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Great post re: are we signing mercenaries?
I work for a living. I do this, because the alternative is uncomfortable. If somebody offers me more money to do what I do than my current employers, other things being equal I would be inclined to accept their offer, because I want the things that money can buy.
Okay, so football is different from other jobs. There are other considerations - silverware, the Champions League. ADUG's aims are not secret. They want us to win pots, they want us in the CL. Oh, I know they want all kinds of brandy, markety stuff that I'm not terribly interested in, but in order to achieve those aims, they need us to win the pots and be in the CL.
That's quite a difficult thing to do, because the top 4 teams in this country currently have, well, the 4 best teams - and squads; and in order to compete with them we need a team, and squad, as good as theirs. They know this, we know this. So we need to attract good players. You can go a long way, I'm sure, in building a team with the likes of Gareth Barry, but if we attract all the available players who could be playing for a top 5 or top 6 team, they are likely to take us to 5th or 6th. Which would be nice, and would frankly do me very nicely next season, and will probably do ADUG too, but we will still be in a position where we need to take a step forward, and it's a big step up, as Spurs, Everton and Villa have discovered.
We need to attract CL quality players, if not this summer, next. Most CL quality players play for teams that already qualify for the CL. We can't offer CL football, and we won't be able to offer them that unless we can attract players like them in the first place. Vicious circle. So, if we can't offer CL football, what can we offer? We can try to sell the dream - get in at the ground floor, and be part of the project, feel like you've really achieved, feel like you've really made a difference. The kind of thing that Tevez allegedly said he wants (if he said it, if he meant it). Or, we can offer to pay them lots of money, and tell them that there will be other players like them, and that we will get into the CL, and for the year or two that it takes us to get there, well, you'll have much more money than you will if you stay where you are.
Simples.
The alternative is that we never actually get any further than a UEFA Cup place and the odd pot, which might satisfy some of us but will not satisfy ADUG, who've put enormous amounts of ding into City already. The purists might object, and I understand their discomfort, but that's the world we live in. I would love to go back to the old days, and have waxed lyrical about them often here, but it simply isn't possible to get into and stay in the top 4 without getting in some top players, and if we want to get in top players, we have to pay them top ding to get them to come. And I have to say, I don't really have a big problem with somebody taking money to do a job, provided that they do the job to the best of their ability. What I would have a problem with is if we began to emulate some of those qualities which I despise in the scum, the arrogance of their manager and fans, the preening and cheating of the likes of Ronaldo, their ignorant, numpty, glory-seeking "fans" whose only point of contact with the club is to buy merchandise. Mind you, if ADUG have their way, we'll probably attract some of the latter.
According to the offish site. we have record season ticket sales. Some of them may be glory hunters, if you like, only buying tickets in the hope of watching players like Eto'o'o'o and Tevez - and Robinho. Some of them might be glory hunters, if you like, only buying tickets in the hope of seeing City win pots and get in the CL. Actually, I think I'd quite like to watch players like Eto'o'o'o and Tevez - and Robinho. And I think I'd quite like to see City win pots and get in the CL. But that's okay, I can't be a glory hunter because I already had my ticket.
But whether they are glory hunters or bandwagon jumpers or whatever you want to call them, I think most of them are from Manchester, not Malaysia. And I strongly suspect that most of them already follow City, they just haven't been attending, perhaps because they didn't enjoy what they saw when they did. Not every City fan is prepared to turn up to watch shite - I do, many of you do, and we're perversely proud of it, and we'll appreciate it far more when we do achieve something because we'll have a basis for comparison, but I'm not going to condemn somebody who has always followed City and only now, when it looks like we're going to be worth watching, is prepared to make an investment.
_________________ Emigre wrote: Whether he joins or not, we'll be fine this season, and then in the Summer we will build a stunning team, the perfect blend of our youth players, stars and solid signings. Quote: The world is a beautiful place. You must go into it and love everyone. Try to make everyone happy, and bring peace and contentment everywhere you go. And so I became a waiter ... Well, it's not much of a philosophy I know ... but well ... fuck you! I can live my own life in my own way if I want to! Fuck off!
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moment. Apparently while I was busy being a drunk twat upstairs, the mother sat with my girlfriend and tried to talk her into dumping me and going out with her son instead.
