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[Football] Man City - Rotten to the core?



Weststander

Well-known member
NSC Licker Extraordinaire
Aug 25, 2011
63,156
Withdean area
Look up Operation Longbow on any site such as Reuters. They’ve cheated their way to buying and paying players they otherwise couldn’t have afforded. No wonder the next level down of clubs never win the major prizes.
 

Gazwag

5 millionth post poster
Mar 4, 2004
30,086
Bexhill-on-Sea
Man City fans do not care, all they care about is being ahead of Man Utd, by any means fuelled by the fact that Man Utd had such a run of being the best team until recently since football was invented in the 90's when City were crap
 

Mellor 3 Ward 4

Well-known member
Jul 27, 2004
9,748
saaf of the water
I've said for a long time that the day Tony Bloom sells out to a faceless Far Eastern/Russian/Chinese/American 'consortium' who has no affinity to my football club, that's the day I walk away from The Albion.
 

Brovion

Well-known member
NSC Licker Extraordinaire
Jul 6, 2003
19,295
Man City fans do not care, all they care about is being ahead of Man Utd, by any means fuelled by the fact that Man Utd had such a run of being the best team until recently since football was invented in the 90's when City were crap

Quite. There was an article somewhere about 1999. Whilst Man U were winning the Treble Man City were getting promoted out of English football's third tier (via the play-offs I believe. I think they beat Gillingham, could be wrong).

"When you come out of the darkness you welcome the light and you don't question its source"
 


Commander

Well-known member
NSC Licker Extraordinaire
Apr 28, 2004
12,767
London
I've said for a long time that the day Tony Bloom sells out to a faceless Far Eastern/Russian/Chinese/American 'consortium' who has no affinity to my football club, that's the day I walk away from The Albion.

I think it depends on who they are, but I agree to a certain extent. I don't think an owner should be discriminated against for being foreign, some foreign owners genuinely seem to want the best for their clubs and to do a good job, the poor guy at Leicester seemed like a good example of this. But if we were owned by someone like the Man City lot, or some nutjob who just wants a plaything for a few years, then I think I'd probably stop going regularly at least.
 

Brovion

Well-known member
NSC Licker Extraordinaire
Jul 6, 2003
19,295
I think it depends on who they are, but I agree to a certain extent. I don't think an owner should be discriminated against for being foreign, some foreign owners genuinely seem to want the best for their clubs and to do a good job, the poor guy at Leicester seemed like a good example of this. But if we were owned by someone like the Man City lot, or some nutjob who just wants a plaything for a few years, then I think I'd probably stop going regularly at least.

Yeah, I'm with you. I would never turn my back on the club (I didn't when Archer was in charge), but one of the great things about this era is the 'provenance' of our owner.
 


father_and_son

Well-known member
Jan 23, 2012
4,646
Under the Police Box
I think it depends on who they are, but I agree to a certain extent. I don't think an owner should be discriminated against for being foreign, some foreign owners genuinely seem to want the best for their clubs and to do a good job, the poor guy at Leicester seemed like a good example of this. But if we were owned by someone like the Man City lot, or some nutjob who just wants a plaything for a few years, then I think I'd probably stop going regularly at least.

This.

The club is a not solely a product of the owners... they are, to a certain extent, transient and will eventually leave/sell the club to someone else.

As we know only too well, some owners are just scum. But then some owners simply don't understand what it is they own. Vincent Tan is a good example of the latter. I recall singing "We still play in blue" to Cardiff a few season's back when VT had turned them into the Red Dragons, rather misguidedly. He relented and the fans seem to have forgiven him.

Staying with the club, protesting the things that are wrong, supporting the things that are right is - in some instances - productive.

Foreign ownership isn't a problem, nor is uneducated ownership... but some owners are just wrong. If we got a Tan, Allam or a Vichai, then I would keep faith with the club. If we got Glazers or Mansour then I think I might take a break from the Albion for a few years.
 

Publius Ovidius

Well-known member
Jul 5, 2003
45,891
at home
This.

The club is a not solely a product of the owners... they are, to a certain extent, transient and will eventually leave/sell the club to someone else.

As we know only too well, some owners are just scum. But then some owners simply don't understand what it is they own. Vincent Tan is a good example of the latter. I recall singing "We still play in blue" to Cardiff a few season's back when VT had turned them into the Red Dragons, rather misguidedly. He relented and the fans seem to have forgiven him.

Staying with the club, protesting the things that are wrong, supporting the things that are right is - in some instances - productive.

Foreign ownership isn't a problem, nor is uneducated ownership... but some owners are just wrong. If we got a Tan, Allam or a Vichai, then I would keep faith with the club. If we got Glazers or Mansour then I think I might take a break from the Albion for a few years.

And if a Russian billionaire came in, brought in carlo ancellotti and gave him 200+ to spend?
 


blue-shifted

Banned
Feb 20, 2004
7,645
a galaxy far far away
I've said for a long time that the day Tony Bloom sells out to a faceless Far Eastern/Russian/Chinese/American 'consortium' who has no affinity to my football club, that's the day I walk away from The Albion.

Or you could stay and fight for your club back. We’ve done it once and we could do it again if we had to

I get your point though that it becomes much, much harder to support a club which you feel doesn’t represent your values, (even if they are playing some truly exceptional football)
 

Beanstalk

Well-known member
Apr 5, 2017
2,425
London
Or you could stay and fight for your club back. We’ve done it once and we could do it again if we had to

I get your point though that it becomes much, much harder to support a club which you feel doesn’t represent your values, (even if they are playing some truly exceptional football)

But what if we became a corporate giant, dominating domestic football and growing a fanbase that cares very little for anything bar on field success. When there is always someone to take your seat if you vacate it, your absence makes very little difference, regardless of how much noise you make whilst leaving.

The thing that wrangles with me about City is that they are run by the rulers of a country who believe that flogging and stoning are lawful punishments, and no one at that club gives a crap. Watching the Amazon documentary felt not only like City propaganda but also to sell the UAE as a progressive country (of which it is definitely not). That bit where Pep with all his principles (in all parts of his life) goes over in a private jet to have lunch with the owners is laughable.

I think the reality is that if something like that were to happen to us, my interest in the Albion would wane, and though I'd be bound to follow from a distance, I'm not sure I'd want to be a part of it every single week.
 

dejavuatbtn

Well-known member
Aug 4, 2010
7,097
Henfield
I suspect that whatever major club you look at there will be some link to betting, booze, drugs and/or money laundering somewhere in the financial chain supporting it. Some have dirtier hands than others.
 


portlock seagull

Why? Why us?
Jul 28, 2003
16,965
Any of these oligarch, sheik types don’t get THAT rich without some foul play, you’d be a naive fan to think otherwise but as others said, generally people don’t care as long as they’re ‘winning’. Amazing what things people will turn a blind eye to providing wealth is generated and they benefit.
 

blue-shifted

Banned
Feb 20, 2004
7,645
a galaxy far far away
But what if we became a corporate giant, dominating domestic football and growing a fanbase that cares very little for anything bar on field success. When there is always someone to take your seat if you vacate it, your absence makes very little difference, regardless of how much noise you make whilst leaving.

The thing that wrangles with me about City is that they are run by the rulers of a country who believe that flogging and stoning are lawful punishments, and no one at that club gives a crap. Watching the Amazon documentary felt not only like City propaganda but also to sell the UAE as a progressive country (of which it is definitely not). That bit where Pep with all his principles (in all parts of his life) goes over in a private jet to have lunch with the owners is laughable.

I think the reality is that if something like that were to happen to us, my interest in the Albion would wane, and though I'd be bound to follow from a distance, I'm not sure I'd want to be a part of it every single week.


The fans still have a lot of power, even against oligarchs or corporate giants. Most owners are in it for ego or as part of their wider business interests and they don't want to be embarrassed. Cardiff fans forced Tan to give in about the shirt colours. It can be done.. The reason why fans appear powerless is most supporters turn a blind eye whilst there is success on the pitch and only protest after they start losing. This is sad, but not inevitable. Brighton is a progressive place and we're a club with a proud history of mobilising and standing together and a good knowledge of the difference between a good owner and a bad one. If someone rich owner promised us £500M of blood money for players I think more would stand up against this than at most clubs
 

Commander

Well-known member
NSC Licker Extraordinaire
Apr 28, 2004
12,767
London
The fans still have a lot of power, even against oligarchs or corporate giants. Most owners are in it for ego or as part of their wider business interests and they don't want to be embarrassed. Cardiff fans forced Tan to give in about the shirt colours. It can be done.. The reason why fans appear powerless is most supporters turn a blind eye whilst there is success on the pitch and only protest after they start losing. This is sad, but not inevitable. Brighton is a progressive place and we're a club with a proud history of mobilising and standing together and a good knowledge of the difference between a good owner and a bad one. If someone rich owner promised us £500M of blood money for players I think more would stand up against this than at most clubs

I'm not so sure. There would be some grumblings, but how many people who genuinely went week in, week out back in the dark days are there at the Amex? A couple of thousand or so? Their places would be eagerly snapped up by other people who started to get interested in the Albion once we got good, and a load more people who are too young to remember anything about what happened before. Im the grand scheme of things, I don't think it would make much difference to most people.
 



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