Rival Watch

This season was a great opportunity.
We all know where are faults were and we were a bit unlucky on the way with injuries.
Such a shame.
I hope we do good business this summer so that we stay in contention and hopefully this time cancel out those small margins and win it!

Martyn Ziegler reports that Man City's FFP sanctions will be: 21-man CL squad instead of 25; 60m euro fine over 3 years; no rise in CL squad wage bill allowed. Same as for PSG.

The "no rise in CL squad wage bill" is pretty big news, since it means that if City want to add any of their new, big signings they'll have to remove some players from their CL squad.

I can't see it making much difference to them domestically, though.

GoonerJay29 wrote:The "no rise in CL squad wage bill" is pretty big news, since it means that if City want to add any of their new, big signings they'll have to remove some players from their CL squad.

I can't see it making much difference to them domestically, though.

Umm.. if the CL squad reduces to 21, then they can technically redistribute the same wage among lesser number of players.

The problem, however, is that nobody is going to want to be at Etihad, if they are not a part of that 21 member squad. Top players wouldn't want to remain there to only win domestic trophies.

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/may/05/manchester-city-settlement-uefa-financial-fair-play



Manchester City are still a long way off agreeing a settlement with Uefa over sanctions for breaking financial fair play rules, it can be disclosed.

The club have until the end of the week to agree to the sanctions or face the case being handed to a panel for a non-negotiable decision. City are one of nine European clubs, also including Paris St-Germain who are being dealt with for rule breaches, and it is understood they are one of those furthest from reaching an agreement.

The initial settlement offer made to City included financial restrictions on their Champions League squad for next season, and possibly a cut in the size of it, as well as a heavy fine.

Neither City nor Uefa would comment but it is understood the club have been negotiating forcefully for a significant reduction in that sanction but have been struggling to make progress. The risk, however, is that if they are unable to agree a deal with Uefa then they could face even stiffer sanctions from the European game's club financial control board's adjudicatory panel.

No club is expected to be excluded from the Champions League for breaching the spending limits, the maximum possible sanction. Both Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain are believed to have fallen foul of the FFP rules with sponsorship deals related to each clubs' owners.

The Abu Dhabi-owned City have a £40m a year deal with Etihad airways, while the Qatar-owned PSG have a back-dated deal with the Qatar Tourist Authority which is worth up to €200m (£165m) a year.

Arsenal's manager Arsène Wenger said last week Uefa needs to show it means business over FFP. "There are rules to apply for the financial fair play," he commented. "If you don't respect them, you have to apply the rules. One of the rules is that normally you should be banned for the excess of the financial amount that is not justified, that is if you are £100m overboard, you should be punished for £100m of your wages bill in the Champions League."

David de Gea - Dealing With Crosses (2013-2014) :

has improved

El Gunner wrote:This season was a great opportunity.
We all know where are faults were and we were a bit unlucky on the way with injuries.
Such a shame.
I hope we do good business this summer so that we stay in contention and hopefully this time cancel out those small margins and win it!

This season was the best opportunity we have had to win the EPL in years!
The other three teams in the perennial top four all dealing with new managers and started off very slow with mufc falling off completely. Unfortunately, we were then passed by Liverpool. I do not think that mufc will be as bad next year and unless there are changes to the managers of those above us they should start off better and be more consistent. So fighting for the top will be harder next year.

http://www.theguardian.com/football/quiz/2014/may/13/premier-league-review-quiz-season-manchester-city

only got 15/20   
try and post your score   

100.

Ha! Beat that!

Got 15/20 aswell, such a premface.

Would've got 16 if Mole didn't convince everyone that Newcastle are awful and lost 7 consecutive games

16/20 for me.

Decent.

14 out of 20.
A fine score. Enjoy your summer.

11 lol

14/20

Some of that was straight up guessing lol

8 out 20 lol

13 out 20.  

13 out of a possible 20

A decent score. Enjoy the summer

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2635533/Manchester-United-seal-20m-deal-Toni-Kroos-Louis-van-Gaal-gives-approval-new-Old-Trafford-boss-sets-sights-Arjen-Robben.html

Kroos to Utd a done deal?

This makes me very unhappy. A great player entering his prime.

£20mil seems way too cheap for that to be true.

Agreed. Even with just one year left on Kroos' contract, I would have thought there would be a little bit more of a bidding war, or something.

Maybe Utd are just shrewd about the opportunity though ... nobody else with that level of prestige, money, and need on the market for him I guess. Credit to them if they're not screwing around, though.

But now the Guardian says the Kroos deal is off!

Sagna passed his medical at City. (?)

Bacary Sagna completes medical at Man City and agrees mega three-year deal as Manuel Pellegrini fends off United interest

Bacary Sagna finalised his free transfer to the Etihad on Monday
The Arsenal defender will earn £150,000-a-week at Manchester City
Manchester United launched an 11th hour bid to sign the Frenchman
Sagna ends his eight-year stay with the Gunners after winning the FA Cup


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2636246/Bacary-Sagna-completes-medical-Man-City-agrees-mega-three-year-deal-Manuel-Pellegrini-fends-United-interest.html#ixzz32RwaBukc
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

they have a tough start after losing community shield tbh

So, it's 01 July. Beginning of the window. Here's the summary so far:

United : Ander Herrera, Luke Shaw.
Liverpool : Emre Can, Lambert, Llallana
Chelsea : Fabregas, Costa
City : Fernando, Sagna






Arsenal: Sold Vela (again), Released 11 other players including TGESTL and Sagna, Rejected chance to sign Fabregas. Wenger on a beach in Brazil.

(I know I skewed it a bit there, but wth).

It really does look bad when you write it all down like that