Newsletter #313

This edition of MCVITA includes a match report for the pre-season friendly at Blackpool, information on the temporary new stand, City magazine review and general news/Club information. If anybody has any further information or comments on the Australian winger featured in this issue please email me.

Thanks for all your contributions.

Next game, Livingston away, Tuesday 22nd July 1997.

Sarah (Sjdugdale@aol.com)

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MACCLESFIELD TOWN GAME

It’s probably a bit late now, but the game against Macclesfield Town is only all-ticket in the stand, and you can only get tickets from Macc Town’s ground.

Good pubs are ‘The Silkman’ next door to the ground and if you are coming on the train ‘The Millstone’, opposite the train station.

Please don’t throw anything heavy at the Lion Mascot because the odds are it will be me inside it.

Thomas Rance (Ttrance@AOL.Com)

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PRE-SEASON FRIENDLY MATCH REVIEW – BLACKPOOL AWAY 16/7/97

Several first team players were missing for the opening pre-season friendly at Blackpool. Top of the list was Gio Kinkladze, who was being rested after playing on for much of the summer with the Georgian squad, which included one full weeks extra training which the City bosses had not expected. It is a long season and Frank Clark intends to make sure that he will last the distance. Kevin Horlock missed out with a chest infection and Ian Brightwell had an ankle problem. Danny Tiatto didn’t get international clearance in time and so was unable to play. The starting line-up was: Wright, Brannan, Symons, Beesley, Vaughan, Summerbee, McGoldrick, Wiekens, Heaney, Dickov, Rösler. During the course of the game, Eddie McGoldrick and Neil Heaney got knocks on their ankles and had to limp off. City were apparently below par and went behind in the 28th minute when Phil Clarkson knocked in a cross by Tony Ellis. Crooks, Clough, Jeff Whitley, Edghill and Greenacre replaced McGoldrick, Heaney, Rösler, Dickov and Brannan; Clough grabbed an equaliser from a Summerbee cross in the 65th minute and Greenacre might have grabbed a winner late on but the game ended in a 1-1 draw. 2,500 City fans were at the game, of which 39 were arrested, 35 for drunkenness. Apparently a steward had to be rescued from the City fans by the police. This does not bode well for next season…

Paul Howarth (Paul@badby.u-net.com)

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CITY UNHAPPY WITH VAUGHAN VALUATION

A tribunal has ordered City to pay £1.35 million plus a third of any sell-on fee for Tony Vaughan. “We went in at £750k and Ipswich wanted £2.5 million but in view of the Bosman ruling and other issues, we feel the valuation is high,” commented Frank Clark.

Paul Howarth (paul@city-fan.org)

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MAINE EVENT

Tickets are now available from the Ticket Office for the “Maine Event”, this year’s open day. It will cost £1.00 for admission and takes place from 2:00pm on Monday 4th August; it’s tickets only at the turnstiles. Taking place in, on and around the Kippax Stand, all first team players will be in attendance for organised autograph sessions, alongside representatives from the management, coaching and administrative staff. Other attractions include a training display with the youth team (weather permitting), a visitor centre, bouncy castles, games and other attractions for children.

Tickets are also available for the opening fixture against Portsmouth, and the membership scheme is currently suspended for this game.

Paul Howarth (paul@city-fan.org)

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CLUB NEWS

Mikhail Kavelashvili has gone on loan to Grasshoppers of Zürich for the season, a deal which will cost the Swiss outfit £50,000 plus his wages. If he can regain his place in the Georgian national team on a regular basis, he may be able to play for City again in the 1998/99 season.

City have a new fitness trainer, Peter Edwards. He was with Frank Clark during his time at Leyton Orient.

Paul Howarth (paul@city-fan.org)

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NEW TEMPORARY STAND

City have sold 15,500 season tickets so far, already 750 more than the total sold last season. Since increased attendances are likely during the coming season, a temporary uncovered stand is being erected in Windy Corner (between the North Stand and Kippax). This will increase capacity by around 1,000 and there is the possibility that another temporary stand will be put up between the Kippax and Platt Lane stands if the demand warrants it.

The Mole

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AUSTRALIAN WINGER

City have been looking at Australian international left-winger Danny Tiatto for the last week or so; he was due to play in the friendly at Blackpool on Wednesday but had to miss out as international clearance wasn’t given. The 24-year-old scored twice in an under-20s(!) game against Sheffield Wednesday last Friday. He is due to return to his club (Salernitana from Italy’s Serie B) on Saturday, but might get to play in Friday’s game at Macclesfield.

Paul Howarth (paul@city-fan.org)

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FIRST CLASS PLAYERS!

In response to several articles recently about players not wanting to drop into Division One and that being the reason that City can’t get decent players…

If this is the case why have Middlesbrough just signed Paul Merson for £5 million? Now whatever you say about Merson (i.e. druggy, alcoholic etc.) he is a quality international player who has sorted his life out and will terrorise defences in this poor division. Who would you rather see running down City’s right wing? An in form Merson or Nicky ‘Lazy Money Grabbing Git’ Summerbee?

Is there a choice? So maybe the reason City can’t sign anyone is because we don’t have any money! – As usual. Here’s hoping we finish in the top half of the table.

Gary King (Gary.King@ausgate.cv.com)

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SOCIAL CLUB

24 hours ago I was feeling a tinge of excitement; I collected my season ticket, visited the shop at Maine Road and even got into the ground for a walk about. Then, to complete my day I went to the social club to renew my membership card. For the last 15 or so years I have gone into the club on matchdays for a beer or two, then the match then back to the club for another drink and debate, let the traffic clear and then my wife picks me up and off home (excellent day).

When I asked if I could renew I was told they were not renewing any memberships as City were buying the club back from Greenalls (fine I thought, more profit to City), but was then told the club may shut completely as they want to expand the merchandise side. Hang on, what do you mean close I inquired? It seems City want people to use the Platt Lane Complex on matchdays. Now the social club may not be the best place in the world but it’s really handy being right next to the ground and a very handy meeting place. Apparently a meeting of the members is planned for 11am on the 3rd of August to discuss the future; this may be my last chance to have a drink in the club “a fond farewell.”

John (need a new drinking hole) Crump (Crump@mail.dec.com)

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QUESTIONS FOR FHL

I think the Chairman must be dying to answer some more questions from the Internet City fans by now, so please let me have them.

Could you please email them to me with not more than 4 lines. Some of the past questions have been too detailed and I would rather get straight to the point.

I won’t be asking him things I have asked before, so please make them original questions that will be of an interest to all City fans.

Bob Young (dylan@itl.net)

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AMERICAN TECHNOLOGY

Regarding Richard Mottershead’s response in the last MCIVTA to the news about the Americans bringing technology to the game: I think their contribution should be welcomed. Some time ago I heard about a football match amongst blind players and laughed like most uninformed people, cracking jokes about the footballers I dislike most (BTW Eric’s not been seen driving his taxi in Newcastle recently).

I was then copied an article about football for the blind. They play with a ball with a rattle inside so they can hear where the ball is. It helps to have a goalkeeper who is at least partially sighted (just like the professional game) but for most participants it’s a pretty bruising experience. The rattle can only give an approximation of the ball’s whereabouts so collisions are pretty frequent. Nevertheless, blind footballers seem to be incredibly enthusiastic about the game.

If the Americans invest in their ball technology it could have lots of potential spin-off (no pun intended) for the likes of blind footballers and other disabled groups who want to participate in our beloved game. Electronics may be able to replace the humble rattle!

Bernard Paton (bernard.paton@unn.ac.uk)

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CITY MAGAZINE REVIEW

The latest version of the City magazine is, in my opinion, a slight improvement on recent offerings. Even though a copious amount of space is taken up by the new Kappa/Crest/Corporate I.D. issues, it makes for compelling reading. We find out the significance of the three stars (they look continental?) and that City will be Kappa’s only involvement with a British club because we were the only club with enough street cred (buzzin!). So it’s Juventus, Barcelona, Red Star Belgrade and City! The Latin phrase ‘Superbia In Proelio’ apparently means ‘Pride In Battle’.

The kits are modelled by Michael ‘when am I going to get a regular run in the 1st team’ Brown and Chris Greenacre. Also on hand were Mark Radcliffe and Lard (Radio 1 Breakfast Show presenters) to show what the kits would look like if you had a beer belly. Radcliffe claimed to be unimpressed by the shade of blue, but conceded that it may grow on him. They also recant tales of blagging for food in the top tier of the Kippax because they aren’t yet famous enough to get it for free.

There is an interview with ‘Art Dealer’ Gary Owen who provides an interesting insight into his acrimonious departure from Maine Road, when he got caught up in Big Mal’s loony sports science era. A very interesting article as I feel Owen’s best years were still to come at City.

An interview with Tony Vaughan follows. We sort of already dislike him because of his protracted contract negotiations and alleged love of the Rags. He sorts out the Rag question by saying that he supported er… both United and City at the same time. We all know that loads of kids in Manchester do this. This reminded me of Prince Naseem threatening to thump Frank Skinner because he laughed when Naz said that he supported both Sheffield United and Wednesday equally.

Anyway, not a bad issue overall and a free ‘new crest’ sticker on the front to boot.

Ken Foster (kf737@vossnet.co.uk)

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BLUE VIEW TRIBAL GATHERING NOVEMBER 1997

I’m hoping to organise a gathering of Internet Blues at the Bradford home game in November. I will be over in Manchester for two weeks and this is one of the games during that time. If any Internet Blues would like to join us, please drop me an email to harmony@candw.lc as it promises to be a not-to-be-missed event (before and after the game!) There will be many Internet “celebrities” there and it will be a good opportunity to meet up with people who you previously only knew by their net-name. Depending upon numbers, the venue will be decided in due course so I will keep you posted here and on Blue View.

Clive Tysoe (harmony@candw.lc) aka “Gio’s Bootlicker”

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CITYNET

Congratulations to the marketing department at CITYNET.

I emailed them Wednesday night last week (we are 5 hours behind England). I received the City information in my mailbox Monday morning. This just shows that when City want to get there finger out they can do it.

Ben Elvidge, Ontario, Canada (benny@execulink.com)

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WHY BLUE

Earlier this month I sent in a “Why Blue” after trying to get someone else, who does not have access to email, to draft one of their own that I would send. They were the subject of my “Why Blue” and last night they popped around with their “Why Blue” story. Read on.

It would have been all too easy to follow the crowd and jump onto the ‘Post Munich bandwagon.’ A tragic accident I know, but this one incident, more than any in history involving a sporting team was the catalyst to world wide sympathy which somehow led to blind, misguided support for this team from Stretford.

Why not me? Dared to be different I suppose.

I just could not bring myself to jump on that bandwagon; rather I preferred to chance my arm on that crazy rollercoaster ride called Manchester City.

It all started in 1968 (I think). I was 8 years old, Jonny Crossan was our captain (I think) and City had a pre-season friendly versus Bolton with a certain F.H. Lee playing up front. A lady who worked with my mum offered to take me along to Maine Road as a reward for washing her car. I suppose I was a bit of a rebel and even at that age I didn’t want to lend my support to the Rags or Oldham (my local town team) who between them shared most support in my classroom.

So off to Moss Side I went, City lost (I think) and Franny scored a couple… the rest is history. Would I change anything given that same chance again? Not on your Nelly! Sure it’s a real hard slog supporting the boys in blue, even on the other side of the world in Perth, Western Australia but I’ll tell you what, it helps develop mental toughness, builds character and gives you a bloody good laugh (and cry).

Anyway I’m back in the UK for three weeks as of August 21st this year. I haven’t caught up with any fixtures yet but if anybody out there knows a good pub to grab a beer before the game and would like to get together for a laugh (or cry) please get in touch. I’m certainly looking forward to watching Gio in the flesh.

Blue till I die, Steve Potter (c/o sgordon@agric.wa.gov.au)

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GLOWING BALL

Oh no! Fox TV tried this with ice hockey in the National Hockey League here in Canada and the US. For the un-initiated, ice hockey is played with a flat piece of frozen rubber, about 3 inches across called a ‘puck’. Compared to a football it is nearly impossible to see on TV. So what did Fox do to try to encourage more viewers? They created the glowing circle around the puck, thinking that the lack of visibility of the puck is what kept Americans from watching the game (the fact that most of the country has no history of playing or watching the game obviously never entered their minds). Looked terrible. You end up watching the puck the whole time and never watch the plays that are developing away from the puck. Then, when the puck travels faster than 75 mph, the computer paints in a trail behind the puck, like a comet. Can’t wait to see that on the BBC every time Uwe takes a shot. Keep it away from Football… Please.

I do agree that it may one day prove useful in determining if the ball crossed the line for a goal or corner etc. but as far as television coverage goes, it’s fine as it is.

Blue in Western Canada, Matthew Kershaw (mdkersha@freenet.calgary.ab.ca)

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WANTED – MATCH PROGRAMMES

Could any kind-hearted Blues that are willing to collect a extra copy of the match programme from any of the pre-season games and send it/them to me in Australia please email me (via my wife’s email address below). I will reply to all offers made before Tuesday 15 July but then have to return to work in Papua New Guinea and will not be able to read any messages until the end of July. I will refund all costs in full and add a bit extra for a ‘thank you pint’.

Neil Adshead (via Nicole: Adshead-bell@jcu.edu.au)

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

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MCIVTA ADDRESSES:
Contributions: Ashley – mcivta@tollbar.u-net.com
Subscriptions & Club Questions: Steve – sbolton@buxtonrd.u-net.com
Technical Problems: Paul – paul@city-fan.org

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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.

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Sarah Dugdale, SJDugdale@aol.com

Editor: