The Footie Thread

[larmen]

Maguire - I don’t like him, but does he really not belong? If you need a goal late in the game he always seemed dangerous to me in the box. Well, both boxes actually.

Graelish - stuck behind Foden? But I think he brings personality to the team outside the pitch as well as on it.


Otherwise I don’t really know the English players good enough.

 

[Arthur Wedge]

Maguire - I don’t like him, but does he really not belong? If you need a goal late in the game he always seemed dangerous to me in the box. Well, both boxes actually.

Graelish - stuck behind Foden? But I think he brings personality to the team outside the pitch as well as on it.


Otherwise I don’t really know the English players good enough.

Believe Maguire has missed out due to injury

 

[chrisd]

Palace got any left backs to offer!?

Tyrick Mitchell, our left back, has played for England

 

[Lord Tyrion]

I don't understand Wharton going ahead of Maddison or Grealish. Looks a really nice player but this tournament is too soon and both of those players are a class above imo. Strange decision.

 

[Arthur Wedge]

I don't understand Wharton going ahead of Maddison or Grealish. Looks a really nice player but this tournament is too soon and both of those players are a class above imo. Strange decision.

Isn’t Wharton more of a box to box or sitting mid ?

Grealish I don’t think has had a good season and spends most of the time on the bench these days

Maddison was very good before he got injured and would think he feels very unlucky not to go

At the end of the day most will just warm the bench as Southgate will know his 11 and won’t deviate much


Dunk it seems is injured and Quansah is staying as cover

 

[Hobbit]

Man City have financially cheated - everyone knows that , it was found out by UEFA but expensive lawyers and delaying actions helped them get off

They were still found guilty

Everyone knows they have broken the financial rules

Their owners don’t like they fact they can’t do what they want and are trying to counter the charges with the suing of the prem - it’s embarrassing that they have this belief they are being picked on

It’s a joke and everyone knows it’s a joke

This whole “world is against little old Man City” is pretty pathetic

They want to try and point to what Chelsea did etc but those rules weren’t in place

City have made the Prem a bit of joke

I don’t know with absolute certainty that City have cheated but I’ll take it as read that they have. Until proven it’s only a charge. However, I very much doubt that the Prem have brought 115 charges without a huge amount of substance.

As for the tail wagging the dog retaliatory suing of the Prem, if City win the case the Prem is lost to Abu Dhabi money. Personally, I feel this is starting to look like an existential crisis for the Prem. Lose this and many clubs might as well just fold. City signed up to the Prem, including its rules. If they pursue the claim, I’d like to see them kicked out of football.

 

[Arthur Wedge]

I don’t know with absolute certainty that City have cheated but I’ll take it as read that they have. Until proven it’s only a charge. However, I very much doubt that the Prem have brought 115 charges without a huge amount of substance.

As for the tail wagging the dog retaliatory suing of the Prem, if City win the case the Prem is lost to Abu Dhabi money. Personally, I feel this is starting to look like an existential crisis for the Prem. Lose this and many clubs might as well just fold. City signed up to the Prem, including its rules. If they pursue the claim, I’d like to see them kicked out of football.

They all sign up and vote for the rules

They can’t then sit and complain that they are unfair and then look to financially bully someone when you are punished by the rules

That’s what city are doing - their owners are using their unlimited trillions to bully people

If they don’t like it then they have the chance to try and change things - like Wolves did with VAR , if the sustainability rules are that bad then surely shouldn’t be an issue getting the 14 clubs to vote with them

Suing the league is a disgrace and any city fan should be embarrassed by that action

https://twitter.com/x/status/1798781866478084187

 

[Swingalot]

Isn’t Wharton more of a box to box or sitting mid ?

He can do both. He is still a kid, so when playing box to box for us he is great for 70-75 minutes but then needs subbing.

For me GS knows his strongest 11, so he is picking players more likely to change the game from the bench or who can replace key players if injured. If Rice gets injured, Wharton all day long over all of the others. He makes Gallagher look like a pub player in comparison, the guy is class (and remember we loved Gallagher when he was on loan with us) . His touch, passing and vision is brilliant. He works hard and has some pace so can track back well. Just lacks a bit of size on the aerial side.

Same with Eze. If you need something different to what you've got, someone who will take a player on, then Eze it is.

Personally would have taken Grealish over Gordon , but I guess GS is again looking for a different option to who he is going to pick on the left (guess it will be Foden?)

 

[Arthur Wedge]

He can do both. He is still a kid, so when playing box to box for us he is great for 70-75 minutes but then needs subbing.

For me GS knows his strongest 11, so he is picking players more likely to change the game from the bench or who can replace key players if injured. If Rice gets injured, Wharton all day long over all of the others. He makes Gallagher look like a pub player in comparison, the guy is class (and remember we loved Gallagher when he was on loan with us) . His touch, passing and vision is brilliant. He works hard and has some pace so can track back well. Just lacks a bit of size on the aerial side.

Same with Eze. If you need something different to what you've got, someone who will take a player on, then Eze it is.

Personally would have taken Grealish over Gordon , but I guess GS is again looking for a different option to who he is going to pick on the left (guess it will be Foden?)

Haven’t seen much of Wharton but seems to be more of a player that does cover for Rice , Gallagher does have a lot of energy in the middle

Eze is excellent whenever I have seen him

Gordon provides a lot more pace than someone like Grealish - and they have Foden that can provide what Grealish can and more

It wouldn’t be a surprise to see Palace having to fend off some clubs this summer

 

[Pin-seeker]

They all sign up and vote for the rules

They can’t then sit and complain that they are unfair and then look to financially bully someone when you are punished by the rules

That’s what city are doing - their owners are using their unlimited trillions to bully people

If they don’t like it then they have the chance to try and change things - like Wolves did with VAR , if the sustainability rules are that bad then surely shouldn’t be an issue getting the 14 clubs to vote with them

Suing the league is a disgrace and any city fan should be embarrassed by that action

https://twitter.com/x/status/1798781866478084187

Any idea what his thoughts are on Liverpool’s shirt sponsors “allegedly” supporting & funding terrorism?

 

[chrisd]

He can do both. He is still a kid, so when playing box to box for us he is great for 70-75 minutes but then needs subbing.

For me GS knows his strongest 11, so he is picking players more likely to change the game from the bench or who can replace key players if injured. If Rice gets injured, Wharton all day long over all of the others. He makes Gallagher look like a pub player in comparison, the guy is class (and remember we loved Gallagher when he was on loan with us) . His touch, passing and vision is brilliant. He works hard and has some pace so can track back well. Just lacks a bit of size on the aerial side.

Same with Eze. If you need something different to what you've got, someone who will take a player on, then Eze it is.

Personally would have taken Grealish over Gordon , but I guess GS is again looking for a different option to who he is going to pick on the left (guess it will be Foden?)

Eze was hugely better than Grealish in the friendly, Wharton looked like he was born to play that position as he does for us, Guehi has experience in the back line for England so it would be stupid to leave him out and Henderson is a great back up for Pickford

 

[Pin-seeker]

England to win the Euros & Kane golden boot 16/1.
Anyone tempted?

 

[4LEX]

What’s the issue?

Man City were just another PL Club prior to 2009 and had in fact been down to the third tier of English Football only 10yrs before.

The rest of those Clubs were recent PL winners and some EC Winners.

The other Clubs had a lot of experience in securing commercial revenues were as City were not an attractive proposition, so when they becsme successful the commercial side took off.

Look at the starting points.

Well done City I’d say.

I thought City had always been massive?

 

[4LEX]

Quite a good read but like many a neutral football fan, emotion seems to have taken over from facts which deems most of what you have written as rubbish.
The owners of City are from Abu Dhabi, however 13% of the club is owned by a Chinese consortium. No different than Sir Jim buying into Utd. And talking of Chinese, a lot of investment and sponsorship comes from China. And to that matter from America and Puma.
Quote,

Manchester City have signed a £650million kit deal with Puma, one of the biggest commercial contracts in football history.

Have a Google and find out how many worldwide companies actually invest in City outside of Abu Dhabi
Once more you quote ownership of two clubs have been washed away by UEFA. So why quote that on a City discussion. It’s not old news. You could have mentioned it on a Utd forum. What is “to scared to take on those clubs inc Utd actually mean”. Or does UEFA know that its ruling was illegal. What exactly is illegal about a club or company trying to expand. Is there a really a conflict of interests.
You talk about the answer is simple abide by the rules. What exactly are these made up rules re FFP, Which are changing this year. Do you know that one of Citys complaints re the Premier league is that the Premier league tried to keep as much money as possible for the premier league teams rather than distribute some of its tv money to the rest of the football league. Yet the Premier league is holier than thou when it comes to other people spending money. Hypocrisy.
Do you know how many clubs have gone into administration since FFP was introduced. 14. It’s not working.
We have FFP, and yet City are spending £300 million improving the ground and area around City. But the Premier league allow that. Hypocrisy.

I lost a lot of intrest in football a few years back at the way it is run. FFP, VAR, UEFA, FIFA, Corruption in football. But what does my head in most in trying to defend a club who has put hundreds of millions into football and not taken it out. And that is supposed to be wrong. Hypocrisy.

The point is the majority of the original funding which turned you from a struggling side to the second best team in Europe came from Abu Dhabi. This was all done via dodgy sponsorship deals and very likely offshore accounts to top up the salaries of key staff. I've no doubt your new deals are a lot more legit. But there's a big gap of say 7-8 years where you refuse to disclose anything.

You don't think there's an issue with people owning multiple football clubs that play in the same competition? What happens if you draw Girona next season in the CL? European football next season is going to be littered with clubs in that situation and it isn't healthy.

I'm aware the rules of FFP are changing this summer slightly but we're talking about the past. If you agreed to play in the PL then surely you must go by their rules? Trying to sue them years later when you've clearly broken those rules is a terrible look and will do untold damage to the reputation of Man City.

There's nothing hypocritial about the PL allowing investment in infrastructure. It was all in the rules you agreed to. Hypocrisy is agreeing to those rules and then when you break them, complain about them and try to sue as an after thought.

The moral issues around FFP and how it's implemented are a separate issue and I probably agree with you on a lot of it!

 

[4LEX]

I don't understand Wharton going ahead of Maddison or Grealish. Looks a really nice player but this tournament is too soon and both of those players are a class above imo. Strange decision.

He's a different player and one that will be at the very top soon. Elite passer, keeps it simple and knits the midfield together.

Grealish is a LW and Maddison a ACM. I would've taken Grealish personally but we've got too much quality to need Maddison who has been rubbish for months.

It's refreshing to see Southgate make some bold calls for a change!

 

[Pin-seeker]

And your sponsored by a Company that launders money for terrorists and rogue Nations.

Wow what happened here?

 

[Pin-seeker]

Sorry which FFP rule does that break

What’s the connection between that and city

Is it Liverpools fault now ?

I guess if we are going down that line

Which shirt manufacturer doesn’t have workers in a foreign sweatshop

Which company out there hasn’t in the past been a party of dubious practices

If SC are found guilty then I would expect the club to do something about it but it’s not the clubs role to investigate companies outside the sport

What are your thoughts on the sponsor Phil?

 

[4LEX]

If City are found guilty I will absolutely condemn them, you have decided they are already guilty without them getting their day in the tribunal.

But you have equated a Company that has laundered money, breaking all sorts of rules, to a Country that funds terrorism to the same standard as shirt manafacturers using sweatshops! Wow, just Wow.

Do you see absolutely no moral problem with your Club wearing the name of a Bank that has helped a Country that sponsors terrorism and allegedy firms that have supplied bomb making equipment to the Taliban and then used against British Troops, amongst others?

As for the link to ffp, shirt sponsors are part of the commercial revenue, which people have claimed City have inflated.

Why have they refused access to their accounts for years? Why have they used the legal system to delay and delay their day in court? Why are they now suddenly taking legal action against the PL? Doesn't strike me as the actions of an innocent party.

 

[Arthur Wedge]

If City are found guilty I will absolutely condemn them, you have decided they are already guilty without them getting their day in the tribunal.

Man City were found guilty and banned for 2 years by UeFa but due to loopholes got away with it

 

[4LEX]

That’s fine, different opinions are allowed. Maybe we shouldn’t believe everything we read on the internet.

I don’t trust the clowns at the PL, wouldn’t surprise me if some of the charges are thrown out/messed up.

But if found guilty they should be severley punished, I’ll wait and see.

No one knows for sure apart from those in the know. All I'm saying is it looks very suspect and doesn't do English football any favours. If City are innocent, why not release all the info and fight it properly? It just smacks of a villain no commenting and hoping his brief is more clued up than the Police. Scumbag tactics.