Stickied Transfer Rumours 2018/19

[£50mPoundSterling]

first of and why you now have workarounds with massively inflated sponsorship deals.

And therefore operating within the rules. As farcical and nonsensical as they are.

I think you're bordering on jealousy to be honest - which would explain a lot of your post(s)

 

[Pagnell]

Believe me, I can assure you he isn't jealous.

And you're operating within the rules in the same way Starbucks were with their paying of UK tax. That's nothing to be in any way proud of.

 

[Stevencc]

Yeah, G.B is jealous that his club only has the sweat and light wallets of Sports Direct employees on it's hands.

He is a monster and wants more.

Were he to support City he could really stick it to those vile, vulnerable humans and satisfy a bit of bloodlust too.

Also, trophies.

 

[£50mPoundSterling]

Well chaps I will leave you to enjoy your sense of pride whilst I enjoy watching my club win trophies and play (granted only 99% of the time) sublime football in doing so.

It wouldn't do for us all to be the same, hey

 

[Cornish Piskie]

I don't think City are doing anything any number of clubs haven't done in the past in order to win.

I'd be interested to see the total amount of money spent on transfers by Manchester United, or Liverpool, or Barcelona, or Real Madrid...... the list could go on.... when they were at their trophy winning peaks. Why single out Manchester City for your ire..?

Newcastle are English football's biggest underachievers. A club with significant financial resources and a fan base whose devotion to the club could be described as pathologically obsessive. In the past, Newcastle have spent big. They have attracted top players. They have had charismatic managers. Hell, they even had a 12 point lead in the Premier League going into the later stages of the season on one occasion. They have reached League Cup* and FA Cup finals.

And they blew them all. When it was time to step up to the plate, Newcastle crashed and burned. In short, they have bottled it time after time.

Their last trophy came in 1969, nearly 50 years ago. When they last won a major domestic trophy, Churchill had only just moved out of 10 Downing Street.

Fast forward to the 2010's and enter Manchester City, a club that suddenly became the train set for a filthy rich Arab consortium.... and have made the most of it.

Not for their fans the gut wrenching pain of watching their team fall at the final hurdle.... rather, when disaster loomed on the last day of the 2012 season they found two stoppage time goals to secure the championship. Could Newcastle have done that..? Their track record suggests not.

I can see how Newcastle fans might want to seize some sort of lofty moral high ground.... "We don't buy trophies"....... Well, I'm sure that's a crumb of comfort. Of sorts.

What is relevant is that it's not just the fact that City have spent money, but that they've made the spending count.

And that's the real difference between the two clubs.






* Ironically, against Manchester City, with City's spectacular winning goal scored by a former Sunderland player...!!!

 

[£50mPoundSterling]

Well said.

 

[Pagnell]

I'd be interested to see the total amount of money spent on transfers by Manchester United, or Liverpool, or Barcelona, or Real Madrid...... the list could go on.... when they were at their trophy winning peaks. Why single out Manchester City for your ire..?

Since 1992 City have spent a tad under £1b net on transfers, and sit at number one on that table. Yet in 2008 they weren't even featured on the list of top 20 spending UK clubs. It's frankly obscene. Couple that with the fact that their spend bears absolutely no relation to their operating income, which is what FFP was meant to at least attempt to address. Then to top it off, you have the questionable source of that income, which has been debated numerous times and I have no need to go over it again.

It's no coincidence that City and Chelsea get the most grief when it comes to spend. City is a multi-billion pound Arabian PR exercise. Chelsea is a hobby for an Oligarch, although I get the impression he finds it less fun than he did a decade ago. Maybe such shit is the future of football. But it doesn't mean we have to like it.

 

[Stevencc]

You tell her, Pags.

 

[Benji]

Football is so powerful that an attractive and successful brand of it can eclipse even human rights abuse and torture on a national scale. Man City are the most successful example of the fact that football clubs can be effectively used to launder the reputation of owners. This is yet another shortcoming of Newcastle United, where Mike Ashley is continually attacked for his company's poor treatment and underpaying of its staff.

 

[JimJams]

 

[mistermagic]

How does FFP work?

I'm not asking this to dig at City but PSG apparently have it hanging over them after Mbappe and Neymar and yet it never seems to be talked about in the UK....?

We were supposed to sell Lucas and one of di Maria/Pastore in January to comply to FFP. Honestly didn't believe we'd sell anyone given how high the players' wages are and the sizeable transfer fee such moves would demand. But Spurs did cough up 28M€ and that sounds about right given that we needed to sell more than Tottenham needed to buy. Back to FFP, L'Equipe tried to make a big deal out of the fact that the Mbappé and Neymar transfers shouldn't have happened due to the restrictions but I'm not sure what punishment UEFA can inflict us that would seriously damage our transfer policy.

I agree that we do have a rather bad-ass we don't give a fuck attitude which City lack. It is my opinion that City are trying to make themselves whiter than white when really they're just as bad as us (well a bit less bad in fairness). At least we're honest.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/29361839

tldr; it doesn't work. clubs like psg and city cover their ridiculous spending with phony sponsorship deals. the only thing it's achieved is ensuring "smaller clubs" can't hope to compete financially. you breach ffp? here's a fine mr. billionaire. that'll teach you.

Yeah, pretty much. Unless they fine something ridiculous like 500M€, I doubt we'll change our strategy.

 

[Cornish Piskie]

Since 1992 City have spent a tad under £1b net on transfers, and sit at number one on that table. Yet in 2008 they weren't even featured on the list of top 20 spending UK clubs. It's frankly obscene. Couple that with the fact that their spend bears absolutely no relation to their operating income, which is what FFP was meant to at least attempt to address. Then to top it off, you have the questionable source of that income, which has been debated numerous times and I have no need to go over it again.

It's no coincidence that City and Chelsea get the most grief when it comes to spend. City is a multi-billion pound Arabian PR exercise. Chelsea is a hobby for an Oligarch, although I get the impression he finds it less fun than he did a decade ago. Maybe such shit is the future of football. But it doesn't mean we have to like it.

I'm in no doubt at all that City have spent a lot of money. I wouldn't be at all surprised if some (or even all) of it came from dodgy sources. But the point I'm making is that City aren't doing anything that any other club wouldn't do in similar circumstances, and that most criticism is borne more out of jealousy than genuine moral concern.

Let's establish one thing first. I'm a neutral observer here on planet football. I have no axe to grind with any club or individual. I'm writing purely as an outsider-looking-in.

When I look at the history of the club I mostly associate myself with I see a litany of names they have sold. Jonjo Shelvey and Rob Elliott are the latest players from SE7 to have found their way, by one route or another, to St James' Park. Remember Robert Lee? I'm sure if I looked hard enough I'd find others. Have Newcastle ever had any qualms about depriving lesser clubs of their best players..? Nope. Is that right and moral...? Not in my opinion.

You could argue that those players wanted to better themselves, but isn't that what De Bruyne, Aguero, Kompany, et al have done..?

The principle is the same, only the amount of money involved differs. It's just a question of scale. I repeat, Newcastle United would do exactly the same and with the first "shiny pot" that found itself adorned with black and white ribbons, I suspect their fans moral outrage would disappear in a puff of smoke.

Football is a game that has completely sold its soul to Mammon. There is no morality in the game.

I'm more in agreement with you than against you, you know. I agree that the amounts of money ARE obscene. When I see the news about the hospital in Truro, or my daughter's school struggling for funding for staff and equipment, when see one greedy footballer throwing a hissy fit because the club he wanted to join, in order to agrandise himself and cop bigger wages, wouldn't stump up £90+ million for his services, I too am appalled.

Should football be reformed..? You may ask "How?" and that would be a valid question, but at the present time, I don't see the grass roots of the game challenging the system, all any of them want is for their club to get a slice of the pie for themselves in any way they can regardless of the effect on anybody else.

You're the fans. It's your game. What are YOU doing about the malaise..? Nothing that I can see.

Not only is there a lot of money in football, there is also a lot of faux outrage that is only an inch away from outright hypocrisy. The have-nots object solely on the basis of jealousy, not because they think football needs reform. I doubt that the idea of reform has even occurred to football fans.

When football fans reject, and campaign against, the transfer system and vast wages that are fuelled by gambling, television and business self interest I'd be more convinced that objections to the likes of Manchester City are genuine.

 

[SoutheySWFC]

The game is on its arse, no one single club is to blame, we all are, 20 odd of us voted for the PL, Blackburn were the first 'sugar daddy's team I recall.

The top clubs have always supplemented their squads it's just even more ridiculous now, be it Liverpool in the 80s hoovering up most talent then United in the 90s for the most part, then Chelsea now City, it's just how it is.

I miss the old last Thursday in March deadline, I doubt the spending would be as frivolous if we still went that way but clubs panic and chuck 35m on a Carroll or a 56m on Augbameyang, money never leaves football though it just gets spread around to the same clubs.

I'm not saying the game is any worse cos it's a cracking spectacle at times and Leicester broke the monotony but when I was a kid you saw the likes of Villa, Palace, Wednesday, Forest and Palace pushing at the top end based on graft rather than out spending the rest, I doubt we will see that again unless the big boys end up in a European super league or a world one as monies from the middle East and China may dictate it, the fact a non relegation rule was even mooted is frightening.

Fans are more and more like customers, the PL clubs don't need us to survive and I watched a second tier game pull in 2,750 in the week, it scares me, kids don't go to games but support their club on BT or Sky.

meh

 

[G.B]

@£50mPoundSterling

read what's actually been written. and if you must join a discussion, at least try to add to it rather than going in a huff and running away from it when challenged. the reason city were mentioned is because they're one of the cubs who have been "punished" for breaching ffp rules, and also one of the clubs with phony, inflated sponsorship deals. they're relevant to the subject matter. get over yourself. your reaction makes it seem as though you're overly defensive, ignoring the content of posts from various top notch reyt good members to instead leap to the defence of the club and it's owner just because city were mentioned in passing. the immediate response to a discussion about ffp, where nobody had directly blamed man city for all of the worlds problems, was...

"So City are to blame for being allowed to operate within the rules, albeit scandalous; but within the rules?"

and when it was pointed out they do not in fact operate within the rules, the ever so intelligent response was "you're just jealous". if you ever wanted the modern football fan, and in many ways an entire, regrettable, generation summing up, there you have it. haters gonna hate and all that mindless fuckwittery.

compare that with top notch, reyt good member and unfortunately psg fan mistermagic's reasoned response and acknowledgement of rule breaching/bending (whichever one causes you less outrage) it becomes very clear who the emotional one here is.

it wasn't about jealousy or seizing the moral high ground or whatever other long ass nonsensical tangent you or cornish piskie wish go on. there's very little high ground left to claim in modern football (fan owned clubs maybe). most of our clubs are run by awful human beings, mine included. some worse than others, some a shit load worse than others in your case. but we were strictly discussing ffp and why it doesn't work. that's what people do on football discussion boards, they discuss football and that. you personally made it about man city in your haste to defend them when they hadn't really been attacked, so you got some opinions on them. unsurprisingly, given the source of funds and city's utter contempt for ffp, they were negative opinions that upset you (i should introduce you to silky sometime, you two would get along great and he could tell you all about his various conspiracy theories). so, after your parting post that will one day be part of a quiz, with the correct answer being "things football divs say", off you went, but not before popping back in to leave a like for a whole lot of post that said a whole lot of nothing (this seems to be a trend btw), and wasn't even agreeing with your defence of your club ignoring ffp.

i've noticed, from reading some of your posts since you joined, you can't handle any criticism of your chosen club for whatever reason (again, a trend with certain clubs fans). they will be criticised at one time or another on here. probably more than most (but a lot less than liverpool) given there's a lot more to criticise them for than most. either work on thickening your skin or just ignore it.

also, if you could please respond to pags' post on the ffp situation as seen below, and explain it all away, that'd be great. i think he's just jealous me.

Since 1992 City have spent a tad under £1b net on transfers, and sit at number one on that table. Yet in 2008 they weren't even featured on the list of top 20 spending UK clubs. It's frankly obscene. Couple that with the fact that their spend bears absolutely no relation to their operating income, which is what FFP was meant to at least attempt to address. Then to top it off, you have the questionable source of that income, which has been debated numerous times and I have no need to go over it again.

It's no coincidence that City and Chelsea get the most grief when it comes to spend. City is a multi-billion pound Arabian PR exercise. Chelsea is a hobby for an Oligarch, although I get the impression he finds it less fun than he did a decade ago. Maybe such shit is the future of football. But it doesn't mean we have to like it.

thanks

 

[Anon]

Let's not pretend FFP is there to 'level the playing field'. It's there to allow the bigger clubs within each league to keep their status quo and prevent smaller clubs from 'overspending' to catch them.

What was and still is styled as a way to prevent bigger clubs spending more, is actually there to stop smaller clubs spending more in their attempts to compete with the established top chunk.

There were always going to be loopholes to allow bigger teams to keep spendikng the way some do. The optimistic view is that it was a genuine mistake to allow the loopholes. I'm not optimistic. Looking at the way the votes were split 5 years ago tells you all you needed to know. Nothing has changed.

 

[Stevencc]

@£50mPoundSterling

read what's actually been written. and if you must join a discussion, at least try to add to it rather than going in a huff and running away from it when challenged. the reason city were mentioned is because they're one of the cubs who have been "punished" for breaching ffp rules, and also one of the clubs with phony, inflated sponsorship deals. they're relevant to the subject matter. get over yourself. your reaction makes it seem as though your overly defensive, ignoring the content of posts from various top notch reyt good members to instead leap to the defence of the club and it's owner just because city were mentioned in passing. the immediate response to a discussion about ffp, where nobody had directly blamed man city for all of the worlds problems, was...

"So City are to blame for being allowed to operate within the rules, albeit scandalous; but within the rules?"

and when it was pointed out they do not in fact operate within the rules, the ever so intelligent response was "you're just jealous". if you ever wanted the modern football fan, and in many ways an entire, regrettable, generation summing up, there you have it. haters gonna hate and all that mindless fuckwittery.

compare that with top notch, reyt good member and unfortunately psg fan mistermagic's reasoned response and acknowledgement of rule breaching/bending (whichever one causes you less outrage) it becomes very clear who the emotional one here is.

it wasn't about jealousy or seizing the moral high ground or whatever other long ass nonsensical tangent you or cornish piskie wish go on. there's very little high ground left to claim in modern football (fan owned clubs maybe). most of our cubs are run by awful human beings, mine included. some worse than others, some a shit load worse than others in your case. but we were strictly discussing ffp and why it doesn't work. that's what people do on football discussion boards, they discuss football and that. you personally made it about man city in your haste to defend them when they hadn't really been attacked, so you got some opinions on them. unsurprisingly, given the source of funds and city's utter contempt for ffp, they were negative opinions that you upset you (i should introduce you to silky sometime, you two would get along great and he could tell you all about his various conspiracy theories). so, after your parting post that will one day be part of a quiz, with the correct answer being "things football divs say", off you went, but not before popping back in to leave a like for a whole lot of post that said a whole lot of nothing (this seems to be a trend btw), and wasn't even agreeing with your defence of your club ignoring ffp.

i've noticed, from reading some of your posts since you joined, you can't handle any criticism of your chosen club for whatever reason (again, a trend with certain clubs fans). they will be criticised at one time or another on here. probably more than most (but a lot less than liverpool) given there's a lot more to criticise them for than most. either work on thickening your skin or just ignore it.

also, if you could please respond to pags' post on the ffp situation as seen below, and explain it all away, that'd be great. i think he's just jealous me.



thanks

 

[£50mPoundSterling]

Hit a nerve with Mr Jealous clearly.

 

[JimJams]

Shit comeback. Hang your head in shame.

 

[shane]

Well chaps I will leave you to enjoy your sense of pride whilst I enjoy watching my club win trophies and play (granted only 99% of the time) sublime football in doing so.

It wouldn't do for us all to be the same, hey

Is it as much of an enjoyment as if your club achieved the same “organically” though?

I’m as plastic a Liverpool fan as you’ll find. I grew up half a mile from Highbury yet support Liverpool because my Irish cousins said they’d beat the shit out of me if I didn’t. I say this to relay the fact I don’t consider myself able to talk to any other football fan from sort of high ground.

City play comfortably the best football in the league. There’s no question of that and that in itself is enjoyable.

But say Newcastle were to qualify for European football this season and City do the domestic treble.

Hit a nerve with Mr Jealous clearly.

You’ve let yourself down there.

 

[mistermagic]

I grew up half a mile from Highbury yet support Liverpool because my Irish cousins said they’d beat the shit out of me if I didn’t.

Pussy.

 

[G.B]

evra joining west ham according to paul joyce

 

[claret50]

evra joining west ham according to paul joyce

Would have been a quality signing 10 years ago.

 

[Benji]

I might be coining a phrase here, but that is a kick in the head of a signing by West Ham.

 

[Stevencc]

"Now, are we absolutely sure that he isn't African"?

 

[mistermagic]

It's a kick in the teeth for Aaron Cresswell and Arthur Masuaku who are currently playing LB/LW for the Hammers.

 

[Super_horns]

Well the latter is banned for 5 games which doesn't help ?

 

[claret50]

He's out and about already, and has been seen heading towards the training ground at full speed - Go Patrice!

 

[Anon]

It's a kick in the teeth for Aaron Cresswell and Arthur Masuaku who are currently playing LB/LW for the Hammers.

He'll be cover for Masuaku I'd imagine. When Masuaku was in the line up at wingback Cresswell was playing well on the left of a back three. Cresswell won't lose his place.

 

[JimJams]

Evra still looked good at Marseille before deciding to Cantona a fan.

 

[Pagnell]

Can has finally agreed the move to Juventus according to reports in Italy. Shame, I would have liked him to stay as he is decent but he was never going to get the offer from Liverpool he wanted simply because he's not in the top draw. To put simply, if Liverpool really wanted him to stay they would have tabled an offer that meant he would have.