NICKY: ‘PREM WILL HAVE A HART’
PEP Guardiola made a mistake when he forced Joe Hart out of City at the start of the season.
And Nicky Weaver thinks that Premier League clubs should be queuing up to take him on next year.
Hart was sent on a season’s loan to Torino, and City will seek to sell him this summer after the manager decided that he was not good enough with his feet for his style of play.
“The new manager came in and made his mind up straight away,” said Weaver, hero of City’s 1999 play-off final victory.
“The players had been on a six or eight-month trial, if you like, as the new manager was announced in the middle of last season and was probably pencilled in a year or more before that.
“The new manager came in and made a quick decision on Joe and the best thing about it – and I think it was a wrong decision – was that Joe had time to get out rather than be told to stay and fight for his place, and waste a season.
“Joe looked at his options and didn’t have many, but he took a brave one by going to Torino and has done well.”
City fans have been highly critical of the decision, especially as Claudio Bravo has had a poor first season. “Obviously the goalkeeping situation hasn’t worked out the way the manager would have liked, and how everyone else thought it would pan out,” said Weaver. “If I was a Premier League team looking for a goalkeeper I would be all over him – he is England’s number one, has won the Premier League and knows what it’s all about. “He is also a great age, so someone will get five or six years service out of him.”
A CITY fans’ group has reacted angrily after the club revealed increased season ticket prices.
Prices are to go up by an average of two per cent and supporters have been sent details about securing their seats for next season.
In most cases the rises equate to an extra £10 to £20.
The 1894 Group have spoken out claiming rises, however small, are unjustified.
The group, who organise banner displays and other initiatives, said the move was completely at odds with Pep Guardiola’s plea for an improvement in the atmosphere at the Etihad.
The Spaniard has frequently appealed for an increase in noise levels, but 1894 say rises are likely to price out hardcore fans who generate the most atmosphere.
In a statement the 1894 Group said: “Before the takeover, if our ground was a 47,000 sell-out then every seat would be taken on a match day.
“You wonder if the fans dropping away are being replaced by people who just want the status of having a season ticket and they are simply picking and choosing which games to attend.
“We have Pep asking people in the club what they can do about the atmosphere.
“But our message is you can’t have it both ways.
“You either make it all about the money, or you try to ensure we have a partisan atmosphere at home games.
“That could mean the difference between finishing fourth and first and the club make even more through prize money than they ever would from stealth rises.”
Club insiders say the rises are line with inflation and a rise in matchday costs, and point out their season tickets remain among the best value for money in the Premier League.
The cheapest season tickets, at £299 have been unaffected and City have reintroduced a ‘Value Gold’ ticket, also £299, where the club allocate a single seat anywhere in the stadium.
However, the 1894 Group described the former as a ‘PR stunt’ as it ‘applies to a handful of seats and so few people benefit from them.’
The general secretary of City’s official supporters club Kevin Parker also said he was ‘slightly disappointed’ by the increase.
He told M.E.N. Sport: “At the end of the day, two percent isn’t as bad as many people predicted.
“But my preference definitely would have been for there to be no increases. So I’m slightly disappointed in that sense.”