Elliott

What's there for them to clarify? Robinho has nothing to do with us. He was Real Madrid's player before and is Manchester City's player now.

Warnie wants to start a new topic because he knows he is wrong.

Did you see my post on the previous page too? So for a club to be earn investment, they must first spend enough money in order to qualify for a competition that gives them vast sums of money?

Why Spurs over City? Because they won the Carling Cup? Come on, that means nothing. Very little difference between the teams you mentioned and City. Roman went to Spurs before us as I already said. They turned him down. I had a school friend bragging about it ( ). And please, tell me how going virtually bankrupt is earning your luck? And the Arabs didn't go eenie meenie mynie moe and picked City, I doubt any of the other teams in a similar position were for sale. And the MD of Manchester Breweries would have been a United fan and that is entirely different.

Well, yeah, he's inexperienced with the transfer window. Give the guy a break! I am certain Kez was referring to the Champions League when she talked of cup tied.

warnie: You cannot possibly argue that we legitimately earned the investment we got. Yes, we qualified for the Champions League, but two things: a) We were DEEP in debt. So if we did earn the investment, we went broke in order to do it, which was dangerous. And it's not like we went broke in order to bring in investment. We were the first team to get this sort of investment, foreign investment. Okay, other teams have attracted investment before them, but I feel fairly safe in assuming that those investors were fans of the club that happened to be rich. Not foreign investors like Roman. And City weren't "lucky". They were somewhat like us really, an up-and-coming team with potential to do better. Yes, Roman went to United first. But he didn't come to us next, he went to Tottenham! Now they weren't exactly doing brilliantly back then were they? The story I've heard is he saw Stamford Bridge from the air and that's what attracted him. Manchester City have the excellent City of Manchester Stadium, which is a very attractive proposition. City were selling, Thaksin knew he needed to get rid. City did very well last season. Okay it dropped off near the end, but does your memory not extend to a year ago when it looked very real that they may push the top 4? In my mind they're at the same level as Everton, Aston Villa, Blackburn and Portsmouth in that they are seriously challenging for Europe and the only reason City had to go the fair play route was because there were only so many places available. City were as worthy as the teams you mentioned for this investment and I feel certain that if it were any of these other teams you'd be spewing the same rhetoric as you are right now.

Live near motorways

Not every Chelsea fan is condemning City for having no history. I would hope no fans are really, because we all know what an idiotic comment that is. What the club has done in the past is nice, but unless you were around to see it and/or experience it, I think it has nothing to do with you! Look to the future.

So what are you even criticising him for if you freely admit you'd do the same? But as Badboy intimated, I'm certain Robinho would have joined Chelsea, our squad, and Champions League football if he was given the chance.

I don't know actually. Did they not?

I didn't say they would definitely make 5th spot, just that they have a very good chance as 5th place is very up in the air. Yes Robinho will make a difference, a league position or two. Villa will probably be favourites for 5th place... but then they did lose to Stoke! So it's not guaranteed for anyone. They certainly won't make top 4.

And SWP and Sheva's fees would have put a significant dent into that 80million too.

City are very capable of making the top 5. Top 4, no. Top 5, why not? Everton are weak this season, Spurs are Spurs, Portsmouth have stripped down their squad too in the summer. 5th place is there for the taking by City.

Yeah but then we saw the Wigan and Tottenham games!

If I'm not mistaken our last game in the group stage is against Cluj, if we get the situation where we are already through I think Scolari could think about giving them a run out.

Yes, I am consciously comparing them to us 5 years ago. We were a club that had the sudden presence of an unlimited amount of money for transfers. If you still think I am trying to say they are exactly how we were 5 years ago, I suggest you read it all again, and again. But you can't deny there is some similarity to the situation.

Ah cheers, I misunderstood it.

No, they were big signings, they were big players with big futures. They weren't nobodies. They had all proved themselves to be very able players at their respective clubs. Carvalho won the Champions League no less with Porto, along with Ferreira. The way you are defining this, the only big players about are Ronaldo, Messi and Kaká. Robinho is no bigger a player than Robben was, for instance. Berbatov is a good player but not a top forward. These were the only two solid connections made with Man City, and neither of them are huge players, just the calibre of players we signed 5 to 3 years ago.

I'm confused... why couldn't we include Sinclair in the A List? Alright he won't be a club trained player, but the fact is, we still have spaces with only 22 taken!

Yes yes and yes, those too.

Carvalho, Drogba, Essien, Ashley Cole, Ballack, Mutu, Duff, Robben All big players or very close to being big at the time. All were highly regarded. Okay they weren't all huge superstars (although Carvalho was voted the best defender in Europe the season we signed him IIRC, and Ballack is a very obvious exception too), but they were still huge signings.

So now we all moan about money when it's not us up the top. We must look like fucking idiots.

I said like us, not the same as we were. Their situation is similar, they suddenly have a huge amount of money play with. Of course it isn't the same, I never said it was. I think the only reason they were going for big names was because they had a day to think about it. Most likely Hughes has had nothing to do with the transfers. When it comes down to him choosing who to buy, you'll most likely see signings similar to the ones we made. I don't blame them for coming in and taking advantage of the fuck up we created. And the only people who seriously think they will achieve top 4 this season are their new board. So stuff your words, there's nothing to mark.

But we made big transfers and we did win the league. Twice. Saying City will never win the league under current circumstances is just wrong. In a few years time, they have a very real chance. And as everyone is saying, I doubt Robinho had much of a choice. He certainly wasn't going to be playing for Real Madrid, and when Manchester City came along, Real found the perfect way to piss both Chelsea and Robinho off.

Nah people will still blame Chelsea, say we started it.