The Mail Bag
The New Order
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My jaw hit the deck when Man City were reported to have offered £100M for Kaka today. We are now a genuine top 6 side and this obscene amount is more than our first 11 are worth at today's prices. I believed the media were doing all they could to hype up the ambition of the new owners at City, but it seems they are deadly serious after all.
We can safely assume City are guaranteed a top four place by the 2010-11 season. So were does this leave us, and the rest of the Premier League? You would say Man U and Chelsea are not going to be knocked off their perch, unless Roman calls in his loans. Arsenal are maximising their potential income with a new 60,000 seat stadium and gate receipts in the region of £3M per match. That leaves Liverpool who, like the rest of the "Big Four", budget for Champions League football and the riches it brings.
The Yanks are having problems servicing their current debt, and their new ground now looks dead in the water. Ourselves and Villa are the closest challengers, but we still won't consistently break the monopoly, that is until now. I can see Liverpool having to sell their best players to keep afloat when CL football is no longer guaranteed. The Man City billions will actually give the rest of us a chance of breaking the Sky generated top four. Interesting times ahead.
Kevin Tully, Posted 14/01/2009 at 17:43:46
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Meanwhile, we?re slowly progressing and consolidating our strength. Imagine where we would be if we were playing the way we are now at the beginning of the season... above Arsenal that?s for sure. I?m proud of the way we?re going about things, particularly with David Moyes at the helm. Not including the Kirkby bullshit and all the lies involved but let?s not go there...
Money isn?t everything it just helps good managers become great managers. Now maybe if the chosen one was to become Man City manager things would change.
City bedded down with the Devil when they courted Thaksin Shinawatra, a scumbag if one ever walked the earth. They have yet to pay fully, but they will.
It can only be that they don?t care how they win. They are the type of fans that piss me off the most. There the type of fan who knows jack all about football and will run out to buy an LA Galaxy jersey just because it has Beckham?s name on it.
I don?t think anyone has anything to worry about. As for media speculation... well this post is about simply further media speculation. No-one has any proof of a £100 million bid for Kaka ? just what has been reported in the press. It's reported in the press every season that Kaka will go for a world record bid. Last year it was Chelsea, before that Real Madrid. Never happened though.
I would imagine they?ll need to buy another 6 world class players, buy 6 reasonable English players who then languish in the reserves, and go through another 2 managers before they win anything. And that will be the FA or Carling Cup. Probably in 2012.
And then the Mayan calendar ends ? so they?ll never win the Premier League. Nor will Liverpool. There?s always a bright side...
A lot of clubs have spent a lot of money and gone nowhere ? Spurs, Newcastle, Leeds, Sunderland etc...
We?ll be playing Champions League football before they are.
City are much like us, in that they are a big club that has a big, more successful, red wearing, neighbor that attracts all the attention and glory. I see many similarities between us and therefore wish them well.
I believe that the Kaka thing is a stunt only. The City Owners are demonstrating their power in the way that Arab culture understands. What they possibly have not realised is that while this demonstrates their wealth/power to their Arab peers, it does nothing to build a successful football team, which is all that matters in Europe. They could much more readily strengthen and further build a team using the £125M (including a year?s wages) to buy 5-8 players to give City a real spine. Luckily for us they have not and their folly is our gain.
I would like to think that if we found £125M under the mattress we would do it smarter and seek to build with foundation stones rather than ornaments ? pretty as they may be.
It will all end in tears...
First thing they will need to do is get rid of Hughes, he is totally out of his depth. If they sign Kaka for £100mil, who cares? ? they will be worse off in many ways. We are in good shape at the mo... and without selling our soul.
Supposedly City are also interested in midfield-defender Gattuso, also not the youngest, and in danger of losing his first team place after badly injuring his knee. Now he?s a player who would give City some sparkle!
What scares me is that they are demonstrating here that they can buy anybody, that?s.... yes, absolutely anybody.
As for Manchester being wet, etc, Kaka plays for Milan, a team from a city with continental winters that see many more days of snow, freezing fog, etc than Manchester does. Madrid, where Robinho arrived from, is also much colder in winter than Manchester, so let’s just dispel a few myths about these fellas not liking the weather in the northwest. Besides, it was never an issue for Ronaldo, Tevez, Torres, and many others.
It all stinks ? too much money, it's fucked football up and the world has had it.... We?re doomed Mr Mainwaring.... doomed!
Yep, Northern Italy can?t claim all year round glorious weather, as anybody who went to Fiorentina will attest. I?m still drying myself off.
The RS finish fifth and then get together with their (ex-G14) playmates, and lo and behold, the Uefa organising committee allow five English clubs to qualify for the CL!
The Sky 4 become the Sky 5, and the ?old order? is maintained. They have already set a precedent by allowing the RS to qualify for the CL despite not finishing in the top4 a few years ago. Watch it happen.
With regard to Man City, it may surprise one or two people to know that they were the main team in Manchester until the Munich air disaster came along... that's right, United had a good side for once and most of them were wiped out in the disaster. Everyone in the country felt sorry for them and many started supporting them. That was the birth of the Manchester United you know today.
I?ve never had a problem with City and I find it amusing that they have suddenly come into all this money. I do feel that the Sky four feel threatened by their new status and until the shite get new owners they are definitely vulnerable to them. If they can prize Kaka away from Milan and don?t forget they took the other Brazillian away from Chelsea, they can prize anyone away from anyone and that includes Torres and Gerard. I?ll bet the gobshites are bricking it at the thought.
There is an old saying: My enemy?s enemy is my friend. One or two of you could do with remembering this... Let the fun begin.
"Arsenal?s current transfer record fee is £13m paid to Bordeaux for Sylvain Wiltord in 2000"
Money doesn?t buy class... just look at Shrek.
The move if it happens will send costs spiralling, again and in a time of tough economic times I think it?s a disgraceful waste of money. It?s a sick joke.
The other issue is, if Kaka doesn?t want to move to City, he doesn?t have to. He?s contracted to Milan. If I were him, I?d stay put and then agitate for a move in the Summer to a club I wanted to play for. Real, Barca, Inter, United would fall overt themselves if he put in a request for a move and they wouldn?t be paying anywhere near £100 million.
"Reyes signed with English club Arsenal FC during the January transfer window of the 2003-04 season. The £10.5m fee was negotiated with top ups, depending on the success of Arsenal, which could have risen to £17m."
We do not want to be showing panic to others and steaming in for a player, just for them to smile and say "you are desperate so pay over the odds". Bide our time, let the Man City's of this world throw their cash away on shit such as Bellamy (I realise Kaka isn't shit), and get in players for what they are worth and we can afford. A little respect for Moyes and Bill for this please!
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1 Posted 15/01/2009 at 00:53:45
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If not starting from square one, City are at least a long way from a position of similar strength and they could well prove to be one large, laughable experiment in Fantasy Football played out in the real world; a collection of very expensive luxury players on more money than we mere mortals can comprehend.
Sure, a player like Kaka ? assuming, of course, he can be turned by pound signs and would swap the glamourous environs of Milan for more wet weekends in Manchester than he thought possible ? can win matches but is it enough to guide a team that still has Richard Dunne as its first-choice centre back and the still untested Mark Hughes as manager to the Champions League?
What it drives home to me is what we could achieve if we had even a fraction of City?s new buying power. Two or three top-quality additions (and they don?t have to be in Kaka?s league) would be enough to propel us into the top four and still be able to compete with the monied teams who will still be 11 human beings kicking a ball around, not superheroes with unconquerable powers.