Newsletter #298

The transfer mill is beginning to grind, with City being linked with another four players and two of ours being linked to other clubs. There’s speculation, thoughts on merchandise and Norwegians, opinion, and a good Why Blue from Clive Tysoe, a.k.a. Gio’s Bootlicker. Clive has also put together a questionnaire which will aid in forming an International Supporters’ Club for all Blues out there; please help him to help us all, and the club, by filling it in.

The MCIVTA T-shirt is here at last; thanks to Ken who designed it and has got round to organising its production in the midst of much upheaval.

MCIVTA T-SHIRT

Orders for the MCIVTA T-shirt are now being taken. The design is the ‘Our World is Blue’ and cost will be £7.75 inclusive of post and packaging. There will be a single – fits all – size, unless the number of orders allows us to request a range of sizes. Payment can be made either by UK cheque or International Money Order payable to Ken Foster.

When you’ve decided what you want, you’ll need to send Ken (via snail mail) your order (ideally by printing out and filling out the order form below), together with your payment. Please state your size (S, M, L, XL) but please bear in mind that if only one size ends up being ordered then that’ll be the one you get!

Please also bear in mind that Ken is doing this in his own time: first he’ll have to wait for enough orders to come in, have them printed, and then despatch them. This means that Ken has plenty to do and the T-shirts will inevitably take time to reach you. As this is all being done voluntarily, so, although he’ll do his best to get you a replacement, Ken cannot be held responsible for missing T-shirts!

The T-shirt can be viewed at: http://www.uit.no/mancity/mcivta/t-shirt.html

When ordering, please use the following form (print it out and send it via snail mail):

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Name				>
Delivery address		>
Email address			>
Preferred size (S, M, L, XL)	>
Number				>
Total cost (£7.75 each)		>

Please state if you would like your cheque returned if your preferred size is not available.

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Email Ken for details of where to send your order:

Ken Foster (kf737@vossnet.co.uk)

NEWS – MORE SIGNINGS

Francis Lee said today (Sunday) that, having secured Gio Kinkladze’s signature, City would be looking to bring in another two or three quality players during the summer. He didn’t mention any names though.

He did elaborate on Gio’s contract though: he said there were no “Gentlemen’s Agreements” (i.e. get-out clauses) in it and that the amounts of money involved bore no resemblance to those mentioned in the press last week.

NEWS – TARGETS?

City have made bids for two Sunderland forwards, Craig Russell (23) and Martin Smith (22). “I have made enquiries for both players and am waiting for replies,” said Frank Clark. Russell, a quick striker, has been out of favour for the last season (in which Sunderland had goalscoring problems) but he was top scorer in their promotion season the year before (13 goals in 35 games). He’s out of contract at the moment so a fee would probably be decided by a tribunal. Smith is a former England U21 winger and still has two years of his contract to run.

On the other hand, City have declared that they have no interest in signing Middlesbrough full back Neil Cox, and have denied rumours that Dinamo Kiev winger Viktor Leonanko is having a trial with the club.

There have been international call-ups for Kevin Horlock and Jeff Whitley (Northern Ireland’s friendly against Thailand in Bangkok) plus Kit Symons (Wales vs. Scotland at Kilmarnock).

NEWS – CITY TO SIGN LAMBERT

Clark is reported to be interested in Dortmund’s 27-year-old midfielder, Paul Lambert. If anyone else fancies taking a look at what we may be buying, he’ll be playing in the European Cup Final next week! Despite this, the ex-Motherwell player is reported to be anxious to return to Britain, and could be had for a fee of around £1 million.

Clough is reported to be interested in moving to fill the vacant Stoke City managerial post.

NEWS – CITY TO SIGN ITALIAN

I’ve heard – from a source who wishes to remain anonymous – that City have signed an Italian international midfielder by the name of Piacentini (?) from Fiorentina, apparently as a Lomas replacement!

Hopefully more will be forthcoming on this in the next issue.

NEWS – CREANEY TO GO?

According to a report in Wednesday’s MEN, Gerry Creaney could be set for a return to his native Scotland, with Hearts and Motherwell mentioned as possible contenders for his services.

A rumour that can firmly be squashed now is the one linking Neil Cox with City. The former Aston Villa and Middlesbrough defender has joined Bolton Wanderers for £1.5 million.

INTERNATIONAL SUPPORTERS’ CLUB

Blues,

As fellow supporters of Manchester City, we are canvassing you for your opinions on the formation of a new club for all City supporters which will focus on increasing awareness of our great club throughout the world. This is being arranged by a group of staunch City fans who have the interests of the Football Club’s supporters at heart and who want to bring the news, reports, interviews, transfers, team news etc. to the fingertips of City fans all over the country, Europe and the world. Please take a few moments out of your busy schedule to answer the following questions, which will help us to create an organisation to benefit Blues everywhere.

QUESTIONNAIRE

Name:

1. How many matches do you attend each season?
1. Under 5
2. Between 5 and 15
3. Over 15
2. Do you keep in touch with events at the Football Club? And if so, how?
1. Newspapers
2. Fanzines
3. Internet
4. TV, Teletext, Ceefax, etc.
5. Don’t keep in touch
3. Would you be interested in joining an International Supporters’ Club(ISC) to improve your capability of getting news of City, improve yourcontact with the team you follow, improve your access to the purchasing ofCity merchandise and to obtain special offers, discounts etc. for tickets,travel to away games etc?
1. Yes. Tell me more.
2. No.
3. Possibly but it depends on the cost.
4. Would you be willing to pay an annual membership to join the International Supporters’ Club?
1. Yes.
2. No.
3. Depends on how much it is.
5. Would you find the following list of charges for membership prohibitive?
• British members… £8.00
• Europe members… £10.00
• Rest of World members… £15.00
6. Would you be interested in receiving a monthly magazine with interviews,pictorials, discussions, match reports, etc. which would be included in themembership fee?
1. Yes.
2. No.
3. Depends on the quality of the magazine.
7. Have you purchased any City merchandise in the last 12 months?
1. Yes.
2. No.
8. Would you be interested in receiving an up-to-date list of availablemerchandise which you could purchase through the ISC?
1. Yes. I am a regular purchaser of City merchandise.
2. Yes. I am not a regular purchaser of City merchandise but I am interested to see what is available on the market.
3. No. I am not interested.
9. The features that would be on offer would include:
   1. Assistance in obtaining tickets for games.
   2. Personalised Tours of Maine Road.
   3. Personalised membership card and certificate.
   4. Free admission to all reserve team games at Maine Road.
   5. Quarterly magazine.
   6. 10% off all City merchandise.
   7. Free admission to Away Travel Club (members pay only for coach travel).
   Are there any other features you would like to see included? Please list.
10. Would you be interested in getting together with other City fans who areISC members when you attend matches?
1. Yes.
2. No.
11. Have you attended any Supporters’ Club meetings in Manchester or elsewhere?
1. Yes. I regularly attend Supporters’ Club meetings.
2. Yes, but not very often.
3. Never but I am interested in getting together with City fans in my area.
4. Never. I do not like to attend meetings.
12. Please indicate which category you fall into…
1. British-based
2. European-based
3. Rest of the World
13. How often do you visit Blue View?
1. Every time I turn on my computer.
2. Most times.
3. Not very often.
4. Never.
14. What about the MCFC Supporters’ Home Page run by Svenn?
1. Every time I turn on my computer.
2. Most times.
3. Not very often.
4. Never.
15. What about the MCFC Supporters’ Club site run by Bob Young?
1. Every time I turn on my computer.
2. Most times.
3. Not very often.
4. Never.
16. What about CityNet, the “official” site for MCFC?
1. Every time I turn on my computer.
2. Most times.
3. Not very often.
4. Never.
17. What about other City sites like Wookienet?
1. Every time I turn on my computer.
2. Most times.
3. Not very often.
4. Never.
18. How would you rate your interest in Manchester City?
1. Totally fanatical.
2. Very interested.
3. Interested but other commitments have similar or more importance for me.
4. Passing interest.

Many thanks for taking time to fill in this questionnaire. Your feedback is invaluable.

HOWARD DAVIES

Those of you who keep abreast of the U.K. financial news may have seen that the Bank of England is to lose its responsibility for banking regulation and supervision.

The Securities and Investments Board is to take over the regulation of most financial services and banking.

The new supremo who will take control in two months’ time is City fanatic Howard Davies who has had previous mentions in MCIVTA. Maybe an investigation into the Rags could be his first job!

CITY MERCHANDISE – DIRECTION?

When Francis Lee was in Jersey he asked me to assist the Manchester City fans around the world to obtain City merchandise. This is something I feel very strongly about. I see football fans in this Island in United, Liverpool and Spurs gear. Never anybody in City shirts and we have about 80 Blues over here. The newsagents don’t stock the monthly magazine and we don’t even get a match report in the newspapers. I believe last year’s catalogue didn’t go much further than Moss Side and the Arndale. It also didn’t have a fax number to contact the store!

If I can be of any assistance to you on this matter I will be. I know from my own experience with Spurs at my present employment that there is a demand out there and I would put City on a par with Spurs in this area. If we don’t think big we will be around the Nationwide for a long time in my opinion!

How are we ever going to compete with the Liverpools and Manchester Uniteds of this world again if we only ever consider Manchester as being our source of support. I know we are the greatest football fans around but I think the Club should not be complacent about this and attempt to get a much wider support than from the city of Manchester. There has got to be an effort by the Club to become an international football club like Liverpool, United, Spurs, Arsenal and a few more. I believe we have great potential. I am presently working on this with a few City friends around the world to come up with something every City fan, wherever they live, will want to be a part of.

Please contact me if you have any views on either of these subjects.

A JOB WELL DONE!

We all deserve a big pat on the back for our efforts in the Gio campaign and I personally would like to thank everyone who assisted in any way. I’ve not had any feedback on how many letters or faxes Gio received, but from the comments made during the negotiations between Gio and FHL, it was apparent that Gio knew exactly how we all feel about him and his decision must have been influenced by that!

FC has the perfect start to the summer and I think that we will be attracting some new and interesting faces to the Academy. Just think about it… Gio has extended his contract instead of offering himself up for the likes of Barcelona! I feel tremendously proud to be Blue and as Bob Young said to me in a recent chat, this marks the beginning of a new era at City. We are on our way back.

Thanks to you all, Blues. We did a great job.

NORWEGIAN PLAYERS

I read that City where looking at some Norwegian players; that’s about time, I’d say! What I have been wondering about for a long, long time now, is why they haven’t turned to Norway before (except Kåre Ingebrigtsen who is a s**t player). We all remember Aage Hareide, who now is manager for Molde, the club where Ole Gunnar Solshearer played for. Aage said once that he regularly had contact with his old friends at Manchester City, especially Asa Harford. What I wonder is why Man City didn’t know about all the good players that where playing for Molde a year ago (Solskjaer, Sundgodt – now at Bradford, Rudi – now at Peruggia, Stavrum – now at Stab