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Think Matthew Syed is 100% correct and one of the more articulate people on Sky in awhile. Shame everyone else on the panel was just echoing soundbites.

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He's right & I recon he's also right about our owner buying City (and NY City) etc for more than just promotional reasons.

I was having that very conversation just a couple of days ago.

What would any fallout from Israel/Iraq have to do with Abu Dhabi?

Foreverinbluedreams wrote:What would any fallout from Israel/Iraq have to do with Abu Dhabi?

Iran. If Iran and Israel go to war will impact the whole region. Have you ever considered what an Iran style islamic revolution in the UAE would do to City?

Socrates wrote:

Foreverinbluedreams wrote:What would any fallout from Israel/Iraq have to do with Abu Dhabi?

Iran. If Iran and Israel go to war will impact the whole region. Have you ever considered what an Iran style islamic revolution in the UAE would do to City?

The UAE have been seriously clever in that 60 odd percent of their GDP now comes from sources other than oil & gas.

But having a high profile here & in the US will certainly help them if the shit ever hits the fan there.

Ted Hughes wrote:

Socrates wrote:

Foreverinbluedreams wrote:What would any fallout from Israel/Iraq have to do with Abu Dhabi?

Iran. If Iran and Israel go to war will impact the whole region. Have you ever considered what an Iran style islamic revolution in the UAE would do to City?

The UAE have been seriously clever in that 60 odd percent of their GDP now comes from sources other than oil & gas.

But having a high profile here & in the US will certainly help them if the shit ever hits the fan there.

Yes, is actually more sensible a reason that just pouring money in to boost their profile for tourism. I always accepted that reason but it always seemed like just part of the story. Whether that means making us the best in the world or just having a high enough profile to be interesting is a point of interest. One would tend to the latter as domination would maybe be counterproductive to their popularity. May be another reason for accepting FFP meekly as limiting their spending means they get better value for money and just the right amount of exposure through winning a share of trophies rather than an overwhelming number.

I have a feeling Mr Matthew Syed may find a horse's head in his bed soon.

I think he is wrong about our owners in the way that at least our owners are looking to the future. I mean look at the academy that is being built and the factor that prevent us from signing Isco etc.
Sheikh Mansour doesn't want to lose too much money and he sacked Mancini as he was "horrible" and wants our youth used more so he must be thinking long term and trying to reduce spending (therefore better budget deficit on the club).
PSG or Chelsea, which have never thought long term. I mean just look at the age their players are and how much wages and money is spent on older players. Without Ramirez or mata there really isn't any other good youths (under 25) in that team at all.

I do however believe it could be for promotional reasons. We shall see.

Building a sustainable model that keeps us high profile and therefore our owner and his country as high profile is not inconsistent with the stated political aims. It actually makes the whole circle of Abu Dhabi promotion make far more sense with the state airline raising its profile, investment companies raising their profile etc etc. It makes the long term nature of the project make sense too, the problems of that region are not going to be solved for many decades if ever.

we've just got the best PR machine in the world.

we are simply customers.

MARKMAKAVELI wrote:we've just got the best PR machine in the world.

we are simply customers.

AMEN

Chinners wrote:

MARKMAKAVELI wrote:we've just got the best PR machine in the world.

we are simply customers.

AMEN

We have always been customers.

We were Swales' customers. He started with a used TV shop & fucked off as a multi millionaire.

Now we actually pay towards a product rather than just handing money over for the sake of it.

We now pay for loyalty ...

Chinners wrote:We now pay for loyalty ...

We don't though.

We (or should I say 'they') just pay extra for the right to be further up the queue to buy more.

It should be call 'knobhead'.

I believe for an extra £50 we do (or can if we so wish) buy a bit of extra loyalty ... pointswise

He makes some good points. The main ones being the motivations of owners and lack of interest in those motivations from fans and the football world. The other about the corrupting influence of excesses of cash.
Truth is though that both those points have always been true. good example of that greasy combed over haired wanker Swales made by Ted.

The only real difference is it is now global with all the effects that has.

In relation to City, Abu Dhabi and the owners, fortune has seen a decent match created. City have tried over the years to maintain some principles to much credit, the owners from all that we see from our end are as correct and proper as you could wish for ( apart from their ability to manage sackings ). For their part in having the vision and political will to develop Abu Dhabi from being reliant solely on oil to diversifying their interests in the way they have, is admirable to the point of wondering if a fucking democracy would have had the wherewithall and concensus to be able to do the same as effectively and quickly - I somehow doubt it. Plus they could have just been lazy cunts and sat on their personal wealth for generations. I think it shows what they are made of.

As for the political aspect.. high profile stuff will help their cause no doubt about it, but it wouldn't save them as such. These guys are not ones for leaving stuff to chance, nor have they got their heads in the sand. They will be fully aware of the belief systems that the region is working under and what that represents to their future progression. There is no doubt they are forward looking, unlike Saudi, and have the look of efficient businessmen. Imo they will have some plans for modernising their state, when and how they can in a cool clearheaded way.
Yes there is obvious personal interest but they are not doing what they are doing solely for themselves, that is the distinct contrast with Abramovich I think.

What a pile of shit! He should stick to table-tennis.

Ted Hughes wrote:
We don't though.

We (or should I say 'they') just pay extra for the right to be further up the queue to buy more.

It should be call 'knobhead'.

Did you know you could join mcf.net as a legend if you fund a certain mods Cypriot holiday or another's move abroad.

Esss normulll.

DoomMerchant wrote:

Ted Hughes wrote:
We don't though.

We (or should I say 'they') just pay extra for the right to be further up the queue to buy more.

It should be call 'knobhead'.

Did you know you could join mcf.net as a legend if you fund a certain mods Cypriot holiday or another's move abroad.

Esss normulll.

Well that's not much of a deal.

I got it just for talking shite about football & saying 'cunt' a lot.

Ted Hughes wrote:

DoomMerchant wrote:

Ted Hughes wrote:
We don't though.

We (or should I say 'they') just pay extra for the right to be further up the queue to buy more.

It should be call 'knobhead'.

Did you know you could join mcf.net as a legend if you fund a certain mods Cypriot holiday or another's move abroad.

Esss normulll.

Well that's not much of a deal.

I got it just for talking shite about football & saying 'cunt' a lot.

I got told I'd better not refuse it this time by my big brother...better listen I thought, he seemed annoyed.