Newsletter #1107

A short issue tonight, a couple of Blues in international action over the weekend, and views on the youth policy.

The reserves are in action against Leeds United tomorrow (Tuesday) night, and the first team are preparing for our forthcoming visit to The Valley.

OPINION: VIVE LA DIFFERENCE

What’s the difference between Kevin Keegan saying he’s not staying beyond his contract and Stuart Pearce going to leave if he doesn’t get the City job?

If Pearce is going to throw his toys out of the cot if he doesn’t get the job, then maybe he’s not right for City.

It seems nowadays that everyone’s willing to talk about anything that will get into print. Where are the good old days where everyone just got on with their job and kept their mouths shut?

Take a look at Bolton. From what I’ve seen on telly and read on the internet, here are a bunch of ‘senior statesmen’ who instead of bring at a club for a final payday, are actually wanting to play and getting decent results. They may not be the most creative of teams, but they make up with endeavour and hard work, and want to play for their manager.

Paul Bosvelt is that kind of player, pity the rest aren’t. Come on City, keep your mouths shut and let your football do the talking.

OPINION : DÉJÀ VU

According to CEEFAX, Mikkel Bischoff has gone out on loan to Wolves – but with a view to a permanent move at the end of the season (fee already fixed). So now we have let 2 of our young central defenders go – McCarthy and Bischoff.

This reminds me of letting Elliot and then Wanchope go and subsequently complaining about the lack of depth in the squad. Insofar as the defenders are concerned, I must admit that I never saw McCarthy play while I only saw Bischoff once (I wasn’t impressed but it was only his first game) and I know he has suffered with injuries but this smacks of the same short-sighted thinking that is becoming endemic at City.

Now I read Debs Darbyshire’s comments about Lee Croft. If we let him go as well there is something rotten in the state of City. So what if he cheered for Oldham? He was playing for them at the time and probably was celebrating with his new mates. If Pearce was serious all I can say is how childish. As for anyone could have looked good against Bolton at that stage of the game – the truth is nobody else did.

[Pearce has now spoken out about the younger players on the official site here http://www.mcfc.co.uk/article.asp?article=265643&Title=Boss+backs+youth although there is still no official comment on Bischoff’s move to Wolves – Ed]

OPINION: CAPTAIN AMERICA

Claudio Reyna captained the USA side that played in front of 105,000 fans in the Azteca stadium Mexico on Sunday, most shouting Ole! Ole! The game a World Cup qualifier ended Mexico 2 USA 1.

The good news for City fans: Claudio played the 90 minutes without injury. This Wednesday the USA play Guatemala; another World Cup qualifier round.

OPINION: HE WHO MUST BE OBEYED

Have you noticed that footballers persist in this antiquated form of working class forelock touching referring to their manager as “Gaffer”. It’s even funnier when said by the foreign players “ze gaffer”.

UPDATE: CITYSTATS

We are pleased to announce that every starting line-up, used subs, most unused subs and known referees are available on the site. If you can help fill in any “(?????)” unused subs, please hit us with the info, at: <info(at)mcfcstats.com>. There are now almost 1000 pages of stats available for every City fan to browse through.

Highest daily hits: last week saw the site’s highest number of hits in one day – over 7,000 page hits. Thanks for your continued support!

REQUEST: NEW ZEALAND BLUES

Earlier this month a Mark put a posting on McV regarding setting up a supporters branch in New Zealand. I replied to the posting offering him some advice. Today my email was returned as non-deliverable. If Mark would like to contact me I will try to send him the advice again.

REQUEST: MANCHESTER BLUES CAR HELP!

Following my request a few weeks back on a house exchange, I have just about sorted something out. I am now looking for a fellow Blue to loan me a car during our stay.

I will pay the extra insurance supplement/premium, I have arranged this while in London for the first 10 days and it is costing about £130. Which is a lot cheaper than a car rental company would charge. I will be using the car to transport my son to a number of Academies in the north west that he is having trials with. They include Blackburn, Crewe and training at Man City. It is only for 3 weeks from the 24th April to the 15th May. I hope a fellow Blue can help my son chase his dream of one day playing in the EPL.

REQUEST: VOTE FOR CITY SITES

You can vote for the original Manchester City Supporters’ website in this year’s footballshirts.co.uk Fan Site awards.

Voting is by visiting our homepage at http://www.uit.no/mancity/ and following the link, or direct at http://www.football-shirts.co.uk/mancityfans.html and voting for Supporters’ Home Page.

RESULTS

League table to 27 March 2005 inclusive

                             HOME          AWAY        OVERALL
                    P  W  D  L  F  A  W  D  L  F  A  W  D  L  F   A   GD Pts
 1 Chelsea         30 12  3  0 30  4 12  2  1 28  6 24  5  1  58  10  48  77
 2 Manchester Utd  30 11  4  0 27  7  8  5  2 21 10 19  9  2  48  17  31  66
 3 Arsenal         30  9  5  1 39 17 10  2  3 29 15 19  7  4  68  32  36  64
 4 Everton         30  9  1  5 16 14  6  5  4 19 18 15  6  9  35  32   3  51
 5 Liverpool       30 10  2  3 25 11  4  3  8 18 20 14  5 11  43  31  12  47
 6 Bolton Wndrs    30  7  4  4 18 12  6  3  6 20 22 13  7 10  38  34   4  46
 7 Charlton Ath.   30  8  2  5 24 19  4  5  6 11 23 12  7 11  35  42  -7  43
 8 Tottenham H.    30  7  3  5 29 20  5  3  7  8 14 12  6 12  37  34   3  42
 9 Middlesbrough   30  7  5  3 23 17  4  4  7 21 25 11  9 10  44  42   2  42
10 Newcastle Utd   29  7  4  4 24 21  2  7  5 17 24  9 11  9  41  45  -4  38
11 Aston Villa     30  8  3  4 23 13  2  5  8 11 26 10  8 12  34  39  -5  38
12 Manchester City 30  5  5  5 17 13  4  4  7 18 21  9  9 12  35  34   1  36
13 Birmingham City 30  6  4  5 19 12  3  4  8 14 25  9  8 13  33  37  -4  35
14 Blackburn R.    30  3  7  5 16 19  4  4  7  9 18  7 11 12  25  37 -12  32
15 Portsmouth      30  6  3  6 20 20  2  4  9 12 26  8  7 15  32  46 -14  31
16 Fulham          29  5  3  6 16 21  3  3  9 17 26  8  6 15  33  47 -14  30
17 Southampton     30  4  9  2 22 19  1  3 11 11 26  5 12 13  33  45 -12  27
18 Crystal Palace  30  5  3  7 15 13  1  5  9 18 36  6  8 16  33  49 -16  26
19 West Brom A.    30  3  7  5 13 21  1  5  9 16 30  4 12 14  29  51 -22  24
20 Norwich City    30  3  5  7 23 31  0  6  9  6 28  3 11 16  29  59 -30  20

MCIVTA FAQ [v0405.02]

[1] 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

[2] What are MCIVTA’s publishing deadlines?

Deadlines for issues are nominally 6pm, Monday and Thursday evenings bu email. Unfortunately we cannot accept email attachments.

[3] 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.

[4] What is the club’s official web site?

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

[5] 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).

[6] Where can I find out about the fans’ committee?

The Fans’ Committee operates as an interface between supporters and the club. The Fans’ Committee has been relaunched as “Points of Blue”. It has appeared on the club website as a minor entry under “Fans Zone”.

[7] 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/.

[8] 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/.

[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/.

[13] Where can I find a list of City-related websites?

Try Wookie’s Lair: http://www.wookieslair.com/modules.php?name=Web_Links

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: