Manchester United Banter Archive March 20 2015

20 Mar 2015 19:47:25
Good evening all. I was recently having a chat with a mate about Man City. The culmination of a lot of factors will result in City surely dropping our of the top 4 within the next 3 seasons.

These factors include the following.

Players Aging and over paid. Players (Toure, Zabaleta, Kolorov, Sagna, Demichelis) will be soon looked to move on, which will result in other players coming through. The currennt average age of their first team squad is 29. Now some might say City will buy big, But they will not be able to due to FFP and the fact they don't make enough money to allow them to spend massive amounts every season regardless of how much their owners want to pump in. This will force City to play their own Youth products. As we have not seen any products from that system in recent years break into their first team (Last one I can think was Micah Richards and Boyata to a certain extent) we can only assume it is not at the same level as ours, Arsenals,

The wage being paid. This will result in a lot of Cities aging plays finding difficulty in moving on unless they drop their wage demands, which I don't see any of them doing. A big sale may be necessary this summer to allow them to spend

Lack of Away Support. Watching City in the champions league at away games was strange seeing the away section almost empty really shows. This is one of the reasons why City don't make enough to spend big every seasons.

These factors will influence City Greatly in future seasons. It may be due to the rate of unstable growth as they did not have the foundation. A Large loyal fanbase being key, A trusted youth system enabling the generation of successful players either for sale (Generating Funds to achieve rigid standards of FFP) or playing in the first team.

These are the two main foundation blocks city did not have and in my opinion will result in a decline in there league position atleast for a season or two.

Sorry for the long post. I'd love to hear from you guys (Eds Included) about what you all think the future holds for City.

20 Mar 2015 20:52:50
Couldn't care one way or another

20 Mar 2015 21:00:13
I understand where you are coming from and the points you make are valid.

However weather we like it or not I doubt city will be going anywhere any time soon. They will surely be looking to the future in the coming seasons and will be prepared to let the older names go.

20 Mar 2015 21:15:02
City will continue to splash the cash and will be around for a while yet

21 Mar 2015 02:30:18
Weggy, I agree that they will not be far from the top but rather less of a challenger for the title. They will most definitely be letting older players go, but will they find suitable buyers that will generate enough revenue to enable the to replace those players?

Jred, They need to abide by FFP rules and I don't see them having the ability to "Splash the cash" without facing some consequences.

21 Mar 2015 07:35:06
They will find a way around FFP JaMax. City will not decline for a long time yet.

21 Mar 2015 08:32:50
Jamax
there are ways and means

21 Mar 2015 11:04:42
Jamax, city will be here forma long time to come. The owners are investing vast amounts of money into the club, the facilities, the staff, the players. All the older players will be replaced by younger equally as good players.
Their scouting system is better than ours and they will continue to improve.
I agree with you that their support is pathetic and that will never change!

20 Mar 2015 10:04:42
I'm happy today and going to be happy all day. Are ed's all happy today?

{Ed002's Note - Ok'ish right now.}

20 Mar 2015 07:02:52
If Kevin De Bruyne keeps up his impressive form for the next six months he will surely be in contention for the Ballon D'or. Maybe his name isn't Messi or Ronaldo but since the start of the season he has an incredible 15 goals and 25 assists already, all from midfield.

Granted Wolfsburg are a decent team but when you consider he hasn't got the likes of Ineista, Modric or Fabregas around him it is by all means a marvellous feat. I don't think he will move on in the summer but If he decides to then I very much hope Woodward and LVG get in their before anyone else.

20 Mar 2015 09:05:39
JMB your argument sounds good to hear and it sounds fair too but I can't see anyone but Messi winning it this year.

Messi and Barca look all set to reach the final of CL and have and are leading La Liga.

If Robben pulls off something really amazing in the knockouts maybe he could be in contention.

20 Mar 2015 10:13:26
Yes I agee MB Messi has been mesmerising thus far this season and is having a ball on the park but KDB has been electric as well. If he continues his form he must at the very least be shortlisted. Has more end product than Hazard for me!

20 Mar 2015 11:17:13
Yes Hazard does lack that end product which KDB seems to be producing now.

20 Mar 2015 12:23:29
Lets face it messi's a shoe in. After he won player of the tournament at the world cup despite doing not so much.

I would hope we would be interested if de bruyne is available but I'm not sure what our transfer policy is. Van gaal favours a certain type of player and woodward chases big names. I see he was talking again of recreating Madrid with work class players in every position. Whilst I admire the ambition i'd rather have a team than a collection of fancy individual's.

20 Mar 2015 12:43:36
Woodward does not chase any players unless the manager wants them. He has zero input in what the right player or wrong player but is tasked to get them signed when the manager signals he wants a certain player. LVG wanted Falcao and ADM.

20 Mar 2015 15:16:22
Really? I don't think van gaal wanted falcao in the slightest. I also don't think di Maria was his idea either. and I'm not sure that Mata was top of moyes list for a January signing.

20 Mar 2015 15:35:05
If I remember correctly ed2 said that we enquired about Ronaldo but got offered di Maria instead.

20 Mar 2015 17:21:54
Mre

You are absolutely on some wild goose cause here mate. All LVG's choices. What because he is not performing (Falcao) it is suddenly woodward who wanted him LOL some of you guys are fun to listen to.

20 Mar 2015 18:03:21
Your the one chasing geese mate.

20 Mar 2015 19:00:59
Yeah i'm sorry GCU but you have no evidence to back up that both Falcao and ADM were LVG's signings. Considering how big LvG's ego is too do you not think he'd persevere with him a bit longer like he did with the 3-5-2 formation? Also what with Woodward constantly saying lately of United's ability to bring in the very best it sounds like it was more to do with making a statement of intent etc rather than LvG trying to create a successful team.

20 Mar 2015 21:16:47
Lvg said united needed a di maria type player when he first took over .
We then bought di maria