Would EPL Fans Ever Stop Whining About Man City?

Manchester City FC buys a lot of players. 

But which club doesn't? And which club doesn't wish to?

Once upon a time, AC Milan did this; then Inter did it. Then Parma did it. Then Lazio did it. 

Even the Spanish clubs Deportivo LaCoruna, Atletico Madrid and Valencia went on spending sprees when they had a bit more cash in hand than other Spanish clubs.

A lot of my neighbors argue vehemently with me any time I said that Chelsea has had a more *Star-studded team than Man City at least since the season immediately after Roberto DiMatteo won the Champions League!
(If your memory is good, you would remember that that was when they added Edin Hazard, Oscar, Marko Marin to the likes of Juan Mata, Fernando Torres and also David Luiz and Ramirez)

I always insisted (much to the confusion of my co-debaters) that just because one team was recorded to have spent more on a player, doesn't mean the player is a more accomplished footballer than the one another team spent less money on.

The truth is that Man City had (and still has) no choice but to spend much more than more established clubs in order to get most famous players' attentions. This is a logical fact that everyone seems to conveniently ignore.

It is not a new thing for a football club to try to buy its place in history. The old giants (Real Madrid, AC Milan, Barcelona, Juventus, Liverpool and Man Utd) did this long ago and gave themselves an unfair advantage against everyone else today. 

The fact that English is the lingua franca of the world, and that the EPL is lucky to have the backing of the American media giant 21st Century Fox means that the league is much more effectively marketed to the whole world. Therefore foreign investors like Malcolm Glazer, Roman Abramovic, Thaksin Shinawatra and Khaldoon Al Mubarak can expect long term profitability from the clubs within the league.

The Crux Of The Matter

I know that many of you fans of the EPL hate Man City so much, and you enjoy pointing fingers at them in order to create excuses for your own favorite clubs (i.e. the traditional big 4 EPL teams - Man Utd, Chelsea, Arsenal & Liverpool)

But today I am going to challenge you all again, and I'll even dare you to find any of the EPL's top sports journalists to take me up on my claims. Hahaha!

I have had this debate many many times with my neighbors at home here in Lagos, Nigeria, and even on the Facebook version of my True Football Analysts community. 

1. LEARN TO BE FAIR IN YOUR JUDGMENTS:

In the mid 90s Man City was in the 3rd Division of England. Man Utd was dominating England (about 5 straight titles) with Chelsea and Liverpool usually pushing them to the finish line. 

Then Man Utd could boast of Petr Schmeichel, Eric Cantona, Andrey Kanchelkis, Ole Solksjaer, Edwin Van Der Sar, Ruud Van Nistelroy, Jaap Stam, Fabian Barthez, Robert Lee, Roy Keane, Diego Forlan, etc. They always went after the top English players and mixed in some foreigners. Especially great goal keepers.

While Chelsea had the likes of Ruud Gullit coming in from AC Milan, and helping to bring in a wave of Italian stars like Gianfranco Zola, Casiraghi, Roberto DiMatteo and Gainluca Vialli who also used his influence to buy many other foreigners like Dan Petrescu, Marcel Desailly, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, Didier Deschamps, George Weah, Albert Ferrer, Tore Andre Flo, Frank Lebeof, Juan Veron and Hernan Crespo, who wouldn't have come to the Premier League otherwise at the time.

Everyone of those players with a green arrow pointed at them cost quite a lot at the time they were bought. And the buying had started long before this season; And it continued long after.

2. Others Had A Huge Head Start

This is the foundation that the likes of Man Utd and Chelsea (Arsenal also had huge names like Bergkamp, Robert Pirez, Wiltord, Emanuel Petit, etc) already had to build upon when Man City's money came in 2007 or so. 

Despite that, Chelsea still had another mega financial boost with Roman Abramovic which saw another wave of world stars come into the club to further deepen their already rich history (MORE ON THIS LATER)

3. Early Risers Are Always Luckier

While Chelsea had to worry about only 2 big clubs when it started its own first era of big spending (Man Utd and Liverpool), Man City has had to worry about 4 of them (and other pretenders like Tottenham and Newcastle). And yet, while Man City under Roberto Mancini were criticized for only winning an EPL title and FA Cup in 31/2 years of Mancini, Chelsea won nothing under Gullit, and only an FA Cup under Vialli. No complaints then. But I guess that was because the irrational fans of today were still toddlers by then; so they were following the Transformers cartoons and not football. lol

4. About Bargaining Chips

Why Man City players usually cost so much money:

Liverpool and Man Utd have been well known names all over the world since the 70s, thanks to their historical successes. Chelsea also won the Cup Winners Cup and European Super Cups around early year 2000, so by now they are not really new to foreigners.

But who the frack knows Manchester City?

I mean outside of England and its fans!

If you were young Brazilian upstarts like Oscar or Neymar, would you want to play in a club that most of your friends in Brazil had barely even heard about? 

Do you think that at a certain level, money is everything that players think about?

Have you forgotten Ronaldinho's reason for refusing the highest salary offer in football that was offered to him by Manchester United?

Now looking at it the other way, wouldn't you not demand an insanely high salary to be transferred to a club that was never part of your dreams as a footballer?

Manchester City have to spend big in order to BUILD what Chelsea had built in the late 90s, and what Man Utd had since early 90s. 

This is why you all should know that Chelsea would never spend €49m on Rahim Sterling. If the player's agent insists, then Chelsea would simply go after a better player. Unfortunately, Man City does not have that many choices.........YET!

By The Way

Even when you consider this Kevin DeBruyne that is causing this present rancour from the City haters, you have to remember that he was a Chelsea player very recently.

Was it Man City's fault that Chelsea's "Special coach" had him sent away? (The same way he sent Juan Mata away). 

Why is it that Man City's spending habits is the one that keeps making the news when others have displayed equal or even more wasteful habits.

ANYWAY, here are my two strongest points:

5. HISTORY

The fact that legendary players pass through clubs also help their scouts in recruiting young talent or attracting the parents of promising young stars. A father who thinks he is wise would rather enroll his child for the Man Utd juvenile club rather than the City version. This parent doesn't necessarily have to live in the city of Manchester.

Also, because of Man Utd's pedigree and history (don't forget that many parents can remember 1999 and even 1986, even if most of you EPL fans today cannot) parents would wish their sons name would one day be next to George Best, Eric Cantona, Edwin Van Der Sar, Ruud Van Nistelroy, Diego Forlan, Fabian Barthez, Jaap Stam, and David Beckham......they cannot remember any such tradition for City because they had only one notable legend....Peter Reid - whose legend was only told within England.

City is only struggling to build their tradition NOW, so that parents of 2025 can be proud to have their kids play in the club that Carlitos Tevez, Kun Aguero and Yaya Toure played in.

I'll never forget when Peter Reid was player and manager at City. When they got a free kick in the second half, he would take out an out field player and replace him with himself so he can take the freekick, which he scored on a few occassions. :)

6. OTHERS BUY PLAYERS AS WELL

Now, the most important aspect that Man City critics conveniently forget is the fact that other clubs still spend big on players as well.

They don't just willingly: 

- forget the fact that Man City started in 2007 what Chelsea started in 94 and Man Utd started in 89.

- forget the fact that parents of good prospects would rather send their kids to other juvenile teams

- forget the fact that Chelsea and man Utd are in better positions to "bargain" with foreign clubs than Man City.

They also amazingly forget that while poor Man City is buying a so-called super star, Chelsea, Man Utd and Arsenal are usually BUSY doing the exact same thing!

Okay let me help you get this, if Man City were to spend €250m on Asier Illaramendi, Mario Madzukic and Antoine Greizmann today, for goodness sakes WHAT DIFFERENCE WOULD IT MAKE, if Chelsea also bought Thomas Muller, Toni Kroos and Javier Pastore; even if they cost only €150m????

.....Think about this seriously okay?

I mean check it out, City were getting Aguero, Dzeko David Silva and others. Chelsea got Hazard, Oscar and Marko Marin (no ones fault that Chelsea couldn't get out of him the magic he was doing at Weder Bremen).

For More Emphasis

So now that Man City bought Raheem Sterling and what not, did Chelsea fold their hands and do nothing?

What about last season that Chelsea got Diego Costa, Cesc Fabregas and Filipe Luiz.....how did Man City's purchases dwarf such an outing? Or what about Man Utd's purchase of Angel DiMaria, Radamel Falcao, Marcos Rojo, Daley Blind, etc?

If you have 50 sheep, 12 cows and 15 rams, and then you added 7 horses and 6 giraffes......does that make you better than the guy who already had 100 sheep, 20 cows, 14 rams and 5 oxen, 

and then added 5 horses and 10 giraffes??? 

Let us try to be a little less bitter and passionate and be more analytical shall we? :) 

Thank you.

Please tell me what you think in the comments below. I would love to hear contrary opinions. :D

See you at my next post....perhaps next year.

Trying to remember all the stars that have played for ChelseaFC was always going to be a daunting task. I didn't even mention Andrey Shevchenko and Claude Makelele. :)

BALLON D'or CONSPIRACY THEORISTS - Listen Up!

People keep saying that FIFA loves some footballers and hate others. Or that some players won this trophy while others did not win that. Or so some deserve this while others don't deserve that. 

But most of the people who are making these arguments sometime leave out FACTS and ANALYSIS as they embark on their journey to change the world.

And so because this is "TRUE FOOTBALL ANALYST" and not "LOYAL FOOTBALL FAN" Page, I will try once again, to help some of you change the way you are thinking about at this whole thing:

CONCERNING THE BALLON D'OR AWARD

1. No one gives the award to anyone. There is a voting process. But NOT like American Idol or MTV Awards, where a bunch of teenage girls can just bring out their mobile phones and begin to vote numerous times for One Direction & Lil' Wayne types as the BEST musicians in the world.

This is more like the Oscar Awards where the professionals of the industry do the voting. Film Producers, Actors, Directors & Film Writers are the ones who choose who the BEST ACTORS are. And many "FANS" don't like this. They are often angry because Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Will Smith, and Arnold Schwarzenegger have never won an Oscar despite the billions that their films have made at the Box Office. Meanwhile some "relatively" unknown actors like Daniel Day Lewis have won Best Actor THREE times, while new comers like Christoph Waltz already have 2 Oscars.

Personally, I am very happy with the way the Oscars winners are chosen so I am quite happy with the way Ballon D'Or is chosen. I know what could happen if FIFA throws it open to millions of half-baked football fans around the world.

Why Not The Fans?

Three sets of people's opinions are valued much higher than the opinions of the millions of fans who watch football for all sorts of reasons:
Reasons like,  
a) My friends have a favorite club, so I must have one as well.
b) I am in love with Ozil's girlfriend, a supermodel, so he is my favorite footballer.
c) I am an African, therefore I must keep up with African footballers to promote them.
d) There is a lot of poverty in my country, so football is the opium of the poor.

So because of these and many other mundane reasons, I cannot see it as a wise thing to let ALL THE FANS select the World's Best player.

Hence I am more comfortable with FIFA's design to have it trusted to the PROFESSIONALS OF THE INDUSTRY:

Every country that his recognized by FIFA (including Paraguay, Wales, Japan, Burkina Faso & Malta) is represented by 
1) Their National Team Captain
2) Their National Team Manager
3) A Representative from their national Media.

An excellent design in my opinion.

Although it is an Individual Award and shouldn't be solely based on how many trophies your team won during the year, There is still a way that it reflects on the clubs. For me, it proves how great a club is, and its ability to attract the greatest players in the game.

Because if you had left it to ALL of the media that reports on football, then the English speaking media which dominates the world (thanks to AMERICA, but which works, in terms of football, for England) would likely give Ballon D'or every year to Wayne Rooney or Gareth Bale.

Also, If you left it ONLY to players, then some collective "beef" could begin to show for some particular players. 
So Managers and selected Sports Press are added there to balance things. And everyone is advised to CHOOSE according to "EXCELLENCE" NOT "nationality".

The Error Of Relying On The Trophy Cabinet

Another thing I REALLY have to point out about Ballon D'or.....

It is NOT an Award for a SEASON!
It is an Award for a calendar Year!

The European Player of the Year Award that Ribery recently won was for a SEASON. This is the Award that naturally has a higher regard for Trophies won during the season. 
But there is still a lot of football still to be played after those trophies have been won, and this is why Ballon D'or winners may not necessarily win trophies in the year they won. It didn't start with Lionel Messi.

Another thing you must understand is that individual players are incapable of winning a trophy. Only teams, in fact, ENTIRE squads can.


In fact, I was once guilty of this assumption too. When Ronaldinho won the Award in 2004, I thought Deco was robbed. But then Deco moved to Barcelona with Ronaldinho, and for the rest of the year, the difference in their performance was quite clear. 
Deco wasn't even in the Top three of the Barcelona squad of that period, if you ask me. There was Ronaldinho, there was Eto, and there was a budding young talent called Messi. And these three did all of the heavy lifting. So Deco had 2 consecutive Europe & Portuguese league trophies, but Ronaldinho had phenomenal football on his side. 

Then, there is the Wes Sneider argument as well. For those people who felt that Wesley Sneider deserved to win the Ballon D'or for 2010 instead of Messi. 
Well, for me, I could have made a small case for Xavi. But not the dutch man. Because, again, individually he was not so outstanding in 2010. He scored some good freekicks and made some nice assists when Inter won the Champions League, but Diego Milito and Samuel Eto were slightly more impressive for me. 

Also Holland getting to the World Cup Final was not very fair for Brazil, who were robbed of a clean goal (ruled off as offside) after dominating a match where the referee allowed Holland players to rough-handle the Brazilians. But this even encouraged Sneider's teammates to use even rougher tactics in the Final. It was an eyesaw.  If a decent referee had officiated that match, Holland would have had 2 players sent off before the end of the first half. And then we would see if they wouldn't have been hammered 4-0 or something.

But most of all, again, Inter's overall performance after the Summer Break was very poor. And that was really what (in my opinion) killed Sneider's case for the Ballon D'or. But Messi continued to score and assist goals at will from the start of the new season.

See?
An Individual Award! Also an Award for the Calendar Year, NOT the previous season. (try to understand that part - it's a vital part most people miss)

I hope some of you are finally beginning to understand this now. It is not according to how you feel. It is according to how the National team captains and managers judge the people that they play against from time to time, and see on a regular basis. I remember a time (early 90s) when I was a huge Juventus fan. I sometimes literally prayed for AC Milan to lose important matches so that my Juventus would rise to the top of Serie A. But at the last minute, that crook Van Basten pops up with a heart-shattering and spectacular volley to give all the points (then just 2) to Milan. And I am left sulking. But I am sometimes PARTLY comforted at the end of the season, when Roberto Baggio wins the Award of Calcio Best Player, despite Milan taking the title by up to 7 points gap.

The judgment is that Gullit, Rijkaard, Donadoni, and Massaro "diluted" Van Basten's greatness. But Baggio did it all for Juve:- Top Scorer. Top Assister. Most Flair. And another attribute that many don't take notice of. Ability to command the FEAR of your opponents on the pitch. You see this in players who, more often than others, draw 2 to 3 defenders to themselves when they hold the ball. 
(pay attention particularly to Isco, Ribery and Zlatan Ibrahimovic when they hold the ball - the "other guy" doesn't need to be mentioned, so I do not incur the wrath of my friends).

I would prefer him to win this one. But I am not contradicting myself by saying that Ribery won many trophies, AND HAS also really dazzled very brightly at the start of this season.

Someone has to give this little guy some fashion tips. For real!

Referees Are Human, So Are Ballon D'Or Voters

Again, I must point out that while I don't think the FIFA method is fool-proof, I still insist that it is the best way I could have come up with.
In fact, I probably wouldn't have come up with it on my own. So I applaud them for keeping it "Pro".

I am a Nigerian, we speak English and we watch SuperSport - A South African channel that is dominated by British sports journalists and ex-footballers.
So you can bet that many of my people think there is some FIFA conspiracy in favor LaLiga and against England-based footballers. Some even use the word..."racism".
I have to spend time explaining to some of them that Cristiano Ronaldo (Brazillian-Portugues) and Jose Mourinho are latin footballers as well. So if FIFA were so racist, then it would probably be Van Persey, Schweinsteiger and Bale that would be running for this year's Award.

But the truth is that you have to have the Best people selecting the BEST.
For example, as a Digital Marketer, I will hate it if someone who doesn't even understand the true meaning of Social Media Marketing was given the power to choose the best Digital Marketers in the World. 
he could just go out and choose the name that he hears being mentioned the most. Because his understanding of digital marketing is very limited.
Can you see what I mean?

Yes, we know that there are some fans who really KNOW THEIR FOOTBALL (trust me, I am one of them). But how do we separate them from the millions of ignorant "fanboys" who will twist and turn every statement to suit the guy that they idolize?

Look at this...
A few years ago, a survey was carried out in Brazil where they asked LOCAL Brazilian players to select the best players in the World. They made it a "secret ballot" (that means people don't know who you voted for) so it gave the players a chance to speak their true feelings. In the end, it shocked everyone that Messi beat Neymar and CRonaldo to win the majority of the votes.....professional footballers in BRAZIL!
Think about it. If it had been merely Brazilian fans, you can bet that perhaps even Juan Mata would have beaten Messi there.

Another important thing that you should consider about the HUMAN SIDE OF THE VOTE.

When Jose Mourinho claimed that FIFA cheated for Del Bosque in the last vote (I was actually STUNNED that he would think he achieved better), it was NOT the first time he was accusing FIFA of rigging something. 
And because of him, FIFA did something that many of us think is not good. They revealed everyone's votes for the world to see.....(Check Out The Breakdown Of Voters Here - Again Professionals)

What finally settled it was that this forced the Football Federation of Goran Pandev's country to apologize for changing his vote for Mourinho into a vote for Del Bosque. 

So it made me realize that FIFA and the Tooth Fairy may not be out to get him; but at least now he knows that the Macedonian FA is! But it also made Mourinho look much more annoying in the eyes of some people who are already tired of his antics. 

And what he, and most of his devoted fans may fail to see is that he has consistently creating a stigma for himself with all of his complaints against referees, FIFA, UEFA, Spanish FA, and the Ku Klux Klan. This may win him points with some lily-livered referees and most of his fans. But these are not the people doing the voting. Professionals could interpret this behavior in another way, while they observe other players & managers quietly doing their thing and letting their FOOTBALL speak for them. 

So who's it gonna be? Surely not Messi this time!

Conclusion

For me, eventhough I personally think Cristiano Ronaldo should win This Year's Award. It is not necessarily because he deserves it more than Ribery. I think he does deserve it more than Messi this time though. 

Why I would pick him is purely because he has been shortlisted for the past 4 years or so. To be honest, looking at both of them, I still see a little bit more of the kind of football that pumps my blood in Ribery's game. But I would give it to Ronaldo because he has been consistently close to the Top for a while longer than just the past year. But the national team captain of Chile may disagree, as well as the national coach of Germany.



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