Football 2015/16

[GlastoSimon]

Leicester lifting the Premier League title and my own team secures back-to-back promotions from the Conference to League One on the same day. 

I'm sure someone will wake me up soon.

[Alan_C]

I'm fucking sick. It doesn't hurt the way it did last time though. There's too much that has happened to start trying to pick the bones out of it all, but the decision to appoint Steve McClaren is the reason we are down. There is no way a decent manager wouldn't have mustered up 40 points with the players available over the whole season. Lee Charnley was the man who appointed him. He has to go. Mike Ashley is the man who promoted the tea boy to such an important position. The root of the problem is obvious. Nothing we can do about it.

I think the same will happen as 2009 again. The players who are desperate to leave will go, but Ashley will keep anyone who is happy to stay. The gamble worked last time, and he will want to get straight back up. I really don't give a fuck about the likes of Janmaat, Coloccini, Tiote, Sissoko, Wijnaldum and Cisse leaving. 

 

----------------------------------Krul/Elliot/Darlow-----------------------------------

Anita?----------------Lascelles-----------------Mbemba?------------------------Dummett

?-----------------------Shelvey-----------------Colback---------------------------?

-----------------------Armstrong---------------Mitrovic?-----------------------------

Not certain that the ones with the question marks next to them will stay, but if they do, with the right additions we should be able to have a strong season. I would like to see a proven goalscorer brought in. Would love to think Townsend would give us a season but I couldn't blame him for leaving. Offer Rafa all of Sissoko and Wijnaldums wages to stay.

 

[pink_triangle]

At least Newcastle will have a tournament they have a chance to win next season.

Glad to see Boro back, personally hope Sheffield Wednesday return as well.

[WS_Jack_III]

17 hours ago, Alan_C said:

I'm fucking sick. It doesn't hurt the way it did last time though. There's too much that has happened to start trying to pick the bones out of it all, but the decision to appoint Steve McClaren is the reason we are down. There is no way a decent manager wouldn't have mustered up 40 points with the players available over the whole season. Lee Charnley was the man who appointed him. He has to go. Mike Ashley is the man who promoted the tea boy to such an important position. The root of the problem is obvious. Nothing we can do about it.

I think the same will happen as 2009 again. The players who are desperate to leave will go, but Ashley will keep anyone who is happy to stay. The gamble worked last time, and he will want to get straight back up. I really don't give a fuck about the likes of Janmaat, Coloccini, Tiote, Sissoko, Wijnaldum and Cisse leaving. 

 

----------------------------------Krul/Elliot/Darlow-----------------------------------

Anita?----------------Lascelles-----------------Mbemba?------------------------Dummett

?-----------------------Shelvey-----------------Colback---------------------------?

-----------------------Armstrong---------------Mitrovic?-----------------------------

Not certain that the ones with the question marks next to them will stay, but if they do, with the right additions we should be able to have a strong season. I would like to see a proven goalscorer brought in. Would love to think Townsend would give us a season but I couldn't blame him for leaving. Offer Rafa all of Sissoko and Wijnaldums wages to stay.

 

Krul will be gone. Quality keeper. Elliot and Darlow will do fine in the championship.

[thetime]

Crazy Utd have a chance of top 4, never mind in there own hands.

Knowing west ham it will be like 1992 and 1995 all over again.

[The Nal]

Utter humiliation for all concerned at the Empty. Everyone fucked off home. A tough watch.

[pink_triangle]

A draw to arsenal is no humiliation. If city don't make top 4 it will be because of points dropped to poorer teams.

[thetime]

39 minutes ago, pink_triangle said:

A draw to arsenal is no humiliation. If city don't make top 4 it will be because of points dropped to poorer teams.

They have not beaten a top 5 side this season, its exactly against the top sides why they have not challenged.

[pink_triangle]

3 minutes ago, thetime said:

They have not beaten a top 5 side this season, its exactly against the top sides why they have not challenged.

I would say that's the reason why they haven't won the league, but they should still (and still  may) have finished top 4 with that record against the top 5. Drawing at home to Arsenal is a disappointing result, but not a humiliation.

[eastynh]

1 hour ago, pink_triangle said:

A draw to arsenal is no humiliation. If city don't make top 4 it will be because of points dropped to poorer teams.

City have the best record in the league against the poorer teams, its our record against the top 8 that is utterly shambolic. One win against Southampton at home is disgraceful. It is not just that, the likes of Liverpool and Leicester absolutely embarrassed us at home.

Thankfully I have been in work today so missed the match. One thing is for certain, I will be so so glad to see the back of Pellegrini.

It goes to show what a competent manager can achieve. Every other manager in charge of a top 8 team (9 if you include Hiddink) would have had that squad finish easily in the top 4, even with the injuries.

United will win both matches now and fair play to them. Van Gall has taken a lot of stick and been a laughing stock, yet he's managed to grind out results under the most difficult of circumstances and in the face of the some awful criticism. Even though I am not a lover of his style of play he has gone right up in my estimation.

[pink_triangle]

At what time do players have to take some responsibility? The French team in world cup 2006 didn't respect the manager and nearly won the thing .

In my view the manager is an easy fall guy. When you have players who throw a hissy fit if they don't get a birthday cake then maybe attitude is a contributing factor.

[LondonTom]

Blown the slim hopes of Champions League football :(...Its still been a good season...but I can't help but feel disappointed with the last few weeks.

Still stopping Man Utd getting what they want one last time at the Boleyn will be about as good a send off as anyone would have hoped for at the start of the season.

[sdvruxk]

We'll probably beat West Ham and draw against Bournemouth at home. We'll fuck it up in some way and then lose in the cup final. 

[thetime]

7 hours ago, LondonTom said:

 

Still stopping Man Utd getting what they want one last time at the Boleyn will be about as good a send off as anyone would have hoped for at the start of the season.

West Ham fans still thinking small time.

You would of thought the state of man utd, it really isn't a great accomplishment stopping Utd.

[The Nal]

13 hours ago, pink_triangle said:

A draw to arsenal is no humiliation. If city don't make top 4 it will be because of points dropped to poorer teams.

I was referring to the empty stadium more so than the match. 

[eastynh]

4 hours ago, The Nal said:

I was referring to the empty stadium more so than the match. 

Would you have stayed and cheered them off after the season they have had? The problem most blues have is the half arsed and not give a fuck attitude some of the players have had this season. There is absolutely no excuse for that squad not to finish in the top 4. The useless manager has not helped but it is still not good enough.

[The Nal]

1 hour ago, eastynh said:

Would you have stayed and cheered them off after the season they have had? The problem most blues have is the half arsed and not give a fuck attitude some of the players have had this season. There is absolutely no excuse for that squad not to finish in the top 4. The useless manager has not helped but it is still not good enough.

He won the league, 2 cups and got you to a Champions League semi final in 3 years. Narrowly losing to the greatest European team ever with one of the greatest players of all time playing. And the two seasons before got knocked out by Barca was it? Again, one of the greatest ever football teams with one of the greatest players of all time playing in it. 

So yeah I would have. 

Harold Shipman would've got a better send off than this

 

Couple of shitty farewells this week. Terrys Chelsea farewell was hilarious.

Edited May 9, 2016 by The Nal

[thetime]

1 hour ago, eastynh said:

Would you have stayed and cheered them off after the season they have had? The problem most blues have is the half arsed and not give a fuck attitude some of the players have had this season. There is absolutely no excuse for that squad not to finish in the top 4. The useless manager has not helped but it is still not good enough.

You have won a trophy this season, city fans getting a tad greedy now. Most teams would give there right arm for a trophy and cl semi.

What did you expect? It's not like players join city for the prestige of joining one of the big guns. You will be saying pep always wanted to manage city next. 

Edited May 9, 2016 by thetime

[pink_triangle]

I think knowing it's Pelligrinis last game the respectful thing to do is stay to the end whatever you think of the season. I get the impression that city fans are more fairweather than the lot I experienced in 99 when in the same league as Wrexham.

[eastynh]

1 hour ago, The Nal said:

He won the league, 2 cups and got you to a Champions League semi final in 3 years. Narrowly losing to the greatest European team ever with one of the greatest players of all time playing. And the two seasons before got knocked out by Barca was it? Again, one of the greatest ever football teams with one of the greatest players of all time playing in it. 

So yeah I would have. 

Harold Shipman would've got a better send off than this

 

Couple of shitty farewells this week. Terrys Chelsea farewell was hilarious.

27 minutes ago, thetime said:

You have won a trophy this season, city fans getting a tad greedy now. Most teams would give there right arm for a trophy and cl semi.

What did you expect? It's not like players join city for the prestige of joining one of the big guns. You will be saying pep always wanted to manage city next. 

http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2013/may/13/manchester-city-fans-mancini

Mancini got a fantastic farewell even though we had just been beaten off Wigan in an FA Cup final. The reason for that is because he was a class act. The reason Pellegrini got the see off he did was because he was useless. We are in a far worse position at the end of his tenure than we were when he got the job. He is responsible for that. 

No idea who you support thetime but whether you like it or not, we are now one of the big guns. Pep could have pretty much chose any time he wanted, hes not been forced to join City.

[pink_triangle]

19 minutes ago, eastynh said:

 

Mancini got a fantastic farewell even though we had just been beaten off Wigan in an FA Cup final. The reason for that is because he was a class act. The reason Pellegrini got the see off he did was because he was useless. We are in a far worse position at the end of his tenure than we were when he got the job. He is responsible for that. 

Whatever you think about the bloke and his ability, his achievements merit some level of respect and I don't think its too much to expect fans to stick around and give it. If Wrexham were promoted and the next season underperformed, I would forever show my respect for that manager even if I held him at fault for the poor season.

I also believe the city fans of 15 years ago would have had the same mindset. I have a natural bias having gone to university there in the late 90s, but always thought what great fans even if a bit scary at times. It seems to me the current fanbase are becoming spoilt and no different to other fans of big teams.

 

[eastynh]

20 minutes ago, pink_triangle said:

Whatever you think about the bloke and his ability, his achievements merit some level of respect and I don't think its too much to expect fans to stick around and give it. If Wrexham were promoted and the next season underperformed, I would forever show my respect for that manager even if I held him at fault for the poor season.

I also believe the city fans of 15 years ago would have had the same mindset. I have a natural bias having gone to university there in the late 90s, but always thought what great fans even if a bit scary at times. It seems to me the current fanbase are becoming spoilt and no different to other fans of big teams.

 

Thats a load of shit mate. I have been a city fan for over 30 years and been there through all the bad times. The players, managers and owners copped for far worse abuse in the past than they do now. if you were in Manchester during the 90's you will have seen the abuse Peter Swales got and he was a City fan. Lets not kid ourselves and pretend the current fanbase is worse than it was during the bad times. These current fans are not having running battles with opposition fans outside the ground or invading the pitch kicking off with Spurs fans because we are getting beat in the fa cup quarter final. People generally look back through misty eyes but the misty eyes have a tendency to cloud the truth,

Yes City fans stuck with the team through thick and thin. That is the reason we are in the position we are today. We could have ended up like Leeds or Sheff Weds. Lets not pretend the current fanbase is any different from the past as it is not. The only thing that has changed is the level we are operating at.

Manchester City fans do not owe Manuel Pellegrini a thing. He has been paid handsomely for his endeavours but the simple fact is we are far worse off and have gone backwards  under his management. City fans were not paying to have planes flown over the ground like other fans have resorted to. They just chose to get up and go home at the end of a disappointing week where the manager had goosed us right up. He played an under strength team at Southampton which has cost us severely, then we don't have a shot in Madrid, which he then follows up by failing to shut up shop against Arsenal when winning which in turn will cost us a  champs league place next season.

City fans have not been happy with the manager for a long time, we could see the decline happening in front of our eyes. There was no fannying about like the Arsenal fans recently or the Everton and United fans have done. They just chose to get up and go home at the end of the game.

Edited May 9, 2016 by eastynh

[eastynh]

44 minutes ago, pink_triangle said:

Whatever you think about the bloke and his ability, his achievements merit some level of respect and I don't think its too much to expect fans to stick around and give it. If Wrexham were promoted and the next season underperformed, I would forever show my respect for that manager even if I held him at fault for the poor season.

I also believe the city fans of 15 years ago would have had the same mindset. I have a natural bias having gone to university there in the late 90s, but always thought what great fans even if a bit scary at times. It seems to me the current fanbase are becoming spoilt and no different to other fans of big teams.

 

Just to add to my previous post. If you had sat there through all the relegations and so forth would you be happy at multi millionaires like Kolarov and Yaya strolling round and not giving a toss, when you had seen the likes of Shaun Goater and Andy Morrison giving their all for relative peanuts in comparison? Would you be happy at Pellegrini thinking of himself by weakening the team in the fa cup and against Southampton for his own vanity, rather than thinking about leaving the club in the best position he could?

[pink_triangle]

28 minutes ago, eastynh said:

Just to add to my previous post. If you had sat there through all the relegations and so forth would you be happy at multi millionaires like Kolarov and Yaya strolling round and not giving a toss, when you had seen the likes of Shaun Goater and Andy Morrison giving their all for relative peanuts in comparison? Would you be happy at Pellegrini thinking of himself by weakening the team in the fa cup and against Southampton for his own vanity, rather than thinking about leaving the club in the best position he could?

I wouldn't be happy about players not putting in a full shift whether they were multi millionaires or lower league plodders. Nor would I put all the blame on the manager. Pelligrini has picked teams capable of finishing in the top 4 if those players had delivered. Yaya Toure was a premadonna before Pelligrini arrived and will remain one after he has left.

To me respect is not just about achievement, but about the way you conduct yourself, how you contribute to a community, but trophies are a consideration. There's no doubt in my mind had Rodgers won the league for Liverpool and then relieved the following season following a mediocre season the Liverpool fans would have shown their respect. Brian Little was a terrible manager for Wrexham, but I would still shake his hand.

[TheGayTent]

Sullivan has made an offer for Jamie Vardy