Dr Spectrum

Our game has got banana skin written all over it. Sheffield Wednesday away, they've really run into some form of late and our away (ahem) "form" is somewhat patchy... Worried. Was hoping for Tamworth at home. Birmingham will definetly be a threat too. They might be a bit shite but unlike last season they'll have confidence. They should make a game of it and it will be interesting to see if this Bentder(?) guy plays and how he does. PS: Alan Ball. This man once claimed that Martin Phillips would be the first £10m player, swapped Paul Walsh for Gerry Creaney and oversaw the playing it into the corners even when we needed to score again to stay up debacle. Good grief.

Juventus

Plymouth

Freddie Ljungberg really is an odious little stain on the game. Every time he gets touched, fair or foul, he acts like he's broken his leg (Or the opposition player has tried to). ITS A CONTACT SPORT FREDDIE!! What a fucking baby. Is it any wonder people see Arsenal as a soft touch when they have players who act like that? I know they have some other players who dive around a bit, others who whinge a bit, but he is something else. And he was even worse at Bolton last week. I used to like him but hes turned into Jen Lehmann mark II - As Graham Taylor just said on FiveLive "Its like you're not allowed to tackle him". Its probably symptomatic of their problems, getting the hump over being wronged over everything - When nothing wrong is actually happening. Comfortable as today has been, they've still got no backbone in the side whatsoever.

Aston Villa.

They have too much money and are impossible to compete with over a season. No-one can compete with them to sign a player, and as soon as another team starts to improve they come knocking and take their best players (Carrick, SWP, etc). The money gap between the top clubs and the rest like us is getting bigger and bigger due to the Champions League cartel and I can see no way its going to shrink unless the deals the Glazers did to finance their takeover bring them debt problems. It'll be a long, long time before anyone other than the established top clubs win the league - frankly I'm not interested in the title race anymore as its a complete irrelevance to me and City. Although I'd rather they didn't win it - I'd only have to hear about it. Again.

Their squad depth at the moment is poor (Only a few knocks away from Smith, Richardson, Fletcher, Silvestre, etc) and its not suprising they are looking for new players but this is a strange one. Have Helsingborg played in Europe this season? His availability for potential Champions League games is the only reason I can think they would be interested in such a blatant stopgap instead of making an actual signing. Either that, or they're skint (Dare to dream!).

There is no conceivable way that Manchester City nor any other established premiership club would be remotely interested in Titus Bramble. Not only is he shite (Recent run of games without fucking up not withstanding), but no manager would be willing to risk the ire of his own support by signing a player who is known nationwide as a laughing stock. How many supporters would be willing to give Bramble a chance? I'm positive that 99% of fans of 99% of clubs would be against him from the start, they would get on his back right from the off, he'd get no confidence and would fail miserably, and the manager would take the heat. Bramble will either sign a new contract or walk on a bosman to Ipswich or some other desperate fools. Re: That link, there was a story in one of the papers that he was at the game to watch Nicky Butt. I don't believe either story. I refuse to accept there is any grain of truth in stories linking us with shite. bluebiggrin.gif

My opinion is tinged by bitterness but obviously Manchester United are at the top of the tree of dislike for me for any number of reasons (Both rational and otherwise). There are the obvious ones such as Keane's assault, Cantona's Kung Fu , Neville's moustache, the way they wrap the FA around their fingers, the way their players get into the England squad for no reason, their rediculous spending power and the number of trophies they win (Which I have to hear about). But what really gets me going about them is the support at Old Trafford. I'll never forget the day they lost 3-1 at home to Fulham - On the next Legends show on our version of Century, a woman phoned in and said "I don't pay my season ticket money to watch United (sic) lose". And the prawn sandwich rant. And the look on this speccy mong's face when David Elleray decided Roy Keane's improptu amputation on Haaland was worthy of a red card. They have it so good but they never raise a whimper. Unbelievable. I don't mind the away support personally, they are as good as anyone and its probably their only redeeming feature in my eyes. I can't stand Liverpool either. I used to like them when I was young and naive, they seemed like fun. But it staggered me that some of the so called supporters of a club touched by so much death had the gall to come to Maine Road and sing "There's only one Harold Shipman". I suppose it was only a minority and I suppose they will qualify it by saying it was only a response to the years of songs about Heysel and Hillsborough they've had to put up with - But to me there is a line - I've never crossed it by singing about those sort of things (Even if a disturbing number of City fans think referring to them as "Munichs" is acceptable) and having to hear that song made me extremely uncomfortable. The idiots who sang it cast a shadow over their club that day and I'll never look at that club the same way. They are the two clear "winners". There are a number of clubs I could say I dislike for minor reasons such as playing music when they score, singing "Easeh" even after getting battered, or erroneous reminders of the worlds population of people named Ricardo Villa.

Absolutely top drawer, it was the kind of thing I'd expect from Ronaldo (The real one). But coming from a goal shy central defender? Wow. He's always fancied a wander up the pitch (He actually managed to score a goal from open play about 3 years back against Bolton) but that was sooooo good. To have not only the ability to do that, but the willingness to try it and the composure to finish it? Well done that man. I think he enjoyed it too. PS: Scottass, its been on for an hour

Spelt Distin wrong. And decades. Goal of the season bluebiggrin.gif

re: Distin goal "Won the ball on the edge of his own box, 1 2 with Vass, sprant past Cahill, into the bottom corner!!! Magnificent!!" Goal of the century from goal shy centre half! from what I can remember its his 3rd goal for City - 2 of them have been at Villa Park! I love Villa me bluebiggrin.gif

I do believe that makes it 5 in 5 for Darius "Average" Vassell for City against Villa. I think thats remarkable considering his overall record. Isn't it odd how often players do that often their former clubs? We're doing well so far tonight, but we've had a serious Indian Sign over Villa over the past few years. We could do with nicking a 2nd before O'Niell lifts them at HT... ....And as I type its 2-0. Joey Barton, the player I took out of my fantasy team 2 days ago. I'd be gutted, but we're 2-0 up bluebiggrin.gif It is quite gutting but also thoroughly predictable to be honest. We sound absolute rubbish. We just can not get a result against Citeh, ever. Seems everyone has a bogey team. For us its Boro, the muggings the jammy twats have given us over the past few years :wullie: Funny Ol Game bluebiggrin.gif

I had a shitty start to the season (I was about 110th when the seedings for the Champions League dealie were worked out, I was in the 3rd group of seeds) but I used my Wildcard after 4 weeks and I'm now 12th, top of my group (Qualified after 4 weeks) and still in the cup bluebiggrin.gif No point holding on to it so you only get the improved total of a better team for a couple of weeks at the end... Got nothing tonight so far tho. 1's across the board apart from Jaaskelinen making a few saves

I do believe that makes it 5 in 5 for Darius "Average" Vassell for City against Villa. I think thats remarkable considering his overall record. Isn't it odd how often players do that often their former clubs? We're doing well so far tonight, but we've had a serious Indian Sign over Villa over the past few years. We could do with nicking a 2nd before O'Niell lifts them at HT... ....And as I type its 2-0. Joey Barton, the player I took out of my fantasy team 2 days ago. I'd be gutted, but we're 2-0 up bluebiggrin.gif

60million euro. And Barça didn't want to sell, so they paid it in full. You do suprise me, after hearing all these silly clauses I imagined it would have been a lot higher considering 2001 Figo was a far superior player to most of the names being banded about here. But I guess that transfer is why these more recent clauses are so rediculous. 60million euro was seen as a ridiculously high amount at the time, though. And it's still the second highest transfer fee ever paid. I don't think it was that bad. It was only a small stretch on the previous World Record, and Figo was a superior player to the holder (Crespo). Obviously like most major transfers it was silly money but I don't consider it anywhere as ridiculous as this contract suggesting that Villa is worth more than twice as much as Zidane was, which is frankly Ludicrous on any number of levels. Well, those clauses are not there to suggest a real valuation from the club, they are just there for "hands off!" purposes. Of course a good agent will always try to negotiate a "reasonable enough" clause that might enable a future move and more money for his pocket. The clauses exist because our labor law states that a worker can always leave his current work, so if a player wanted to leave his club for another he should be allowed without his employer having any right to force him to stay. The FA then came up with the buyout clauses which actually are compensations that the player agrees to pay should he eventually rescind his contract. There's a limit on how big a clause can be set in relation to the wages the player perceives, though (done to protect youngsters so they don't get slapped with 150m clauses when they hit 17, that's why we had to review Messi's contract ASAP) I think the government should be looking at that law and this dealy over how big it can be. If a £100m transfer fee constitutes giving a worker some degree of freedom over his career there is something seriously wrong with it mental.gif

60million euro. And Barça didn't want to sell, so they paid it in full. You do suprise me, after hearing all these silly clauses I imagined it would have been a lot higher considering 2001 Figo was a far superior player to most of the names being banded about here. But I guess that transfer is why these more recent clauses are so rediculous. 60million euro was seen as a ridiculously high amount at the time, though. And it's still the second highest transfer fee ever paid. I don't think it was that bad. It was only a small stretch on the previous World Record, and Figo was a superior player to the holder (Crespo). Obviously like most major transfers it was silly money but I don't consider it anywhere as ridiculous as this contract suggesting that Villa is worth more than twice as much as Zidane was, which is frankly Ludicrous on any number of levels.

60million euro. And Barça didn't want to sell, so they paid it in full. You do suprise me, after hearing all these silly clauses I imagined it would have been a lot higher considering 2001 Figo was a far superior player to most of the names being banded about here. But I guess that transfer is why these more recent clauses are so rediculous.

What a strange list. I actually quite like a few of those. It must be something about taste on the other side of the pond - Before the season started there was an article on the ESPN website by one of their columnists about choosing the best Premiership team to support. City came 4th or so on his list based purely on the virtue of our kit, which he was convinced is spectacular - I think its tragic mental.gif

Just reading all this stuff about clauses - Does anyone know what Luis Figo's buyout clause was when Real Madrid bought him from Barcelona? Did they pay the full whack as stipulated in his contract or was it just a good offer Barca accepted in the usual manner? If its the latter then I can't believe that this buyout clause dealy has any meaning to anyone other than the odd El Presidente who wants to get his name in the papers.

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Our problem has been our attacking threat too, defensivley, we've been steady. Well, I can't see any major attacking signings on the horizon for you at the moment - You have plenty of players in midfield and up front the return of Dyer, the form (ahem) of Sibierski, and next season the return of Owen and Ameobi, I can only see a stopgap signing up front. I know the defensive record isn't that bad but there's a lot of shite in the personnel back there that will need replacing sooner or later.

Cannavaro was easily the best player in the world cup, it was a travesty that he didn't get the best player of the tournament instead of a player who cost his team there chance. Well deserved honour and I hope the World award follows.

There are no words for how much I want SWP back at City. Unlike Newcastle our problems lie very much in attacking areas - We desperately need quality in creative areas and if we could have SWP '04 back we would be massively better off for it. We could have Trabelsi (Who is rediculously awesome) at full back and put Richards in at centre half if Distin walks or is used to raise a little money to make it happen. Not to mention, the attendances will be up again due to the increased excitement...We'd be stupid not to try and sign him! Unfortunately I think there might be a little bad blood between him and us now - Not only is there is a theory (that I don't subscibe to) that he was forced out by the money men - but I believe there is a little animosity over how we offloaded his brother, who didn't really want to go. I think out of the suggested parties mentioned in this thread (Us, yous, West Ham) he will probably go to West Ham if they are willing, but I hope we make an effort.

Considering that the worst players tend to be either kids that are never going to make it or transfers from the lower league that fail miserably to step up the answer is almost certainly British. From abroad I would say Sweden or perhaps somewhere else in Scandanavia. People look there for cheapish "internationals" imports and end up with Markus Allback, Mattias Jonson, Teddy Lucic and so on.