IanBishopsHaircut wrote:Mickey Thomas
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/footbal ... 929522.stm
Ex-Wales and Manchester United star Mickey Thomas hopes the £1 billion Manchester City project fails for the good of football.
Thomas believes most "real" City fans are disillusioned with the constant churning of players including Craig Bellamy's move to Cardiff City.
He said: "I hope it fails, I really do. People talk about Man Utd but they got their money through being successful."
City have spent £130m on six new players this summer.
And it has been estimated that total transfer and wage payments over the past two years has now exceeded £1 billion.
"They [City] are getting rich guys coming in and you can't even identify their players because there are so many changes in personnel at City," Thomas, who works as a media pundit in Manchester, has told Friday's Sport Wales programme.
"City fans are so devastated that Craig Bellamy has left the football club.
"They loved him and they are losing one of their best players because of these changing times in football.
"They just want to keep buying and buying until they get a trophy. If you're a real City fan - a proper City fan - then I think you're disillusioned with it because it's not good.
"At the end of the day, the majority in football - including myself - hope they fail."
ENIAM NAM wrote:One of the biggest tools!
He needs to start worrying about the situation a bit closer to home.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/footbal ... 931026.stm
Manchester United's owners the Glazer family have been hit with a steep rise in their annual debt payments after the club exceeded a limit on their overall borrowings which form part of their controversial PIK loans agreement.
The Glazers used the high interest form of financing to help raise the funds for their £790m takeover in 2005.
But the loans, originally worth £265m and taken out with three hedge funds - Citadel, Och Ziff and Perry Capital - but reduced to £138m as part of a 2006 refinancing, include strict covenants relating to net debt levels and the club's earnings.
Failure to meet the borrowers' terms by 16 August meant the annual interest rose from 14.25% to 16.25%.
Analysts predict the annual payment will now increase to about £38m, up from £25m last year. Because the interest on the loans is "rolled up" and added to the original sum borrowed the Glazers will owe around £267m on the PIK loans by 2011 - almost a £100m increase in only five years.
And although Manchester United are not directly liable for the PIK loans as they sit on the accounts of the club's parent company, Red Football Joint Venture Ltd, the sharp rise will add to fans' concerns over the American family's ownership.
It will also raise fears among supporters that the Glazers will soon use the club's revenues to start paying off the PIK borrowings.
As part of a £504m bond refinancing earlier this year, the Glazers have an option to take £95m out of the club's cash reserves. According to the most recent set of accounts published by United they have £95.9m of cash available.
Duncan Drasdo, a spokesman for Manchester United Supporters Trust (MUST), said: "The Glazers' PR people claim this PIK debt is nothing to do with Manchester United but we believe in the next 12 months accounts will start to show them taking even more money out of our club.
"They've already wasted more on interest and fees than the total sum of all season ticket money paid by every supporter in their entire five year ownership.
"On top of all that how much more will this extra interest cost us? A Chicarito per season? A Rooney over the term of the debt? Imagine what we could achieve if released from the millstone of the Glazers' ownership."
In May the Red Knights group of wealthy fans announced they had put on hold any plans to bid for United, citing the Glazers' asking price of £1.5bn as too high.
french_tony wrote:You are right Micky...I am dissolutioned. How I miss the glory days of the past. I crave for those bleak days in Division Two watching Lee Peacock and Gerry Mason.
I also crave for those days when at best all we could hope for is getting in a good bosman pre-season and hoping we didn't get relegated.
I wish we had never bought Tevez, Ballotelli, SIlva, Adebayor andToure and kept the likes of Sibierski, Samaras and Michael Ball. Those we the good old days.
What a complete bellend.
MaseCTID wrote:
OliverHardy wrote:His comments echo the type of things mass segments of the media are saying at the moment, this being that 'city fans are unhappy with what is happening'.
They can say what they like about the club, they can slate the owners and the players, they can even hope we fail! that is why we live in a free society! BUT they CAN'T put words into City fans mouths to back up what they say!!! It really peed me off, we are seeing it more an more "city fans are disillusioned with what is happening at eastlands", "City fans are livid at favourite Ireland being booted out of the club", its all stinks! why dont they actually come and fucking ask the fans what they think! true there will be some who do have these feelings, but it certainly doesn’t reflect what 'city fans' on the whole think! Watching Soccer Saturday at the moment is like having 4 MCFC fan club reps there, each speaking on 'behalf' of us, each saying that we are at the end of our tethers with the club! ARE WE? IM NOT!
Manx Blue wrote:OliverHardy wrote:His comments echo the type of things mass segments of the media are saying at the moment, this being that 'city fans are unhappy with what is happening'.
They can say what they like about the club, they can slate the owners and the players, they can even hope we fail! that is why we live in a free society! BUT they CAN'T put words into City fans mouths to back up what they say!!! It really peed me off, we are seeing it more an more "city fans are disillusioned with what is happening at eastlands", "City fans are livid at favourite Ireland being booted out of the club", its all stinks! why dont they actually come and fucking ask the fans what they think! true there will be some who do have these feelings, but it certainly doesn’t reflect what 'city fans' on the whole think! Watching Soccer Saturday at the moment is like having 4 MCFC fan club reps there, each speaking on 'behalf' of us, each saying that we are at the end of our tethers with the club! ARE WE? IM NOT!
Put it this way Oliver...we may have a few "disillusioned" brethren amongst us and that is their right.
However I reckon their number is no comparison to the swamp dwellers who are unhappy at the owners which have bought in a variety of silverware since they took over.
Return to The Maine Football forum
Users browsing this forum: Blue In Bolton, city72, Hazy2, Majestic-12 [Bot], salford city, sheblue, Stan and 212 guests