Friday 9 May 2008

Fair Play

A rare piece of good news: England has won the UEFA Fair Play competition and as such gets one representative into the UEFA Cup. Give the recently updated Premier League Fair Play table, we are almost sure of the place.

The only thing stopping us would be if Everton overtake us on Fair Play and lose to Newcastle, whilst Villa win their remaining game. If that happened, Villa would finish fifth and get the UEFA Cup spot, Everton would get Fair Play and Blackburn would get Inter-Toto.

A few weeks ago I was hoping we'd get into Europe, and preparing to spend some time and money going to see City on the continent. Recent events, however, have dampened my enthusiasm for this.

4 comments:

AB said...

Yeah, going to Europe to watch City would be intolerable. As a massive City fan, I can say that I wouldn't rate our chances of getting past Shelbourne next season, never mind the Fiorentinae and Galatasarays of this world, the current state of affairs taken into consideration. If we consider our team for next season, it looks pretty bollocks. Richards to the rags, Dunne hitting the Toon, Elano to Europe, no Sven; life is over as we know it, and we've known some pretty gash times here at City. Division 2 was shite, but the way Frank has behaved over the last few weeks is nothing short of disgraceful, and the way I feel at the moment I don't think I'd care if we joined the footballing luminaries that are Nottingham Forest and Leeds United in League Two; at least Frank might fuck off.

I must say, JPB, that your blog is a bastion of sense among the cesspit that is the City faithful. I enjoy your posts, with their insight and intelligent comment. However, I have a couple of questions to ask of you before the I can completely empathise with your all too clear City-induced pain:

- Will the rags win the Champions' League final? (I fucking hope not)
- Who do you want to succeed S.G.E.?
- Who's your favourite City player ever?

Yours,

A.B.

TLDORC said...

Thanks very much AB: much appreciated.

1) I think United will win the Champions' League Final, especially if Drogba and Terry miss out.

2) If Sven is going, I most want Mourinho to succeed him. That's rather unlikely though. Of the possible candidates, maybe Roberto Mancini? Jol's just taken the HSV job which is a shame. Beyond that; Lippi? Hiddink? Bilic?

3) My favourite ever City player is Uwe Rosler, closely followed by Ali Benarbia, Niall Quinn, SWP and of course Goater.

AB said...

Bilic would be ideal, but he has a new deal with Croatia. I can't help fearing the worst, that if Sven goes we'll end up with a yes-man in the mould of Graham Taylor (Steve McClaren) or a cunt in the mould of Warnock.

I don't see a continental touching the job, as there's as much job security at City as there is at a top Spanish or Italian club, so why bother if it isn't for the cash? Someone like Boothroyd or Phil Brown should get a crack of the whip; young, English and hungry. We'll probably end up with Pfister, Adriaanse or some other journeyman on an exorbitant wage, with a team full of Muntaris and Mensahs. Ah well. At least we don't owe fuckloads of money. At least Hatton and Oasis love us!

My favourite players are Paul Lake (tragically destroyed talent), Rosler and Benarbia. They are all City legends. Honourable mentions for Franny Lee and Sun Jihai; he sold us loads of shirts in China, honest. ;-)

AB said...

Andy Morrison was fucking awesome as well, one of our best captains and hard to boot. Took us out of the lower echelons of English football and sorted us out.

That just struck me. Ha.