I just nearly spat my coffee everywhere.

Pardew on a 5 year deal!? 😆

How does Arsenal-Mania's best friend do it.

how did he get 5.5 years? so that's 5.0 years they'll still have to pay him after they sack him this summer!

At 15-16 he scored 20 goals for Fed works in 35 appearances.

kamikaze wrote:

haha theyre going to go straight back down. how does pardew still get a job after not playing tevez and mascherano? the guy literally couldn't identify talent when it was right in front of him.

Just when you thought they had learnt a thing or 2 from relegation.....alas old habits die hard!

James wrote:

I just nearly spat my coffee everywhere.

Pardew on a 5 year deal!? 😆

How does Arsenal-Mania's best friend do it.

more shocking is the fact that it's Pardue!

Five and a half years? There's literally no other explanation.

tevez has apparently handed in a transfer request. he misses his daughters in argentina and has lost his love for the game. wonder if he'll just forfeit the remainder of his contract or take a massive pay cut to play in argentina.

City's frontline

Tevez: wants to go to Argentina
Adebayor: wants to go to Juventus
Balotelli: wants to go to Milan / be a menace

Proof that money can't buy happiness.

Tevez is a fantastic player but surely Mancini needs to start getting rid of him or some of the other headcases before the team melts down. To his credit though, Tevez has been professional on the field despite the constant moaning off it.

There's a lot of speculation that Tevez is plotting a Rooney-esque attempt to get a better contract, but I think it's a homesickness issue. He's been complaining about it for years, and the instability at City isn't helping his mood, either.

I think so too. I believe that Tevez is genuinely missing his family and relatives. He's already earned enough money in Europe to be able to build a good life for himself too. There's nothing wrong with that. Too many footballers are thinking with their wallet these days. It's nice to see someone think with his heart every now and then.

That's a fair point.

The saddest thing at Man City though is Balotelli. He's still just a kid but has a goal productivity that is as good as anyone outside La Liga (which has gone from being the best to a joke league in 5 years). However, his attitude is getting in the way of greatness. He really needs to sort it out or be forever remembered as a waste of talent. I think he's the most special young player in the league.

Yeah, Balotelli could have been the best forward in Europe at this point if he'd been brought up under better circumstances. Instead he's been raised poorly both on and off the pitch, in a country where blatant racism is widespread and players of foreign descent are undesired in the national team, and to top it all off he happened to come through at one of the worst clubs in the world to deal with youth prospects which employed one of the worst managers in Europe at developing young players at the time. His career and life has been a perfect mismatch full of conflict, intolerance and a lack of guidance so far.

you have to hand it to them. They got a biig sponsor but can still fool the ignorant into continuing to believe this goody two shoes image they want to project.

does anyone know anything about our renegotiatoin with Emirates who we might have on our jerseys after next season?

Captain wrote:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/europe/9276343.stm

It was only a matter of time. I said from day one that the Unicef deal was just a tester of the fan's reaction to having a sponsor on the shirt.

...and I thought of that when I read the news. Good call.

There go their debt problems. 🙁

By the way, surprised no one has mentioned Tevez. Kinda funny, kinda sad but in the end I care very little. Ultimately, it looks like he decided to earn a fuck-off wage for a year or so and then do what he wants for the rest of his career.

How is it possible for a non-profit organisation pay Barca £25 million per year in sponsorship money? Do they expect to cover that cost with the (supposed) increase in revenues due to the sponsorship itself? It doesn't really add up for me.

Qatari charity + Dodgy oil country = Perfect sense 😉

But yeah, the same thought did cross my mind. They must be really confident in the ROI.

kamikaze wrote:

tevez has apparently handed in a transfer request. he misses his daughters in argentina and has lost his love for the game. wonder if he'll just forfeit the remainder of his contract or take a massive pay cut to play in argentina.

The timing of it is brilliant; just as City go level on points with us.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/m/man_city/9280265.stm

"It is something I have felt for some time and have spent many hours thinking this through."

In a statement, the Manchester City captain thanked club owner Sheikh Mansour for his "understanding and support".

"I hugely resent suggestions that I have been unduly influenced by others. I wanted to leave in the summer, but was convinced to return. Sadly, my feelings have not changed.

"I am disappointed that the management should now see fit to try to portray the situation in another light.

"My relationship with certain executives and individuals at the club has broken down and is now beyond repair. I do not wish to expand on this at this stage. They know, because I have told them."