Does Manchester City owner have a clue about football?
by stresster on April 16th, 2008
| 243 words |
The answer is probably not, judging from some of his comments on the BBC website. Owning a Premier League club is very much a status symbol for Thaksin Shinawatra, who has done very little to confirm that he’s happy with the efforts of manager Sven-Goran Eriksson, despite speculation about the Swede’s future at the club.
Furthermore, the deposed Thai Prime Minister appears to know little about where the team need strengthening in the summer. It’s commonly regarded that City’s main problem has been the lack of a front man holding the ball up and someone to slap the ball in the onion bag over twenty times a season. Not according to the man affectionately known as ‘Frank’.
“We will look at it at the end of the season and assess the club and the people involved.
“We’ll probably have to sell some players and buy some new ones. We need some defenders, midfielders - midfielders are the key.”
Not strikers then? Despite only managing 39 goals in 34 matches, less than Tottenham, Liverpool and Manchester United have managed at home this season? Benjani is simply the latest in a long line of strikers who have failed to cut it at Eastlands this season, while the defence is widely acknowledged to have been City’s strongest department.
Whoever Shinawatra has in charge as manager, this is someone who seemingly wants a direct say in team affairs, will Sven be bothered to stick around even if he’s given the chance?
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Tagged Under: Benjani, eastlands, Liverpool FC, Manchester City FC, Manchester United, sven goran eriksson, Thaksin Shinawatra, tottenham
blue tones - April 16th, 2008 at 2:37 pm
well if you had ben watching city you will have seen that svens negative tatics and lack of creation from the midfield has been city’s reason for lack of goals. I ask do you know anything about journalism, i dont and I know that rule number 1 is do your research you idiot.
Anonymous - April 16th, 2008 at 3:06 pm
Sven must stay.he’s been working on a 3 year plan.protests will follow
Anonymous - April 16th, 2008 at 3:12 pm
agree with the guy above…
is response to ur title question, probably not. and the problem is he uses a super agent as his advisor. and agents only earn their money in times of change and transfer windows, not when a club maintains status quo
so sure this guy is probably saying get rid of sven and i can negotiate a massive agents fee to bring in someone else, and probably earn a nice little pay packet by negotiating svens pay-off too
thrillhammer - April 16th, 2008 at 4:32 pm
Cant see him getting rid, it would indicate he had made a mistake, cant see that happening. Give sven his 3 years. All the anti svens please remember what fergies first 3 years were like, relegation battle one year. Rome wasnt built in one season.
Sir Ron Manager - April 16th, 2008 at 7:32 pm
Right. First off English is not Frank’s first language, though his understanding is better than his ability to speak same. Anyone who is familiar with Sven understands that a native English speaker can have a great deal of fun with HIM whenever HE opens his mouth. These were off the cuff remarks, and just because he mentions midfielders, does not mean he is unaware of the striker problem, after all, shortly after he reurned from Thailand a couple of weeks ago he did an interview on MCFC-TV and said we needed strengthening in all departments, and he said defence, midfield and more goalscorers…unless you want to parse his remark so that when he says “goalscorer(s)” he means attacking midfielders. In addition, after giving the go ahead to buy Benjani (who is a disaster) at the last second, and trusting Sven’s judgment (or someone’s), you then turn around and accuse him of substituting his own for Sven’s? Is he just a bag man then? He’s trusted to set up deals with Singha, The9 Group, Kentaro, and six partner clubs (these by little example), but he’s not trusted to make a judgment about players and managers? Well if he’s not to be trusted in one direction, he’s not to be trusted in another is he?
His analysis of what City need more than anything is spot on the money. It is impossible to say what we need in terms of strikers given the status of Castillo and Bojinov and the possibility of Sturridge and Evans. It is possible that the reason Benjani is looking like a shocker is exactly because of the midfield, and if you ARE going to play 4-5-1 as a matter of course you’d better have some damn fine, fast, skillfull midfielders, right? Not to mention defenders who can actually distribute the ball. If you think Frank’s wrong about the midfield, then why did Sven bust a nut trying to get Mark Bresciano from Palermo over the summer? Why did Sven want Diego over summer (that surfaced again recently). Why did Sven want to sign Nashat Akram in January? There have been a number of rumours recently…from Spain to China to Germany and all of them involving ATTACKING midfielders. Coincidence?
I note there are different standards here: if he gets rid of Sven (who since December has proven incapable of doing anything to halt City’s slide, in fact, plays the same way week in week out) that would mean he’s made a mistake, but if Sven lets Bianchi go, or won’t play Geo ‘cos he’s too lazy (didn’t he know that?), or gets Benjani on the panic (when Schalke O4’s Larsen was on his way to the airport to join City), then that’s okay then? In case you all have forgotten, Sven was not his first choice for manager. That a problem for you? Was he yours?
As to this superagent: what, you don’t know his name? His name is Jerome Anderson, and he is, in fact, on the outs. If you are talking about Zahavi, he happens to be Sven’s mate, not Frank’s, and if you are thinking about who is giving Frank advice, try his long-term friend and freaking genius, Philippe Huber, who though he does have players under contract is NOT an agent per se.
Protest all you want, if it wasn’t for Frank, City would have gone into administration, but then again, you proabably don’t know the truth about City’s finances either.
Just shut up, ignorant and clueless.
Anonymous - April 16th, 2008 at 7:51 pm
are you franks agent?
Ed - April 16th, 2008 at 11:15 pm
Sir Ron Manager…
Of course you can be good at arranging business deals without understanding football…
If you can’t see that. then the whole of your incredibly blinkered argument falls down…
In addition, how can anyone, ANYONE, complain about the second half of the season when WE WON AT OLD TRAFFORD!!! We have more point per game than ever in the premiership, Sven was only there for 3 weeks before the season, we have beaten the rags twice, just won the FA Youth Cup in front of 20,000 - and we still have a chance in Europe.
If that isn’t good enough for you or Thaksin, then go and support another club. If Sven had got us to 8th at Christmas no one would now be complaining. It’s only because he did so well at the start that some people have got so utterly greedy.
ANd so what is Sven spent 40m+ - how much did Fulham spend? Sunderland?
These things take time - take a chill pill…
Sir Ron Manager - April 18th, 2008 at 7:49 am
Those “business” deals involve football and the success of MCFC, not making meat pies in Gateshead Ed. City’s success is the sine qau non of those deals Ed.
Ed…the dire form since Dec 1st against Wigan, in exchange for one win against the Rags? Stop being so obsessive, we don’t live or die by what happens at Old Triffid. Our form has been horrible. Are you the only person, are you last person in the world (even Sven has admitted) to get it, we have been playing like crap. And if you want to go on about points per game Ed., we are doing WORSE than last season since the new year. The wheels have fallen off Ed.
The same blue-tinted happy clapper routine: go and support another club…after 30 years m8? I don’t think so.
So let me see if I understand you: first you claim something is a fact when it is just your opinion (i.e. Frank is “…good at arranging business deals without…), then state that my “argument” (was I making an argument then?) is built on that (your opinion), and if I don’t “see” that YOUR opinion is a FACT, then not just a little, no, but my entire argument “falls down.” Let me ask you then, at what point can Frank or anyother chairman get rid of a manager? When he agrees with you? With YOUR judgment? Second Ed., I can pat my head and rub my tummy, and I understand there is a difference between CLUB and TEAM. I couldn’t give a toss if City were in the final of the FA Cup, it doesn’t alter a damn thing about the way we’ve been playing in the league, and if you think City doing a Charlton (i.e. going to sleep after Christmas) is the way to go, old Curbs needs an assistant down at the Mud Flats. It’s not about being greedy Ed, stop projecting (you must be a leftie), it’s about going from feast to famine, it’s not about a consistent 8th-10th form, and if Sven is in no way responsible for the crash, how is he responsible for the start? You sound like a parent who basks in the glow when their kid wins the county cricket cup, but when same kid robs a petrol station and gets caught with a bag of dop on him disclaims all responsibility, yep, typical lefty.
Good enough for Frank? ( I note you call him Thaksin, no City fan would actually do that Ed., then again, are you one?) Was it good enough for you that Frank saved City from administration? Or are you one of those closet Frank-haters who have been laying low since August? Tell me m8, do you still have your shares, or did you sell them to Frank? Well?
Oh, you didn’t own any.
Some fan. So what did you think of Ben Mee’s performance against the KGB then? You WERE there weren’t you m8, you know, for the second leg? Like you were there when we beat United 5-1 (I’ll bet you were on the left-hand side of the Kippax for that one, right next to the United fans), you were there when we beat Huddersfield 10-1, you were there for the Crytsal Palace banana pitch invasion and the Gillingham miracle…
And you, you blowhard, tell me to go and support another club (that’s right Ed, you’ve swerved into the truth…it’s about a CLUB, not a manager, not a chairman, and, ultimately, not about a bunch of here-today-gone-tommorow players), and THAT is YOUR instinctive reaction to anyone who disagrees with you. It’s YOU who are the fake fans, it’s people like you who always have that reaction, unthinking and immediate, it’s YOU Ed who need to pop off somewhere else, it’s you whose instinct is to throw fellow blues under the bus because they happend to think a little differently. Then you tell ME to take a chill pill? Irony Ed.?
BTW Ed, it’s not about HOW much Sven has spent, it’s what he’s done with it. Again, typical leftie thinking, it’s always about throwing money around, innit?
Finally, Ed., I’ve no doubt that you THINK I want Sven out, right? I would love to see how your little grey cells came up with that one.