Newsletter #1165

What an excellent game against West Ham. Such a breath of fresh air to have a team come to COMS and play football, instead of stifling us, as previous visitors have done. It was a well deserved win, which City totally desrived – much more than the 2-1 scoreline suggests.

Tonight’s issue includes some opinion on yesterday’s match and also on our youngsters who are out on loan, more on the smoking debate, a request for Fulham tickets and Manhattan viewing of the Arsenal game, and an excellent ‘Why Blue?’ from Jason.

Keep your articles coming to the same address of <editor(at)mcivta.city-fan.org>.

OPINION: MCFC 2 WEST HAM 1

Another win, another game where we’ve played the opposition off the park and finished with a single goal lead. First half statistics showed City with 11 attempts on goal to West Ham 0, overall match statistics probably about 24 attempts to City to about 6 to West Ham, so 2-1 understates City’s dominance and yet we were reduced to playing the ball against the corner flag in injury time. Mind you, our first goal should have counted 3 for its magical quality; watching it over and over again in the analysis I have to say that I think it would have beaten any defence – sublime. West Ham’s goal was pretty good too, though I’m not sure that Dunne would have allowed Zamora to get that far away from him. James did his chances of getting back in favour with Sven (on a rare visit to City, but then it was West Ham!) no harm at all.

All round a good, entertaining display from City, with everyone contributing, but it is a worry that our conversion rate of opportunities to goals remains so high.

OPINION: MCFC 2 WEST HAM 1

City versus West Ham could have carried the name tag of “battle of the ole boys”.

Andrew Cole and Teddy Sheringham both played together for United in the days well before United became the Buccaneers.

Andrew and Teddy disliked each other back then, and so it has remained for a few years.

So when City played the Hammers it was Andrew Cole on the day who kept his crown as King Cole with two well-taken goals.

Teddy Sheringham was kept quiet by the City defence, and so he was substituted by Zamora in the 67th minute.

It was Zamora who got the goal for the Hammers on the stroke of the 90th minute.

With all respect, Sheringham has been a good player over the years and has helped the Hammers get back into the EPL; enough said.

We all know how well King Cole has played in the past, and more important now for City.

MCFC are now up to fourth in the EPL and keep up in that all important position of being in the top six bracket.

Well done Blues!

OPINION: LOAN PLAYERS

Has anyone else noticed that one of our players out on loan appears only to be getting experience in ‘benchwarming’?

Each week I look to see if Karl Bermingham is getting any first team experience at Burnley – at best it’s about 5 minutes. What is the point of sending players out on loan if they don’t get a game? At least Willo Flood has played for Coventry and, as far as I know, has acquitted himself well in what can only be called a struggling/moderate team.

When Croft went to Oldham he had plenty of games and that improved his confidence (plus he was given lots of encouragement by Macca, who kept in touch with him).

What Bermingham’s experience is doing to him at Burnley heaven only knows. Perhaps MCFC could contact Burnley and ask their manager what their intentions are about giving Bermingham some playing experience. If he’s not going to stay with us then it’s best if he’s playing so other clubs can see him.

OPINION: SMOKING AT COMS (I)

Many congratulations to Joel Perry for his excellent comedic contribution regarding smoking at The City of Manchester Stadium, for I take it that that was his intention. Really, Joel, this isn’t the 1950s… smoking isn’t actually all that cool, to be honest. You mention the word ‘freedom’ twice – personally I’d like the freedom to not contract lung cancer or other respiratory disease because of the actions of somebody I’m unfortunate enough to sit next to at a football match. You may ‘like’ smoking, but you might have noticed that, generally speaking, most people don’t care about what you like. As for your ‘go and sit in hospitality’ remark – I suppose if you take the ‘-ity’ off the end that’s where you’ll be sitting yourself soon enough…

OPINION: SMOKING AT COMS (II)

Joel Perry, my detractor: I’m in no way pious… for the same reasons you like smoking, I now dislike it, that’s all. You can smoke anywhere privately, and that’s the only place it should be allowed, not where bystanders don’t get a choice. It’s a change in society, just like the one that saw drink-driving or not wearing a seat belt become unacceptable when it was previously neither here nor there.

I now realise how wrong I was to expect others to suffer just because I had an addiction. That’s not pious, that’s seeing the light. To suggest it comes from some sort of soft-a**ed prawn sarnie corporate mentality really is clutching at straws. It’s alright because “I like it” and you think it’s “cool”… what a well-argued point. Any spare seats on Question Time?

If what I said last week didn’t make sense, then consider this: have you ever met anyone whose new year’s resolution is to start smoking?

REQUEST: MANHATTAN VIEWING

I am travelling to Manhattan next weekend and wondered if anywhere would be showing the Arsenal game? If any readers can point me in the right direction, please contact me at the email address below.

REQUEST: FULHAM TICKETS

My loyalty points aren’t enough to guarantee tickets for this one (don’t think they ever will be!), so if anyone has two spare tickets so that I can take my City mad son, I’d much appreciate it if you could contact me by email or on 0791 7548031. Thanks in advance.

WHY BLUE?

Greetings,

I have been a subscriber to MCIVTA for about two years now and have really enjoyed the lively debate that goes on between Blues’ fans as well as the match reports. I have particularly enjoyed reading the Why Blue feature and have intended to contribute my own offering for some time but have failed to overcome the inertia required to actually begin. Until now. Here goes.

When people ask me how long I’ve been a Blues supporter, I usually reply with something like, “Since conception!” or “All my life!” I know it seems twee but I honestly cannot remember not being a City fan. I was born in Durban on South Africa’s east coast in 1970. My dad was from Wythenshawe and my mom was a Salford lass. It’s always bothered me that my arrival coincided with the beginning of the end of City’s golden period and as I was to discover, living in South Africa wasn’t the best place to follow City from afar. For a start, we didn’t get TV until 1976 (that’s not a typo, 1976!). One of our politicians believed that TV was “the Devil’s bioscope” and fought tooth and nail to prevent its introduction.

I always knew that City were a less-fancied team although to me they were the greatest. I remember my dad taking a portable short-wave radio to weddings and such-like so that we could sit outside and listen either to a live City match or the results.

The highlight of my young City-supporting life was when my parents decided to take my younger brother and I to the U.K. in 1976, to let our grandparents have a first look at their new (I was 6, he was 4!) grandkids. My aunt who is unfortunately married to a Red, contacted the club and organised a visit for us. So, we now have preserved on 1970’s cine-film, footage of my brother and I shaking hands on the centre spot at Maine Road, as well as a visit to the training ground where we met Tony Book, Tommy Booth, Big Joe Corrigan, Dennis Tueart and sat on the boot of Glyn Pardoe’s car. I remember my brother and I being fascinated because Pardoe’s car had a rear window-wiper! We had never seen that before.

My dad also took us to see City play Stoke. It was a bit of a disaster for him because City lost 1-0 and my brother and I being exhausted from all the excitement, slept through it!

We returned to South Africa with our City souvenirs and replica strips and settled again into the routine of supporting the Blues from a cultural backwater.

The next event to really stick out on my City radar was the F.A. Cup Final of 1981 (the League Cup win of 1976 having completely passed us by on the southern tip of Africa). I had vaguely realised that City were doing well in some kind of competition but that was about all I knew. Let me explain: I’ve already said that we only got TV in 1976 but despite the arrival of “the Devil’s bioscope”, the only match we ever saw on TV was the F.A. Cup Final. No other Cup matches, no league matches, nothing. In fact, I remember that an enterprising Durban hotelier arranged for the Match of the Day highlights package to be flown out to Durban once a week and put it on a big screen and all the ex-pats would come to watch. My dad took us a couple of times but we weren’t really old enough to appreciate it.

Anyway, back to 1981. We watched the first match with all its nail-biting excitement and felt that we were unlucky not to win. Then the replay on the Thursday night. We got special permission to stay up past our bedtime to watch and I remember being absolutely devastated when Villa scored that goal and we lost. I stormed to my room in tears and ripped the Spurs team photo off the wall (I collected all the team photos that used to be published in Shoot magazine) and tore it into tiny bits. I was inconsolable. I now have the video of that game in my collection. It’s a bit strange but it’s one of the events that cemented my love of the Blues for all time. I know the term “gallant losers” is a cliché but for me, that team really were.

I continued following City as well as I could through my teens despite the paucity of any real info on them and despite them going up and down like a fairground attraction. Then in the late 80’s, a subscription TV channel opened in South Africa and marketed itself to fans of British football. They showed a couple of live games on the weekend and a highlights package on a Monday night. Often we would only see City on the highlights but beggars can’t be choosers. At about this time, friends of the family told us that they had met a lad from Manchester who had come out to work in South Africa. His name was Chris Underwood and he was a City fan! I remember that he told our friend’s daughter that he lived next door to Rick Astley. He was kidding of course but she was very impressed. The thing I remember most vividly about Chris’ stay in South Africa was watching City play Spurs at his flat. I can’t remember exactly when this was but Spurs had Erik Thorsvedt in goal and David White scored. I think the game ended as a draw but we were p****d by this time celebrating White’s goal. These celebrations included throwing Chris’ telephone directory off his balcony and pulling a light fitting out of the ceiling. I know, I can’t explain it either. Does anyone remember the goal Clive Allen scored right near the end of a game against Chelsea? Well, Chris had lent me his TV one weekend as mine was on the blink and he had gone away for the weekend. Otherwise I might never have seen that goal.

Unfortunately, Chris didn’t stay in South Africa very long so it was back to the valiant rearguard action my dad and I were conducting (my brother by this stage was a devotee of the oval ball).

I’m sure that like the shooting of Kennedy and John Lennon, every City fan can tell you where they were and what they were doing the day City beat United in 1989. Well, here’s my story. We had been invited to a wedding on the Natal South Coast. It was a filthy day with torrential spring rain everywhere. I remember trying to follow someone to the reception venue and hardly being able to see ten metres through the rain on the motorway. We finally arrived at the hotel and not really knowing anyone at the wedding besides the bride who was a work colleague of my wife’s, sat alone at a table near the back. Shortly after, a group joined us at the table and in conversation I found out that they were cousins of the bride and that they had gone to the same school as me. Cue much discussion along the lines of “Do you remember this teacher etc?” Now at this time in South Africa, the English 1st Division results were broadcast during the sport segment of the main evening news bulletin. So, at about half past eight, I wondered off in search of the hotel’s TV lounge. Imagine my delight at seeing that beautiful score; 5-1! I could hardly believe it having been steeling myself for a defeat and only holding out the faintest hope of a City triumph. I charged back to the wedding crowing at the top of my voice. The evening then proceeded to get very lively and many celebratory beers were downed. As we were leaving, I bumped into an old school friend from junior school whose presence had nothing to do with the wedding, it was complete coincidence. So it was back inside for a few more. I drove the 40kms home in the pouring rain and to this day cannot remember doing it. Not a good example of responsible driving but that’s what supporting City can do to you.

I remember that in the early 90’s, City had a useful side including Niall Quinn, David White, Peter Reid, Neil Pointon, Ian Brightwell, Steve Redmond etc. I believe they ended 5th one season. The next highlight on my City radar was when I travelled to the U.K. in 1992 and managed to see the Blues play the first top-flight game ever to be played on a Monday night. It was against QPR if memory serves. Being much older, I was able to fully appreciate the experience and unlike 1976, I definitely didn’t fall asleep. I remember being delighted at the way the City fans responded to the announcer reading out the team list by welcoming each player with his own little song. Standing on the Kippax for the first (and only) time, I was caught up in the huge outpouring of almost tribal celebration when City scored (David White, I think). I remember the crowd surging forward and sideways and back and ending up about 20 yards away from where I’d been before. I have never known a feeling like it. Of course, it got very quiet when QPR (Sinton, I think) equalised. But a magical experience for me.

Then, about two years later, City came to me! They came on a pre-season tour to South Africa and although a lot of the big names stayed at home, I was still able to meet Tony Coton, Fitzroy Simpson and Michel Vonk. I had breakfast with Simpson and Vonk and was lucky enough (with my dad) to have dinner with Peter Reid who was manager by this stage (trivia: we share the same birthday, 20 June) and met Tony Book (again!). Personal highlight for me was being mistaken for a City player by a star-struck receptionist who after getting autographs from Simpson and Vonk, asked me for mine (no, I didn’t give it to her although I imagined someone asking years later “Who the hell was Jason Corlett, I don’t remember him!”). City played the local side Chatsworth Rangers and I was amazed at the number of City fans who appeared out of thin air. Obviously City fans are spread rather thinly over the South African ground because I’ve never seen so many in one place in South Africa.

I should pause here to explain something about South African football supporters. The black community support the local (mainly black) clubs although there is no regional loyalty, clubs like Kaizer Chiefs who supplied Lucas Radebe to Leeds and their name to a rock band. The Asian community, which is probably the largest outside India, almost exclusively support English teams with the vast majority being misguided enough to support that other team near us whose name I cannot bring myself to type. The white community is divided into an Afrikaans-speaking half (rugby union is their religion) and an English-speaking half (rugby union and cricket are their preferred sports). A small percentage of the English-speaking half follow English football and most of them support you-know-who. Pity them Lord for they know not what they do. Anyway, City and Chatsworth Rangers drew 1-1. Quigley scored, I think. The following day, the local newspaper trumpeted that South African football has nothing to fear from English football. It seems the local scribes can’t recognise an end of season jolly when they see one.

The next thing is City in the third tier for the first time and the two successive promotion campaigns that followed. I remember following the play-off final against Gillingham by logging on the Internet every 10 minutes. At 88 minutes I called through to my dad and said that the dream was over. Imagine my surprise when I logged on 15 minutes later to read about exactly how bad we were to find us playing extra-time. I’ve since seen the video and I can only imagine what it must have been like to be there. Typical Blues testing the cardiac fortitude of their supporters!

Finally, the latest chapter in my Blue life. My wife and kids and I moved to live in England at the beginning of this year. Two weeks ago my dad, brother and I attended our first match together since 1976 and my first League match since 1992 and of course our first match in the COMS. I had been on the stadium tour a few weeks before the Everton game so I had seen the new ground before but my dad and brother were well impressed. We had a bit of a problem getting in as we were not used to the fancy turnstiles. Anyway, we got in just before kick-off and settled down to enjoy the match. The first thing I noticed was the difference in atmosphere compared to Maine Road. Songs were begun but petered out quickly. Even the booing of Phil Neville seemed half-hearted. I must admit for the first 70 minutes I sat there thinking that I can understand why attendances are dropping. Thirty-onep pounds each and the football was dire. Then Danny Mills scored that screamer and things seemed better. Vassell added another right at the end and we ran out 2-0 winners. In overview, it was a pretty mediocre game of football. I don’t know if the early start was responsible but few of the players on either side seemed interested or passionate or committed. The exceptions being Ireland and Croft. However, City did win and as for the manner of it, it’s all part and parcel of the rollercoaster ride that being a City fan represents.

RESULTS

16 October 2005

Birmingham City       0 - 1  Aston Villa           29,312
Manchester City       2 - 1  West Ham United       43,647

15 October 2005

Wigan Athletic        1 - 0  Newcastle United      22,374
Chelsea               5 - 1  Bolton Wanderers      41,775
Liverpool             1 - 0  Blackburn Rovers      44,697
Sunderland            1 - 3  Manchester United     39,085
Tottenham Hotspur     2 - 0  Everton               36,247
West Bromwich Albion  2 - 1  Arsenal               26,604
Middlesbrough         1 - 1  Portsmouth

League table to 16 October 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          9  5  0  0 14  2  4  0  0  9  1  9  0  0  23   3  20  27
 2 Tottenham H.     9  3  1  1  5  2  2  2  0  6  3  5  3  1  11   5   6  18
 3 Manchester Utd   8  1  1  1  3  3  4  1  0 10  3  5  2  1  13   6   7  17
 4 Manchester City  9  3  1  1  6  3  2  1  1  5  4  5  2  2  11   7   4  17
 5 Wigan Athletic   8  3  1  1  5  3  2  0  1  3  2  5  1  2   8   5   3  16
 6 Charlton Ath.    7  1  0  2  3  5  4  0  0  9  2  5  0  2  12   7   5  15
 7 Bolton Wndrs     9  2  1  1  3  1  2  1  2  7 10  4  2  3  10  11  -1  14
 8 Arsenal          8  4  0  0  9  1  0  1  3  2  5  4  1  3  11   6   5  13
 9 West Ham United  8  2  1  1  8  3  1  2  1  4  4  3  3  2  12   7   5  12
10 Middlesbrough    9  1  2  2  3  7  2  1  1  7  5  3  3  3  10  12  -2  12
11 Blackburn R.     9  2  1  1  4  4  1  1  3  3  6  3  2  4   7  10  -3  11
12 Liverpool        7  2  1  1  3  4  0  3  0  2  2  2  4  1   5   6  -1  10
13 Newcastle Utd    9  1  2  1  2  3  1  1  3  3  5  2  3  4   5   8  -3   9
14 Aston Villa      9  1  2  1  6  6  1  1  3  3  8  2  3  4   9  14  -5   9
15 West Brom A.     9  2  0  3  8  9  0  2  2  1  7  2  2  5   9  16  -7   8
16 Portsmouth       9  0  3  1  2  4  1  1  3  4  6  1  4  4   6  10  -4   7
17 Birmingham City  9  0  1  4  3  9  1  2  1  4  4  1  3  5   7  13  -6   6
18 Fulham           8  1  1  2  4  5  0  1  3  3  8  1  2  5   7  13  -6   5
19 Sunderland       9  0  2  3  5 10  1  0  3  2  4  1  2  6   7  14  -7   5
20 Everton          8  0  0  3  0  4  1  0  4  1  7  1  0  7   1  11 -10   3

MCIVTA FAQ [v0506.02]

[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.mcfcosc.com/); the “Centenary Supporters’ Association” (http://www.reddishblues.com/CSAWebsite/CSA.htm) and “The International Supporters’ Club”.

[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://mcfc.videoloungetv.com/do/preLogin?clubSiteCode=MCFC&CMP=AFC-003.

[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://www.foxsportsworld.com/named/FSW/Index/Soccer, http://www.soccertv.com/, and http://www.livesoccertv.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.

Madeline Hawkins, editor@mcivta.city-fan.org

Editor: