[Surrey Blue]

I see what is being said about Utd and City after recent events, with more dirt being thrown at City (obviously!). However, after all is said and done, we’re looking at Cup ties and stuff happens in them because – again obviously – each side has a reasonable probability of winning so what’s the point of ifs, buts and maybes?. ‘Twas ever thus and a good thing too.

_____________________________

React below 👇

*hover/click on the number below the reaction to see who reacted

[Surrey Blue]

Terrific test for City which, as we know, can get past RM but has the team got what it takes to take on the pressure and successfully cope? I don’t have a particularly good feeling about it, but I’m glass half empty when it comes to City in games like this!!

_____________________________

React below 👇

*hover/click on the number below the reaction to see who reacted

[Surrey Blue]

Must admit, first thoughts are I’m not sure what questions Torres and Ake are the answers to. It could be that City must be pretty confident that the real difference makers are on their way.

_____________________________

React below 👇

*hover/click on the number below the reaction to see who reacted

[Surrey Blue]

3×9 and threeps – you’ve made my main point for me. UEFA didn’t do their job properly and could have saved a lot of time and money by not trying to produced its assertions and have them rubbished by a very small number of clever lawyers.

_____________________________

React below 👇

*hover/click on the number below the reaction to see who reacted

[Surrey Blue]

3×9 – lots on here about the damning nature of the ‘hacked’ emails. Nor convinced that emails – hacked or otherwise – necessarily provide conclusive evidence of wrongdoing, therefore and provide a rock solid basis for a prosecution. It can’t have taken City’s legal team long to debunk that particular point.

_____________________________

React below 👇

*hover/click on the number below the reaction to see who reacted

[Surrey Blue]

Chucky, yes I have seen what the UK press has printed, and yes I am a City follower of many decades. But I’m trying not to be overly biased in my views as my posts on here over quite a while have hopefully demonstrated. I’m trying to point out that if UEFA had done its job properly then on this occasion there would not have been a ban on City, or any other club if faced with a similar situation. I think Mikus (1.14pm above) makes some good points.
I also think all those with an interest in football – and whichever Club they follow – would be keen on their Club not being hit with substantively false accusations and being faced with what were fairly draconian sanctions. It is vital that any accusations by any rule maker are completely bomb proof.

_____________________________

React below 👇

*hover/click on the number below the reaction to see who reacted

[Surrey Blue]

Overall, I think that it’s another example of accusers coming to grief if they fail to get their ducks completely in a row before they go public and waste time and money on trying to achieve the unachievable. This was in the full knowledge of what the reaction to its deliberations was likely to be. If UEFA had done its job properly there simply wouldn’t have been a ban and the resultant appeal.

_____________________________

React below 👇

*hover/click on the number below the reaction to see who reacted

[Surrey Blue]

City was never going to get away scot free and the fine is an attempt to spare UEFA’s blushes just a little. I always doubted that City was more or less corrupt than its brethren and I think UEFA jumped the gun without giving it the necessary due diligence and relied on some fairly dodgy evidence. That’s my take on it but I’m not close to te detail (none of us are) so I guess the real story will come out in time – possibly

_____________________________

React below 👇

*hover/click on the number below the reaction to see who reacted

[Surrey Blue]

3×9 – sadly Jesus is no SA and up front is just one section of the City rebuild that must be attempted.
SoS – I reckon I’ve seen the odd game that Arsenal haven’t dominated over the years but admittedly there can’t be many!
Yep, I know all teams wonder how they lost a particular game from time to time, but I still reckon that the ‘new’ City (say post Mark Hughes as manager) would take the record for the most combinations of the two criteria I set out. But unfortunately I can’t prove it so it has to remain as a general impression.

_____________________________

React below 👇

*hover/click on the number below the reaction to see who reacted

[Surrey Blue]

Another case of ‘typical City’ – itis v Soton, but I somtimes wonder if City has the record over several seasons of top level competition in England for most instances of:
1. opposition outfield players scoring on their first appearance/this season/for a hell of a long time and
2. opposition goalies who make most saves ever under similar circumstances as in 1. above.
Unlikely that such stats are kept, but I’d wager City has walked it!

_____________________________

React below 👇

*hover/click on the number below the reaction to see who reacted

[Surrey Blue]

A treat for City fans no doubt but of no relevance. City has to do some rebuilding – obviously – but that might not be so easy especially if things go wrong with the outstanding CL issue. Liverpool isn’t going to stand still so, if City is sidelined, it might (but no more than might) be Utd that gives Liverpool a few more problems than City did this season.

_____________________________

React below 👇

*hover/click on the number below the reaction to see who reacted

[Surrey Blue]

I might be naive but, having reviewed much of the analysis on here and elsewhere, I’m perplexed why the prospect of returning to professional football soon is being taken seriously. Liverpool can be awarded the Championship and everything else is either frozen or there can be a bun fight over promotion and relegation if that’s what people want. Let’s leave the past and start to think how to move forward at some stage whenever that may be.
I know football matters to many individuals but overall it’s a relatively small part of life and economic activity so, set against the events so far in 2020 and the pain and uncertainty yet to come for millions for goodness knows how long, it’s an irrelevance. Yes there’ll be a mess to unravel and sort at all levels of football worldwide but so be it – it’s as nothing to the issues that face the real world.

_____________________________

React below 👇

*hover/click on the number below the reaction to see who reacted

[Surrey Blue]

Going back to City, I’ve never asserted/claimed the club’s innocence (CMak and Chucky) and there’s no melodrama. My stance is that it may well be found guilty but we can’t reach that conclusion because we don’t know the full story yet, nor the outcome of the deliberations from CAS. There’s nothing else to say on this matter as it’s pointless to have a dialogue of the deaf so I won’t.

_____________________________

React below 👇

*hover/click on the number below the reaction to see who reacted

[Surrey Blue]

Oh dear, it’s like Groundhog Day on here and the message is clear – City is guilty even if it’s found innocent. That’s to be expected from the tribalist nature of football; its going to be hard to change that and of course forums like this have reinforced it. Better (just!) to sit round in the pub for the usual robust discussion, but rows about whether it was right to pay £55,000 for Denis Law are just a distant memory!
However, it matters to me that the truth in this case – whatever the consequential impact on the game – is the truth and is widely accepted. I think we should all sign up to that principle because one day it could be your club that’s dealing with material allegations of wrongdoing and potentially placed in a very awkward position.

_____________________________

React below 👇

*hover/click on the number below the reaction to see who reacted

[Surrey Blue]

I’ve already tried to set out that life events are not always explicable in a rational manner. However, I must express a sneaking admiration for the way that many of our correspondents are pulling together every piece of tittle tattle from every source ( not all credible to put it mildly)and yet again deciding everything that’s said and written must be true, City have been supping with the Devil and must be destroyed! All very entertaining and nothing wrong with that because we don’t know what’s going on. But please let’s ALSO try and stay with the main story, watch events,hope the truth comes out and justice is served. Provided there’s a fair ‘trial’ then if the results of that means City is stuffed and has to be emasculated then it would be well deserved.

_____________________________

React below 👇

*hover/click on the number below the reaction to see who reacted

[Surrey Blue]

Chucky – yep, I realise it was written by a City follower. It’s still a poor effort in my view.

_____________________________

React below 👇

*hover/click on the number below the reaction to see who reacted

[Surrey Blue]

In my view, amusing yes but rather a sad, pathetic article in the Daily Fail….

_____________________________

React below 👇

*hover/click on the number below the reaction to see who reacted

[Surrey Blue]

Brilliant video!!

_____________________________

React below 👇

*hover/click on the number below the reaction to see who reacted

[Surrey Blue]

Threeps – not sure your analysis is entirely right. It had nothing to do with suspicion and more to do with hubris. The organisation made serious accusations and instigated punitive action against the accused. It was shown evidence by its appointed experts that pointed to innocence of the accused ( i.e. there was a duff IT system that caused the issues) and which rubbished any suspicion. Such evidence wasn’t accepted by the organisation and it carried on blaming and persecuting the soon to be deemed innocent parties. The offending organisation just made its mind up that it was right and its IT system was working so it was obvious who was wrong. The accusations and action it took had dreadful consequences for many of those it accused whilst internal potential whistle blowers were threatened with dismissal as is usual in such cases. It was only when the matter eventually went to Court that the truth came out and acceptance of wrongdoing was made by the accuser.
I don’t want to draw exact parallels with the case we’re all interested in, I’m just trying to demonstrate that sometimes organisations don’t wish to acknowledge reality because the priority is self protection, and that could apply to either UEFA or City (or more likely both). I think suspicion is not the right term to use at any point in the case I tried to describe but rather brazen and inappropriate defence of self interest might be nearer the mark. What you say in your last sentence is right looking at it from City’s view but there is an even bigger issue to deal with here. Sadly, we all know that professional sport is intrinsically bent and it seems unlikely that will change when this case is a distant memory.

_____________________________

React below 👇

*hover/click on the number below the reaction to see who reacted

[Surrey Blue]

threes – I think we have to be a bit careful before deciding the rights and wrongs of this case on what we’ve read about so far. There is plenty of evidence to suggest that either side of an argument can swear black is white rather than accept the possibility ( or indeed the reality) it may be wrong. This applies to both sides of the current dispute.
A recent example of this involves Royal Mail accusing its postmasters of dipping their hands in the till ( quite literally in some cases) following the introduction of a new IT accounting system for its network of branches. Some may be aware of this case but, in outline, a large number of post masters were reporting differences between their own cash reconciliations and what the system was showing. In brief, this implied that the local Postmasters were responsible for the cash shortfall whilst the accused pointed to the failings of the IT system. I haven’t got time to describe how those failures happened. Royal Mail eventually appointed forensic accountants to investiage who did indeed conclude that the IT system was to blame. Nevertheless, Royal Mail rubbished the findings, terminated the independent investigators and its management continued to insist that the postmasters were guilty. Eventually it went to court. Royal Mail was deemed to be in the wrong, has accepted it was wrong and has started to compensate those that it wronged.
I’m not drawing exact parallels between this case and UEFA and City but I mention it to demonstrate that the management of organisations can enter into a collective sense of denial that they might be wrong ( for quite obvious reasons) and this can lead to injustice if not corrected. Again, my comments apply to both sides of the UEFA/City case.

_____________________________

React below 👇

*hover/click on the number below the reaction to see who reacted

[Author]

Posts