Selected City Tricasts: Early Preview, There's only one League Trophy

SPONSORED POST By Tamhas Woods

Two great Coaches, two superlative minds, but only one Premier League trophy – Manchester simply isn’t big enough for Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola.

Not since the eve of the 2012/13 season has there been such a hotly anticipated title fight between City and their neighbours, and Pep’s revolution already appears to have significant momentum. Ilkay Gundogan and the lightning-fast Nolito are both signings that reflect a true desire from Guardiola to take City to the next level, and possibly the very stratosphere of Europe.

As a result, bookmakers have wasted no time in declaring the two Manchester clubs as front runners in Tricast markets.

The new season begins on 13th August. For the latest Man City odds, visit Betfair (Betfair Casino).

With an unrivaled war chest, City are naturally the outright favorites to finish above United – an act which should see Guardiola’s new club claim a third BPL title. As ever though, winning a title is always easier said than done, and with another new element from the capital, gamblers are set to be guessing until the very end of the upcoming season.

CITY/UNITED/CHELSEA OR ARSENAL – 33/1 CHELSEA/CITY/UNITED – 40/1

For either Manchester club to win the title with the other finishing second, and Chelsea or Arsenal to complete the top three, any combination is currently priced at around 33/1. However, with no European football for Chelsea, and the refreshing influence of Antonio Conte, odds for an immediate return of the title to West London have shortened with disquieting pace.

Naturally, so too have the odds for Chelsea finishing third or better tumbled. The acquisition of N’Golo Kante from Leicester will improve the balance between flair and workmanship, and such balance is an important element of any title winning squad – nobody can deny that it was sadly lacking at Stamford Bridge in 2015/16.

Meanwhile, Arsenal’s consistent challenge for a top three berth makes them a natural consideration in any Tricast, but a notable section of the Gunners faithful have voiced discontent at the continued employment of Wenger at Ashburton Grove.

This discontent clearly affected the players at key moments in 2015/16, a season which many would argue was a huge opportunity lost for Arsene Wenger’s men. Such were Arsenal’s shortcomings last season, not even a league double over Leicester could prevent the Foxes from winning the title at what was eventually a 10-point canter.

With Arsenal the only top club apparently shying away some much-needed drastic changes, there is the ever-present danger that the Gunners will be consigned once again to that famous fourth place in May 2017.

CITY/UNITED/TOTTENHAM – 40/1 CITY/TOTTENHAM/UNITED – 50/1 CITY/CHELSEA/TOTTENHAM – 66/1

All set for another Champions League adventure, Mauricio Pochettino has an able young Tottenham squad, all of whom are at (or nearing) the peak of their playing careers. Since none of them are showing any sign of moving elsewhere in the near future, many punters will be tempted to back them for another top three finish.

By a quirk of the fixture list, there is further ammunition in favor of Tottenham. They have a home game against none other than Manchester City after Matchday 2 of the upcoming Champions League, assuming that City themselves avoid utter humiliation at the Playoff stage in August.

The match at White Hart Lane on 2nd October could be a telling one if Tottenham can successfully emulate the form of 2015/16, but in addition to the three biggest London clubs, several other Premier League teams also boast attractive prices to complete the Tricast.

CITY/UNITED/LIVERPOOL – 40/1

With a proud history and tradition, not to mention a recently stellar league record against City, Liverpool will have a psychological advantage over their Mancunian neighbors. Like Chelsea, Liverpool will also be absent from Europe, and bookmakers clearly believe that an eighth place finish for the reds last season fails to tell the whole story. CITY/UNITED/LEICESTER – 150/1

N’Golo Kante, a sheer force of nature, has swapped the blue of the incumbent for the blue of the deposed. With the champions now bereft of their midfield general, odds for any Tricast involving Leicester have lengthened drastically.

In time, the signings will come, precipitating the drastic shortening of Leicester’s odds to complete a Tricast, so gamblers must act quickly to secure a good potential payout.

CITY/UNITED/EVERTON – 250/1

The apparent complexion of Everton’s near future has changed much in the past year. Now backed by Iranian billionaire Farhad Moshiri, a very different approach to all aspects of the club’s management is expected.

Most Evertonians, in turn, expect an immediate change in form and fortune on the pitch. Again, any gamblers intending to back Everton for a top three finish would be advised strongly to do so before new manager Ronald Koeman makes the first major signing of summer 2016.

*Odds may fluctuate

Win the New Manchester City Nike Home Shirt with ManCityGifts.com

Win the New Manchester City Nike Home Shirt

This Competition is only open to UK participants, we apologise for this.

Our friends at Mancitygifts.com with the Official City Store, have launched a new competition for one lucky City fan to win the new Nike home shirt.

All you have to do to enter is go to the Mancitygifts Competition page here and answer a simple question.

Revealed at the Cityzen's weekend in early July, together with City's new manager Pep Guardiola, the new Nike home shirt has had a mixed reception.

Some fans dislike the addition of navy to the sleeves of the shirt, whilst others are unhappy that the shirt is a "template" design. The Nike Aeroswift Template has been used in almost all Nike shirts are this season, with both Portugal and France wearing the template in the 2016 European Championships final.

However many of these reservations were down to grainy images pre-launch and the shirts have got a more favorable reaction since being officially revealed.

What do you think of the new shirt? Have you bought it after changing your mind? Let us know in the comment section below.

To enter the competition go to the Mancitygifts Competition page here

Rules

Competition ends Sunday 24th July 2016 (9pm UK time)

Looking for gifts for City fans? Come check out our stock at Mancitygifts.com

Manchester City should avoid buying Everton players, Forget John Stones and give our youth a chance.

I don't think we should be buying more Everton players, it just makes no sense when we should be pushing for players to improve us. Not players who are in clubs lower down the table, especially those who are not setting the stage a light. The players we have signed from Everton haven't exactly turned out great, the only notable one would be Richard Dunne in recent years. Michael Ball, Joleon Lescott and Jack Rodwell were all underwhelming if not a total waste of money.

The only logical reason for us to target a player like John Stones, would be for the homegrown quota, that's far from a good reason to go spending the reported £50 million it would require. Even at £40 million it's ludicrous.

Especially when we have the likes of England International Defenders in Tosin Adarabioyo and Cameron Humphreys ready to step up to the first team, Defenders who have been drilled to play the Guardiola way.

I don't think we should be signing John Stones, I acknowledge we need to sign one top class experienced Center Back to replace Martin Demichelis but Stone's isn't the answer.

If it was me I'd get in 30 year old Diego Godin from Atletico Madrid on the cheap and let our young lads learn from him and Vinny.

What's your opinion, Stones? or Diego Godin and Jose Gimenez, two other Center Backs we've been linked with recently?

#City Badge Mosaic, be part of it and upload your Photo, Cityzens Weekend is coming

Sunday the 3rd of July will be the official launch date of our returning too the new Circular badge, Manchester City are giving you the chance to be part of it. With a chance to share your best City fan Photo's to be in a City fan Mosaic.

On Saturday 2nd and Sunday 3rd July Manchester City FC open up the doors of their City Football Academy for a once in a lifetime chance to see behind the scenes.

On Saturday there will be a football extravaganza with skills activities for fans of all ages and tournaments taking part on the pitches. On Sunday there will be the launch of our new badge and 2016/17 home kit, as well as the official presentation to the fans of our first team manager Pep Guardiola.

Entry will be free but there will be priority access is for Cityzens members, with each member entitled to claim up to 2 tickets per day.

To upload your Photo and for more information click #City BadgeMosaic

England Fans Booing And Attacking Raheem Sterling Are Embarrassing, Should Be Ashamed Of Themselves

It's quite pathetic if you look at it with clear understanding, the first time England fans started jeering and booing Raheem Sterling was after he signed for Manchester City. So the England fans doing so from the start have a hidden agenda and are more than likely Liverpool fans. Any other England fan joining in are just opportunistic crowd following embarrassments. I'm English and an England fan and I have to say it's embarrassing, foremost I'm a Manchester City fan if you hadn't already guessed. While the likes of Rio Ferdinand and Gary Neville took to the field for England I put aside my issues because they were England players and not United players. You can point to the fact Sterling hasn't performed well enough but, I'll point to the fact you aren't jeering and booing the other England players who have under performed just as much if not worse.

What about Wayne Rooney aye, how long did it take before he performed in any World Cup? Never. But England fans never get on his back like the way they're doing with Sterling, this is clear and blatant bitter and envious opportunism of the highest order and you should be ashamed of yourselves. That includes the likes of bitter Arsenal fan Piers Morgan with his pathetic tweets or Betting Company Corals opportunistic smart ass tweets. Yes every ones entitled to their opinion but, there's such a thing as taking it too far. Like Liverpool fans threatening Sterling's young Daughter and his Girlfriend on Twitter, the British Media on his back all the time.

Constantly pointing too his transfer fee and claiming he's under performed for Manchester City. When in fact Sterling matched his 11 goals and 10 assists record he set at previous club Liverpool with Manchester City the season just gone, despite playing 5 less matches and scoring slightly more in the Champions League. The low lives need to get off Sterling's back and stop embarrassing England, England have enough to deal with via the British Media without the fans turning on our players. Should be ashamed of yourselves.

Their Obsession With Manchester City Is Entertaining, Rivals Are Running Scared, Banter Or Contempt.

Their obsession with Manchester City is comical, what is it that makes Arsenal, Chelsea and McTraffordster Uniteds fans and players amongst others so bitter, envious and or obsessive?

We've seen Newcastle and Everton fans in the past vent their bitterness when Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan purchased our club, they declared it should have been their clubs and not Manchester City, relations between Newcastle and Manchester City became worse over night upon Nigel Dejong accidentally breaking the leg of Hate Ben Arfa. The fan fuelled fallout turned into a lynch mob intent on destroying the career of Dejong resulting in his International career temporarily cut short.

It's well documented that we apparently don't deserve to be in the Champions League, don't deserve our status at the top of English football. Apparently we bought our way to the top and as a matter of fact, we actually did buy our way to the top of English football.

In fact every professional football club in the world bought or are trying to buy their way to success or survival, there's not one professional club in the world who are not or have not. They all purchase players with cold hard cash, they all pay those players wages. Point me in the direction of one Professional Football club who aren't a business, who don't run on an income and, or do not pay their employees a wage.

Obsession, Bitterness and Envy are the subjects and the next group are Arsenal, their fans are extremely bitter and obsessive, even more so recently than McTraffordster United fans. Manchester City have purchased a few Arsenal players over time aka Patrick Vieira, Emmanuel Adebayor, Gael Clichy and Samir Nasri who is bitterly hated by the Gooners, they don't seem too pleased about it at all. A couple of the Arsenal blogger's can't help but mention us in 1 in every 3 articles they publish, they equally hate us for our club challenging their status as a top four club.

Even Liverpool fans have got in on the act, I mean I wouldn't dream of challenging Liverpool's status. They are after all one of if not the most famous English club around, but even they achieved their success with cold hard cash. I'd put their contempt merely down to the fact we beat them to the title recently, which has been compounded by the transfer of one Raheem Sterling.

United's fan base are famous for their bitterness towards us, most notably on the last anniversary of the Munich Air Disaster and Manchester Derby. Their club and blogger's stated publicly that they expected Manchester City fans to disrespect the anniversary and occasion at Old Trafford, the day was widely televised. The stage was set and the world was watching on, what was to happen next was to change history. The world finally realised United were a wolf in sheep's clothing. The Manchester City faithful louder than ever, respected the occasion as they always do. After all the Munich Air Disaster wasn't just United's loss like they pretend it is, Manchester City lost a Manchester City legend in Frank Swift, also City legend Sir Matt Busby a survivor. United fans are also bitter because we challenge their status. All they cared about in 2015/16 was beating us to fourth spot, the fact they were in an FA Cup final meant nothing to them while the opportunity to beat us to Champions League football was still a possibility. Slowly but surely Manchester City have taken the United fans book of material and ripped page by page out, rewound back the banner they proudly hung at Old Trafford declaring how long it was since we had won the title and shown the world that Manchester City are back in business, are here and never went away. Right now all they have left to taunt us with is their 20 titles, 1 Champions League trophy and the history that the majority weren't even around to witness most of. It's only a matter of time before we win the Champions League and even now footage of our history's being unearthed.

But most recently it's Chelsea fans who are now upset? Have joined the ranks of the bitters in claiming we haven't earned our status but rather bought it. They justify why they are a different case by saying, they were already an established top 4 club in the Premier League. But my counter argument too that is that, we were once just as big a club as Man United, were once successful. So the fact our club hit hard times and struggled through the last so many decades means we deserve our renewed status less? Just to remind everyone to a few facts, we as a club fought our way back to the top of English football. We went into administration and had to auction our playing staff off too rival clubs, went through decades of rising and falling from the championship to the 3rd division. Before we were taken over by Thaksin Shinawatra and sold to Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, we fought our way back into the top 10 of the Barclay's Premier League. If any club deserves to be where we are now more than anyone else, it's Manchester City FC. The only reason your clubs got there first and enjoyed decades of success was, because you all had sugar daddies, big investment to help achieve that success. I use the term help because I acknowledge the fact, a business still has to be run properly despite the large amount of investment.

The most recent voice to join the ranks is Chelsea's Pedro, there's a growing trend with these guys queueing up to question, predict Guardiola and how he will fair in English football. The ludicrous part is the other side of the coin, he has also said Jose Mourinho is a great manager and have backed him to succeed at United? Obviously he's pointing to the fact Guardiola is unproven in the Barclay's Premier League, as well as the fact Jose Moronho has proven himself already in the same league.

That's all well and good but what he fails to acknowledge is, that Jose Mourinho took the Barclay's Premier League Champions. The very same squad that won it, and turned them into mid table survivors. The very same Jose Mourinho has left Chelsea FC in £1.1 billion of debt which doesn't even include Dr Carneiro's compensation after he turned her life upside down and got her unlawfully sacked for his own incompetence. he also fails to acknowledge that right now United are unable to compete with debt free Manchester City, United still in around £300 million debt with a dated and struggling academy after they neglected it, requiring Manchester City to turn up and create a successful multi million pound academy complex, to realise where they went wrong but it seems to me like it's too little too late.

The arrival of Pep Guardiola has certainly turned up the heat for sure, as of yet they are reluctant to take us seriously. You'd think the City Football Academy and the fact we reached the Semi Finals of the Champions League would make them take us serious but. The truth is they just don't want to take us serious, so until we our club lifts the Champions League trophy we won't be seeing any change. Even then they will point to our owner and investment, despite the fact we are no longer financed by our owner. Our club is now finally financially stable and self sustaining. Over the last 2 seasons City have turned a profit and that will only continue, Manchester City's the 6th highest revenue generating club in Europe and we pay our players less than Chelsea and Man United.

The truth is there is no easy game and not one club in the Premier League can be underestimated, there's strong competition for the title now and even more so when the TV revenue is released. Guardiola may well find it tough but, he's in a far stronger position than any other Premier League coach right now. With the best Academy in England to pick and a blank cheque book to utilise, his own reputation and the added power of no other club knowing what his moves are before he makes them. The most respected coach on the planet by players and he has it all, the prime opportunity to prove to the world he really is the best coach in Europe if not the world.

So is their obsession and bitterness justified, for whatever reason I put this down to being part of football. It doesn't really matter how bitter and obsessive they are, all that matters is that they are. It's a strong indicator that we as a club and fan base are getting under their skin, not to mention telling us we are moving in the right direction. After decades of goading and taunting it's a refreshing change, I think it's only going to get more interesting.

But there's one fundamental thing I have to keep telling myself, don't become one of them. Stay true to Manchester City and myself, don't drop to the level of arrogance and ignorance that they project. Don't cross the fine line between banter and contempt, we have much to look forward too, and I'm particularly looking forward to who Guardiola will sign and how we will setup and play next season.

Manchester City Players Released By The Club According To The Premier League

Manchester City FC have submitted their list of players to the Premier League and the released players are:

Martin Demichelis
Richard Wright
Sam Tattum
Charlie Albinson
Nathaniel Oseni

This is our City would like to thank Martin and Richard for their service and wish all the released players the very best for the future.

See the full list of retained and released Here

VIDEO: We Have No History, We Are The City Of Manchester, We Are City

Watch on as the entire population of Manchester sing for a legend, watch as English fans call for an ex World War 2 Luftwaffe Pilot and Prisoner of War who broke his neck and still played on for quarter of an hour. There's only one Bert Trautmann.


EMPTY SEATS? NO HISTORY? WE ARE CITY

3 Years After I Were Born, 1978 Look Behind The Scene At Manchester City's Maine Road

It's both surreal and enlightening being able to look back and witness how things have changed since I were born in 1975, here we have a short clip of Manchester City's backroom staff. The lads and ladies who made our club tick, enjoy.

Claudio Ranieri Has Lost The Plot, Manchester City's Shortcomings And Season So Far

All I keep reading in the news this week is, Ranieri claiming other clubs are still in the title race, it's as if he's trying to hold on to some myth that Leicester City will win it for no other reason than being worthy winners. Maybe in the fairy tale a lot of fans and pundits are spinning but not in my world, the real world of fact, not fantasy. Statistically we are still in the title race but Leicester City are going to have to lose 3 of their fixtures or draw most of them for Arsenal or Manchester City to stand a chance, even so Tottenham Hotspur are going to have to equally hit a brick wall. Even then Manchester City are going to have to win all our remaining fixtures to stand a chance.

Jamie Vardy cost £1 million + addons in 2012 and Riyah Mahrez cost £375.000 + addons, while they are low fees the truth of the matter is. It's cost, it's money, so in reality not one single professional club in the world can deny they have won anything without spending money. In fact Kasper Schmeichel cost them £1.5 million, Robert Huth £3.2 million, N'Golo Kante £6.8 million, Danny Drinkwater £1 million (from the Stretford Massive), Gokhan Inler £5.3 million, shinji Okazaki £8.5 million. Tell me they haven't tried to buy glory like the rest of us, I'll remind you you're delusional.

Fairy Tale you say? I'm not taking anything away from Leicester City, if they win the league then congratulations. They will be worthy winners for consistency alone but, it stops there because this is no fairy tale and the facts prove so. As far as their fans are concerned it may well be a fairy tale but, in the World of Football fairy tales are extremely rare. Now if Leicester City won the Champions League with the team they now have next season, then you will have yourselves a real fairy tale to tell your grand children.

All the usual top 5 of the Stretford Massive, Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester City have played out very poor seasons, under achieved massively. They can all point too vast injuries to playing staff and bad luck with match officials but, when it comes down to it that's only half the story.

I only really ever follow my own beloved club, rarely pay much attention too the others unless they're our immediate opponents, but I do follow Sport news avidly. So I'm well aware of at least the Stretford Massive, Manchester City and Arsenal suffering injuries to their key and best players.

Manchester City lost Vincent Kompany, Sergio Aguero and then Kevin De Bruyne to injuries against Everton FC, yes I'm blaming Everton and their players. I remember well Gareth Barry and Muhamed Besic tag teaming Sergio Aguero causing his injury, the loss of all three players had all but destroyed Manchester City's fight for the title, the writing was on the wall early on in the season, but us seasoned Manchester City fans ever the optimists in the face of adversity clung on to hope. We've been without Samir Nasri the entire season and Pablo Zabaleta has been out with an injury also, Wilfried Bony is a total and utter failure, we've seen no return on his ridiculous transfer fee. The fact we've stayed in the title race for so long, is down to the rest of our depleted team fighting for it and it's been a tough one this season.


Outsiders and the media would have us believe we have the strongest squad in the league, two players in every position. What they don't see is players getting on in age, Zabaleta 31, Sagna 33, Clichy 30, Demichelis 35, Kolarov 30, Cabellero 34, Toure 32. Of all these 7 players, I'd only keep one if I were Guardiola, that player being Pablo Zabaleta.

What the media have failed to acknowledge are injuries to key players on top of that, not to mention that fact they have been reluctant to point their finger at Manuel Pellegrini. After all it's extremely hard to not like the guy, even if he was your enemy you'd still struggle to hate him.

When Manuel Pellegrini arrived I was excited by his track record of giving youth a chance, despite knowing it wouldn't be so many unlike his work at Malaga. After all he couldn't possibly do as badly as Roberto Mancini did in his last season in charge could he? I thought here we are getting a seasoned and experienced coach who's capable of fixing our problems, and that he did, he never let us down in that department. He steadied the ship and brought more success, all be it erratic and not unlike Mancini, but there's one thing we can not say and that is that they are or were failures. Both Mancini and Pellegrini both deserve respect despite their failing and shortcomings.

And Pellegrini's failure was to put faith in Wilfried Bony, no one on planet Earth with even the slightest intelligence can fail to admit Wilfried Bony has been Manchester City's biggest ever flop. That may sound harsh considering he came from one club playing a completely different style to another, but great players adapt and succeed and that there is the problem. Bony is not a great player and his statistics at Swansea City we're false, just like when the Stretford Massive played through Cristiano Ronaldo the season he scored 40 odd goals in the Premier League.

When we have a rising star in Kelechi Iheanacho on our bench, coming off our bench and scoring goals. Something Wilfried Bony has failed to do, It's criminal of Pellegrini to treat Iheanacho so poorly, He's proved himself time and time again to be worthy of a first team place, Pellegrini has constantly slapped the lad down. Iheanacho is a very humble kid and I find it refreshing listening to him when behind the reporters mic, if he keeps on working hard, improving then boy have we got a world class player on our hands.

I strongly believe had Pellegrini dropped Bony in place of Iheanacho, we would still be in the title race in a more healthy position.

We've also suffered by poor officiating in key title fighting games, like denied stone wall penalties against Everton, Tottenham Hotspur and Leicester City of the incidents I recall. I'm sure there were more incidents but those stand out in the title race more than any. They can point to referee's only being human and claim that decisions balance out over the course of a season but, I don't buy that fiction one single bit. Poor officiating has this season played a huge part in negatively affecting our title fight.

The fact we stubbornly stayed in 4 competitions for so long also made a huge impact on our season, which was why Pellegrini sacrificed the FA Cup in the end as far as I'm concerned. Credit to our young lads though for putting up a valiant fight against Chelsea, for the first 45 minutes they made Chelsea look average.

But back to Ranieri and his opinion that other clubs are still in the title race, well he's right about Tottenham Hotspur but wrong about Arsenal and Manchester City. Is he trying to add more credit to his predicted title win? Yes I think so without a doubt, he's trying to paint it up as much as possible. After all no club wants to admit to winning the league because everyone else was rubbish and gifted it too them.

I'm not going to take anything from Manchester City's worthy players, they've done their best under the circumstances. I'm not going to get on Pellegrini's back and run him down because he's done enough to earn my respect. I'm not going to lambaste match officials for their failings, I'm just going to strike this season off as what it is. A season of fortune, fortunate to still be in the Champions League race, fortunate to win the League Cup and fortunate to still be alive and well to experience it all with my son.

Here's hoping to qualifying for the Champions League, looking forward to the arrival of Pep Guardiola and a brighter blue future.

Claudio Ranieri, pull your head out and see it for what it is, a strange season and probably your last chance saloon for success before you retire so don't try paint it for what it isn't and enjoy it while it lasts.

Pundit, The Bandwagon Jumping Bandit, Racism Prevails As Uefa Strike Again

What is it with all these Pundits constantly criticising, slamming and mocking Manchester City and their players. Would hidden agenda's explain half of the reason? Or would the fact they are all past players of the Established Elite or has been's all the more recently, be part of the reason?

The latest Bandit being Charlie Nicolas, 40 years of football and I still had to Google the guy because I didn't have a clue who he was which says it all really. Oh and I should have known he's an ex Arsenal player, the one club who have more reason than any to hate Manchester City FC. Even Thierry Henry managed a little bewildering pop at City, without digesting all the facts first.

I actually find the obscene level of bitterness, envy, hate and jealousy towards us quite refreshing and amusing. It's a sign that our club are hitting all the right bars, even while under achieving, struggling with a high volume of injuries to senior staff this season.

Nicolas is apparently a huge fan of Manuel Pellegrini, despite Manuel choosing to make public the imminent arrival of Pep Guardiola, Nicolas still feels it's affected some of our players form and performances. He particularly singles out Raheem Sterling, nothing to do with the fact he plays for Manchester City, is English and Nicolas is Scottish? It's well known that the Scottish only tolerate us Englishmen, saying that he's probably a die hard fan of his fellow countryman Alex Ferguson too.

Jamie Carragher has also been very vocal lately, lambasting Manchester City over the Pep Guardiola issue. Disrespecting the FA Cup, no mention of the fact we're down to 13 senior first team players fit.

The anti Manchester City agenda, the hate, the bitterness, the whole thing is beginning to really stink up the planet, very unhealthy situation for them. I'm almost starting to feel sorry for them all, Chelsea fans are the latest bunch of clowns to jump on the bandwagon.

Wasn't so long ago that Chelsea were the most hated club in Europe, that they we're awarded the same treatment themselves. You'd think they'd understand and relate too it but no, they feel that because they were already part of the established elite. They are entitled to be where they are and the treatment they endured was unjustified, thus giving them a justifiable right to jump on the bandwagon along with every other Manchester City hater. It's highly amusing when I here a Chelsea fan take the moral high ground and look stupid, only recently a Chelsea fan called into a radio station to vent his disgust, apparently we disrespected the FA Cup and Chelsea by fielding a youthful team.

It wasn't so long ago that we were lambasted by opposing fans and the media for killing youth, not giving them a chance and making them rot on the bench or on the fringes. Now we give 6 youngsters a chance in the FA Cup and we're public enemy no.1?

Again ignorantly no mention of the fact we only have 13 fit senior players, no mention of the fact we had a Champions League match less than 48 hours after arriving back in Manchester. No mention of the fact we had to fly out to Ukraine to play Dynamo Kiev. a travel distance over 4 times further than any other English club in Europe.

Uefa are at it again dropping the stadium ban on Dynamo Kiev after they were banned for racism, just in time for the arrival of Manchester City? Yet another slap in the face for City fans and the club, is there no bounds Uefa will go too? And they claim to support the fight against Racism? One particular football fan named Sam Lee over at Goal.com claims City fans should drop the Uefa grudge, but I beg to differ so keep it up lads, ladies and children, all Citizens of Manchester City.

I honestly can't hold back the excitement of Pep Guardiola arriving, if they hate us this much now then imagine how bad it will get under a successful Guardiola? Hold on tight guys because it's going to be a bumpy ride and there's a whole lot more to come.

Comon City, it's time to shine. Good Luck Lads.

Iheanacho Deserves To Be First 11, Pellegrini Is A Legend Already, Guardiola City Bound, Pardew? Nicolas?

First off I'd like to start with Kelechi Promise Iheanacho, I've grown rather frustrated with Pellegrini for this. Hearing how we have to be patient etc, no one was ever patient when throwing the over hyped Wayne Rooney in the deep end at Everton or Lionel Messi at Barcelona, so why Iheanacho when he's more than proven he deserves to be in the first eleven. One things for sure, Pep Guardiola has himself one hell of a young forward to nurture.I hope Kelechi is added to our Champions League roster, but fear he will miss out. Here's hoping Pellegrini will make the right choice, the lad deserves nothing less.

As much as I've said and wanted Manuel Pellegrini out over this season and last, he still has 100% respect from me for what he's achieved and could achieve. I don't think what Manuel offers is enough for Manchester City going forward though, what Pep Guardiola will bring is what I strongly believe Manchester City need. He's a young, well decorated, well respected coach who's managed the biggest player in the world in Lionel Messi. Pellegrini and Mancini before him concentrated on either defending or attacking, neither value both equally unlike Guardiola. Mancini was more defencive minded relying on Carlos Tevez and Sergio Aguero to catch opponents out whereas Pellegrini's more Attack minded leaving our defenders vulnerable. Luckily we have Otamendi because I truly believe if we didn't, then we'd probably be out of the title race by now without Otamendi and Kompany.

So Manuel Pellegrini has finally made the decision to go public, stating he will leave our club at the end of the 2015/16 season with best wishes. For the past few weeks I've been hoping for this very situation to unfold, the speculation was just frustrating to say the least. This way Pellegrini is telling us he knows where he stands and has said himself that the club have shown him nothing but respect.

Now all the speculation can be put to bed and our club can get back to work, Pellegrini has his CV to update with a possible treble winning season more than possible, our players now have to prove themselves once again before the new coach even takes over and fight too gift their outgoing coach the best leaving present he could ever wish for and go out on a high. You can be damn sure the players will know that Guardiola will be watching on his days off at Bayern, He's a methodical man that lives and breathes football,

And what better way for Pellegrini to go out than achieve an historical treble of the League Cup, FA Cup and Premier League?

Alan Pardew? The Crystal Palace Manager claims to feel for Pellegrini saying his first thought is with Manuel, then went on to say he hopes the club have done it the right way? Why feel for a coach that has won more than you ever have and has the opportunity to achieve an historical treble winning campaign? He could only wish for what Pellegrini has right now, the guy needs to feel sorry for himself instead. Wasn't long ago he was verbally abusing Pellegrini pitch side, seriously.

You'd think a Manager of a Premier League Football Club would be professional enough to be in the know, either that or just shut the hell up when they haven't got a clue what they're talking about.

On that note who the hell is Nicolas on Sky Sports? seriously who is he? in all my 40 years of breathing I haven't got a clue who he is. The guy seems to seriously think we can win the Champions League as it stands right now this season without Vincent Kompany? I honestly think we haven't a chance of winning it this season, I hope we go as far as possible but too win it? it would be a miracle and if we did I'd chain myself to the Etihad entrance until they renegotiated for Pellegrini to be resigned, if he achieved the as far as I'm concerned impossible, then he'd deserve to stay no matter what I think.

Nicolas claimed he thinks this was poor timing? What by our Club? How can it be poor timing when it was Pellegrini who made the decision to issue that he wouldn't be staying on at City next season? The club never forced him to do so, he stated himself that he was doing so to put a stop to the speculation on his position. The same speculation that was probably causing problems within our club, I'm pretty sure Manuel Pellegrini knows what he's doing more than this (just Googled him) Charlie Nicolas guy does. The idiot compares the situation to when Alex Ferguson announced he was leaving United? Do us all a favour and choose intelligent educated pundits that have a clue.

I on the other hand believe this has made our clubs position even stronger as stated here.

Onwards we March, one of the happiest Manchester City fans on the planet right now. I was slightly concerned by our clubs mounting injuries and the speculation issue but feel more optimistic.

How do you feel about what's unfolded?

Has Yaya Given All He Can? Pellegrini's Claim We're Complete? The Guardiola Saga?

I'm well aware the Media are capable to twisting ones words to create better headlines but this particular statement made by Pellegrini kind of summed it up and says it all for me.

"Really I think this squad is complete,"  Pellegrini claimed to reporters before our last game against Watford.

He has clearly taken us as far as he can, yet another Roberto Mancini as far as I'm concerned. Don't get me wrong as I'm definitely appreciative of what they achieved for us and all the hard work they've put in to get us to where we are right now, but they're definitely not the right coaches to take us forward.

I believe Josep Guardiola Sala is the coach to make us worthy Champions League contenders, right now we are just making up the numbers. It's been talked about that he had it easy at Barcelona with world class players surrounding him and at Bayern Munich with yet more world class players, but that doesn't change the fact he's succeeded at both clubs and is well respected by his peers. Even Alex Ferguson tried to lure him to Old Scaffold in 2012, as much as I despise the Scot that speaks for itself.

Last season when it all went pair shaped I said to myself, Pellegrini isn't the man to guide us to Champions League glory. I knew we needed Guardiola but in all honesty thought it would be almost impossible to prise him away from Munich, but earlier back in October 2015 I made a bold claim to my City supporting Aunt that Pep Guardiola had all but resigned himself to joining Manchester City and that I believed Lionel Messi would follow him to the Etihad. A bold claim indeed but there you have it.

Guardiola is well respected and still at an age where he has the opportunity to surpass Alex Ferguson as the best Coach ever to grace English football, yes he has admitted he doesn't like to stay long in one place. But I believe Sheikh Mansour has the power to keep him happy by providing him anything he requires, something Barcelona and Bayern Munich were incapable of doing or achieving.

Yaya Toure could be a big issue though as he was clearly not the right fit for Guardiola's Barcelona, as fantastic has he's been for us I think he's done. In 2014/15 he became lazy and some blame that on Pellegrini pushing him up field in a more advanced position, at times he goes missing and more so away from home. Sometimes it seems like he just doesn't care and walks around while the opposition counter attack leaving the rest of his team mates to scramble a man down, this was yet again the case against Everton last night. He got mugged a few times by Everton players and only looked bothered when we were in Evertons half. Despite appreciating his contribution to our past success, I'm quite frankly sick of the lazy performances throwing the rest of his team under the bus. As if we haven't got problems to deal with already, with a Calamity prone Mangala and a slow lethargic Demichelis which might I add Pellegrini failed to replace last season. I strongly believe Pellegrini had nothing to do with the signings of De Bruyne and Sterling, that credit more than likely goes to our boardroom.

As much I want Guardiola signing for us, I would like Pellegrini to win the title this season if only to cement his status as a good coach. Not that he hasn't done so already but still all the same, he deserves every last bit of success he can get before he leaves us.

But players that I feel have failed and given all they can are Toure, Mangala, Bony, Demichelis, Clichy and Kolarov, as far as I'm concerned they have to go and be replaced. I'd say keep Yaya and have him as an impact player off the bench but lets face it, all he would ever do is moan and groan so it's probably best if he found a new challenge. Either that or become a Coach, Scout or something along those lines. I don't think any of them fit into Guardiola's style of play, so I expect quite a few departures if Guardiola does sign for us but then that's not such a bad thing is it. After all think of the players that would follow him without a first thought, the thought is mind boggling to say the least.

So I'm absolutely sure Pellegrini's time is up, It's a shame because I really wanted him to succeed so we wouldn't have to keep chopping and changing coaches. But I suppose I was at the time not considering his age in that wish. Manchester City haven't opened talks over a new contract and Pellegrini has admitted the end is near, so change is inevitable.

I believe our weakest position is left back, right back is also a slight concern but still a concern to be looked at with our lads ageing. Saying that all along the back 4 needs looking at. So two left backs, one right back and two centre backs on the shopping list please.

What's your take on it all?

HAVE YOUR SAY, New Badge? Final Consultation? Final Design Forced On You?

That's right, I feel Manchester City FC have sold out our history, we were formed in 1880 and not 1894. Yes I am fully aware St Marks aka Ardwick AFC became Manchester City in 1894, 8 years before Newton Heath became Manchester United. Not having 1880 on our badge is an almighty insult and slap in the face to St Marks of West Gorton, it is a disgrace that we do not celebrate their hard work and our history.

I believe it would have been better served if Manchester City FC, FOOTBALL CLUB, but we will deal with this in a moment, if Manchester City FC gave us fans a final consultation or a few badges to vote on instead of forcing an average and poorly designed Club Badge on us.

The Badge just looks like a cheap knock off of New York City's badge, but even NYCFC who are an American SOCCER club have Football Club in front of their Title? Sorry but the designers Manchester City FC employ need sacking, I'm an ex Art student and Artist myself so have plenty of experience to pass judgement not to mention having supported Manchester City since 1970's/1980's. as far as I'm concerned Manchester and City should never have been separated and Football Club should have still been present, it seems pretty clear to me that the minds behind this have a simple way of thinking. Design error No.1 you DON'T curve Manchester and then leave City un-curved, what were you thinking? that it makes some kind of statement or that it makes it stand out more?

I submitted a badge myself and even had a few other ideas like a small outer ring with Superbia in Proelio repeated all the way around within if not the ribbon below it as shown below. Yes I'm aware the three rivers are not present and I meant to add them but it's not something that can't be added so.

The only thing I like about the new badge is the outer ring which could be made a little larger to house Superbia in Proelio and the 3D design to it. Other than that it's an almighty failure as far as I'm concerned, so much so that I find myself compelled to abandon any future purchases of this new badge at the City Store and stick with my old shirts. Too buy anything with this new badge would mean I am ultimately conceding in buying something I do not like. You can say I'm spitting my dummy out and in all honesty I am I guess, but that's my choice but I'm intrigued to know how many other Manchester City fans feel the same.

So thumbs down on this one for me.

Feel free to have your say?

Capital One Cup Highlights: Manchester 5 Crystal Palace 1, City Stick It Too The Critics

Manchester have well and truly stuck two fingers up to our critics while our so called rivals Arsenal, Chelsea and the Stretford Massive United all got knocked out of the Capital One Cup. Young Kelechi Iheanacho put in a Man of the Match performance after setting up Kevin De Bruyne who put the ball away, De Bruyne returned the favour by assisting Iheanacho who did extremely well to put the ball away from a stationary position.Then De Bruyne set Iheanacho away down the left and the Man of the Match assisted young Manu Garcia who did well to beat the last defender and keeper to slot home his first senior goal for Manchester.

On our bench sat England International's Brandon Barker and Patrick Roberts, along with Spanish International Manu Garcia (Alonso), while Nigerian International Kelechi Iheanacho earned his frst start for Manchester.




Well done to all our lads, what was that Devante?

Homegrown Quota, Sterling And Our Lack Of Activity So Far, The Scouser's Egg On Face

As the Sterling saga rumbles on I have found myself warming to the idea of him in a City shirt, in the beginning I thought Raheem wasn't worth the sky high price tag. Weighing up the pro's and con's though and looking closer at his progression since signing for the Scouser's, makes the Sterling capture more palatable.

Questions I asked myself were?

Why are Liverpool fans acting like Arsenal fans and treating Sterling the way they are?

Answer: Because they are upset about losing a big player with the quality and youth to succeed at the highest level. Initially I was buying into their idea that he was still raw, that he wasn't worth the £50 million so they should sell him fast, but then I started to pay more attention to Sterling. I 've been rerunning footage of the last few seasons and I have to say, he's not the finished product but he's certainly not raw. Has youth on his side and has bags of potential, under the right environment and coaches he could be up there with the best.

Do we really need him at Manchester?

Well as we are all aware we are subject to a homegrown quota both domestically and in Europe, yes we have our own youth products in Jason Denayer and Marcos Lopes but they are not wingers. In Raheem we would have an already proven and established England International LEFT WINGER. We just lost James Milner to Liverpool, a situation Liverpool fans are being smug over and haven't been exactly reserved about it. Add to that that Liverpool fans have taken the proverbial out of Manchester City and our fans, after capturing Sturridge by claiming we can't produce talent and we don't give youth a chance. Signing Raheem Sterling would make for a much more palatable capture right about now. We need a left winger to replace James Milner and share the workload with Samir Nasri, signing Sterling would be one almighty slap in the face for Liverpool fans.

Sign Sterling: YES

Our lack of activity? 9 days in to the transfer window and we have only signed Enes Unal, a young Turkish International Forward from Bursaspor. A lot of potential apparently and on first impressions he looks like a good capture but he's a couple seasons behind a first team place, so don't expect to see him in action along side our greats just yet.

Another Englishman we're apparently after signing is Fabian Delph from Aston Villa, the word is he apparently out performed our very own Fernandinho last season.

Fernandinho made 33 appearances in 2014/15 scoring 3 goals
Delph made 23 appearances in 2014/15 scoring 2 goals

I'm sorry but I'm against Fabian Delph joining Manchester City, he isn't anywhere near good enough. I would never pick him over Fernandinho, but I do see the urgent need for someone better in that position. The Pogba saga has died down after our apparent U'turn walking away, on that note I'm kind of glad because he's not worth the reported £71 million when we can go out and buy just as good for much less. Pogba's teammate Arturo Vidal for £30 to £40 million for instance. We have too much up and coming talent to positively warrant the signing of Fabian Delph. Bringing in 28 year old Arturo Vidal wouldn't hinder our very own Marcos Lopes either, lets be honest Marcos Lopes will end up far a better player than Fabian Delph. I say Vidal and promote Lopes.

Sign Delph: NO

What do you think?

Roman Needs To Muzzle His Pet Jose Moronho, Absolutely Embarrassing

Not content with winning the Barclays Premier League title with a bit of class and respect, the surreal chump Jose Moronho at Chelsea FC has continued his childish attack on City, over FFP's apparent favouritism towards Manchester City FC. What? Aye? Is he trying to say we've been given some kind of special treatment by Uefa or something?

While 4 of the top 5 clubs in the Premier League spent far more than Manchester City in 2014 as follows:

Man United            153.1m   (29)  All mid to low 20s
Liverpool               116.8m   (33) 1 player in their 30s, the rest mid 20s
Chelsea                 87.7m     (29) All mid to low 20s
Arsenal                 78.2m     (29) All mid to low 20s
Southampton          57.9m     (29) All mid to low 20s
Manchester City      54.5m     (33) 3 players over 32, 2 in their mid 20s

AGE OF SIGNINGS: Just to put it into perspective in brackets are the ages of the oldest player bought by each club above, this does not include free transfered players or January winter signed players.

The players Manchester City signed were:

Frank Lampard   aged 36    (FREE)
Willy Caballero    aged 33   (4.4m)
Bacary Sagna      aged 32   (6.1m)
Fernando           aged 27   (14.0m)
Mangala             aged 24   (26.4m)

More perspective that we spent less than Southampton FC because the FFP forced us to not spend proving the FFP is only a corrupt tax scam to protect the status quo and punish everyone else. The players City purchased in 2014 were reminiscent of the calibre of player we would have purchased around 5 to 10 years ago before any takeover at City. We were screwed before the 2014 season even kicked off, with that said we really should be proud of where our club is right now in the table come to think of it.

On top of this we were punished by Uefa with a £49 million pound fine and had our European squad stripped down to 21 players. If that wasn't a more obvious plan to keep a leash on City to stop them from succeeding in the Uefa Champions League I don't know what is.

Now Jose Moronho repeats his claim that Manchester City FC should be deducted points?, hasn't anyone told the moron that Uefa can't impose or force points deductions in domestic football?

Or does he mean in Europe, fat lot of good that would have done for Chelsea or any other club for that matter as 1. Manchester City don't need cash from the Champions League, we don't even need the Champions League either. The Champions League need us more than we need them, just like any other club. 2. English clubs never meet each other in the group stage. Give the whining little baby his points deduction for this seasons Competition to shut him up, utterly embarrassing little cretin of a man if you ask me. I am soooooo glad we dodged that bullet and never signed him as our coach, all he ever does is whine, cry and moan all the time, half of what he comes out with makes no sense at all and he carries himself around like he's something special. I suppose that's why he fits in with the Russians philosophy, I mean Russians are an arrogant bunch too aren't they. But lets not go into all the political stuff, I hate politics to be honest.

Manchester City have been punished enough by the European FFP tax scam, in fact Uefa shouldn't even be imposing FFP regulations in football. It should be down to footballs domestic bodies to impose such, like England have already done.

Congratulations to our Football Manager 2015 Competition winner, Adrian Brodkin for correctly answering our question: Who are the only two players in history to score in two World Cup finals and go on to win the World Cup twice or more. The correct answer was fellow Brazilian legends Vava and Pele, your game will be winging it's way to you soon.

UK COMPETITION: Football Manager 2015 Up For Grabs, Got To Be In It To Win It

[Apologies but this competition is only open to UK Residents]

Brand new PC Windows/Linux Football Manager 2015 game up for grabs, all you have to do is visit the link in this article and send your Name, Email address, UK County of residence and Answer to the question below, too me using the message box to the right here.

Question: Who are the only two players in history to score in two World Cup final matches and go on to win the World Cup twice or more.

Only correct answers will be submitted and I will pick a name at random on the 1st May 2015, all entries after 12am on 30th April 2015 will unfortunately not be included.

New Improved Football Manager 2015 has added more than 2000 new motion captured animations, new lighting, improved player models and ball physics to the 3D engine. Improved Artificial intelligence with individual player shouts, touch line team talks along side other additions make this game the closest simulation to a football match available.

Check out Cash Generator for bargains on Wii Consoles etc

The new user interface makes management easier and more intuitive, A new Scouting Centre integrates all areas of player recruitment, adding the ability to set scouting assignments to find specific levels of player.

Added more realistic player personality gifting player power, Players are more vocal in the press and are quicker to issue ultimatums if they're unhappy. A deeper media experience with tabloid and broadsheet reporters developing more varied stories, also brand new tunnel interviews before and after matches.

Good Luck.

3 Points Against West Ham United Isn't Enough, Going To Take A Lot More Than One Game

That's right as far as I'm concerned if they want to keep their jobs then second place is what's required and nothing less.

A few end of season games where you play out of your skin after heavy criticism is far beyond good enough. It shouldn't have to take anger from us fans suffering, for you to play out your skin week in week out, if it was us fans out there on the pitch we would play our hearts out and as far as I understand very few of our players do play with their hearts for our club half the time if not at all.

Even if we do achieve 2nd place I still believe these players should definitely be moved on: Mangala, Fernando, Sagna, Dzeko, Jovetic, Guidetti, Negredo, Sinclair, Richards, Boyata.

I'd like to see Yaya Toure moved on because I'm tired of his lazy arse performances, but the chances he will actually move on are slim realistically unless some big club come in for him.

I'd also like to see Manuel Pellegrini leave because in my opinion he's let me down and our club down, I'm sick of his inability and unwillingness to adapt his philosophy and style. His inability to give even just one of our youth a good chance in the first team, Lopes or Denayer?

He came from Malaga and had a track record for promoting and believing in youth, when Pellegrini arrived I was excited about seeing our academy produce some first team players. Starved since Boyata it was time we gave them a chance, but no Pellegrini has refused to do so and I believe I understand why. It's not because our youth aren't ready and it's not because we haven't got any youth ready, it's because Pellegrini feels his job is on the line and doesn't have the balls or confidence in our youth players to step up and trust in our kids.

Jason Wilcox recently and rightly pointed out our youth aren't quite ready yet, but he was talking about our academy up to Under 18's level. He wasn't talking about our Under 21 EDS side or our youth out on loan.

I've honestly lost all faith in Manuel Pellegrini, though I fear we will end up with him until the end of his contract as nothing is coming out of City to believe otherwise.

THe FA And Police Should Punish Cheikhou Kouyate's Serious Assault On David Silva

Against West Ham today Cheikhou Kouyate was guilty of serious assault on City's David Silva, shockingly Kouyate got away with just a yellow card despite the incident being in full view of match referee Anthony Taylor.

In my opinion I don't care whether the rules say the FA can act or not after a yellow, I'm not exactly up to date on the rules so wouldn't know if they can punish him further or not. But they should definitely throw the book at Kouyate and set an example, for too long now players have been getting away with elbowing and sooner or later a player is going to be seriously injured or killed.

I call upon Greater Manchester Police to act on video and match official evidence and bring Kouyate to justice should he be found guilty. In my opinion he is 100% guilty of serious assault, elbowing and stamping needs to be stopped now.