Why is Cole involved?

Poor? it was 100% moronic mistake. The red card was harsh too, a yellow would have been enough IMO.

Nah was a definite red, was a possible leg-breaker. Even Shelvey came out after the game and apologised for it.

Actually, it's Demba Ba, not Dem Ba

Basically forced into it by his comments it seems. If that means Ferdinand will play for England again it's a double blow.

Actually, it's Demba Ba, not Dem Ba

Well, it happens to the best

Evra with a header

How bad is your defending Newcastle.

Vieira: FFP would not stop Manchester City buying Falcao

The Premier League champions' development executive says there will be no repeat of their previous lavish spending, but there is still room for "exceptional" players

Patrick Vieira insists Uefa's Financial Fair Play rules will not prevent Manchester City from trying to sign “exceptional” players like Radamel Falcao.

The City development executive said there will be no repeat of the lavish spending of the last three years as the club concentrate on producing “the majority” of their own first-teamers.

But Vieira explained that there will still be room for the Premier League champions to sign marquee players.

City have been strongly linked with Falcao this week after manager Roberto Mancini travelled to the Spanish capital to watch the striker in action for Atletico Madrid last Sunday.

Asked by Goal.com about Falcao, former City and Arsenal midfielder Vieira said: “That is the manager's call, you never know, but our philosophy will be to try to bring in young players from the academy.

“Clubs like us, United, Chelsea and Arsenal will always try and bring in one exceptional player because that is the way it is, but the majority we want to come from the academy. We are talking about a project over the next 10-15 years.”

Atletico president Enrique Cerezo has opened the floodgates for an approach for Falcao by claiming the club would have no option but to sell their prize asset if the Colombian’s €60million buy-out clause is met.

Vieira explained that City’s future strategy will differ from the one which saw vast sums spent on transforming the club into Premier League champions following Abu Dhabi’s 2008 takeover.

Speaking at the launch of the 'PASS' education scheme, Vieira said: “As a club we want to produce our own players rather than buy them in in their 20s. This is the future, partly because of FFP, partly because it is good for fans to identify with boys from the academy.

“We have a vision, a plan. In the next few years we want to bring in our young players from the academy. In the last three years we wanted to build a club quick so we could challenge United, Arsenal and Chelsea. We had to buy the best in the market. Now we go to the second phase where we want to use our academy, which is why we are building one of the best in the world.”

Vieira said the key is for City to develop home-grown talent from the age of eight as well as prising the best youngsters from abroad before they sign professional contracts.

One recent example is Jose Angel Pozo, the highly-rated young striker who joined from Real Madrid on his 16th birthday in March.

“He is 16 and came on yesterday [Tuesday] in the Under-21 league, so that says everything about how good he is. I believe that comes from coaching from grass roots up. It is not because he has been at City for a few months that we have made him the player he is now.

“We helped him to develop but from the age of eight or nine years old there has been a better programme than the one there is in the UK.

“There is a difference today between a young 16-year-old from Spain or France or Holland and the England one. The difference can be tactics, technique or the understanding of the game.”

Vieira said City’s challenge is to develop the best youngsters into first-team players.

“I spend every Wednesday evening when I am not travelling at the academy with the eight to 12-year-olds. I can tell you there is talent and a lot of talent.

“If you have a group of 20 really talented players at that age, if you don't get five involved in the first team that means we have done something wrong and not coached them the way we were supposed to. Does that mean our system is not good?

“When you have a good nine-year-old, you have to improve that talent year after year. You get to the point where he is not good enough, you have to ask how come you lost him. It means there must be something wrong in our system.

“As a football club you want to develop players [rather than the FA do it]. You have the players from eight to 16 so you know what you need to improve, but the big problem in this country is we have been losing a lot of players from the age of 18-21 because the games programme was not good enough.

“That is how you lost so many players. At that age the only big games are at international level but you do not play enough of those to be challenged or try to improve, because that is the best way to see where you are. Having the Under-21 league is making things more positive for the English game.”

FFP was never about stopping big clubs. It was about making sure other clubs didn't challenge them.

It's impossible to punish the super rich clubs anyway. What're they going to do, not give Man City CL money because they overspent? Oh well, they'll just take another £50m out of their owners purse instead.

The above from Vieira just suggests big clubs will start poaching talent even moreso, giving other clubs less chance of keeping/developing thier own.

Platini/UEFA are doing a great job of killing football.

I see it differently, and don't believe FFP is aimed to make other clubs suffer. As Milan is a prime example of this, and Milan is considered one of the biggest in Europe in terms of the trophies that Milan bolsters.

Milan had 80m worth of players to sell and despite not owning their own stadium, I'd wager the revenue of the club is still bigger than all but possibly 3 teams in the EPL and top 2 teams in Spain. How can mid-table teams ever improve?

I still think the best way for clubs to move on is get a new owner and spend silly amounts of money. Because FFP makes it near impossible to improve otherwise, it just guarantees you can't spend anything like what the teams you're aiming to catch are and if you do? No proze money or CL for you!

Milan had 80m worth of players to sell and despite not owning their own stadium, I'd wager the revenue of the club is still bigger than all but possibly 3 teams in the EPL and top 2 teams in Spain. How can mid-table teams ever improve?

I still think the best way for clubs to move on is get a new owner and spend silly amounts of money. Because FFP makes it near impossible to improve otherwise, it just guarantees you can't spend anything like what the teams you're aiming to catch are and if you do? No proze money or CL for you!

The principal objectives of financial fair play are to introduce more discipline and rationality into club football finances, reduce pressure on salaries and transfer fees and limit inflationary effect, encourage clubs not to spend more than they earn, ensure clubs settle their liabilities on a timely basis, and protect the long-term viability of the European club game.

Actually the revenue alone does not dictate anything. The expenses do. Contrast the expenses of the clubs with the expenses of Milan and you will get a better picture.

Gate receipts will be doubtless much higher for even Everton than Milan.

And as for your new owner spending silly money..there's 'theoretically' no stopping that.

If I had 10 billion euros with nothing to spend it on (like Abramovich), I'd buy Milan...find a new spot, build a new stadium for 600 million. Then Invest another 400 million into making the greatest youth academy + scouting system ever. And that's 1 billion euros which shall not matter a whit in the FFP calculations.

What I cannot do, is spend 150 million euros to buy CR and Messi into my team, unless my current teams' finances add up.

R7, why do you care so much about FFP? Are you really that desperate to defend Berlusconi's actions regarding this club?

Things might have turned out differently if we had thought things through more carefully.

I understand the regulations of the FFP, but that's not what I was asking. You post countless articles and comments to demonstrate the effectiveness of the FFP, as if trying to persuade us into thoroughly believing in it, all in all to come to the conclusion that Berlusconi is trying to run this club as efficiently as possible, in accord with the rules. Sorry, but that's total bullshit to me. We're all grown-ups here, we understand the situation we're in. We realize that we can't even come close to competing with the footballing giants of today in terms of revenue and liquidity, and that without Berlusconi's investment 26 years ago we might not exist as a club nowadays. There's no need for all the lecturing and @ss-kissing. If we criticize the guy, it's because we all care a whole lot about this club, and we simply don't agree with some or most of his decisions in recent times. If we have a mediocre team nowadays run by a mediocre coach, then who's to blame other than the management? Things might have turned out differently if we had thought things through more carefully.

I understand the regulations of the FFP, but that's not what I was asking. You post countless articles and comments to demonstrate the effectiveness of the FFP, as if trying to persuade us into thoroughly believing in it, all in all to come to the conclusion that Berlusconi is trying to run this club as efficiently as possible, in accord with the rules. Sorry, but that's total bullshit to me. We're all grown-ups here, we understand the situation we're in. We realize that we can't even come close to competing with the footballing giants of today in terms of revenue and liquidity, and that without Berlusconi's investment 26 years ago we might not exist as a club nowadays. There's no need for all the lecturing and @ss-kissing. If we criticize the guy, it's because we all care a whole lot about this club, and we simply don't agree with some or most of his decisions in recent times. If we have a mediocre team nowadays run by a mediocre coach, then who's to blame other than the management? Things might have turned out differently if we had thought things through more carefully.