Newsletter #976

Our encounter in the Borough of Trafford brought nul points and a 3-1 defeat. SWP scored a great solo effort, and there were encouraging performances from one or two others including Fowler. However, the jury is still out on the performances and abilities of other recent KK signings and we have plenty of opinion on those tonight, together with match views.

Continuing debate about the right to give opinion – please, ’tis the season of goodwill, and we are all Blues together – an update on those dreaded Sky fixture changes and a couple of requests.

We now have a week’s break until Leeds United, who have suddenly struck form, are the visitors at CoMS.

MATCH VIEW (TV): MANCHESTER UNITED 3 MCFC 1

Rags 3 City 1

Sadly we just were not good enough; outplayed in the first half, held our own in the second. But really apart from about 10 minutes just after half-time I always felt that they could score whenever they wanted. Anyhow, three diagonal crosses headed home gave them their three goals – Taggart had clearly read my report earlier in the season!

SWeeP and Sun again provided the main threat – SWeeP giving us some consolation with the sort of goal that our “stars” are supposed to score. Dunne reasonably solid again, Seaman, on balance, probably kept the score down by one or two, Distin – I don’t think he is a left back, Sommeil – fairly non-descript, Barton – tried hard, unlucky to be booked, Sinclair – at least he managed to be substituted this week, McManaman – typically collects the ball within 10 yards of own area, moves forward about 20 yards and then passes backward about 10 yards – but nearly scored with a fine volley, Fowler – I’m starting to be converted – he is trying and perhaps a bit of luck…, Anelka – gives me the impression that he doesn’t care: certainly totally ineffective today, Wanchope – looked a bit better for the ten minutes he was on than on his previous ten minute sessions.

Match Officials – not bad for the Swamp but a bit unbalanced with the bookings, City free kicks just outside the penalty area – pathetic – don’t they come up with anything on the training ground? Strange looking subs’ bench – three creative midfielders?

Ah well – let’s see what January brings.

MATCH VIEW (TV): MANCHESTER UNITED 3 MCFC 1

Before the game McManaman said to his fellow players stay calm. Poor choice of words. He should have said “Play with the same passion as SWP”.

In the MuEN before the game, in a poll, over 83% of City supporters said don’t play Sinclair, but of course he played and was one of the players that should have been taken off at the interval, but it took Kevin Keegan 81 minutes to see that he made a big mistake playing this player. Berkovic sat on the bench along with Reyna. What’s wrong with KK, has he lost the plot?

It’s time for David Seaman to hang up his boots, he can’t go on playing because of his past glories. We need a goalkeeper but young Kevin Stuhr-Ellegaard could not have played any worse in this game.

It’s time for Kevin Keegan to admit Fowler and Sinclair are a bad mistake.

I am and always will be a proud City supporter, but today I am ashamed of the team’s performance; to have lost playing with passion I can forgive, but against the old enemy today was a very sad day for us City supporters.

As much as I have always been a supporter of Kevin Keegan, I fail to understand some of his team selections and subs. Today I blame KK because he had the power to change the team, and create that passion, which he failed so badly to do.

Carry on like this and he won’t have to walk away, the City fans will have seen enough even if John Wardle hasn’t. Trouble is, managers, like players, have big contracts, and there is always a big pay off if City tell KK to leave.

I would prefer to see Kevin Keegan get that zip back in his stride and turn his team around. He has done well for us in the past, but in this game of football it’s what you are doing now that counts. To stop the rot, KK has to seriously look at his team selections and admit he can’t go on hoping certain players will change if you keep playing them.

To end on a positive note, what a brilliant individual goal from SWP, our first in eleven hours of football! We sure missed our “Goat”.

For us to move forward from this point in time, KK has got to get rid of Anelka; he has become a lazy primadonna. The next game drop Anelka, let him do his sulking off the field away from the other players. I think KK did a great job to get Anelka to play well for him, but now just like at other clubs, he’s decided he no longer wants to give his best. I watched the Evil Empire game again today (I taped it for personal use), Anelka is half hearted in everything he does, it must rub off on to other City players.

If we play next game without Anelka, I bet we will win!

Match Ratings

Seaman = 6 could not be blamed for the goals.
Dunne = 6 has been an in-form player of late but today made 2 mistakes that cost City.
Distin = 5 too slow in crossing his balls, gave United defence time to cover every time.
Sommeil = 5 shaky in defence.
Sun = 7 made a good effort.
Barton = 6 started to show frustration and got booked for a stupid foul.
McManaman 5 never a command performance.
Sinclair = 4 what KK sees in this player is beyond me.
S W P = 10 only City player to show any real passion, capped with a brilliant individual goal.
Anelka = 4 lazy!
Fowler = 5 made some effort but not good enough.
Wanchope = Not fair to rate the player for only 9 minutes.

OPINION: POST DERBY THOUGHTS

After losing to MU Plc, the Monday morning depression rests a little heavier. With that in mind, here are my latest feelings. Did KK forget to mention to his players that they were playing in the Manchester derby? Most of them played like United played at Maine Road last year. With the exception of perhaps SWeeP and Joey, the rest of them looked completely uninterested.

On the subject of Macken – give him a go if for no other reason than I think he cares more about City than half the current squad. Come to think about it, give me, my dad, or my grandad a go for the same reason! My biggest worry about this current slump is that I think the players’ lack of interest is a reflection of KK’s lack of interest. One substitution on Saturday, an out of form striker for an out of form striker. Come on Kev, had you run out of ideas or are you just not bothered? And before you start saying “remember where we were 4 years ago…” I do remember 4 years ago, I remember the likes of Dickov, Horlock, Goater, Weaver who actually played like they gave a damn about MCFC.

OPINION: THE RIGHT TO REPLY

As I read MCIVTA 975, I started to become irritated but this quickly led to a high degree of amusement. It seemed that I had come across a re-written form of Monty Python’s “4 Yorkshiremen” sketch.

“You don’t get *real* fans these days with their satellite television and covered seating. We used to be grateful just to be able to get in and watch the match.”

“Watch the match! You were lucky. We used to stand outside the Main Stand for days on end just for a glimpse of Colin Bell’s left leg…”

Supporting a football club is not some form of p**sing contest. You can’t measure the quality of someone’s feeling for the club by the number of matches they do or don’t go to, although you are perfectly entitled to question the amount of information that goes into their judgement if they are not seeing games with their own eyes. We all know that the editors of “The Premiership” tell lies with their selective editing, and we also know that certain commentators seem to have their own bias – whether they are expressing their own favouritism, acting as a mirror for common (and trite) opinions in the rest of the media (e.g. “Keegan the quitter”), or maybe they are simply loudmouthed fools (solve the anagram “Anal Regen” for the person I have in mind here).

[As an aside here – I was very impressed with the piece by James H. Reeve in the M.E.N. this week regarding Anal’s reference to Sun Jihai (oops, have I given the mystery identity away now…). The fact that he is still employed by the BBC (Hmmm, blown it now, haven’t I) must be a bitter pill for James as, if my memory serves me rightly, he was turfed out of one of his own jobs due to trumped up racism charges. If I was in James’ position I’d have included a lot more vitriol…]

It is nearly 20 years since I’ve been able to follow City home and away. There are various reasons for this, which I’m sure I share with many people reading this. I currently have a job that requires me to stay away from home on a regular basis, which rules out some midweek matches (I was in Denmark for the home leg against Lokeren). I also have 2 small children – both season ticket holders and regulars at Junior Blues meetings – who have their own football at weekends, which would be largely ruled out if we as a family followed City home and away. They have been to one away match this season (Blackburn) with the commensurate very late night and grumpy behaviour visited on their teachers the following day. Oh, and after this match we had to persuade our 5 year old that it really wasn’t a good idea to sing about “Ms”. Finally, we have houses, holidays, etc. all competing for the same money that would otherwise be spent going to cheap away grounds like Chelsea (2 adults + 2 children + travel) is a serious whack.

So, what is the point of this rant? My contention is that we, the less-than-100%’ers are also entitled to an opinion. We all know that the soul of the club does not belong to the directors, the management or the players. Equally, it is not the exclusive possession only of those who go to all home, away and pre-season matches and who have their own 3-page spread in “We’re Not Really Here”. Fans come in all shapes, sizes, accents, colours, budgets, etc.

People can’t acclaim the 47,000 against Bolton and then bemoan that some of the people passing opinions don’t go to away matches – we don’t get 47,000 tickets for away matches, so the constituency of away fans is to a large degree self-selecting as attendance at away matches boosts your loyalty points, which means you have more chance of getting tickets and so on. We less-than-100%’ers are not all prawn sandwich eaters who stay snugly in the West Stand for the second half.

If people are of the opinion that there is something wrong with the team or the stadium then they are entitled to hold and even share that opinion without people jumping on them (oops, pot and kettle?). I agree with some of the criticism of the players and the coaching staff. KK is a victim of the very expectations he has set. His aim this season is top 6, so if we fall short of this you cannot be too critical of people pointing out the shortcomings of the team. Either KK was bluffing when he set this target, or he misjudged the ability of the players, or he and his coaching team are not delivering when judged against his own criteria. And before anyone says “we’re 9th and only 3 points off the top 6”, we need to look at how the Premiership is shaping up currently as we are also only 5 points clear of a bottom 3 place. I personally would be happy with another top 10 finish, but I’d also like there to be signs of sorting out Distin’s positional sense (I know he usually plays centre half but it’s no use him playing there when he’s supposed to be at left back – as shown by the way he was pulled into the centre regularly against Everton), Macca’s tendency to disappear (Groclin away – although I only watched on TV, so maybe mark that opinion down a bit and ditto for Everton when he gave the ball straight to an Everton player about 2 yards away when under no challenge – twice), and Trevor Sinclair’s unwillingness to go past anyone and cross with his left foot. I’m not going to mention Robbie Fowler as I think the main problem there is that neither he nor Anelka is a target man. The main difference between Everton and previous matches up front (here goes – opinion warning) was that the midfield got into the box faster. Many times this season, we have had Anelka pulling wide, the midfield hanging back and Fowler alone in the box (when he gets there), which is not his natural game – give him a target man to feed off and things might be different for him.

Anyway, it’s getting late now so I’ll stop this rant here and end it with a call for a bit of understanding from both sides. The less-than-100%ers should respect the opinions of those who follow through the wind and the rain as long as those who do so don’t look down their noses at fans who, for whatever reasons, don’t make the sacrifice.

OPINION: PETER’S OPINION I

I am sending this off on the eve of the derby game so any suggestion of changing my opinion if we win is eliminated, and for the said gentlemen below I can promise you I am 101% behind City, and if we do win the feeling I know will be better than last year’s 3-1 win. However, I stand by my comments of the Everton game.

Phil Jones, Neil Herd and David U; I have had ten times the amount of messages sent to me direct, agreeing with my assessment of the players at the Everton game, but thanks for your comments. As I said I could not write a match report and instead wrote about the performances of several players particularly because of their importance to the team, being Anelka (appears most people agree with me), Distin (once again same criticism from a wide section of fans), Sinclair (even Neil agreed with this) and McManaman (I may have gone over the top, but my comments were made based on his experience, also why did KK drop him for the Spurs game and reinstate after he complained about being dropped?). Neil, it sounds as if you misinterpreted my comment on the fans; it was not meant to be critical, they were, as at every away game superb, noisy and continually supporting the team, which the performance did not deserve. Also Neil “remember where this club was 5 years ago” YAWN, YAWN, YAWN; from your comments about the team’s performance at Everton, your expectations of the team is still in the 2nd Division 5 years ago.

Phil I have as much right as the next person to publicly make an opinion or are you so cocooned in Manchester (or wherever you may live) not to believe the EPL is televised all over the world. We get at least 5 live games a week as well highlights of every league game played, so it can be assumed we can form an opinion on the teams; and not to disappoint you, yes I have been a Blue for over 40 years, watching them from 1962 throughout the 70’s and 80’s at Maine Road, and visited many, many away grounds including St. James’s Park, Stamford Bridge oh and yes Goodison Park and White Hart Lane. Blue blood is in my family, my dad was even on City’s books in the early 1950’s. As for BMW’s, never owned one, over rated and I am told very expensive to run.

Gents, take your own reality check: KK has spent a s**tload of money, the club is in debt to the tune of £50 million; I am not sure if that takes into account this season’s buys, perhaps someone will confirm otherwise? We started the season looking very good. The current slump is indeed very worrying and what worries me the most (because I so want to see him succeed), KK appears to have lost his commitment and passion, two of his outstanding characteristics. This in his own words is “his” team, so why can he not motivate them above the c**p they served up at Everton? A number of readers told me the performances at Groclin and Spurs were even worse than Everton. What has happened since the Southampton win?

You will be pleased to learn I will be staying in Oz but making the odd visit to my home city, Manchester that is, from time to time; but feeble comments of turning to a Rag are unjustifiable all because you don’t agree and ‘cos I don’t live in Manchester. Grow up boys, City have a world-wide fanbase and one to be proud of because we have had no bandwagon to jump on!

OPINION: PETER’S OPINION II

Just thought I’d chip-in with my own modest defence for Pete Mac and the recent over the top reactions to his televised match report. Pete Mac comes from the same City background as myself. His ‘disgusted and disgusting’ report reflects, as in my own case I suspect, a frustration at our current plight.

I say it’s a plight because let’s face it, our current form is red-hot relegation.

Pete Mac, or any other City fan is entitled to have his say, regardless of where he is currently living, in his case Oz, in my case Clogland. No City fan should be stifled from having his say based on his means or ability to see City live, from the armchair or wherever as long as basically his heart is with City. Pete’s criticism, I more than suspect, is based on his frustration and out of his love for the old Sky Blue. Allow me to qualify.

I already hear cries of ‘old fart’ and whatever but you’re going to get it anyway! From the mid-sixties, the City team was a typical English club team with a formation of English players coloured by the odd Home Country addition of a lost Scot, Irishman or Welshman. After the arrival of Joe and Malc we even became Champions of England with an all-English team, a rarity even in those times! The base of that team was ‘local’. Proud Mancunians or even with today’s revised boundaries, proud Greater Mancunians. Goalie Dowd, defenders and midfielders, cousins Pardoe and Oakes along with the legendary Mike Doyle. Mike for Christ’s sake come back, we need you now. Mustn’t forget Nelly Young, our Wilmslow greyhound with the thunderous left foot. I bet it’s the first time he’s ever had a tribute, Dave Connor, the man who created the term ‘utility player’.

As proud as I am to call myself a City fan (attended my first game in ’55) and to readily identify with my roots all these years ,I find it increasingly difficult to identify with the modern trend of having a team composed of players from over the whole world supplemented with a couple of English players! We have Wright-Philips and Barton to nurture, as home products. Then we have write-offs Seaman and the scousers Fowler and his mate, good old Macca. Seaman seems to be the only one of this last trio capable of consistently doing the business? I question the dedication of the last two, because one seems to have too much going on outside football and the other became too lazy to fight even for his place in the best club side in the world (despite the protestations of the Swamp-dwellers to the contrary). The rest is a League of Nations hotch potch who on their day can play well together but too often, seemingly, fail to communicate.

All credit to Keegan for getting us as far as he has but for all the hype and the blind faith, I fail to find any colour or flair in our play especially now that Anelka has gone off the boil!

Where are the expensive ‘buys’ Macken and Vuoso, and will Kevin persevere with them as much as he did with Fowler, if he ever gives them the chance?

Is there any talent, local or otherwise, ready to come through our vaunted academy?

Will that talent receive the support accorded our imports or will they also be shown the door in favour of the ‘short-term’ solutions?

Doubt not Peter McDonald’s love for City or his pedigree. His report is based out of pure concern and love for his club, as is mine, and he obviously doesn’t appreciate too much of what he sees nowadays!

Blue Moon over Holland too.

OPINION: PETER’S OPINION III

I was quite disturbed to read Phil Jones’ article in the latest McV. I thought the whole idea of McV was to bring together opinions from around the globe about our illustrious team. After all, what do the initials stand for?

Over the years football coverage on TV has changed dramatically and City exiles get to see many more games on the box than ever before. Is this not good enough for an informed opinion? To call into question the loyalty of fans like us and also question the right to an opinion is rather foolish. It seems Mr Jones will be insisting that Heidi have all contributions screened and checked for season tickets and regular attendance to away matches. Then, and only then are you a true fan and allowed an opinion. I suspect, like me, that all McV readers are slightly more fanatical about the club than the average City fan and anybody who is actually motivated enough to contribute to Heidi’s publication genuinely cares about the club and its fortunes. I have been reading McV for many years and congratulate Heidi, Ashley and all the regular contributors for their efforts.

While I am at it, I must reply to Mr Marshall and his comments after my last contribution. I think Nicolas Anelka should be dropped from the team. It would do him good. We would all see if he is committed to the club or not by the way he responds. Another gilt edged chance missed at the Swamp does not reflect a player who is the “finished article”. What I wrote in MCIVTA 973 was based on an overriding negative response by City fans in the online version of the M.E.N. If you want my opinion, although I know someone who won’t, I would sell him if some manager is daft enough to pay £20 million. I hope Danny T is fit for the Leeds game; if he is give him the captain’s armband… Opinions, opinions!

OPINION: WHERE WE ARE NOW I

I’ll start from this point: Manchester City are a good team.

They have already shown how well they can play. My assumption is that something wrong is going on in the changing room. Even though we can’t rely on everything we read, there must be something true about Anelka’s desire to leave (even Italian newspapers have talked about a move to Old Trafford). He has changed completely his attitude, and if he really wants to go, then please go, because there is no point in having a class player who can’t behave professionally. He had a reputation, true, but it seemed that Keegan managed to turn this immature teenager into a serious and committed football player. Well, maybe he didn’t.

So probably this is the reason, or maybe the reason lies somewhere else, I don’t know. What I know is that the team spirit we all appreciated has simply vanished. And I think it is this team spirit, this winning hunger that helped hide our poor defence. As I said at the beginning of this article, Manchester City are a good team. But the quality is not well balanced. The midfield is a blend of terrific, experienced and excellent players with young and promising players who are certainly learning from them. The attack is potentially incredible. Anelka is a top class player (still, the way he missed that opportunity on 3-1, and his pathetic performance makes me want him to go), Fowler hasn’t delivered yet, perhaps we’ve seen enough of him, but I’d be really tempted to see him lead the attack with Wanchope. It happened at Southampton and they both scored. Maybe it was a coincidence, maybe not. What I’m saying is: if Anelka wants to go, let’s not waste time on him, we don’t really need his irritating performances. Let’s cash in on him and insist on Fowler, Wanchope and Macken.

Defence. Our defenders never impressed me during the good first part of the season, but like I said our fine midfield and striking force largely compensated. But what now? Seaman, Distin, Sommeil, Dunne and Sun. The five of them, they’re a joke. Maybe it’s my anger speaking, because I have just seen the derby, but I’m afraid we have a 1st Division defence here. Absolutely ridiculous when under pressure. I’d particularly like to see Distin leave (why ever is he the captain? McManaman is the obvious one to me! He lifted the European Cup, he’s got such experience, and he’s a fighter), and Sommeil (the thought of his fee makes me shiver). And Seaman should have retired last year.

So, I don’t think Keegan is to be blamed. You don’t realise your manager isn’t good after 2 seasons and a half. Yes, too much money on over-estimated players (like Sommeil) or players we still haven’t appreciated (like Macken: £5 million!). But the squad as a whole is strong enough to qualify for Europe, we all know that because we have seen that. But there are problems, there is a crisis. I don’t think there is harmony among the players.

OPINION: WHERE WE ARE NOW II

I’ve been pretty much out of the loop this season due to the arrival of my son, but finally struggled to the pub to catch the derby on Saturday and introduce the young ‘un to the trials and tribulations of being a Blue. Fortunately for him he seemed more interested in stealing my crisp packet than the débâcle occurring on the large screen in front of him. Oh well, we’ve been here before and we’ll no doubt be here again. Despite all the upbeat talk in the car of this maybe being the one match that could kickstart our failing morale – particularly after last year’s sterling efforts – things didn’t quite go according to plan. Good to see Sweep back on the score sheet, shame the rest of the team can’t live up to him!

What happened to the great start to the season? OK, I know it was only a few weeks ago that we were flying high on optimism, but what really is going on behind the scene? Anelka punching people, the Liverpudlians ganging up on the French, one player reckoning Keegan will be out by Christmas… oh how the mighty fall. Gerard Houllier must be relieved, suddenly Keegan seems to be taking the spotlight off him.

Unless I’m mistaken, our slump coincides with the following: an on-form Sweep being banned for three games, Fowler getting caught smoking a fag and Dunne coming back into defence. Of these, Sweep was a major loss, Dunney seems to be a bad omen for the team (didn’t we have a similar run of bad result when he was drafted into the squad last season?) and to my mind the whole Fowler thing is a disaster. He has achieved little since arriving at the club, apart from one notable exception: instigating the resignation of David Bernstein. Now it appears that Keegan’s persistently putting him in the squad and his failure to treat his misdemeanours with the same severity as those of the likes of Dunney could be causing squad riffs. Yes, Robbie is getting better, but surely he should be doing his getting better in the reserves or maybe we should be loaning him out to Norwich? I would dearly love Robbie to succeed, but Keegan’s persistent sticking by him is starting to get a little embarrassing; if anyone else had failed to achieve in that way they would have been dropped. Why not Fowler?

I don’t want to Robbie bash as the guy deserves a break, but right from the moment the whole deal was on the cards I’ve had a very bad feeling about it. And so far he’s done nothing to allay my fears. OK The Goat probably missed as many sitters, but he still scored by the bucket load… and he was the only person who’s looked even remotely comfortable up front with Anelka. He should never have been let go. Hopefully KK’s Robbie-blindness won’t hang us all. The memory of the Second Division is still too fresh, let’s not go back there!

Leeds on Monday… best pull our socks up, ’cause we’ll get hammered if we don’t and the relegation zone will be beckoning. But maybe the team (whose wages we pay!) need that kick up the a**e.

Anyway, I needed to get that off my chest. Losing to the Rags is always a killer. Here’s to playing in Premiership next season!

OPINION: A TITANICAL DISASTER

From the day David Bernstein left, we have continued to take on water, and after what should have been plain sailing, by finally having a chairman who brought about financial stability to our ship, we threw him overboard, and are once again at the mercy of the ocean.

He had the sense to object to the signing of Robbie Fowler, on the grounds that to pay Leeds up front, for a player who he thought was a liability would be a mistake, how right he was. The club decided that it was important to back the manager, and have continued to back his decisions, but he has failed to set sail in the right direction, by not having the right crew on board.

Eyal Berkovic should be in the team if the manager wants to get the best out of his strikers, but he has a stubborn attitude, refusing to bow to public pressure. I believe this one player would make a difference to our fortunes.

Instead, the forwards are struggling to gain any momentum and our defence cannot afford to bail us out, and this will ultimately put a bigger hole in our side.

The pirates from Stretford are on the horizon, and ready to put us to the sword; if that plank Keegan doesn’t get some common sense soon, the financial sharks will be waiting for us.

OPINION: REASONS TO BE CHEERFUL

Feeling suicidal? Consider the following:

• we’ve already played six of the top seven away from home.
• Mr Keegan’s teams invariably improve in the second half of the season
• 28/12/98 City 2 Stoke 1 – City started this game from 12th in Division 2

Now we’ve got a big crowd, a spanking new ground, and a squad full of internationals. Time for a deep breath and to get behind the manager and his players. Let’s deal with Leeds first then get in shape to repay the compliment to United in the Spring.

OPINION: WHERE’S THE PANIC BUTTON?

So when would be a good time to panic? Are we about to have a New Year relegation battle or are we still confident that Robbie will score, Anelka won’t sulk, Sinclair will make an effort, the defence will get it right and our goalie will start saving soft goal attempts?

Wake up all, there is a big problem and it needs to be addressed now, not in April.

We need a decent ‘keeper, two defenders, a full back etc.

OPINION: THE ROOT OF THE PROBLEM

Macca is the cause of all our problems.

Since he arrived there has been too much unrest in the side. I think he’s essentially a nice guy but he thinks that as he’s played at Real Madrid he’s been brought in as the fulcrum of the team. Maybe that’s what he led KK to believe he could do – who knows?

Barton has gone from being the lone Scouser (ok, Chris Shuker was there too) and consequently mixing with all the players, to sitting around with first Robbie F and now Stevie Macca. This has led to a bit of resentment from some of the older players who think Joey is career building by hanging around with the two v. experienced Scousers.

Distin was his big mate up until Robbie’s arrival and Joey loved the fact that he could travel in to training with someone he idolised as a kid. All three were Evertonians but that doesn’t mean that they didn’t like Liverpool – footballers as everyone should know, are different.

Macca has divided the dressing room. It was apparent on Saturday that he wants Robbie to get back to his best (we all do) – Anelka suffers from this though because Macca repeatedly tries to bring Robbie into the game when Nico is in a better position.

Nico and Macca had a short time together in Madrid and Macca didn’t get on with him at all. Robbie is his best mate QED.

Macca’s influence on the games has been minimal. He is obviously someone who doesn’t mind expressing his opinion and b****cks to the consequences. To openly criticise KK in the Telegraph was not a smart move – again I think some of the players are resentful of the fact that he seems to play under different rules.

We had a good, solid look at the start of the season. Since Macca’s arrival it’s been pretty stagnant. I know we’ve had a couple of big wins, but the more his influence has spread, the worse we’ve become. We no longer look like a team. This is very disappointing because I was happy that we’d signed him and thought he was exactly what we needed. However, his influence in the dressing room has been too disruptive and we’ve gone from a team that was moving forward – carefully, to one that has the mobility of a Virgin train.

There are several options open to KK- I’m not sure which way he’ll go. Tell Macca privately that it hasn’t worked out and let him go quietly in Jan. It’s then up to Fowler to sort himself out – he can go with him if he likes. Confront the separate factions in the dressing room and get everyone onside. Whatever they all think, the game is for us – not sulky couldn’t care less spoilt millionaires. If they don’t want to play with each other, sort out the best 15 and ship some of the others out.

Think ‘Fcuk it – I don’t need all this aggravation’ and walk. Funnily enough, I don’t think he’ll walk – despite what the press thinks. Keegan isn’t a quitter. He’s honest. He knows how well he’s done at City and if some of his players have let him down, he’ll let them know. It’s then up to the player to decide if he wants to be involved in the revival of MCFC. If not then he’ll get rid. However unpopular that move will be with some fans. This can be seen as bloody minded (Berko’s situation) – but you can’t let the players run the club.

KK is in charge. He has to be big enough now to prove it. I happen to think he’s doing a good job. It’s not his fault that certain individuals are trying to undermine him.

OPINION: BERKOVIC

Berkovic will not be taking part in the UNICEF charity game on December 15th, as KK has not given him permission to take part. Obviously it’s far more important that he should keep his bum in good shape for another 90 minutes of bench warming…

Just how long is KK going to keep up his vindictive vendetta against Berkovic? He is the only truly creative player we have, and we desperately need him in the side. Even if KK intends selling him in January, it still makes sense to play him, in order to maintain the price we can get for him.

My opinion of KK as a player sank back in February 1973 when City played Liverpool three times in the space of a fortnight, in a FA Cup tie (0-0 at Anfield), the replay (2-0 to City at Maine Road) and a League game (1-1 at Maine Road, while the same day Stretford Rovers were soundly thrashed 4-1 away at Ipswich!). For the whole 270 minutes one of the “best players in Europe” never got a kick, mainly because of the marking of Derek Jeffries, who would not exactly lay claim to being the best or fastest defender City ever had. One bad game is understandable, but three!?

My opinion of KK as a man and a manager is rapidly going the same way, because of the way he is dealing with Berkovic. Maybe Brian Clough got it right, when he talked about learning about management in the lower divisions first!

OPINION: EL GOAT

On Friday I was listening to Radio Five on the Internet (I live in the US) and they had Shaun Goater on giving his opinions of the derby game the following day. He answered every question with phrases such as “we can win…”, “our team strength is excellent…”, “the fans want us to win…”. Obviously he is still a Blue and a top bloke.

Coincidentally I was reading about a new book on Muhammad Ali the other day called GOAT. Apparently it stands for the Greatest Of All Time. Possibly.

OPINION: FIXTURE CHANGES

Re: John Breen’s complaint about fixture changes see the following article in The Guardian about fans in Germany. Interesting reading. http://football.guardian.co.uk/Columnists/Column/0,4284,1101747,00.html

Also concerning complaints about the way City are playing at the moment – I agree with most of the correspondents who recognize that it is not good at all but we’ve only been back in the Premiership for a season and a half after years of yo-yoing up and down. I also still remember the dark days of the 2nd Division and how close we were to staying there – so let’s enjoy where we are and get behind the team.

[And here’s some feedback I got from those good people at the Football Supporters’ Federation on this very issue – Ed]

“We will shortly be asking the Premier and Nationwide Leagues to get all the clubs to show the ‘trigger point’ for each fixture on their websites, i.e. the date by which any fixture change will be announced. This will mean that after the given date it will be guaranteed that the fixture will not be changed and fans will be able to book their travel tickets with confidence. So we might not like the fact that so many matches are moved to Sundays, but life would be easier for fans like John.”

OPINION: LETTER TO ST NIC

Dear Father Christmas

I know you dress like a Rag and that is why you never ever give me what I want. But as usual at this time of year I am writing to you with my wish list.

1. Please take Mr Anelka away to Lapland with you. Will swop an Elk for twoof your reindeer; at least they will play with pride and passion.
2. Please give the City doubters some rather nasty looking cold sores ontheir lips.
3. Could you also take Mr Sinclair with you, he may be useful in yourLapland League.
4. A goal for any of our strikers.
5. Caps for SWP and JB.
6. A win.

I have been a very good boy this year and promise not to get too upset if we don’t get into Europe next year.

P.S. Why don’t you get Thomas Cook to sponsor you like us?

OPINION: SONG FOR COMS

I was reading the last issue and suggestions for new songs, when this passed through my mind. The trouble is, I haven’t seen anything to get us to sing it.

To the Hokey Cokey

You put your left foot in, your left foot out…
In, out, in, out and shake it all about.
You do the Paul Bosvelt and put Irwin out.
That’s what it`s all about.

REQUEST: BIRMINGHAM TICKETS AVAILABLE

Two tickets available in the City end for the Birmingham game on Boxing day for any one mad enough to pay the £35 face value (for the same seats that cost half that 2 years ago!).

Call Chris on 07789 435999 or email.

REQUEST: MEET KING KEV

Taken from the non-league newsletter:

Clitheroe FC has brought off a major coup by tempting Manchester City manager, Kevin Keegan, to return to Shawbridge for another ‘An Audience With’ evening. The event, scheduled for Thursday February 5 2004, will follow the same format as Keegan’s first visit back in October 2002. Fans will be able to ask questions directly to the ex-England manager, through compere Peter Stevenson, the presenter of Granada Soccer Night and fan of Clitheroe FC. Clitheroe chairman David Burgess stated “To get Kevin Keegan to come to Shawbridge the first time was unbelievable, but to get him to return shows the type of man he is. He has never forgotten his roots and through him and subsequent events with Stan Ternent and Graeme Souness we raised enough match funding to upgrade the floodlights.” Tickets for the evening are selling fast, with a maximum of 100 now on sale. The evening will be held in the Clubhouse – Shawbridge, Clitheroe and tickets are priced at £20 each, including a pie and peas supper. Burgess added “We have already sold over 50, so anyone wishing to guarantee a ticket please contact me on 07900 577008”.

REQUEST: MARC VIVIEN FOE MEMORIAL FUND

The online auction is now “live” and you can view the items available from the many Clubs, the FA and various celebs which are available to bid for by visiting the website:

http://www.marcvivienfoe.org

Amongst the City related items kindly donated by Doves are shirts which we have signed by Keegan, Anelka and SWP, we also have a shirt and City magazine signed by Shaun Goater.

For further information please email:

RESULTS

14 December 2003

Aston Villa           3 - 2  Wolverhampton Wndrs   36,964
Arsenal               1 - 0  Blackburn Rovers      37,677
Leeds United          3 - 2  Fulham                30,544

13 December 2003

Leicester City        0 - 2  Birmingham City       30,639
Manchester United     3 - 1  Manchester City       67,645
Chelsea               1 - 2  Bolton Wanderers      40,491
Liverpool             1 - 2  Southampton           41,762
Middlesbrough         0 - 0  Charlton Athletic     26,721
Newcastle United      4 - 0  Tottenham Hotspur     52,139
Portsmouth            1 - 2  Everton               20,101

League table to 14 December 2003 inclusive

                             HOME          AWAY        OVERALL
                    P  W  D  L  F  A  W  D  L  F  A  W  D  L  F   A   GD Pts
 1 Arsenal         16  6  2  0 13  6  5  3  0 17  5 11  5  0  30  11  19  38
 2 Manchester Utd  16  7  1  1 21  5  5  0  2 11  5 12  1  3  32  10  22  37
 3 Chelsea         16  6  1  1 17  7  5  2  1 13  5 11  3  2  30  12  18  36
 4 Fulham          16  4  2  2 14 10  3  2  3 14 12  7  4  5  28  22   6  25
 5 Newcastle Utd   16  4  3  2 14  5  2  3  2 11 15  6  6  4  25  20   5  24
 6 Southampton     16  4  1  3  8  6  2  4  2  7  6  6  5  5  15  12   3  23
 7 Charlton Ath.   16  2  2  3  9 12  4  3  2 13  8  6  5  5  22  20   2  23
 8 Birmingham City 16  2  3  3  6 11  4  2  2  8  7  6  5  5  14  18  -4  23
 9 Liverpool       16  3  1  4 12 11  3  3  2 11  7  6  4  6  23  18   5  22
10 Bolton Wndrs    16  2  4  1  7  4  3  2  4  9 18  5  6  5  16  22  -6  21
11 Middlesbrough   16  2  3  4  6 10  3  2  2  6  5  5  5  6  12  15  -3  20
12 Manchester City 16  2  2  3 12 10  3  2  4 11 12  5  4  7  23  22   1  19
13 Tottenham H.    16  4  1  3 13 11  1  2  5  5 13  5  3  8  18  24  -6  18
14 Blackburn R.    16  3  0  4 11 11  2  2  5 12 14  5  2  9  23  25  -2  17
15 Everton         16  3  3  2 11  7  1  2  5  6 13  4  5  7  17  20  -3  17
16 Aston Villa     16  4  3  1 10  7  0  2  6  4 16  4  5  7  14  23  -9  17
17 Leicester City  16  2  4  3 12 12  2  0  5 11 13  4  4  8  23  25  -2  16
18 Portsmouth      16  4  0  4 16 10  0  4  4  2 12  4  4  8  18  22  -4  16
19 Leeds United    16  2  3  4  9 15  2  0  5  7 21  4  3  9  16  36 -20  15
20 Wolves          16  2  3  2  7 14  0  2  7  6 21  2  5  9  13  35 -22  11

MCIVTA FAQ [v0304.06]

[0] MCIVTA Addresses

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

 News/rumour (Don Barrie)         : news@mcivta.city-fan.org

 Subscriptions (Madeleine Hawkins): subscriptions@mcivta.city-fan.org

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

 FAQ (David Warburton)            : faq@mcivta.city-fan.org

[1] What are MCIVTA’s publishing deadlines?

Deadlines for issues are nominally 6pm, 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] What is the club’s official web site?

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

[4] What supporters’ clubs are there?

Manchester City FC recognises three supporters’ clubs: The “Official Supporters Club” (http://www.mancity.net/osc/); the “Centenary Supporters’ Association” (http://www.reddishblues.com/CSAWebsite/CSA.htm) and “The International Supporters’ Club” (http://www.mcfc.co.uk/article.asp?article=111845&Title=International+Supporters+Club&lid=Membership).

[5] Where can I find out about the 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] What match day broadcasts are available on the web?

The GMR pre and post match phone-in is available on the web at http://www.bbc.co.uk/england/gmr/sport_intro.shtml.

Live match commentaries and archives of games, reports and interviews can be found at http://www.mcfctv.com/, whilst an alternate live commentary service, hosted by Yahoo, is located at http://uk.sports.yahoo.com/foot/englandprem/cal/index.html.

[7] Where can I find out if City are live on satellite TV?

http://www.satfootball.com/pl.html provides a listing of Premiership games being shown on UK domestic and foreign satellite channels. Useful sites for North American viewers are http://canadatvsoccer.tripod.com/Fixtures.htm, http://www.foxsportsworld.com/named/FSW/Index/Soccer, and http://www.soccertv.com/.

http://www.foxsportsworld.com/content/view?contentId=1288602 also provides a guide to pubs in the USA showing football.

[8] What’s the music the teams run out to?

It’s actually a mix of two tracks. It starts with “O Verona” (from the motion picture “William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet”) and leads in to “Barber’s Adagio for Strings (Ferry Corsten remix)” by William Orbit. The first part is available on the movie soundtrack (volume 2) and the second is included on a variety of CDs such as Kiss House Nation 2000, Galaxy Hit Mix, Cream Live, Ibiza Chill and Dance Nation 4.

[9] Do we have a Usenet newsgroup?

Yes we do: uk.sport.football.clubs.man-city is our home on usenet. If you are not familiar with usenet, a basic explanation is available here: http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,289893,sid9_gci213262,00.html

[10] Do any squad members have their own web pages?

There are a number available and direct links can be found at http://www.uit.no/mancity/players/

[11] Can I buy shares in the club?

Yes you can: Shares in Manchester City PLC are traded on OFEX. The latest prices can be on found the OFEX web site http://www.ofex.com/ (registration required) or in the business section of the Manchester Evening News.

[12] Where can I find match statistics?

Statistics for the current season are available from the club site, but for a more in-depth analysis try http://www.mcfcstats.com/ or http://www.citystat.net/.

[13] Acknowledgements

Thanks go to Damian Quinn, Stephen Webb, Roger Haigh, Martin Price, and Adrian Howarth for the Satellite TV info.

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, editor@mcivta.city-fan.org

Editor: