On the Tevez deal...do City now own him or is he still the property of that Joorabchian shyster??

100% city.



Re points above Tevez's goalscoring record: he is not a striker

This would've been a great tactic if he hadn't already signed for Madrid for the figure quoted.

I agree about the possibilty of Fergie just calling the bluff by saying there will be no more signings, but I just can't see us signing anyone.

TBH I'd assumed that Benzema was a Man United target when I wrote the post. Just seen that he's already signed for Real.

If Real have overpaid for him then who really GAF? If Man United weren't interested in him then why would Fergie care what his price is? If Man United were interested in him, then a bidding war between MU and RM is obviously going to dramatically push up the price. Fergie will be right to refuse to refuse to spend silly money, but if he was interested then there's obviously strong potential there.

you mean carlos "i wont sign for liverpool because they are uniteds biggest rivals" but i'll take the UAE dihram teves................................

Are you off your head?

You're addressing that question to Fingerposts Finest?

Hey, FF: as a matter of curiosity. Are you old enough to work? If so, would you consider leaving the company you work for if you were approached by another company and offered a better and/or more interesting deal/challenge?

no just talking in citeh terms..................like the buffoon on granada reports tonight who said and i quote "tevez is the best striker in the premier league"

There was a guy who said the same on ssn i think he had been at the brandy again he sounded smashed

no you are if you think that you will never live in united's shadow..................

Do the City fans crowing about signing Tevez not feel a slight sense of anti-climax about the whole thing?

Lets face it, football is dead as a sport. It's now an entertainment media platform much like the massive American sports. It's 100% about money and the next revolution IMO is franchising.

If City reach the Champions League next season have they achieved anything? If they win the league is there really any need to congratulate Hughes or whoever their manager is after they spent £999 gazillion on players?

The thing about signing Tevez, Adebayor, Robinho, Santa Cruz and co is that they can't play every week or they'd lose every week due to an embarassing lack of balance. So that means their statements about wanting to push themselves and play every week are ridiculous. Santa Cruz in particular is going to be playing Coca Cola Cup games and every fourteenth Saturday.

It just amuses me about City, their billionaire is not the astute man Abramovich is for Chelsea. You get this picture of this Arab sat with the Football Manager 2009 database on his screen and youtube on the other, finding a well-known and horrifically overpriced player and then dialling the phone and telling the club to bid for them. I don't think Hughes has any involvement in these fantasy deals at all.

I think the European football authorities need to get a grip of things before they get even more farcical. Salary caps linked to turnover are surely needed as there are now so many clubs solely reliant on individuals to survive. If those individuals are naughty and have their assets frozen or lose out in business climate changes, there is a risk clubs will go out of business. They have also got to sort out the Champions league circle where the teams that qualify for that are guaranteed such increased levels of income that it becomes almost impossible for them to fail to reach the CL. They are creating the much talked about European Super League by default as they are allowing several clubs to swell to truly epic proportions whilst allowing the rest to languish in eternal mediocrity, unless bought by a rich boy looking for a status symbol.

If he hadn't managed to get lucky with the appointment of Jose Mourinho I don't think you'd be calling him astute. You'd be laughing at how much money he'd wasted with no silverware to show for it.

If Abramovich was astute he would have been chaining Jose Mourinho to Stamford Bridge and never letting him leave. He wouldn't have been chasing after SGE. He wouldn't have appointed Avram Grant full time. Avram Grant wouldn't have been at Stamford Bridge in the first place.