The right move for Robinho?
The big question left by transfer window day is this: Does Robinho now regret working so hard to create an environment where it was not possible for him to continue at Real Madrid?
All summer he has been trying to force his way out of the Bernabeu - but he imagined that Chelsea would be there to catch him, and a compatriot coach in Luiz Felipe Scolari would be there to boost his confidence and bring out the best in him.
Instead of which, it is Mark Hughes and Manchester City - and for all their money and ambitious talk, it is a strange setting for his stated objective of being considered the best player in the world.
Robinho takes with him to the North West of England the guarantee that he will produce the odd breathtaking moment of individual skill to warm frozen Mancunian hearts over the next few months.
But will he come up with enough to be truly decisive when the silverware is handed out? Enough to really put himself in contention for the Fifa World Player Award? These questions hold no such guarantees.
During last June's 0-0 draw at home to Argentina in World Cup qualification, the local media had a camera trained on Brazil coach Dunga, and a lip-reading specialist trying to decipher what he was saying to his assistant. One of the things that Dunga is presumed to have said is "Robinho looks scared."
It is an interesting assessment. Last year Robinho was named as the outstanding player in the Copa America.
But there were few magic moments in the final against Argentina, which Brazil won 3-0, and even fewer in the semi final against Uruguay, which Brazil scraped through on penalties.
His truly great performances came in the two meetings with Chile, a 3-0 win in a group game and a 6-1 rout in the quarter final. Both times Robinho was dazzling.
But Chile were not only very poor defensively, they were also falling apart after internal discipline problems.
Indeed, the Copa America gave extra evidence for the view that, so far, Robinho is something of a rabbit killer, a slayer of the weak who can look fragile against the strong.
Real Madrid clearly don't rate him anything like as highly as Cristiano Ronaldo - Robinho's desire to leave the Bernabeu dates from the moment this became clear.
He has been roundly criticised in Brazil for his behaviour in attempting to force a move to Chelsea.
It has brought back memories of 2005 when he pulled the same trick - and even refused to play for a while - to oblige Santos to sell him to Spain.
One of Brazil's leading pundits, Paulo Vinicius Coelho, wrote that "the strike at Santos and the lack of professionalism at Real...show that the star is still a spoilt child, that he hasn't become a man." But he has now become a Man City player.
The 24-year-old loves to cultivate an image of the happy-go-lucky jokester. But it can come across as a little contrived. Certainly Arrigo Sacchi seemed to think so.
The ex-Milan boss was working at Real Madrid in Robinho's early days there, and felt that the young Brazilian's problems settling in were down to a lack of self-esteem.
From a Man City point of view, one worrying aspect of the deal is the difficulties Robinho has had in adapting to Spanish football.
In Brazil, fouls are given for the slightest physical contact. In Europe, the criteria is different. Many times with Real, Robinho went to ground looking for a free kick, and was then seen swearing in Portuguese when he didn't get the decision.
In the Premier League he can expect more physical contact and less space to work in.
But this is the space that he has now chosen for himself. It will be fascinating to see how he copes with his new challenge.
Will he light up the English winter with virtuoso displays? Or will he struggle and soon pull another sulk job in attempt to force an exit from the club he has just joined?
A glorious history, a rich culture, a production line of exciting players... South American football is endlessly fascinating. I cover the continent from my base in Rio.
© MMIX~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~05~RS~)
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Yes I think Robinho will shine here, as he is at a 2nd tier club where he is garunteed football. He knows he just needs to do what he does best. With Real, its was the pressure of being the best club with the best players, and winning a lot of trophies. With City its breaking into the top 4 and maybe snatch a Carling Cup.
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30 million for a 24 yr old player who has shone on domestic and international level quite a few times is good enough, but Chelsea have done the right thing in not signing him for that huge sm of money, what is the guarantee that he will produce moments of skill and light up every game??...Manchester City has got new owners, rich owners so they can splash the cash on whoever they want just like what happened to Chelsea a few years ago, so its a good signing for them but just one player or 2 doens't make a difference to a team as much as the goals they have set fro themselves to challenge a top 4 spot. Robinho's unprofessionalism is showing clearly as he stated in a couple of press conferences that his only wish roght now is to leave Real Madrid and play for Chelsea, what happened now??..where is that dream, why did he sign for Manchester City, He also said that his utmost dream is to be the best player in the world, and he could only achieve that at Chelsea under Big Phil Scolari, did he mean any blue shirted team with a old experienced manager??...and not the real Chelsea and Scolari, bcoz i don't think the City of Manchester stadium outfit is the home of Chelsea and neither is their manager Luiz Felipe Scolari.
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This is quite possibly the most amazing (and unbelievable) transfer in history. So much money being paid by what is really a third rate club in EPL terms.
He is a quality player but I'm not convinced the fast pace of football or the god-awful weather will see Robinho warm to City. But then with Jo and Elano there it might turn out okay. Everything will depend on how he acclimatises.
From the player's point of view, he did a Ronaldo and ended up boxing himself into a corner. I believe he wanted to live in London and play for Chelsea. I'm not sure he ever imagined he'd end up at City. To leave Real for them when you're on top of your game is very strange.
It's a massive gamble for both parties - City's in a financial sense, his in a football sense.
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This immediately strikes you like the first rush of Abramovich's money at Chelsea when they went out and bought anyone who was expensive.....it didn't work really and many of these initial impulse buys ended up elsewhere fairly quickly. You wonder if a relatively small statured Brazilian is going to manage to shine through the British winter months......has he ever heard of Joey Barton ?
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In a way, it really doesn't matter how well Robinho does at Man City. It's the bigger picture which is the real issue. If Abramovich buying Chelsea was one turning point for English football, then the Man City takeover is surely another. Whoever it was who predicted that the Premier League would soon be 20 billionaires fighting it out for supremacy knew what he was talking about.
It won't stop until the league becomes more like the NFL or NBA in the US. Ridiculously high multi-million pound contracts, sponsorship up the wazoo, a team of individuals rather than individual teams. I disagree with Platini on many things, but his one man crusade against big buck ownership is starting to look less crazy.
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Robinho burned his bridges when he told the world he wanted to leave Real and play in London for Chelsea.Once City made their bid and Real accepted then there was no way back for him.Chelsea pulled out and Robinho had no choice other than Manchester.Will a good run in the FA Cup or perhaps the Carling be enough for him, it will take at least two years for City to challenge the current top four places.
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It just goes to show that money talks nowadays (Robiniho must of signed mainly for financial reasons)...I find it bizarre that Robiniho announced 24 hours earlier that his he wanted to join chelsea, then all of a sudden signs for man city.
No disrespect to man city but they ain't ever gonna break into the top 4 no matter how much money is thrown at the club.
I have watched spanish football for many years and i honestly don't see what all the fuss is of robiniho. he is a good player but is he worth 30 million...i think city paid well over the odds for a player who has hardly been a regular in the madrid team in recent years.
These new owners have come in and deluded themselves that man city are a massive global brand and will be in the champions league within 2 years hahaha.
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The only thing that can shine near Man City is the sun.
Like Mark Hughes, I think Robinho has taken a dozen of steps' backwards.
I think Robinho will realise near the end of the season the players around him are not the same caliber as him and won't take too much time for him to figure that will be the reason for the rest of the City player's under-performing whilst a one man show (from Robinho himself) will not be enough in the long run.
just my 2 cents.
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When he was told "Manchester" had come in for him I presume he thought it was City and not United !?
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As a Chelsea fan its somewhat hard to take that we lost him, however having read your article i feel much better! However we still need Drogba back.
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I find it a very strange deal indeed. The lads press conference on Sunday was all about Chelsea yet 24 hours later hes at City.
I know Abu Dhabi have been making extravagant claims, top 4 this year, champions next, CL winners in 3 years but surely Robinho and his advisors know this is pie in the sky?
Look at Chelsea, when Roman took over they were in a far better position in football terms and with very little spending they finished runners-up and gotto the CL semis.
Now with all Romans investment ( 5 seasons at the club) they still havent won the CL and have won the PL twice in 5 years. Will City be able to better that? I cant see it.
Plus why didnt Chelsea follow up their interest? 32 mill is well within their range.
Perhaps on speaking to the player they realised he was more about money and personal glory than playing for the team.
City wont make the top 4 this season and the big players will still be attracted to Chelsea because of their location. Even United struggle to compete for players when Chelsea show an interest ecause London to an overseas player is far more attractive than Manchester.
I dont see how Robinho ( 1 goal in 4, check his stats) is going to make that much difference to City on a freezing cold night at a rain lashed Reebok with Kevin Davies marking him!
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Good riddance. Madrid fans rejoice. Shame we won't have Ronaldo until January, but it'll be worth the wait.
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great article Vickery, your bile was almost tangible.
seems like it is ok for other clubs to spend big money, but when it comes to City, you just cannot wait to put them down.
sadly, your bias is shing through like a bright red light.
G
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Maybe he went to City to later recall in other club. Wouldn't be weird in if you think in the Tevez and Mascherano move.
Maybe Real put pressure on him to don't go to Chelsea and he just choose the other option available.
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I'm no Man City fan, or indeed a fan of any premiership club, but Bighead28's comment of "No disrespect to man city but they ain't ever gonna break into the top 4 no matter how much money is thrown at the club" doesn't make sense.
Prior to Abramovich's billions, were Chelsea any bigger than Man City? And they've broken into the top 4. I don't know the stats, but I imagine that Man City's attendances over the years have been higher than Chelsea's. As Chelsea have shown, all it takes is money......
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I was rather hoping Chelsea would sign him as he is pretty much a nailed on failure - I see the same problems with him as I saw with Veron when Man U signed him - he's brilliant if he's given time on the ball, but he won't get that in the premier league, and he is too lightweight.
Man City had a lucky escape when they didn't sign Ronaldinho, but they've just blown £30m+ here.
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I cant beleive Robinho has gone to Man City! I thought it was a joke at first but when it happened i was gobsmacked. However for Man City what a day, a new owner 10 times richer than abramovich followed by one of the finest players in world football. The only criticism is maybe it was a bit overpriced at £32.5 million, but still they have laid down a statement and now in my opinion there will be a big 5 and the gulf between the big four has been briged.
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tim vickery - what are you on ?
" A glorious history, a rich culture, a production line of exciting players... South American football is endlessy fascinating. I cover the continent from my base in Rio. "
you are based in rio and this signing is brazilian and he has signed for a club who already has at least 3 brazilians in it
what is wrong with him going to man city ?
get used to the fact that city will now compete at a higher level -
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TIME FOR A SUPERLEAGUE
Hi Tim. I've been reflecting on this deal this morning, and the take-over of Man City by the money men from the middle east. The two deals are linked by huge amounts of money. The investment group have money and want to spend it, and Robinho is moving to Man City because of the pay cheque (or else he would have moved to a dozen other champions league club if it was football reasons).
I'm a follower of Forest, and my dad is aFulham fan. From my perspective, I now see that it is totally clear that a super league is now the only valid way of mantaining any competitiveness in the English football league. These clubs now are so powerful they can sign ANYONE they want, almost regardless of their footballing stature. It is artificial strength. In the same way a monopoly is overpowerful in any other market - its an oligopoly or cartel to use the economic terms. These clubs are now only ever going to get stronger and richer, and therefore it is completely uncompetitive. It is ludicrous to think that anything but money is what will make a club competitive, not the players, management or structure of the club. (Certainly nothing to do with the support of the club!)
I look at Everton - a club with good, but not outstanding resources - who are acheiving great things with great team and football club management. In the past, these credentials would probably win you the top league, but not any more.
Are yesterday's events the final evidence in the case for a superleague?
If these top 5 teams are not serparated into their own league, perhaps with Real Madrid and friends, then I don't see how we can call the league competitive.
I'd be happy for Forest to stay in the Championship - perhaps we can extend the Johnson's Paint Pot to include championship clubs so that we have a cup to play for as well?
These superclubs are also going to make a nonsense of European football soon. Very soon the no.1 club in a European league (e.g. Holland) won't even be able to get a draw against the Premiership's 5th club.
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I think they see the rivalry with utd as the kicker for helping them become a global brand, and i think it will work
Look at the statement of intent....immediately attempt to steal the 2 biggest epl clubs' top targets from right under their noses, and damn well succeed
The only thing they didnt bargain on is Fergie always gets his man.
Always
I think it will be a good move for robinho, a chance to be the centre of attention and definitely better than most of the players at the club, if he has low self esteem like tim said, he will flourish in that kind of environment
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How much room is there in world football for Billionaires? With Abramovich Chelsea fans can see that they still cannot just buy anyone. Players like Kaka are simply not willing to move. There is a finite limit to the numbers of truely "great" players and once they are gone all you are doing is to pay over the odds for the next tier down (enter Robinho).
One underlying issue here is that if all of the cash money for transfers ends up in one country (england) what will happen to Real, Barca etc? Will we have a special queue at Heathrow for arriving players while Spain join Italy in taking Bolton players on loan? That cannot be healthy for the competitions which make European football great - too many years of English dominance will put the audiences off, revenue will drop and the reason for investing in it will go away. The sugar daddys and loaning banks will want out and we will be left with an empy shell.
We need to control our greed and build a sustainable system which gives us proper competitive football, not competitive wallets.
G_U_F
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I don't think that I'd swap Madrid for Manchester (with great respect to Manchester - I was born there), the weather will be a significant culture shock, the night life will be another and the league that he has to play in will provide him with interesting lessons on how midfielders and defense in the EPL go about their business - no holds barred.
I think that it's coming close to a time when a club's balance sheet and the amount of debt in it will come up for serious debate at UEFA/FIFA. Football clubs are, after all, businesses and most have to abide by the legal requirements in the UK. If all these billionaires actually had to come up with the hard cash, rather than simply provide a guarantee, and put that cash into the club via a capital injection (purchase of shares - difficult to get the money back other than to sell the shares or go through reams of the Companies Act to allow a company share buy-back) then I'm sure that we'd see far fewer £20 - £30M deals. Millionaires and Billionaires have huge assets but hard cash is an entirely different thing, most don't carry cash at that scale.
The club I support is also owned by a Billionaire and yes he owns a top 10 team in the NFL but he's been a good influence, is intent on providing better facilities and a team built around the ideas of a great manager. Teams win football matches not individuals so thank you Mr. Lerner.
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Robinho to Man City has the same ring as Tevez to West Ham. What price another move come January?
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This move for Robinho is purely financial, and maybe he's see's it as a stepping stone into the Prem (for Chelsea to take him once he starts crying again). He will soon see that City have not got any where near the experience needed to be top of the PL or challenging for CL. 5th is the best they will achieve for atleast the next 3 years.
When Chelski did it (Abram) they already had alot of quality players in their side and were always around the top 4/5 so it was easier for them to add more quality and push into the top 4.
I am a United fan and cannot wait to see City fail!
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.Good article My Vickery. Firstly fair play to Man City for their audacity!b Whoever said they won't be able to get in the top is a brave man I see this club going far! The only down point I feel is hopefully Mark Hughes had some say in the transfer and not that it was just puit on him. I think everyone knows the dangers of the boards not the managers making the signings and if this is the case I can't see someone of Mark Hughes stature hanging around to long. In regards to Robiniho himself I understand the articles worries but if you think about the Brazillian presence there already in Jo and Elano at least you know that he will have friends within the squad who I'm sure he's played with and met already. I think the only thing missing now for City is 2 quality holding midfielders to play behind either, Jo,Elano,Robiniho,SWP,Sturridge and Petrov-now that is some attcking options!! Game on fellas,game on!!
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Robinnho will live to regret this move and s we have all seen with moves for players such as Veron, Petit, Henry etc sometimes a move can kill the rest of your career.
Man City will be fine in the long run but this deal has nothing to do with football reasons, but everything to do with sensationalism.
The new owners have bought the club and if what has been claimed (in a radio interview by the owner) they have bid for Berbatov, Villa, Gomez and Robinho. Does this sound like structured planning in the transfer market?
NO. Robinho is nothing more than a 'trophy wife' you need to take to the Oscars to be recognised as a box office actor, or that piece of 'bling' you need to be a platinum selling rapper star.
What would have happened if Villa, Berbatov and Gomez had agreed to go to Eastlands? Unless Mark Hughes was planning of going all Ozzie Ardilles and laying 9 upfront then it wouldn't fit.
The player i feel sorry for the most is Shaun Wright Philips. He has just left the rich boys play thing that is Chelsea and walked into a situation at City that looks even worse.
Robinho talked himself into a position that was untenable. However like Man Utd, Real do not want to sell there better players to a rival. No offence to City but they are not going to be a threat in the champions league for a few years if ever at all.
I think some credit has to go to Real for getting an superb deal for a player who is not yet proven to be world class or of any class in the way he conduts himself on and off the pitch.
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I'd like to see Man City spend big and challenge for the PL ... been getting a bit bored with the dominance of the same old clubs.
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At the end of the day, City havent really bought him as a player- they want to attract star names, and with players like Robinho they are much more likely too.
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"Will he light up the English winter with virtuoso displays? Or will he struggle and soon pull another sulk job in attempt to force an exit from the club he has just joined?"
I would say clearly the later. As you suggest, Robinho is a good player but, like many recent Brazilian superstars, his attitude is all wrong and for this reason he is widely reviled by the average Brazilian punter. My relations groan whenever he touches the ball in an international and were not at all disappointed when he departed the Olympic squad.
The name will look good on Man City's team sheet and I expect him to punish defences as porous as those of Hull and Stoke but this is a stepping stone move as far as I am concerned; one step closer to Stamford Bridge.
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Oh dear, oh dear oh dear !!!!!!!!
This deal is both incredibly sad, and extremely funny, on so many levels.
Welcome to the world of 'High class prostitution' - no wonder he was crying when he left Real Madrid.
Next match up: City v Chelsea
great stuff. Probably 0-0
worth every penny - not
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comment by
nite_89 wrote:
.....
I am a United fan and cannot wait to see City fail!
-----
to nite_89 what a comment to make !!!
your letting the united fan base down
disgracefull
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I really think its unfair to tell a player his future is at a club and then turn around and offer him in exchange for another few weeks down the line. I feel Robinho had decided to leave Real Madrid and would have gone to Barnsley (No offense) if they had put up the money. I will be really surprised if he's still a city player by next season. I am still not sure what Calderon means by his statement accusing the player of moving for non-footballing reasons as opposed to the club selling for human reasons. If thats the case, why didnt they sell him to Chelsea in the first place?
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another absolute joke of a blog criticising City!
I think a lot of people are gonna be out to get us the same way they did with chelsea but to be honest i really dont care, we've had nothing but negative press of the media and fans alike for the last year, this time its mainly gonna be jealousy from rival fans and obviously the press are gonna be attempting to get some dirt on the new owners and if that fails try and get everyones backs up about how money is ruining football!! lol
Its all about progression, these are businesses after all! CTID!! :-)
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give it 3 years, it city aren't challenging united, arsenal, chelsea and to a lesser extent, liverpool, he'll want away again. he's done it before and he'll do it again.
of course another theory is he heard the word 'manchester' and thought it was united. big shock when he saw the blue shirt!
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spot the jealous chelsea and united fans.
because they are no longer the richest clubs in the EPL.. they are infact 2nd rate to 'little citeh'
Robinho is class, and chelsea haven't got the pulling power anymore.
the time has come for you to move over and let the real big boys have their time.
will the Real Man CIty please stand up?
thank you and god bless the Arabs
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I'm a Rover's fan so not a big fan of City at the moment, however I don't see where all of this "they'll never break into the top 4" comes from.
Looking at it realistically. Fourth place is vulnerable to a host of clubs that can put a good run together. The big four is only a big four in their, and the media's eyes. The two that are vulnerable are Arsenal, still rebuilding, and Liverpool, still flattering to deceive.
So, City for forth place this year? As long as they stay within striking distance by January I can see them strengthening their squad then and making a big push. It'll be quite a battle to see how good Hughes is as a manager and whether Benitez can hold it together at Liverpool. I can't wait.
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Well, as a lifelong city fan I must first say how disappointed I am at all the bitterness and negativity about this move. The so called pundits and journo's just like to be fractious, I can understand this, who wants to read a positive article right?
I've been reading all day about how city will never be a top 4 side etc etc. These same people (bitter rags for the most part) espousing the same nonsense that only really serves to make it all the more sweeter in Jan when city bolster the squad further with 6 or 7 more world class signings, and subsequently finish in top 4.
A blue moon is rising ! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!!!!
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Why is it a strange setting?
You and the rest of the media need to get out of this game killing mindset that the top players can only go to Man Utd/Chelsea/Arsenal/Liverpool and that any top players at other English clubs need to be incessantly illegally tapped up (as we have seen in the cases of Rooney, Carrick, Berbatov, Tevez, Ferdinand, Lampard, Barry etc)
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Its going to be funny when Robinho realises there are two clubs in Madchester and he has joined the duff one who are not even in the champions league! :))
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With the amazing 'breaking' stories all throughout yesterday, I had to take a step back and think through what was actually happening.
New Owners - with the difficulties surrounding Shinawatra both at home in Thailand and the mounting pressure on him over here, it was inevitable that he would have to sell. The fact that he has sold City to one of the richest groups int he world is an amazing coup. No doubt about it City are not a Global Brand, but with the local rivalry they have obviously seen a potential to develop City as one.
Berbatov - My Spurs friends had been drooling over him his first season, but have grown colder and colder towards him since then. He will probably prove me wrong now, but I don't see him lighting up the pitch as everyone thinks he will. As for the City bid for him... I don't see how he would have fitted in really and I only see it as a bid so that United didn't get the player they'd been chasing and stalling over for so long.
Robinho - Brazilian number 4 signs for City! Alright, one of them is a defender, who is probably a traditional leaky South American, but hopefully with Elano, Jo and Berti there Robinho has as good a chance as anywhere in the UK to settle. Whether he's worth £32.5m or not, doesn't even come in to question. Of course not... no player is worth that really and the fact that even Chelsea wouldn't stretch to that proves its too much. Will he dazzle the Premiership grounds? Not every game, but who does... even Ronaldo last year was quiet in some games. Yes he'll shine against the lower teams, as he should, but all we can hope for is that he'll put in 100% effort every game.
Wild Statements of Successes - Every new owner wants to big up their investments to endear themselves to the regular Fans, whether that be survival with lower teams or top 10 finishes with mid table ones. Having only scraped through the EUFA Cup qualification, I can only hope for a long run in Europe this season that Robinho can shine in. Domestic Cup success is achievable - just look at Portsmouth with their 'limited' funds. As for Top 4 this season - as great as it sounds, it ain't gonna happen! 5th maybe, 6th at the very least. A season of building and moulding, followed up by concerted pressure on the Big 4 next season is more likely. Can City break the Top 4... I hope so.
The only thing for certain is that there were a lot of exciting times at the Blue Camp yesterday. I can only hope those times continue on the pitch this season and the ones to come!!!
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While it's great news for City, it's also a little depressing - if you want to win things you need BIG money. The days of Forest winnig the League/European Cup, Southampton/Watford finishing 2nd in League has gone. Sad, Sky/big money has been the ruination of the game, no longer a sport, just big business like most sport now. As a LFC fan, we're being left behind, not helped by Statler and Waldorf. Anyway good luck to City, at least with the Arabs you know thet'll do things right and proper. And City are due some good luck, I don't begrudge them any success.
Agree with Platini for once though, if you're not solvent you can't play in Europe or your League. That might cause some problems, about time Football was run properly.
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As more and more money transcends the game, the implications of each large transfer inevitably have knock on effects. I don't doubt that Robinho will be a success at Manchester City assuming of course that he receives the service from their midfield and wings to which he is more usually accustomed. However, with the wealth at City now seemingly beyond question, Robinho will prove to be a pivotal buy at some stage in the next couple of seasons anyway. Looking beyond Robinho going to City it is instructive to consider the comments of the Real Madrid President who claimed that they had let Robinho go for human and family reasons. The reality paints a somewhat different picture. While City's neighbours have relentlessly pursued Berbatov in full public glare all summer, so too have Real Madrid pursued Ronaldo. I suspect that this is the key to the Robinho transfer. The best way for the Madrid President to save face now is to capture Ronaldo in either of the next two transfer windows. The fact that Ronaldo has stated his intention to play for Madrid is only half of the equation. The price must also be right - as Manchester United found out yesterday in their capture of Berbatov. Just as Manchester United will be seeking to recoup the fee paid out for Berbatov, so too will Real Madrid be seeking to make the most use of the money generated from the sale of Robinho. I am certain this will happen. With regard to Manchester City, I think they will be top four this season and a step further by next season. Finally, the ante has been upped as far as Liverpool are concerned. With the Americans seemingly short of funds at present, they face a very real danger of being left behind. Last season was dominated by the success of Torres. At present he is out injured for the next couple of matches. Any more injuries to Torres on his return would be a disaster for Liverpool unless DIC are now going to make their much publicised move....
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Certainly put Chelsky's nose out of joint...will the Russian now go into a sulk and sell up?
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He wants to be the world's best player?
He is going to be another Geovanni.
I remember Tim Vickery expressing concern about Robinho's fitness for Europe before he left Brazil.
It will happen in three stages:
Firstly, he will find himself a little lightweight for the league and he will lose some confidence.
Secondly, he will find his teammates are not as good as he is used too and he will become frustrated.
Thirdly, he will have trouble settling into Manchester, and will then want out.
He will be gone to italy or back to spain by this this time next year folks, with City taking a £10million hit.
And the Abu Dhabi boys will be gone in a few years after that when they get bored of their new "hobby".
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I've read a couple of comments pertaining to the current owners of Chelsea and Manchester City seeling up if things start to go wrong. Fine. Sell to who? Is Bill Gates interested in football?
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A number of things to add here we were capable of a top-six finish before season started.Since then we have added Kompany who to that Arsenal fan is a very very good holding midfielder , he without knowing any of the players he was playing with , looked great against West Ham and again against Sunderland.In defence where we struggled with injuries last year we just added Zabeleta a very good right back (which we needed) and Glauber Berti a left back ( cover for Ball or replacement we wait to see).We have bought as cover for Micah and Dunne ,Ben Tal Haim (we also have under 21 Onuoha who is improving all the time).Left wing with Petrov we needed balance on the right now we have SWP (and Etuhu who is coming on leaps and bounds),central midfield we have England under 21 Johnson who the top four have all tried buying for 12 mill so he can't be that bad lol.Elano,Ireland,Hamamn, all fighting with Johnson for the two central midfield role.Up front another problem area we now our fourth Brazilian Robinho partnering JO,Benjani,Vassel(next to leave?)Sturridge(looks like the real deal if he keeps improving),Evans.That is a team if the Brazilian Robinho can forge a partnership with Brazilian Jo and the Brazilian Elano ooo i don't see a language barrier there and they should all help each other settle which is a major part of making a player settle.
In short Robinho is only one piece of the puzzle not the whole thing and unlike a lot of posters here he may find himself somewhere where he can express himself and be happy.
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Personally, I think it’s great that a side outside the top four are trying to buy at the same table as the big boys. I hope that it works for them, watch out Liverpool and Arsenal. If the Keane and Torres partnership doesn’t click then they might need to look over their shoulders.
However, I can’t get away from the fact that this deal looks undoubtedly like a player who had absolutely nowhere else to go after kicking himself away from Madrid.
I am sceptical as to whether he will cope with the physical game of the premier league and whether there are any get out clauses in that contract, which he will enforce later down the line.
Whatever the opinion, it certainly is a statement of intent from city’s new owners.
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I think most people here are mssing the point. City were for a long time last season hovering around the top 4 . We ran out of steam two thirds of the way through the season because there was not enough depth in the squad - as there is with chelsea, man utd, arsenal.
I think the same would have happened again this season. The new investment just enables us to strengthen the squad Robinho will be a squad player as he would have been at any of the clubs interested in him. I dont think he will play against clubs at the lower end of the league we
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I'm curious to see how Hughes will play Robinho.
This season he has been playing 4-5-1 and with a full strength team his best players are SWP, Petrov and Jo (Or at least these are the players I see least likely being dropped. So that would lead you to believe Robinho would be in attacking midfield which displaces the frankly marvellous Elano. so will he do this and put Elano at Right Back? or will he switch to a 4-4-2 which would completely change the teams system but accommodate all 5 players?
tis an interesting time....
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I think most people here are missing the point. The new owners obviously want to make a big statement about their seriousness and intent to do well. They have bought the club at a bad time but are setting themselves up for the new year transfer window. Robinho's signing is sending a message to other possible signings. Whether he ends up playing well is irrelevant, to a degree.
I am an United fan but am pleased for City fans to (hopefully) finally get a competitive team. I am against all this foreign ownership but until something is done about it across the board, then I would rather it be a even for every club. The premiership needs to be about more than the usual 4 clubs.
I get far more satisfaction when United beat the other big 3 than against other teams, and would prefer the premiership to have a big 10 at least.
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Im pretty sure Robinho will shine so long as Man City use him as thier playmaker and all of thier attacking play goes through him. This then could cause more problems in the squad with players who shone last season being forced to take a back seat and new signing SWP may be forced to subdue his attacking insticts.
Only time will tell how he will take to the Premier League but once he recovers from the first tough tackles dished out by John Terry im sure he will get to grips with the pace and strength so characteristic of this league, i'm pretty sure he will perform well.
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To citymikeok:
How am i putting the UTD fan base to shame?
I wasn't aware derby teams were supposed to wish each other luck and hope the other team is successful in beating them lol.
Rivalry is all apart of the game, no shame in that.
Uniteds money is made through their own success, not through somebodies successful property development business or Oil company.
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As a chelsea season ticket holder i am slightly glad that Robinho is not going to be turning up at Cobham on the daily basis for traning. Although he does have talent - will he be able to transform his game much like Ronaldo did when he arrived and was widly scorned for his antics which have been toned down now to make him the worlds best footballer? Robinho is going to have to take a leaf out of Ronaldos book - maybe he already has after Ronaldos potracted move to Madrid fell apart.
His behaviour is also distasteful and i am glad not to have him at the club i was like a large section of the real Chelsea fans who travel away witht the team embarrassed by what he has done at Madrid regarding his Sunday press conference. A situation which is remarkably similiar to Michael Essiens move to the Chels. A few fans i was talking to in Wigan two weeks ago think the same and were against the transfer of Robinho to Chelsea at the fear that he may well become another Malouda! At least that is Manchester Citys problem now, I wish Robinho the best tho and i hope he can transform his style.
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City have tried to make a statement by buying Robinho but instead have just looked desperate. They bid ridiculous amounts for players that wouldn't otherwise join them if they weren't being offered stupid sums of money. They succeed in buying one of those players and now he will have had a moment to stop and think about it, Robinho will surely be thinking "bugger". I don't believe for one second think that Mark Hughes was thinking a month ago "Who should I sign? Robinho? Villa? Berbatov?" No he was looking for players that were value for money. Then someone said "here's a shed load of money, spend it in the next 8 hours." It is a desperate move to look like a contender for a top 4 position but unlike Chelsea when they were bought, they aren't really in a decent position to build on.
I reckon Robinho will have one season then sulk and want to move.
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Although it's a positive time for the club, if I was a Manchester City supporter wouldn't you have a few concerns that you've broken the British transfer record for a player 24 hours previous said he wanted to join Chelsea?
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ExiledDevonRed - You really ought to have checked your facts before your post at 8:29. To suggest that Chelsea were no better than Manchester City when Roman took over is ludicrous.
For one Chelsea were already in the Champions League when Abramovich arrived. In fact they had finished in the top 6 in each of the previous 7 seasons, won 2 FA Cups, a league cup and the Cup Winners Cup. In that time Manchester City had been yoyo-ing between the top 3 divisions.
Let's also remember that through all of this Robinho wanted to go to Chelsea more than Chelsea wanted Robinho, if they had have wanted him that much then they'd have matched Real's asking price rather than haggling for a lower fee. There's no doubting that Robinho is a talented player but he's more a luxury to the really top European teams. If he wasn't then they'd have been falling over each other to snap him up for €40M, as it was he has been a fringe player at Madrid and while he will light up the premier league at times he is not another Ronaldo, far far from it.
That said it a great coup for City but be warned that they've set a dangerous precident for themselves now in showing that they have more money than sense. You only have to look at the way that they themselves put another £10M on SWP's head the moment Chelsea came knocking for him.
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This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.
"Prior to Abramovich's millions, were Chelsea any bigger than Man City?"
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Yes, we were, we had already reached the quarter-finals in our first Champions League outing 3 years prior, and the season before he came, we beat Liverpool to 4th spot (courtesy of Marcel Desailly). And we had won 6 trophies in the 10 years before
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He won't regret it, two years and they'll be as strong as Chelsea. As much as that pains a United fan to say.
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To see the look on Peter Kenyons face with Robihno going to the council house would have been worth the 32.5 million quid alone!
A face like a slapped arse!
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Gutted Chelsea did not get him as he is what we needed but not sure why Man city have gone for him when they have wingers like SWP and Petrov and also Elano for flair.
Robinho has his good points and bad points but disappointed we did not have a chance to speak to him but also glad in a way that we are being more careful in our spending.
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I think most people here are mssing the point. City were for a long time last season hovering around the top 4 . We ran out of steam two thirds of the way through the season because there was not enough depth in the squad - as there is with chelsea, man utd, arsenal. I think the same would have happened again this season.
The new investment just enables us to strengthen the squad, Robinho will be a squad player as he would have been at any of the clubs interested in him. I dont think he will play against clubs at the lower end of the league (we managed to beat Sunderland away without him) Dont forget last season City were the only team to beat Utd both home and away.
Sparky is a manager who knows how to get the best out of players - Blackburn were a good side that played to their strengths. he`ll do the same job at City the only difference we are now competing financially.
Let`s also not forget that City`s academy has produced some good players SWP,Micah,Johnson etc - this can only be improved by an injection of cash- and maybe as a result this help the National Squad.
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interesting article.
im incline to agree with the idea that city could well displace one of the big four with this new backing.
This is what football is now, a business. If the new owners are prepared to throw chelsea type money at the club then i can't see any reason why they can't achieve the same sort of results.
Its just wishful thinking from rival fans who are predicting big players won't go to them. The same is true of those who say man city are years away from competing with the top four. They weren't a bad side last year, now they have a better manager, new players, a good stadium and billionaire backing.
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Determining the correctness or otherwise of Robinho's judgement to join Man City as against the prefered suitor- Chelsea is extricably linked to the player's psychological state in Real Madrid. Events, both recent and ante had left the supposed unmatured Star with no option but to quit the Spanish scene. Lucky boy, cool £32.5m for a sign on fees and worthy smiles to Real Madrid who are probably looking forward to mid-market or at best next season to grab their choice Star-C. Ronaldo. The Club is now left to struggle more in all series of competitions for silverware without a clear forward. Meanwhile Robinho must brace up for the hard tackling Premiership style. If not, he might end up being another ruse of a waste. Abu Dhabi millioneers to be watchful.
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I think he has done right to go to Man City and I also think it's a move that ronaldhino should have took aswell
In the past weve seen that players do seem to struggle-the likes of shevchenko etc
I also think though that robinho wont do that brilliantly and is clearly not the best in the world as whether its because of pressure or not, if your the best player in the world you should be able to break into any team
Finally i think 55.DarrenRichie got it wrong saying they were desperate because even though it was all very quick he is still a good player
its like saying oh yeah he was really desperate...in the space of a minute he was like goin out with someone really fit
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He's only going there for the money and because he wanted to leave Real.
Up until yesterday, Robinho's own website carried a news article dated 31.08, where he was quoted as stating ' I want to play for Chelsea', 'my head is with Chelsea'.
As of today (02.09), the news article has conveniently been changed to remove almost every reference to Chelsea - 'my head is with Chelsea' now reads 'my head is elsewhere'!
It tells you everything about the guy, when he can doctor past news articles to suit his own ends.
The current article is at http://www.robinhoofficial.com/en/News/LatestNews/080831_press_conference.aspx
The previous article is still in the Google cache - search on google for site:www.robinhoofficial.com 'I want to go to chelsea'
(I tried to post the link but it wouldn't work on here)
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Being a Chelsea fan i was disapointed that we did not get Robinho, but having read some of the comments about him and the way he has conducted himself at other clubs, this news is now a blessing.
So Man City want to be in the top 4, well with enough money, like Chelsea they will get there one day.
The big question is who will manage such a great team?? Surely the new owners are not serious about Mark Hughes taking them forward, i doubt if Robinho has ever heard of him until this morning.
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As a Man City fan, I know it's been said a few times already, but why so much negativity towards the club. It is a gamble on our part, admittedly, but STOP PRESS, it's a gamble we can afford to take. Robinho is a statement of intent. The club willing to bring a player of his potential and calibre shows they are prepared to fight tooth and nail to improve.
Let us not forget we tried to sign Torres last summer too, and we were also in the running for Berbatov, who we will no doubt hear is such a great player over the coming months (amazing how many people seem to forget the fact he was also sulking a great deal over the summer).
At the end of the day, Liverpool have often been criticised as failing to sign the players needed to push on to the next level. We had a better than average season in our terms last year, and with the signing and the addition of people like Zabaleta and Kompany, we are simply making the signings we need to do that.
City Til I Die
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I wonder whether, if Robinho had signed for Manchester United, you would have mentioned him 'warming frozen Mancunian hearts'?
Is it so much warmer on the Trafford side of the City than Eastlands, or can you not resist a Northern stereotype that somehow, Man U have escaped from?
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It appears the Robinho likes to be centr eof attention. Had he gone to chelsea he would have been one of the stars but at Man City he is THE star.
His ego will be massaged constantly and he will find it relatively easy to be man of the match if he can be bothered to put in the effort.
A legend at Man City possibly but i dont think he will ever be player of the year.
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People saying Robinho signed for the money are only half right. Its blindingly obvious there is absolutely no footballing reason he's signed, what it comes down to as well as money is that in the end he simply had no other options. He burned his bridges at Madrid and Chelsea wouldn't pay the money so he's now stuck at City and not in the Champions League. I just wonder how long he'll be there for, it wouldn't suprise me to see him force a move in January.
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The real question is, Are Man City the next Chelsea?
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As a Liverpool fan, I'm glad Robinho didn't go to Chelski...so well done City. There'll be flashes of brilliance, but I reckon there'll be lots of moaning...I hope Sparky's ready for a few headaches!
It's a weird signing, Real Madrid just wanted to get rid of him in the end (he could've ended up at Stoke if they had £32mill to spend!)..he wanted to go to Chelsea...I'm sure he'll end up there next season.
For now, Real must be laughing, they've got rid of a disruptive influence (and not really a big game player) for a lot of money without having to sell him to a European rival...
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good article tim, i love your south american knowledge! (i went to see the 'superclasico' a few years back and have been a river fan ever since... standing with them in the away section of 'the sweetbox' is a lasting memory!!)
anyway, back to the premiership/robinho. i think we all saw last season the real robinho, and how highly he is rated in world football. would we still be asking the same questions had he signed for chelsea? all the talk from the chelsea camp (lampard/scolari/peter 'traitor' kenyon - i am a united fan!!). but let's be fair to city. chelsea and blackburn before them, have had amazingly wealthy owners who have tried to buy trophies, and why not city? why not buy the best talent available and be successful? sure, it may take time to settle, but some players settle quickly (anderson) and some not at all (kleberson!).
but he joins a brazilian contingent in manchester now... elano, jo, the new guy city signed, along with anderson, the brazilian nevilles (rafael and fabio da silva), possebon. i think that will play a key part in it for him. yes, ronaldinho may be a better play (and for me, always will - i was at the san siro on sunday and saw him on his debut... amazing!), but lets not take it away from city and their fans that this is an exciting time to be a city fan.
but i think we are all just missing the most important question here. how is he going to adapt to the championship next season!!!
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hang on a minute....chelsea sold SWP because Robinho is a similar style of player but better, and they expected to have robbi in their side.
Now he's followed SWP to ManC. Hows that gonna work then? Two fast midget whippets in attack?
Can't see both of them working together in the same team.
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I think it will be a good move for robinho, a chance to be the centre of attention and definitely better than most of the players at the club, if he has low self esteem like tim said, he will flourish in that kind of environment.
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Exactly.
Think Maradona ---> Napoli...
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Remember - Robinho will be alongside Jo - Brazilian compatriots. Both City and Brazil will benefit.
Further - the guys who have bought him spent pocket money to buy him, and are wealthy enough to leave him languishing in the reserves if he mucks about. They won't miss the money like some! So he'll have to try hard!
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A couple of daft comments on this blog...
Firstly from united fans who are convinced that he will jump ship when he realises that he's joined the team in Blue,
and Secondly from dozy city fans who are convinced everyone is having a go because they are bitter.
Honestly, no-one cares that much - Its just an article about football.
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Regardless of the player's history, Robinho is still a very talented footballer. An amazing catch for Manchester City and it is about time that Chelsea had some competition on the financial front. This is nothing new; Blackburn Rovers were once at the forefront of a buy to win philosophy as were Newcastle United and Leeds United. Chelsea were an average side until Abramovich's arrival and financial muscle. With Arab money City have managed to pull off an incredible coup and given Chelsea a serious wake up call that they can no longer dictate who they want to sign. The Robinho signing should be celebrated and makes the premier league a little less predictable. Well worked City, I am looking forward to watching his talents on the field and am not concerned about his past.
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54. tue5402
If you go to Cobham you'll be disappointed - You'd need to go to Stoke D'Abergnon to see Chelsea train.
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I bet the news that City had bought Robhino wiped the smile of Kenyon's face.
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With respect to the author of the article i think that he is wrong because i believe robinho to be a terrific player. He has great pace and shows constantly that he has a superb finish. I don't think you mentioned any of the extremely important goals he scored for Madrid coming of the bench for Madrid including goals against big teams in Spain. The way Calderon talked about him leaving for no sporting reasons is stupid because R.Madrid treated him poorly and they never offered him a new contract when he asked for one because they were trying to sign ronaldo he is also good friends with Man City striker Jo. What you didn't mention in the article was the reason he wanted to leave Real Madrid and that was because he was shown to be unwanted by R.Madrid when they were using him as bait to sign ronaldo. When talking about robinho being childish, about wanting to leave, is ridiculous because C.Ronaldo, Berbatov, Bentley, Giovanni Dos Santos, Ronaldinho etc. all used the exact same method to try to get away from their clubs they sulk so why do you complain just about him. Also when you said that when he didn't get fouls and then stands up and curses is totally ridiculous because you would be hard pressed to find any player in the premiership who has not done the same thing. He might take a while to settle in but once he gets to showcase his talent in the PL i yhink that he could become the best player in the world.
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To Be Fair, Would He Really Come To City If He Didnt Want To ??
I Mean Ok .. It Could Have Been The Money But Surely He Knew He Would Be Committing Himself To City ! ... So I Think He Knows What Hes Doing And Wants To Make City A Big Club !
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There seems to have been a shift in many Chelsea fans' opinions of Robinho since he signed for Man City.
Imagine Utd signing him, or Arsenal, or Chelsea. He would've been the best thing for all fans of those clubs, instead, because he has signed for a team not in the top four he is being touted as a waste of money!
When Chelsea were taken over by the Russians, they were no more succesful than City have been up until now.
i fear that the knee-jerk reactions of the fans of those clubs who take for granted Champions League participation is because they are running scared.
I am not in the camp of 'City will be in the top four this year', but I can see the foundations of something akin to the Russian revolution in West London.
In Mark Hughes, they have a shrewd and talented manager, whose desire is to be successful. The funding is there. Players will be attracted to the club's potential, specially in January and next close season.
Chelsea and Utd will probably not be adversly affected this year, however Arsenal and Liverpool should be watching over their shoulders.
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I dont understand how people can compare this transfer to the tevez and mascherano one... West Ham had the players on loan... they ceratainly hadn't bought them.. and no-one necessarily thought at the time that they were gonna be there for years to come..
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10 years ago Denilson de Oliveira Araujo became the most expensive player in the world when he signed for Real Betis. He was a tricky Brazilian winger who mastered the step over before C. Ronaldo could walk but that was basically that. He was a luxury player who gave nothing to Real Betis apart from some extra ticket sales. Robinho is still young and may not go the same way as Denilson but I think he will soon be sulking when he's watching the best footballers in the world playing Champions League football while he plays in the UEFA Cup.
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Oh no, Chelsea missed out on their transfer target and because Manchester City have signed him lets all be negative about it. It would have been interesting to read this article if he had signed for Chelsea and see how different the spin would have been.
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At 10:48am on 02 Sep 2008, kevgavin wrote:
10 years ago Denilson de Oliveira Araujo became the most expensive player in the world when he signed for Real Betis. He was a tricky Brazilian winger who mastered the step over before C. Ronaldo could walk but that was basically that. He was a luxury player who gave nothing to Real Betis apart from some extra ticket sales. Robinho is still young and may not go the same way as Denilson but I think he will soon be sulking when he's watching the best footballers in the world playing Champions League football while he plays in the UEFA Cup.
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That is a fair point, and maybe he will go the same way, only time will tell. The fact is though the ball is in his court, and he has the chance to go out and show people why he feels he should be the best player in the world, and if he does that, then the big clubs will come knocking.
As for "I think he will soon be sulking when he's watching the best footballers in the world playing Champions League football while he plays in the UEFA Cup" that is a fair point. Isn't that the same behaviour as Berbatov!
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um - visciousvic Cobham is the more commonly used name for the traning facilities used by Chelsea anyway this is not an article about Chelsea it is about Manchester City apparently having 10 times the money that Chelsea have.
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66. sean_boro_fan2 - What on earth are rambling you on about?
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If Elano could shine, it'll be real sucky if Robinho mega fails.
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I think you will find that the EPL is rapidly becoming more and more like a foreign league, even english players are now starting to hit the floor frequently in an attempt to recieve rewards be it free kick penalty or opposition booking.
That said with players like ronaldo and gerrard and being a chelsea fan i will admit drogba, in the premiership, what is one good reason that robinho wont do well because he will go down easily? Its fast becoming a desireable trait in attacking players!
Im not saying its a good thing that this is how its happening but its happening lets face it. So before saying whether he will do well or not give it a couple of games before you judge whether its a good signing or not.
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to ExiledDevonRed who said.."Prior to Abramovich's billions, were Chelsea any bigger than Man City? And they've broken into the top 4. I don't know the stats, but I imagine that Man City's attendances over the years have been higher than Chelsea's. As Chelsea have shown, all it takes is money."
Yes they were, prior to Abramovich Chelsea where a champions league club already. As for fans, city were having one of their best season's in may years before christmas last year and i can clearly remember many an occasion that the stadium was less than full..
When Abramovich came to chelsea there was only really united and arsenal to get ahead of, now that United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool are so far ahead of everyone else in the league it is going to take a lot more than what chelsea spent to turn City into what they are talking about..
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I had Man City down to finish in the bottom half this season...then they go and buy Kompany, Zabaleta and Robinho. Feeling rather fickle now.
Maybe Chelsea could have done with him playing off Drogba, but to be honest, look at the midfield...I don't think they're gonna be too concerned with not signing Robinho.
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robinhoisgod
I think you will find this is a thread about robinho's tranfer to man city?
which is why people wont be complaining about berbatov ronaldo etc...
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what do these people mean city will never break into the top 4? i think we're 3rd at the moment!
i'm interested to note city are now bookies favourite to finish in the top 5 this season (like west ham were when they bought tevez - oh) and mark hughes is now 3rd most likely manager to be sacked, after curbishley and keegan.
i'm trying to remain optimistic but this could all end in disaster. at least i've got macclesfield town to fall back on :-)
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As a Man City supporter I am totally flabbergasted by the events of the last 24 hours. Thats not to say I'm not delighted to find that our club now has gargantuan investment, a pledge to clear all outstanding payments, the promised goal of Champions League football and indeed a player of the phenominal talent that Robinho possesses.
We City supporters love to talk our club up but I must say that I think if we're all honest it's astounding that we've pulled off a signing like this. Even having huge swathes of cash to through around does not usually negate the fact that the best players in the world want to play in the highest level competitions. Surely after burning his bridges at Real, Robinho must have been presented a stark choice yesterday evening between joining City or nothing. That said, he has two international team mates in Elano and Jo to keep him company, who I am sure will have encouraged him with there impression of Mark Hughes and the new set up and ambitions of the club. We've got a team that's brimming with burgeoning talents such as Micah Richards, Michael Johnson and Daniel Sturridge. Along with that and our other Brazilians we now have two of the best wingers in the country in Petrov and Wright-Phillips.
The key factor for me in all this and the thing that Robinho's success at the club will ride on is Mark Hughes' ability to get the very best out of him. I cannot over-estimate what a breath of fresh air Hughes and his backroom staff have been at City. His direct, no nonsense approach and straight talking are self-eveident, but there also seems to be an innovativeness and desire to push boundaries in what can be achieved. Look at what Hughes got out players like Gamst Pedersen, Bentley and Santa Cruz - all talented players but not of the callibre that Robinho possesses. If anyone knows about playing with confidence then it has to Mark Hughes.
I do not necessarily expect Robinho to settle imedeately and become an instant success at City. I'm sure his head is also swimming a little right now. But given a little time and a few metaphorical massacres against weaker defences his confidence and happiness will grow. Hughes' knows how to keep it there.
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Robinho / Jo \ Wright-Phillips
That is a tasty front three! If only it was Berbatov replacing Jo!
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I don't think the 451 formation will change at all.
Sparky could end up playing a system similar to Russia @ Euro 2008, with Jo playing up front and Robinho just playing behind.
That would leave SWP and Petrov on the wings with Elano to play a central role. Kompany could slot in behind him for that DM that City need and then you've got the standard back 4 of Ball, Ben Haim, Dunne and Richards (from left to right - Dunne is less likely to give Richards another concussion).
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"... the Copa America gave extra evidence for the view that, so far, Robinho is something of a rabbit killer, a slayer of the weak who can look fragile against the strong." - all i'm going to say about this is there are plenty of rabbits to kill in the Premier League, just look at the success Fernando Torres had last year against the mediocrity of our 'great' league.
I have no doubt in my mind Robinho will be a huge success for City over here. The man has control, balance and skill in abundance, i'm just gutted he went to such a pointless club!
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I think he is a great signing for City and could open the floodgates for more talent in the next 12 months. However, it isn't as simple as just having money. Chelsea were already a Champions League club (albeit in serious debt) when the Russian arrived. Tradition and history still plays a large part in players decisions to join clubs and breaking the top 4 'consortium' will be extremely difficult. Would Robinho have joined with more thinking time instead of the 6 hours he had? I doubt it. I think this is a case of leaving Madrid rather than joining City. But good luck to them. If any club deserves a taste of the big time, it's City.
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ExiledDevonRed wrote:
I'm no Man City fan, or indeed a fan of any premiership club, but Bighead28's comment of "No disrespect to man city but they ain't ever gonna break into the top 4 no matter how much money is thrown at the club" doesn't make sense.
Prior to Abramovich's billions, were Chelsea any bigger than Man City? And they've broken into the top 4. I don't know the stats, but I imagine that Man City's attendances over the years have been higher than Chelsea's. As Chelsea have shown, all it takes is money......
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No you don't know the stats, so why make them up? Chelsea have the 5th highest average attendence in English football history.
It's already been pointed out that Chelsea were a Champions League team before Abramovich, indeed they finished fourth in the season before he bought the club, so they'd already 'broken into' the top 4 (not to mention finishing 4th in 1998 and 3rd in 1999). The last time Chelsea finished outside the top 6 was 1996, seven years before Abramovich came in. So I'd say they were 'bigger' (whatever that means) than Man City when Abramovich bought Chelsea.
It's funny how the people who casually criticise or belittle Chelsea are those with a demonstrably poor knowledge of even recent English football history. They often seem to support one of the two big red clubs from the North West too.
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Belittle Chelsea? Moi? Just look at their trophy cabinet before Abramovich arrived and you can see why people are contemptuous. Crikey, they are not even the best team in London now, and despite the huge sums of money being thrown at them, they never will be. Dream on....
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I'm not too sure what team Roger_the_Pessimist is a supporter of, but who is he to call Man City a 'third rate club'.
It wasn't that long ago Chelsea were up and down the divisions. They were bought and so enabled them to become what they are now. There hasn't been any club in history who became succesful without spending what at the time what would have been top money, that's the way things work.
No one knows how events will pan out at eastlands and equally no one can begrudge long suffering city their time competing with the top four, surely that's good for the game?
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At 24 it is definitely the right move for him as City now are the biggest players by far. If he wants to win major trophies in the not to distant future he is in the right place.
City have said they want the top 18 players in the world and will pay 30M plus for all of them.
Torres, Drogba, Kaka and Messi in the Jan window? The big fishes in the pool have suddenly been joined by an even bigger one and they will now get a taste of their own medicine.
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Manchester City was certainly not the club most people thoughts he'd end up at, including Robinho himself I would imagine! The transfer of the summer, no question.
What he'll find is he's playing for a great manager who will inspire him at a great club with passionate fans who will give him a fantastic stage to showcase his talent.
He's still only 24, so is still a young player who still has time to build his confidence and find consistency.
For me, along with Messi, he's the best player in the world and I'm confident he can produce magic consistently for Manchester City.
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His price has gone up simply because his name ends in 'inho'. If we were talking about 'Robin', the player would be worth £20m tops. Seems strange the way Abu Dhabi waited until yesterday to buy the club, and then leave Hughes with little time to make a properly informed decision. Will Man City have had a big dossier on Robinho or other world class stars befire yesterday? Possibly so, but certainly not to the extent of the likes of Man Utd on Berbatov. Will be interesting to see how long it takes for there to be a Big 5 as apposed to the Big 4, and how the other clubs cope with this. Will they spend less to ensure they stay out of trouble if they fail to qualify for the CL, or will they spend even more to get themselves there?! Time will tell i suppose...
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I think he'll be a breath of fresh air for City fans, but they should enjoy him while he lasts because he won't be there come 1st September 2009.
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Where to start! A horrible end to what was hotting up to be a fantastic signing for Chelsea. I personally believe that Robinho has fully blown his chance of playing successful football this term and who knows, seasons to come. As it was stated before Man City are a second tier team who are now attempting to compete with the top four therefore i cannot see Robinho achieving his "Best player in the world" status, that he so richly desires here. It takes time to build a successful team, not a couple of hours before the transfer window closes. I think the obvious winning card in this hand is the money. How can a player that has sworn his future to Chelsea in various press conferences end up in a team that aren't even playing champions league football. I have great admiration for the quality this guy possesses but I have even more respect for Chelsea today for not being held to ransom for a player that is obviously only interested in one thing. MONEY!
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As a Leicester City fan i wish Manchester City every success, it seems its ok for Man Utd, Chelsea, Liverpool and Spurs to spend but not City.
My real concern and question is where do you think his best posistion is Tim? because it would seem that playing on the right flank is not an option after the return of Shaun Wright Phillips. Can you play off Jo and with you knowledge would this make a good partnership?
How is the news going down in South America?
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TwinW3boy:
The point wasn't about trophies, it was about Chelsea's position in English football as a top-four club pre-Abramovich. However 4 major trophies in the 6 years before Abromovich wasn't a bad haul... another with poor knowledge of English football?
As for not being the best team in London; recent league tables would suggest otherwise.
(By the way, is 'W3' your postcode? You're not a QP ha ha ha fan are you? That would be priceless.)
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It's been said by more than one person: you can have all the money in the world and STILL not have a much needed world class performing team.
Robinho IS a great player BUT will he be ables to adapt to our leagues way of life??
Brazilians are now comin over to our English league which means that they've changed their ways a little but is that enough?
I wish Robinho all the luck as he'll need it.
It'll take ciddy time and effort to gell a world class team together and obviously luck aswell.
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I believe that the new owners of City looked at last years top two and said right lets show a sign of intent and bid for their top targets, Berbatov and Robinho, just to unsettle them. What happened was that Man U had to pay more cash and Chelsea were gazumped. From all the comments made by the Big 4 supporters it is clear they are rattled by what has happened as one of them will soon lose their place at the top table. Maybe it will be this year only time will tell. As for Robinho he will only further improve a rapidly improving team.
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Lets not forget people Chelsea were a second tier team, all it takes is money to move into the top tier on the pitch.
An in my opinion Manchester City have bigger and better support than Arsenal and Chelsea, look at them in League 1! Chelsea dont even fill the ground for Champions League games.
Im not a Man City fan im a Leicester fan but I see them as a potential big club without doubt, just hope the keep Mark Hughes
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no player has a divine right to play in the chamions league.
hiwever, those that are good enough, and can prove they are good enough will play there.
look at city's team and tell me who out of this line up is not good enough to play champions league footy
Hart
Richards
Dunne
Ben Haim
Ball
Zabaleta
SWP
Johnson
Elano
Petrov
Hamman
Robinho
Jo
apart form Dunne, Hart, Johnno and Richards they've all played there at some point in their careers
and now they are all one team and we'll see how they do as a team starting against chelsea in 2 weeks.
good times ahead for city.
time to sit back and watch!
if they aren't good enoguh to get into the champions league, then so be it, they don't deserve to get there.
but can you really say that gary neville, darren fletcher, nani, anderson, pennant, skrtel, ngog, babel are good enough?
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career wise for robinho this is not good at all. the lad wanted to go to chelsea, burnt his bridge with real madrid, now chelsea did not come calling for him but man city did. he just had to leave even if hull city came with the money to the table he would have gone.
he left himself with no choice but to leave madrid. i see robinho staying for one season only and then leaving. unless the new owners splash cash that will enable man city to make new signings in the calibre of robinho. then they will challenge the top four. remember chelsea is now a big club because of romans millions.
if the money is spent wisely it might turn out to be good move for robinho. looking at their plans, man city that is, robinho might be the first buliding block in making manchester city a big club. to use a cliche "only time will tell"
one thing we need to look at is what drove him to make public his desire to leave real madrid. if its true that real madrid wanted to use him as a makeweight to bring ronaldo to madrid then i can understand his actions.
after working so hard for a club only to discover such a thing made him feel bitter, not appreciated at all and to him it was time up.
for a player of his talent the destination where he has ended up is one that we as football fans never expect him to end up.
good luck to him.
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Robhinho say's he's looking forward to linking up with some world class players in Manchester.
I guess he means he hopes to bump into Anderson at the Living Room!
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I think it is perfectly clear what has happened here! The boy has made a simple mistake and confused Manchester City with Manchester United. If you hear some of these foreigners make reference to United they often just say Manchester and he has failed to realise that there is a blue side to this great city. There he was thinking he had got one up on Real, who had failed to secure the services of Ronaldo, by making the switch the other way and now the unfortunate young man is going to find himself floundering in mid table and out of all cups by the end of January!
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The period between now and January is critical for Robinho and Man City. If Hughes can keep him sweet, get him performing and keep the team competitive up to the January transfer window then other top players may decide to follow him in.
In order for this to work for City they needed a lure. To lure Robinho they decided not to be beaten on price, either for the club or the player.
Now they have a world class player, plucked from one of the world's 2 biggest clubs they have the attention of others who might be looking for a chellenge/fatter wallet.
If the momentum can carry them into January with the team still in Europe they will have the lure to attract others.
The trick - how do you make sure that Robinho performs and brings the rest of the team with him.....? I like Mark Hughes and think he will be a premier league manager for many many years. This is his time to show if that is with the big boys or the also rans.
G_U_F
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I hear City are busy replacing all the blue seats at Eastlands with red ones so as not to confuse Robinho when he arrives!
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Seems to me in reading people's comments there's a lot of thinly (and often not-so-thinly veiled jealousy) being displayed. Although some of the points have value, I thinks its slightly harsh to say that this move will be a failure before this boy has even kicked a ball in City colours. I think this shows that the established status quo of the 'big four' goes beyond the league table itself and is deeply ingrained in the way people see football, to the extent that if any club outside of that group comes into money, they're immediately shunned as 'nouvau riche', that they don't know how to spend money and should therefore be the object of ridicule. Case in point, although this article didn't stoop that low, the fact that its been written already whilst the ink on the contract is still wet shows how jaded people have become when it comes to imagining a more competitive league.
I personally think this is great news for the Premier league and is not deserving of such a downbeat appraisal at such an early stage. Fair dues if he plays a few games and doesn't look up for it, but to pre-empt any impact the player could make in this fashion reeks of jealousy and is really quite pompous...
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If you think Abu Dhabi investments are in for the short haul. Think again. They WILL make Man City a top 4 club worldwide. Advert for their country, same as ALL televised sporting events where yous see the Emirates logo (Dubai)
What is interesting for me (as a non football fan, although I enjoy some skill and the soap opera surrounding it) is where this leaves Dubai in purchasing Liverpool.
Then there will be Liverpool, Man City and Arsenal (Emirates Stadium) with massive Arab UAE investment/owners. Not nessassarily a bad thing just an observation.
Can you really see the IPL caring what FIFA says when it comes to playing some of their seasons in a foriegn country. Sebb Blatter who, will be the cry.
Interesting about the Superleague mentioned earlier. I thought that was what both the Champions League and Premiership were all about. I can, however, see a NEW superleague being the way forward. Of course the home grown fan will miss out, but effectively this has happened already. In the end away games may be missed but home games will still be well supported and lets face it, most fans (statistically) watch on telly.
The UAE has a strong football base which they want to increase for potentially bidding for the olympics in 2020. They are building, on an unprecedented scale, a sports city, hotel and resedential, commercial etc.
We have the Dubai rugby 7's. The 7's world cup will be here in March 2009. Richest horse race in the world, Golf tornament with the biggest prize money, the list goes on and on.
It is not so much about sport but more about introducing the UAE to the rest of the world. As China has just done with the Olympics.
mark my words, after living in Dubai for 20 odd years, this will be the New World City in 15/25 years time. They have the money to make it happen and also the will. In 50 years they have gone from bedouins in tents to first world business men. They have there growing pains but they will make it work.
I expect that this could be the first of a series of big transactions. I just wish they would buy Plymouth Argyle and make them one of the big 4!
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At 07:49am on 02 Sep 2008, *iMike-[MC-FC]* wrote:
Yes I think Robinho will shine here, as he is at a 2nd tier club where he is garunteed football. He knows he just needs to do what he does best. With Real, its was the pressure of being the best club with the best players, and winning a lot of trophies. With City its breaking into the top 4 and maybe snatch a Carling Cup.
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That could work the other way around.. He's now the player City plans rely on to turn them into a top 4 team, he has so much pressure on his shoulders because he's the best player at the team and the most expensive player in British history. Bit of a burden, eh?
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Well Tim you must be drunk to believe in so called lip readers. Robinho was a vital part of Real Madrid's 2 consecutive seasons title winning team. Just ask RVN as to the amount of assists.
A for him being weak ..that is just nonsense. His skill and pace just gets the better of many defenders. The premiership may be more physical but once he adapts he will be ok.
In terms of him lacking self esteem or any other dreamed up nonsense is just typical English cynical way of thinking about foreigners, especially South Americans.
Like I said on a related post in the early hours of today. Football is a short and risky career so players have to be ruthless and look out for themselves. Business is business!!!! There is no ROOM FOR SENTIMENTS. Good to see world class FOREIGN players coming to the EPL. I will watch Robinho any day compared to the mediocrity of English grown talent!!!
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Sorry. I thought I just read somewhere that somebody said Manchester had a good side to it. Must be seeing things.
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My gramma (sic) and spelling is terrible!
About the IPL not caring, my point is that the owners of these teams will make it happen so that the fan base in the home countries (UAE/US etc) can participate. London to Dubai is 7 hours on a plane. Teams used to do that on a bus 25 years ago!!
Also, Abu Dhabi has the F1 coming in 2009. I am sure Bahrain/Qatar will also be looking at buying teams soon.
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I felt sorry a bit for Mark Hughes yesterday becuase he clearly had no idea 'his' club where goign to bid for players. Who now runs the club? A manager that goes out playing golf on deadline day is not a manager who is trying to buy new players, whether they be Robinho, Villa or anyone else for that matter. Also, by the sounds of it he had no idea about the takeover deal going through. As a red i hope he is treated well by the new owners, but if you are going to buy these type of players, finishing 9th is no longer an option. It's champions league or bust. Got to win things now.
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I'm still waiting for him to say, "it has always been my dream to play for Manchester City"
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Tim,
You should be head football journo or somehting because your articles are light years ahead of the likes of Bose and mcnulty!
I agree its a strange move. I said months ago he will get hurt. hes a good player, but no world beater and hes lightweigth, even in spain. Wet night in bolton, mid table clash, heavy pitches, hard tackles.....will not be to his liking i dont think.
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I think he will say 'it has always been my dream to play for Manchester....' Just not the blue half. Not even the city fans can believe what has happened so i'm sure Robinho can't! Only last week he stated his desire to go to Chelsea. He might still get to go, who knows what might happen in January?
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I think Robinho will be a great success at Man City and I think Man City can easily become a top 4 team. If you look at their signings they have mostly all been good quality players with potential to be even better, and there will be plenty of extra cash to replace whoever lets them down this season.
I think it is eminently possible to buy success as that is exactly what Liverpool, Man Utd and Chelsea have done. Would Man Utd be anywhere without Ferdinand, Hargreaves, Carrick, Ronaldo, Anderson, Tevez and Nani? Liverpool without Torres, Mascherano, Xabi Alonso and Reina or Chelsea without Cech, Drogba, Essien etc? Anyone who thinks it is only Chelsea that have spent big in recent years to get success are kidding themselves.
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Of course city can challenge the 'top four' with enough money. Seems to me though this will just create a 'big five'. This won't happen overnight though - you have to persuade the best players to join and not all will buy the story. It took Chelsea two years from a significantly stronger base. CL football in 1 year is not going to happen - they don't have the squad for at least the first half of the season.
Seems to me that the clubs who should be worried (in the short term at least) are Arsenal and Liverpool who will find themselves competeing with City for two Champions league spots. Benitez clearly doest have the cash and Wenger seems not to want to spend it. Remember that the gap to 5th in the last couple of years has only been a very few points - one of them could easily miss out on a CL position and without that cash for a year or two who knows hat might happen to them?
The other clubs that should worry are the likes of Villa, Newcastle, Portsmouth and Spurs who probably have a last, one off chance this season to grab a fourth spot before City get strong enough to make Champions league football impossible to any other club (not just one but two of the new top 5 would have to mess up to leave an opportunity).
Good luck to City and Robinho - we'll all look forward to seeing whether City can attract all the talent they need to compete and whether Robinho can overcome the weather, english defending and his own temperament to succeed in the EPL.
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As i am from the Red side of manchester I think the best part of this signing would be the look on Peter Kenyon's face....he shafted us and now the blues have shafted him...
Well done to the blues on a great signing however you will need more if you are going to suceed!
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tue5402 - That's fine, give it the wrong name if you like.
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Oh yes, Kenyon, spare a thought for the plucky loser!
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@goalie_up_front
I totally agree with you. You need one player to sign so others players will follow. That's the difficult part. Now they have one in Robinho and if they can stay around 4th place till january than city can buy some real good players. I heard that they are talking to Henry to come in January
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I think you are right Tim, only time will tell whether he will be a success. There is no doubt in my mind he is a top player, he has been arguably Real's best player over the last season and a half, which has seen him grow in character, as shown by the captains armband he was given in recent preseason games. His creativity is relied on in the Real team, a player other players look to.
As a top player he has the ability to be one of the best in the league, and I have seen performances that prove he has the strength to compete. He, like all players won't turn up EVERY game, and maybe fewer than the Gerrard's and Fab's of the world but, he's looks to have turned a corner. I expect a lot from him and think its an astute business buy that will help Man City attract other players.
If he survives the winter, which will be very difficult for him I'm sure, then I look forward to seeing him play for the team, that has now GUARENTEED there is one less european place in the league. Never mind the top 4, life just got a lot harder for Tottenham, Everton, Villa, Portsmouth etc
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Kenyon might end up at City! Afterall wasn't he supposed to be a blue in the first place?
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Does anyone get the feeling that Robinho may have been 'had' by his agent? Might have gone something like this -
Agent to Robinho
"Well, Robby me old mate: Chelsea aren't going to cough up the £30,000,000, but I can get you playing in Manchester"
Robinho thinks - "Wow, alongside Rooney, Ronaldo - fab"
Robinho to Agent
"Where do sign?!"
Agent to Robinho
"Just sign here ..."
Agent thinks
"It's Ok - I'll get my 10% and be in Tahiti by the time he notices ..."
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No doubt, Robinho is a quality footballer; he is from Brazil and has played for one of the worlds best teams.
However, it's a prime example of money, money, money. I am not a City fan, but think it's great what has happened to them over the past 48 hours - hopefully it will really shake things up and give whole new dimension to the Premier. But seriously, why City over Chelsea.... They are not in the Champions League, only entered the UEFA Cup via 'Fair Play' and there is no guarantee that the money will change that.
I can assume nothing more than Robinho using that well known Jerry Maguire phrase 'show me the money' and City showed more.
Having said this, I want to wish City all the best and hope that good times are ahead for them.
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"Indeed, the Copa America gave extra evidence for the view that, so far, Robinho is some what of a rabbit killer, a slayer of the weak who can look fragile against the strong"
Have we not heard a similar statement of man utd. want away their so called super star player Ronaldo, going missing in the big games.....?!
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SOUTHWESTLONDON
Go back a few more years and you can count the Division II title as a "Major Trophy"
You have a very blinkered outlook, but not unusual for a Chelski fan, in fact quite typical.
No, not a QPR man although I as born in W3 as you correctly observed.
The fact remains that Chelsea are despised by most neutrals for spending huge amounts of money on rubbish players. One word - Shevchenko - sums up Chelsea. Very expensive, very mediocre.
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@Tavish14
I think the board have told Robinho he will be a key player of the City squad and build a team around him. And offcourse they have told him about the players they want to sign so i think January is going to be realy interesting
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Robinho is a great signing for a club like city, but it's going to take a lot longer than what most city fans and the Arabs in charge are expecting before they achieve anything.
They will contend against all of the other clubs but if you look at the top 4, imparticular the United and Chelsea squads they have World Class players in each position. Man City have no World Class players like:
Deco,Ronaldo,Rooney,Tevez,Berbatov,Scholes,Ferdinand,Terry, Cole,Cole,Essien,Drogba,Cech,Van der Sa...i could go on and on and on.
They will improve and it's an exciting time to be a city fan. But even if they spend millions on totally refurbishing the team its going to take a long time for these players that are being thrown together to bond. The big worry is the guys who are taking over probably have minimal football knowledge..Will they have the patience to hang around for I'd say around 3 years before they can start even challenging for the big prizes. Mark Hughes has got a big job on his hands and I rate him highly as a manager so lets hope for cities sake he is left alone to do his job.
As a United fan I must admit I'm not quaking in my boots just yet.
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I think he must see a future at City and the club has clearly convinced him with their ambitious plans.
I think it is great for the league.
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This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.
First, of all I would like to say good luck to City and it is good to have 5th genuine competitor for top 4 finish. More and more are welcome.
Second, I would like to tell people who are comparing this ADUG ( Abu Dhabi United Group) is 10 times richer than Roman is wrong. Roman's current personal net worth is 11.8 billion pound ( qutoe: Forbes.com) and this Dr Sulaiman Al-Fahim is no where in that list.
Third this ADAG group is backed by ( not owned by) Royal family and managing 120 billion worth of properties... ( managing, not owning).
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I can tell you that Ajax rejected a 40 million euro bid on striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar from Man City just before the deadline
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Another typical blog from a London pressman. Get used to it City fans, it wont be the last time the southern press have a go simply because you sign someone they wanted their heroes at Chelsea, Spurs or even QPR to sign. The fact of the matter is the fans of any club would have been over the moon to have the Arab money backing them and the swipes are just plain jealously. I for one hope they do well and challenge the big 4, because the more teams that at least have the ambition to taken them on, them better for the competitiveness of the league.
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most exciting transfer deadline day ever!! i was gripped from 9:00am when i got to work and heard about the Man City Take over until 12:30am this morning when it all went quiet-ish!!
I think even before signing Robinho City made some excellent young signings... Vincent Kompany (22) has already proved to be a fantastic signing, Jo, Zabaletta (both young) and of course SWP who has also already proved to be a fantastic signing!! And now with Robinho i think city can go very very far this season, maybe not quite top four just yet but we have to give the team time to settle in. Maybe win the Carling Cup and get into the Uefa cup places i.e top six finish!!
I cant understand some of the jealousy i have heard today from fans of other clubs (mainly united) about how poor a player Robinho is!! i watch European football in La Liga, Serie A regularly and feel that as he is only 24 he has the potential to be world player of the year in the next 3 or 4 years!! And to say that because he is playing for city he wont achieve that is nonsense!!! whether you play for hull city, man city or Chelsea as long as you are playing in a top league in europe you have a chance!! I do agree that he needs chamions league football to help reach that level however if city continue to make signings as they have done ALL SUMMER, not just yesterday, then they will be up there in CL in the next couple of years!!!
Good luck to the Citizens this year i for once am optimistic for a great era starting today at Man City!!!
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As a chelsea fan it came as a shock he signed for city as i thought we had him in the bag and with united absorbed with the berbatov saga there seemed no chance of him going else where. City's new owners made a massive statement with this coup and both chelsea an united will have to be alot smarter in the transfer market in the future. I don,t believe the big 4 exists its really a big 2 with the other 2 in a sub group followed by the chasing pack which until today included city. It may be a bit early but if these new owners are serious and it looks like they are then city could be playing CL football as early as next season, and the big 2 becomes the big 3. Good luck to the long suffering city fans who have lived in the shadow of the red half for too long, one thing puzzles me though is why spend a huge amount buying city when they could have bought Leeds for a fraction of the price and who have a similar potential, i suppose it would take 5 years to fix leeds while city could be a euro force in 2
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Galaxy-man (125) - Sacchi is Italian, so this is not part of some fiendish English colonial plot to do down the foreigners.
I tend to think that this has worked out OK for Scolari at Chelsea - he's working hard to communicate with his players in English, this is his first experience of a long leage campaign and a multi-national squad - there's lots of new stuff to take in.
Deco has come in and is doing well, but perhaps with Robinho there's an overload, and the start of a little clique speaking the same language as the manager - the kind of thing that could upset the balance of a dressing room. Foreign coaches (think Louis Van Gaal at Barcelona) have come unstuck in the past as a result of taking too many of their favourites with them.
Real Madrid are obviously happy as well - they've got plenty of money for a player who had become disruptive and have sold him to a club which, for this season at least are not competitors in the Champions League.
Time will tell if Man City have done as well out of the deal. It would be nice to think so - flair players are always welcome, and I'll be hoping that it comes off. But moves are always a gamble, and at this point I think it's only fair to indicate the possible pitfalls.
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Robinho's agent quoted as saying, 'All we tried to do was get my client into a world class club, with a world class team with a global fan base. Unfortunately, Manchester United were only interested in signing Berbatov.'
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Tim great article! I always enjoy hearing about world football. I think Robinho is either going to be absolutely awesome or just crumble. I think Man City paid over the odds for him he's played 101 league games and only scored 25 goals. Okay he wasn't playing out and out striker but look at Ronaldo, he can score 40 in one season comapred to Robinho who can only get just over half that amount in 4 seasons. I just don't see world class based on those stats.
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double_cech
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Dhabi_Investment_Authority
The group you are refering to a soverign wealth fund. Therefore as a fund it has no titular head making it ineligable for inclusion in Forbes. However, it is directly, and wholly, owned by the UAE ruling family.
oil reserves of a trillion $, 10% compound growth a year and the second biggest institutional investor worldwide.
Deep pockets in deed.
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I really dont think Robinho will do alot for man city to be honest he would of got more out of chelsea he probably wont get man city in the top 4 i dont see why he would'nt of gone to chelsea hes gone from madrid to man city hes stupid i suppose hes a good player and will do alot for man city throughout the season but chelsea will just have 2 wait and see what happens because it might all change in january i still wreckon man city will get rid of next year come september 2009 and he will be gone bt my wishes go to man city for the future!!!
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Apparently when Robinho was told he was going to to manchester, he thaught Man utd and never knew who man cuty where
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No champions league fotball for Robhino this year. Very unlikely City will finish top four this season so no Champions league next year either. An outside possibility they could finish top four next season if they continue to buy outrageously over Xmas and next Sumer. So a small possibility that Robhino might play in the Champions league in 3 years!!! If he is still at City then I will eat my hat.....
Chelsea will come calling again soon and will get their man. The big clubs always do...
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i really do hope that robinho will be a good signing for the premiership. i think its a huge gamble as we all know how some foriegners can struggle. but in fairness i think £30m for robinho is far better than £30m for berbatov. i really have no idea what sir alex is thinking.
i dont understand how people are saying that man city cant break into the top four either?! its just as big a jump as wat it was for chelsea to win the premiership. i can see man city breaking in fairly easilly if they continue to make signings like robinho, although this would be unsustainable. signings like swp are superb aswell though. man city really are going places. liverpool could do with following ambition like man citys. albert reira? shocking signing, and i really do hope that im proven wrong but that club just has no ambition depsite a superb fan base and players of genuine world beating quality like torres, babel, gerrard and agger.
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Amazing signing and this will make the game against Chelsea even more exciting. Cant wait to see Robinho and SWP in action!
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Unbelievable! are city fans actually taking an interest in their team instead of just talking about United!
All City fans should all be ashamed of themselves for disgraceing the traditions of there grandfarthers by actually supporting City rather than worrying what Utd are doin.
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"We don't just want Manchester City to be challenging for trophies in England, but also in the Champions League. We want them to be in for every trophy available."
=======================================
Mhmmm, difficult to challenge for the Champions League when they're not in it this season. Nor will they be there next season, and probably a couple/few seasons after that. Honestly, it'll take more than just Robinho to remove United, Chelsea, Arsenal and the Scouse from the top 4.
HE ONLY JOINED YOU FOR THE MONEY.
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The most remarkable, unexpected success of a transfer for the entire duration of the window. That includes the whole snore of the Barry, Berbatov sagas from start to finish.
Before last night, Robinho was the signing for Chelsea that wouldve sealed the fate of the league, and his reviews and what he could bring to the club were positive.
But he didnt, he signed for City. All of a sudden he's a big gamble, a risk, a sulker, too fragile for the English game, a waste of money? Get real guys - if hes a world class player when he's joining a Big 4, he's a world class player when he doesnt join a Big 4. The only difference is, he has a chance of making himself a legend, and being part of a potentially fantastic time at a smaller club with every intention of challenging at the very top. Instead of just being a small part of an established already competing crew (and lets face it, 2 of these teams are already showing signs of wilting. And one of em will struggle to keep up the top 4 place this year. You know who i'm talking about).
And fair enough, he might be a bit of a sulker, have a bit of an attitude. Of course he is, he's a world class footballer!! He's in pretty good company when it comes to that I think. In any case, the shirt sales revenue will be through the roof, as well as the international commercial success. A lot of this transfer cost will be recouped via these - dont forget that.
I think Robinho will be fantastic for City - and for the EPL. Finally, an outside top 4 team can compete in the transfer market. Time will tell if we can do it on the field as well, but honestly, given the scope of our signings and the players we have, we're giving the Top 4 something else to worry about. Man City for silverware this year, Semi-Final at least for UEFA Cup and 4th place in the league (Liverpool 6th, Spurs or A Villa 5th).
I SAY BLUE MOOOOOOOOOON!!!
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As a United fan I was very shocked to see them make a offer for berba.
Hughes did say that robhino was there main target but I'm not so sure. I don't understand why a club would launch €300m in offers for such high rated players. I don't think they actually thought that they would be able to get any of these players and it was just merely a statement of intent.
I don't think Robhino will work very well at City and personally I see him using this move a bit like Berba used his move to spurs, to prove he can work in the EPL and hopefully get a bigger move to a team such as Chelsea. Also its important to remember 1 player does not make a team. Yes he has Jo and Elano to play with but I can't see them breaking into the top 4 this year.
January will be very interesting to see what city do. They also need to remember if they are still in Uefa cup 90% of the big name signings will not be able to play in this after playing for other teams in the CL or UC.
Also I always saw Hughes moving to City more as a possible door into United (sorry if that offends anyone) now it will be interesting to see what he does. He has the biggest budget in the world. Im looking forward to seeing how this season ends.
I still think United and Chelsea will be fighting for 1 and 2, I think arsenal will be 3rd but I guess city may give liverpool a run for 4th but I can't see them beating liverpool to 4th.
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i can't see the benefit of this from either the player or the clubs point of view.
city aren't good enough to carry luxury players like robinho and robinho is nowhere near as good as he thinks he is, plus, if he was light weight in spain or the copa america, whats he going to be like at bolton in february?
a move to chelsea would have made more sense, as they have the team and work ethic to give him a platform to perform, aside from the occasional cameo, i can't see that happening at city
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There`s been a lot of chat here comparing Chelski to City in terms of support etc. I think if you look at the stats City`s level of support is about the same i.e around 40,000. City have had a strong and loyal fan base for a very long time as have Chelsea. City average about 6th highest support in English football. Club research says that this around 865,000 in the UK and approx 2,000,000 worldwide.
As a business(that`s what all successful clubs are!) that`s not a bad set of customers to start to develop the marketing and increasing revenues from.
Anyone who knows anything about how Abu Dhabi business culture functions ( take a look at Abu Dhabi real estate development versus Dubai) would know that these guys take very considered business decisions before making them, irrespective of how deep their pockets are. They will have been looking at MCFC(among others) for a long time and will have picked the right time to buy. Shinawatra`s home based assets being frozen no doubt means that he needs to free up some cash. I dont think may other PL chairman find themselves in this position hence he would have been keen to sell the majority of his interest without long and protracted negotiation.
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ExiledDevonRed
Facts are clearly beyond you.
season Team Place Capacity%
07/08 C 2 97.74%
Mc 9 83.33%
06/07 C 2 97.86%
Mc 14 83.33%
05/06 C 1 98.71%
Mc 15 89.28%
04/05 C 1 98.64%
Mc 8 94.15%
03/04 C 2 97.14%
Mc 16 97.57%
02/03 C 4 93.72%
Mc 9 90.96%
Abramovich arrives (july 03)
01/02 C 6 92.05%
Mc not in premiership
00/01 C 6
Mc 18
99/00 C 5
Mc not in premiership
98/99 C 3
Mc not in premiership
Capacity: Bridge (42,449), CoM (48000), maine road (35,150, varies). pre-2001 capacity for the bridge unavailable (extensive refurbishment underway) sources, footballgroundguide.com, man city site, chelsea sites, 4thegame.com.
Chelsea had led the chasing pack for years before jumping to the top tier. Attendancy has always been close to capacity.
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I'm looking forward to seeing Robinho play in England but can't imagine him staying for very long when man city scrape a top ten finish.
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TwinW3boy:
You seem to be making a very different argument (Chelsea had only won a handful of major trophies prior to 1997? And?) to the one I was making, which is that Chelsea were a top 4 side before Abramovich and have the fifth highest average attendence in history in England. You've just waded in and taken the opportunity to get on your anti-Chelsea soapbox and speak for "most neutral fans" and who they despise.
I'm not sure what was blinkered about my posts; I addressed direct points with facts, where there had been false generalisations and sweeping claims, similar to the ones you make. Maybe you can point out how I have been blinkered? Presuming to speak for the masses would be the "blinkered" viewpoint.
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"Mhmmm, difficult to challenge for the Champions League when they're not in it this season"
If you take quote out of context then of course it's going to sound daft.
As for Robinho joining City for the money, I would think that's from page one of the Football guide to the blatantly obvious but I can guarantee you that most Man Utd players don't play for the warm feeling it gives them in their hearts.
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southwestlondon
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Let's be realistic here, if Robinho proves to be a big hit then he won't think twice about engineering a move away from Manchester City in the coming 12 to 18 months? The current City side is going to needs to almost completely rebuilt to become a top 4 team. Robinho certainly doesn't appear to be a player who will wait while a side gets built around him, to go public and call your own press conference stating your desire to join a team and then 36 hours later sign a 4 year contract at a club that you know absolutely nothing about doesn't sound like a player who's thinking straight. They'll make him very welcome at Eastlands but there will eventually come a time when Robinho actually comes to terms with his actions over the past couple of weeks.
For those that think that Manchester City will break into the top 4 this season they need to realise that consistancy is the key and recent signings like SWP, Jo and Ben Haim will not bring that to City. There's no doubt they'll be in for everyone come January but the the types of player they'll be after will either be involved in title fights and the Champions League at their current team or looking to join a team involved in them. They may well have to wait until next summer and before they can seriously start to look at rebuilding the squad.
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city aren't good enough to carry luxury players like robinho and robinho is nowhere near as good as he thinks he is, plus, if he was light weight in spain or the copa america, whats he going to be like at bolton in february?
a move to chelsea would have made more sense, as they have the team and work ethic to give him a platform to perform, aside from the occasional cameo, i can't see that happening at city
......................................................................
cheeky_nffc etc. etc. So Chelsea dont play anywhere when it`s cold!!!!!!?
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southwestlondon
Pointless labouring the "blinkered" point with you, you are trying to deny what the history books tell us.
If you think Chelski were one of the "Big 4" before Abramovich, you are even more deluded than I first thought.
As for speaking for the masses, I only speak for myself. I speak to other (many) PL supporters who share my views, but they can speak for themselves.
And please - remember this - when Putin goes, Abramovich goes, and your little house of cards comes tumbling down.
It will be very interesting to see how many trophies you win when Abramovich leaves.
Probably as many as you did before he arrived......
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Do Chelsea fans not think Drogba is a stroppy big headed, demanding, disruptive influence, or Man Utd fans not see Ronaldo's actions this summer as exactly the same as Robinho's just without the conclusion of the drama yet. As long as super wealthy chairman are able to buy the clubs then players will be able to get away with this sort of behaviour. As for Chelsea fans assuming players want to join them because London is so much better than Manchester then I would recommend they try the Northern city before they comment. Manchester is a very exciting and interesting city with plenty to offer anyone, and for a Yorkshire man that takes some admitting. Also for all the fans of clubs going on about money is nothing cos Man City aren't a big club..... well neither where chelsea before their russian friend dug deep they were an improving team but not the global brand they are now. Money changes everything in football.Non of the top four are their without the wealth, it may be a while before man city challenge for the title but third and forth are not a long way out of reach, and they already have plenty of talent at man city and a good young manager. From a football point of view, a new challenger will be good for the game and good for the league.
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@skya74
can you just not give Robinho and chance before making conclusions
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Keegan has gone!
Ha Ha.
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As a Real Madrid fan, I am happy he is gone. Once a player comes out public wanting out, I am up for selling him.
Why Manchester City? The naughty joke is he thinks he has signed for their neighbours, but the reality is he has signed for them because he had no other option. He would have gone to Hull (not disrespect, I live in Hull) if they had paid the same. And he has signed for the money, just the money.
Robinho has been ill-advised by his agent, that figure that in world football makes so much harm. He obvioulsy fancied a cut of adeal; he had not transferred Robinho in 2 years... You'll have this fellow up in Eastlands next summer demanding a contract review.
Robinho is skillful guy, but he is not a match winner. He will have a culture sock when he sees the winter, the early nights, the different night life and the lack of Christmas holidays. Did he realise he is not having a 2 weeks break (plus 2 days for 'strange' plane delays) around New Year?
Of course, the following is a topic, and not always true. There are many examples of the opposite, but Brazilian players like their parties too much and even more if you put a group of them together in the same team/town. I have no references of Jo, Elano or Anderson in this respect, but Robinho is not one to take good rests at night.
All in all, a good player, with a marketing side to him; but he won't win you 6 impossible games, will not be the world's best and he was not worth the fee paid for him (and for which we are thankful)
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I'm not gonna be surprised if he requests to be transferred to another club to become the "best there is because i can't do that here."
What Robinho did at Santos and Real Madrid are totally disrespectful and offensive. This guy needs to learn how to pay respect for the club he's playing at. Without Santos and Real Madrid, he won't be the kind of player that he is right now.
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TwinW3boy,
Did you even read the post I originally replied to? I'm not denying anything that the "history books" tell anyone, just pointing out the FACT that Chelsea finished in the top four before Abramovich in response to another poster who implied otherwise. I wasn't making any claims about a "big four" or any other lazy media-construct.
At least you don't disguise your out-and-out Chelsea hatred and pretend to actually debate any points (I'm really curious as to who you DO support now, probably Spurs or Arsenal, surely not a Northern team, being from W3. Brentford?). As for all that Putin/Abramovich rubbish... wishful thinking on your part, with the same authoratative tone as your other baseless claims. As if you have the first idea about the nature of Abramovich's finances.
In answer to your last point, erm, 4 major trophies in 6 years then?
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The only logical explanation I can muster up is that Robinho is at Man.City to test the waters of the EPL. Give it a couple of seasons (or even less depending on how this unfolds) at Man.City and he'll be doing the press conference stunt yet again, pestering for a move to Chelsea or Serie A.
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Purrrleeez!
You don't have to be a rocket-scientist to understand the link between Putin and Abramovich!
But once again, the blinkers are on for you aren't they?
Time will tell - come back onto this forum in 3 years times and tell me I was wrong.
Why are you so desperate to know who I support?
And why do you think I have hatred for Chelski?
A healthy contempt yes. Hatred no.
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holland21 wrote:
@skya74
can you just not give Robinho and chance before making conclusions
__________________________________
Thre's no doubting his ability as a footballer, flashes of brilliance aren't enough to transform a team overnight. Paulo Di Canio and Juninho were both outstanding in the seasons that West Ham and Middlesbrough were relegated.
The point that I was making is that he himself has engineered his own moves away from Santos and Real Madrid. The facts are that he went on strike at one and called his own press conference stating his desire to leave and join Chelsea at the other. Maybe he'll change but history and the odds suggest that he's not the kind of player that a squad should be built around.
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Come on City!
It's our turn now - let all the others carry on complaining - it's jealousy
All united and chelsea fans have had it their own way for too long
Be honest there is no big 4 just a big 2 and that needs to change for the good of english football
Sorry, I love Liverpool fans for their passion to their club and Arsenal for the style of football they play
but come on city - at least the title chase might be interesting next season
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I wonder if he's signed for Manchester not realising that there are two clubs in the City... wouldn't it be great if he turned up expecting to wear the Red of Utd, only to be given a wishy-washy blue shirt of City!
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twinW3BOY, I'm not going to turn this into the flaming war that you desperately appear to want but your constant use of the term Chelski and anti-Abramovich comments suggest that you do have a hatred for everything Chelsea.
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They told him he was going to Manchester and he's turned up at ManU's Carrington training ground wondering why they won't let him in....
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skya74
c-o-n-t-e-m-p-t y-e-s
h-a-t-r-e-d n-o
Is that simple enough for you?
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why does evry one keep talking about 'the big four' as if it is something which is official and always existed. its a new concept.
man city breaking into big 4 is meaningless.
they may well make what could be called a 'big 5', but then this will soon be replaced by a big 6 when spurs or villa or pompey or whoever get a massive injection of capitol. and so on.
i wonder where this will end?
one day there may be 20 teams chocked full of the worlds best players all in the same league. i think the once crazy idea of a seperate euro super league is now starting to look plausible as 1 league sucking in all the best players/investment isnt sustainable for the rest of european football.
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How can you knock a player for winning player of the tournament at the copa america? Oh he won the award yeah but he only played brilliantly in two games....
Also you say that he tends to bottle it against big teams and this is what separates him from players like C.Ronaldo but may I remind you that Ronaldo doesn't have the best record against big club sides.
ALL of Ronaldo's best display come against weaker teams. Cristiano's international record is not a patch on Robinho's.
Footballing wise, I think he'll be brilliant. If I was a City fan I wouldnt be worried about how Robinho is going to play. I'd be worried about keeping hold of him come May when he decides he's too good for City sulks off and moves to Chelsea we're he'll be welcomed with open arms by the same fans who are saying how glad they are that he's gone to Manchester now.
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The question has to be raised - how much is he being paid a week to play for them?
Cause i'm sorry to all City fans, but for a player of his age and quality, to give up on one of the best clubs in the world, no matter how unhappy and switch it for UEFA cup football instead of Champions League etc, is baffling!
It's certainly exciting and now with the tremendous force that is Manchester City, the Premier League just got a whole lot more interesting. As a Chelsea fan i'm amazed at how we failed to sign him. But more amazed at how it all came to be on the last day of the transfer window! It's just immense!
Certainly will be interesting to see how he adapts to the new league, and playing with less gifted players than that at Real Madrid and Chelsea. It's a test of the player in my opinion to how good he is. Many players can play well for good teams, but it's a test as to whether you can play just as well for less quality teams than for big teams.
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The news coming out of Spain and to back up what Calderon is saying is that Robinho had to get out of the country. "Needed to leave for non footballing reasons". Apparently he has been seen crying his eyes out and looking very down for a few months now. It must have been bad as that was before he knew he had to sign for Manchester City.
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This move for me isn't too dissimilar to the two Argentine stars brought to Upton Park a few years ago thanks to the ill fated consortium lead by Kia Joorabchian, which lead to both using the clubs as stepping stones to bigger clubs.
As powerful as Man City's new paymasters clearly are, they need the results at the end of the day to guarantee more big players to come in the future rather than this been a odd fluke. As been said, Robinho is hugely talented and brings flair to the team. But his personal problems and lack of self esteem is a worry against going to one of the least forgiving leagues in the world. His first experiences in the prem will be a shock to the system to him. As much as Jo/Elano and a few spainish speaking squad players will do their best for him to settle in, the journey he will undertake will be a perosnal voyage if discovery. He will either sink, or swim.
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You've got to read a lot of posts to pick the nuggets of truth out:
i) Robinho at the club will certainly help attract other big names when it comes to the January transfer window and next summer, assuming he stays that long;
ii) So do results on the pitch. City have to become competitive and show that they can not only break into the top 4 but challenge for trophies in order to hold onto the stars they do attract;
iii) Robinho can be a superstar at City if he chooses to be - the team will be built around him and he'll have a major influence on the way it plays, far more than he ever could have had at Madrid. If City do make the CL this year and then do well next year and I'd be willing to bet it would be largely on the back of performances from Robinho if they do, maybe World Footballer of the Year in 2009 or 2010 doesn't look that impossible.
iv) All the above depends on whether or not Robinho trulely commits himself to the cause, week in week out, rain sun or snow. It's his choice.
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Could someone please show a Billionaire the way to Leeds!
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At 3:01pm on 02 Sep 2008, AlricDark wrote:
You've got to read a lot of posts to pick the nuggets of truth out:
i) Robinho at the club will certainly help attract other big names when it comes to the January transfer window and next summer, assuming he stays that long;
ii) So do results on the pitch. City have to become competitive and show that they can not only break into the top 4 but challenge for trophies in order to hold onto the stars they do attract;
iii) Robinho can be a superstar at City if he chooses to be - the team will be built around him and he'll have a major influence on the way it plays, far more than he ever could have had at Madrid. If City do make the CL this year and then do well next year and I'd be willing to bet it would be largely on the back of performances from Robinho if they do, maybe World Footballer of the Year in 2009 or 2010 doesn't look that impossible.
iv) All the above depends on whether or not Robinho trulely commits himself to the cause, week in week out, rain sun or snow. It's his choice.
------------------------------------------------
Fantastic post. As a City fan I couldn't agree more and have made several of the points already in this thread. We have shown the ambition in bringing him, he now has the chance to show his ambition in wanting to be the best player in the world. At the end of the day it's his choice!
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MAN CITY WANT TO BUY RONALDO FROM UNITED! 200 million pounds!
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"If City do make the CL this year"
That is unlikely on the back of a couple of new players.
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I can't understand why Robinho has signed for City. Who'd choose Manchester over Madrid? And it's not even United versus Real, but City!! Not really a fashionable side are they?
So lets weigh things up.
Madrid - Great weather, way of life, fashionable club, probably biggest in the world. Manchester - crap weather, not very attractive city and unfashionable club not in the Champions League. Also, surely Robinho wants to be playing in the Champions League.
I can't see this signing making City a top four side this year at all. So the new owners will have to wait at least another two years and lose 100s of millions before City can even comtemplate being in the Champions league.
Also the new owners say they want to ensure City doesn't have to rely on their money for too long. What are they gonna do? There's no way they can create the sort of turnovers that Man U, Real, Inter, AC, Arsenal, Liverpool get in the next few years. When people around the world think of Manchester and football, at least 99% of them think of MAN U not City. So they'll have to put up with losing obscene amounts of money for at least the next 5-10 years if they want City to challenge for the top prizes. Look at Chelsea as an example, they were more fashionable worldwide than City when Abramovich took over and 5 years on they still lose vast amounts of money each year, so why would it be different for City?
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I think this move is more about statements of intent than anything else. Robinho is a good player but hardly a player who will single-handedly put city in the top 4. However, the fact that City have been able to take him away from Chelsea will have caused a massive shock - Peter Kenyon was useless at sealing deals while at United and has now been mugged again.
City also managed to shake up United, although since Kenyon left they have been a lot more clinical when it comes to getting their man, as was proven last night.
So overall, this was clearly planned as a high impact introduction. City will have an advantage in the market for a while as clubs would rather sell to them than a champions league side. However, they still ahve a long way to go to break into the top 4, let alone challenge for the title. Whatever happens, it will be interesting...
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The lad is quite young, and im guessing the financial package presented by the oil/construction rich seikh must have blown him away. Most young people at his age will jump on such an offer. I just hope he does'nt come to regret the move too soon. Afterall, what counts is not how many trophies he wins as an individual, but what he has to show to his kids and family that football provided after his playing career (just maybe!!!)
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I was joking with a mate last night and we were both saying we were looking forward to seeing the Chelsea fans bleating about this. MCFC is in the exact spot that Chelsea (Abromovich FC) was in back when RA took over and in 5 years time they'll be cemented in the top 4 just like Chelsea are now - failing an exodus of billionaires into the Prem. Chelsea fans should cork it - it's not a crime for another club to have as much money as them. Can playing for Chelsea really be that tempting? All that you're guaranteed when you sign for CFC is a front row seat at Stamford Bridge. The only reason players sign for Chelsea is the wages they offer.
I'm can't wait for the day when MUFC becomes Manchester's No. 2 club!
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Is this more about Robinho wanting to move than really thinking through where he's going? Its mystifying to me--does he even know where MCFC is?
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As spanish and Real Madrid supporter, this move is good news.
Got rid of our most overrated player for a nice sum of pounds, surely the best (the only?) good operation our dumb president has done.
We are not going to do it well this season, no signings, same old mafia ruling the club (Raul, Salgado)...
For those who say Robinho is a top-class player: he has played 3 seasons for Real Madrid and he has not been always part of the starting XI. He has produced maybe 10 good games in 3 years. Excessively individualistic and poor professional.
May he do it well in Man. City? Yes, he will be the star, so his ego will be satisfied, so is his pocket. For how long?
And, the ones who point that having other brazilian players will help... quite the opposite. Going out to clubs, drinking and using 100 "camisinhas" a night will be the usual stuff.
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i do not think Robinho will shine up at Manchester CIty. Why? He is indeed a talented player, but he himself cannot make the whole team win. He is a Brazillian and he has a Brazillian way of playing football, everyone knows that. What we need is also a talented manager who is experienced in Brazillian football. The best club that Robinho can shine up now is definitely CHELSEA. Chelsea is vey great now under the new Brazillian coach. What the Brazillian coach needs now is a Brazillian striker. Anelka has reached his peak of gowth but Robinho is different, he is shining and stepping onto a new floor of a professional. Maybe Manchester City will be better when having Robinho but it is not enough and Robinho has little chance to shine up. If Robinho wants to shine, he needs to go to Chelsea where there are talented mid-fielders such as Lampard, Essein, Ballack, Deco..., and chance for Robinho to score a record number of goals is predictable.
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A lot of talk is about Robinho scoring and creating freely against lower class opposition, as if this is some sort of crime. But Berbatov, Henry, C Ronaldo etc are all similar ie. score goals for fun against smaller teams, struggle otherwise. It's the TRUE greats like Kaka, Zidane, Scholes and the original Ronaldo who could turn it on against the very best on a regular basis. If Robinho scores 20 goals against teams all from the lower end of the prem this season that'll be more points than Citeh would otherwise have accumulated, so where's the problem?
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Has Robinho spoken about this move yet? One has to wonder what advice he is getting and what sort of pressure is bring brought to bear on players to make such deals happen. I am delighted for City that they have pulled this coup off and for the EPL that his talent will be on display but I am surprised the player himself has been so quiet. Will there be any surprise when he moves on in 20 months? Oh, I see KK is leaving NUFC, guess that's the end of the Robinho story......
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PS Maradona... Barcelona... Napoli... The biggest clubs aren't always conducive to big players
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As a Newcastle fan, I am cheered by City's recent successes (getting mega-rich owners and stopping the once-unstoppable buying power of Chelsea) as it proves that other sleeping lions (like ourselves, Everton and, to an extent, Tottenham) might one day also be seen as a top force once again. Will Robinho have the physical strength to go toe-to-toe with Barton, Kevin Davies or Vidic? Probably not, but as long as he does what he does best and plays to the best he can, he'll be alright.
At City, he will easily be one of, if not the, best players and so any confidence problems will easily be taken care of. Mr Vickery, why the anti-City (or even anti-out-of-"big-four") bias? Are you worried? Good luck City, except when you play us.
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All people saying City have just wasted £30 million+ clearly have no idea. For 1, Robinho is an exceptional talent, and as a United fan id rather have him in my team than Berbatov. For 2, This new owners pockets are 10 times deeper than Abramoviches, so how much do you think £30million will affect his bank balance? Really?
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Tevez at West Ham. Nuff said.
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I think Robinho thinks he's signed for Man United. I think he'll play well but won't make a bigger difference as every thinks at the club. Like the new owners saying top four this season no way maybe next season if the sign more players.
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A fabulous signing, but a word of warning; he is clearly only in it for the prestige of titles and the money.
If man city don't win something in 2 or three years, he'll be out of there, and for a whole lot less than he was bought for!
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Well, you can't say the last day of transfers has been boring.
Let's see how Robinho does at City.
Whatever you think about him, or the Arabs, at least it looks like another club wants to be a contender, which is a positive thing. Good luck to City and Robinho.
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The latest signings in the Premier League highlight the inequality between the nation's clubs in terms of financial clout.
But, rather than imposing a salary cap, as occurs in some sports, what is actually happening in the league is that mini-leagues are being created based upon spending ability.
Those who say Manchester City are not destined for the big 4 are deluding themselves, the big 4 just became the big 5. Below that is a second tier of almost rich clubs, including Aston Villa and Tottenham.
Below that, a less wealthy sub-league (and isn't it ironic Kevin Keegan should leave on a day when we're discussing this after he realistically said Newcastle wasn't destined for the top tier), and below that the relegation fighting minnows such as my team, Hull City.
What is being created is a financial league. If, please let it happen, Hull City were to receive a huge investment thanks to a billionaire owner, we'd leap up the league. Of course, there are no guarantees that a team will gel or perform, but I'd sooner Hull City be in with a shout of signing Robinho than Cousin.
The story to follow will be that of QPR. If their massive investment sees them promoted, and begin to climb the Premier League, then it becomes claer that the road to success is not in the players, the management, or the coaching staff, but in the ability of teams to secure extremely wealthy owners.
For an experiment, one of the world's wealthiest companies, or individuals, should take over Carlisle, and see how long it takes to make the top 6 or 7.
Only when the 20 teams in the division have similar ownership in terms of spending power, will the days of teams other than the wealthiest taking the biggest prizes be over. Gone, for now, are the days when Brian Clough took Derby and Forest to the top on talent alone.
Of course, if this 20-team status quo is ever reached, it simply expands into the Championship, as only teams with the financial clout can have a hope of staying in the biggest league in the world.
So, perhaps short term we've simply seen four become five. Long term, hopefully, we've seen the door open for teams to pursue big money owners to expand the elite.
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Wrong club wrong player wrong manager wrong wrong wrong. What a waste of 32 million! The only British clubs that would have suited his style are Arsenal and Chelsea. The big apes are Chelsea as they had a chance of getting him.
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May I add as a Chelsea fan good luck to city as well, Most of us gave up the ghost on Robinho anyway and did not think he was coming to the Bridge, but I laughed out loud this morning when I read city bagged him ( it's a shame you could not have doubled up with old 'Bugger off' that would have put us all in our place !) Anyway well done and hopefully it will be sheep eyes all round if he is a success.
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I don't know if it'll turn out to be a good move for Robinho, but it's certainly good for Man City and the Premiership. What'll be the point of Robinho at Chelsea? More big names on the bench, that's what. Better a player of his ability goes elsewhere and plays regularly, contributing to a more competitive league.
I'm not a Man City fan but if Robinho cannot improve that team then I doubt any player can. And all this talk about surviving the physical football "on a cold night in Bolton" are simply getting tired. We heard the same doubts about Asprilla, Zola, Elano, Torres. It takes a while to adjust to any new league but that doesn't make the English game any tougher - not that there are that many English players playing in the English league anyway.
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Prior to Abramovich's billions, were Chelsea any bigger than Man City? And they've broken into the top 4. I don't know the stats, but I imagine that Man City's attendances over the years have been higher than Chelsea's. As Chelsea have shown, all it takes is money......
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Chelsea were 4th in 2003 the year he took over. 4th in 2002 (City promoted to Prem to stay). 6th in 01 (City relegated). 5th in 2000 (City promoted). 3rd in 1999. They weren't a juggernaut, but they were a club lingering in and around the top 4.
Money might be enough over time, but the other top clubs have money too. Chelsea in particular are still backed by deeper pockets than City, and it hasn't been enough to completely displace the likes of United, Liverpool, and Arsenal, all of which are held more accountable to the bottom line. I know Arsenal supporters would like to believe that they're the only top 4 club not bankrolled by billionaires, but it's not really true. A quick look at United's backers shows that Malcolm Glazer's current net worth is 2.5 billion. But 1.8 billion of that is the club itself, and another .8 billion is the Tampa Bay Buccaneers franchise. United is run primarily as a business, the Glazers aren't spending vast liquid capital on players like Chelsea/Pompey/City. It hasn't limited their success, obviously.
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Robinho is just another mercenary and spoilt child, who cried every time he met Calderon, imploring him to let him go. The fact that he went to Manchester City and not Chelsea, shows Abramovich was not relly fond of him, nor Scolari; and that he left Real Madrid just for money, not to be the best player in the world as he claimed.
He may be good player, has had good moments, but is very irregular, like Ronaldinho. He likes the dolce vita Brazilian style and is not so happy to train hard.
Definitely Manchester and its grizzly skies and will hamper his hapiness. Besides, a fourth string team, which is not even playing in the UEFA Cup. He will not make it happen, either, since he needs a good number of great teamplayers.
English defenders will crush him like an aluminum Pepsi can. Let them show no mercy for this weenie.
Manchester will be Robinho's doom and no team at all will sign him, since nobody is fool enough to do it like the new petrodollar rich Arab owner.
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I was about to write a comment about Robinho but now have no need to as Tim Vickery's column sums it up perfectly.
I lived in Brazil for 4 years and spent alot of time watching Robinho for Santos, and whilst blown away with his technical ability, I was also un-impressed by his lack of physical strength and at just how easy he could be bullied off the ball. And THAT was in the Brazilian league. So, quite how he will cope with the rigours of the Premiership and the demands place on him Mark Hughes (of all people!), will be interesting.
We've read alot about the feelings of the Man City fans over the last day..... but what about the man himself?? Just how keen is he to play football and live in the North-West of England..... especially when, all along, he only ever wanted to play under the guidance of his mentor Scolari.
It's a great signing for City, and would love to see it come-off, but just don't think it will.
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I was about to write a comment about Robinho but now have no need to as Tim Vickery's column sums it up perfectly.
I lived in Brazil for 4 years and spent alot of time watching Robinho for Santos, and whilst blown away with his technical ability, I was also un-impressed by his lack of physical strength and at just how easy he could be bullied off the ball. And THAT was in the Brazilian league. So, quite how he will cope with the rigours of the Premiership and the demands place on him by Mark Hughes (of all people!), will be interesting.
We've read alot about the feelings of the Man City fans over the last day..... but what about the man himself?? Just how keen is he to play football and live in the North-West of England..... especially when, all along, he only ever wanted to play under the guideance of his mentor Scolari.
It's a great signing for City, and I would love to see work, but just don't think it will.
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I was about to write a comment about Robinho but now have no need to as Tim Vickery's column sums it up perfectly.
I lived in Brazil for 4 years and spent alot of time watching Robinho for Santos, and whilst blown away with his technical ability, I was also un-impressed by his lack of physical strength and at just how easy he could be bullied off the ball. And THAT was in the Brazilian league. So, quite how he will cope with the rigours of the Premiership and the demands place on him by Mark Hughes (of all people!), will be interesting.
We've read alot about the feelings of the Man City fans over the last day..... but what about the man himself?? Just how keen is he to play football and live in the North-West of England..... especially when, all along, he only ever wanted to play under the guideance of his mentor Scolari.
It's a great signing for City, and would love to see it come-off, but just don't think it will.
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Somebody told robinho to sign a contract with "the blues". He duly obliged, but then discovered it wasn't the blues that play at stamford bridge.
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I lived in Brazil for 4 years and spent alot of time watching Robinho for Santos, and whilst blown away with his technical ability, I was also un-impressed by his lack of physical strength and at just how easy he could be bullied off the ball. And THAT was in the Brazilian league. So, quite how he will cope with the rigours of the Premiership and the demands place on him by Mark Hughes (of all people!), will be interesting.
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Very true. I am a keen follower of Real Madrid and have seen most of the matches Robinho has played on TV. He has a bunch of tricks but has lots of difficulty preforming in match situations. I suppose he will spend lots of time on the grass complaining and grimacing. The one thing that city fans will be treated to is lots of step overs. If you can remember how many step overs Joe Cole did before someone told him to grow up, Robinho will do twice as much - in every match!
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He WILL be a success at City.
At Madrid he struggled to adapt and fit into a superstar team. Indeed he was all too often reduced to running up and down the left wing. That is not an excuse for him, clearly he failed to apply himself well enough to make himself indespensible in the same way that Ronaldinho, Ronaldo and Messi did.
In all reality had he swapped Madrid for Chelsea then he would have found more of the same, struggling to displace Drogba up front and unless there was a change to 4-4-2 he would find himself out on the touchline again.
Instead at City he will be the star of the show. Not only will he play in his preferred position but he will find a forward line build around him. Either as a partner for Jo/Benjani/Bojinov when they are fit or as a focal point with Jo and Elano feeding balls to him he will be given all the support that he wants.
He probably sees one of two things happenning, either City do make a breakthrough and he is hailed a hero for pushing them upwards, or they fail gallently and he performs well enough to get a move to another big club in two years time. The template for this is Berbatov, once hailed one of the best prospects in world football, went off the boil in Germany, rediscovered himslef at Spurs and now with the European Champions.
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I am not a city fan but would like to see a new club challenging for the title and in 3-4 years i think city can do this!
I cannot understand how everyone is saying city will never be a top 4 club!? Have they not been watching the premier league for the last 3 years... everton and tottenham have been around the fourth positon all the time recently. Last season city were in a gd position for much of the season but fell away during the later half.
With the money and backing of this chairman they can go far... there are now 2 big teams chelsea and united, arsenal and liverpool will not win a title in the next 5-6 years in my eyes.
However Robinho will bring nothing to the club in my opinion. He does not want to be at city CLEARLY! He doesnt suit the premiership and isnt a proven world class player in any league... not worth 32.5 million. Mark Hughes obviously wasnt behind these transfer targets as he is a gd clever manager he would not have gone in for berbatov, villa, gomes and robinho, this was just the new owner trying to make a mark and poaching other teams targets.... they would not fit in with the system at city.
I hope city go on to do well though, winning domestic titles and challenging in europe in years to come!
They should target players in january like;
Hunterlaar
Wayne Bridge
Gareth Barry
Joe Cole (never happen lol)
Sneijder
Ramos
Ribery
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I have to admit that its an amazing coup for Man City because once people find out that Robinho has signed for the club, other really good players will come. They will realise the potential for the club to be like chelsea and the players will come.
Imagine January:-players that are young like aguero, villa, etc. They will be bid on by man city and man city have the funds to get them. Plus the robinho factor will also be key.
They are going to go up and up now. Good luck to them!!!
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It's teams and takeovers like this that will send Everton down the pan.
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The Football we know and love is dead it was on it's death bed after Roman Abramovich but this just shot it in the head and took away it's soul. Football is now about money and I hope City screw up and Abu Dhabi fails at City as nobody wants to join a nobody team.
Brazilians don't know who Man City are as on SSN yesterday a brazilian man said who are city so Robinho's agent would have told him Manchester have made an offer for you. I can't wait to see the super sulk he pulls off when he realizes City aren't United.
Anywho the beautiful game has lost it's beauty and it's turned into who's the richest?
Who wants to buy a club?
Anyone for Everton?
No?
Thought as much.
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5. At 07:58am on 02 Sep 2008, joebloggins wrote:
This immediately strikes you like the first rush of Abramovich's money at Chelsea when they went out and bought anyone who was expensive.....it didn't work really
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WHAT!!?? Didn't work? They won the title back to back!! Are you some kind of fool?
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What is really fascinating about a lot of these comments is that a lot of people not only think that City will not break into the top four, they also think that City have no right to do it. It's as if people somehow think it's wrong to challenge the top four. So they go on talking about big clubs and second tier clubs etc. as if these rankings were fixed for all time. Man U people especially appear to belive that no-one has any right to challenge them. Why don't we just declare them champions of everything at the beginning of the season, then they wouldn't even have to play. The rest of us can then play for the real title.
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tim vickery this is sad that you even have a blog. for you to think robinho is an average player you dubbed him rabbit killer slayer of the weak' i doubt if you actually watch the la liga week in week out i know i do and the last championship real won was relatively due to attcking prowess of reals midfeild mind you ruud was out injured for a while and raul was now getting the balls he wanted. and what is his stature have to do with it he is the same size as ronaldo or he can get to ronaldos size, he gets kicked around just like ronaldo and his leg overs are better than ronaldos l.o.l i think he will take a lil while to get his form but with elano, jo and robinho, man city should do better they can only go up from here. and for people calling the new owners all kind of names please bear in mind they are the same as chelsea, manutd, liverpool even aston villa get it right tim
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Uniquities: dead right mate, very similar to my point. I too would like to see Newcastle, Spurs, Villa and others join the battle with massive funding. It would be wonderful to see the Premier league finishing league positions 2010 as 1st Man City 2nd Villa 3rd Spurs 4th Newcastle - shuffle them around according to which of those you follow.
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So Robinho joins City - I just simply don't understand the argument that has been suggested that he came to Eastlands for the money.
To me this transfer has all the echoes of when United pulled out all the stops to sign Cantona in the early '90s - United hadn't won the title then for 30 odd years, but surely he didn't just go to Old Trafford for the money did he? Surely King Eric wasn't just a mercenary who simply followed the money, surely he went for 'footballing reasons'.
I think he did, and I think Robinho has done the very same.
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Robinho in my eyes has clearly gone for money reasons and i have little respect for him.
You can't tell me that Abramovich wasn't willing to stump up £32.5m, or even a bit more of Madrid weren't so keen and City offered Ronaldinho £200,000 a week under Shinawatra, so God knows what they've offered Robinho now.
he said he needed a new stage to be the best in the world and play under Scolari, so why is he at City? he wanted a big club, it doesn't make any sense expcept for money.
As for football thats the end and it won't be long before we are looking at a 'Big 6-8' - ( City, Tottenham, QPR, Villa)
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i fail to see how a player who claims to one day want to be da best in the world can sign for man city.!!!!outrageous.
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this still doesn't beat tevez and mascherano to west ham. that was a shocker. robinho will play well but won't like the physical nature of the league and will probably go on strike saying he's heart is at Inter this time next year.
the real question is if middle eastlands new owners are willing to wait 4 to 5 years until MCFC become a real top 6 to 4 challenging side? unlikely.
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HAHAHAHAHAHAHA... no way will he succeed he clearly only cares about money and not sport chelsea fans can be angry as he has taken them for mugs he only wanted a big contract not a big sucess
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such a strange transfer....
Footballers these days love to speek about the rich history of clubs when making decisions on their own future. In reality they seem to know very little, or only care about money.
If this wasn't a move based on money, then it seems it was that robinho had burned all the bridges in madrid....
Much like arshavin wanting to make the move to arsenal, then voicing his praise for tottenham. does he know anything about these two teams and their history? You won't warm up many supporters of a team while speeking warmly of their bitter rivals.
Now....Robinho speeks of joining chelsea, but for once the blues show some restraint in the summer transfer window. Robinho might just flop and both him and the club will regret the transfer. He needs to join serie A, where he can master the art of diving.
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kotakinabalu wrote:
Uniquities: dead right mate, very similar to my point. I too would like to see Newcastle, Spurs, Villa and others join the battle with massive funding. It would be wonderful to see the Premier league finishing league positions 2010 as 1st Man City 2nd Villa 3rd Spurs 4th Newcastle - shuffle them around according to which of those you follow.
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So presumably you weren't one of those moaning when Chelsea got the cash to go from perennial top six finishers to genuine title contenders and mix it up after years of Man U/Arsenal, Arsenal/Man U? For some reason people say that was bad for football, when it actually made it interesting again and raised the bar in terms of quality.
Football was about money long before Abramovich of course and, forgetting Chelsea for a seconfd, the only way any of the teams you mention (a bracket to which Chelsea used to belong) can challenge Man U is by huge financial investment, as you point out. Look at the amount of money they continue to spend on players.
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i think robinho's mistaken man city for man utd, easy mistake to make
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robinho is an idiot joining City. what a total fool, he hasn't even been to Manchester. He won't succeed in the Prem mark my words, he's totally not suited to the Prem league, and no way will justify the stupid money spent on him. As for City, its a sad day for English football, to see the foreigners with no history of english football, taking over another english club.
As for Hughes, he's clearly not pulling the strings anymore at City.
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Why should footballers not "go for the money"? They have a limited career and should take advantage of any offers if they want to just like you or I would.
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How can anybody be stupid enough to think that Robinho thought that he was joining Chelsea or Manchester United?? I'm sure he will have been much better informed than being told that he is joining 'the blues' or 'a team in Manchester', he will have been told about the new owners and their aims and I think he really just wanted a move out of Madrid.
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Tim Vickery, what is it you have against Manchester City? We have been one of the bggest spending clubs in world football for the past two years now - we have juts signed Jo for £20m, Wright Phillips for £10m, another Brazilian and an Argentinia .....and now a £32.5m superstar!
We are going to be like watching Brazil because Elano is here too.
Several years ago Stuart Pearce said we were only two players away from being a top 5 club and in hindsight he was almost right... we had a decent team but poor strikers.
We now have strenght in depth in attack with Benjani (£9m) one of the premier leagues most prolific striker last season sitting in the treatment room alongside Vassell and Bojinov (a 21 year old phenominal talent that Sven purchased from Italy). Add to that Cacideo £5.5m striker and two of the UKs best young prospects in Daniel Sturridge (pursued by Chelsea for three years) and Ched Evans (the Welsh Sensation) breaking into the first team we really are not as bad as Vickery makes out.
We have let a £10m striker walk away (Bianchi) and Samaras (£6m) has been given to Celtic for peanuts.....it takes time to build a good squad and with another 18 players promised by the man with £100 BILLION to spend before he dies (£2 Billion a year - we could buy every single player in every division in England if we wanted too and then loan them back to their clubs - just because we can!)
People who take risks in life are the most likely to succeed - Robinho has taken a small risk and if it doesn't work out then at least he will have his £6m a year salary to keep him happy!
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City fans don't care what other fans think (especially the self-obsessed red half of Manchester). In 1997, a club with bigger gate receipts than Chelsea (average 25,000) at that time were in division 3 (old money, in fact REALLY old money)m now of course called League One. We've had the downs, much like Leeds United are suffering now, so we really don't care. If we go back down again, and still get average gates of 25,000, then so be it. It's about following your team no matter what. There are 92 league clubs who get supporters every week no matter what. This is what makes me smile about the fans who slag City off. Much like proper England fans, we'll support City no matter what. A lot of Man United fans wont. They ran off when the Glazers took over just because they had a bit of debt, and formed their own team, FU United or something like that... Most City fans will enjoy the ride. If Robinho goes in January, then so what? City are super rich. And by the way, Anelka came with the sulker tag and performed brilliantly in a very under par team, so until it happens, you just don't know.
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Cast your minds back to 2002.
Man City had just returned to the Premiership and they were ready and willing to throw their financial weight around.
Who did they sign for a whopping (in those days) 13m? Nicolas Anelka - a world-class 24 year old player with a reputation for sulking and falling out with managers and clubs.
What did the press say? They said Anelka was only coming to this lowly club for the money. They said he'd probably be a failure and want to move clubs straight away.
What happened? He was a huge success! He scored 25 goals in 43 appearances in his first season and then 7 in 19 the following. He didn't stay for long, but whilst he was at the club he was excellent and fired us to comfortable Premiership survival.
Sounds familiar doesn't it?
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"i think robinho's mistaken man city for man utd, easy mistake to make"
Yeh, one is blue and another is red. I wouldn't trust you at the traffic lights you clown.
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Wow glassoman, we must be psychic!
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"Wow glassoman, we must be psychic!" er I meant read the post before yours, regarding Nicholas Anelka.
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I get the impression that a lot of Man City fans are a bit taken aback by some of the negativity coming their way, though generally speaking it's a bit of a novelty for everyone at the moment so the reaction to this takeover and signing has been mixed. Speaking as a Chelsea fan I'm afraid you'll have to get used to a lot more negativity. Soon you'll get nonsensical jibes about not having any "history", a largely hostile press looking for the negatives in everything, people predicting impending doom, saying that any trophies won from now on don't count, and of course the classic "ruining football" accusation.
Revel in all of this. They're all a little bit scared (Liverpool, Man U), jealous (Liverpool again, Spurs, Everton, Newcastle etc.), think they have a divine right to win things and be in the Champions League (Liverpool, Arsenal) or hypocrites (any of my fellow Chelsea fans who moan about your money, and other big spenders: Liverpool, Man U, even Real Madrid).
Good luck for the season, to an extent. ;)
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The strangest thing in this transfer window is blatant tapping up. Not so much with the Robinho signing, but the Berbatov and Ronaldo sagas, Maybe The FA should reimburse Ashley Cole's fine ( or Cashley Cole as the Arsenal wits call him) because he was little lord fauntenroy compared to Fergie and those drama queens at Real Madrid. Levy could have done something, but his dossier went west as soon as he got his shekels.
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I would advise City fans to hold on just for a while. Forget about buying the likes of Messi, Torres in January and hope that your new owner gets some stability at your club first. No matter what you think about professional footballers, not all of them are mercenaries who will leave their posts and play anywhere for a big fat paycheck.
Although the rantings of the new owner may be music to the fans ears, lets not forget just a week ago they were taken to penalties by FC Midtjylland after fluking a last minute face saver.
Come January let Mark Hughes approach the owner with a list of realistically interested players who he thinks will get them into the top 4-6. Then they can start to build a team to take them to bigger and better things.
Not only did Abramovich have the cash he also had the lure of Champions League football to dangle in front of his new signings, something City don't yet have. Robinho was so desperate to leave Madrid if Accrington Stanley had been the highest bidder he would have gone there. Don't get carried away with the thought because you signed Robinho you can sign anyone, anytime.
City have the oppurtunity of a lifetime, they are now financially secure and have unlimited spending power for the foreseeable future. Don't undermine the manager and the players by reeling out a list of 10-12 of the worlds best players who you want to buy in the transfer window.
It doesn't matter how much money you throw at it, if you try and create some sort of Harlem Globetrotters F.C., it can still go pear-shaped.
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i think he is definitely just using man city as a springboard to eventually go on to chelsea, it was for sure that real madrid were not going to sell him to them no matter what.. this way he has to endure a year at a club he doesnt want to be at but it will now be easier for him to move on to chelsea next summer.
if he didnt do this i would be very surprised.
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"The right move for Robinho?"
Maybe, maybe not, im sure Robinho's bank manager isnt complaining.
Dont see it as a great footballing move to be honest, cant see playing in a team the quality of Man city currently, bringing out the best in the player, he wont have to work so very hard to rise above his team mates. If he doesnt have that challenge to rise to he can so easily wallow in mediocrity.
Still this could lead to great things for Man city, they will have to build quickly on this, but its a decent start. They will have to be careful though as the type of player (regardless of quality) who will be lured purely be the promise of a nice cash cow to milk, isnt necessarily the best type of player to fill your squad with.
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I agree with the comments of #255 and apologise to #253. I made the comparison to Chelsea for 'other' fans. I honestly think Mark Hughes is under immense pressure, in fact more than before, from this day forward. If City aren't careful they could end up like Newcastle and have new manager every week (again!) if they lose a couple of games. Look at Frank Shinny. He got rid of Eriksson for meeting his targets! At lease Hughesy has got the balls and he knows that if he gets sacked there'll be a host of clubs wanting him as manger (especially FU United...er sorry Manchester United when Fergie pops it err... I mean finally retires). But at least let City have one month of optimism. #253, I remember when Ranieri was sacked, I couldn't believe it, and said I would love a manger like him to come to City! Poor old Avram Grant. How many clubs could lose a successful manager like Mourinho and seamlessly install a successful manager such as Grant. I mean successful, as even though he didn't win anything, such was the expectation and negativity, he did an unbelievable job.
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armchairblue wrote:
City fans don't care what other fans think (especially the self-obsessed red half of Manchester). In 1997, a club with bigger gate receipts than Chelsea (average 25,000) at that time were in division 3 (old money, in fact REALLY old money)m now of course called League One. We've had the downs, much like Leeds United are suffering now, so we really don't care.
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That was a good post but why does everyone have to pick on Chelsea? Chelsea's average attendance was 27,617 in 96/97 and Stamford Bridge was being rebuilt I seem to remember, and didn't Man City win Division 1 and promotion to the PL in 1997? For the record, Chelsea's attendance went way down in the early 80s due to relegation and rampant hooliganism (electric fences anyone?) - I guess you could call the 80s our major "down". That was an anomaly in terms of the club's history as they had always been one of the best supported clubs in England, but it still took until the mid 90s for attendances to fully recover. That's why many Chelsea fans see the current success (since 97) as some sort of deliverance, and I hope this is the start of the same thing for City. Back to the point, I think Man City and Chelsea have similar size fanbases but if you're going to use stats to support your argument get them right rather than pluck them out of the air.
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For those who think City have wasted their money....
How many of you have bought ten pints of beer, only to drink them and ps them up the wall? Exactly, when you buy them they're great. Even better when you drink them as you feel even better. Next day though, what have you got to show for them? Nothing except a hangover. However, all is not lost as you only probably spent 20 quid anyway, and a few apologies make everything alright.
This is how the royal family of Abu Dhabi feels when they 'waste' money on a player!
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Makes me wonder where the boys head is at the moment. No disrespect but Real to Man City, you couldn't sell them as world beaters just yet. Does he have any idea where he is going or what he is getting into?
Is this a pure money deal ''Go play football son and we will throw money at you oh and by the way the shirts are Sky blue,''. ''Never mind where, just go''.
Great for the paying Blue public to see the name on the shirt but would Sparky have selected him as a transfer target? Or was he testing thier mettle? ''Ok you say you have unlimited resources go get me Robinho'' Must have been like winning the lottery.
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@ 6. At 08:02am on 02 Sep 2008, balajazz wrote:
I predicted that there would be 15 Billionaires by 2015. Which I am all well and good with as long a 20% rule was brought in.
20% of all profit the premierleague and its teams be passed on to the championship. then 20% of combined profit from championship to league 1 and so forth.
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Manchester City have just suddenly bidded for many top players yesterday, but they can't expect to say that they are going to finish in the top 4 and be callenging for the champions league already, just 1 day after they broke the british record fee for Robinho, they expect to get Villa, Gomez and Ronaldo who the arabian guy is prepared to bid £145million for!
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Once the cold and rain sets in will the guys from abu dhabi still be talking the biggest club in the world. If I had their money I'd have bought Italian or Spanish.
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#259 I'm not exact with my figures maybe, but City WERE in division 2 in the 97-98 season with an approximate crowd of 25,000. Two divisions below. I'm not a Chelsea hater by the way and I'm not a Chelsea admirer just to spite Man Utd. The point is (and I'm sorry to the genuine 8000 average fans at Newcastle United when I say that they were poorly supported in the second tier under Ossie Ardiles) that there are few clubs where the fans turn up no matter what.
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I feel Robinho will have some flashes of brilliance but i also feel he will go through a dry spell like he has done with Real Madrid in the past few years.
Where will he play?
SWP and Petrov have the wings and shouldnt lose their places due to the British record signing and up-front i beleive Jo ( who i think will be a quality player in 1-2 years and Benjani is a quality consistent striker.
Where will Robinho play?
P.S I believe he is overated in terms of price and quality
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It's not always about where you are at, but more ofter about where you are going.
What a lot of people are missing here is the fact that City are now major players, not just in the EPL, but in Europe.
As a City fan living in the U.S., I can't wait for the day when I mention to Americans that I'm originally from Manchester, England, and here them say "oh yes... Manchester CITY"
Sorry Stretford United!
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armchairblue, yeah my memory was wrong about which division Man City were in when, and of course you're right that City fans are as loyal as they come. It just gets my goat when people point to Chelsea attendances when, like Man City, they've been among the highest averages in history.
There are a lot of parallels between the clubs I think. A relative lack of success in relation to fanbase and average attendance, sharing a city with a more successful team in red, and of course, now, new found wealth that was necessary to allow them to compete at the very top, rather than just occasionally flirting with success.
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Remember Makelele (move to Chelsea)???
Well, the guy will adjust, be a star at an up and coming team and
be paid accordingly (Real have just exploited him) –
a good move to all concerned (except Real...)
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267
I think you are getting a little ahead of yourself. Buying a team doesen't mean you automatically hit the big league. Start winning some silverware or the premier league then and only then you are in with the big four. At the moment you are a mid table team with bunker full of money. Don't expect any favours from the rest of us paupers.
Just a warning there are plenty of investors eyeing premier league clubs but there only a finite amount of world class players to fill them.
Spurs (Paupers) drew 1-1 with Chelsea (Moneybags) last Saturday. So its not as easy as you think my friend
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People forget that what might have lured Robinho was the prospect of playing with Jo and Elano. Not just the money
Robinho will know better than anyone about the qualities of these players because they are Brazillian international teammates.
I think that fact that his friends and world-class players were already at City must have had an influence on him.
Maybe if Everton, Spurs, Newcastle, Villa etc had offered Robinho a whopping deal, he wouldn´t have come because he doesn´t know any of the players.
I'm willing to give Robinho the benefit of the doubt and I think he will be happy to play for a club with already 3 Brazillians
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There is an argument to be made that there are really just a Big Two now in football and everyone else will be fighting for scraps when Roman and Abu Dhabi go at it:
http://toronto.fc.mlsnet.com/t280/fans/blogs/kick_about/
I personally hope that it will only get more competitive.
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I was just reading through the comments posted, and in response to ExiledDevon Red at number 16, who obviously knows very little about football, Chelsea were already in the Champions League when they were bought by Abramovich, therefore they were immediatly in a MUCH stronger position than City are now, due to the fact that they could offer potential signings Champions League football, the best City can hope for this year is 5th and probably this will be the same for the forseeable future. The only players that they will be able to attract are those motivated by money i.e. Robinho, these are not the sort of players who will play with their hearts and give 100% in every game. Most players will be attracted by the football on offer and will therfore corectly chose to play for one of the top 4 clubs in the country.
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272
What utter rubbish. City haven't won anything yet. Money guarantees you nothing
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Nice to see the usual intelligent, enlightened Man United fans coming out again.
Why not City's turn to benefit from the new generation of billionaires?
Who was it who helped turn football into a business in the first place? I'll give you a clue - I remember seeing the "Man United Megastore" spring up in the late 1980s, with the wallpaper, curtains, duvets etc etc, no doubt taking pride of place in many a bedroom in London, Tokyo and the Sudan.
Man United was the first football club to be described as a "global brand".
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To 274: The point in the article that I posted at #272 is that they won't be doing it overnight but real money speaks volumes over unstable credit. Why is that rubbish? Isn't that how we all wish to manage our finances?
To 275: You are spot on.
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I think people need to remember Jo and Elano played for CSKA Moscow and Shaktar Donetsk respectively... These two clubs play in much more physical leagues than Brazil/Spain, mor like the premier league and even colder! They both have acclimatised to cold winter games
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robinho is a fantastic player and i fervently think he will be an instant hit at city.although i am a gunner i would be praying and supporting robinho to win a trophy with city.i wish him well
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I whole heartedly agree with your comment made about Robinho. I fully expect the little Brazilian scamp to enter the premiership with dazzling brilliance against the likes of Stoke and Hull and act like a rabbit caught in fog lights in his opener against Chelsea and that of the English top 4. Gifted yes but the problem with him is he portrays the true modern day footballer "Spoilt". More concerned with the money and lifestyle that the acclaims and hope they bring to the fans. Man City have a true blue moon future ahead of them this is true but its only a matter of time before the Rom and Arabic movements of club ownership destroys our top tier of domestic football and creates a gulf that even with parachute payments hinders not only the longevity of the lesser clubs but also the long term aspirations of home grown talent. Finally back to Robinho don’t count out the though of by Christmas the honeymoon is over and its time to throw the toys out of the pram in search of a move to the Brazilian Retirement villages of the Serie A.
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Robinho will surely be a fantastic signing for City. Hopefully City push on and Liverpool, Arsenal and may be Chelsea a run for there money. I found it hilarious as i am a tottenham fan that chelsea were unable to sign Robinho and newly owned Man City were it will be interesting what reception Chelsea give him when he goes there possibly for his debut.
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Man City will always be just Man City.
The kid's been sold a fake ticket.
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To be people like bluewatcher this article isn't an attack on city, maybe you should read rather than jumping to conclusions and attacking a very good journalist. I think it's a shame people don't read what he has said, Robinho was never that great at Real Madrid and it looks unlikely he will achieve it on a consitent level in the premiership.
As for city, I do think they will have trouble achieving top four this season, but they do have a good manager who will make this a better team. I am not happy at these investors this country doesn't need another abramovich it needs more chairmen like Randy Learner and Gibson at boro, as these men support their managers and allow their teams to grow naturally over a few years.
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twinW3BOY
I can understand how you feel. A proud british white boy cannot come to terms with a russian owning the piece of history... Stamford bridge i mean. isn't it the same bridge where normans had fought?
And to top it off there is some Arab....An ARAB!!! buying up another club. God boy you must be, how you put it, distraught?
Now before you come down hard on me, do your types ever dare offend the American owners like Shavers and Blazers (Oops.. I meant Gillette and Glazers).
Accept it, its not the money its not Roman its the Russian or the Arab part you cant digest. But tough luck dude, you'll have to live with it.
And relax a little, too much of such negative thought process can give you ulcers you know.
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He doesn't really strike me as a Mark Hughes type player. So I think it will be interesting to see how this works out. Perhaps Hughes can instil a bit of work-rate and commitment in the player and actually utilise his overblown talent and unnecessary hype...
Maybe being at Real from such a young age has given the player an overbearing ego and Hughes could be the right man to get the talent out him.
David Bentley is maybe a good example of that. Hugely talented, but maybe let the hype get to him. Hughes did well to reel him back in and craft him into a star player (that should be England's first choice right winger!)
Or... this could cause one massive rift and the new owners could be deciding that the star names are far more marketable than the manager and he will be up for the chop come the end of the season, when City are languishing in 8th place.
If the board are patient with Hughes and Robinho, I think this could well turn out to be a great signing.
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1. football isn't football anymore, its moneyball.
2. Real chose the bigger offer and that was city's at 32.7m, chelsea was 28m.
3. at real robinho got 35,000 a week, chelsea offered 70,000 a week but city offered 100,000 a week
4. i hope chelsea boo the hell out of robinho when ever he touches the next saturday mancity v chelsea.
5. you can't call a news conference saying your heart is at chelsea there my ONLY team, then join man city, it isn't right
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I am happy for city fans after years of roller coaster rides.
No money + bad managers.
Then lots of money + top manager. Only for the owner to turn out to be a total mentalist.
But all this investment is just getting too much.
Is it really right for the game?
I don't want to deny city fans their glory because if Chelsea and others can do it why can't city. However at some point it needs to stop.
I mean 32 mill for robinho!. I am sure there was no consideration of what player was needed, where was their weakness.
Its just a case of, right we have got shed loads of money which overrated famous player can we buy to increase our profile.
As a player, manager, owner or fan I would not be proud of achievements bought purely through foreign investment.
Investment must be spent on facilities and coaching to develop homegrown youth (this would also benefit the national team). Then the homegrown players coming though should be supported by some well thought out, tactically necessary purchases.
Buying 11 high paid merceneraies to win a cup is not success in my eyes.
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I am a City fan for my sins, and have been now for over 15 years - and I would whole heartedly disagree with the notion that the team can not break into the top four to make a top five within the next few years. The proof being that it can be done is obviously Chelsea, who like City will no doubt do, bought anyone and everyone with a hefty price tag and then over a couple of years matured into the now excellent side who no longer needs to buy big, as the success for the club will attract quality players that work with the playing formula - Deco for £8m is a recent example of this.
City will undoubtedly stutter, and will overpay for players that will essentially fail in the make-up of the team (as with Shevchenko, Veron etc etc - not an uncommon occurence), they will also have everyone wanting them/waiting for them to slip up - but in Mark Hughes they have a manager who is in for the longhaul, as he was at Blackburn where he created a solid team. Not a Premierhsip winning one, but a solid one no less, which with extra spending power may have been better given the consistent spine they have - and Im sure he will bring this to City.
A solid base of Dunne, Richards, Elano, Wright-Phillips, Johnson and now Robinho and Jo upfront is no mean line-up, then it will be about building around them a dynamic team (we need a hatchet man in midfield for instance - quite badly, although Hamman will do for now) and there is no reason why we then cant compete with Carragher, Gerard and Torres? or Gallas, Fabregas and Adebayor? Im not going to say Utd or Chelsea, as they are a class above everyone else - but breaking into the Top Four within the next two years and finishing higher than Liverpool or Arsenal is certainly achievable given our current squad and the buying power we now have.
Still think an almost direct copy of the Brazil kit for our away colours should be the next move... no reason why not afterall!
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Response to #275.
Yes I quite agree United were probably the first club to go 'global' as you put it. However the difference was the interested fan base was already there and United just exploited the fact first and launched a high profile selling of the club in these countries. In effect the club sold itself, it didn't need outside investment. All the money generated was done internally. As a result success off the pitch financed the success on it. Despite coming in for heavy critiscism the likes of Liverpool, Real Madrid, Barcelona etc. are doing exactly the same.
I don't think it's a case of going 'global' for City, because to do that you need a world famous brand to sell not just a football club. That's what spawned so much jealousy because very few teams are in a position to do this. For example you see loads of kids with the New York Yankee logo walking around, the most succesful club in Baseball, but not many wearing the St. Louis Cardinals logo, the second most succesful club. Is it just coincidence that the Yankees are the most despised Baseball team in the U.S.?
The fact you have a multi-millionaire owner doesn't mean you will become a 'global brand'. Don't worry you won't see footage on the News of Rebel army soldiers in some country you have never heard of, carrying an AK-47 and wearing City's new third strip just yet. Despite the Megalomaniacal rants.
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I feel sorry for the players that are there already as they will have no choice but to leave the club they have worked so hard to get into the first team or just step up their game, however with the money coming that aint going to happen and his could also affect the youth team that Man City have done so well with in recent years to develop. Money can only take a decent club so far and i dont see that being the end of another billionaire coming to buy a club in the PL.
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A few observations:
1) Robinho will more than likely move to Chelsea in either January or next summer. Reason being, it's where he truly wanted to be and no doubting City will soon discover that for themselves. According to Real's coach he's been crying over wanting to leave all summer long.
2) Point two relates to point 1, City are NOT a big club and never have been. Whether they will become a big club remains to be seen.
United have enough trouble attracting the world's best players and they are a REALLY big club - so it's doubtful that City will be able to attract the world's best despite the Arabs' money.
It would be better if Hughes was allowed to do the job HIS own way, as opposed to being puppet on a chain, as seems likely given that the owners are already talking about announcing their idea of a 'dream team'. We have already seen evidence that Hughes has not been in control of transfers at Eastlands, they tried to sell Corluka and Ireland behind his back - will this trend continue? I think it will...
City could be become a MINI-ME of Real Madrid the way things are looking. The danger is whoever is the manager will not given time to do the job properly.
3) Global brands.
When will the penny finally drop that these so called untapped markets are in fact pretty much worthless, save for mini summer tours to far flung destinations as is happening now with United?
City and Thaksin were humiliated in Thailand in front of less than 10,000 fans in the national stadium...so much for the good doctor's pulling power in his own back yard.
A lot of the fake replica football strips are manufactured in the Far East, where these so called fans of clubs like United do not purchase the official replica shirts, they also do not contribute indirectly by paying for TV subscrtions to watch the club and they do not buy match tickets for obvious reasons.
In short, all this talk of expanding the brand is akin to chasing fools gold, it is a waste of time.
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I'm starting to think along the lines of all those who say he (or his agent) thinks he's signed for Utd.
It's not always clear outside of England as to which club is which.
Even over here in Holland they go by slightly different constructs; eg. "FC Arsenal London"
A modern day London Bridge debacle.
Would be classic :-D
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James (290),
Some good points - but not sure about the globbal brand comment - wasn't there a sum of about 600 million quid paid for overseas TV rights lately? I think this had a lot to do with business people such as the Glazers/Gillettes seeing attractive revenue streams coming out of the PL.
Having half the PL owned by foreign business is a bit iffy - but ultimately I feel more comfortable with my club being part of that sort of thing than the Chelski/Middle Eastlands kind of scenario - cause that just smacks of part of our national heritage becoming just a rich man's toy to be picked up, distorted (e.g. in terms of youth development - people like the Glazers who want to make a profit are always going to be keen to develop 'free' talent like Beckham, Scholes etc rather than pay 30 million a go for it) and maybe dropped if and when they get bored.
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Has anyone commented on Ribena's floppy hat?
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This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.
He will be a flop and chelsea will buy him in january.
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Only time will tell, but I think Robinho will flit in and out of games and struggle with the pace and physical aspect of English football. He certainly won't have the impact that Torres had last season.
However that isn't the point. Whether Robinho turns into a world-beater or becomes a massive Schevchenko-esque flop, City have made a huge statement of intent here and it is extremely exiting for the future. I'd be suprised if they broke the top 4 this season, but its not impossible, and I think they'll come very close. All this talk of winnning the League and dominating Europe is a bit premature though, and their number one priority should be concentrating on catching Liverpool. A goal which I believe is definately achieveable within the next 2 seasons.
As a Blackburn fan I have seen first hand the way Mark Hughes transformed my club from top to bottom over the last 4 years. I strongly believe that Hughes, Mark Bowen and the rest of his backroom team are amongst the best in the business, and they will prove this over the coming years now that they have a platform from which to build.
I agree that football is going down a dangerous road, with the wealth and foreign ownership a serious problem in the game. However it will be refreshing to have a 'big 5' rather then a 'big 4' and it will undoubtedly make this season much more exiting than it would have been.
Good luck to City.
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Just like his new manager, he burned his bridges with his previous club, hoped to end up at Chelsea, and instead had to go to City.
Decent player, but not worth anywhere near £30m+. Will be interested to see how he does, but he was inconsistent in Spain, and the Prem will be much more physical so I think he'll struggle.
Not that it really matters to City - they can now afford to buy Ronaldo should Robinho fail!
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I think this is another Tevez and Mascherano to West Ham style signing
He will realise that bigger better clubs want him and he will sign for them by summer or even january
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Is this article in any way attempting to be balanced? I dont think so ,as it reads more like a character assassination. I think probably the best thing to do is wait and see what he does on the pitch over the course of a season...and then judge.
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Someone forgot to tell him United play in red!
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The guy was desperate to play for Chelski last week until he was offered more money by City.He couldn't give a toss about Man City as long as he gets the money.
Berbatov at least accepted less cash as long as he could play for what he considers to be the best team in the world.
In reality NOBODY is worth the money being spent in the EPL just now.
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As a city fan who has endured pain and suffering for countless years its a breath of fresh air for all the fans.
These guys have shown intent from the start and yes they will dig in the market. Robinho can be part of soemthing special and City can provide a platform for him.
Abramovich has wasted millions on players past it and people are writing off a 24 year old.
The blue moon is rising and city fans everywhere are looking to the future with more confidence.
Small steps
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Sorry City fans.......but you are and always will be in that giant shadow from Old Trafford, no matter who your sugar daddy is, and what ever money grabbing players you manage to snare!!
Man U are light years in front of you with regards to club status....based on motivation and performance.
40 years ago was the last time Man C had any cred..........and even if it takes half of that time to re-establish your selves has a worthy opponent to Man U........we will have moved even further on.
Already the City fans are coming out of the woodwork, saying this is now the beginning of the end for Man U..
cos they are going to get Ronaldo........well they can have him as far as a lot of Man U fans are concerned, but they will need more than fairy feet to progress into the top rank of premier league.
My guess is that your new owners may dump the present venue ( wastelands), and build you a nice new stadium well away from that massive shadow called Old Trafford......i think that would be the best way to revive Manchester City.
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Man Citeh, a global force. LOL. Lets face it, judging from their last day transfer shananigans they obviously see success as something to be taken from other teams rather than achieved on merit. How can a team who have no real sence of agency or individualism be a dominant force. They are still in the shadow of Man Utds decade and a half of sucess and they wont be getting out of it any time son.
As for Robinho going to Eastlands, I think the question that should be asked is not of Robinho. He has a reputation as a bit of a wide boy wannabe, another young male who suffers from the 'Get Rich or die trying' culture, and proof that that kind of mentality is not about getting rich, its about low self esteem, having a chip on your shoulder and trying make it everyone elses problem. On that basis I think he should fit in well at City. However he might grow out of that, and it could be argued that he has fallen into that trap because of poor management, so I think the real question is; are Mark Hughes and his backroom staff, and Man City as a club, ready to take the big step into the top four. I personally dont think so. I think that Robinho may have set himself up for a fall, because if he fails I dont think may people will see it like that, especially as Man City have the money to replace him. They will only see Robinho as a failure.
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justjob - another bitter united fan.
We don't live and breath what united do. We go our own way. Sounds like you are running scared to me or just being jealous.
Look forward to doing the double over your hapless prima donnas again this year.
Enjoy paying every penny of that loan back.
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Robinho71......
Prima donnas??
Hopefully we will flog em off to you lot!
Well at least one of em.
Bitter??
Thought there were only bitter blues...never heard of bitter reds.
Live and breath??
The only club in the world you want to beat is us.......
I support one club ..Man U
You support every team in the league that plays us.....
I remember you lot wearing B /Munich
shirts.....
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You protest too much :)
Ronaldo - you can keep him.
I think you'll find not all city fans think that way. Just like the city fans who behaved admirably at OT last year for the Munich anniversay. Our weekend isn't wrecked if you win you know...ha ha
Times have moved on.
Manchester is the place to be.
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Well Well. I see all kinds of post about Robinho and how unprofessional he is. Some even say He is unprofeswsional. Pele says he needs counselling but i beg to differ. why?
Real offered him + cash to Manu for Christiano. They insulted him by doing that meaning that if united had agreed they would have forced Robinho to go to Old Trafford against his wish.
They refused to renegotiate his contract believing that they will land Chriatiano.
They also refused to let him go to Chelsea and they openly said that they were ready to let him rot in the reserves before his press conference.
Real were the once to put him in that position to jump ship.
They accused him of going to city because of the money yet real reneged on their agreement with real for more money. That is hypocrisy as far as i am concerned.
Whether he will make it in the english game? Definitely because his game is suited to the English style of football. If Christano made it he will make it because Mark Hughes knows how to get the best from his players.
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Robinho wa desperate to leave. The altitute of Real not to let go of him to Chelsea whom they claim did not handle the intent to buy the player well. Time ticking and deal not coming to close left him with no option but to go to City. I bet the boy will not stay long there before leaving for another club.
Wish him well but will not have a better time at City
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It started as a big tansfer joke but it is true at last. Despite his talent, soccer is a team sports not individual. by their current status, Robinho has not made a right choice. He deserve a bigger club than Man City. He needs to play in UEFA chapions league. May be he should have been sure that Chelsea will sign him at any price before unsettling himselt at Real Madrid. Despit that, I still wish him good luck. I love him and he is a good player. My only fear is that Man City will offer him good opportunity to show his class for now. He needs to be with big boys to make it big.
From: Ifenna Ezeanya, UNIJOS Nigeria
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It started as a big tansfer joke but it is true at last. Despite his talent, soccer is a team sports not individual. by their current status, Robinho has not made a right choice. He deserve a bigger club than Man City. He needs to play in UEFA chapions league. May be he should have been sure that Chelsea will sign him at any price before unsettling himselt at Real Madrid. Despit that, I still wish him good luck. I love him and he is a good player. My only fear is that Man City will not offer him good opportunity to show his class for now. He needs to be with big boys to make it big.
From: Ifenna Ezeanya, UNIJOS Nigeria
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As always, an insightful and interesting read. I don't really follow the South American game, or South American players in particular, so this was very informative.
Thanks!
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Oh, RE "Look forward to doing the double over your hapless prima donnas again this year," post no. 305:
I'm not sure that "prima donnas" means quite what you think it does.
Prima donna means "first lady", and arose from opera companies. The "prima donna" was the leading female singer, usually a soprano, and as such was often viewed/expected to be vain, somewhat irritating, and possessing a higher opinion of themselves than others held.
However, nowadays it actually tends to mean "a vain, obnoxious and temperamental person who, although irritating, cannot be done without."
Are you suggesting, as a Manchester City fan (I presume), that although you find Manchester United irritating, you cannot do without them?
Interesting!
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From your description he sounds like an imature spoiled guy. I never got the impression Mark Hughes would tolerate that sort of player, so it could be the defining moment in both their careers if it turns out well. He would have had a lot more competition at Chelsea and at City for this season anyway( or the first half) he will be Daddy's boy. He should shine depite the cold and rain
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Yes good move, given the clubs new financial circumstance he will be joined in due course by other top quality players. I also believe by being the first one there he will get the chance to get himself established, My only initial concern for City until the next transfer season would be is that they lack real physical players in attack, Ireland, Wright-Phillips and Robinho are very slight players and could get bullied a lot by strong defensive and midfield type players. My prediction for them this season would be to finish 5th or 6th, next year they should knock Liverpool out of the top four.
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Every talks about Chelsea "buying" the title and rich foreign owners just splashing the cash on big money players.Difference is Roman's money is real and spent all over the club.The ground is not leased,all debts have been paid and the training facilities are now the best in the world,including a newly opened state of the art youth academy.This is perhaps the big difference between Chelsea and the rest of the Nouveau-Riche clubs.If Roman does sell up whilst we may not generate enough money to cover the large wage bill but other then a bigger stadium everything else will still be there.Man City don't even own the ground they play in.Phil Smith Hailsham BN27 3JY
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surely,Wright-Phillips could now miss out.Previously,I thought he was a poor version of Robinho and City may be better balanced choosing Petrov.And would Corluka have left if he knew the Arabs were coming?
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Fair play to Man City from a Villa fan. I think the more billionares in the prem the better it makes a level playing field when all the clubs can afford to buy whoever they want.
It also allows for the "big 4" to become the big 5 or 6 etc which means the same old teams will not win everything every year. The only concern I have is when I hear that the Doctor from Abu Dabi will offer over 100 million for a player. this is a bit silly. I believe an indipendant body needs to be set up by UEFA that sets values for players. Not sure all clubs/ football associations would agree with it but the money being touted nowadays is ridiculas. If not this then another system of valuation. Evan at Villa we have spent a lot of money since Randy has come in. Mostly on English players who have been overvalued because our chairman is one of the mega rich. Harwood and Nigel RC to name but 2. Way over priced.
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I am sorry Tim but you are mistaken if you think the big question left by transfer window day is weather Robino regrets signing for Man City. For the new owners of Man City this is mearly a statement of intent. If Robino does not cut it in the premier league then tough,he will be sold and they will get someone else. The really big question is how are the other clubs, and I dont mean just the premier league but every football club in the world,and in particularly there managers, going to cope when Man City owners offer so much money for there best players they cant refuse. It will be really interesting to see the Glaziers reaction when they are offered enough money for a couple of there players to almost wipe out there debt. What odds Ferguson will call it a day at the end of this season? The events of Monday and the buy out of Man City is without doubt the biggest story in the history of football. These people have FIFTY TIMES more money than Abramovic
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so with Petrov hurtling down the left and Robhinio on the right where does SWP fit it?
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@320 Robinho will slot in up front alongside Jo. SWP and Petrov will be on the 2 wings with Elano playing just off the strikers, thats how i would have them whether Hughes does that i dont know, guess we will see this week-end.
As a United fan i can say well done to City for signing some quality players in the past 2 seasons, but lets be honest, they are deluded if they think they can attract the likes of Ronaldo, Kaka, Berbatov, Messi, Fabregas etc to City when they have not won any silverware for years.
They are setting their sights far too high for the next few years and i feel sorry for Mark Hughes who is going to take the blame for not reaching those heights. More realistically they should be looking top 7 this season and top 4 next season, not the top 4 this year and title next and to win the Champs league in 4 years? it wont happen not even Chelsea have managed that yet , im sure they can think that because Chelsea did it they can also, but lets face it Chelsea where already a top 4 club when Abramovich bought them whereas City where Mid-table at best.
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real madrid to man city? for a world class player that does not make sense, its like changing from a ferrari to a lada... i can see robinho doin well in european competition, but not the premiership. i think its a gamble for man city. it may come off however.
on another note if man city wish to buy a player, from any club, they will hold man city to ransom and demand ridiculous fees with the knowlegde that man city can afford any transfer fee.
man city have a decent attacking team, but they are far from a complete team. i can see them losing to chelsea in there next game and they certainly wont break into the top4 this season.
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I watched the City Chelsea match and it occured to me that if a stranger to the teams was watching the match I bet he would have been convinced that Sean Wright-Phillips was the Brazilian
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