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Fractured wrist signing his contract coming up...

Tough tackling Doug Rougvie. I saw him chin John Fashanu and knocked him over at the Bridge and also saw him smack Dave Beasant and headbutt Carlton Fairweather both against Wimbledon in the first few minutes of a game and got sent off

This just popped up on my feed and thought it was worth posting. Alfie had a lot a critics in Scotland but you can't fault the guy for what he's given back in Colombia. https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cs7uJyNrkzn/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

I would be wary with Panzo! No injury reported since 20/21 ... 😱

Was disappointed to see Inter lose. Used to like City but recent goings on have put me right off them. The footage of the blasé reaction of their fans after the goal and final whistle was a sad reflection of modern football but Seville was similar. Folk with money and little passion get tickets and normal punters struggle to get to the 'showpiece' matches. But City have plenty of really passionate fans. Hopefully more British fans get into lower league football, where you can still see proper tackles, don't have to wait for VAR decisions and mobile phones don't come out for corners and throw-ins.

Usually. Last night not so much.

The transfer window isn't even open yet. Chill.

A DoF should have a big influence on the recruitment strategy. Looking at our signings over the last 6 years (Wilson arrived Oct 2019), I can't see any overriding philosophy. I see a hodgepodge of players, signed by the three different managers over that period, each quite different from the other. We've seen a squad rebuild, transition into first-team players to push to win a title under SG; to youngsters, loans and older players under GvB; to MB signing players that he knows. The profile of MB's signings is better, but the idea of a DoF having a guiding influence is non-existent. I don't think Wilson, or Allen, had as much control as they should have had. What's the profile? Where's the recruitment philosophy? (I've tried to colour code them to show who might have signed each player; some might be wrong.) 18/19 19/20 20/21 21/22 22/23 23/24 Key Arfield Hastie Hagi Sakala Colak Dowell Gerrard McGregor Jones Bassey Lundstram Lawrence Stirling GvB Murphy Davis McLaughlin Bacuna Yilmaz Butland Beale Katic Stewart Defoe Sands Cantwell Club? Goldson Edmondson Balogun Diallo Raskin Flanagan Aribo Roofe Ramsey Souttar Barisic Helander Itten Zukowski Tillman Lafferty Barker Zungu Davies Grezda Kent Simpson Matondo McAuley Wright Firth Polster Kamara

I was on the sauce last night mate. Dont even remember posting it Wanted City to win though

The Glazers have vastly over valued Man Utd. No one is willing to pay their asking price of £6bn, not even a sheikh

No, lets not!!

Yea, the best of both worlds. A manager given the freedom to make good signings but a dof who can mitigate the risk of bad ones and not hire bad managers. A very simplistic view of mine I concede.

That little graph above is just frequency per 90. There is a lot more data on the rest of the page. FBref[dot]com

Like Andy Lochhead who would have made Andy Gray look like a woos

I'd say the idea is that the DoF should be signing players of a certain standard and profile, and have potential to sell on. If the team fails it's not the players - it might be part of it, as not every player will work - it's the manager. We've seen it this season: Beale got a lot more out of our team than GvB did this season. Or maybe that only works at a higher level? Although the best DoF (Monchi) started at Sevilla when they were in the second division. Not every season was a success, yet they had trust. The DoF should be responsible for the tools, with the manager being responsible for using them.

Agreed. I like a Shaw/Shearer style of tackle though. And a rummle them up centre forward.

That's a good point: what type of DoF do we actually want or would accept? I accept I'm in the minority when I want a European style DoF with almost complete control. I just see those signings and think, what a waste of time.

I suppose it reminds some of us when we watch the good teams it reminds us of the way football should be played simple passing and good all round entertainment as opposed to our huff and puff stuff and perspiration rather than inspiration

As they would say up in Glesga there’s some wallopers in that list. 😆

You've got to remember that he's 22 years old to be fair, for a centre back he's still an infant. He won't hit his peak for another 5 or 6 years, or at least conventions would dictate that. I'd be happy with this one, we haven't really had a centre back with pace for awhile..says a lot that since Gerrard the quickest is maybe Leon Balogun? And he was in his 30's and crocked.

Aye that's loads better, cheers.

No fracture.Just a strain. Out for 2-3 weeks. (Before the complications set in)

Yeah, ideally British players as opposed to just Scottish.

So would most teams in Europe tbh.

That would be a total nightmare for us.

I'd like to see the three foreigner rule to make a comeback for European football.

So disappointed with the CL final. Inter set out to defend and City could break that. It was looking like our toils in the Premiership, only at a higher level. The most disappointing aspect: once City scored, Inter came out and it became a really entertaining game (for the neutral observer). Why the heck did they not play like that all along, since City had their hands full at defending their attacks ... could have been a far more entertaining game from the off.

It's a popular misconception that City fans are glory hunters, easily dismissed with facts. Of course, it ain't what it used to be but the same goes for the support at all big EPL club matches (half and half scarves and selfies aplenty).

84,000 at a cup tie against Stoke, 30,000 in the lower leagues Meredith, Trautmann, Revie, Johnstone, Lee, Bell, Summerbee. Genuine club, loyal fans plus glory hunters, of course. Liverpool and United have more of the latter plus the English media.

If you throw enough money at it you will get success.. Blackburn, Chelsea, QPR and City being examples of that with varying degrees. Newcastle now as well. If United keep spending they'll get there eventually, whether people like it or not. City claim they don't spend but then stock up on 50m pound footballers who might work out or might get punted in a season or two. And the proper murky dealings like the clubs owners buying peps brother a football club, that's something that's common knowledge but never gets mentioned, imagine what's happened behind closed doors.

There is nothing organic about how Real Madrid have operated to ensure their top table status. Let's not forget their rather dubious property deal in 2003/4 which cleared nearly 200 million of debt and bankrolled the Galacticos. The ghost of Franco in the room when all deals were signed.

I think the best way I can express my contempt for Filthy Rich Football is that I didn't bother watching it.

Yeah our fans loved Gerrards no nonsense approach in his pressers for us but at Villa their fans pretty quickly thought he was a narky prick, and so did the journos to be fair. Ange will have to adapt or he will go the same way, not that I'm arsed.

That’s impressive. I reckon it's the olive oil in the Italian diet.