[Football] Jonathan Wilson's article on Man City cup final.

Alba Badger said:

The FA Cup final made fall a little out more out of love with football if i'm honest. I hope Many City get nailed to the frigging wall for breaking financial fair play. Points deductions, transfer bans and band from Europe.

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Gritt23 said:

Do you honestly believe there is any chance they get banned from CL? I'd love to say there was, but there simply isn't.

Aging squad? Not especially. Did you see the talent they had sat on the bench, and that didn't even include Phil Fogden. Where are they about to be weak if they get a 2 window transfer ban.

As for them "now being watched", the reality is that the authorities are completely toothless, so City will just carry on because IF they get a punishment it will be laughable. It will just encourage them to stockpile even more so they can ride out transfer bans with even more ease.

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Alba Badger said:

The FA Cup final made fall a little out more out of love with football if i'm honest. I hope Many City get nailed to the frigging wall for breaking financial fair play. Points deductions, transfer bans and band from Europe.

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Peter Ward said:

Wilson's article in the Guardian makes the case that the wealth created superiority of clubs like Man City has created such an unbalanced playing field that there is no longer any true competition at top level football. On the 6-0 slaughter of Watford he argues that ' In terms of competitiveness, you may as well have placed a yellow-and-black blancmange in the middle of the pitch and smashed it with a sky blue oar'. 'Watching Pep Guardiola’s side dismantle their opponents in the FA Cup final was gruesome and reflective of a trend across Europe that suggests the time has come for a super league'.

'But Saturday was miserable, the traditional showpiece of the English season reduced to a grim parade, devoid of any drama, there to satisfy the propaganda wing of a faraway regime. Perhaps some people enjoy watching eviscerations like this: Romans, after all, flocked to the Colosseum for fixtures between lions and Christians that were only marginally less one-sided than this. But even City fans did not seem particularly enthused, grumbling on the underground about a fifth trip to Wembley this season and cheering goals with the weary satisfaction that used to be reserved for a top-flight team battering a minnow in the third round.'

Do you agree?

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Kinky Gerbils said:

The City squad is aging so it needs to be refreshed
.

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Kinky Gerbils said:

Given they banned Barca from making transfers, I dont see why City are too big to not be punished.

They have already received a fine for breaking FFP once, so the next step is a ban.

I disagree they are toothless, they want FFP to work and hold all the power - all the talk away of breakaway leagues is rubbish.

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Rich Suvner said:

I think the best solution would be a UEFA implementation of a salary cap (not for individual players, but for a squad). Therefore pay what you want to secure the best talent, but you need to operate within an envelope - like in US sport. Clearly the ceiling would need to be a meaningful one, but that would create a situation whereby you can attempt to reign the worst excess.

But clearly the big clubs won't allow that to happen.

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Rich Suvner said:

I think the best solution would be a UEFA implementation of a salary cap (not for individual players, but for a squad). Therefore pay what you want to secure the best talent, but you need to operate within an envelope - like in US sport. Clearly the ceiling would need to be a meaningful one, but that would create a situation whereby you can attempt to reign the worst excess.

But clearly the big clubs won't allow that to happen.

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Peter Ward said:

Wilson's article in the Guardian makes the case that the wealth created superiority of clubs like Man City has created such an unbalanced playing field that there is no longer any true competition at top level football. On the 6-0 slaughter of Watford he argues that ' In terms of competitiveness, you may as well have placed a yellow-and-black blancmange in the middle of the pitch and smashed it with a sky blue oar'. 'Watching Pep Guardiola’s side dismantle their opponents in the FA Cup final was gruesome and reflective of a trend across Europe that suggests the time has come for a super league'.

'But Saturday was miserable, the traditional showpiece of the English season reduced to a grim parade, devoid of any drama, there to satisfy the propaganda wing of a faraway regime. Perhaps some people enjoy watching eviscerations like this: Romans, after all, flocked to the Colosseum for fixtures between lions and Christians that were only marginally less one-sided than this. But even City fans did not seem particularly enthused, grumbling on the underground about a fifth trip to Wembley this season and cheering goals with the weary satisfaction that used to be reserved for a top-flight team battering a minnow in the third round.'

Do you agree?

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Gritt23 said:

Oh transfer ban, yeah, but BANNED from the Champions League? There is more chance of me going home tonight and finding a naked Jess Ennis-Hill lying on my bed waiting for me.

And do transfer bans really mean much to teams who have been stockpiling huge amounts of World Class players for years? Stones, Otamendi, De Bruyne, Sane and Aguero .... that was just their bench!

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amexer said:

Forgetting money issues I think City are best side i have seen in Premier league and a joy to watch. It will not last for ever. I enjoy watching Brighton pitting themselves against the big boys. Even for them there are no easy games and we are lucky our top league is not dominated by one or two like so many are. I could name now next seasons winners of French,Italian,German,Scottish and Spanish leagues now.

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Kinky Gerbils said:

They received a fine a couple of years ago.

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Mellotron said:

Genuinely think I'd be starting to get a bit disillusioned as a City fan at some point soon.

It's like when you play a computer game on cheat mode, giving yourself unrealistic levels of power or money or whatever you need in the game. Great laugh for about 10 minutes or so, then it just starts to feel a bit hollow and meaningless.

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Mellotron said:

Genuinely think I'd be starting to get a bit disillusioned as a City fan at some point soon.

It's like when you play a computer game on cheat mode, giving yourself unrealistic levels of power or money or whatever you need in the game. Great laugh for about 10 minutes or so, then it just starts to feel a bit hollow and meaningless.

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hans kraay fan club said:

I can't see this at all. You make it sound like it was a complete given, that they won these three trophies.

They only won the League Cup by a penalty shoot out.
They only got though the fourth round of the FA Cup via a refereeing blunder and a last minute equaliser.
They won the PL title by ONE point.

I'd say as a sports fan, that for your team to consistently win things, but only after some drama and suspense, is pretty much as good as it gets.

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hans kraay fan club said:

I can't see this at all. You make it sound like it was a complete given, that they won these three trophies.

They only won the League Cup by a penalty shoot out.
They only got though the fourth round of the FA Cup via a refereeing blunder and a last minute equaliser.
They won the PL title by ONE point.

I'd say as a sports fan, that for your team to consistently win things, but only after some drama and suspense, is pretty much as good as it gets.

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