Posts Tagged ‘manchester city’
Transfer balls: Manchester City and Manchester United in Neymar ‘war’
Transfer balls: Manchester United and Manchester City – the Sun’s “Manc Giants” – are in a 144 “transfer war” for Neymar. That’s Neymar who has stated over and over that he wants to remain at Barcelona.
But Pep Guardiola, the Manchester City manager-in-waiting, has made the Brazilian his ‘No.1 target”. And that £144m burning holes in Manchester pockets will trigger Neymar’s release clause. The only stumbling blocks are that the player might not want to live and work in Manchester and paying £144m for one player can destroy team structure.
The Sun’s scoop falls apart because it offers not single word from Man United or City about their desire to invest £144m in buying Neymar. All the paper “reveals” is that the huge figure features in Neymar’s Barcelona contract. On the same page you can read that Real Madrid were ready to insert a – get this – £400m in David De Gea’s contract should be have joined them last summer.
Is De Gea that much better than Neymar?
Is football a huge bubble inflated by the super-rich and mega-vain waiting to go ‘pop’?
Antony Kastrinakis says the City v United “war” for Neymar is “more important than any game United and City will play on the pitch”. Wow! Just wow! When did football stop being a sport for athletes and become a boardroom contest? When did football fans lose the thing we enjoy?
Posted: 10th, February 2016 | In: Back pages, Manchester City, manchester united, Sports | Comment
The secret of Manchester City’s sudden success is revealed
Sky Sports has a question. It’s noticed that Manchester City have signed Pep Guadiola to be their next manager. It wonders:
“How did Man City transform themselves from a club slumping down the leagues, to two-time Premier League winners appointing the world’s best boss?”
Well, in 2008, Sheikh Mansour bought the club. His family have as much as $1tn (£648bn) in overseas assets alone. But Mansour thought it unfair to spend hundreds of millions in making City a force, preferring to let them grow ‘organically’. City recruited players born within a two-mile radios of the ground and…
No. He chose option A: invest a fortune in buying the best.
Next week Sky asks: why aren’t Tranmere Rovers as big as Chelsea?
Posted: 5th, February 2016 | In: Back pages, Manchester City, Sports | Comment
Transfer balls: Pep signs for Man City but is 90% Chelsea
On February 1, Manchester City manager Manuel Pelligrini told the Press he’d know for ages that Pep Guardiola was replacing him next summer. That news came as shock to Chelsea fans who seeking information about their club’s next boss turn to the Daily Star and Daily Express.
110% balls.
Posted: 3rd, February 2016 | In: Back pages, Chelsea, Manchester City, Sports | Comment
Misleading headline of the day: Man City’s Bruyne at war with Arsenal’s Ozil
Misleading headline of the day is in The Sun, which brings news of Manchester City’s Kevin De Bruyne and Arsenal star Mesut Ozil. The headline thunders:
Kevin De Bruyne desperate to dethrone Mesut Ozil as King of the Prem assists
Desperate? What did he say when asked about assists?
“I know Ozil is leading. Last year I had 21. You can quickly get ten or 11 assists in half a season. You can sometimes have six and then seven matches with nothing, then a run. For me personally it does not matter.”
How did “it does not matter” become “desperate”.
Posted: 27th, January 2016 | In: Back pages, Manchester City, Sports | Comment
Transfer balls: £35m Isco £64m to Arsenal, £25m to Man City, £29m to Juventus
Every transfer window a player occupies the media. This January its Isco.
The Mirror says Real Madrid midfielder Isco, 23, is hoping to engineer a £25m move to Manchester City.
Is h? We don’t know. The Mirror’s scoop contains not as single source.
Also today the Express says Isco is heading to Juventus.
On 15 Dec 2015, Metro said Arsenal have been placed “on red alert” for Isco, who had fallen out with Real’s management.
On December 3, Metro said Liverpool also want Isco.
On December 1, the trusty Metro said Arsenal are “ready to pay £35million asking price to seal transfer of Real Madrid star Isco”.
Isco’s price is fluctuating.
On October 15, Metro said “Arsenal are working on a £22million deal to sign Isco from Real Madrid.”
But hold the back page because Arsenal were ready to splash out – get this – £64m for Isco.
It’s almost as if they don’t have the foggiest…
Posted: 2nd, January 2016 | In: Arsenal, Back pages, Sports | Comment
Manchester City offer Pep Guardiola £18m a year: Manchester United raid piggybank
The Sun leads with news that Pep Guardiola has been offered £18m a year to manage Manchester City, aka ‘The Brand’.
Pep’s people have “not denied having a verbal deal in place with City” – which can mean whatever you want it to mean. To the Mirror, for instance, it means that Manchester United are looking to “muscle in” on any Pep-to-City business and lure the Spaniard to Old Trafford.
The Sun also mentions United, adding that the Glazers see Pep as a “better fit” than Jose Mourinho, the sacked Chelsea boss lurking in London, desperately awaiting the United call. Who seriously thinks Jose is good fit at United? Mark Hughes is a better shape.
It’s a mad world when Manchester City can pay a manager a fortune. But getting Pep is as much about marketing as it is winning on the pitch. Pep is the starriest name in football management. If he comes, the talk will focus on what players he can attract from Spain: Messi, Neymar, Suarez et al. City will look serious.
But would any of those players want to be at City? Maybe. And that’s what City are bidding for: potential.
Posted: 24th, December 2015 | In: Back pages, Manchester City, Sports, Tabloids | Comment
Transfer balls: Chelsea go for Vardy
Transfer balls: The Telegraph lead with news that Chelsea and Manchester City are each to offer £30m for Leicester City’s Jamie Vardy. This is one of those stories that just annoys football fans. Leicester are a joy. They are the season’s surprise package, reminding us that the hyped Premier League is not all about money and vanity.
It’s sport.
Anyone who love competition should hope Vardy stays at Leicester. If he heads to the City global brand or money-mad Chelsea, Leicester are weakened. City won’t even have to play him to have got one over on top-of-the-table Leicester. Chelsea will chew him up and spit him out.
Matt Law says Leicester City will fight to retain their centre-forward. One way way to do that: pay he player more money. Vardy’s on £40,000-a-week. City and Chelsea would pay him much more. Leicester need to act fast.
Posted: 23rd, December 2015 | In: Back pages, Chelsea, Manchester City, Sports | Comment
Chelsea £17m a year for Pep, Mourinho met Manchester United last week, Ferguson returns
The tabloids continue to obsesses with who is going to be manager of Chelsea, Manchester United and Manchester City, respectively, when January is out. Arsenal don’t seem to be in need of a new broom (see back pages above), showing the rest that sticking with a man and working to a plan can work.
The Mail (back page): “Chelsea move for Guardiola.
Page 72: “Money no object as Roman bids to lure Pep.”
Readers learn that Guardiola has “assessed” the Chelsea squad and calculated the Blues will need 10 new players. Yeah. That’s all. We’re also introduced to Mrs Pep, Cristina Serra. The Mail says she could “sway” her husband’s decision.
Daily Express: (back page): “Mourinho lined up for Old Trafford.”
This is a story that repeats. Why would Manchester United want Jose Mourinho, a successful but irritating man with no roots at United, who sees clubs as existing for his benefit? We can debate it at length, but the Express says United’s management are ready to give current manager Louis Van Gaal the boot and replace him with the Portuguese.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: 22nd, December 2015 | In: Back pages, Chelsea, Manchester City, manchester united, Sports | Comment
Transfer Balls: Chelsea want Guardiola who agrees to join Manchester City unless sharks eat Mourinho
Transfer balls: as the Press pile in on Jose Mourinho, the Telegraph says Bayern Munich manager Pep Guardiola, 44, is Chelsea’s first-choice replacement for the argumentative Portuguese.
He is? Says who?
Matt Law reports:
Intermediaries, working independently and not at the request of Abramovich or Chelsea, are already attempting to gauge whether Guardiola would be interested in taking over at Stamford Bridge when his Bayern Munich contract expires at the end of the season. They want to be in a position to hand Guardiola to the Blues owner if Mourinho is sacked.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: 26th, October 2015 | In: Chelsea, Manchester City, Reviews, Sports | Comment
Manchester United and Manchester City in corporate Premier League horror show
Manchester United and Manchester City played out a match so dull it must make all those Americans, Chinese and oil-rich sheikhs tuning in wonder if the Premier League is just hype and more hype, less a sport than a televised festival of consumerism. Let’s compare the marketing with the fact:s
The Guardian:
The BBC:
Before the match the talk was of passion, history and cash.
Daily Mail:
It’s all about the money.
The dullest most lifeless Manchester derby ever. A shameful passion-free example of the snuffing out of tradition by
And:
Can we have your game back, please?
Posted: 25th, October 2015 | In: manchester united, Reviews, Sports | Comment
Transfer Balls: Manchester United want Lionel Messi and Ronaldo
The Sun leads its sports coverage with the rugby World Cup news that Chelsea, Manchester United and Manchester City hope they each have enough money to “persuade Lionel Messi to swap Barcelona for the Prem.”
Would Messi come to Manchester or London? The Sun says the Argentine superstar has “given the trio the clearest hint yet that he is ready to listen”.
All three clubs are convinced that Messi is genuinely considering a move to a different environment and that he could become the Prem’s stellar asset for his last few top seasons.
If he signs we get to see the fading great. He’s 28 now. And he’s only coming for the money – “the Argentine growing increasingly angry at ongoing issues with the Spanish tax authorities. Messi and his father Jorge face trial over an alleged £3.1million tax fraud relating to image rights deals despite prosecutors recommending the charges should be dropped.”
Can you leave Spain be a tax exile in England?
Messi’s current deal has a prohibitive buy-out clause of 250million EUROS, making a move this summer infeasible.
Unfeasible for Manchester City’s trillions?
But by June 2017, when he turns 30 and with one year left in his contract, Barca may be more keen to sell, although the English trio would still have to smash their wage structure to accommodate Messi’s demand for a deal matching his current one.
Who wants to pay a fortune to eke a couple of years value from a 30-year-old Messi? Maybe Manchester United want him to team him up with an ageing Ronaldo?
Such are the facts…
Posted: 23rd, October 2015 | In: Arsenal, Manchester City, manchester united, Sports | Comment
Media Balls: Tevez and Bony replace Aguero in Manchester City team
Update for anyone who gets their news in the Metro: Carlos Tevez is not playing for Manchester City in their Champions’ League match with Juventus, for whom he also does no longer play for.
Manchester City star Yaya Toure in naked bum for son kiss ‘n’ tell
The Sun continues to gun for Manchester City’s Yay Toure. Having introduced readers to £10 tipped ‘Flora’ Ntonya and (alleged) Sainsbury’s sex with Sandra Ntonya, the paper shows us a lad who could be the footballer’s “secret love child”.
The story begins:
MARRIED Manchester City star Yaya Toure has a secret two-year-old love child — after cheating on his wife with an ex-girlfriend. Role model Toure, 32, abandoned Mariam Camara when she got pregnant. And she has told how he stopped giving her money to raise their child — because she refused to send him sexy selfies.
The paper had us up to the big about Yaya being a role model for anyone else but his own children. Why are footballers role models and not, say, newspaper editors or Prince Harry?
Toure, who claims he is proud to be a family man and a role model for youngsters, had a four-month affair with Mariam. After initially refusing to accept the baby boy was his, he finally agreed to stump up cash to support the child.
But yesterday Mariam told how the £230,000-a-week midfielder then cut off the money because she would not send him pictures of herself in provocative poses.
She says:
“Whenever he sent the money there were conditions attached. I would have to give him something, like naked photos or photos of my bum. And if I didn’t send the photos we wouldn’t get the money… Yaya is a role model to thousands of young people around the world. But he doesn’t have the heart to properly care for his own son.”
And about those role modes, she adds:
“I knew he was married. I knew his wife from back home. But we didn’t really talk about her.”
Can’t mum be a role model for her child? Or does she first have to become a footballer?
She adds:
“I want him to take responsibility. It’s not about money. He needs to see his son. But he won’t even respond to my messages.”
If you can’t through over the phone, always good to reach out via the Sun’s dating app. Can’t fail.
Posted: 13th, September 2015 | In: Manchester City, Sports | Comment
Manchester City fan has entire transcript of Martin Tyler’s ‘AGUERO!’ commentary tattooed on his arm
As it was quite possibly the last genuinely dramatic thing that happened in the Premier League, Sergio Aguero’s title-snatching 93rd-minute winning goal against QPR on the final day of the 2011/12 season has attained iconic status in the prevailing years.
Aguero’s late winner saw Man City whip the championship away from underneath Manchester United’s nose with nanoseconds of the campaign remaining, and the accompanying apoplectic yowling from Sky Sports commentator Martin Tyler has since become synonymous with the occasion.
So much so, in fact, that one City fan has immortalised that glorious day by having the entire transcript of Tyler’s orgasmic howling tattooed on his forearm…
Photo: @mancitybear
Impressive, no?
No, not really.
Posted: 10th, September 2015 | In: Manchester City, Sports, The Consumer | Comment
Transfer Balls: Kevin De Bruyne joins Manchester City for £56million and £300,000 a week
Kevin De Bruyne will become a Manchester City player tomorrow, says the Times.
The paper says City have agreed to invest £56 million in Wolfsburg’s Belgium midfielder. Patrick De Koster, De Bruyne’s agent, says that to the best of his knowledge his client has not agreed a five-year contract, worth nearly £230,000 a week.
The Guardian tells him that the deal has been struck at £54m.
Daily Mirror has seen it. But it says the Times is wrong – De Bruyne will earn – get this – £300,000 a week to kiss the Man City badge. Hell, for that money the former Chelsea man will even move to Manchester.
Posted: 27th, August 2015 | In: Chelsea, Manchester City, Sports | Comment
Transfer Balls: Manchester City buy Kevin de Bruyne for £50m, Chelsea hail the new Torres
Transfer Balls: Kevin De Bruyne, who “cried every day” when he was at Stamford Bridge, has agreed personal terms with Manchester City, says the Guardian.
The 24-year-old winger will earn – get this – £200,000-a-week at City. For that money he might even kiss the badge.
The Belgian is scheduled to become City’s fifth new major signing of the summer. City need just to agree a fee with Wolfsburg. The paper says City will have to go as high as £55m.
The Daily Mirror says the deal has been done for £50m.
Is he really that good?
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: 22nd, August 2015 | In: Manchester City, Reviews, Sports | Comment (1)
Transfer Balls: Nicolas Otamendi agrees Manchester United but joins Manchester City
Is Nicolas Otamendi going to play for Manchester United? Or is the Valencia defender off to play for Manchester City?
There’s been lots of talk about Nicolas Otamendi joining Manchester United. Stories like: “Manchester United AGREE deal to sign Valencia star Nicolas Otamendi”; “Deal done: Man United target Nicolas Otamendi agrees move, will be announced today” (both Daily Star); “Nicolas Otamendi to Manchester United: Club agree to sign £36m-rated centre-back” (Independent); and “Real Madrid believe Manchester United have sealed Nicolas Otamendi transfer” (Daily Mirror).
It turns out these stories are all utter balls because the Daily Mail says Manchester City are “close to completing the £28.5m signing of Valencia defender Nicolas Otamendi, 27, with City defender Eliaquim Mangala, 24, likely to go to the Spanish club on loan.” Although, the Express says the fee is £35m.
Posted: 17th, August 2015 | In: Manchester City, manchester united, Reviews, Sports | Comment (1)
Chelsea: Offical Blues website meets Pravda in biased Man City match report
Tonked 3-0 at Manchester City, Chelsea were clearly the inferior side. Well, so you’d think. But it turns out that football according to the offical Chelsea FC website is a little less monocular; a little less concerned with the obvious, seeking, as it does, to enlighten and broaden knowledge of those fans for whom the scoreline is all.
Highlights for Roman Abramovich’s in-house Pravda are as follows:
A Ramires goal incorrectly ruled out for offside with Man City a goal ahead changed the complexion of this early-season Premier League fixture.
…
Sergio Aguero had put the hosts ahead having already been thwarted by the excellent Asmir Begovic on three occasions, while Diego Costa had a strong shout for a first-half penalty.
…
Within 25 seconds of his first Chelsea start Begovic was called upon to make a telling contribution… It set the tone for an assured performance by the Bosnian.
…
Kompany cynically scythed Diego Costa down to earn the game’s first booking...
Before the break, Diego Costa was on the receiving end of a brutish aerial challenged from Fernandinho…
Mangala resorted to WWE-style tactics to stop the ever-dangerous Diego Costa getting free down the right…
…a game of very fine margins.
For thsoe of you still watching in black and white, the game finished Manchester City 3, Chelsea 0.
Posted: 17th, August 2015 | In: Arsenal, Chelsea, Sports | Comment
Manchester City’s ‘blind and bald’ Raheem Sterling drives tabloid news agenda
Is Manchester City’s Raheem Sterling in trouble? The Sun thinks he is. Its headline and teaser place Sterling at a scene of destruction:
Who hit the gas?
EXCLUSIVE: Raheem’s Merc crashed with nitrous cans in footwell, but who was driving?
Adding:
Sterling’s mashed up Merc found abandoned in London
And, reportedly, there were “laughing gas canisters by the front seat”.
Very soon he learn that the only thing this has to do with the England player who joined Manchester City from Liverpool for £49m, is the car, which is his:
It is believed the Manchester City ace had lent the £125,000 car to a friend, and a worried source warned: “Raheem needs to think about who he hangs around with.”
Why does he? We don’t know what happened to the car. And laughing gas is not a banned substance. And the car was not “abandoned”. It was left by the roadside with damage to the front right wing.
The 155mph Merc was left on a London street after the crash. Its bonnet was crumpled and both airbags had activated, suggesting the impact was at speed.
It also suggests the driver and passenger were wearing seat belts. And according to Safecar.gov:
Frontal air bags are generally designed to deploy in “moderate to severe” frontal or near-frontal crashes, which are defined as crashes that are equivalent to hitting a solid, fixed barrier at 8 to 14 mph or higher. (This would be equivalent to striking a parked car of similar size at about 16 to 28 mph or higher.)
Was the impact at “speed”, as the Sun suggests?
It was taken to Manchester for repair. The car was pictured outside a garage in Middleton, with blue nitrous oxide canisters visible in a front seat footwell.
Anyone asked the mechanic about them?
We hear from an unnamed “source”:
“The Merc was in London for days after the smash — it was just left on the street. Raheem wasn’t in the car at the time, he was training in Manchester. It looks like he lent it to a mate.
“Raheem needs to think about whether he’s hanging around with the right kind of people, especially as he is such a high-profile star.”
The Sun then reminds readers that Sterling has twice been “caught” inhaling what appears to have been laughing gas.
…it has been linked to 17 UK deaths in five years, and doctors warn it can cause problems including blindness.
No direct link to the deaths has been proven. And as for the gas making you go “bald and BLIND”, that ‘fact’ is rooted in the words not of “doctors’, but of would-be media darling Dr David Allamby, clinical director of London’s Focus Clinic (see Press for details!), who told media:
“The links between vitamin B12 deficiency and hippy crack are well established, following a series of research papers. And this B12 deficiency causes damage to the optic nerve, something known as optic neuropathy.
“It could be helped by huge supplement injections of B12, but the vision loss could be irreversible, especially if advanced. And chronic abuse of nitrous oxide gas could not only lead to blindness, but a host of other problems, too, including nerve damage.
“I’d argue that if more and more people in the UK continue to abuse this so-called legal high we could be facing a sight loss epidemic in the months and years to come.”
The risk of going blind exists for a chronic user – defined as being addicted to the drug – and are deficient in vitamin B12.
Looks like elite athlete Raheem Sterling is safe. As for his car, well, he can always toss some of his fortune at making it better.
Posted: 11th, August 2015 | In: Key Posts, Reviews, Sports | Comment
Transfer Balls: Manchester City makes Chelsea reject De Bruyne one of their own
Transfer Balls: Manchester City have had a £38m bid for Kevin De Bruyne, 24, turned down by his German club Wolfsburg. The Times says City will go again with a bid of £40 million plus £7m of add-ons.
Man City are going for it. Having already signed Raheem Sterling, Fabian Delph and Patrick Roberts, De Bruyne would take the spend over the £100m mark.
but nothing is guaranteed.
Klaus Allofs, Wolfsburg’s sporting director, says the former Chelsea player will stay in Germany. Of that he is 99.9 sure – which is not sure at all. He said:
“I think some other clubs have definitely turned Kevin’s head. Some huge figures are doing the rounds and I can understand why Kevin is leaving everything open. He’s got to listen to the offers. I can’t expect from him that he doesn’t even want to entertain them.
“If he was only contracted to us until 2017, then yes, it would be different. But let’s be honest about it – it’s highly unlikely that he’ll stay with us right up until 2019 [when his contract ends].”
What says the player?
“All this is not because I want to prove [anything], if necessary,” De Bruyne has said. “I can do that in Germany. Would I return to England because I think this is a good choice for me and my family. Eighteen months ago I was worth €10 million and now suddenly I’m fifty or sixty [million euros]. It will be somewhere in between.”
Money. It’s all about the money.
Posted: 10th, August 2015 | In: Manchester City, Sports | Comment
Football Balls: Daily Telegraph stirs Manchester United and Manchester City row in Ogden-Silva twitter schism
The Daily Telegraph is 160 years old. To mark the newspaper’s birthday on June 29, it thundered: “Telegraph at 160: Serious, popular and pioneering.” And now full of utter balls.
Take the erudite and routinely insightful Mark Ogden’s story on Manchester United and Manchester City. Ogden had scored an interview with City’s Spanish star David Silva. The Telegraph’s headline told readers:
“David Silva: United’s glory days are now over – they are in City’s shadow now”
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: 6th, August 2015 | In: Manchester City, manchester united, Reviews, Sports | Comment
Manchester City: Pep Guardiola’s words are twisted into a noose
Is Pep Guardiola making ready for a move to Manchester City? The Sun says he is. Maybe. After all, the German Press says Pep is off to coach Qatar. But says the Sun:
GUARDIOLA gave a huge hint that he could be heading to Manchester City next season as he admitted he could be ready to leave Bayern Munich.
Hint. Could. Could. Any facts?
And while Guardiola denied claims he has already agreed to leave Munich for Manchester, he fuelled the belief that it is only a matter of time before he pitches up as Manuel Pellegrini’s replacement.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: 31st, July 2015 | In: Manchester City, Sports | Comment
Manchester City lose Premier League before it’s begun, says the Sun
It’s panic stations at Manchester City. The Premier League season hasn’t even started and City are doomed. Utter balls, of course. But, then, we did read it on the Sun, which tells of City “HELL” and “a player crisis” for the big Premier League kick-off.
Boss Manuel Pellegrini watched in horror as new boy Fabian Delph was taken off on a stretcher 18 minutes into his debut — as City were torn apart 4-1 by Real Madrid in Melbourne.
What will City do without their nth choice midfielder?
And Pell then admitted that star striker Sergio Aguero, midfielder Fernandinho and defenders Pablo Zabaleta and Martin Demichelis could also miss the opener at West Brom on August 10.
“Admitted” that players who took part in the Copa America might not figure in the season’s opener – a stance in keeping with Arsenal and all other clubs who saw their men in South America?
That’s “Hell”?
It’s going to be a long season.
Posted: 25th, July 2015 | In: Manchester City, Sports | Comment
Transfer Balls: Manchester City buy Kevin De Bruyne for an ever-increasing fee
Transfer Balls: How much is Kevin De Bruyne worth to Manchester City?
June 30, 2015, Daily Star: “Man City suffer blow in pursuit of £30m-rated ex-Chelsea star Kevin de Bruyne”
July 2, Daily Express: “Manchester City are willing to spend up in excess of £35million for Wolfsburg attacking midfielder Kevin De Bruyne”
July 22, Daily Mail: “Manchester City open talks over £40m Kevin De Bruyne move”
July 22, Daily Telegraph: “Man City transfer news: Kevin De Bruyne likely to arrive for £50m'”
July 23, The Metro: “‘Manchester City ‘close in on £56m Kevin July 23, The MDe Bruyne transfer deal”
July 23, Daily Mirror: “‘The £60m Reject – City Ready To Smash British Record For De Bruyne”
Posted: 23rd, July 2015 | In: Manchester City, Sports | Comment
