Keane's omission is definitely because they fell out.

Keane
Schmeichel
Giggs
Scholes
Ronaldo
Vidic
Van Nistelrooy

I'd add De Gea and Rooney (at his peak) to that as well.

Wilfried Pony?

I thought he'd be amazing at City. Some of his instinctive finishing at Swansea was amazing.

Thought he was a great signing at the time but a bit of a disappointment for me. He hasn't got many minutes under his belt yet. So, the jury is still out...

He has only started 4 times in the league - twice this season and twice last season and in total he has managed just 488 minutes in the league including his substitute appearances. He has had a couple of injuries tho. He has scored a couple of times so his strike rate is 1 every 244 minutes compared to 1 every 150 minutes or so at Swansea. So if he scores twice in his next 112 minutes he is more or or less on par with his Swansea stats!

What do you think of Johnson (kids jokes aside) and Rodwell?

Cant have Kompany as being world class. Too often injured and too inconsistent. Good leader but not a world class centre back if we're comparing to Fergie's views. Who would you rather have in their prime - Stam or Kompany?

Fergies views are odd.  He says there only currently 2 world class players -Messi and Ronaldo. That seems a very narrow definition and IMO rules out every player over the last x years.

Stam played 3 seasons at United averaging 2225 minutes per season. Kompany averages 2521 minutes per season in the Premier League over the last 7 seasons and has never made fewer than 28 appearances in a season. So the "too often injured" argument doesn't really hold.

Yes, he has been inconsistent at times (last year after returning from injury was a huge disappointment) but at his peak he has clearly been one of the best central defenders in the world. Souness and Carragher were actually moved to say he was THE best.

In the FIFA FIFPro World XI since 2005, the following have been included at some point whilst playing for Englsih clubs:


Chelsea 9 - Terry(5 times), Drogba, Lampard, Makelele, David Luiz all once.

United 9   -  Ronaldo (3times when with United and another 6 times with Real), Vidic (twice), Evra, ferdinand, Rooney, Dia Maria all once.

Liverpool 5 -  Gerrard (3) Torres (2)

Arsenal 1    - Henry  (1)


What do we mean when we say "World Class" -  best 11 in the world? Best 22 in the world? Best 50 in the world?  Played in World Cup Final, Champions League Final etc? World class means different things to different people and personally I'd say about top 50 seems right. Let's face it, if you are one of the top 50 footballers from the millions who play worldwide then you are definitely worldclass!

From City:  Tevez, YaYa, Kompany, Silva, Aguero.

Fact check what the man in the pub just said please.

'Arsenal are the only team in UK to have only played in the top division'

Top flight since 1919/20 - before that in the old Div 2. Arrived in the top flight under dubious circumstances - the original finanical dopers

Doesn't really work as a formation but more  a list of favourite players covering different eras:

Corrigan

Paul Lake
Mike Doyle
Paul Power

David White
Ali Bernarbia
Gareth Barry
Geo Kinkladze
Peter Barnes

Neil Young
Carlos Tevez

Subs:
Bell
Lee
Summerbee
SWP
Dunne

[but the fans will still turn out]

Man City and to a lesser extent Arsenal are the only "big 5" clubs I don't find grating when they are successful.  Not sure why this is.  Think it's the fans.

Man Utd's success was miserable and Liverpool were unbearable in the late 80s/early 90s.   
 

Yes I remember the headline in the Daily Mash a few years back when Liverpool should have won the title.

"Liverpool, 3 games from being unbearable again"

Most City fans have a pretty decent perspective and don't forget where they were

Most games you can hear us sing 'we were here when we were shit'

If the sheiks ever pull out, we'll go back to being a lower mid table club, but the fans will still turn out

Do you think you would fill your newly expanded stadium week in week out if you go back to being a lower mid table club, i dont think so.

The die hards would stay but there are not enough die hards to fill it week in week out. (at proper prices)

We still have to consistently fill the expanded new stadium as a top of the table club yet You have to remember that City inflate the attendances for FFP purposes. Well, in the eyes of Liverpool fans on RAWK anyway.....

10 years ago the average attendance at the new stadium was c45,000. The low point since was under Pierce in 2006/2007 when it dipped to c40,000. Now that was really shit - scored 10 goals at home ALL season.

Anyway, I don't think we have to worry about the owners leaving just yet as they increasingly get into bed with the council. Here  is an extract from something I saw just yesterday:

According to JLL, plans are in the pipeline for 12 towers containing 4,450 homes in a city which is due to grow by 20% over the next 20 years. At the moment over 2,300 residential units are under construction in Manchester. It has become a profitable business with prices rising to a top of £425 a sq.ft.

The commercial market underpins this optimism with strong take up and new development, one of which is a plan for a 92,900 sq.metres (1 million sq.ft.) office campus in a redevelopment area around Manchester City Football Club’s Etihad stadium.

The scheme is being worked on by the city council and football club owners, Abu Dhabi United Group.

As part of the scheme a large amount of ageing industrial stock will be refurbished. As elsewhere in Manchester the arrival of a new Metrolink station will help the scheme. There are now seven Metrolink lines with 92 stations and more to come.

[because of his better handling of the media]

He's definitely an improvement on Moyes but I guess it's tough to answer that because Moyes wasn't given time.

LVG's has been given longer I suspect because of his better handling of the media and his past achievements and also cos he followed Moyes and not Fergie.

He's slipping in that department now, in my view. He's getting very defensive & prickly with the press, which, given how things have gone under his tenure (not as well as hoped) is not ideal. Once the Press really get on your case, you add one more problem to the pile, as they just chip away at confidence & the sentiment goes viral. He needs to do a bit of cooey-wooey with them, have a Media Golf Day or whatever, give them some one on one exclusives. It's part of being a Manager, I'd say.

FWIW, I don't dislike him at all, but something about him does not quite seem to fit with a club of your stature. I hope he succeeds though. Even for us neutrals, we want to see the "old" Man U, riding high, with other clubs in awe of them.

How long since Man U have been better than Man C? Couple of years, maybe? That's not the natural order of things at all.

I'll put an exact date on it, 16th April 2011, when City beat United in the FA Cup semi-final and went on to win their first bit of silverware since the money came in. We effectively reached United's level on that date and stopped them  winning the double in 2010/2011.  In the 8 league derby  games since then City have  won 6 and United 2.  Last 4 seasons  it's 2 league titles and 1 league cup for City compared to their 1 league title in Ferguson's last year.

I hope and expect City to win the league again this season and extend their recent success. But this is sport. Only 5 months ago United beat City to go 4 points clear in the league with just 6 games to go. City turned that round with a 13 point swing in those 6 games. Things change in relatively short periods of time - Chelsea are a great example this season when they were odds on favourite to win the league just 6 weeks ago.

As far as the big long-term picture is concerned, United are the ultimate cash cow and  aren't going anywhere and I for one look forward to a healthy and ongoing competitive rivalry.
City have moved ahead now and are in a very strong position

The Wire
West Wing
Breaking Bad

Recently bought one of the value gold season tickets. £299. Even taking into consideration that the first 2 home games have passed, it still works out at just £17 a game.

Been allocated a seat right by the halfway line as well.

Ruining football since 2008.

Incredible value and I see they've reached the limit now.   Must be around 43,000 season ticket holders now including the Premium seats.

[Looking forward to seeing more Emptyhad pics and ECL posts from the haters too]

Dithered over starting a similar thread for weeks. Thanks Tikay for starting it. I will try and contribute a few musings over time. Good to see a few Blues on here. I also think 'flushthemout' is a city fan too.

Looking forward to seeing more Emptyhad pics and ECL posts from the haters too 😃

Made me smile this and I'm in the same camp - all criticism of City welcome in here IMO.  I'm sure hhyftrftdr feels the same way with his "ruining football since 2008" stance. 

Talking of Managers, the Media told us that Pelligrini was on his way out of the door at the end of last season, & it would not have been a surprise.

Next I heard, he had been offered, & signed, a new Contract.

How that work?

It's an open secret that City want Pep Guardiola. Soriano (City CEO) and Begiristain (City DoF)  at City are close to him having worked with him at Barcelona. Maybe it is a done deal already for next summer.

City's strong finish to last season no doubt helped Pellegrini's cause and helped him avoid the sack as the media were suggesting (also many City fans were hoping he was given the push as well for his supposed tactical ineptitude and his persistence of playing 4 2 2 in big games). I have no doubts Pellegrini is fully aware of the situation with Guadiola, he gets on well with his bosses in contrast to the abrasive Mancini, and the new deal was a suitable reward. Also, it stops the media witch hunt at every press conference asking about his future. Also, supposedly, players don't perform for a manager when they know he won't be there much longer. The new contract puts that to bed as well.

 

First big football match I ever went to the '99 final, 10 years old. Broke my heart. Didn't the ref turn up in the paper partying with Man City fans after or something like that?

Mark Halsey - he certainly had a drink with City fans staying in the same hotel!

http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Football%3A+Gills+call+for+replay+after+ref's+City+party.-a060452551

I'm sure Charlton had a 100k gate

Charlton's official highest attendance at the Valley was 75031 in 1938. I'm not so sure "official" attendances were very reliable in those days! The photos suggested there were more than 75000 there - I think Tighty has posted pics of this in the past.

Which is more significant in city history

Beating gillingham in that playoff final or

Manchester winning the bid for the Commonwealth Games.

Didn't city have a 100k gate back in the day?

Good question! I think Gillingham trumps any event in our recent history (yes, even QPR). If we hadn't got out of Division 2 at the first attempt then we were doomed. And we made a real mess of it but eventually stumbled over the line.

Winning the CG was certainly a happy accident as I know the club were on the lookout for a new stadium (anyone who went to Maine Road in our final few seasons there will understand why, what with the open stands in the corners!), and there is a trail of increased fortune since moving in at Eastlands, but I'm not sure that trail would have started had we been stuck in Div 2 heading into the new millennium.

Yeah I mentioned it above, we still hold the record home attendance, though it was more like 86k than 100k, vs Stoke in a cup game many years ago. Wonder how long that record will last?

My post count has rocketed today, blame Tikay

Just looked on Wiki and it was 84,569 v Stoke in 6th round of cup in 1934.

The 2nd highest attendance was also at Maine Rd involving the raggish lot from Old Trafford after OT had been bombed in the war - 83,260 in 1948 v Arsenal in the league.