Are cookie and marwood cocking it up?

[Wooders]

Linked with nasri since the window opened, he still hasn't signed, no joy ridding ourselves of the unwanted few, protracted negotiations over tevez with corinthians that anyone with half a brain knew would never seriously happen and last but not least the debacle over caicedo, sold for 800k this summer by us, moved on for 7 million by them. Add to that a clearly frustrated Mancini
It wouldn't fly at my company, simple as that - what are you're thoughts?

[Beefymcfc]

My thoughts are that if there really is a problem the Chairman and our Custodian will sort it out, they won't suffer fool's easily.

Until Mancini proves, and yes, he still has to prove with the team he's got, then we'll carry on regardless. If he does then he may get more control but only with the agreement of the Sheikh. All part of a club like ours.

[Blue Toy]

It's my understanding that the delays re Nasri aren't down to Cook or Marwood. Indeed they were doing a good job with a very delicate situation until other "stuff" put a spanner in the works a few weeks ago.

[ant london]

Potentially not their finest effort this window

That said, not a disaster. We go Aguero and will get Nasri......yes we could likely have bagged a couple more but really the squad we look like having on 1 Sept is far from a disaster

I wouldn't rule out a new CEO/Chief Exec and a new Marwood but think this will happen over the course of the season. We are now a massive fucking deal in the world of football, we can now attract the best. If the owner thinks that any of the incumbents aren't earning their crust they'll be off

I think they've done OK but definite room for improvement....lots of it

[Beefymcfc]

It's my understanding that the delays re Nasri aren't down to Cook or Marwood. Indeed they were doing a good job with a very delicate situation until other "stuff" put a spanner in the works a few weeks ago.

I don't think that this question has just come from the Nasri deal, but more a perceived element of what hasn't happened with other signings that no-one actually has any inckling of.

It's all about perceptions, not fact.

[zuricity]

No

[Wooders]

You're bang in beefy, i led with the nasri deal but the question was born from a general feeling of unease about how we conduct ourselves in transfers

[Green & Blue]

No i dont think so.
I think this summer Cook and Marwood have had to juggle trying to sign our transfer targets while trying desperately to shake the perception other clubs have of City being a soft touch in the transfer market.Instead of bowing to their demands city are playing it tough with other clubs.

[Moonchesteri]

No i dont think so.
I think this summer Cook and Marwood have had to juggle trying to sign our transfer targets while trying desperately to shake the perception other clubs have of City being a soft touch in the transfer market.Instead of bowing to their demands city are playing it tough with other clubs.

Exactly.
We've thrown money here, there and everywhere for couple of year

[mcfc1632]

No i dont think so.
I think this summer Cook and Marwood have had to juggle trying to sign our transfer targets while trying desperately to shake the perception other clubs have of City being a soft touch in the transfer market.Instead of bowing to their demands city are playing it tough with other clubs.

Exactly.
We've thrown money here, there and everywhere for couple of year

Agreed - what do people expect - this is not some video game - and the money is real

Arse did well out of us for Ade and Kolo - they are probably shocked that we are no longer willing to just be mugged - we need to teach the market that we lead and drive and are not any longer just going to get screwed

Well done to them - Bob is the manager - not the money man

1/ Good deal on Aguero I think
2/ Stood firm on Carlos - well done
3/ Refusing to buckle on Nasri - well done - FFS he is in the last year of his contract - why the fuck should we give Arse in excess of £25m - hold firm and they will do the deal
4/ Hardly Cook and Marwood's fault that the situation has been created where the entire world knows that we will not allow the Eastlands 5 back into the reckoning so we are over a barrel to either give away or even worse give away and pay part of the wages - must be pretty hard to do a good negotiation in those circumstances

[Blue Since 76]

Linked with nasri since the window opened, he still hasn't signed, no joy ridding ourselves of the unwanted few, protracted negotiations over tevez with corinthians that anyone with half a brain knew would never seriously happen and last but not least the debacle over caicedo, sold for 800k this summer by us, moved on for 7 million by them. Add to that a clearly frustrated Mancini
It wouldn't fly at my company, simple as that - what are you're thoughts?

Nasri is down to Arsenal. It's difficult to close a deal with someone who doesn't want to sell, unless you throw really ridiculous amounts of money at it. We probably should have walked, but I assume he's the one Bob wants, hence we're still there

tevez - I don't think the club expected him to go and the Corinthians was all politics and media spin. I'm not sure we were supposed to accept it and I doubt Carlos wanted to go. My thinking is, we would say no, Kia would portray as the bad ones enslaving his poor little boy and then they shout that they needed to go to Inter/Real etc. So well played City

Caicedo - definitely a cock up to loan a reasonable looking player with no control or sell on. However, at the time he went, most would probably have been keen to get rid, as they thought he wasn't up to it. Easy to spot the mistakes in hindsight.

[john@staustell]

I dont think it's strange that the manager should want a player quickly and at any cost, whereas the money men want to get the best deal. It doesn't help that Arsenal are known as 'good sellers', IE they drive a hard bargain too.

The unrest at Arsenal should see this done soon though.

[CityGer]

I wouldn't say they're cocking it up but it's clear that Mancini, rightly or wrongly, isn't happy. That's three times now he's talked about us being behind in terms of our signing targets, he's also talked about the fact he would like more control.

I personally don't have a problem with us being harder to deal with over Nasri, we can't just keep throwing it around. The best example is of our previous dealings with Arsenal. We paid a combined £36Mil for Ade and Kolo and in the region of £25 Mil on wages since. I appreciate that at the time these deals were done we were just entering the fray and had to throw the cash around, but £60Mil for what these two have given us is not sustainable. Also, we've moved on and can attract top players on merit now.

Clubs and agents are going to try and take the piss out of us over fees but we can't let them. We have had to change our approach and if this pisses Bobby off then he needs to wise up, as do any blues who would rather we paid over the odds just to push deals through.

[Wonderwall]

I thought we brought in that ex-Blackburn Chap to oversee this type of stuff? Has he been sat on his thumb since he arrived?

[twosips]

Our previous activity has definitely made things harder for us this summer. It can't be easy now for Marwood and Cook trying to get clubs to take us seriously - it also can't be easy for them when Roberto is stood over there shoulder going 'just give them £2m extra ffs!'

You're damned if you do, you're damned if you don't.

[Esky]

I thought we brought in that ex-Blackburn Chap to oversee this type of stuff? Has he been sat on his thumb since he arrived?

Well we got a good fee for Boateng and sold Given (which had to happen). Still haven't sorted anything for Bridge, Tevez, Bellamy, RSC, Adebayor, Onuoha, SWP, Weiss or Boyata yet though.

Seems to be a bit of myopia with the Nasri deal too; paying 22 million+ to buy out a 10 mouth contract (and again strengthening Arsenal in the process) - doesn't sit well, really.

[Alex Sapphire]

Currently we have 29 "senior players" (Mario's 21st b'day yesterday),
this includes:
Bridge, Onuoaha, Bellamy, RSC, Adebayor who are "not in our plans", SWP who is a "great guy and needs football" so prolly on his way, and Carlito who wants to be somewhere else.

That means we could end up with 22 including Valdimir who may or may not be the standard.

Plus new signings, which is what Brian and Garry are sposed to be doing (?)

John Williams was brought in to get shut of the first five, which is an admission of defeat by Cookie and Marwood, and an activity they seem to have washed their hands of.

So, for me unless they have at least 2 more signings up their sleeves, land Samir, and persuade Carlos to stay (unlikely with their history) and unless Williams makes deals rapidly, they have had a shocker.

and Roberto seems to feel let down by them too:

Mancini said: "If we complete our squad, we can fight for the title this year.

"But that is a problem at the moment because we play our first match in three days.

"It was important to have these players for pre-season because it is there that you prepare for the season. At the moment, we don't have these players. I asked and I hope we can have them this week."

Said it before: there was nothing in Garry's past that suggested he'd be successful in this big job. It's a position we need to strengthen. And Brian is not a world class businessman so prolly ill-equipped to deal at this level.

[blues2win]

Personally I will be furious if the suggested deals for Tevez and Adebayor go through. I would tell Adebayor very clearly that he has two choices. Either play top flight football for say 100,00 a week ( which would likely tempt in Inter or whoever) or play in the reserves till Xmas. We have the money and should make it clear we're not bluffing. I simply do not see the logic of subsidising Twitcher's effort to knock us out of the top four. As for this nonsense of swapping Nasri for Tevez they're having a giraffe. Nasri has one year left on his contract, Tevez has three. Are we going to subsidize Tevez's wages as well so that Arsenal can try and knock us out of the top four? And all so Tevez can be nearer his family. Hah! Again it's up to Tevez. Either play in our first team at top level or lower your wages. I'd be prepared to be flexible on his transfer fee if he'll reduce his salary. Fabregas gave up millions to go to Spain. Let Tevez do the same.

Please no soft deals which strengthen our competition. If Nasri isn't available pdq we should go all out for Sneijder.

[DoomMerchant]

I wouldn't say they're cocking it up but it's clear that Mancini, rightly or wrongly, isn't happy. That's three times now he's talked about us being behind in terms of our signing targets, he's also talked about the fact he would like more control.

I personally don't have a problem with us being harder to deal with over Nasri, we can't just keep throwing it around. The best example is of our previous dealings with Arsenal. We paid a combined £36Mil for Ade and Kolo and in the region of £25 Mil on wages since. I appreciate that at the time these deals were done we were just entering the fray and had to throw the cash around, but £60Mil for what these two have given us is not sustainable. Also, we've moved on and can attract top players on merit now.

Clubs and agents are going to try and take the piss out of us over fees but we can't let them. We have had to change our approach and if this pisses Bobby off then he needs to wise up, as do any blues who would rather we paid over the odds just to push deals through.

what he said.

it's easy to sling some arrows in Cookie or Marwood's direction, but we have to slowly turn the level down to get to a normal negotiating ability with clubs or we will be genuine mugs in the transfer window and only seen as worth their negotiating time if a club can take the piss and ratchet up the value of their players or soak us, neither which we need. Sure sometimes it'll happen, but it can't be the norm. I think Aguero represented great value on his reputation, and we didn't get fucked about it doesn't seem. The other two buys of note this window were squad building buys...and seem solid at face value based on experience, potential and price point.

If we had Nasri this week i doubt anyone would have been bitching. I wouldn't be. I am nervous about that one tho.

as for the porno-tached blackburn fella....moving our dross isn't exactly easy given their wages. Hope he's getting paid by the piece.

cheers

[DoomMerchant]

Personally I will be furious if the suggested deals for Tevez and Adebayor go through. I would tell Adebayor very clearly that he has two choices. Either play top flight football for say 100,00 a week ( which would likely tempt in Inter or whoever) or play in the reserves till Xmas. We have the money and should make it clear we're not bluffing. I simply do not see the logic of subsidising Twitcher's effort to knock us out of the top four. As for this nonsense of swapping Nasri for Tevez they're having a giraffe. Nasri has one year left on his contract, Tevez has three. Are we going to subsidize Tevez's wages as well so that Arsenal can try and knock us out of the top four? And all so Tevez can be nearer his family. Hah! Again it's up to Tevez. Either play in our first team at top level or lower your wages. I'd be prepared to be flexible on his transfer fee if he'll reduce his salary. Fabregas gave up millions to go to Spain. Let Tevez do the same.

Please no soft deals which strengthen our competition. If Nasri isn't available pdq we should go all out for Sneijder.

i don't mind Adebayor going on loan to Spurs if we can't sell him. Can't play vs. us but can play against our rivals? Fine. Better than him on the couch with his feet up. Plus it's one more freaky move in his career and he's sure to blow them up, isn't he? Arse to City to Spurs? he's just a freak without a home and likely to cause a row as soon as things get a tiny bit sideways, isn't he? Or at the least he'll play his bollocks off vs the Arse and the top teams to prove he still has it, etc.