MOTD - Media Bias Against City

[Ted Hughes]

I have joined a couple of City fan forums for the first time in the last couple of days after reading all the hysteria and flak my fantastic , unique and beloved football club MCFC has recieved from many quarters and yes sadly flak from within its own ranks. A couple of view points from myself ......

We are the champions of England and we are there to be shot at from every aspect of the media , whether it is scouse bias , rag bias or cockney bias it doesnt matter thats the way the world is and we all as City fans will have to live with it and learn how to cope with it . There does seem to be a campaign imho to de stablize bobby mancs fantastic work and achievements over the last couple of years , the very work which has brought incredible success to my beloved football club and made dreams come true which i thought would never happen in my lifetime. One bad night in Amsterdam thats all it was , everything that could go wrong did go wrong , it happens and it has happened to every other top club in europe / england many times over the years including Barca / Madrid ! Bayern lost the CL final in there own back yard with an abject performance against an inferior Chelsea side didnt they ?
Lastly has any English Premier League side gone on to become better than the modern Barcelonas and Real Madrid,s of this world ??? The answer is no ..... dont let certain sections of the media use MCFC and our wealth to destroy everything that has been put in place at our fantastic unique club in the last few years ...... there are a lot of jealous people out there !

Excellent post, mate. There does seem to be a concerted effort to get Mancini out of the door at the moment, with the Mirror (owners of the MuEN) contributing their bit this morning, apparently.

I don't want him sacked at all but imo at the moment, just like Vincent Kompany (who I don't want sacked either) he is fucking useless & deserves every bit of criticism coming his way. It's about time both of them got their fucking act together.

I haven't even seen match of the day, but the only positives from that game imo, were the workrate of Barry & Clichy, the saves by Hart & the fantastic performance by Tevez. Every other player (except Mario) was utter shite & the manager was a fucking joke.

It was truly apalling & I fully excpect the media to mention it. Also, if you appoint all of Barca's backroom staff, it's hardly surprising that Pep Guardiola gets linked. After reading a recent interview with Cheeky Buggerstain, the bloke thinks Pep is G.O.D.

Bob is on thin ice.

[Cocacolajojo1]

I have joined a couple of City fan forums for the first time in the last couple of days after reading all the hysteria and flak my fantastic , unique and beloved football club MCFC has recieved from many quarters and yes sadly flak from within its own ranks. A couple of view points from myself ......

We are the champions of England and we are there to be shot at from every aspect of the media , whether it is scouse bias , rag bias or cockney bias it doesnt matter thats the way the world is and we all as City fans will have to live with it and learn how to cope with it . There does seem to be a campaign imho to de stablize bobby mancs fantastic work and achievements over the last couple of years , the very work which has brought incredible success to my beloved football club and made dreams come true which i thought would never happen in my lifetime. One bad night in Amsterdam thats all it was , everything that could go wrong did go wrong , it happens and it has happened to every other top club in europe / england many times over the years including Barca / Madrid ! Bayern lost the CL final in there own back yard with an abject performance against an inferior Chelsea side didnt they ?
Lastly has any English Premier League side gone on to become better than the modern Barcelonas and Real Madrid,s of this world ??? The answer is no ..... dont let certain sections of the media use MCFC and our wealth to destroy everything that has been put in place at our fantastic unique club in the last few years ...... there are a lot of jealous people out there !

Good post mate!

I've got a question though. I agree with you that as champions, City and the club's fans need to get used to being at the center of criticism. We all love it when one of the establishment falls down. However, when United temporarily overtook City in the league last spring, even I as a non-british person were surprised at how the media were.... I don't really know how to put it... not celebrating but perhaps admiring Fergie and United and how they once again had triumphed (although the league wasn't finished).

So when it comes to United, there wasn't the same type of sniping at the (percieved) winner. Moreover, the media did not seem the slightest bothered about the fact that the same team once again was winning the league. I.E. rooting for the underdog or a new champion didn't seem that important, which to some extent hints that your idea about champions facing more critizism, doesn't really add up when it comes to United.

I even started a thread about it at the time because I was so surprised about the praise United got for once again pulling back and winning (but they didn't) the league. I don't think the nature of the press coverage would have happened in many other countries, at least I don't think so. Don't get me wrong, of course such an event should be written and talked about. But I do think the degree of admiration was over the top and to some extent... absurd. The PL prides itself for being competetive. Is it not then something sad when the same team wins it over and over again? The press didn't seem to mind. IMO, that was weird.

[s1ty m]

I have joined a couple of City fan forums for the first time in the last couple of days after reading all the hysteria and flak my fantastic , unique and beloved football club MCFC has recieved from many quarters and yes sadly flak from within its own ranks. A couple of view points from myself ......

We are the champions of England and we are there to be shot at from every aspect of the media , whether it is scouse bias , rag bias or cockney bias it doesnt matter thats the way the world is and we all as City fans will have to live with it and learn how to cope with it . There does seem to be a campaign imho to de stablize bobby mancs fantastic work and achievements over the last couple of years , the very work which has brought incredible success to my beloved football club and made dreams come true which i thought would never happen in my lifetime. One bad night in Amsterdam thats all it was , everything that could go wrong did go wrong , it happens and it has happened to every other top club in europe / england many times over the years including Barca / Madrid ! Bayern lost the CL final in there own back yard with an abject performance against an inferior Chelsea side didnt they ?
Lastly has any English Premier League side gone on to become better than the modern Barcelonas and Real Madrid,s of this world ??? The answer is no ..... dont let certain sections of the media use MCFC and our wealth to destroy everything that has been put in place at our fantastic unique club in the last few years ...... there are a lot of jealous people out there !

Excellent post, mate. There does seem to be a concerted effort to get Mancini out of the door at the moment, with the Mirror (owners of the MuEN) contributing their bit this morning, apparently.

I don't want him sacked at all but imo at the moment, just like Vincent Kompany (who I don't want sacked either) he is fucking useless & deserves every bit of criticism coming his way. It's about time both of them got their fucking act together.

I haven't even seen match of the day, but the only positives from that game imo, were the workrate of Barry & Clichy, the saves by Hart & the fantastic performance by Tevez. Every other player (except Mario) was utter shite & the manager was a fucking joke.

It was truly apalling & I fully excpect the media to mention it. Also, if you appoint all of Barca's backroom staff, it's hardly surprising that Pep Guardiola gets linked. After reading a recent interview with Cheeky Buggerstain, the bloke thinks Pep is G.O.D.

Bob is on thin ice.

That is my perception too, Ted. Stacking up with the Barca team suggest that Guardiola is waiting in the wings. Whilst I think sacking Mancini would be wrong, right now, I would not be surprised if he goes at the end of the season, not surprised one bit. Of course, should we win the league, I doubt he'd be sacked. That said, can you really see City winning the league as it stands today? It is a mess and Mancini is thrashing about. Undefeated and 2nd is masking the mess. I think it is about the owners perceiving someone else, ie Guardiola, as being the person to take us to the next level. There is reasonable evidence to suggest Mancini can't. No conclusive, but reasonable.

[Ted Hughes]

I have joined a couple of City fan forums for the first time in the last couple of days after reading all the hysteria and flak my fantastic , unique and beloved football club MCFC has recieved from many quarters and yes sadly flak from within its own ranks. A couple of view points from myself ......

We are the champions of England and we are there to be shot at from every aspect of the media , whether it is scouse bias , rag bias or cockney bias it doesnt matter thats the way the world is and we all as City fans will have to live with it and learn how to cope with it . There does seem to be a campaign imho to de stablize bobby mancs fantastic work and achievements over the last couple of years , the very work which has brought incredible success to my beloved football club and made dreams come true which i thought would never happen in my lifetime. One bad night in Amsterdam thats all it was , everything that could go wrong did go wrong , it happens and it has happened to every other top club in europe / england many times over the years including Barca / Madrid ! Bayern lost the CL final in there own back yard with an abject performance against an inferior Chelsea side didnt they ?
Lastly has any English Premier League side gone on to become better than the modern Barcelonas and Real Madrid,s of this world ??? The answer is no ..... dont let certain sections of the media use MCFC and our wealth to destroy everything that has been put in place at our fantastic unique club in the last few years ...... there are a lot of jealous people out there !

Excellent post, mate. There does seem to be a concerted effort to get Mancini out of the door at the moment, with the Mirror (owners of the MuEN) contributing their bit this morning, apparently.

I don't want him sacked at all but imo at the moment, just like Vincent Kompany (who I don't want sacked either) he is fucking useless & deserves every bit of criticism coming his way. It's about time both of them got their fucking act together.

I haven't even seen match of the day, but the only positives from that game imo, were the workrate of Barry & Clichy, the saves by Hart & the fantastic performance by Tevez. Every other player (except Mario) was utter shite & the manager was a fucking joke.

It was truly apalling & I fully excpect the media to mention it. Also, if you appoint all of Barca's backroom staff, it's hardly surprising that Pep Guardiola gets linked. After reading a recent interview with Cheeky Buggerstain, the bloke thinks Pep is G.O.D.

Bob is on thin ice.

That is my perception too, Ted. Stacking up with the Barca team suggest that Guardiola is waiting in the wings. Whilst I think sacking Mancini would be wrong, right now, I would not be surprised if he goes at the end of the season, not surprised one bit. Of course, should we win the league, I doubt he'd be sacked. That said, can you really see City winning the league as it stands today? It is a mess and Mancini is thrashing about. Undefeated and 2nd is masking the mess. I think it is about the owners perceiving someone else, ie Guardiola, as being the person to take us to the next level. There is reasonable evidence to suggest Mancini can't. No conclusive, but reasonable.

I CAN see City winning the league tbh because Bob has been absolutely fucking hopeless this season, as has our captain, but in the Prem, the quality & determination of the players is such that they keep winning in spite of the manager & captain helping the opposition on a regular basis. We know that both Vinny & Bob are much much better than their performances so far & common sense suggests that both will get their act together. I don't think it's media hype to suggest that Bob HAS to get his act together though because there's only so much turd polishing the players can do. If he doesn't sort himself out soon, the defeats will start to happen. He can't go through the season dicking about like this & stay in a job. Before, perhaps he could have, but not any more; these blokes will have him out.

[mcfc1632]

This thread should just be general media bias - remove the specific MOTD bit

Stuff like this must be pre-planned surely - and is not a one-off:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gL8DUuYbMYg

Also watching sunday supplement recently I have been amazed how we are simply not mentioned - almost as if we do not exist - or they have nothing negative to say.

So, was I surprised (no) this morning that these reorganisation announcement are commented upon in a manner more relating to issues with Mancinni, lead my a mirror piece - "back me or sack me" - CL issues and comments about player dissent, Just as well the panel was made up of some of the more 'sensible' journos - some of the others would have been frothing at the mouth

Henry winter has been culivated by CITY and the response is clear - we should actively cultivate some and fuck others off - it has worked elsewhere

[King Kev]

This thread should just be general media bias - remove the specific MOTD bit

It started off being about Match Of The Day then evolved into the broader subject of media bias.
I changed the title to try and reflect this.

[City64]

I have joined a couple of City fan forums for the first time in the last couple of days after reading all the hysteria and flak my fantastic , unique and beloved football club MCFC has recieved from many quarters and yes sadly flak from within its own ranks. A couple of view points from myself ......

We are the champions of England and we are there to be shot at from every aspect of the media , whether it is scouse bias , rag bias or cockney bias it doesnt matter thats the way the world is and we all as City fans will have to live with it and learn how to cope with it . There does seem to be a campaign imho to de stablize bobby mancs fantastic work and achievements over the last couple of years , the very work which has brought incredible success to my beloved football club and made dreams come true which i thought would never happen in my lifetime. One bad night in Amsterdam thats all it was , everything that could go wrong did go wrong , it happens and it has happened to every other top club in europe / england many times over the years including Barca / Madrid ! Bayern lost the CL final in there own back yard with an abject performance against an inferior Chelsea side didnt they ?
Lastly has any English Premier League side gone on to become better than the modern Barcelonas and Real Madrid,s of this world ??? The answer is no ..... dont let certain sections of the media use MCFC and our wealth to destroy everything that has been put in place at our fantastic unique club in the last few years ...... there are a lot of jealous people out there !

Excellent post, mate. There does seem to be a concerted effort to get Mancini out of the door at the moment, with the Mirror (owners of the MuEN) contributing their bit this morning, apparently.

Thanks mate and all the others.

Just watched Sunday Supplement and was expecting more gloom and doom but was surprisingly refreshed and enlightend by Henry Winter who was cool calm and collected in his assesment of City and Mancini right now . His assesment being City are the champions of England , they have the best squad in the prem , Ajax played very well and no one has given Ajax any credit whatsoever and the CL is a very tough nut to crack ! Oh ans Mancini is going nowhere this season even with the barca lot moving in upstairs !

Im off for a pint and a relax ...... :)

[mcfc1632]

This thread should just be general media bias - remove the specific MOTD bit

It started off being about Match Of The Day then evolved into the broader subject of media bias.
I changed the title to try and reflect this.

Ah - my bad (that is me trying to seem less than my 55 years)

[Beefymcfc]

So, just so I can get this straight Ted, you are saying that Pep is on his way because we now have the Barca men in place. But if Mancini wins the league he'll still be waiting in the wings until Mancini fucks up.

That about right mate?

[Ted Hughes]

This thread should just be general media bias - remove the specific MOTD bit

Stuff like this must be pre-planned surely - and is not a one-off:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gL8DUuYbMYg

Also watching sunday supplement recently I have been amazed how we are simply not mentioned - almost as if we do not exist - or they have nothing negative to say.

So, was I surprised (no) this morning that these reorganisation announcement are commented upon in a manner more relating to issues with Mancinni, lead my a mirror piece - "back me or sack me" - CL issues and comments about player dissent, Just as well the panel was made up of some of the more 'sensible' journos - some of the others would have been frothing at the mouth

Henry winter has been culivated by CITY and the response is clear - we should actively cultivate some and fuck others off - it has worked elsewhere

We have him & Martin Samuel who give us a fair press. They will slate us when we deserve it (Samuel called us a laughing stock after Wed) but when we do things right, they give us credit. That is how it should be. Both support other teams, but they do their jobs as sports journos rather than kissing the arse of rags, scousers etc like most. Stuart Brennan also does a fair job imo, in spite of his past. He just slips up occasionally, like last week, but it doesn't happen often.

In the national media, there are few journos who I rate, or trust to do an honest job. Most, even respected ones, let their own personal feelings cloud their judgement rather than being even handed.

[King Kev]

Thanks mate and all the others.

Just watched Sunday Supplement and was expecting more gloom and doom but was surprisingly refreshed and enlightend by Henry Winter who was cool calm and collected in his assesment of City and Mancini right now . His assesment being City are the champions of England , they have the best squad in the prem , Ajax played very well and no one has given Ajax any credit whatsoever and the CL is a very tough nut to crack ! Oh ans Mancini is going nowhere this season even with the barca lot moving in upstairs !

Im off for a pint and a relax ...... :)

Henry Winter is the exception that proves the rule. He is just about the only member of the national press who is capable of giving a fair and sensible opinion on City.

[Mikhail Chigorin]

I have joined a couple of City fan forums for the first time in the last couple of days after reading all the hysteria and flak my fantastic , unique and beloved football club MCFC has recieved from many quarters and yes sadly flak from within its own ranks. A couple of view points from myself ......

We are the champions of England and we are there to be shot at from every aspect of the media , whether it is scouse bias , rag bias or cockney bias it doesnt matter thats the way the world is and we all as City fans will have to live with it and learn how to cope with it . There does seem to be a campaign imho to de stablize bobby mancs fantastic work and achievements over the last couple of years , the very work which has brought incredible success to my beloved football club and made dreams come true which i thought would never happen in my lifetime. One bad night in Amsterdam thats all it was , everything that could go wrong did go wrong , it happens and it has happened to every other top club in europe / england many times over the years including Barca / Madrid ! Bayern lost the CL final in there own back yard with an abject performance against an inferior Chelsea side didnt they ?
Lastly has any English Premier League side gone on to become better than the modern Barcelonas and Real Madrid,s of this world ??? The answer is no ..... dont let certain sections of the media use MCFC and our wealth to destroy everything that has been put in place at our fantastic unique club in the last few years ...... there are a lot of jealous people out there !

Good post mate!

I've got a question though. I agree with you that as champions, City and the club's fans need to get used to being at the center of criticism. We all love it when one of the establishment falls down. However, when United temporarily overtook City in the league last spring, even I as a non-british person were surprised at how the media were.... I don't really know how to put it... not celebrating but perhaps admiring Fergie and United and how they once again had triumphed (although the league wasn't finished).

So when it comes to United, there wasn't the same type of sniping at the (percieved) winner. Moreover, the media did not seem the slightest bothered about the fact that the same team once again was winning the league. I.E. rooting for the underdog or a new champion didn't seem that important, which to some extent hints that your idea about champions facing more critizism, doesn't really add up when it comes to United.

I even started a thread about it at the time because I was so surprised about the praise United got for once again pulling back and winning (but they didn't) the league. I don't think the nature of the press coverage would have happened in many other countries, at least I don't think so. Don't get me wrong, of course such an event should be written and talked about. But I do think the degree of admiration was over the top and to some extent... absurd. The PL prides itself for being competetive. Is it not then something sad when the same team wins it over and over again? The press didn't seem to mind. IMO, that was weird.

As a complete contrast to the media's biased stance, just remember how the Sunderland fans behaved, on the last day of the season, when they realised we'd triumphed over the Scum.

If anything, that just emphasised the complete lack of objectivity, with regard to ourselves, in all sections of the media.

[Cocacolajojo1]

I have joined a couple of City fan forums for the first time in the last couple of days after reading all the hysteria and flak my fantastic , unique and beloved football club MCFC has recieved from many quarters and yes sadly flak from within its own ranks. A couple of view points from myself ......

We are the champions of England and we are there to be shot at from every aspect of the media , whether it is scouse bias , rag bias or cockney bias it doesnt matter thats the way the world is and we all as City fans will have to live with it and learn how to cope with it . There does seem to be a campaign imho to de stablize bobby mancs fantastic work and achievements over the last couple of years , the very work which has brought incredible success to my beloved football club and made dreams come true which i thought would never happen in my lifetime. One bad night in Amsterdam thats all it was , everything that could go wrong did go wrong , it happens and it has happened to every other top club in europe / england many times over the years including Barca / Madrid ! Bayern lost the CL final in there own back yard with an abject performance against an inferior Chelsea side didnt they ?
Lastly has any English Premier League side gone on to become better than the modern Barcelonas and Real Madrid,s of this world ??? The answer is no ..... dont let certain sections of the media use MCFC and our wealth to destroy everything that has been put in place at our fantastic unique club in the last few years ...... there are a lot of jealous people out there !

Good post mate!

I've got a question though. I agree with you that as champions, City and the club's fans need to get used to being at the center of criticism. We all love it when one of the establishment falls down. However, when United temporarily overtook City in the league last spring, even I as a non-british person were surprised at how the media were.... I don't really know how to put it... not celebrating but perhaps admiring Fergie and United and how they once again had triumphed (although the league wasn't finished).

So when it comes to United, there wasn't the same type of sniping at the (percieved) winner. Moreover, the media did not seem the slightest bothered about the fact that the same team once again was winning the league. I.E. rooting for the underdog or a new champion didn't seem that important, which to some extent hints that your idea about champions facing more critizism, doesn't really add up when it comes to United.

I even started a thread about it at the time because I was so surprised about the praise United got for once again pulling back and winning (but they didn't) the league. I don't think the nature of the press coverage would have happened in many other countries, at least I don't think so. Don't get me wrong, of course such an event should be written and talked about. But I do think the degree of admiration was over the top and to some extent... absurd. The PL prides itself for being competetive. Is it not then something sad when the same team wins it over and over again? The press didn't seem to mind. IMO, that was weird.

As a complete contrast to the media's biased stance, just remember how the Sunderland fans behaved, on the last day of the season, when they realised we'd triumphed over the Scum.

If anything, that just emphasised the complete lack of objectivity, with regard to ourselves, in all sections of the media.

Or the QPR-support at our ground!

[Cocacolajojo1]

Let's play a little game:

publish links to MEN articles which are clearly biased against City and we'll get a league table going. For fun we could see if there are any equally biased against them and gather evidence of the bias that some see and some don't.
Whos first?

To get your game going, here's a positive article that I found thanks to Ted:

http://menmedia.co.uk/manchestereveningnews/sport/football/manchester_city/s/1592340_stuart-brennans-match-report-city-1-swansea-0

You have to keep score now Alex.

[Cocacolajojo1]

Let's play a little game:

publish links to MEN articles which are clearly biased against City and we'll get a league table going. For fun we could see if there are any equally biased against them and gather evidence of the bias that some see and some don't.
Whos first?

To get your game going, here's a positive article that I found thanks to Ted:

http://menmedia.co.uk/manchestereveningnews/sport/football/manchester_city/s/1592340_stuart-brennans-match-report-city-1-swansea-0

You have to keep score now Alex.

I don't know if this can result in any points but the MEN did not print any stories regarding the so called 'unrest' in the squad. Surely that has to be counted as a positive point?

[Alex Sapphire]

Let's play a little game:

publish links to MEN articles which are clearly biased against City and we'll get a league table going. For fun we could see if there are any equally biased against them and gather evidence of the bias that some see and some don't.
Whos first?

To get your game going, here's a positive article that I found thanks to Ted:

http://menmedia.co.uk/manchestereveningnews/sport/football/manchester_city/s/1592340_stuart-brennans-match-report-city-1-swansea-0

You have to keep score now Alex.

I don't know if this can result in any points but the MEN did not print any stories regarding the so called 'unrest' in the squad. Surely that has to be counted as a positive point?

good start.
1 nil to the "balanced" view
There must be some great examples of bias though so let's be having you

[mcfc1632]

feels/sounds a bit like clutching at straws to try and find a way in which the paper is/has been positive to CITY

Does not surprise me that averagely positive things have to be dressed up - but for a whole lot of us this will not dent the hard shell of disregard we have for the paper which has been developed over decades of 'hard evidence'

Edited to muse - I wonder how objective tonight's paper will be in reporting the events of yesterday?

[Alex Sapphire]

feels/sounds a bit like clutching at straws to try and find a way in which the paper is/has been positive to CITY

Does not surprise me that averagely positive things have to be dressed up - but for a whole lot of us this will not dent the hard shell of disregard we have for the paper which has been developed over decades of 'hard evidence'

Edited to muse - I wonder how objective tonight's paper will be in reporting the events of yesterday?

tonights paper will be a great opportunity to get one in for the pro Rag bias camp presumably.

I missed out on reading MEN as a kid but the last 25 years it has been my paper for local football reporting and as ypou'll have guessed I think it's given a satisfying amount of prominence to a team that over that period was mostly not "the best team in the land and all the world"

I just would like to see the "hard evidence"

[carl_feedthegoat]

I see they chose to rip into Vincent Kompany again.

It seems strange to pick out a defender for criticism after his team have just kept a clean sheet, won the match and gone 2nd in the league but I suppose it keeps them in a job.

And Nasty never recieved any criticism on here by our own fans after the match did he.

Oh wait.......

[carl_feedthegoat]

ALAN SHEARER

This surprised me !

HAVE I missed something over the last two months.
Have Manchester City slipped into a relegation battle and Roberto Mancini forgotten the art of management.
There are plenty of things in this game that leave me shaking my head.
But the criticism and questioning of Mancini and his methods over this past week have almost made me pull a muscle in my neck.
So I have done a bit of checking and, yes, he did deliver the club’s first trophy in 35 years with the FA Cup.
Yep, he won the league too, the first time City had done that in 44 years.
There is also a Community Shield thrown in there after beating Chelsea — playing three at the back by the way.
They are currently on a 15-game unbeaten league run dating back to last season.
But the results in Europe have not been what people would have wanted.
Now I know from my own experiences with Blackburn how difficult the Champions League is.
Last season City were in a tough group and were very unfortunate not to qualify from it with 10 points.
This season it is even tougher with the champions of Spain, Germany and Holland. It does not follow that the champions of England should walk it.
More so champions with just one season’s experience in the competition.
When Rovers entered the competition after winning the title in 1995 we were in an unglamorous group with Spartak Moscow, Rosenborg and Legia Warsaw.
We struggled badly and went out.
It is a totally different game. What struck me most at that level was the ball retention of the opposition.
You have to learn and adapt your game.
Just look how long it took Manchester United to do so and be successful in the competition.
City will learn.
People have used the millions spent at the club as a stick to beat them and the manager with.
There is no football fan out there who would not love his club to be in the same position.
But the big spending brings its own pressures too — of expectation and having to keep a squad of big-name, big-money players happy.
We saw that last season with the Carlos Tevez affair.
You would think City were the first club to ever spend big.
We did at Blackburn, relatively speaking, and just look how much Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea have shelled out down the years to be successful.
It is true City have not had the explosive start to their league campaign as last season.
But, again, being champions can be tough. Everyone raises their game that bit more. It is something United have handled so well for so long.
At Blackburn we struggled the season after winning.
We took only four points from our first six games and ended up finishing seventh.
Ray Harford had taken over from Kenny Dalglish and wanted to give all the players who had won that title a chance. Looking back that was a mistake and I think Ray admitted it himself because you need to strengthen in this game when you are at your strongest.
It was something Mancini identified himself and why he was frustrated that he did not get the big names in he wanted.
Having said that, just look where they are in the table.
Right in the mix in a three-horse race for the title with Chelsea and Manchester United.
In there without yet playing their best.
Mancini has done a great job since he took over at City and continues to do so.