Man City's Training Complex

[Glasgowmancity]

I certainly wouldn't hold McGivern up as a success of any youth system.

I suppose it's all relative, an International player that held down a starting place in the SPL 2 seasons in a row is certainly a far better success than most of us on here have achieved I would guess.

[Parklife]

I suppose it's all relative, an International player that held down a starting place in the SPL 2 seasons in a row is certainly a far better success than most of us on here have achieved I would guess.

He's fecking garbage. Claiming him as a success undermines your argument.

[McToot]

A friend of a friend was working as a Scout for City. He worked the Spain area with the remit of finding players they could bring in for nothing, spend a little on and sell on in a year or two at a small profit.

Perhaps not just to produce top level talent but also develop players to continue making a profit in such a way.

[Fairbairn]

This is the same guy that said that the ref was right to book Aguero & not give a penalty because of the way his arms were when he went down against Southampton

City's Academy graduates of the last 10 years that have been a success would include,

Shaun Wright Phillips

Bradley Wright Phillips

Keiran Trippier - Burnley

Ben Mee - Burnley

Shay Logan - Aberdeen

John Guidetti -On loan to Celtic

Jason Denayer - On loan to Celtic

Ryan McGivern - Was at Hibs

Daniel Sturridge - Liverpool

Kasper Schmeichel - Leicester

Dedryk Boyata - City

Joey Barton - QPR

Nedum Onuoha - QPR

And with Pozo & Angelino both being on the bench this year & Marcos Lopes out on loan at Lille just now I think that's not too bad tbh.

How many of those were "bought from other clubs youth teams? Guidetti for example didn't seem to move to City till he was about 16 and similar with Denayer.

[Charlie Endell]

How is it in any way obscene?

I'm all for players having decent facilities, but £200m!

It's things like this that have made me lose interest in the game at the 'top end'. Give me a Junior game or a visit to Brunton Park over an EPL game every time.

[Orraloon]

I'm all for players having decent facilities, but £200m!

It's things like this that have made me lose interest in the game at the 'top end'. Give me a Junior game or a visit to Brunton Park over an EPL game every time.

I'm the same. I've almost totally lost interest in club football. Liverpool were on cooncil TV last night and I wasn't interested.

Spending £200 million on a facility that benefits only a minority of elite players is obscene in my opinion. If parts of the facilities are open for use, free of charge, for anybody who wants to, then it's not quite so bad. But £200million for a training facility for one club is obscene.

Closer to home, on a smaller scale, we all know that the number of folk using food banks is increasing every month. Something which I haven't seen mentioned for a while is fuel poverty. We are back into winter and once again folk will die in their own homes due to hypothermia. We know this because it happens every year. At the same time we, as a society, insist that football clubs, in our top division, spend millions of pounds on heating huge areas of grass so that 30 odd footballers can play football every week in the name of "entertainment". We can afford to heat huge chunks of grass but folk in our own towns, maybe even our own streets, can't afford to heat their own houses. If that's not obscene then I don't know what is.

[jock strap]

Good victory for City in Rome. Didn't expect them to win 2-0 at all.

Not one home bred player in the team.

[philip_OATN]

I didn't expect it at all. Dzeko looked as if he couldn't hit a proverbial with a banjo.

I would like to ask Glasgowmancity:

Is Mangala the real deal, or is he a waste of 32 million, do Citeh need to buy another centre half?

Some people on the media are suggesting Joe Hart was man of the match tonight.... is that overblown hyperbole, or do you think he saved the side tonight?

[jock strap]

Hart made a couple of excellent saves tonight and contributed like the rest of the team.

Tough match against tough opposition.

Disappointed with the Roma fans, so much for the cauldron of hate atmosphere.

[Glasgowmancity]

I didn't expect it at all. Dzeko looked as if he couldn't hit a proverbial with a banjo.

I would like to ask Glasgowmancity:

Is Mangala the real deal, or is he a waste of 32 million, do Citeh need to buy another centre half?

Some people on the media are suggesting Joe Hart was man of the match tonight.... is that overblown hyperbole, or do you think he saved the side tonight?

Against Chelsea Mangala was brilliant - he's been pretty awful since so so far it's a waste but he's still young so he might turn out a player, it's still early days. I like Nastasic but he's well out of favour & I doubt he'll play for City again unfortunately.

Hart made a couple of cracking saves that saved us, but with his goal & assist, Nasri was MOTM for me. (Either that or Milner for his work rate)

[Glasgowmancity]

Hart made a couple of excellent saves tonight and contributed like the rest of the team.

Tough match against tough opposition.

Disappointed with the Roma fans, so much for the cauldron of hate atmosphere.

I wouldn't fancy being a City fan in Rome tonight though

[GRBear]

Thanks to Citeh I'm £222 up!

[Green_Tide_Rising]

I wouldn't fancy being a City fan in Rome tonight though

Fair play to ye - excellent result

Delighted for Pellegrini - comes across as a proper Gentleman

Have been keeping an eye on yere youth team in the UEFA Youth Champions Lge as ye have a young Irish lad (Jack Byrne) in yere starting midfield - ye have a serious amount of underage talent .....considering ye beat Bayern Munich 6-0 and Roma 4-0 within the last few weeks of that competition , says alot about yere investment at youth . Viera seems to be doing a great job there as underage coach and technical director

Edited December 10, 2014 by Green_Tide_Rising

[Glasgowmancity]

Fair play to ye - excellent result

Delighted for Pellegrini - comes across as a proper Gentleman

Have been keeping an eye on yere youth team in the UEFA Youth Champions Lge as ye have a young Irish lad (Jack Byrne) in yere starting midfield - ye have a serious amount of underage talent .....considering ye beat Bayern Munich 6-0 and Roma 4-0 within the last few weeks of that competition , says alot about yere investment at youth . Viera seems to be doing a great job there as underage coach and technical director

Definitely a very good under age team, and the best player & captain from last year is currently on loan at Lille.

Jack Byrne scored again today against Roma

[Green_Tide_Rising]

Definitely a very good under age team, and the best player & captain from last year is currently on loan at Lille.

Jack Byrne scored again today against Roma

Yeah saw that ---- think Jack is Citys top scorer in the competition with 5 or 6 goals - looks to have real potential but very early days yet ......hopefully though he can fulfill his potential both for City and Ireland

Edited December 10, 2014 by Green_Tide_Rising

[philip_OATN]

Thanks for your reply and thoughts glasgowmancity, I watched some of the game and agree Milner kept at it, he is your ultimate squad player, maybe jack of all trades but he'd play in goal for you if you asked him. I guess all teams need a guy like him, especially when you need sleeves rolled up. And I have seen enough of him to know he has a bit of skill too. You really missed Aguerro there tonight, at one stage I thought it might be a good idea to play a 4-6-0 and take off Dzeko, but Pellegrini ultimately made all the right calls.

I have often wanted to ask a Manchester City fan.... with all the resources and choice of players now, could Mark Hughes or Mancini make a better job? I just wonder occasionally how far Sparky could have gone with these players and the backing now. He seems to get the best out of players. (and I still remember his goal vs Barcelona in 92). Was Mancini pushed too soon?

Do you think Pellegrini will go if Man City lose in the next round of the European Cup?

[Glasgowmancity]

Thanks for your reply and thoughts glasgowmancity, I watched some of the game and agree Milner kept at it, he is your ultimate squad player, maybe jack of all trades but he'd play in goal for you if you asked him. I guess all teams need a guy like him, especially when you need sleeves rolled up. And I have seen enough of him to know he has a bit of skill too. You really missed Aguerro there tonight, at one stage I thought it might be a good idea to play a 4-6-0 and take off Dzeko, but Pellegrini ultimately made all the right calls.

4-6-0 would have need a fully Silva or an available & non-lazy Yaya, so I think he was right to go with Dzeko as an out ball but I was really surprised Lampard never played but Fernando & Fernandinho both played well so it didn't matter.

Milner's adaptability is brilliant, he played 5 different positions in the derby, including left back & right back.

I have often wanted to ask a Manchester City fan.... with all the resources and choice of players now, could Mark Hughes or Mancini make a better job? I just wonder occasionally how far Sparky could have gone with these players and the backing now. He seems to get the best out of players. (and I still remember his goal vs Barcelona in 92). Was Mancini pushed too soon?

I don't think they could have tbh. Hughes can get the best out of hard working players, but doesn't seem to thrive with "flair" players. Mancini's man management is shocking from what I've heard and by the time he left City he had completely lost the dressing room & alienated most of the staff at the club form the chief exec to the tea lady & the kit man.

Do you think Pellegrini will go if Man City lose in the next round of the European Cup?

No his target is 5 trophies in 5 years. He currently has 2 trophies from 1 year, qualified for the last 16 in the CL in both his seasons & is currently only 3 points off the top of the league.

How it has worked out like that I have no idea though, considering with 5 minutes to go in matchday 5 of the CL we had 2 points & we've lost a lot of stupid points in the league so far & have played pretty badly in general.

[ZoltanBuchan]

Looks cracking.

Citys owners actually seem to want long term investment in the club and area.

How is it in anyway obscene?

The target is that 75% of academy players across the age groups come from Greater Manchester.

Sorry, that is utter crap. If City weren't trying to invest in the future, why would they be bothering with a facility of this size & cost? £200M seems a hell of a lot to spend to get some tax breaks.

Much as I despise football clubs becoming toys for billionaires, I'm finding it increasing hard to dislike this lot. A new 7,000 seater stadium for the women's team, some serious investment in local community projects, they have to be given some credit.

As for City - or for that matter Chelsea - failing to produce players from their academy, that's a fair criticism but only up to a point. To get into either of those teams you have to be a top class international standard player (or James Milner). OK, they get the pick of the youngsters, but it's hellish difficult to predict which 15 and 16-year-olds will make it and which won't. Have a look at our age-group teams over the last ten years, especially the U19 Euro finalists. How many of them made it seriously big?

[Scouse Eddie]

4-6-0 would have need a fully Silva or an available & non-lazy Yaya, so I think he was right to go with Dzeko as an out ball but I was really surprised Lampard never played but Fernando & Fernandinho both played well so it didn't matter.

Milner's adaptability is brilliant, he played 5 different positions in the derby, including left back & right back.

I don't think they could have tbh. Hughes can get the best out of hard working players, but doesn't seem to thrive with "flair" players. Mancini's man management is shocking from what I've heard and by the time he left City he had completely lost the dressing room & alienated most of the staff at the club form the chief exec to the tea lady & the kit man.

No his target is 5 trophies in 5 years. He currently has 2 trophies from 1 year, qualified for the last 16 in the CL in both his seasons & is currently only 3 points off the top of the league.

How it has worked out like that I have no idea though, considering with 5 minutes to go in matchday 5 of the CL we had 2 points & we've lost a lot of stupid points in the league so far & have played pretty badly in general.

I blame Mancini for making us spend 16 mill on Mario, he upset him and look what we have got a fckin total waste of space who can't be arsed running or passing the ball.

I thought when we bought him it was a gamble but worth a punt, it's no wonder i don't bet on the horses..

[Glasgowmancity]

I blame Mancini for making us spend 16 mill on Mario, he upset him and look what we have got a fckin total waste of space who can't be arsed running or passing the ball.

I thought when we bought him it was a gamble but worth a punt, it's no wonder i don't bet on the horses..

I'm surprised just how bad he's been tbh.

[Fairbairn]

I'm surprised just how bad he's been tbh.

At times he looks like he would rather be doing anything else other than playing football. It wouldn't overly surprise me if he jacked it in completely within the next 2 years.

[Glasgowmancity]

At times he looks like he would rather be doing anything else other than playing football. It wouldn't overly surprise me if he jacked it in completely within the next 2 years.

Yeah, same here.

[ZoltanBuchan]

A bit like Collymore? Possibly. I'm told Celtic had a brilliantly talented player in the 70s - Connelly? - who jacked it in in his early 20s to dig roads instead.

[jock strap]

At times he looks like he would rather be doing anything else other than playing football. It wouldn't overly surprise me if he jacked it in completely within the next 2 years.

More money than sense.