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'Little romance in City's title win' - outstanding article!
- Thread starter Goldstone Rapper
- Start date
Not Andy Naylor
Well-known member
And they spent £60m over two seasons to do it. The £35m they shelled out last summer was the eighth-highest outlay in Europe.
Goldstone Rapper
Rediffusion PlayerofYear
- Thread starter
- #43
Man City managed to get relegated the season after they were champions in the 1930s. Not much chance of history repeating next season but we can dream...
To be fair to City's owners (and there are many things about Abu Dhabi I find odious), the community investment has been very impressive.
The Large One
Who's Next?
They didn't get relegated but when Leeds won the league in 1992 (Howard Wilkinson - still the last English manager to win it), they didn't win an away league match all of the following season.
Norwich City finished third, too.
red star portslade
New member
Top 7 PL this season.
1. Arab money
2. American money
3. Russian money
4. Don't spend money
5. What's money?
6. Gareth Bale money
7. Waste of money
Not Andy Naylor
Well-known member
People blame the Premier League - and it really is a disgusting concept, especially the parachute payments - but the rot set in a lot earlier. Here's Lenny Lawrence speaking about keeping Charlton in the old first division while playing at Selhurst Park in the 1980s, from an excellent article in The Blizzard a year or so ago (modesty forbids etc):
http://sabotagetimes.com/reportage/...-millwall-and-wimbledon-challenged-the-elite/
"Every rule change, everything that’s done in football, makes the big clubs richer and the small clubs poorer. Go back 30 years: if you were the away club you got a percentage of the gate money. We would come away from a game against Manchester United with a share, which was worth a lot when we were getting 6-7,000 through the gate at Selhurst Park and they were getting 30-40,000. They stopped that 20-odd years ago [in 1983], and it made a big difference. The Premier League, with all the TV and prize money — everything has been designed to maintain the status quo. So for those clubs who drop out of the top flight or who have never been in it, it is much more difficult than it used to be."
On Blackburn, I also remember that a lot of people thought it was brilliant that a small-town club had denied the vile Manchester United the title, because we all thought that, if we had been Jack Walker, we'd have done exactly the same for our club. Of course nowadays his money might have got Blackburn promoted but wouldn't have made a dent in the vast TV and marketing revenues the top clubs get.
I also enjoyed Citeh winning the league two years ago because they came so close to cocking it up and also for the look on the faces of Ferguson and the Manchester United supporters when they realised that Aguero had snatched the title from them was utterly priceless. And, most importantly, it meant a new name on that hideous, ridiculous, no-class Premier League trophy. For the same reason, I wanted Liverpool to win this year.
But frankly, having seen close up what the greed and desperation that surrounds the Premier League does to clubs - even decent clubs such as Fulham - I'm in two minds about the Albion going up. Of course I want to see us playing against the top teams, and we have to have the ambition to get as high up the league as possible, or else why bother - but holding onto your soul at the same time is tricky. Not many clubs have managed it. Ask the fans of Cardiff, Hull Tigers, Blackburn, P*rtsm**th ....
http://sabotagetimes.com/reportage/...-millwall-and-wimbledon-challenged-the-elite/
"Every rule change, everything that’s done in football, makes the big clubs richer and the small clubs poorer. Go back 30 years: if you were the away club you got a percentage of the gate money. We would come away from a game against Manchester United with a share, which was worth a lot when we were getting 6-7,000 through the gate at Selhurst Park and they were getting 30-40,000. They stopped that 20-odd years ago [in 1983], and it made a big difference. The Premier League, with all the TV and prize money — everything has been designed to maintain the status quo. So for those clubs who drop out of the top flight or who have never been in it, it is much more difficult than it used to be."
On Blackburn, I also remember that a lot of people thought it was brilliant that a small-town club had denied the vile Manchester United the title, because we all thought that, if we had been Jack Walker, we'd have done exactly the same for our club. Of course nowadays his money might have got Blackburn promoted but wouldn't have made a dent in the vast TV and marketing revenues the top clubs get.
I also enjoyed Citeh winning the league two years ago because they came so close to cocking it up and also for the look on the faces of Ferguson and the Manchester United supporters when they realised that Aguero had snatched the title from them was utterly priceless. And, most importantly, it meant a new name on that hideous, ridiculous, no-class Premier League trophy. For the same reason, I wanted Liverpool to win this year.
But frankly, having seen close up what the greed and desperation that surrounds the Premier League does to clubs - even decent clubs such as Fulham - I'm in two minds about the Albion going up. Of course I want to see us playing against the top teams, and we have to have the ambition to get as high up the league as possible, or else why bother - but holding onto your soul at the same time is tricky. Not many clubs have managed it. Ask the fans of Cardiff, Hull Tigers, Blackburn, P*rtsm**th ....
Last edited:
Del Fenner
Because of Boxing Day
Surely Man City winning the Prem for the first time was the same thing as a loaded Blackburn winning the title.