Jordan Rhodes. What a man, what a player.

Can't believe Hull are choking. Watford to nick 2nd next week? Quite possibly. Huge game on now, Peterborough-Sheff Weds.

I'd love it if they fuck it up. Absolutely cannot stand Steve Bruce.

#70864 English Premier League 2012/2013

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27 Apr 2013 14:51:31

By Portaloo | Permalink | On 27 April 2013 - 14:37 PM

Calamity Hart

He has been disastrous this year.

#70784 Transfer Rumours 2013/14

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27 Apr 2013 10:00:41

Apparently Dortmund have signed Kevin de Bruyne for €15m. Not a bad replacement for Gotze.

#70702 English Premier League 2012/2013

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26 Apr 2013 18:30:27

By Portaloo | Permalink | On 26 April 2013 - 19:13 PM

It's the way he orchestrated his own departure, that he forced Wenger's hand, which is what pisses me off most.

Out of interest, would you feel the same way about Fabregas? He did the same thing and, arguably, put Arsenal in a worse position.

#70624 Welcome to Goodison Park

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26 Apr 2013 09:14:36

Yeah, that looks shit.

#70513 Old Trafford Lounge

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25 Apr 2013 15:08:04

As new logo's go, that looks pretty good.

#70453 Old Trafford Lounge

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25 Apr 2013 09:50:54

A one-legged Nemanja Vidic > Phil Jones

#70394 UEFA Champions League 2012 - 2013 Thread

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24 Apr 2013 21:44:08

Few things funnier than Real getting spanked

#70393 Old Trafford Lounge

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24 Apr 2013 21:42:32

Yeah Bebé wasn't one of Fergie's choices; Jorge Mendes picked him.

#70259 English Premier League 2012/2013

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24 Apr 2013 14:00:10

Suárez has got a 10-game ban.

#70089 Transfer Rumours 2013/14

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23 Apr 2013 16:30:24

By The Platypus | Permalink | On 23 April 2013 - 17:26 PM

Bayern are cool. So are Dortmund. Leverkusen are alright too.

Basically I'm saying that Germany is much cooler than England.

This is why nobody takes Denmark seriously.

#70079 Transfer Rumours 2013/14

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23 Apr 2013 15:40:26

By Telegram Sam | Permalink | On 23 April 2013 - 15:31 PM

I'd argue that Bayern's transfer policy is not to dissimilar from Manchester City, and that the only real difference is that Bayern are by far and away the most powerful club in Germany, whilst City can't express the same sort of authority in the Premier League because of the presence of United, Chelsea and, to a lesser extent, Arsenal and Liverpool. Bayern are wanting to strengthen their squad each summer just as City do, except they're able to do so with greater ease due to their superior stature and finances in comparison with the Bundesliga. It seems to be an issue with the different dynamics of the Premier League and the Bundesliga, rather than differing transfer policies between Bayern and City. As I said before, City would be perfectly comfortable buying from their rivals and undermining the growth of the league if they were able to do so, but they can't due to other big teams in England.

With regards to your second point, you can go ahead and include Gael Clichy's transfer as well Nasri's as he was an important part of our side when you bought him. Furthermore, you certainly tried to get John Terry as I previously said, even if you eventually failed and he signed a new contract with Chelsea. Also, are Schalke and Stuttgart even realistic contenders for the Bundesliga? Not consistently, anyway. If you're going to use the signings of Neuer and Gomez as examples of Bayern trying to weaken the opposition and stifle the growth of the league, it's fair to compare your acquisitions of Gareth Barry and James Milner when Aston Villa were still a side pushing for Europe, along with signing Joleon Lescott and Jack Rodwell from Everton. If you're going to mention Bayern buying from Stuttgart and Schalke then I'd say it's more than fair enough to compare that to City purchasing players from Aston Villa and Everton.

You could argue that but you'd be wrong (and in the same sentence you've basically proved my point that City and Bayern are entirely different with the only thing in common being that they both spend quite a lot of money on transfers). City don't have a long record of consistently buying their rivals best player in a bid to eliminate them as competition. I'm not arguing about what City would like to do, I'm talking purely one what they have done.

Clichy doesn't count for several reasons:

He wasn't poached/sold reluctantly, Arsenal were already trying to sell him, Liverpool were the frontrunners iirc.
He wasn't your best player, let alone one of your best players
His departure didn't weaken Arsenal to the extent that they had to aim lower.

One of the main reasons Schalke and Stuttgart aren't realistic contenders for the Bundesliga is because Bayern bought their best players when they were trying to establish themselves as consistent title challengers.

Admittedly it could be said City did the same to Aston Villa but that would be inaccurate. Villa were never title challengers, at their peak they were challenging for a CL spot. Besides which their main struggle in that period wasn't losing Barry or Milner it was the series of poor, costly signings by Martin O'Neill followed by the highly misguided appointments of first Houllier and then McLeish, who both left terrible legacies behind. Finally there's a decentargument that Aston Villa falling away from CL contention hasn't had much of a bearing on the quality of the Premier League anyway. As for Everton, Rodwell is inconsequential, he barely played in his last season at Everton so how his departure could have such a negative impact I don't know, Lescott might be, I'm not too sure tbh, my memory of that particular saga is shaky.

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23 Apr 2013 13:54:39

By KEV0 | Permalink | On 23 April 2013 - 14:14 PM

I haven't seen the comments on account of the shit sports news in Australia.

I was simply saying he has been very impressive.

He said that based on his recent performances Jones could end up being United's best ever player.

#70042 Transfer Rumours 2013/14

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23 Apr 2013 13:46:58

I was going to do a proper reply but I got bored, so this is it:

By Telegram Sam | Permalink | On 23 April 2013 - 12:24 PM

You're coming dangerously close to sound extremely hypocritical here, as I can't see an awful lot of difference between Bayern and Manchester City when it comes to their transfer policies. You make the point that City have never poached a player from their direct rivals, but am I right in thinking that you came close to luring John Terry away from Chelsea in 2009? Wayne Rooney in 2010? I get the impression that City would buy from United or Chelsea in a heartbeat if they could, but they just haven't been successful in doing so at this point. Also, I know people like to scoff at the idea of Arsenal being regarded as title challengers these days, but you bought Adebayor from us in 2009 despite the fact we finished six places ahead of you, and Nasri from us in 2011 when we ended up 3 points behind you due to our end of season collapse.

If you think that then you're missing my point. I'm not saying Bayern are evil for buying a player off a direct rival or even because they have too much money. I'm saying Bayern are bad for the Bundesliga because they consistently pick off their current rival's best players in a bid to strengthen themselves and weaken their opponents and in doing so cementing their place at the top of the pack whilst undermining the growth of the league in general. (Gabrielle Marcotti has done a fair more eloquent piece on it here.)

City may have spent a lot of money on players and I'm sure we'd be happy to buy some of our rivals best players but only one of our signings has directly led to a rival weakening to a position where it is a detriment to the league. For the record, that's Samir Nasri because his departure (as well as Cesc's) were a major cause in the 2011/12 title race only being a two horse race. Bayern on the other hand have a long history of buying their direct rivals best player, just in the last few years they've bought Manuel Neuer from Schalke and Mario Gomez from Stuttgart.

#70027 Old Trafford Lounge

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23 Apr 2013 12:15:54

Maybe?

#69996 Transfer Rumours 2013/14

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23 Apr 2013 08:59:31

By JCash3000 | Permalink | On 23 April 2013 - 09:57 AM

They dont undermine the overall quality of German football at all. Almost every german player they bought already was or went on to become a national team player.
Exeptions like Rau, Sternkopf or Schlaudraff just confirm the rule. Those were just not good enough , neither for Bayern, nor for the NT.
They weaken their rivals, thats obvious. But not the NT.

That was poorly-phrased on my part, I didn't mean the national-team, I meant German domestic football - i.e. the Bundesliga.