Newsletter #219

My last issue as guest editor and I have loved every minute of it. As you all know I am a Red and I consider it a privilege to have been entrusted with the temporary stewardship of MCIVTA. I think it speaks volumes for the inherent decency of everyone connected with MCIVTA and sadly I doubt that ManU would allow a Blue to look after our newsletter (not that it’s a patch on this!!!). Thanks Ashley for the opportunity, thanks Paul Howarth for your help and patience. I would like to thank my Mum and Dad, my wife, kids, girlfriends, and God of course… (sorry, getting carried away, that’s part of my nomination speech when I qualify for my MUFC season ticket… in my dreams!).

OK, plenty of comment on the rich clubs getting richer and taking the game away from its grass roots, and a Red of a different shade explaining his affection for the Blues. Good to see some Antipodean sniping concerning soccer and not rugby for a change, and a conversation with a mysterious mole in Wilmslow. There’s views of the erstwhile strike and farewell from a fan who’s coming home and one who’s going away. Confused? Read on.

Don’t forget – all future input to Ashley, address below.

MATCH REPORT

EXETER CITY vs. MANCHESTER CITY, Thursday 8th August 1996

Well this will be my first and last attempt, at least for a while, at writing a match report as I have to leave for Norway on Monday until the end of March. The day did not start well for me as I had to replace the alternator on the car before I could get to St James’ Park and Murphy’s Law immediately took over which meant that I didn’t leave Salisbury until six o’clock leaving me just an hour and forty five minutes to make the journey to Exeter and find the ground before kick off. I actually made it to the ground by half seven, presumeably picking up photographs of myself speeding in four counties, but parking the car took me half an hour. I arrived at the ground fifteen minutes late, paid my six quid and was informed by the Exeter steward that nothing had happened yet. I must be getting paranoid but he seemed quite smug about it.

The ground was reasonably full and a lot of City fans made the effort to travel down from Manchester, and wherever else we are exiled to, to give the Blues some support. I couldn’t possibly give an exact figure but I reckon in the region of 400-500 City fans had made the trip, although the Exeter fans weren’t impressed as virtually the first chorus from them was “is this all you bring away?”

It was obvious as I looked out to the pitch and watched for a few minutes why the steward appeared to be so smug. City had obviously decided that the season was only just over a week away and so were more or less strolling around the pitch and passing the ball square or backwards. However, as if my arrival had sparked some form of urgency in the City ranks, they began to press forward, mainly through Martin “Buster” Phillips who obviously wanted to impress his former team mates. He looks a useful player and seems to be able to beat players at will, but sometimes his crosses were a bit wayward. The new back three experiment seemed to be working well, although I’m still not sure of Frontzeck who appears to commit himself too early into tackles. Kit Symons looked very assured at the centre of the defence, seemed quite comfortable on the ball and was prepared to advance over the half way line and take players on.

The midfield five were working quite well together passing the ball between them. Clough was playing as the pivot and more often than not it would be him spreading the ball left or right, with Lomas playing either behind him or alongside him. Unfortunately apart from Phillips and on the odd occasion Summerbee and Kinkladze, nobody wanted to make forward runs to take defenders away from the forwards. Is this going to be the norm, especially if we play with three at the back? Quinn and Rösler looked out of touch and although Quinn was at the centre of things, mainly because a kick upfield makes it look as if he’s working hard, again no incisive runs were being made.

Twenty minutes before the break City upped a gear and forced a succession of corners, of which two ended up with Steve Lomas’ specials, one going so high that it went out of the ground and the other not too far wide. Another corner was met with a Symons header I think (it was fairly crowded in there), which bounced up and hit the bar and Uwe’s header as it came back was cleared off the line. It came as no surprise to me when City scored that Phillips would supply the cross and even though it was initially too long Quinn with his back to goal on the far edge of the six yard box, set himself up, turned and curled a shot around a defender and the ‘keeper into the net, 1-0.

The match seemed to carry on in this manner with City doing most of the attacking until the break. Exeter did have a few good moments, most of them coming from long balls out of defence and allowing forwards to run on to them and certainly the three defenders made some good tackles in defence. I think Eike had about 3 or 4 shots to save all half.

All in all not a bad half, especially for a pre-season friendly so close to the season but there appeared to be a definite lack of urgency especially in the midfield. Half time: Exeter 0 City 1.

I was expecting better things in the second half especially as AB had sent the team out a fair bit before the kick off, Margetson came on as substitute for Immel, but for the first ten minutes of the half it was all Exeter. This wasn’t helped by the City substitution as Margetson seemed as if he hadn’t warmed up properly and consequently a fair few mix ups were happening in the City defence which Exeter almost pounced on. Eventually Exeter equalised and it’s fair to say that it was certainly the best goal of the game. The Exeter No 7, Barry McConnell, received the ball in midfield and then made a forward run towards the City box. The City players backed off him and he hit a shot from about 20-25 yards which flew into the roof of the net leaving Margetson no chance. 1-1.

This appeared to wake City up and within 5 minutes and almost for the first time in the half, Gio made a forward run and took on about 3 Exeter players on the edge of the box, threaded the ball through to Uwe, who passed the ball back to the edge of the box onto the foot of the oncoming Lomas who hit the ball low and hard into the bottom corner of the net. 2-1.

This was the point at which the mass substitutions were made and off went Quinn, Rösler, Summerbee, Phillips and Kinkladze to be replaced with Kavelashvili, Creaney, Brown, Hiley and a young player I haven’t seen before, No 18, can anybody help who was there? Exeter then made a mass of substitutions and the game settled in to the same pattern as the first twenty minutes of the first half. Clough was substituted with about 10 minutes left and it appeared to me that Frontzeck was unhappy about having to play the full match! It was also good to see Hiley play again and hopefully he’s regained match fitness but it was hard to tell as in true AB style he was playing in the outside right position. Creaney worked hard for the ball although Kavelashvili still looks as if he hasn’t quite tuned into the players around him yet.

With almost the last kick of the game, Kavelashvili ran onto a Creaney pass and stroked the ball past the Exeter keeper. 3-1.

All in all the match was a typical pre-season friendly without much fire and passion although there were some good signs there, typically Phillips, Symons, Brown and Hiley making a comeback. The rest of the squad appeared to be taking it easy and seemed determined not to get injured before the season.

IMHO the Quinn/Rösler partnership is not right, and this game contained even more proof if it were needed. I believe City should take whatever money they can get for Quinn and run because it seems that no matter how long it takes, Quinn and Rösler just won’t gel. Of course Quinn provides City with the hoof it up the park route but that’s not particularly how I want to see them play, and Quinn’s close control with the ball at his feet, on the evidence of last night, is as bad as it always was. In fact, I think he trod on the ball more times than he trapped it, but then this is just my opinion of the game, other correspondents may think differently and I may have been a bit harsh on him.

Anyway I hope that this effort is OK, and any Norwegian MCIVTAers or similar exiles like myself in Norway, drop me a line and if you want we can possibly meet up for a few drinks whilst I’m out there (I’ll bring my own whisky).

MATCH REPORT and GOSSIP

Growing increasingly bored with the lack of football involving City I have been able to see this summer I decided to go and see the reserves play a local side in Wilmslow. There was a reasonable turn out of about 200 and even Frannie Lee made an appearance towards half time. As most of the good young players and the rest of the senior squad were on duty in the West Country, the side on display was fairly spartan as you can imagine. However, I was pleased to see John Foster’s name on the team sheet along with Rae Ingram and Andy Dibble in goal. These were about the only players known to me in the team. The game was a fairly tedious affair apart from the odd bit of skill from Foster and some guy up front called Sammy who looks like a good prospect. Apparently he is a full back but because of injuries to the forwards available he was playing out of position though I couldn’t tell. The best thing I saw coming from the game was the fact that Foster appeared to come through it uninjured so he will hopefully be pushing for a first team place in the not too distant future.

Anyway the game ended 0-0. The really interesting stuff came talking to some bloke in the crowd. The chap I was talking to turned out to be a City fanatic in the truest sense of the word and he reckoned he had been a season ticket holder for 17 years. He also said he has seen all of City’s games in Ireland and was on first name terms with several of the players in the first team squad. As I have not been able to access my E-Mail for quite a while I have missed quite a few of the last MCVITAs so this stuff may already be common knowledge but here goes anyway:

Beagrie:

He said that he talked to Beagrie recently and he is apparently doing well after his operation. When asked when he expected to be ready to play again he said around Christmas but only if City had a new manager by then as there was little if no chance of him being picked by Ball as there has been a major falling out between the two of them. Apparently Beagrie also said to him that whenever he sees Rösler he asks when he will be fit to play again as he is very eager to see him back in the team (I wonder why). Apparently Beagrie is very impressed with Buster Phillips and would love to play in a team with himself on one wing and Buster on the other.

Alan Ball

This bit sounded like wishful thinking to me but from a source he would not reveal he said he had been told there are already plans to remove Ball as manager if things start going drastically wrong next season. He said that the unmentioned party had told him that Franny would not sack Ball if things started to go badly but instead move him upstairs to a newly created post of director of football. He would then get in another manager and he said George Graham would be one of the favourites for the post (I am praying that bit is true and this guy was not a loony).

Transfers

On the way back form Ireland he talked to Alan Ball at the airport and asked about any possible transfers this summer. Ball replied that they had signed another Georgian for a fee of £2.5 million! Has anyone else heard anything about this because even the tabloids haven’t made that one up? The Ireland tour was weeks ago and surely something would have been said about this by now? He said Ball would not mention any names but he thinks this guy could be unveiled at the opening match of the season as a surprise for the fans.

Weird African Drums

Can anyone remember those blokes wandering round with the drums before the opening game against Tottenham last season? They will be there with us to whip us up into a frenzy for all the away matches this season and possibly for all the home games as well, situated in the North Stand (very strange).

Keith Curle

Apparently Keith Curle had been growing increasingly unpopular at Maine Road over the last year or so and the outburst in the Sun about him going to a better club that would finish higher than City in the league was not the only insulting thing he said before he left: “Wolverhampton have a far better support than City” and “I would never have a drink with City fans, they’re yobs” were two that were mentioned.

The team to start the season against Ipswich

This is the side he reckoned Ball will start with:

                                          Immel
                          Brightwell      Symons          Frontzeck
  (Wingback)      Summerbee
                          Lomas   Kinkladze       Brown   Phillips
                                  Rösler          Quinn

It might all be crap but it certainly raised my eyebrows. He was a nice enough bloke and he seemed sincere enough. He certainly knew more about city that anyone I have ever met.

FROM YOUR PLATT LANE CORRESPONDENT

Wilmslow Albion vs. City Reserves

Last Friday evening I thought I would wander down to one of my local teams for what promised to be a pleasant evening’s footie. It was a warm, sunny evening and Wilimslow Albion were making a big effort, playing host to a “big club” as opposed to their normal Sunday league opponents. The barbeque was excellent, the clubhouse was busy and generally all was set for some great entertainment with City’s reserves showing the local amateurs what football is really about. Even Chairman Lee was present to oversee proceedings; the fact that the ground is only one mile from his home may have had something to do with his presence though.

On the up side, the reserves play in a very similar style to the first team, so perhaps Alan Ball is working to have all the teams playing the same way to ease movement between the squads. On the down side, they played like headless chickens when in the opposing penalty area and looked completely hopeless. Young Sammy Harris looked like an excellent understudy for Rösler when he managed to head the ball over the bar from three yards with the goalkeeper on the ground and no defenders in sight.

I would like to give the redeeming features, but there weren’t any. Dibble was hopeless and couldn’t catch the ball from a simple cross. The tackling lacked commitment and the forward movement through midfield lacked any vision whatsoever.

The reserves will popbably congratulate themselves that at least they did better than the first team against Plymouth. What a fine weekend leading up to the new season.

OPINION: MANCHESTER CITY – A LIVERPOOL FAN’S PERSPECTIVE

Having been born and brought up in Liverpool I’ve been a Liverpool fan all my life, but like the some of the comments in MCIVTA 218, am pissed off with corporate football. Football now does not resemble anything like the football which I first started going to in the 1970s, and it’s not just the big clubs becoming arrogant, but also the big clubs’ fans becoming arrogant.

The big clubs and their players obviously don’t give a toss about their fans, let alone smaller clubs (whose fans incidentally I admire the most). Similarly the big clubs fans don’t give a toss about the smaller clubs either – signing big players for ridiculous amounts of money and winning trophies every season seems to be the prerequisite of a fan’s ongoing `loyal` support these days – witness the behaviour of Man United’s fans. Whatever happened to the essense of support being following your team through its highs and lows on the pitch?

Now, being a Liverpool fan, I hate Man United, and would never in the world want to see them win the league, but was glad that they did last season, ahead of Newcastle. I lived in Newcastle for three years when they were s**t, and their fans are crap (contrary to popular belief and media myth). I used to watch them every week, albeit by going in the away end to support the away team, and they pulled in an average of about 9,000 every home game and the support was crap – no atmosphere, unbelievable levels of racism and as for the amount of times I was chased out of the away end (and sometimes punched around) I’ve lost count. But look at them now – talking about building a 70,000 capacity stadium – I can’t wait ’til they get relegated when Keegan goes in about 10 years and they’ve got about 9,000 fans filling a 70,000 stadium.

Yet the fans of clubs like Liverpool, Newcastle and Scum seem to think that big signings (and winning everything in sight) is indeed everything about football.

But why do the fans seem to relish being ripped off by the overgrown egos of some of the big players? How can 20,000 Newcastle `fans` be chuffed that Shearer’s signing has led the club to put more season tickets on sale for £1,500, and when general admission prices will go through the roof as a result? How can Liverpool fans still like Barnes when he’s a moaning bastard who has wanted to leave the club just about every season to `take his talents abroad`, only to be stopped because no one wanted him because he was always injured, and Liverpool were quite happy to give him pay rises which at one stage matched those of Dalglish – the end product being of course that he was laughing his tits off all the way to the bank whilst all the Liverpool fans chanted his name. In my opinion, unless he wanted to wear the red shirt with pride, he was welcome to f*** off abroad.

Anyway, now I’ve got so fed up with the arrogance of Liverpool football club, and their fans that I’ve stopped going to Anfield. I don’t think they’re entirely to blame however – I think that should be laid at the door of Scum. Liverpool and other big clubs have been dragged into the corporate `couldn’t give a toss about fans and smaller clubs` by the lead which Scum have taken – how else can they compete? So, now, having lived in Manchester, on and off, for 8 years, I watch City as much as I can (admittedly I started going because I’ve always had a soft spot for them, mainly because we both hate Scum). Lots of clubs have great fans, but City’s are exceptional. Maine Road is like a comedy store and I always enjoy myself there. What’s more their fans are friendly and hospitable, and are, in my opinion, the most loyal fans in the entire Football League / Premier League set up. No other club in the country can pull in crowds of 25,000 every game in the Premier League, and see this drop, at the most, by only a couple of thousand because they drop out of the Premier League. I’d like to see how many Newcastle, Everton etcetera `fans` go to St. James / Goodison Park if they were relegated again – not a lot I think. I know I am probably a traitor to Liverpool, but although I still support them in the heart, why do they deserve undying support financially – they can f*** off. Me, I’d rather support a team and fans which deserve it. I hope you go back up straight away – no other fans deserve some success more than City fans, though I only hope they can do it without getting drawn into the type of corporate behaviour exemplified by Scum and others. Good luck.

P.S. incidentally, I’m living in Cardiff at the moment, and when walking through town last year I was greeted by hundreds of Man United shirts. Well, yesterday, unsurprisingly, what did I see – about 10 Newcastle shirts (and I’ve never seen one in Cardiff before then). I suppose it was inevitable, but surely the glory hunters could have at least waited until Newcastle had won, or looked like winning the league, before they offered them their `loyal` support. This, of course, is just the thin end of the wedge!

Q:

How many Man United players does it take to change a light bulb?

A:

Twelve. One to change it, the other ten to moan about it, and AlexFerguson to complain that if the referee had done his job properly inthe first place the light bulb would never have gone out in the firstplace.

Q:

What have Man United got in common with a three pin plug?

A:

They’re both useless in Europe.

Q:

What has Old Trafford, on a Saturday afternoon at 4.45pm, got incommon with Wormwood Scrubs?

A:

They’re both full of cockneys trying to get out.

Well! I feel I have to rush for my handbag and defend my team against such an attack. However, I do have an affinity with Chris and several of his points.I think whatever team we support we are bound to hope and wish they win everything. However, it’s sad if that precludes the pleasure of watching wonderful football irrespective of who is playing it. I for one, along with many others, held up my hands when Liverpool won everything because I knew they played the game I love better than anyone else, and did it with dignity, pride and passion thanks to a succession of wonderful, humble managers who always knew that it’s just a simple team game. Incidentally I really admired the sportsmanship of the Newcastle chairman after the Charity Shield defeat today, He applauded and smiled throughout and even had a crack with Pallister. I hope he wasn’t trying to buy him come to think of it…

OPINION: SUPERCLUBS, STRIKES AND DULUX PAINT!

I agree completely with what Leo said about the way footy’s going in MCIVTA 218. There’s far too much money going to far too few clubs, and the real supporters are going to lose out. I’m horrified by what’s going on at Newcastle. Firstly, if top players like Shearer can only be bought for that kind of money, and then get paid £30,000 a week, there will soon be very few clubs, even in the Premiership – I find it hard to believe that City are the only Premiership club (I still think of City as a Premiership club, since that’s clearly where they belong, and although I have my concerns about the coming season, such as the inability to sign new players – if City can’t afford £500,000 for a new player then we could be in trouble – I still think City will be far better than the majority of the 1st division and will show us that they don’t belong there) with financial difficulties – that can afford to buy players of the sort of quality that will allow them to be competitive. Secondly, I’ve heard that at Newcastle there are now very few seats which aren’t already taken up by season ticket holders (in fact I’ve heard that you have to have a season ticket to see them now, but I hope that’s wrong) and that season tickets cost over £1,000, with a big waiting list. I have two major concerns about this: First, this situation is only becomes possible when it becomes impossible for fans to buy tickets on a game-by-game basis, due to demand. Once this starts to happen, the club can then demand these obscene prices for season tickets, and rakes it in. As we’ve seen, it’s only the most successful clubs like Newcastle and U****d that attract this sort of demand, so the gate receipts for these clubs will go through the roof. This is only going to increase the financial gap between the bigger and smaller clubs. Secondly, this is only going to put the game out of reach of the majority of real fans. I know I couldn’t afford to spend £1,000 on a season ticket, and I’m sure I’m not alone. If City were to get the £70 million from these arabs and go back where they belong (I mean the top of the Premiership, not just the Premiership), a similar situation would arise.

Now I’ve got that off my chest, on to the players’ strike: Can anyone tell us how much notice we’ll get of a strike? The players have my full support, but I think they owe it to the fans to say whether they intend to strike before tickets go on sale. If the players are being balloted next week (i.e. before the Ipswich game), will the Ipswich game be affected? I don’t really want to take the afternoon off work to drive to Manchester next Friday, only to find the game’s been cancelled because the players are on strike.

Finally, has anyone else seen the advert for Dulux Once paint on TV? There’s a bit where they show a football players’ changing room, with a red shirt being thrown onto a peg, with the voiceover saying ‘this changing room used to be sky blue.’ Am I right to find this extremely offensive, or am I just being over sensitive? I think we should all boycott Dulux.

OPINION: DAMIEN MORI

Seeing Damien Mori slip through our fingers is not a good thing, methinks. Adelaide City didn’t make it to the final of our domestic competition (the Ericsson Cup) but they were probably the best team in the league towards the end of the season.

Mori is quick, can kick like a mule and is the mainstay of Adelaide City. And what is more important, is that he is only starting to hit his full form as a player. Although he was quiet the last time I saw him play (when Adelaide – my girlfriend’s team – knocked out Sydney Olympic – my team – at home) he is definitely a very good prospect.

And when I say he’s quick, he scored the quickest goal in the history of the sport against Sydney United this year by lobbing Sydney’s keeper from the kick off. 2.37 seconds to score. Pretty impressive, eh? Worth at least £500,000.

Hope this answers Wal Footrot’s (I mean Roger the Blue Kiwi) questions. By the way Roger, I didn’t happen to see New Zealand’s football side in the Olympics. ;@))

OPINION: PRE-SEASON FRIENDLIES and SUNDRY OTHER THOUGHTS

So we lost a game to Plymouth Argyle (whoever heard of naming a football team after a pair of socks – baseball teams yes, but not football teams). Well darn it (sorry, pun intended) you can’t win them all.

Losing in pre-season is nothing to be down at heel about (oops sorry!). Pre-season is a time to try things out, some work, some don’t. Pre-season results don’t show up at the end of the year. I saw in the Sunday Times (Internet edition) that City are 3-1 favorites for the 1st Division championship this year. They obviously have a lot of sorting out still to do. I personally feel that with players of the calibre we have on the staff, we should be promoted. What worries me is that I have this nagging feeling that not all of them care too much about winning.

It’s amazing to me that after all the backbiting and criticism surrounding the club that – they all want to stay! If conditions are so poor under AB why aren’t they lining up with transfer request forms filled out in triplicate? I will reserve judgement about Ball’s football acumen – but I do feel that he is trying to pry loose some of the limpet like players who are clinging on like grim death to their jobs at the club. I am glad that he seems prepared to give youth a chance. I think it was a good move to transfer Curle. The captain must support management decisions – and have the respect of the players. I think it was time to make a change. I think also that Curle had outstayed his usefulness to the club. I wish him luck – but I’m glad he has gone.

I am optimistic about the upcoming season but I do not believe that promotion is the chief priority for the Boardroom – getting the club into a fiscally viable situation is (in the long term) more important. I hope that the board does not repeat last year’s fiasco of importing 3rd rate players at a dazzling rate and spending money on the wrong type of player. Injuries aside, it’s time that the present squad played to its potential.

Thanks Leo for a job well done – enjoy your satelite and ESPN games (lucky Dog!).

MATCH REPORT: PLYMOUTH

This match was at Plymouth’s Home Park, possibly as far from Maine Road as any English ground, and this may have led to the somewhat sparse numbers of City fans at the ground, perhaps several hundred at most, certainly not at usual levels. With train tickets to PLymouth costing upwards of sixty pounds I can’t say I blame people for staying at home.

Before the match the pre-match talk was mainly bout Bruce Grobbelaar making his début for the Pilgrims, although perhaps more interesting was the fact that the club spent a good while asking the crowd over the tannoy if anyone knew where their mascot – which later turned out to be a man in a sort of leprechaun outfit – was. How do you misplace a human mascot? Where on earth had he been? Who knows.

Although there had been showers just before kick-off it was sunny as it started, an important consideration for the City fans as we were standing, yes standing, on uncovered terraces. This sunny attitude did not however bring a bright and breezy approach from either side. City knocked the ball around a bit and Plymouth bit into the challenges, relying on the speed of Adrian Littlejohn, their top scorer last season, for inspiration up front.

City were continuing with their 3-5-2 formation, this week the personnel being:

                        Immel
           Brightwell, Symons, Frontzeck,
     Summerbee, Lomas, Kinkladze, Clough, Brown,
                Quinn, Kavelashvili

The play was not particularly noteworthy, there was little width from City, especially down the left hand side. Despite this though Summerbee played quite well, this perhaps due to the fact that he did not stay on the line, thereby cutting out the usual problem he has of the defender standing on his right foot.

It was in fact Summerbee who had what was probably City’s best chance of the half, a nice interchange of quick, sharp passing just inside the area left him one on one with Grobbelaar but the ‘keeper saved when he shouldn’t have been given much of a chance. Apart from that there was little that was noteworthy from either side, the play being quite lacking from both sets of players.

The second half began with two City substitutions, Kernaghan on for Brightwell, who had played reasonably though nothing more, and Phillips for Clough, who had been dire. His passing is his strength, and this was very poor, leaving little else for him to contribute.

Phillips immediately looked good and showed that he should be picked regularly throughout the season, causing the Plymouth side problems down the left and giving the side a width that had not been seen at all in the first half. However, the action was first in the City goalmouth. Kernaghan tracked back at the sideline and flew into the tackle attempting to clear both the ball and the player into touch. However, the ball bounced off the player leaving him free with Kernaghan lying on the floor. This allowed the winger to cut in, pass to Littlejohn, who set up the Plymouth No. 7 whose name I failed to hear to hammer the ball past Eike.

City’s defence continued to look flimsy in the second half, probably due to a lack of genuine pace, and Kernaghan saved a second goal only by making an atrocious foul on Littlejohn from behind when he was clear through on goal. Had it not been a friendly he would undoubtedly have been sent off, and probably banned for about five games.

City looked a bit more as if they wanted to score although not too much. It was noticeable that their best chance came when the ball failed to come through either defence or midfield: Kavelashvili tracked back, tackled his man and hit a fifty yard pass to Gio who raced goalwards and took on most of the Plymouth defence, probably more than he actually needed to, before shooting over.

City then made a number of substitutions, Rösler and Creaney for Quinn and Kavelashvili, Jeff (Ball Skills) Whitley for Gio, and most welcome of all the return from injury of Scott Hiley who came on for Summerbee. Although he looked short of full fitness it was nice to see him back.

This did mean that City’s play was even more disrupted and they looked more likely to concede than score, and although they threatened to equalise a couple of times it was as much due to PLymouth being inept at the back as City inventive up front, and it would have been undeserved. The game finished at 1-0 Plymouth, and this managed to prompt about twenty fans to invade the pitch! I know they haven’t won anything for even longer than us, but really.

TICKETS AVAILABLE

Hiya All,

Should anyone still be interested following the dismal performance at Plymouth, all restrictions have been lifted and Bolton tickets are currently available for open sale.

GEORGIAN SHIRTS

Someone (I can’t recall who) mentioned the problems associated with getting hold of a Georgia shirt due to them being made to measure for each player, etc. However, a mate of mine (a Rag) is going on holiday to Turkey with a Blue whose sole intention by the sound of things is to wind my mate up; he’s bought a Galatasaray, Gothenburg, Barca and obviously the new City away shirt. The interesting thing is that he’s also ordered a Georgian (national?) shirt from Hurley’s Sport (here in Manchester); it’ll cost him £55.00 but they reckon they can get a shirt OK. Now don’t all rush down to Hurley’s to order your shirt, watch this space and I’ll try and let you know how things have gone.

THANKS and FAREWELL

Although I’ve been very quiet recently, I used to contribute to MCIVTA quite a bit in the early days, joining the mailing list sometime around early 1995. I’m writing now to say that, due to circumstances beyond my control – I’ve spent the last 2 years using university computers on the continent and am now going home to England where I have no internet access at all 🙁 – I will no longer be receiving MCIVTA.

I just wanted to say, it’s been an absolute life-line, and I really want to thank everyone involved in the production of it from the bottom of my forever-blue heart. Though I’ll now get to see live matches and read the news as it happens, I will still miss MCIVTA twice a week.

It’s been wonderful. Thanks to everyone!

OK Thats it from me. Good luck to all you Blues out there, I hope the season improves for you and that we have two successful Manchester teams. Remember to send all your mailings through to Ashley from today on.

WWW MANCHESTER CITY SUPPORTERS’ HOME PAGE:
http://www.uit.no/mancity/

MCIVTA ADDRESSES:
Contributions: Ashley – mcivta@tollbar.u-net.com
Subscriptions: Adam – Adam.Houghton@sheffield.ac.uk
Club Questions: Stephen – sbolton@buxtonrd.u-net.com

Thanks to Martin, Alex, Chris, Julian, Andrew, Mike, Ian, Andy, Neale, Al Hamdani & Mark.

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

Editor: