We were looking to pay £40 million for Stones, Abramovich was definitely willing to spend the money. Pogba was never going to happen, it's never looked likely. When he leaves Juventus, he will go to Real Madrid or Barcelona.

 

You can't do much if the clubs don't want to sell their players.

 

If that's true, it's one thing to fail to buy John Stones (I actually think the incompetence of our board managed to scupper that deal and truly piss off Everton) but it's quite another to have no back-up option except for Papy Djilobodji. That is a shocking indictment of the people running the club.

Roman's riches are not unlimited. City's owners are also richer than Roman. I thought the club has really done well breaking even and even making a profit the past couple of years. Our problem is that we are never proactive. We had a great foundation to build on last year but we just stood still. A couple of major pieces and we would have been right up there. We don't need to spend 150m every year. Instead we go reactive and make panic buys like Torres and Cuadrado. If we had acted early in jan last year, we could have easily got Douglas Costa who was begging us to buy him. Yet, we sat silent and then made a last ditch offer for Cuadrado.

 

That for me is a failure of Emenalo and Maria (if they are the ones in charge of the transfers). We have a great foundation, great academy, had a great coach but totally inept technical directors. What surprises me that they were doing pretty well with Hazard, Oscar, Azpi, etc and then suddenly everything went downhill. They way we approached Costa's and Cesc's transfers last year was perfect.   

Is the club really in disarray though ?

I'm inclined to agree with this sentiment at this very moment....

 

but

 

If the most successful manager in the history of our club ends up winning the BPL with MUFC two seasons after winning the double with us (and making a transfer profit) because our club fired him halfway through the season in between, well then I might have to reconsider.

Roman's riches are not unlimited. City's owners are also richer than Roman. I thought the club has really done well breaking even and even making a profit the past couple of years. Our problem is that we are never proactive. We had a great foundation to build on last year but we just stood still. A couple of major pieces and we would have been right up there. We don't need to spend 150m every year. Instead we go reactive and make panic buys like Torres and Cuadrado. If we had acted early in jan last year, we could have easily got Douglas Costa who was begging us to buy him. Yet, we sat silent and then made a last ditch offer for Cuadrado.

 

That for me is a failure of Emenalo and Maria (if they are the ones in charge of the transfers). We have a great foundation, great academy, had a great coach but totally inept technical directors. What surprises me that they were doing pretty well with Hazard, Oscar, Azpi, etc and then suddenly everything went downhill. They way we approached Costa's and Cesc's transfers last year was perfect.   

Got to agree.  Industry leaders act.  Laggards react.  Every timethis club seems to get in a position to become a long term leader, they switch from being pro-active to being reactive to whats happening around them....and sometimes seeming to do so in quite the panic. 

So many fans up Jose's behind. Roman, I thank you so much and you are not at fault.

Had our ex manager shown faith in youth, not humiliated players and played a style of football that was good even if we didn't always win, we would not be in this mess.

Let him go to Utd and if he ends up in 16th after 16 games he will be sacked. Let's not forget he subbed Terry at half time vs City. Shows how bad things were.

He's not one of us. Complete lie especially if he ends up at Utd (not that I'm worried).

That for me is a failure of Emenalo and Maria (if they are the ones in charge of the transfers). We have a great foundation, great academy, had a great coach but totally inept technical directors. What surprises me that they were doing pretty well with Hazard, Oscar, Azpi, etc and then suddenly everything went downhill. They way we approached Costa's and Cesc's transfers last year was perfect.   

 

100% agree. It was as if we won the title and everyone decided that was it. 

 

It should've been the platform to build upon but instead we actually undermined the foundations. Mediocrity and a lack of ambition creeped in and nobody was up for the fight.

 

It's arguably one of the most pathetic capitulations in recent sporting history.

100% agree. It was as if we won the title and everyone decided that was it.

It should've been the platform to build upon but instead we actually undermined the foundations. Mediocrity and a lack of ambition creeped in and nobody was up for the fight.

It's arguably one of the most pathetic capitulations in recent sporting history.

And I think that was Jose's frustration. He said that we need to upgrade immediately after we won. The board in all its wisdom thought otherwise and he just couldn't handle the frustration and started lashing out at people who didn't deserve his wrath.

Recognizing the accomplishments of not only the most successful manager in the club history, but also perhaps the most successful manager still active in the game, is being up his behind?  Well then pardon me,

 

You seem to be reassuring Roman like I attacked him.....feel free to point out where I did,

 

Oh, also feel free to show me the manager under Roman who promoted/gave youth more chances than Mourinho.  As I, and many other here, have said many times, Roman is culpable the most for youth not coming through because he is the one who gives no security to managers.  Roman demands success and that determines the managers fate so why would they gamble on unproven kids?  He is the owner who has forced players on managers and made them be played, yet none were youth but rather expensive imports.  Roman has shown, despite the investment in youth, that promotion of youth is of no importance compared to winning or playing "his players" (see Shevchenko/Torres etc). Care to explain that away?

 

Of course he subbed Terry at half time vs MCFC.  Our defence was getting ripped apart by pace and we were massively fortunate to be only one down.  Mind you, weren't you berating Mourinho for not giving young players a chance?  Who did Terry get replaced by?  Oh, a young prospect named Zouma who has blossomed into a first team regular.

 

 So you're going to attack Mourinho for not playing young players but also attack him for subbing off senior players to give those young players minutes? Yup, seems to fit the bill so far.

 

Don't forget he also subbed on and off Matic in a match.  I assume this is part of humiliating players you are refering too (mind you, I think most players done a good enough job of humiliating themselves this season and that Mourinho was a sucker for making so many excuses for them at the start of the season when he should of just called a spade a spade) but then things like context occur and people who actually remember the event view it as a tactical change because after Matic came on the club condenced two goals and faced a 3-1 score line.  So, you need to bring on another striker (Remy) to close the gap who do you sub?  You going to sub players more likely to create/score such as Oscar, Willian and Cesc?  Or do you sub the CDM who is in extremely poor form and who, since he came on, made the team even more prone to conceding goals?

 

I've not attacked Roman and in fact have shown little but appreciation for him.  I feel the same for Mourinho and especially so as the players have already shown us that removing Mourinho has done very little to remedy the situtation as a whole.

 

edit:  You can show appreciation for both Roman and Mourinho even if they can't seem to do so for each other.  Actually, someone made a thread about regrets and I suppose after thinking about it my biggest regret is that Roman and Jose seemed incapable of appreciating each other enough to get over the temporary issues and focus on building a dynasty.  Because they do, in terms of football, owe much of their success to each other.

Edited February 10, 201610 yr by Barry Bridges

Quality post Barry!

Roman and the board supported Jose, The club spent around 284,000,000 in the last 3 seasons. How is that not backing Jose??

 

People bitch about net spending, our net spending was low because Jose is the only manager to sell good players.

 

Jose fan boys have invented this idea that Roman and the board are incompetent. What angers me the most, is that Jose my because us to lose all the great academy products. Ola Aina may leave in a few months, and I fear more will go, because Jose refuses to play youth.

Roman and the board supported Jose, The club spent around 284,000,000 in the last 3 seasons. How is that not backing Jose??

 

People bitch about net spending, our net spending was low because Jose is the only manager to sell good players.

 

Jose fan boys have invented this idea that Roman and the board are incompetent. What angers me the most, is that Jose my because us to lose all the great academy products. Ola Aina may leave in a few months, and I fear more will go, because Jose refuses to play youth.

 

Net spend is relevant because we're talking about improving the squad through addition, not simply re-shaping it through addition and subtraction. When rivals are spending £100 or £200 million more per season, then you're likely to fall behind. When you're actually lowering the quality of the squad, you're definitely going to fall behind. Jose didn't choose to sell good players - it's increasingly obvious that he had to.

 

It is a shame more youngsters didn't play, but that hasn't changed and if the argument is that Hiddink is under too much pressure to give untested players a chance, then wasn't Jose also under the same pressure?

Jose fan boys

f**king shut up with this fan boy sh*te.

Is fan boy the same as groupie?

To me all this is down to José, not sure how it's Romans fault. He gave him more time than i thought he would to fix his stuff ups.

Saddest thing is we should be walking the league this season.

Roman has given  Jose plenty of chances to get back on track. We were wondering when the axe gong to come after a series of horror results, the SouthHampton game, Liverpool, West Ham, Stoke, Bourmouth  When it came, it's not because we lost to league leader Leister, it's because Jose said players betrayed me. Once that line got crossed, it's either the players or the manager go. Of course no owner will sack 5-6 players. 

To me all this is down to José, not sure how it's Romans fault. He gave him more time than i thought he would to fix his stuff ups.

Saddest thing is we should be walking the league this season.

 

I don't know if I agree. It was plain to see that we were struggling in the second-half of last season and needed to strengthen the squad, and we did the opposite. 

As for the question of our youth, which Academy player has left us and gone on to become a Pogba? Maybe the Academy players don't get a look in because they just aren't that good? What a shock.

That said I think RLC should get more minutes

I don't know if I agree. It was plain to see that we were struggling in the second-half of last season and needed to strengthen the squad, and we did the opposite.

We were struggling from mismanagement IMO, we had a great squad but it wasnt used properly.

Plus maybe thats also when the rot started

Edited February 10, 201610 yr by chef

In the last 5 years only Utd can better us for net spend and we absolutely dwarf north London.

The fact that excuses for Jose is net spend when the quality of players sold was ALL down to him proves he is just a cheque book manager.

In the last 5 years only Utd can better us for net spend and we absolutely dwarf north London.

The fact that excuses for Jose is net spend when the quality of players sold was ALL down to him proves he is just a cheque book manager.

 

Sorry, but I don't think that's correct. Over the last 5 years both United and CIty have spent more than us (NET), United by about £90 million and City by about £115 million.

 

But it's in the last three years where there's been a huge difference. United spent the same in those three years that we spent in the last five, whilst City spent roughly FOUR TIMES as much as us.

 

Jose was being outspent by every other competitor over his time at the club and managed to win this club's first league title in five years.

 

We were struggling from mismanagement IMO, we had a great squad but it wasnt used properly.

Plus maybe thats also when the rot started

 

I don't think our squad was that great. The first XI was, but depth has been an issue for a while. Who wasn't getting enough game time? Filipe Luis? I think that this summer we needed to improve the squad and the board made it worse.

ShedEnder OK maybe I saw wrong. Still I think it's a poor excuse to even bring up our net spend now as soon as the sheet hits the fan. We have spent massively most years especially with Jose in charge. Unlike Arsenal, Spurs and even Utd in the not to distant past, our net spend isn't positive from selling our star names that wanted to move to a bigger club.

These players we sold we all down to Jose not giving them a chance.

We know full well Jose hasn't worked on a shoe string budget. He sold the players he didn't want and sighed Costa and Cesc for big money which really won us the league before xmas.

And it wasn't the boards fault that we were in the position we were when Jose got sacked.

Shedender other than Pogba and Stones who didn't want to leave and were overpriced respectively, who did Jose want to sign?

It's all good saying the board didn't back him but if you don't know who they didn't back him over, then I can't see how the claim is justified. Seems more like an excuse just to cover up his failure this season.

So I just want to know who were the targets to make us better and challenge.

And it wasn't the boards fault that we were in the position we were when Jose got sacked.

Shedender other than Pogba and Stones who didn't want to leave and were overpriced respectively, who did Jose want to sign?

It's all good saying the board didn't back him but if you don't know who they didn't back him over, then I can't see how the claim is justified. Seems more like an excuse just to cover up his failure this season.

So I just want to know who were the targets to make us better and challenge.

 

This season wasn't entirely down to the board, no. I think it's a combination of their lack of ambition and Jose not handling the pressure well.

 

I can't pretend to know every target he wanted, but I think it's fair to say he wanted to improve the squad isn't it? From everything we know about Jose, he's ambitious and hard on himself and those around him. So what exactly was the club doing weakening his squad this season? What exactly were they doing selling one of the best keepers in the world to a direct and hated rival?

 

There's plenty of points made about Roman's muddled thinking when it comes to the football he wants or his appointment of people like Grant and Emenalo in senior roles at the club, but this summer it comes down to one thing for me - ambition.

 

Jose spent the first year building a foundation. He spent the second year winning the title. What do you honestly believe his intention was in his first year? Retain the title? Progress in Europe? That's fair right? That should be the aim of a big club?

 

Ok.

 

Now here's my question. Tell me one thing the club did in the summer that gave even the slightest indication that they had any ambition to retain the title or progress further in Europe. One action they actually complete. I hope that doesn't sound rude or harsh but I'm trying to boil down my frustration with the board into one question.

 

So it's essentially what one thing did the club do to help Jose Mourinho achieve one of the aims you could reasonably assume he would have in June 2015?

Edited February 11, 201610 yr by ShedEnder91

This season wasn't entirely down to the board, no. I think it's a combination of their lack of ambition and Jose not handling the pressure well.

 

I can't pretend to know every target he wanted, but I think it's fair to say he wanted to improve the squad isn't it? From everything we know about Jose, he's ambitious and hard on himself and those around him. So what exactly was the club doing weakening his squad this season? What exactly were they doing selling one of the best keepers in the world to a direct and hated rival?

 

There's plenty of points made about Roman's muddled thinking when it comes to the football he wants or his appointment of people like Grant and Emenalo in senior roles at the club, but this summer it comes down to one thing for me - ambition.

 

Jose spent the first year building a foundation. He spent the second year winning the title. What do you honestly believe his intention was in his first year? Retain the title? Progress in Europe? That's fair right? That should be the aim of a big club?

 

Ok.

 

Now here's my question. Tell me one thing the club did in the summer that gave even the slightest indication that they had any ambition to retain the title or progress further in Europe. One action they actually complete. I hope that doesn't sound rude or harsh but I'm trying to boil down my frustration with the board into one question.

 

So it's essentially what one thing did the club do to help Jose Mourinho achieve one of the aims you could reasonably assume he would have in June 2015?

 

 

Yes Jose wanted to improve the squad but the only players you can really say that he wanted and didn't sign were Pogba and Stones (I already explained why they were near impossible targets for obvious reasons). As ambitious as Jose is, he signed Falcao but no one mentions it!!! Imagine the board were the ones who pushed that signing, all hell would break loose as it already is.

 

Selling Cech was hardly weakening the squad from a number 2goalkeeping standpoint and I get why he was sold. He wanted to sign for Arsenal, you say the board doesn't respect it's players but Roman showed class in not holding a club legend should be a number 1 against his will. We got 10m for him. A year later we would lose him for free to the same direct rival.  Our goalkeeping situation is not the reason we are/were in the position we are/were in.

 

Ambition is not always to spend. You can have ambition by promoting youth who can be the symbol of the club rather than play a game of Football Manager signing X Y Z. The fact that you can't tell me who is other targets were, just highlights the difficulty of the transfer window. There really are not many options about, so like many clubs, you have to work with what you have. Arsenal, Spurs even Real Madrid didn't make any massive signings of note this summer because the market of quality players is very light.

 

To answer your question, what gave me an indication that this club could compete is that the board were not forced to sell any of the players that helped us win the title. Our squad was good enough to retain the title. The Pedro signing hasn't really worked yet. I still remember in August everyone from our own fans to the media backing us to win the league. We haven't even come close to challenging for even a Europa place and yet we still make excuses for Jose and blame the board. This is what I don't get. If we were a inch off challenging I would understand your points more.

 

This is Jose's team too. If he spent the first year building, for it to fall apart so dramatically in the 3rd year because we didn't strenghthen with 1 or 2 (god knows who) players, then it really shows he is a short term manager with no idea how to rebuild from the ground up.

My opinion may come across as unpopular, but I care about my club far more than any player and manager. I have seen so many great things I could never have imagined and thank the board for that.

 

Roman gives Jose a warchest to build a squad and within 2 years it falls to bits and Roman gets the blame for lack of ambition.

 

JT nearly leaves for City in 2010 and demands that no player is paid more than him (this has stopped I know), but it's the board who don't show 100% loyalty.