Newsletter #213

We’ve got some very curious news coming in, it seems we have sold Niall Quinn to a club in Malaysia, at least this is what is being reported in newspapers in Malaysia! I wonder if anyone has told Big Niall yet? The £70m investment story is still running but it seems as though a kind of impasse has been reached as City want more information, but the syndicate seem unwilling to provide it until they see a business plan.

The pre-season matches got off to a fine start with two 3-1 victories, the first on Friday against Athlone with Rösler getting the opener and Quinn bagging two after coming on as substitute. The star of the night was apparently Buster Phillips. Athlone scored a consolation goal through Curle who sliced the ball into his own net! Cork were defeated thanks to goals from Kernaghan, Quinn and Kavelashvili; the consolation was a penalty given away by Curle!

As yet we have no match reports; if anyone went to the games or perhaps has access to some kind of newspaper report, and can spare the time, the rest of us would be most grateful.

NEWS – NEXT MOVE UP TO CITY…

In a radio interview on Wednesday, investment broker Stuart Barclay gave more details of the proposed middle eastern cash injection that has been keeping the media busy this week. He said that the offer was indeed a serious, genuine one and would provide the funds to make City one of the top sides again. The offer on the table was an investment portfolio from a syndicate represented by a colleague, he said. It was seen as an investment only, not a takeover. When asked what Francis Lee’s opinion of it was, Barclay said that Lee was “enthusiastic but cautious.” The money was definitely there though. The syndicate didn’t want to make their identity known for reasons of “cultural sensitivity”, whatever that means. They see the proposal as being a business venture, not something to do with their spare cash(!). The next move is up to City but the offer won’t be there forever. When asked “Why City?”, Barclay admitted that he himself was an Ipswich fan but the syndicate wanted a more high profile club.

The interview was followed by a short discussion with a financial consultant who said that City were right to be cautious and had to be absolutely sure that the promised funds were available and would be forthcoming before entering into any deal. After taking into account all the outstanding loans the club has, its net assets are in the region of £3 million. To reach the level of say Newcastle or Blackburn, an investment of around £60 million would be needed. Having reached that status, the club would be very profitable and hence the investment would be worthwhile. However, it should be noted that around £40 million has been pumped into Wolverhampton Wanderers over the last decade or so and look where they are.

Finally, Georgiou Kinkladze has been granted his wish to play in the number 10 shirt next season. This is the number he wore at Tbilisi and still wears for the Georgian national team, and as it’s the number usually worn by the most skilful, creative player in a team (e.g. Pele, Maradona, Platini, and from our own history, Rodney Marsh and Stan Bowles), it couldn’t go to a more deserving player.

A pool of 18 players will travel to the Republic of Ireland and China for the pre-season matches. It’s intended that everybody will get a game or two, so don’t expect the strongest sides for every game. Three players recovering from long-term injuries (Edghill, Hiley and Beagrie) have been left at home.

NEWS – NOW £270m?

Teletext seems to think that City are in line for £270 million not 70 but they also say that it is looking less likely to happen as they cannot find out who it is from (does it really matter?). Perhaps Nick Leeson put some aside and is donating it to the Blues.

NEWS – NIALL SOLD?

Copies of Kuala Lumpur’s evening newspaper “The Malay Mail” yesterday carried reports that Niall Quinn has signed for top local side Selangor in a deal worth £1 million. Selangor, a hugely cash-rich club, have been chasing a top Premier League striker for about six weeks. At various times it was thought to be Ian Rush, Mark Hughes or Ian Wright.

Quinn would be by far the biggest name to play in the M-League. Overseas stars are traditionally bargain-basement South Americans or journeyman Euros. The biggest name in the league last year was David Mitchell — ex-Millwall and many others. The standard is probably Division Three — so Quinn should be able to use his experiences of how City were playing at the beginning of last season and he’ll fit right in.

Despite this, football is hugely popular. Selangor play in an 80,000 state-of-the-art, dome-shaped stadium that Brian McClair described last year as “like playing in a huge vagina”.

I hope they are paying Niall a huge wedge as he’ll have to get used to 35 degrees of heat, kamikaze defending and no pork.

NEWS – PROGRESS ON FOOTBALL DEAL

Reported today (20/7/96) on local teletext regional news, though oddly enough not on the sports pages …

A syndicate of Saudi Arabian tycoons is set to pour £70m into Manchester City Football Club. The billionaire leading them, whose identity is being kept secret, is prepared to close the deal soon. But this depends on City coming up with a persuasive business plan for getting the club back into the Premiership at the end of the coming soccer season.

NEWS – MORE ON THE QUINN MOVE!

We don’t get much information concerning the Blues even over in Yorkshire, but I saw the attached article in the Internet version of the Malaysia Star Newspaper this morning concerning Niall Quinn.

“On Saturday The Selangor Giants gave an insipid display and lost 0-1 against Johor in a Premier League tie.

The reigning Malaysia Cup champions also lost 2-4 in the first leg of the FA Cup semi-final and now have a mountain to climb in Alor Star.

The only player who can perhaps lift the gloom in the Selangor camp is newly acquired Niall Quinn, the Irish International striker.

The 29 year-old Quinn, who has 60 international caps to his credit, is arriving today, but there are doubts whether he is fit for tomorrow’s (Tuesday) game.

Said Selangor assistant manager S Pathy, “It is going to be an uphill task for us against Kedah, even if Quinn does arrive in time, and is available for the match, it is left to be seen if he can fit into the team. He still has to get used to conditions here. We might try him out for 10-20 minutes and see how he goes.””

I know the Olympics have dominated the back pages this week, so have we missed something? Is Quinn going for good, or is it just for a few weeks?

If he has moved permanently, I think it is a mistake for him, I have seen quite a bit of Malaysian football, and even when they didn’t fix the result beforehand (the bribery cases last year involving Grobbelaar amongst others also affected Malaysia), the standard rates around third division at best. He ought to stand out, and as most of the players are Malay or Chinese, he will have a staggering height advantage in many games.

The reason I was reading the paper in the first place is that I am going on vacation to Kuala Lumpur in a couple of weeks, and I will be staying about five miles from the Selangor stadium. If there is a game whilst I am there I will try for a match report.

MANCHESTER CITY QUESTION – WEEK 29

Quiz: Since most people are just starting to get back from their vacation, I’ve decided to warm up for the upcoming season with the following (easy) question: When did City last appear in a Cup-final? Against which team did they play, and what was the final score?

WHY BLUE

My earliest memory of being interested in football of any description goes back to 1978 or so (when I was about 7). Myself and two lads, one called Philip, the other whose name I can’t recall, would kick a ball about at the bottom of the street or in the field at the back of our house.

I will admit that my allegiances at this time were towards United (I even have incriminating photographs of myself in a scum away kit) but I couldn’t really explain why I had Red leanings – kids just do until they “see the light” don’t they?

My friend Philip who was a Blue, said “you don’t want to follow them do you?”, and he started talking about Colin Bell, Dennis Tueart and other great City players. My brother Paul had also talked in hushed tones about these revered players, only telling me that I wasn’t allowed to be a Blue because it was just copying off him. The persuasive powers of Philip were beginning to work though; the event that clinched it was a televised home win against Norwich City (nothing changes there!). The match was unremarkable, sometime in the 1978/79 season I think, though from that moment I was hooked – True Blue for life.

I didn’t particularly care if people at school took the mickey (living up in Rossendale there weren’t many other City fans around) – I would defend the Blue cause to anyone. I was a Blue and nobody was going to tell me or persuade me otherwise.

The earliest memory of attending a match dates back to the 1983/84 season, going to watch the boys play Oldham Athletic at Boundary Park. From then on I would attend a few matches with my brother and my dad, until the 1986/87 season when I got my first season ticket. The rest as they say, is history. Home or away, I’ll be a Blue forever.

I still have to defend the Blues – my boss is a Red though to be fair he’s a dyed-in- the-wool Salford Red. He knows I was a Red in my youth and when he asked me why I’m a Blue I said “the truest supporters are the converted.”

Keep Blue, here’s to a better future – it will come to us – I’ve never felt so optimistic about City.

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