Premier League 2023/24: Our Race Is Run

[fute]

City's dominance is boring because Pep's style of play is boring to watch. When the dominant team plays as boring as they do, it makes it less interesting.

He is a great manager. He has a gravy job. Boat load of money behind him. Free from any consequence unlike Everton and Forrest. And really no pressure. He manages at City, not United.

Not really worried about City though. Klopp did just fine at Pool. Won a PL and won the same amount of CL titles as Pep did at City: 1.

Pool spent money, developed players, and developed their academy. Their fans accepted it and are sad to see him go. That is the model for us. Not City.

We are the best PL team this year. Whether we win the title this year remains to be seen. Our time will come.

 

[BergMan]

Watching Ange press conference I’m getting hope Sp**s are actually gonna do it.

 

[Paperino]

Sp**s will not help us. If they do you can change my username to The_malodorous_git.

 

[dka1]

Sp**s will not help us. If they do you can change my username to The_malodorous_git.

 

[dka1]

His net spend in his first 2 seasons at City was 400m and frankly we should probably count the season prior in that as well because they had already hired his mate from Barca as DOF and bought KDB, Otamendi and Sterling for him because they knew they were getting him in the following season. He is remarkably disingenuous. The only reason their net spend is comparable to ours now is because we've been trying to play catchup in the last few seasons without world class surplus players to sell in order to offset our costs. They benefitted from hoarding players and being able to essentially roll over the enormous outlay of numerous windows into fees that make them look more financially prudent than they really are. It's exactly what Boehly has been doing at Chelsea.

Yeah Pep is full of sh!te tbh.

Imagine him pulling up one day with a wig and trying to pretend like it's his natural hair. Sure maybe his wife and some of his family members might indulge in his fanasies (and that's a push) but everybody else knows he's a fraud.

I had a point somewhere there but I've lost it. But basically, again - he's full of sh!t. Banging his knuckles as if we all don't know City were STACKED when he took over.

 

[Batman]

Yeah Pep is full of sh!te tbh.

Imagine him pulling up one day with a wig and trying to pretend like it's his natural hair. Sure maybe his wife and some of his family members might indulge in his fanasies (and that's a push) but everybody else knows he's a fraud.

I had a point somewhere there but I've lost it. But basically, again - he's full of sh!t. Banging his knuckles as if we all don't know City were STACKED when he took over.

He's a clown. These statements are more to himself out loud to cope with his own insecurity than anything else. That man is rattled that Arteta has caught up to him this quickly. He was rattled when he tried to sign Rice and failed, he was rattled after they lost in the Community Shield, he was rattled after they lost at the Emirates and he was extra rattled after they couldn't score against us at the Etihad. As soon as our concrete primary targets emerge, I would be shocked if he doesn't try to buy at least one of them, the bald, odious, cheating turd.

 

[Badger_Revenge]

Everyone is citing transfer fees for Man City, but that is only a small portion of what they spend and a terrible basis for comparison. Salaries (+bonuses) are way more consequential to annual spend, and Pep (and most of the press) knows it. Salaries are also not independent of transfer fees because the promise of high salary can convince the player to transfer, reducing the negotiating leverage of the selling club.

A May 3 Athletic article has Man City spending 500 million pounds on transfers and salaries in 22/23, and Arsenal only 326 million pounds - also well behind Man U (453), Liverpool (412), and Chelsea (539). From that point of view, Arsenal look pretty efficient.

 

[Fallout]

Most likely he has deluded himself into believing he is the good guy of his own story

Everything he says boils down to a cry to be respected

He knows deep down he'll never truly get that respect

Overall a pathetic and tragic character

 

[UpTheGunnerz]

Most likely he has deluded himself into believing he is the good guy of his own story

Everything he says boils down to a cry to be respected

He knows deep down he'll never truly get that respect

Overall a pathetic and tragic character

Who are you talking about

 

[Macho]

Everyone is citing transfer fees for Man City, but that is only a small portion of what they spend and a terrible basis for comparison. Salaries (+bonuses) are way more consequential to annual spend, and Pep (and most of the press) knows it. Salaries are also not independent of transfer fees because the promise of high salary can convince the player to transfer, reducing the negotiating leverage of the selling club.

A May 3 Athletic article has Man City spending 500 million pounds on transfers and salaries in 22/23, and Arsenal only 326 million pounds - also well behind Man U (453), Liverpool (412), and Chelsea (539). From that point of view, Arsenal look pretty efficient.

There is absolutely nothing you can point to that proves City spent more than Arsenal/Utd/Chelsea in the past few years. Pep said it with chest and nobody has corrected him.

From time you guys are only including this or adding that, already lets you know that this is all just cope.

Why this desperation to prove Arsenal spent less I don’t even get, Arsenal spent nearly 200 mil on Rice and Havertz alone which is a joke within itself.

 

[Tir Na Nog]

Aren't most of city's charges dating back to even pre Pep?

 

[Tir Na Nog]

United and Chelsea have definitely spent enough to rival City but they're both so horribly managed. Meanwhile we've definitely really upped our spending recently. Probably not enough to say we should be outright winning it but it's no surprise were competitors

 

[HattoriHanzo]

If you seriously believe any figures that come out of that club, then I’ve got a bridge to sell you.

He probably believes that they paid for Haaland only 60 million euros (official value).
If this is true, I wonder why 115 FC was the only club interested to buy him for such a low figure.
Well, some people believe in Santa Claus, good for them if this makes them happy.

Any financial number coming from 115 FC is fake.
They (including Pep) know that they are cheats, we all know that they are cheats.

The only question that remains is if UK government will let independent commission to do their job and punish them adequately without political interference (which I doubt).

 

[LookingForEric]

Arteta first summer - £75M
Second summer - £145M
Third summer + winter - £160M

So roughly £380M spent to challenge for the league, very impressive. We of course spent a further £200M recently to win it, and we’ve got much closer. The key thing is after every summer of spending we are getting BETTER. Look at United etc, they spend and they always get worse.

 

[HattoriHanzo]

Aren't most of city's charges dating back to even pre Pep?

Majority of charges, yes.
The thing is that they refused to cooperate with FA for period after 2018. (I think it 2018.) denying access to their financial reports for that period (after 2018.)

 

[LookingForEric]

Since 19/20 -

Villa - £515M spent on players
Sp**s - £695M spent on players
United - £775M spent on players
West Ham - £490M spent on players

Have we spent a good amount of money? Of course we have. But so has everyone else in the top 10, we’ve just spent it far better than anyone else. Big props to Edu and Mikel for that.

 

[HattoriHanzo]

He's a clown. These statements are more to himself out loud to cope with his own insecurity than anything else. That man is rattled that Arteta has caught up to him this quickly. He was rattled when he tried to sign Rice and failed, he was rattled after they lost in the Community Shield, he was rattled after they lost at the Emirates and he was extra rattled after they couldn't score against us at the Etihad. As soon as our concrete primary targets emerge, I would be shocked if he doesn't try to buy at least one of them, the bald, odious, cheating turd.

He wanted to sign also Bellingham last summer, and Bellingham told him to f..k off.
Smart young man.

Now he wants Musiala, Wirtz, Paqueta, Guimaraes and God know who else.
Not so difficult to win all trophies with these players.

 

[Blood on the Tracks]

Point is to elevate yourself up from upper midtable or even top 4 challengers to consistent title challenger, you have to spend money and huge amounts of it. There's no way around that.

After this summer I expect us to be in the one in one out mode when it comes to transfers and there will be little to no deadwood in the squad. The books will balance much better.

Pep inherited a phenomenal squad, it's no surprise that his net spend hasn't been so excessive, it hasn't needed to be.

You're not dealing with clubs on the same footing, it matters hugely where your starting point was and Arsenals was much lower than the one Pep inherited.

If you just look at numbers without context you're not getting the real picture.

 

[HattoriHanzo]

There is absolutely nothing you can point to that proves City spent more than Arsenal/Utd/Chelsea in the past few years. Pep said it with chest and nobody has corrected him.

From time you guys are only including this or adding that, already lets you know that this is all just cope.

Why this desperation to prove Arsenal spent less I don’t even get, Arsenal spent nearly 200 mil on Rice and Havertz alone which is a joke within itself.

If 170 million is nearly 200 million, than you're correct.
Why do you want so desperately to prove Arsenal spent more?

Here is the list of transfer spend since 2019/20.
Transfer spend

115 FC spent more then Arsenal, and also sold more than Arsenal, so that their balance is better than ours.
Now remind me the squads Arsenal and City had in 2019/2020.
Did you expect that Arsenal and Arteta compete with 115 FC without spending more that them?

 

[HattoriHanzo]

Point is to elevate yourself up from upper midtable or even top 4 challengers to consistent title challenger, you have to spend money and huge amounts of it. There's no way around that.

After this summer I expect us to be in the one in one out mode when it comes to transfers and there will be little to no deadwood in the squad. The books will balance much better.

Pep inherited a phenomenal squad, it's no surprise that his net spend hasn't been so excessive, it hasn't needed to be.

If you just look at numbers without context you're not getting the real picture.

Many on this forum don't want to see the real picture because it doesn't suit their agenda.