gerblod

I think we needed one more season of Maresca - to make the transition as smoothly as possible - not unsettling any of our better players who might feel a greater attraction to moving to a 'bigger' club and attracting players to a demonstrably successful club. I dislike Chelsea as a club and I don't want him to succeed there. The fact that they nicked Kanté will always rankle with me, but generally I will always associate them with all the other success at any cost teams...and Abramovitch.

His grandfather is Frank Gray and - which makes his great-uncle Eddie Gray. His dad is Andy Gray (not that Andy Gray) who started at Leeds. Eddie and Frank were part of Don Revie's exceptional Leeds side of the 1970s.

The Peter Principle. You reach the your highest level of competence within an organisation and then some bright spark promotes you - thinking you'll be ok one level higher. Boris the Johnson managed to jump several levels of incompetence before he was rumbled. Liz Truss must have been fast-tracked way beyond any plausible promotion! I knew a guy who got a job on the basis of a good interview. It took a little too much time for his interviewers to realise the booboo they'd made - he'd worked his probation period through by then. Maybe City should have started the policy of a probationary period for a number of their signings over the last ten years 😕😆🤭🙄.

In a northerly direction, mefears.

I don't believe the lovely Grace would do a bikini shoot for any reason. She's not that kind of woman.

For me his problem was that his strong accent created difficulties with communication in English. For that reason he wouldn't be ideal in any capacity in an English speaking country. But hating him would have been the last emotion he caused me to feel. Disappointment and frustration sure but hatred is a bit extreme. I disliked Rodgers eventually - for the same reasons I dislike Rudkin and Whelan - they failed to perform well at their designated tasks and had/have been well paid for underperforming.

An erudite argument indeed, but rather specious. Depreciation applies to cars and office equipment more than athletes and you appear to be applying a sell-by date to him as if he were a time-limited asset rather than a professional footballer still in possession of the ability to score and assist in the scoring of goals.

That's a 'fact' is it? It's your opinion - nothing more than that. He may be slower and he might have lost some of his timing, but he's still capable of being a thorn in the side of a number of Premier defences. I'll never understand the alacrity with which certain 'fans' are willing to write him off. Who has been a better striker than he has been this season - Daka, Cannon, Iheanacho?

I've done my best to ignore his existence. He's been an embarrassment to the club - as a drain on the wage bill and as a lazy bugger on the pitch. When players who do put a shift in see this slug doing nothing, then there's going to be ill-feeling in the squad. Next season we'll need lads who are committed to City - even a free transfer would be advantageous.

Exactly this. Survival in the next two seasons made surer by astute reinforcement of key positions. Money will be tight, but I foresee Maresca becoming a more capable manager, probably able to utilise the squad to face Premier challenges more competitively. I don't want to see us scrambling to avoid the drop - that just puts us in an exhausting position. So survival plus is the first priority. The first few weeks are going to be critical in this. I trust the planning has started already and encompasses every facet of the KP concern. All the hawks and vultures will be watching for City getting various sanctions from the powers that be. The squad needs to be insulated from that faff. If we can keep most or all of the current squad then that's a good basis for '25-'26 - despite all the critics on here who would like to see certain players go.

Television works on the basis of advertising returns. Leicester has a huge catchment area compared to Ipswich. They'd have got more 'bums on seats' showing our game. But maybe they really went for football relevance.

To get back up as Champions has been a huge feat, considering the shambles Rodgers snuck away from. A manager new to management, a hugely changed side and the expectation we might be floundering in mid-table by October. All that has been avoided. Remember that a good manager creates good teams - not good players. Cloughie could turn a wayward player into an accomplished one and Fergie could keep a player performing. Maresca has yet one more task to perform - to consolidate our position in the Prem. We'll see if he's capable of that. Since Vichai's death, though, there has been floundering at board 'level'. I don't doubt Top's love for the team and club, but Rudkin and Whelan needed a stronger figure at the helm. They need to go. The club finances have been allowed to 'wander' until we've become vulnerable to sanctions. As to today the miserable ***** have been given their weekly reasons to complain. City were the better side but the chances went begging. Take off our most potent player in a gesture to sentiment, which most of us wanted, and the whingers get what they want. But the goals were opportunistic in the extreme and scored by an exceptionally fast and confident bloke, as we were pressing for our own score. Maresca gave players a run out to participate in the final game of a great season. We got stung for it. The moaners need to have a stage to express their frustrations. They'll gather where one exists to allow them to vent.

Two Cup Finals in 1961 and 1963. One lost because we played with a badly injured Len Chalmers against the best Spurs side in history and one lost to an underdog United team. I think Vichai fundamentally changed the perception of City.

Less yabber Sky. I'm getting impatient.

And yer punctuation.