THE 93:20 NEWSLETTER:- ISSUE 44

Hello, and welcome to Issue 44 of the 93:20 Newsletter. The Club World Cup is almost upon us, and I am strangely excited for it. Signing three lush players in the lead-up has helped. As always, plenty to discuss this week, so let’s go. And as always, please support the podcast if you can. That includes by purchasing the upcoming book release of these Newsletters, containing plenty of new content!

Are England managers legally required to have a lobotomy on their first day as England manager, as part of their contract? If having Jordan Henderson forced on us was not bad enough, then, and I take no joy in saying it, we have to endure Kyle Walker in an England shirt, who was clearly spent a year ago, and duly performed his traditional goal-costing lapse of concentration. What is up with Tuchel? The World Cup is a year away, he has loads of time to build a team and squad for the future, and this is who he picks? Still, watching Kyle Walker play is less painful that listening to his podcasts, the highlight this week him saying he would give up a Premier League title to have won a Europa League with Spurs. Some players who lack the sanitised PR/media training are refreshing, as we do not want robots parroting party lines. Kyle Walker is not one of those people, and manages to put his foot in it pretty much every time he speaks. He has been one of our greatest buys, and has served Manchester City so well, but please, no more. Take your podcast, take your football boots, and go spend more time with your families.

Anyway, what possible reason was there to pick Kyle Walker, whatever we or Tuchel may think of him? What was he going to learn? Well done anyway, on overseeing England’s first ever defeat to an African nation, and a well-deserved defeat at that. Look, there is no worse time to be playing games like this, and I am not going to be making sweeping conclusions from two games after the end of another gruelling season. Yes, the Nations League showed that perhaps such an argument is weak, but it’s natural that intensity levels would be lower for Andorra and a friendly. The players were going through the motions. But Tuchel is not helping himself, and it feels like the usual depressing cycle is playing out, because the FA have hired another manager who values caution over anything else. I’d rather a bold approach that could crash and burn in the early stages of a tournament, but could also bring silverware, rather than a risk-averse style coming off the back of 60 years of failure, that should take England to the latter stages of a tournament, but will almost guarantee them coming up short when it gets to the business end.

I’m almost pining for Gareth Southgate.

Almost.

I’m being a bit hyperbolic and harsh on Tuchel, I admit that. Tuchel’s job is to have a competitive team ready for next year’s World Cup, not to get results in friendlies to appease fans and media. But still, I expected a tad more from him so far. Time will tell……

All we “need”, is for United to continue being incompetent, so we can keep laughing for years to come.

It has been a week of reminiscing on social media, as it was two years since the Treble, and an emotional night in Istanbul. If you hadn’t noticed, we released on Soundcloud our show from after the Champions League final, with me, Stefan, Lloyd and Ahsan. Ninety minutes that encapsulated everything that happened.

Once the dust had settled, like after THAT Aguero goal, it felt like it could only go downhill thereafter. That’s the thing, it’s harder to maintain such fervour when such heights are hit – it makes an anti-climax inevitable, and it perhaps dulls slightly the taste of subsequent success. But we always come back refreshed and up for more experiences before long, because it’s football, we love it, and it is our life.

I’ve never really warmed to Trent Alexander-Arnold, and not just because he is a Liverpool player, not that I had strong thoughts on him, apart from defensive ability opinions. But bravo to him speaking fluent Spanish at his Real Madrid unveiling, as we all know the consequences of this with the Liverpool fan base, who predictably have concluded he has been planning this move for years. No shit, Sherlock. He has definitely gone up in my estimation, but then there are a million ways to trigger this fan base, and I applaud inventive new methods when I see or hear them. This in the week that Pep Lijnders has come to City, having vowed never to be an assistant manager again. It’s almost as if circumstances and opinions change. But along with the exit of Alexander-Arnold, it feeds in naturally to the cultish refusal to accept that anyone would ever willingly choose to better themselves by leaving Liverpool, that such a move could only be a step down, as it would mean less. And anyone who mocks this, as I am now, just doesn’t “get” Liverpool, and what it means. I of course think my football club is special. I think it is the best, as I am biased, along with every fan, who rightly adores their own club, through thick and thin. But not for one moment am I deluded enough to think that my club is somehow more special than every other, which is something that can never be measured anyway. The only metric is on the pitch, and City have undoubtedly been the best over the past decade in England, which is why rival fans put so much time and effort into belittling the achievements.

Anyway, on what is the favourite topic of us ALL – the media.

And so first, a big thank you to Steve Nicol, Don Hutchinson and Mark Ogden over at ESPN, as I had writer’s block for this week’s Newsletter, with little piquing my interest, to get me furiously typing away. But then the three amigos stepped up to the plate, and I will be forever grateful. Dumb, dumber and even dumber. I could write a book on what was under ten minutes of classic content on their football podcast this week, as they evaluated City’s transfer business. And if this is new to you, you can still probably guess where this is going.

So to recap, the podcast began with a lovefest over Liverpool signing Wirtz, with no criticism at all over the fee, and it was noted what great options Liverpool would now have off the bench. Then, on to City. I won’t add thoughts to all my personal highlights, as you will be able to interpret them for yourselves. And there were so many highlights, with Mark Ogden leading the charge. City aren’t signing the players they used to, the signings were underwhelming, wondering where Reijnders would play, stating that Ait-Nouri couldn’t defend, wondering why no other clubs were in for the players, and why City hadn’t signed a right-back, with only two and a half months left of the summer transfer window (the 2^nd one), and the very predictable Cherki can’t work with Pep routine. Ogden finished by sneering at the “kid” City had brought in as 3^rd keeper – he is 33 years old. Was he expecting Donnarumma? Scott Carson played twice.

All the signings may prove to be huge flops, but we can only judge them on the here and now, as I am yet to invent time travel, though I am working on it. The ESPN podcast showed their complete ignorance over the signings, and a complete ignorance of City’s past business, with ready-made top-tier signings a rarity. There is plankton in the Atlantic Ocean that could tell you that. No wonder the podcast is not promoted. A good way to gauge City’s transfers is to examine the response of rival fans. If they are collectively shrieking about City’s spending, accusing the club of ignoring the charges and decrying the death of PSR, then you know City’s Director of Football has done a good job. The Bluemoon Transfer forum is also a good guide, as City could sign a lab-produced mix of Pele, Messi and Kevin De Bruyne rolled into one, on a free transfer, and there would be someone on there criticising the move. But it has been overwhelmingly positive following the huge slump after the Wirtz news broke. Whatever the future holds, Viana has nailed it. As someone on Twitter commented, are City going to negotiations with a gun?!

Needless to say, I have bookmarked the show.

Anyway, 93:20 will be beginning a new series next week, which will hopefully be a regular thing – a Media Show. But the aim of it, though it may end up that way, is not to broadcast an hour of paranoid rantings about how the media have it in for City, but take a more balanced, holistic view of content being put out, good and bad. Though you can rest easy with the knowledge there will still be plenty of ranting and a truckload of sarcasm, or your money back.

And for the sake of balance, I should note that many blue moons ago, I would at season-end fire off a series of questions to football journalists about the season as a whole, for my blog. Some replied, some did not, as was their right. There was one journalist that always replied first, was always extremely polite, and would send detailed, fair answers, usually the same day. In fact, he once interrupted his holiday to do so. And that man was Mark Ogden.

I finish with good news. It has emerged that City have agreed to slash matchday ticket prices by up to 43% with immediate effect. Well done again to all those that fought the club on this, and will continue to do so. And this is proof of what can be achieved, rather than supinely sitting there accepting being taken for a mug year after year. The cynic in me (a rare appearance of that side of my character) would suggest City had little choice, if they don’t want to see more empty seats next season, something they really hate. That is the natural consequence of trying to charge £71 for the cheapest sections for a midweek game at home to Leicester City. They had to slash the prices. Nevertheless, good to see, and necessary considering at least 267 games will be shown live in the Premier League next season, so 3pm fixtures at the Etihad are quickly becoming a relic, a memory of the old days.

WHAT WE HAVE BEEN UP TO THIS WEEK

https://ninetythreetwenty.com/9320-player/

We are gearing up for the Club World Cup, so look out for our tournament preview on Monday, Media Show, and a Market show that will look at the business of other clubs.

THE HUB – EPISODE 37

Dave from Talking Wolves joins Bailey to discuss Rayan Ait-Nouri moving to City, the qualities he will bring and which concerns are valid.

THE MARKET – EPISODE 39

Lloyd is joined by Ahsan and Lewis to discuss Viana’s first mini-window and consider squad balance going into the Club World Cup.

THE WEEKEND SHOW – HOT POTATOES

A player favourite comes over to the Weekend Show, for one week only. A number of hot topics are debated by Ben, Ste and Howard.

FROM THE ARCHIVES – HISTORY

As mentioned earlier, the post-Istanbul show. Tired, and very emotional.
https://soundcloud.com/9320pod/from-the-archives-history

If you are not a subscriber to our player shows, then enjoy some free samples of what we are about. Every show we do will have a 15 minutes sample on Soundcloud, along with a full, free weekly Friday show, jam- packed with content. Give it a try!

https://soundcloud.com/9320pod/tracks