Newsletter #762

Two new signings and one departure this week. KK has had the cheque book out and for the princely sum of £2 million has acquired Kevin Stuhr Ellegaard (Danish goalkeeper) and Christian Negouai (Martinique midfielder). Our Kev is rather excited about the midfielder who is, to quote ‘everything you would want a midfielder to be. Of all the players I have signed so far, I feel he is the most exciting.’ The 23-year-old could make his début this weekend. I’m intrigued by this French-speaking team we’re building.

The departure is Willie Donachie, who has travelled over the Pennines to join struggling Sheffield Wednesday.

Tonight’s issue contains opinion on our new look squad, the badge theme continues, along with City wine (not Goats this time), and news on football songs.

Anyone off to Pompey this weekend who fancies reporting on our new players, then you know the address.

OPINION: CITY ALL-COMERS

Anyone give the English a chance?? Or would your money be on the 11 foreigners who are all from different countries?

                                                 Kevin Stuhr Ellegaard (Denmark)
Richard Dunne (Rep of Ireland)  Lucien Mettomo (Cameroon)  Gerard Wiekens (Holland)    Laurent Charvet (France)
Alfie Haaland (Norway)          Eyal Berkovic (Israel)     Ali Benarbia (Algeria)      Danny Tiatto (Australia)
                                Shaun Goater (Bermuda)     Paulo Wanchope (Costa Rica)
versus
                                        Nick Weaver
            Richard Edghill    Steve Howey    Stuart Pearce    Danny Granville
            Terry Cooke        Dickson Etuhu  Jeff Whitley     Christopher Shuker
                            Shaun Wright-Philips     Darren Huckerby

OPINION: CITY BADGE I

Here is my brief analysis of the old vs. new badge debate.

The Old Badge:
Whilst incorporating traditional elements of Mancunian and Lancastrian identity, I consider the overall feel of the circular badge to be too 70’s and indicative of the Swales era.

The New Badge:
The chicken and stars are b****r all to do with MCFC, and the design suggests fascistic undertones, though I must admit that I find the badge attractive and exuding a certain degree of class.

Conclusion:
What we need is a new logo that incorporates elements of the tradition and history of our fine city, and is also attractive and stylish and – more importantly (for some) – will look good on our merchandise.

If I were asked to nominate a club crest as an example for us to follow, I would have to nominate a club that principally employs the coat of arms belonging to the municipality in which they reside. Two such clubs that spring to mind are Burnley and Stockport County. In using the coat of arms to represent the football club, the club is declaring its historical links to, and representation of their town or city. If we are soon to move into ‘The City of Manchester Stadium’ then I feel that we should take the opportunity to adopt a new club badge that reflects our status as the team which is solely representative of the city of Manchester. What could serve this purpose more than the Manchester coat of arms and the name of Manchester City FC? Who knows, maybe one day we will also be sponsored by Boddingtons – ‘The Cream of Manchester’.

It was also suggested to me that a new club badge should also include references to our old home in Moss Side and something easily identifiable as being peculiar to the region. I immediately thought of an Uzi submachine gun and a gigantic raindrop but somehow I don’t think that Messrs Bird and Bernstein would go for that.

OPINION: CITY BADGE II

Further to the recent comments about the previous City club badge, I agree that a return to it would be great. However, I seem to remember around the time of the release of the Kappa kit that we had to have a new badge as someone, most likely Swales had sold the rights to the club badge, and that therefore City were no longer allowed to wear the badge on their shirts. Can anyone confirm or deny this, as I may well be making it up.

OPINION: CITY BADGE III

I could be wrong but I’m sure that when the new badge came out there was actually an explanation for all of its components. The Shield was obvious, as it was the Manchester shield, the Latin motto meant “Pride in Battle”, which it was hoped the players would have, the stars were just to add a continental feel, and the bird was actually a phoenix representing City rising from the ashes of the complete mess we were in a few years ago. I have no great preference between the round badge or the “new” badge, although I think the “new” badge looks quite nice embroidered into garments and the wings of the phoenix seem to sparkle in the light. It must be the shiny thread they use. IMHO though if it was up to me I would change to the City of Manchester coat of arms when we move into the City of Manchester stadium, proving that we’re City and we’re from Manchester.

In fact by the time we move there, the present home strip should be ready for replacement so how about, when we move into the new stadium, we have the Manchester coat of arms adorning a new strip. Truly a new beginning and hopefully in the Premiership. Red and black away strip wouldn’t go amiss either!

OPINION: CITY BADGE (AND OTHERS) IV

All this talk of the club badge, and whether you like the old one, which most people do, or you like the new one, as at least one brave soldier does, prompts me to ask ‘Does anyone remember all the club badges that could be collected and stuck onto a three way dividing light blue folder’? I think the promotion was run by Esso. They were made of the same stuff as the milk bottle top foils. They were great, with a little history of each and every club, and were very hard to complete. I had every one bar Leeds. Do many of you have a completed collection still? It would be interesting to see a full one now – so many years on.

OPINION: CITY BADGE V

While the subject of the club badge is the current flavour of the month:

On a recent holiday to Fuerteventura, I found myself in a local supermarket in Correlejo, your bog-standard average-sized store used by both locals and tourists, searching for a couple of decent bottles of wine.

Having located the wine section, I looked up to the top shelf and found myself staring most unexpectedly at about two dozen bottles of red wine, coated with a thin layer of dust, each one with a beautiful, individually hand-painted MCFC club badge on it. The proper badge with the ship and red rose, and real works of art. If that wasn’t strange enough, apart from a couple of bottles of “Glasgow Rangers” wine, City was the only team represented (before anyone says, I was fully awake at the time and wasn’t under the influence of alcohol or any illegal substances).

Does anyone know about this? Does anyone know who did them? Is there a Blue in exile who makes a living by painting club crests on wine bottles?! Is the City superstore missing a trick?

Anyway, they make great Christmas presents, and it just wouldn’t have been the same with a bl**dy great eagle on them.

OPINION: VARIATION ON A (CITY) THEME

Alternatives to “town full of Munichs”:

The “Small town in Blackburn” at Burnley could of course have umpteen variants:

At Portsmouth: “small town in Southampton” doesn’t scan (well it does if you don’t make small a “dotted note”…)!

Rotherham: “small town in Sheffield” (not funny, because it is!).

Grimsby: “small town in Hull” (nah, too silly – as is singing “Sing when you’re fishing” when that’s their song!)?

Bradford: “small town in Leeds” (Now we’re talking…)? Anything so long as we jump on any racist chanting. Is there any way we could make it up to that Muslim youth club some of our lot attacked last time?

OPINION: FOOTBALL SONGS

In reply to Steve Parish, great credit to the scousers for their renditions of ‘You’ll never Walk Alone’ through the years; it’s sung all over the world but never anywhere better than on the Kop, but I’d be careful about handing the laurels to Merseyside as instigators for club ditties.

Going back to the early sixties we had: “In Dublin’s fair city”… “Johnny Crossan wheeling his wheelbarrow” to the tune of Molly Malone and one from some white haired albino (Heinz) “Whenever you’re sad, whenever you’re blue, whenever City are playing”… Just like Eddy.

OPINION: CITY NAMES & PLATES

In response to the mail with regard to City plates, in the US from David Atkins, I have a few interesting plates and City related issues to note.

My 1997 Harley Fat Boy has the registration MCFC1 in New York. My cars are Bolocks and Bollox2 respectively.

Until I moved in June this year, I had the old City logo, or dadge as it is being debated as at the moment, in a 4 foot panel at the bottom. By the way, does this really matter? A badge is a badge, who cares what it looks like! I could care less if it had an otter on it, it is still Man City, get a life!

I also have a glass panel, 6’5″ x 3′ in my bar with the “old badge” etched in it.

My first daughter, 18 months old, is called Skye Bleu and my next born, due in January will be called Kiki Moon. Both second names match up to the great song Bleu Moon.

Here’s hoping keep on the same track, stop worrying until Easter and CTID!

OPINION: US CITY PLATES

In reply to David Atkins’ inquiry of any good plates around, I have “MAINE RD” on my license plate in New York. Sorry to say no one yet has told me that they recognize what Maine Road means in terms of Man City or football. C’mon Blues.

OPINION: OUR SURVEY SAID…

Chris Ryder asked in the last issue whether anybody else had received the marketing survey. I did and the question I enjoyed most was the one which asked whether if/when City play away in European competition I’ll travel on an official package or make my own arrangements. I opted for the independent route, figuring that if we do get into the Intertoto for one match in Moldova I may as well make a week of it.

But let’s just get out of Division One first.

RESULTS

Recent results from 12 November 2001 to 13 November 2001 inclusive.

13 November 2001

Burnley               1 - 0  Watford               13,152

League table to 13 November 2001 inclusive.

                             HOME          AWAY        OVERALL
                    P  W  D  L  F  A  W  D  L  F  A  W  D  L  F  A  GD Pts
 1 Wolves          17  4  2  2 10  6  6  2  1 18  8 10  4  3 28 14  14  34
 2 Burnley         19  6  3  1 24 15  4  1  4 13 13 10  4  5 37 28   9  34
 3 West Brom A.    18  5  1  3 10  5  5  1  3 12 11 10  2  6 22 16   6  32
 4 Norwich City    18  7  1  1 15  6  3  1  5  9 16 10  2  6 24 22   2  32
 5 Crystal Palace  16  7  0  2 24  8  3  1  3 13 14 10  1  5 37 22  15  31
 6 Coventry City   17  4  2  2 11  7  5  2  2 11  7  9  4  4 22 14   8  31
 7 Manchester City 17  6  2  1 24  9  3  1  4 18 17  9  3  5 42 26  16  30
 8 Millwall        17  6  1  1 19  9  3  2  4 11 10  9  3  5 30 19  11  30
 9 Preston N.E.    18  5  3  1 21  7  3  3  3 10 15  8  6  4 31 22   9  30
10 Portsmouth      18  4  1  3 13 10  3  5  2 15 13  7  6  5 28 23   5  27
11 Birmingham City 18  5  1  3 18  9  2  4  3 11 15  7  5  6 29 24   5  26
12 Bradford City   18  5  1  3 25 20  2  3  4 11 16  7  4  7 36 36   0  25
13 Watford         18  5  3  2 21 13  2  0  6  9 13  7  3  8 30 26   4  24
14 Wimbledon       18  3  4  2 15 12  3  2  4 17 17  6  6  6 32 29   3  24
15 Nottm Forest    18  5  3  1 12  6  1  3  5  6 11  6  6  6 18 17   1  24
16 Crewe Alex.     18  4  4  2  8 10  1  2  5  8 15  5  6  7 16 25  -9  21
17 Sheff. United   19  3  3  3 11 12  1  5  4  5 12  4  8  7 16 24  -8  20
18 Rotherham Utd.  19  2  5  2 12 14  2  2  6 11 17  4  7  8 23 31  -8  19
19 Walsall         18  4  3  3 12 11  1  1  6  8 17  5  4  9 20 28  -8  19
20 Grimsby Town    19  3  2  4  8 12  2  2  6 11 24  5  4 10 19 36 -17  19
21 Gillingham      17  4  1  3 17 10  1  2  6  7 18  5  3  9 24 28  -4  18
22 Sheff. Wed.     19  2  4  4 12 17  2  2  5  7 15  4  6  9 19 32 -13  18
23 Barnsley        18  3  3  3 13 17  0  2  7  7 23  3  5 10 20 40 -20  14
24 Stockport C.    18  0  1  7  5 17  1  5  4 14 23  1  6 11 19 40 -21   9

MCIVTA FAQ [v1.5]

[0] MCIVTA Addresses

 Articles (Heidi Pickup)        : editor@mcivta.city-fan.org

 News/rumour (Michael Leafield) : mplctid@aol.com

 Subscriptions (Geoff Donkin)   : subscriptions@mcivta.city-fan.org

 Technical problems (Paul)      : paul@city-fan.org

Comments concerning this FAQ should be sent to David Warburton using the address: mcivtafaq@warburton.org

[1] MCIVTA Deadlines

Deadlines for issues are nominally Monday and Thursday evenings.

[2] MCIVTA Back Issues and Manchester City Supporters’ home page

http://www.uit.no/mancity/ is the unofficial Manchester City Supporters’ home page. Created in 1994, it is the longest running of the Manchester City related web sites. Back issues of MCIVTA are also hosted on the site.

[3] Club Web Site

The official club web site can be found at http://www.mcfc.co.uk/

[4] Supporters’ Clubs

Manchester City FC recognises three supporters’ clubs: The “Official Supporters Club” (http://www.mancity.net/osc/index.html); the “Centenary Supporters’ Association” (http://www.callnetuk.com/home/sef/) and “The International Supporters’ Club” (http://www.mcfc.co.uk/extra/fanzone/isc.asp)

[5] Fans’ Committee

The Fans’ Committee operates as an interface between supporters and the club. It has its own website, http://www.mcfc-fans.com/ containing info about forthcoming meetings as well as minutes from previous gatherings.

[6] City of Manchester Stadium Progress/Web Cam

The latest information regarding the progress of our new home can be found at http://www.commonwealthgames.com/

[7] Match Day Broadcasts

Live match commentaries and archives of games, reports and interviews can be found here: http://www.mcfc.co.uk/comment.asp. An alternate live commentary service, hosted by Yahoo, is located at: http://uk.sports.yahoo.com/foot/audio/live/schedule/index.html. GMR Saturday Sport is also available live online between 1-3pm, and 4.45-6pm at http://www.bbc.co.uk/manchester/sport/index.shtml

[8] 01/02 Season Match Day Theme Tune

The music the teams run out to at Maine Road this season is “Nightmare”, by Brainbug, and is available on the Positiva label.

[9] Acknowledgements

Thanks go to John Arnold for providing the information regarding match day music and to Ian Bell for pointing out the alternate live match commentary service.

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.

Heidi Pickup, heidi@mcivta.freeserve.co.uk

Editor: