Newsletter #718

All remains quiet on the Maine Road front, which still seems quite strange after decades of managers finding out about their dismissals from the press. This week’s single utterance from KK has however been reassuring; he doesn’t plan to rush out and buy players, but does intend to recruit at least one – and wait for it – he will be a quality passing midfielder!

This issue has Michael’s News Summary; a report on the MCFC Closing Ceremony (Maine Road that is!); a review of Colin Shindler’s book on the Summerbee Clan; lots of info on next year’s TV shenanigans; and a transcript of that Kevin Kennedy airport interview from KotK.

P.S. A quick reminder for those interested in playing a game against the Rags for McVittee FC; the Armitage Centre is on Mossley Road, Fallowfield (just near the Toast Rack – otherwise known as Hollins Building, Man Met (see Monday’s MCIVTA).

NEWS SUMMARY

General Stuff

New Home Kit Finally Revealed

After the irritating hints and glances of ankles and shoulders of the last few weeks, the club has finally shown the new home kit in all its glory. Still a little on the darker shade of light blue, it’s at least now no longer the triumphant Kappa inspired ‘laser’ blue. So no, it’s goodbye to those misty eyed memories of laser blue clad City legends such as Lee Badbuy stumbling around up front, waiting for the surging midfield runs of Ged Brannan, as we switch a little further back into the traditional Blue. Another couple of shimmies along the pantone scale and we’ll be back as the true Sky Blues. The same Sky Blues who inspired Coventry City to pinch our colours. Overall looks not bad at all to me, check it our yourself on the official website http://www.mcfc.co.uk/

OSC (1949) South West Branch AGM

The South West branch of the Official Supporters’ Club (1949) are holding their Annual General Meeting on Saturday 16th June at the Centre Spot Social Club, St James’ Park, Exeter City F.C. Existing and prospective members are invited to the meeting, which starts at 1p.m., and for a few cold drinks afterwards. For further information, please contact the Branch Secretary, Andy Foden, on 01752 364283, or email Andy at fod@swbranch.fsnet.co.uk

Despite his earlier withdrawal due to apparent exhaustion, reserve striker Chris Killen has been called up for the New Zealand squad in the forthcoming World Cup play off against Australia. The tie is over two legs, the first to be played in Wellington, New Zealand on Wednesday June 20th. The Kiwis finished top of their group, unbeaten after a final 7-0 win over Vanatu (wasn’t that a song by Olivia Newton John?). The winners (hard to take sides here as a certain Mr Tiatto may be involved for the Socceroos) will then play the fifth placed team from the South American group. Currently occupying this spot are Columbia.

The current spate of squad pruning has been halted by the failure of Spencer Prior and Cardiff to agree terms. The Bluebirds had agreed a £650,000 deal with City. It seems that the player’s wage demands was the stumbling block, allegedly Prior is after £8,000 per week. Alan Cork told the Western Mail “The deal is dead and buried. We just couldn’t agree personal terms which is a shame as it would have been a big signing for the club but that’s life.” So currently only 3 out in Shaun Holmes, Andy Morrison and Gareth Taylor and none in.

Pre-season friendlies are still to go ahead despite rumblings re several of them. Kevin Keegan will honour the club’s plans for pre-season friendlies, though he admits he would have liked to have taken the squad to Europe for a warm up match. Keegan is quoted as saying “Promises made by this club will be kept”. The dates still have to be ratified, but City will travel to Halifax, Tranmere, Scunthorpe and Huddersfield in pre-season. There is supposedly another fixture in the pipeline, which has yet to be confirmed. Keegan continued, “The pre-season’s now mapped out. We are just waiting for one more fixture”; tantalisingly he added, “and that will depend on something which might happen in the transfer market. I have just taken over the fixtures promised by the club, so my strategy is to keep our promises.”

News this week that the club have sold 21,000 of the season tickets for the promotion push. The club has set aside an overall total of 23,000 in the current stadium; there is apparently a waiting list of about 2,000 who could step in if tickets are not taken by the renewal date. Nice to see the support as ever keeping up, it’d be nice to know how many of the Rags’ season ticket holders are locally based, wonder if it’s in double figures?

Ins, Outs, Rumours

Very little on this front again, players are still on their jollies. Sheffield United are currently linked with Paul Dickov. All three frontline strikers are currently rumoured to be uncertain re their future. Wanchope has already declared his willingness to stay, though as previously reported his agent has supposedly had discussions with Valencia. Meanwhile ‘The Goat’ has been notoriously quiet about his future. Laughable rumours linking him to Leicester surfaced earlier in the week; I suppose if Leicester give us £5 million plus Akinbiyi and Benjamin, we can call it a deal. Also rumoured to be interested in Goater are Bolton and Birmingham ’18 strikers’ City.

Keegan has apparently promised Nicky Weaver a goalkeeping coach by July 9th, so rumours are still abound, with the firm favourite still former City ‘keeper Tommy Wright.

MCFC CLOSING CEREMONY

Please read and pass any ideas to http://www.mcfc-fans.com/

End of an Era at Maine Road – Minutes Meeting One (June 4th 2001)

The club see the supporters as key to the staging of any events.

The End of Maine Road should be a celebration for the fans and the club would welcome any ideas on how best to help the fans commemorate the event. The Fans’ Committee is best placed to communicate the best ideas to the club and co-ordinate activity.

It was suggested that the club could either hold a series of events or one single major event. There will also be a number of corporate events.

A questionnaire will be placed on the official City website requesting ideas from supporters on how they would like to celebrate the End of Maine Road.

The date of the major event was discussed – it could either take place on the day of the last game, subject to fixtures or even after the end of the season.

One idea suggested was to hold a Party in the Park at Platt Fields and show the final game on big screens. The club will approach the council to discuss such plans at a very early stage and expect them to be very supportive.

It was stressed to the Fans’ Committee that after the final game Maine Road will be handed to the Council who would expect to receive the Stadium in a good state of repair. Any damage to the stadium would have to be paid for by the club. This is a contractual issue bound into the lease of the City of Manchester Stadium.

A fans’ march was suggested from Maine Road to the City of Manchester Stadium to celebrate and commemorate the opening of the new stadium. This event would be a huge fun day and a day for the fans to remember.

It was discussed that a separate committee of supporters including Gary James has been set up to look at the Commemorative Book which will be made available as soon as possible after the final game. More details on the synopsis will be forthcoming as progress is made. A second Memorabilia Photographic Book will also to be commissioned and released to coincide with the opening of the Visitor Centre at the new stadium.

A similar synopsis will be made available of a Commemorative Video. The club’s merchandise department will look at other commemorative merchandise opportunities and could look to source party packs for supporters’ clubs (flags, balloons, banners etc.) for both the event and for the march.

A fans’ walkway will be built at the new stadium, where supporters can place their names. A similar concept will be investigated further in the dressing room area at the new stadium and with the council for an area to be set aside at Maine Road.

Other ideas chaired:

• Fancy Dress
• Five a side Tournament culminating on the pitch.
• Charity football game or a Fans’ Football Aid
• Commemorative Brochure
• Players or celebrities to attend the event
• Live bands and DJ’s – support of local radio

Actions

• Website questionnaire by end of W/C 11 June (IH)
• Fans’ Committee to prepare a list of deadlines to allow for thedevelopment of critical path leading to the programme of events (IanHoward to assist)
• Fans Committee to begin process of getting feedback from supporters

REVIEW – FATHERS, SONS AND FOOTBALL

The lot of the professional footballer has changed considerably over the years, as my own family’s brief brushes with figures in the game testify. In the 1940s, when my dad was growing up in Moss Side, his sister befriended a girl who lived round the corner in Lloyd Street South; the girl’s father was Frank Swift, then the country’s premier goalkeeper. In the early 1970s, my family moved north after a spell living in London; our new house was a modest three-bedroom semi-detached property in Stretford; Bobby Charlton and Nobby Stiles, both World Cup winners, were also in residence on the same street. Then in the two years up to March 2001, I worked for a law firm one of whose major clients was Arsenal football club; I saw the contracts of players whose weekly earnings exceeded the average annual British salary. All of these eras are covered in ‘Fathers, Sons and Football’, Colin Shindler’s new book (not Oskar of ‘Schindler’s List’ fame as was claimed on radio station Talk Sport last week!). It tells the story of three generations of the Summerbee family whose careers in the game have spanned seventy years to date.

As Mike Summerbee played more games for Manchester City than for any of the four other clubs for which he featured, and as Nicky Summerbee also spent more than three years at Maine Road, the book is of particular interest to City fans. However, those looking for a work that devotes itself entirely to the Blues should be warned that this is not the tome they’re looking for. The narrative is more than half completed by the point at which Mike Summerbee heads north from Swindon, the bulk of the text up to this stage having been devoted to his father George. Summerbee senior was a journeyman professional whose big move from Aldershot to First Division Preston turned sour and who played out his career in the game’s lower reaches with Chester and Barrow after the War.

While I suspect that there will be MCIVTA subscribers who regard this as a drawback, I cannot share such a view. This is a deeply impressive book and is made so precisely by its breadth of scope. The author, amongst other things, is a part-time history lecturer at Cambridge University so it’s perhaps not surprising that he seeks to place events in their historical context, and these passages are sometimes lengthy – three or four pages on occasion. Thus George Summerbee’s disappointments at Deepdale are seen against the backdrop of a Britain ravaged by economic depression and on the verge of war. Mike’s early days at City are set against the furious social upheaval of the 1960s. And Nick’s turbulent spell at Maine Road three decades later is measured against the disposable consumerism of the 1990s. It might not be to the taste of everyone reading this review, but in my opinion, the book would have been much the poorer had this material been excluded.

Lest I give the impression that ‘Fathers, Sons and Football’ is nothing more than a treatise on twentieth century British social history, however, I should point out that first and foremost it’s a good read. I’m familiar with both of Colin Shindler’s previous works (in addition to ‘Manchester United Ruined My Life’, I’ve read his novel, ‘High On A Cliff’), so it was no surprise to me that this latest work is also deftly written and punctuated by flashes of engaging humour. Of course, he has some terrific source material to work with in the story of the Summerbee family over three generations. That the tale is told from an original and revealing perspective only adds to its appeal.

For ‘Fathers, Sons and Football’ is not just the story of the fathers and sons of the Summerbee clan, but of the mothers, wives and sisters. And much attention is therefore paid to the thoughts of Dulcie, George’s wife and Mike’s mother; Tina, Mike’s wife and Nicky’s mother; and Nick’s sister Rachel. The women of the family offer a rare insight into the way football affects not just the lives of those directly involved in it but also the lives of those close to them, and this is at the heart of much of the best writing in the book. I particularly appreciated it in the context of the story of how George was consigned to the reserves at Preston yet, thanks to the abhorrent retain and transfer system, was unable to move on and better himself. And his mother’s and sister’s accounts of Nicky’s problems with the Maine Road crowd and the tabloid press make for fascinating reading.

So ultimately, despite the social history slant, this is a compelling human story, which, in contrast with so many of the accounts of footballers’ careers, is related without glamourising the life of the professional player. Both sides of the coin are viewed, and indeed, the last word is given to Dulcie, who despite her son’s immensely successful footballing career, expresses the hope that the family’s next generation will give the game a wide berth. Having seen her husband die a bitter and broken man in his early forties, this is probably not surprising, and it also demonstrates that the book doesn’t at any point seek to gloss over any tricky issues in the lives of the protagonists. To this end, Dulcie’s estrangement from her husband’s family, Mike and his brother’s strained relationship with their mother’s new husband, and a holiday romance for Mike’s future wife Tina which almost strangled the relationship at birth all feature in the narrative.

I stated at the start of this review that this isn’t a Manchester City book, but it would be remiss of me not to note that there is material to interest and inspire City fans. The details of Mike’s bachelor escapades with his friend (and best man) George Best hark back to a bygone golden age in Manchester football. Memories of the derby matches of that era, when a win for City at Old Trafford was as routine and inevitable as night following day, will bring a smile to the lips of any devoted Blue. The break-up of the Mercer-Allison side is also chronicled, and Mike’s reminiscences are illuminating, even if some of his more forthright observations on Ron Saunders’ brief managerial stint apparently had to be omitted for legal reasons! And with Nicky’s time at the club coinciding with an especially turbulent era for the Blues, the more recent material is also bound to captivate the committed City fan.

However, the book’s early appearance at number seven (appropriately enough!) in the Sunday Times Best Seller List for hardback non-fiction indicates that it does have a wider appeal than the narrow constituency of City devotees. For what it’s worth, I suspect it may even appeal to non-football fans. This is a call I always find difficult to make, since I cannot conceive of what it must be like not to be impassioned by football. However, evidence for the proposition comes in the fact that my lodger, who has little interest in the game, has started the book and is favourably impressed so far.

I am aware that I have so far not made a single negative comment in this review. The reason for this is simple; I found virtually nothing in the book that I would want to criticise. If I have to demonstrate that I didn’t approach my task completely uncritically by voicing at least some disapproval, I suppose there are a couple of aspects I could mention. There is a minor error when former City caretaker manager Phil Neal’s name acquires an extra ‘e’, though this was the only one I spotted. And there are a couple of times where an event is alluded to in the text and I might have appreciated a little more detail, the one that particularly springs to mind being Mike Summerbee’s recent “breakdown in relations” with Colin Bell. However, that such minor nit picking is the extent of the censure is telling; in the overall scheme of things these points matter not at all.

Perhaps the most eloquent assessment I can offer is that I’d finished the 310 pages within 36 hours of starting the book. Considering that I was asleep for seven of those hours and at work for another ten, that means I found it entertaining and absorbing enough to allow it to dominate my leisure time until I’d completed it. That’s because, as an intelligent and pleasurable look at football, society and, most of all, life over almost three-quarters of a century, it comes highly recommended.

WOODSIDE BRANCH MCFC SUPPORTERS’ CLUB

The branch present: “We Will Be Back, End of Season Party, and Tribute to Neil Young” plus Special guests – top comic, disco, bingo and raffles.

Donation = £2.00

The event takes place on Friday 29th June 2001 at 8pm, Woodside WMC. Higher Wood St., Middleton.

NEW STADIUM – INFO ON FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS PLEASE

This is the third attempt in trying to get an answer to my question; the first was addressed to info@manchester2002.co.uk, the second to the ‘M.C.F.C. hot seat’, both without success (not even a reply from the so called ‘hot seat’. I hope this plea at least gets a reply.

I am getting a lot of earache from some non-City supporters over the financial implications of the new stadium; they are claiming that as Manchester taxpayers they are having to foot some of the cost (need I tell you who they support?).

I would be pleased if somebody could give me some idea of the financial breakdown relating to City taking over the new stadium, i.e.

1. The amount of lottery money allocated.
2. The deal between M.C.F.C. and Manchester City Council, i.e. will City payrent once they take over and will they be responsible for the maintenance?
3. What future plans do Manchester Council have for Maine Road, and whetherthese plans will generate any income for the Council.
4. Whether there is in fact any funding from Manchester taxpayers.

If you do not have the neccessary information, perhaps you could advise me on who to contact, bearing in mind my two previous unsuccessful attempts.

Thanks for your help.

TV GAMES

As was correctly mentioned in MCIVTA 717 by Heidi Pickup, Sky will not have next season Nationwide League rights and thus will not be able to show City games on Sky Sports.

That leaves us to the PPV side of things. Sky also does not have rights to show Nationwide PPV games.

It’s a bum rap for City fans thus far!

However…

That is not to say that Sky will not strike some kind of deal to take some Nationwide action back to Sky’s platform. We (Sky) if many of you remember featured City quite prominently a few years back (in the Nationwide against Colchester & Bristol Rovers) in a PPV experiment, due mainly to City’s large following. I can foresee ITV farming out its Nationwide PPV games (of which City will most certainly feature the most) to other broadcasters such as U-Direct & possibly Sky for commercial reasons. Sky Digital has a far bigger number of subscribers than ON/ITV Digital and they will look to ‘tap in’ to Sky homes in some form or another in order to maximise PPV revenue. This will also probably happen on Cable platforms such as NTL.

Thus you will almost certainly be able to get City games via PPV in some form or another next season but as yet I have not heard anything about normal Thu/Sun games being available on Sky Digital. I would not be at all surprised if Sky struck some kind of last minute deal to get either some live games or a highlights package at the last minute.

Whether ON/ITV Digital will show their Nationwide coverage only on their Digital service or make it available on normal terrestrial TV is also still in debate.

If anyone has any queries or questions email me below.

MORE TV BACKGROUND

Courtesy of the EuroNet list:

For the season coming there is the biggest shake up in football TV rights since Sky Sports started so here is your guide to what’s available on what package.

Premiership

Sky Sports has live coverage of the Premier League. As part of the contract, Premiership games must be available to view on all platforms (Sky Digital, ONdigital and cable). In addition to standard live games (66 games in total), about 30 additional games will be shown on Pay Per View (again on all platforms).

The ‘Match of the Day’ style highlights show will be on ITV Channel 3 (not ITV Sports, which is not allowed to show any Premiership highlights!). It is likely this show will start at 7pm on a Saturday, and will be sponsored by Coca Cola.

Nationwide Football

Nationwide football has been jointly won by ONdigital and ITV. The result is 60 games a season will be shown on a new Pay TV channel, known as ITV Sports which will be launched on 11th August. Cost of this channel is not yet know, but is likely to be between £5 and £10 a month (less than a single Sky Sport channel). At launch, this channel will only be available to ONdigital subscribers, not to Sky Digital or cable. During the season, the channel will probably launch on both Sky Digital and cable, but not note that in the next few months, ONdigital will be renamed as ITV digital. This is not a sell out, but just a rebranding (ONdigital has always been owned jointly by Carlton and Granada).

In addition to 60 live Nationwide games, ITV Sports will show a Saturday evening highlights show in the style of Match of the Day.

ITV regions will show five live Nationwide games each a season on standard terrestrial ITV Channel 3 (to avoid confusion with ITV Sports or ITV Digital). These will be regional (so a game shown on YTV will not be shown on, say, Tyne Tees). ITV Channel 3 will also show a Worthington Cup Semi, Final and Division 1 Play Off final. Live games from all other rounds of the Worthington Cup will be shown on ITV Sports. Note that there will be no Pay Per View games from the Nationwide League.

Live games will be shown on Sundays (time not yet determined), and Thursday evenings. Next season will see midweek games almost every week (the season is much shorter this coming season, finishing before the end of April), and the live TV game will be on a Thursday night.

England Games

All England home games will be shown on Sky Sports. In addition, all home Qualifying Fixtures for World Cup and Euro Championships will be shown live by the BBC. BBC have bought the rights for the remaining away World Cup Qualifiers as well.

FA Cup

The same contract as England games, so live coverage will be shared between BBC and Sky Sports.

In addition to all these games, ITV Channel 3 and ITV Sports have the rights to Champions’ League football, whilst UEFA Cup football will be sold by clubs involved on a game by game basis.

HOW MANY K’s IN CITY?

Just returned from holiday and catching up on events. It was interesting to read Mike Jenkins’ piece on Kevin Kennedy (‘There’s only one KK – Kevin Kennedy’) in MCIVTA 715. Mike’s reference to Keegan in his discussions with Kev Kennedy was in fact documented as an interview in King of the Kippax (KK55 – three KK’s then!) ‘Welcome to Steve Coppell Special’! The interview (in part) went like this:

KK (Kev Kennedy): What is someone from Belfast supporting City for?
MJ (Mike Jenkins): Well I spent many summers in Urmston as a child and began to realise that the predominant top I spotted was Blue. It was cool to support City – I was an individual amongst all those Rags and Liverpool fans back home in Belfast. I’ve done a few letters in King of the Kippax; would it be possible to do an interview?
KK: Brilliant! Right, get your notebook out. I’ll talk to you and look at your girlfriend, ’cause she’s better looking than you.
MJ: I can handle that… First things first, what did you think about relegation?
KK: Gutted, but you could see it coming for the previous few seasons. One season down may toughen us up. Two or more will spell disaster.
MJ: Will we go straight back up?
KK: It will be much more difficult than many people think. It is a very physical league. We need to keep Kinkladze, but at the same time we need to build a team around him – not only to play football but to protect him from the rigours of the Endsleigh (now Nationwide).
MJ: And what of Eike Immell, what is your opinion on him?
KK: Very good, although catching the ball more, as opposed to punching, would be better.
MJ: Do you not think there is a great solidarity amongst City fans?
KK: Yes, this is brilliant [we break into a rendition of ‘Niall Quinn’s Disco Pants’, ‘Wonderwall – he’s our Alan Ball’ and ‘Blue Moon’. His wife, sitting 100 yards away is getting worried. Everyone in the bar looks gobsmacked – we continue singing].
MJ: Is everyone in ‘Coronation Street’ a Rag?
KK: Yes, most of them. Des supports Liverpool! Sad.
MJ: Didn’t Martin Platt get smacked at Maine Road last season?
KK: … [silence] … No comment!
MJ: I remember that well; tempers were high after we got beat 3-0 and Rags got seats in the Umbro Stand. Harden him! [NB: first call for Manchester flight]
KK: I must tell you about meeting Mr Keegan at Universal Studios. He’s a great guy. Mr Keegan [he never referred to him as Kevin!] was in the queue for ‘Jaws’, which lasted two hours and we chatted about the previous season. He said he couldn’t believe how jovial the City fans were at St James’ Park, even though their team lost. “They are among the most pleasant in the country – a joy to watch during a game”! Mr Keegan was very sad about us being relegated and wondered where we’d been all season after playing his boys off the park at Maine Road (3-3). But Mr Keegan did say we’d definitely be back!
MJ: Here’s hoping![Quick pause to think to myself here I am chatting to Kevin Kennedy (KK), about another KK… [and recorded in another KK! – Ed]. The beer was getting tastier. NB: second call for Manchester flight]
MJ: There’s your flight, 2nd call, and your wife has just called you also.
KK: Hey, we’re talking about City, the plane can wait!
MJ: OK, fine… what are you most looking forward to next season?
KK: I’m not sure. I would be more optimistic if we still had Garry Flitcroft. Selling him was a mistake. I also wish Blackpool had been promoted – then we could have had a day at the seaside.
MJ: How long were you over here for?
KK: Only one week. It’s all I could get off between recording. [NB: Final call for Manchester – wife at his side]
KK: I’ll follow you on – we’re talking about City still…
MJ: I think we had both better go – I think Befast has been called [twice!].
KK: Quick one – did you know that some of the board have been sacked?
MJ: No.
KK: And what of Steve Lomas?
MJ: He was to go to Wimbledon but pulled out at the last minute. I’m glad, we need players with heart like Steve Lomas!
KK: Definitely! Well, it’s been fun… [The love of his life has now returned to get her ‘fanatical’ husband onto the plane. It resembled Vera (à la ‘The Street’) about to break Jack’s neck for placing a huge bet.] So, that was the gist of it.

We at KK Towers have contacted Mr Keegan re the confusion with all the KK’s around. Gentleman that he is, he’s agreed to change his name, or at least his initials – to K3K maybe? But we think he could be joking! The coincidences of the K’s continues – we have two long-standing friends called Kay; a sister called Kathleen, but referred to as Kay; a daughter Kaye; and one of the younger members of our family (Joe, aged 3) has just gained his first best friend – called Keegan! Are these lucky omens we wonder?

NONSENSE ACRONYM

M aybe
A
N ew
C hap
H elps
E xert
S ome
T o
E xcel
R ecent
C rap.
I
T hink
Y es.

C ould
T his
I mprove
D isposition?

Apologies to Steve.

OPINION – KITS

I’ve just had a look at the pieces of the new kit jigsaw on the website. It doesn’t look very promising, does it? There seem to be swathes of navy around the sleeves. But why not have a look for yourself? The URL is: http://ssl.mcfc.co.uk/mcfc/

Does anyone remember Joe Royle going on about a proposed new kit, which would be something like we had in the early 70s – plain light blue all over, badge in the middle, white round neck? It seems that nothing ever materialised on that score. This train of thought got me thinking about great shirts of seasons past. I must say that if I were to vote for the best ever City shirt it would have to be the 82 tricky Trev number, plain with a white V. I just felt they’d got the colour spot-on, something they’ve failed to do since. What do you think? Are you convinced by new laser or do you long for the Wilson years, Clive Wilson that is, of very very pale blue?

Talking (tenuously) of politics, can we finally put to bed that myth of City always doing well under a Labour Government?

OPINION – SUNDAY NIGHTS

I have just read the latest issue. Why are they playing League games on Sunday evenings? Surely this will mean everybody on the beer all day then to the game?

Not just City fans but we have Millwall in our division now so it will be fun.

Life as a City fan isn’t all that bad; the Rags know exactly what to expect season after season, how boring. Look back over two years and relive the excitement.

Sitting at Wembley, 5 minutes to go, 2-0 down, who would have believed you if you had said within two years you will see:

• Coming back and beating Gillingham.
• City promoted twice and back in the Perimership although then relegated.
• City beat Leeds (Champions’ League semi-finalists) at Elland Road.
• Seeing Danny Tiatto try to amputate both Phil Neville’s legs in a perfectly legitimate tackle.
• Draw against the Rags at the Swamp (and should have won but for Paulo).
• George Weah as a City player.
• Andr