Newsletter #29

We have two ‘live’ Match Reports from the Arsenal game, one from Martin and
the other from the Arsenal Mailing List and furthermore, it’s a good one this time.
Seems we have a looming injury crisis which coincides nicely
with a run of very difficult games! Mark Higgins has made a good suggestion
for a new section on the WWW: ‘Where are they now?’. If you know anything,
however little, about an ex-player then please mail Svenn. I’m off to
England tomorrow so please take note of the address to send contributions
to over the Xmas holiday. I’ll be back for New Year to take up the reins
again. I plan to go to Maine Road, at least for the Villa game so expect a
heavy defeat to honour my presence 8-). Finally, as it’s the end of the
year (well, almost anyway), I would like to thank all those people who have
helped transform MCIVTA from a plaintive letter in RSS (September) to a
full-blown mailing list, cheers.

Have a great festive holiday; I’ll be supping Boddies (sorry James!) and
watching the Blues, provided that is, I don’t get snowed in (Peak
District)!

This one goes out to 93.

Next game West Ham away, Saturday 17th December 1994

MCIVTA…..HOLIDAY

I’m going back home for Xmas so this will be my last issue until the New
Year. Svenn Hanssen
will take over so all contributions must be mailed to
him. Our mailing system here in Zürich is temporarily unable to redirect
mail so this is unfortunately not an option. There will definitely be
reports for the West Ham & Newcastle Coca-Cola Cup games but after that, issues
will only be sent out should enough material be available (?). Whatever
happens, I will put together a bumper New Year issue (at no extra cost 8-))
and send this out in the first few working days in January.

CONTRIBUTIONS TO… Svenn: svenn@hanssen.priv.no

MATCH REPORT ‘LIVE’

MANCHESTER CITY vs ARSENAL 12th December 1994

There I was defending Brian Horton and asking everybody to give him a
chance and support him. Then what happens, he decides to have
tactical nightmare. Against a weakened Arsenal side, he plays what
can only be called a defensive side instead of the forthright
attacking side we’ve been accustomed to at home matches. This just
played straight into Arsenal’s hands.

City started with the formation like this:

                Dibble

    Kerr    Curle   I.Brightwell    Lomas

    Walsh   Flitcroft   Summerbee   Beagrie

            Quinn   Rösler

Subs, Margetson, Simpson, Kernaghan

Summerbee appeared to have moved into the centre with Walsh dropping into
the midfield. We all know Summerbee can’t win a tackle, so why push
him into a midfield battle?

City just couldn’t get to grips with the Arsenal team and failed in every
way to match them. Arsenal dominated the early game and it was just a
matter of time before they scored. City’s cause wasn’t helped with
the early departure of Beagrie; he hadn’t looked fit from the start
but any chance of seriously creating chances went with him leaving
the field, to be replaced by Simpson.

Arsenal took the lead when Dixon crossed from the right and Smith was
on hand to put the ball away (another goal coming from City’s left
side!!). Would this signal the Arsenal onslaught I’d been waiting
for? A second very nearly came within minutes when a Schwarz free kick
hit the woodwork. Before City could compose themselves Schwarz did
get the second; he chased a through ball and as Dibble came out he
pushed the ball past him. So, within the space of 3 minutes Arsenal
had gone 2-0 up and to be perfectly honest they deserved it. The only
response City could muster should have brought a goal; Quinn headed
a ball back across goal and Walsh somehow managed to miss the target. So
City went in 2 goals down, would they get back into the game? I seriously
doubted it.

Horton made a further change at half-time, replacing Kerr with
Kernaghan. He seemed to make the defence a bit more robust but
Arsenal were still given the time and room to play. It wasn’t until further
tactical moves forced on the team due to injuries that they finally
managed to get back into the game. Curle was moved into midfield
whilst carrying an injury, Lomas was freed from the right-back spot
and replaced by the ineffective attacking display from Summerbee,
which meant that City were basically down to a three man defence.
Although, having said that, Arsenal could still have scored. Campbell
hit the bar after being allowed to run unchallenged, the rebound falling
to Parlour after a Simpson mistake and Dibble was forced to save.
Dibble was the more active of the two ‘keepers and had to make
a number of saves. Bartram at the other end had still to make a real
save, although he had tipped a Walsh shot over and saved a Rösler
effort.

City finally got a break when a Walsh corner was only half cleared,
Kernaghan knocked the ball back in and it was cleared again to the edge
of the box, where Simpson was on hand to bang the ball home. This
goal managed to wake the players and they now tried to get an
equaliser but with only ten minutes left City couldn’t get one, so
they were forced to endure their first home defeat of the season.

City had played so poorly that they had deserved to be beaten by
another 3 or 4 goals. To make matters worse, it appears as though Curle
will be out for several games after damaging his hamstring again.
Walsh, Rösler and Beagrie all got knocks; will any of them miss the
trip to Upton Park?

The one good(ish) thing to come out of the game was the display by
Kernaghan. I’ll admit to being one of his fiercest critics in the
past but the way he played from coming on at half-time was a
refreshing change. He played very well and won many important
challenges when needed. I would say he was City’s best defender on
the night; let’s hope his confidence is back and he can prove all of us
doubters wrong. As for the rest of the team, the less said the
better; they were pitiful, they lacked any sort of enthusiasm and were
quite content to let Arsenal have a free run.

Arsenal to their credit, even though playing with a patched up team
and having failed to win in the previous 6 games wanted to win. They
were willing to work hard and support each other. They had far more
commitment to win and made space and time for each other (even
though City gifted them the time by not putting them under any sort
of pressure). They were certainly the more creative side.

The final scoreline flatters City, they should have been buried.
Let’s just hope the live TV apathy has gone and City get on and play
against the Hammers. I just wish City were never on live TV again
(not until we reach a final at least). Every time they play they
collapse; are they frightened of playing on TV? It just gets so
annoying and frustrating to sit there and watch the team fall apart.

Final score 1-2

MATCH REPORT ‘LIVE’

ARSENAL VIEW

MANCHESTER CITY vs ARSENAL 12th December 1994

If ever a team needed a victory it was us. With Spurs being let off and
then winning again on Saturday and with George sort of denying everything
there was a fairly depressed mood travelling up. The general consensus from
people I spoke to was that George was as innocent as El Tel and wouldn’t
survive the end of the week. The gloom was further added to with the
thought that Stewart Houston may be given any sort of temporary managerial
rôle. Being just three points above fourth from bottom West Ham that would
be the last thing we would need.

Anyway, with Wright, Adams and Seaman all still missing (Wright, I believe,
now starts a two match suspension), Bartram continued in goal with the ever
improving Keown at the back. Bung Jensen, Schwarz and Morrow made up the
midfield, with the unlucky Hillier left out. Parlour returned wide on the
right with Smith and Campbell up front. Man City started brightly with
Walsh looking very sharp. A few mazy runs brought no reward. Quinn once
again struggled though this may be due to the extra few pounds he’s picked
up around the waist. The midfield duo gradually took control as the first
half progressed. The opening goal came after half an hour. Campbell, who
had provided a number of surging runs, unlike when Wright plays, played a
delightful ball inside the full back. Dixon ran on and hammered a low cross
which Smith poked home. The goal was met with no measure of delerium from
the
travelling few as a goal was more than we could expect, especially a good
goal. Two minutes later and Schwarz hammered the cross bar with a fine
free kick, the sort we’ve been waiting a bloody long time for. Still minutes
later City were torn apart again as another Campbell run and pass set up
Schwarz. Schwarz took the ball on and cooly chipped the onrushing
Dibble. Two nil away from home and that first elusive win outside of London
looked a possibility. City just couldn’t get involved in spite of some
Klinsmann-esque diving from Rösler. Eventually he got Keown booked, which
was no more than the man deserved for his usual brutal tackling. Keown
however was having another storming game. City nearly got back into the
game when a deep cross drifted in the wind. Bartram failed to collect and
Quinn’s header sailed along
the six yard box as Walsh and Bould failed to make contact. Two nil at
half time was thoroughly deserved.

The second half was nearly as dominant as the first. City failed to make
any headway at all. Jensen and Schwarz were given acres of space in the
middle of the park as Dixon and Winterburn raided down the wings. Campbell
provided a flash of inspiration as he cut inside only to find no one to
pass to. He then rifled a shot against the cross bar. The boys threatened
every time they went forward. Campbell cutting in on the angle of the six
yard box drove his shot narrowly wide of the upright. Morrow’s fine chip
was tipped over by a recovering Andy Dibble. Parlour made many a surging
run but had clearly run out of steam as the game entered the final
quarter. Man City finally rallied in the last ten minutes and could have
collected an unjust point. Bartam was forced to save the odd long effort
and watch some even odder efforts fly into the City fans. City pulled a
goal back with ten minutes to go from a corner. The ball was headed in,
only for Winterburn to head off the line. Keown headed on but failed to
clear properly and the ball dropped to the edge of the box where it was
fired home on the volley. Couldn’t tell who scored as it was down the other
end. A fine strike though. Man City pushed forward and left some gaping
holes at the back. Campbell was again played clean through but failed to
slot the ball past the onrushing Dibble. Campbell really did deserve a
goal for another fine performance. Morrow then had another chip that was
again well tipped over by Dibble. Winterburn got himself booked for a
wild, late challenge but Bartram rose to snub out any belated threat from
City. A huge sigh of relief greeted the final whistle. City were rather
dissappointing for a side that hadn’t lost at home and were 6th in the
League. I suspect they’ve played a lot better than this this season. We on
the other hand have rarely played better, certainly not away from home.
Schwarz and Jensen were superb, as were the entire back four. Campbell
seems to be gaining in confidence by the moment. There was even time to
verbally abuse Steve Bruce in the Sky commentary box as we all filtered out
of, what will become, a magnificent Kippax stand. It didn’t even rain.

MATCH REFLECTIONS

I saw the match on Sky (first one this year) – Let’s hope we get
some full backs into action again soon. Lomas/Kerr were bad alternatives.
Apart from that, the match had its City moments – I liked the efforts from
Uwe/Quinn/Walshy – but luck was obviously missing and after all Arsenal
is our “bogey team” aren’t they? Their victory was not unjust based on
the fact that the Scandinavians Jensen/Schwarz “owned” the midfield in
the 1st half and the number of chances they had from that.

Nevertheless, it was one of the better TV performances I’ve seen from
City in years (that’s says something, doesn’t it?) At least they tried to
play football occasionally.

NEWS/SPECULATION

So, with a couple of first team regulars currently out of favour with
BH, the speculation is rising that a few players could be on their
way from Maine Road. It looks like it’s all down to money and reducing
the currently massive wage bill. In the AGM it became apparent that the
current wage bill is £5.5M, a rise of £1.7M from the previous
year; no wonder the club’s financial situation is pretty poor (£6M in
debt). There are currently 40 professional players on City’s books
which Lee has indicated is far too high. Obviously now that there’s a
businessman in power he’ll look at the incomings and outgoings and make
ends meet.

So who are the likely targets in a clear-out? The MEN has stated that
no actual names have been mentioned but they have speculated on the
following five:

Phelan, Kernaghan, Vonk, Griffiths and Quigley

To be perfectly honest I wouldn’t miss any of these. With the current
transfer market somewhat stagnant there’s only Phelan (IMHO) who would
raise any Premier interest, the others would be back down to the
lower leagues.

Horton has made it plain that those players who will be released (un-
named) will only be released if he feels they are surplus to
requirement.

Once again it’s being made clear that Horton is keen to sign a
couple of quality players to make the current team complete. But
would any quality player be available and more importantly would they
come to Maine Road?

More headaches!! Following the speculation that various player are
available for transfer and some of those mentioned are defenders,
Horton is facing a crisis in defence for the Arsenal game.
Edghill (knee tendon), Hill (ankle), Phelan (hamstring!!) and Ian
Brightwell (calf muscle strain) are all struggling to make the game.
Edghill and Hill are unlikely to be fit, the other two are doubtful so
Horton could be facing a drama as to who will fill the defensive
spots!!

NEWS

Following on from last night where several injuries became apparent,
it doesn’t fully show the extent of the injuries and illness, so
here’s the latest list of those injured:

Coton       - Shoulder  Both long term
Hill        - Ankle    /
Curle       - Hamstring (out a fortnight)
Edghill     - Flu and knee ligament
Brightwell D- Flu
Beagrie     - Badly bruised hip
Flitcroft   - Bruised shins
Rösler      -       "
Walsh       - Strained groin

How many will be fit for the Hammers game?

Horton is concerned that City only have two ‘keepers available over
the coming month, where City have to play at least 9 games. As a stop
gap John Burridge is back at Maine Road on another month’s loan.

NEWS

The following article appeared in Wednesday’s MEN

Curle has had a scan on his hamstring injury and City are awaiting
the results before deciding their course of action.
City have already sent Curle to see two consultant surgeons in an
attempt to see if they can discover the cause of the pulls and
strains he’s been suffering from. The surgeons have been unable to
pinpoint any particular problems.
Curle’s been given raised insoles to try to cure the problems.
He’s also been given a special warm up and warm down routine to try
to help.
It’s just a matter of waiting two weeks before he’ll be available
for selection again.

City have appointed a firm of stockbrokers to help in the bid to go
public. The company is called Tilney and Co. and they will handle the
new share issue after the decision was voted through at the AGM.
Anybody wishing to buy shares should contact Alan Dewhurst at Tilney
and Co. He can be contacted on 0161 226 1191.

Anybody going to buy any shares?

Trust City to do it at the wrong time of year. What with the usual
Christmas outlay to be faced upto, who’ll have money to spare for
shares!!?

BLACKBURN…HELP!

Like the American Blue you mentioned in the recent MCIVTA, I’m having
serious problems getting to Manchester for the Blackburn game. I’ve got a
ticket so I need to know kinda soonish if any fellow Blues can help with
transport. I’m waiting to hear back from the London Branch of the
Supporters’ Club if they’re running a coach up. If they are I should be able
to help that US supporter too, though I gotta admit it seems unlikely at
present (I will hear for definite tonight). So, anybody able to help with
transport to and from London on Boxing Day for the Blackburn game? I’d be
mega grateful.

WWW PAGE ‘WHERE ARE THEY NOW’

Mark Higgins had an idea for a “where are they now?” section of
the WWW, meaning where old City players have gone, and what they
are doing now. I’m sure it would be interesting to know what
people like Dennis Tueart, Tommy Booth, Mick Channon etc. have
been up to in the last decade. So, if you have any information lying
around send it to to Ashley or me, and I’ll include it in the pages.

MCIVTA IN THE MATCH MAGAZINE

The mailing list was plugged in the Arsenal programme, though
not by name!

ELECTRONIC BLUES!

More information for those City fans into all things computer-like.
Our resident keyboard wizards inform us that City fans keen on the
Internet and Electronic Mail can now join a Manchester City electronic
mailing list.

All you have to do is send e-mail to Ashley Birch at the address
birchaw@oci.unizh.ch and ask to be added to the list of subscribers.

The address was in nice, clear bold type and was not split across
a line. It may not have mentioned the name of the list or that it
was a free service or what it contains, but it’s definitely an
improvement on the last plug.

TRAUTMANN

I got the following letter from a guy who came across the
Trautmann review
on the WWW page [Ashley]

Many thanks for your review of the Trautmann book. I enjoyed the review
very much & it was very informative and balanced. I well remember the
Manchester Evening News “green” of those days (and the “pink” of the second
M/C paper whose name I forget) as we picked them up at 5 o’clock on
Saturday nights. So
often it was a tale of City losing by 3, 4, or 5 goals and the report
explaining that but for Trautmann it could have been triple that number.
When I saw him play (before the broken neck) it always confirmed him as a
miracle ‘keeper. I saw him after he came back from the neck injury, and in
my remembrance was a shadow of what he was before.

I have long thought that a book giving a kind of “what happened to …?”
for all those great sports heroes of our youth would be very fascinating: I
was a Bolton supporter in the 50’s and Saturdays was always Burnden Park
day, but I also enjoyed Maine Road on many occasions. My favourite was when
Stanley Matthews played there in his Stoke II days: I remember him
sprinting 30 or
40 yards down the field twisting the City defence in knots, and later in
the game taking the ball down the field and scoring himself.

Thanks again, Ashley: I will certainly look to getting my hands on the
Trautmann book.

SUGGESTION

I’m being very fussy but I wondered whether you thought it might be
worthwhile putting the attributions for the various articles at the top,
next to the title, rather than the bottom. With some of the contributions
running over several screens on my terminal, it would be nice to know who’s
writing whilst reading through.

A very minor point, but just wondered what you thought.

What do other people think of this? Let me know and I’ll incorporate it in
the New Year if people are keen. [Ashley]

QUESTION

Shane Kelly asked in MCIVTA 28 about Horton’s background. Alas, no one has
replied. Can anybody find something out about him and write a small article
in the near future?

HUMOUR???

I’m in the middle of moving between two departments
at the moment; I’ve just been down for some training
for my new job and the place seems to be full of reds.
One of them objected to my MCFC tie and informed me
that United are about to bring out a new blue and white
Oxo cube. It’ll be called “laughing stock”.

RESULTS & LEAGUE TABLE

December 14th 1994

Dec 10, 1994   Aston_Villa     - Everton          0 - 0
               Blackburn       - Southampton      3 - 2
               Leeds           - West_Ham         2 - 2
               Newcastle       - Leicester        3 - 1
               Norwich         - Chelsea          3 - 0
               Nottingham      - Ipswich          4 - 1
               Queen's_PR      - Manchester_U     2 - 3
               Tottenham       - Sheffield_W      3 - 1
               Wimbledon       - Coventry         2 - 0
Dec 11, 1994   Liverpool       - Crystal_Palace   0 - 0
Dec 12, 1994   Manchester_City - Arsenal          1 - 2

Pos    TEAM            P  W  D  L  F  A   PTS
 1. Blackburn Rovers  18 13  3  2 41 15   42
 2. Manchester United 18 13  2  3 35 12   41
 3. Newcastle United  18 11  4  3 39 22   37
 4. Liverpool         18  9  5  4 34 18   32
 5. Nottingham Forest 18  9  5  4 31 19   32
 6. Manchester City   18  8  4  6 30 28   28
 7. Leeds United      18  8  4  6 26 24   28
 8. Chelsea           18  8  3  7 26 23   27
 9. Norwich City      18  7  6  5 18 15   27
10. Tottenham         18  7  4  7 32 34   25
11. Arsenal           18  6  6  6 22 19   24
12. Coventry City     18  6  5  7 20 29   23
13. Crystal Palace    18  5  6  7 15 19   21
14. Southampton       18  5  6  7 25 30   21
15. Sheffield Weds.   18  5  6  7 19 26   21
16. Wimbledon         18  6  3  9 19 31   21
17. QPR               18  5  4  9 27 35   19
18. Everton           18  4  6  8 15 24   18
---------------------------------------------
19. West Ham United   18  5  3 10 12 21   18
20. Aston Villa       18  3  7  8 21 29   16
21. Leicester City    18  3  4 11 19 33   13
22. Ipswich Town      18  3  2 13 17 37   11

WWW MANCHESTER CITY SUPPORTERS’ HOME PAGE:

http://www.uit.no/mancity/

Thanks to Martin (x2), Harry, Paul, Svenn, Lars Ivar, Roger & Trev.

DISCLAIMER

The views expressed in MCIVTA are entirely those of the subscribers
and there is no intention to represent these opinions as being those
of Manchester City Football Club, nor of any of the companies and
universities by whom the subscribers are employed. It is not in
any way whatsoever connected to the club or any other related
organisation and is simply a group of supporters using this medium
as a means of disseminating news and exchanging opinions.

Editor: