Premier League 2023/24: Our Race Is Run

[Penn_]

The flaw in Pep's argument there is that City have one of the best squads in the world, yet continue to match the expenditure of those trying to build there's.

And while they do generally buy well, they have an immunity to poor transfer as they can simply afford to discard them, look at the speed at which Kalvin Phillips was binned.

 

[Synical]

Not saying that the funding wasn't moral etc.....but I'm just saying if you stick to simply money spent, Utd, Chelsea & ourselves have spent a **** ton as well. That's his point.

I don't know the comparable amounts spent of each team, but I wouldn't be surprised if Utd & Chelsea were a lot more than City. We have also spent a lot over last few seasons.

The context & circumstances behind it all (City finances etc) is a separate entity in my opinion. Other teams have had to spend to try to compete but for various reasons it hasn't worked. Yet.

If you're looking at net spend the morality absolutely does matter. If they're pretending they received sponsorship money when it was really their owner's money then their net spend is artificially low

 

[Batman]

Pep's ex team is involved in a corruption scandal and he was also found with anabolic steroids in his system more than once? Funny how this sort of thing follows him around. He's clearly always been a cheat so he was perfect for City

The thing is that he's a really good manager but he also is an unrepentant cheater who knows he cheats and to bring us into when we have a grand total of 2 summers in our history comparable to the kind of spend he does every summer is pathetic. It actually speaks very poorly of him that he had a 5-6 year head start with a squad full of world class winners even on the bench and Arteta caught him in 2 summers of comparable spending.

 

[Macho]

Not saying that the funding wasn't moral etc.....but I'm just saying if you stick to simply money spent, Utd, Chelsea & ourselves have spent a **** ton as well. That's his point.

I don't know the comparable amounts spent of each team, but I wouldn't be surprised if Utd & Chelsea were a lot more than City. We have also spent a lot over last few seasons.

The context & circumstances behind it all (City finances etc) is a separate entity in my opinion. Other teams have had to spend to try to compete but for various reasons it hasn't worked. Yet.

People will get upset, but yes factually Arsenal/Utd/Chelsea have indeed spent more than City in recent times.

Don't let these guys scream at you until you change your mind, you was right lol.

 

[Synical]

The thing is that he's a really good manager but he also is an unrepentant cheater who knows he cheats and to bring us into when we have a grand total of 2 summers in our history comparable to the kind of spend he does every summer is pathetic. It actually speaks very poorly of him that he had a 5-6 year head start with a squad full of world class winners even on the bench and Arteta caught him in 2 summers of comparable spending.

This is why I know people scream CONSPIRACY THEORY when you point out that the refs seem corrupt in this league, but I honestly believe City have dodgy deals with them.

This season it has not been as bad and I've been able to relax. I wonder if the points deductions of Everton and Forest have made them ease off being so blatantly corrupt

 

[Batman]

This is why I know people scream CONSPIRACY THEORY when you point out that the refs seem corrupt in this league, but I honestly believe City have dodgy deals with them.

This season it has not been as bad and I've been able to relax. I wonder if the points deductions of Everton and Forest have made them ease off being so blatantly corrupt

I 100% believe they do. Remember Howard Webb letting Michael Oliver referee in the UAE which City's owners control? He was literally paid to referee there by the entity that owns City. He refereed the match against City at the Emirates and didn't send Kovacic off despite consecutive clear yellows. The 2 who were with him on that trip were on VAR for the disgraceful robbery of Liverpool against the Spuds. Anyone who thinks that's just coincidence is daft. There's absolutely corruption involved.

 

[Oxeki]

People will get upset, but yes factually Arsenal/Utd/Chelsea have indeed spent more than City in recent times.

Don't let these guys scream at you until you change your mind, you was right lol.

Tbf some the charges included they paying players under the table. Itwas essentially the same case UEFA brought against them and they were found guilty but the punishment was reduced on appeal and a small fine was slapped on them. One of the specific examples was them paying Mancini through offshore accounts I think.

Haaland cost way less.

We don't really know city's spending power until a few years ago

 

[berric]

Seeing some Sp**s fans saying they'll beat City because we're going to bottle vs Everton anyway.

They're starting to believe.

 

[Macho]

Tbf some the charges included they paying players under the table. Itwas essentially the same case UEFA brought against them and they were found guilty but the punishment was reduced on appeal and a small fine was slapped on them. One of the specific examples was them paying Mancini through offshore accounts I think.

Haaland cost way less.

We don't really know city's spending power until a few years ago

Yea but how much of it is under Pep? Then how much of it can we actually read ourselves?

Are we going to pretend we don’t pay agent fees too? Where does it stop? Why even stop at City what was Chelsea getting away with before FFP?

The charges stretch back 9 years and Arsenal’s spending has been a couple years. The 115 charges is just cope.

 

[boonthegoon]

Sp**s draw itself will be unbelievably great but imagine if they win. We can have a really low pressure game vs everton. No need to even consider the number of goals.

 

[Badger_Revenge]

Nope. He is conveniently ignoring the money spent by them before that on crucial players like Kdb, Walker etc

Not to mention salaries.

 

[Batman]

Not to mention salaries.

Not to mention agent fees and dodgy under the table sh*t which they are under investigation for. Of all the things to daftly play devil's advocate for, a title rival's cheating is really a funny one.

 

[Nunowoolmez]

People will get upset, but yes factually Arsenal/Utd/Chelsea have indeed spent more than City in recent times.

Don't let these guys scream at you until you change your mind, you was right lol.

It's fine. Everyone has a right of difference of opinion. It's ok to disagree.

 

[Nunowoolmez]

Seeing some Sp**s fans saying they'll beat City because we're going to bottle vs Everton anyway.

They're starting to believe.

 

[blaze_of_glory]

It's fine. Everyone has a right of difference of opinion. It's ok to disagree.

Not sure I agree with that

 

[dino bravo]

People will get upset, but yes factually Arsenal/Utd/Chelsea have indeed spent more than City in recent times.

Don't let these guys scream at you until you change your mind, you was right lol.

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

 

[2Smokeyy]

On paper the point Pep makes is correct (well until their charges are fully investigated as we don’t know the exact figures as of now) but I think we can’t ignore the context. Pep can thump his chest about how good the books look however we can’t overlook the fact that he walked into a quality side with a fantastic foundation like he usually does therefore all that was required were minor tweaks in order to maintain the level at the very top whereas the other three teams in discussion didn’t have a spine. Well, Chelsea and Utd still haven’t managed to do so despite all their spending.

Pep walked into a side with Kompany, KDB, David Silva, Fernandinho, Yaya Toure, Sterling, Nasri and Aguero - there’s enough quality to add an additional 2 or possibly 3 big money signings every season and challenge for the PL/CL. It was a similar thing at Bayern and Barcelona as both sides had at least 3 world class players that he could work with.

If we manage to keep our current squad together over the next few years then I don’t really think we’d need to be spending like we were over the past few years imo. We’ve currently got a solid spine at our disposal now therefore we’re currently at a stage whereby only a few tweaks would be required each summer to stay battling for the major honours.

 

[Farzad Stoned]

Don’t forget taking 1 point from 6 against FULHAM

We lost title against Fulham and Villa. The Gabriel v. mik Karen episode looms large

 

[Batman]

On paper the point Pep makes is correct (well until their charges are fully investigated as we don’t know the exact figures as of now) but I think we can’t ignore the context. Pep can thump his chest about how good the books look however we can’t overlook the fact that he walked into a quality side with a fantastic foundation like he usually does therefore all that was required were minor tweaks in order to maintain the level at the very top whereas the other three teams in discussion didn’t have a spine. Well, Chelsea and Utd still haven’t managed to do so despite all their spending.

Pep walked into a side with Kompany, KDB, David Silva, Fernandinho, Yaya Toure, Sterling, Nasri and Aguero - there’s enough quality to add an additional 2 or possibly 3 big money signings every season and challenge for the PL/CL. It was a similar thing at Bayern and Barcelona as both sides had at least 3 world class players that he could work with.

If we manage to keep our current squad together over the next few years then I don’t really think we’d need to be spending like we were over the past few years imo. We’ve currently got a solid spine at our disposal now therefore we’re currently at a stage whereby only a few tweaks would be required each summer to stay battling for the major honours.

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.

 

[DJ_Markstar]

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.

I've probably made this same point 100+ times on here but the simple point that you don't have to buy KDB if he already plays for your football club is too tough a concept for some to grasp