up to scratch you'll struggle.

We've come from yaya/silva/Aguero etc to navas/bony and the like. It's quite the drop off. Ffp plays a part no doubt which is why I don't call for heads or go daft, but some disappointment is normal when you simply look at the quality of the buys.

[CitizenYank]

I got a feva! And the only prescription in more Pogba.

[Ted Hughes]

It's hard to seperate facts from fiction in this area as the club aren't going to tell us.

That being said if you're trying to convince us that the past few windows have been up to scratch you'll struggle.

We've come from yaya/silva/Aguero etc to navas/bony and the like. It's quite the drop off. Ffp plays a part no doubt which is why I don't call for heads or go daft, but some disappointment is normal when you simply look at the quality of the buys.

Imo, each manager gets a period to build a squad. Hughes got one, Mancini got one, The Count hasn't had one yet thanks to Platini, so this is his (or the start of Pep Guardiola's). Then that's it; they have to balance it. Not because of ffp, but because HRH is trying to make City into a sustainable business, not a money pit.

I believe Marwood, Txiki etc, get the chosen players interested, then hand it over to the club's pen pushers, who do most of the negotiating.

If they don't like how it goes & the clubs involved take the piss, we walk away.

When we have a rebuild, we get top players & will push the boat out a little bit more. Then it stops.

Fuckall to do with Marwood, Txiki, Cook, Soriano; it's City imo. It's how the club has been told to operate.

[Original Dub]

They are getting shit for exactly what again ?

but its been 12 days, but actually a little bit longer…..

Wtf?

I do believe he was being sarcastic

That might well be the case. ..
But it makes not one jot of sense as a sentence.

So wtf?