LondonBlue

we bought Julian Alvarez last January for 15m but left him in Argentina until the summer, so it can be done.

looking on your board to try and find a chat about title ambitions this year and i saw this line. it resonated with me having gone through much of the same stuff. it's so hard replacing loved players. but its a constant thing that has to be done. eventually you get to the point that you can't even agree who should start due to the quality of the squad. ie this player must start buuut so must that one.

To be fair, the fact that Palmer and Lewis are breaking through into the first team is a good thing. Pep really rates both of them (at least publicly). Who says it's all about the money? Palmer was a part of the first team squad last season. A local lad that has scored goals at every level including a stunner for England. I agree he has a stupid haircut and have to concede that he sounds a bit dim too (if i don't admit player A sounds thick then i can't say that player B sounds bright). Rico is a breakthrough player, he has great feet, trickery and pace plus a healthy dose of determination, but i'm still unsure about him defensively. Last year he won the under 18s league with city and the under 23s as he was promoted mid season. Believe it or not we have one of the smallest squads in the Premier league (albeit high quality) so we bolster it with youth like these two.

If only that was true. We have Southampton away. Last two rounds of the cup we drew Liverpool and Chelsea. We have Chelsea in the FA Cup. Clearly someone either lost the memo or the stop city by any means fair or foul memo is still in circulation. I jest mind, i don't really go for conspiracy theories. Although i do wonder why the press are talking about trouble at the City v Liverpool game like it was both sets of fans rather than about the City spectators in hospital. We threw verbal abuse, they threw a glass bottle that hit a 15 year old girl and plastic bottles filled with stones that left many with head injuries. No clubs fans are saints but look up feral in the dictionary and see what you find. Hopefully we stay apart until the final.

i've never seen that clip before, i almost pmsl, gets funnier the longer you watch it

I know you said "forward" but i read this curious stat about the Iran game ... England completed 716 passes in their 6-2 win over Iran on MD1, their most on record in a World Cup match since 1966. John Stones was responsible for 116 of those completed passes (16 per cent), also the most by an England player in a World Cup game since 1966. That probably says more about Southgates tactics than Stones. I thought he did make forward passes but it felt like they just ended up being recycled back. Granted him and Maguire passed to each other a fair bit, hence his 97% pass completion. To be fair it didn't seem like he had the kind of forward options to pass to that he has at city.

if they world cup was this time next year i reckon Dan Burn might be starting instead. oh i forgot Southgate has his favourites

you'll forgive my bias for thinking that Stones is quality, especially now the lapses seem long gone. good in the air, good on the ground, can see a pass.

thought i'd throw in an unashamedly bias man city fan view.... Foden should have come on, he has that "pausa" thing, but the more games he doesn't play the harder it will be to shine. Has to start against Wales as pointless taking him. Sterling was consistently left out of the city team in favour of Foden (this season our first choice is Grealish, Haaland, Foden) i get grealish coming on as city have won every game he's started this season, losing 2 and drawing 2 that he's missed. a weird stat that i don't quite understand. Bellingham has ruined England for me. Headless chicken, great energy but doesn't seem to help with controlling the game. just my thoughts, i'm sure i'll change if we sign him in the summer. Henderson is, well, best left unsaid. Not the best i've seen of Trippier defensively for a spell but rather him than TAA. Obviously i'd pick Walker first. Maguire was good in those usa corners but otherwise nah. Quite liked seeing Gio Reyna come on as i have fond memories of his dad Claudio playing for us. Sakha was okay but didn't get much help Kane looked jaded to me. And yeah bored as the wife's watching Strictly.

Three Newcastle players in the England squad! Right on our shoulders in the league and with an easier draw in the league cup. Times they are a changing. Pickford , Pope, Ramsdale / Maguire, Shaw, Dier, Stones, Walker, Trippier, Coady, White, Trent / Bellingham, Mount, Gallagher, Rice, Henderson, Phillips / Maddison, Foden, Grealish, Kane, Saka, Sterling, Wilson, Rashford Out of that lot I suspect we'll start with Pickford / Trent, Stones, Maguire, Shaw / Henderson, Rice, Bellingham / Saka, Sterling, Kane But from that lot i'd start with these Pickford / Trippier, Stones, Maguire, Shaw / Rice, Phillips, Mount / Foden, Sterling, Kane Not sure Walker should be in the squad, but his pace might be vital in further rounds. Maguire is gash, he'd be 6th choice centre back at City. I'd have left either of those out for Dan Burn who absolutely should have gone for me. He's grown on me. Maybe Burn found acclaim too late. Phillips is fit and fresh and needs game time so give it to him early in the tournament as we might need him later. Bellingham is a headless chicken for me. doesn't help with controlling the midfield but he carries the ball well. City want him supposedly. I'll be honest Foden is in my team as he's City Grealish won't get your vote but for me, on form he worries defenders and is better with an overlapping fullback. Didn't want to sign Jack but he's City so i have to find the bias. Happy that Trippier is there. Surprised by Wilson but when i think who else i become less surprised. You won't win anything with Dier in the team. I'd actually drop Sterling to the bench due to club form but he never lets Englad down so fair enough.

I have a dodgy memory and there are so many things to remember. wanna hear some?

and we're both 1 club cities

Beardsley Given Stuart Pearce? Distin? Barton (sorry about that) - oh and he left to win stuff lol That really fast winger with loads of attitude. Played under Sven i think. Milner Stevie Ireland?

Oh and Trippier

Not sure if you know this but we have been pretty heavily scrutinized by a number of different sources. If anything had been found you can be pretty sure it would have been publicised. If we have done anything wrong I'm quite happy to gloss over it though.

Thats partly why i stay around. there's no reason why City and United shouldn't be friendly yet competitively fierce rivals going forward. Makes me wonder what positive links we have? Steve Howey, Keving Keegan, Andy Cole are the first three that come to mind

Either way i honestly don't care ( although a lot on our forums do ). And you certainly don't need to defend the actions of the Ashley regime ( unless you were a fervent supporter of Ashley lol, you weren't were you ? ) I think most fans are sensible enough to be able to distinguish between the actions of clubs and fans. at the end of the day we didn't do anything wrong so were always going to be okay. we only failed FFP because they moved the goalposts. Liverpool have failed twice, once they weren't in europe so it didn't matter the next time they conjured up some stadium redevelopment costs that never materialised so little wonder we think the league and media are against us. i suspect they probably aren't and that it just takes time for opinions to change

yeah but i have a notepad document on my laptop where i save a list of reasons

Found it, United Liverpool Arsenal Spurs Chelsea Leicester Newcastle Wolves and Burnley all signed that letter, although to be fair i didn't realise that Mike Ashley could write so that might be wrong 😏 I always thought it odd that you guys signed it. the other thing you guys did that in retrospect you probably regret is voting for FFP. tbf you probably never envisaged you'd be the richest club in england back then. As City fans, from that list, we're struggling what to think of Burnley as they now have Kompany managing them. To love them or to loathe them hmmm. Actually I only hate Liverpool, which is weird as i'm not usually the hateful type.

I believe you were, but i'll go back to bluemoon and try and find the thread listing the clubs that signed the petition against us. But like i say it was different owners and i'm not one for grudges anyway. I've had a quick look and most references to newcastle are praise and willing you up the table at the expense of our history rivals. Didn't realise it wasn't 100%, who has the other 20%? I guess its difficult to know if Sheikh Mansour really owns ADUG or if he owns it on behalf of the government or his family. The press normally say our ownership is about 18b (his wealth) rather than the wealth of his family (around 1 trillion) or of the government. You'd think the press would pick the highest number if they could. Anyway i won't fallout with you over because i don't really care. Personally i think i'd prefer we were owned by his family.

I've given Newcastle United a clean slate when it comes to club versus club shenanigans due to the takeover. But previously Newcastle were one of the majority of clubs to push for action against us. That was then, this is now and I suspect we might be boardroom allies of sorts now. It seems the american owners want the european superleague so they can permanently avoid relegation (we were last to join for fear of being left behind and first to leave along with Chelsea - i think uefa are aware of that too) I'm unsure if you guys are state owned or not, i'm sure you can fill me in more accurately than the press. We are owned by CFG (city football group) who in turn are about 75% owned by ADUG, 15% owned by a Chinese Media Group and 10% owned by an American investment group. ADUG is a vehicle for Sheikh Mansour (a bit like being owned by Prince William or Harry). The formula will be the same for all "new" clubs, massive investment to get you to the top table. Then prudent management on and off the pitch to keep you there. Just look at our net spends over the last 5 years. go on i can't resist... last 5 seasons breakdown of transfers netspend, expenditure and sales with every team broken down (25 long thread) Swiss Ramble looking for disparity between LFC and MCFC spend

Serves 6 clubs? They definitely don't serve Man City, at least not from our point of view. But i guess we all see and hear different things. As far as i am aware the premier league are still investigating us for alleged FFP or should i say having the temerity to upset the establishment, so they're no friends of ours. And notice how the media bang on about Liverpool almost winning the quadruple yet the trophies they did win were on penalties. You hear more of that than us actually winning all 4 domestic trophies or being centurions in recent years. Not that there's a bias towards the history clubs.

went to a bar in london could have been cafe pacifico not sure but it was the first time i realised the full range of tequilas. oak matured and all that stuff. i don't do spirits but my mate had some at £50. tasted like whisky to me. yuck.

Their opponents in that final were Coventry City. Supposedly they play in sky blue because one of the directors was impressed with Manchester City’s fighting spirit in the 1955 FA Cup Final against you lot despite being a man down for most of the game. There can't be too many English clubs who have inspired another English club to change their colours. I guess had it been the other way around Coventry might be playing in black and white stripes. We were 1-0 down in the 55 final when one of our defenders was stretchered off about 15-20 minutes in. There were no substitutes back then so we had to play with 10 men but still equalised before you eventually won 3-1.

you couldn't afford him... oh... hang on a minute