Match Day Man City v Stoke, Saturday 14th October 15:00

[SALTIRE]

Match chat.

 

[smat]

I'd 7-2 be a Stoke fan rn.

 

[silkyman]

Blimey.

 

[Cornish Piskie]

7 - 2. Wow. That's the way to put the opposition in their box and nail the lid down.

Earlier in the season I thought City were rather one paced and predictable. That shows how much I know..!! Either I was very wrong (most probable) or they've upped their tempo since the match against Everton.

The only question is: Can City keep this up..? One would imagine that at some point in the season they'll have a slump of some kind. But while they're playing this kind of football they're unstoppable.

Napoli in the ECL in midweek. I'm licking my lips at the thought of watching that. What a pity it will clash with Real Madrid vs Spurs.

Oh well... you can't have everything.

 

[Stevencc]

They usually have a winter slump so we'll see if anything has changed in that regard soon enough.

 

[G-Dragon]

And people thought United could challenge City for title smh.

 

[SALTIRE]

City do look imperious. Out of the potential challengers this season I hope it's them that walk away with the title even if they have bought up all the players to do so.

 

[Mr. Scruff]

City look unbelievably good, all credit to Pep for it.

The only qualm I have despite the obvious dirty money is why they wanted Sanchez so badly. They have so much quality up top but are one Fernandinho injury away from disaster.

 

[Cornish Piskie]

Some interesting points about the 'money' aspect of Manchester City's elevated status, but let's be honest guys, they're not the only club to have done it, are they..?

While it's true that Manchester United had a marvelous generation of home grown players who were the backbone of their great teams of the nineties and noughties, Mr Ferguson wasn't averse to getting the cheque book out himself, now was he..? Schmeichal, Van Nistelrooy, Keane, Stam, Ronaldo, Kanchelskis, Rooney (the list could go on) didn't turn up at the training ground one day with their boots and ask for a trial, now did they..?

Ditto Arsenal. Henri, Petit, Seaman, Pires, Viera, Wright..et al..... came at a price and Liverpool have built their greatest teams from other clubs products going back as far as St John, Toshack, Keegan, Dalglish (who might just as easily have a stand named after him at Celtic Park), right up to the present day. Blackburn Rovers' Premier League title wasn't paid for with Tesco Clubcard points, now was it....?

The bottom line is that everybody who has the money does it and right now it seems that Manchester City are getting it just that little bit more right than anybody else. How long it will last before the Arabs get bored with their train set and pull the plug is anybody's guess.

And who among us wouldn't do the same..? Would the fans of West Ham or Stoke or Southampton give a toss where the money came from if their club suddenly acquired the wherewithal to buy a league title..? I don't think so.

Nobody seems to care where the money comes from, as long as it flows. Arab petrodollars, Russian Mafia millions or greenbacks from across the big pond, who cares as long as it greases the wheels for their club, eh..?

It is true that football has sold out to Mammon. I wish it were not so, but I believe it is.

But as of today City are wonderful to watch and if I were a sky blue fan I'd be very happy with my moneysworth at the turnstiles. And let's be honest, their fans had a lot of cold humble pie rammed down their throat by United's gloating red hordes for a long time. Remember the 'ticker'...? That was unnecessarily nasty. In my opinion, the City fans have paid their dues and are entitled to enjoy some gravy.

The romantic in me says it would be wonderful to see local lads making it good for the club whose community they were born and grew up in, but the days when Celtic could win the European Cup with 11 Glaswegians (I think I'm right on that, please correct me if I'm wrong) in the team, seem to be gone. Sad, but that's the modern game.

I'll ignore the money and simply enjoy the football.