Newsletter #1418

NEWS SUMMARY

General News

Drawing Applause: On Thursday night, City’s young ‘uns secured a highly useful and creditable draw in the First leg of the FA Youth Cup final. The game at Chelsea’s Stamford Bridge finished 1-1. City opened the scoring just after half time, when Vladimir Weiss played in Danny Sturridge to crack the ball into the Chelsea net. Let’s hope the Londoners don’t renew their interest in our star striker, but I digress. The lead lasted only fifteen minutes, as Gael Kakuta powered home a header. Jim Cassell, Youth team supremo, was well pleased with the night’s work: “It was a great first leg, and yet another tie that’s not been won by the home side! We may have a slight advantage, out home fans are going to be vital and we have good support,” he said. “I’m delighted with the performance, I could not have asked for any more. We just about weathered the storm, their goal came from a terrific corner that was almost undefendable and there could have been a lot more goals tonight. We knew this was going to be an attacking game and that’s just how it turned out. It’s now a one-off cup final on our pitch, and we have a great chance. Chelsea will think that as well, there is not much between the teams but overall I am delighted with the performance. The work rate was great, tactically we were spot-on and I’m really looking forward to two weeks’ time.” Still, City have a great chance of landing the trophy – the second leg takes place at the COMS on Wednesday April 16, kick-off 7.45.
Team: Hartley, Trippier, Mee (c), McGivern, Tutte, Boyata, Weiss, Kay, Ball (Ibrahim 86), Sturridge, McDermott (Tsiaklis 72). Unused subs: Mentel, Poole, Nimely-Tchuimeni.

Whether the Weather be Fine… Boss Sven wants to bring some silverware to his present club. “Winning trophies in football is one of the best things you can do,” added Eriksson. “If trophies come here it would be even better than to win with Benfica. It would give me great satisfaction because we know we are working with a club that hasn’t won anything for a very long time. If you can win with a club like that it is worth more than at a club like Benfica, who are supposed to win trophies every year.” And he hopes that he will be a long serving City manager. “I’m not saying that I want a new contract, but of course I can see myself staying a long time,” said Eriksson in the Sun. “I like it here very much – apart from the weather. I like it because it’s a project. It’s something that we all want to do well together in. I’m in the Premier League, I’m at a big club. I am very happy here. Will I need more than two years to bring success? That could happen, but we still have two years to go.”

Transfer News and Gossip

He Ain’t Foxy: Let’s just finish off a piece of unfinished business from last week – Emile Mpenza didn’t join Leicester City last week on loan, preferring (so it was reported) to fight for a place in City’s first team. Mpenza has started just eight of his 14 Barclays Premier League appearances this season, scoring twice, and Leicester were one of the clubs apparently keen to offer him more time on the field. “There is nothing there for this moment,” said City manager Sven-Goran Eriksson. “He has had a lot of requests but so far he wants to stay. He is under contract, so it is very much up to him if he wants to stay and fight.” The M.E.N. didn’t think that the striker has much of a future at the COMS, what with the arrival of Castillo, Caceido and Benjani at the club in recent months.

Nesu Dorma? Time for some new names to be chucked into the tumble drier of speculation and given a few spins. City are, I am reliably informed (OK, I read it on a website), monitoring Steaua Bucharest left-back Mihai Mircea Nesu. Steaua are expected to cash in on Nesu in June and have fielded approaches from City and Saint-Etienne about the defender’s availability. Or, could City be in for Roma contract rebel Amantino Mancini? Il Messaggero says Roma management are all but resigned to putting the Brazilian up for sale after failing to convince his management over new contract talks. We’ll try and erase the memory of his rather limp midweek performance against MUFC shall we? Here’s another candidate for Thaksin’s Baht – Steaua Bucharest attacker Nicolae Dica is interesting City. Romanian sources say Sven rates the Romania international highly and is planning a summer bid for the striker.

Going for Goal: Sven seems to have picked up on Kasper Schmeichel’s words last week by claiming that at least one ‘keeper will leave the club this summer. “We haven’t spoken about next season and we don’t know at this moment what is happening with our goalkeepers,” said Eriksson. “The situation is good as it is, for us, but I can understand that Andreas and Kasper want to play regular football. I should be quite surprised if both of them want to stay, I am quite sure that one of them would like to leave.” So it comes as little surprise to hear that other goalkeepers may be on the way. S-GE has for instance handed a trial to Italian prospect Matteo Antonelli. On Sunday, the 17 year-old Sestese goalkeeper will begin his trials at City. But the Blues have missed out on goalkeeper Diego Lopez, who has signed a two-year contract extension at Villarreal. Lopez, who penned a five-year contract on joining Villarreal, was primarily used as back-up to Uruguay international Sebastian Viera at the start of the season, being brought in mainly for European and Copa del Rey games. However, he has also taken over as first-choice in the league in the last few months, and has played a key rôle in helping Villarreal climb up to second in the Primera Liga standings.

Pod Cast Out: Lukas Podolski is keen to leave Bayern Munich in the summer, and in the middle of his complaint about Bayern, suggested City had made a serious offer for him in January. “I’m sick and tired of sitting on the bench,” said Podolski. “Manchester City wanted to buy me in January, but Bayern refused to let me go. I thought that was because they valued me. I will think of my future when the season is over. I am being paid to be a footballer and I want to have fun. I am fed up with the bench.” His agent confirmed this claim. Kon Schramm told calciomercato.com: “Leaving Bayern will be difficult, but not impossible. He has a contract until 2010 and the club is not willing to let him go. In January came an offer exceeding £15 million from Manchester City, which was returned to sender by Bayern.”

He’s the Gai: And now City are linked with the very young. Israeli starlet Gai Assulin is ready to shun English interest to remain at Barcelona. The 16-year-old midfielder made history on Wednesday evening when he became his country’s youngest ever international when he came on for Yossi Benayoun during their 1-0 win over Chile. City and Chelsea are both understood to have made enquiries with his agent Pini Zahavi in recent weeks, and he admits they are amongst the interested clubs – but he also insists Assulin is more than happy at Barça. “Those teams are interesting and we will never say no,” Zahavi is quoted in the Daily Star. “But Gai feels good in Barcelona.”

It’s Just Talk: Just forget all the speculation I’ve just reported, because Sven says that no deals have been done yet – and he knows where most of the stories of potential targets are coming from. “The agents have been calm for a couple of months, but now they are back, I think we’ve had three or four in here today. You can understand that soon the window is open again. So they are starting to talk, but it’s too early and no one has done any deals yet, but it will happen and it’s coming more and more now.”

After-Match Reactions and Comments

Zarate Chops City: Despite hitting the post, seeing our opponents reduced to ten men, and suffering the worst penalty decision of the season – City still turned in a lame performance in losing 3-1 at Birmingham on Saturday. Two goals from Argentine Mauro Zarate gave Brum a comfortable lead, before Benjani won a penalty, which Elano duly dispatched. Being slightly unbiased, it seemed a bit harsh – clearly referee Rob styles thought so too, because ten minutes later he gave Birmingham a penno for Gary McSheffery barging into Sun Jihai. This injustice shouldn’t cover the ineptitude of our City’s performance, however, and Sven laid into his under performing players afterwards. “Some of the players are not doing themselves any favours,” he said. “If I was the owner I would start to think. I am the manager and I am getting worried when I see performances like this one – absolutely. Before we blame the ref we should blame ourselves,” he went on. “It is pointless talking about Europe if we play like that and take nothing from a match that was not that difficult. It wasn’t even the physically hard game that we might have expected. It was nothing like as hard in that respect as the match at Bolton and we should win a game like that. But you don’t win games if you concede goals in the way we conceded them. It was too easy for Birmingham. Our penalty was harsh but you can always make a case for the award because Queudrue had his hand on Benjani’s neck and shoulder. From then on we should have been capable of getting a point against 10 men. Everything changed when the game went to 3-1. Of course it was not a penalty, everyone could see that. The referee got it wrong. Jihai was the one being fouled if anything but I felt it wasn’t even worthy of a free-kick. It was a big decision from the referee because this not only affected us but teams like Bolton and others at the bottom. But in the end we must say to ourselves we cannot perform like that and defend like that if we are serious about getting into Europe. We are not the Manchester City of earlier in the season. We gave the ball away far too often when not even pressed by the opposition. You will never win a game in the Premier League giving the ball away like we did and making so many unforced errors. I am frustrated because we are dreaming and talking about Europe and even against Bolton we fought hard for a point but on Saturday we were poor in what should have been an easier physical game. I am not blaming individuals, it is a collective thing. There were a lot of players involved in not stopping the first two Birmingham goals. But we should have produced more in the middle. There seemed a lack of confidence.”

Jihai Stunned: Sun described his view of the spot-kick award, saying: “The ball was in our penalty area and had crossed to where I was. I turned around, chased the ball with McSheffrey, and it was in front of me. “He went for the ball and tried to obviously push me, but I just used my shoulder for a 50/50, maybe 51 in my favour! I tried to do my job as normal. When I heard the whistle, I thought he was diving maybe, but the referee pointed to the spot. I thought; ‘Oh my God, I can’t believe it.’ Sometimes when you are sad, you cry, but it was more than that. I could not believe it – even somebody who knows a little bit about football wouldn’t think that was a penalty. I couldn’t do anything about it so I had to walk away – it’s the only thing I could have done and that decision killed the game off for us.” The award came at a time when City were the better team and Birmingham were just about holding on to their slender lead, despite being down to 10-men following the dismissal of Franck Queudrue for his foul on Benjani. But reflecting on the game itself, Jihai continued: “It wasn’t our best team on Saturday due to injuries, illness and there were a lot of players coming back from the national team. We didn’t perform as well as we could have and the reason we lost wasn’t just down to the referee, we should have done better.”

Freeze Frame’s Gonna Drive You Insane: By Monday, Sven had calmed down somewhat, but he was determined to make the players suffer that little bit more – he made them watch a video nasty. “We looked at the recording of the game and then I spoke to them,” he said. “I think we should do better and we have to do better, and that is what I told them. It is good for them to see how they behaved on the pitch. Hopefully, we will now play better.”

Squad News

Ned Needs a Rôle Model! Nedum Onuoha has admitted that that he tries to model himself on (brace yourself) Wes Brown. In his column for skysports.com, Onuoha wrote: “I think as a modern footballer you need to be flexible and be able to adapt and play wherever you are asked to do so. I would look at somebody like Wes Brown, he has played the season at right-back and centre-back – but he doesn’t come out and say anything, he gets on with it and it has not affected his international ambitions either.” In Brown’s defence, he does has one thing going for him: he went the same school as your humble news person and one of his bros. In that case – thank goodness Nedum’s following Brown and not the Barrie boys!

Crock Alert: Time for an update on City’s majorly injured players. Micah Richards is still hoping to be back in contention before the end of the season, although the planned return in April is now looking optimistic. “I spoke to him and the physios and he’s two or three weeks away,” said Sven this week. “Hopefully, he will play some of the last games but he looks very good and everything is right.” Striker Valeri Bojinov meanwhile will finally resume first team training next week, seven months after rupturing knee ligaments on his début for the club in the Manchester derby. But S-GE expects to welcome Bojinov back in to the first team pool next week at last.

Please Insert Your Own ‘Dunne Deal’ Gag Here: City have put contract talks with skipper Richard Dunne on hold until the end of the current campaign. Sven thinks there’s nothing to worry about, although this may put a few Premier clubs on alert. “I really don’t know where we are in terms of progress on Richard’s contract but with six games to go I think it is more an end-of-season discussion,” Eriksson told the club’s official website. “He has a contract for one more year so it is not a pressing problem. We don’t want to lose him and I am quite sure he wants to stay here.”

Good Evans: Ched Evans has been told by Sven that he has a future at City. The Welsh Under-21 striker is on loan at Norwich City but the boss has ruled out selling Evans permanently – well, sort of. And the 19-year-old revealed he hopes to be offered a new contract when he returns to Eastlands. “We do not have any plans to sell him,” said Eriksson. “My plan is to take him back for pre-season, look at him then decide. That will be his big chance.” Evans is hoping for a return to the Premier League in the summer. “Hopefully I’m going to get a new contract at Manchester City,” said Evans. “I’ve got a year left on my deal there and they’ve said they’re going to offer me a new one. I’m looking forward to going back to Manchester to show the manager how much I’ve improved and how good I am.”

OPINION: PAPERING OVER THE CRACKS

Having just watched the Spurs game live on Sky Sports I am extremely happy with the result, especially as one my friends watching the match was a Spurs supporter. I was going to put down my feelings in MCIVTA after the previous match, but did not get round to it, and I was going to be scathing and vent my fury. Re: the match vs. Spurs I feared us getting a pasting, as we had Richards, Ball, Petrov and Haman missing, and our lack of a potent threat up front did not look any different.

We were lucky to win, and SGE must start to play 2 up front. Benjani, for all his work rate on his own, is not a Torres, Adebayor or Drogba and will not score as much as he did at Portsmouth.

This is my player analysis:

Joe Hart: generally did very well, not much chance with the goal, and had one minor blip when he rushed out for a cross, and ended up in mo-man’s land. 7

Richard Dunne: colossus, has not been great in our previous 2 matches, but was back to his imperious best, and knows how to defend. 8

Nedum Onuoha: I have never seen a City player give the ball away as much as him. I counted at least 7 occasions when he gave the ball away as soon as he was under pressure. He has to work far more on this aspect. He was also beaten very easily early on by the byline by Lennon, and got away with it. His winning goal saved him from getting a rating of 4. 7

Corluka: This guy comes with such acclaim, and at times looks a fantastic footballer, but in reality, he is a poor defender and for his height he gets beaten too often in the air. As for his defending, at times it’s a joke and he is so slow at getting back, he might as well not bother. You analyse our last 3 games and you will see how poor he has played at the back. Compare him to Richards, Dunne, Jagielka etc.; they put their bodies on the line, defending is what they thrive on. Corluka is a guy who wants to play the ball out of defence… play him in Didi’s position. 4

Garrido: again this guy is not as good a defender as Ball, and quite often is caught out of position – stick to the bread and butter that the position requires, before going walkies. He does have ability and at times looks good. 6

Fernadez: has been a revelation. I cannot question his work rate and desire, he covers the most ground in the team. I would start every match with him. A very honest hard working central midfielder who gives 100% every match. 8

Johnson: slowly getting back to his best, flitted in and out of this match. He is one for the future and can only get better. 6

Elano: was very excited when SGE bought him and his early showing was just fantastic, but since late November he has played so far below his best I would not start with him. He just does not do enough to merit a place in front of so many players who are not getting a look in – what about Geovanni, what has he done wrong? 5

Benjani: works his socks off but has been poor in front of goal to date and I can honestly say that he needs a rest and either Caicedo or Mpenza needs a chance, with maybe Benjani coming on as a sub. 6

Castillo: I saw this lad play in the Copa America, and thought he was fantastic for Mexico. I think he has great skill and he just needs a run of games in the Premier League under his belt before we can honestly judge him. Has been unlucky with injury. I feel he should have played on the left of midfield, it is so obvious he is all left foot, and SGE plays him on the right. 6

Ireland: another player who has one decent game followed by average one. He has plenty to offer, and should be encouraged to attack and break into the box, like all top midfielders do. 6

Vassell: like Fernandez, works his socks off, and that is what is endearing about him, just needs to score a bit more to be a great striker. 5

Sun: past it. 5

I hope we can use this victory to gain some much needed confidence, and truly build on this.

OPINION: LONE STRIKER

I know many people have already said but I wish Sven would drop the 4-5-1 formation. It’s getting us nowhere. Rooney couldn’t play the lone striker rôle in last week’s England game and Benjani can’t do it at City either.

Blimey, you could put Ronaldo up front on his own and he’d probably struggle.

It’s becoming increasingly difficult for Benjani now and he’s starting to get some stick as fans become impatient with the system. Sven seems obsessed with defending well and not giving goals away but I just wish he was half as concerned about the weaknesses in our attacking play. What’s he going to do when Bojinov gets fit? If he sticks with just one up front it won’t be long before Bojinov gets tired of sitting on the bench and leaves the club. We’ve already lost one good striker in Bianchi.

Yes, City have come a long way since Sven took over but the attacking weaknesses of the team have been glaringly obvious since Xmas as Elano has been marked out of games. It’s a problem Sven seems to have been slow reacting to, preferring to stick with both an unadventurous midfield and general team formation.

It takes goals to win matches but we just don’t look like scoring at the moment do we?

OPINION: BACKING SVEN TO PROGRESS

Reports have recently suggested that Thaksin Shinawatra is running out of patience with Sven. It is easy to suspect that there is tension between the two men, given Thaksin’s ‘tightening the bolts’ remark as he embarked on his return to England in the middle of our indifferent form. One theory that has been put out in the press is that Dr Shinawatra is impatient to make City a European force, and with only 3 wins in 15 matches, he will review the results from the last few games of the season before making a decision about the manager.

One would hope that this is not true and that Thaksin is more football-savvy than to replace City’s best manager in many years.

Like many I do not agree with Sven’s persistence with 4-5-1 with the players at his disposal, but it is clear that Sven gets far more right than he gets wrong and has made great progress already at City. Last season we were a side that was fighting relegation for much of the campaign, and Sven had a limited time to assemble this squad – most of his signings being sucessful. Did Randy Lerner at Aston Villa give the excellent Martin O’Neill the bullet when they had a dodgy spell last season? Of course he didn’t and look at how far Villa have progressed. To replace Sven now or in the summer as he is rebuilding would be a crass decision.

All successful clubs appoint good managers and stick with them. They don’t chop and change every five minutes and to replace Sven would be absolute folly. He should be allowed to get on with his job without interference and see the project through.

OPINION: RUN-IN

With six games left of the present season, it will be interesting to see if SGE will use these games to finalize his list of players to depart at the end of the season, or will he really use the best possible players to try to win the last six games and move up the table for bonus money?

There were a couple of players that I would never have started against Birmingham and call them the best possible players to start, but this is just my opinion (I’m not counting the injured players).

We must remember that this was the first season of the Frank and the SGE era and a very good start has been made. Of course we City fans are always hungry for more, and up until Christmas we thought that our fortunes had really made a big change, only to come back down to a more realistic position.

Manchester City are already planning for next season and really make that push for Europe with a team that can win once it gets into Europe. It will start by the departure of some players that will not be in SGE’s plans, then will come the new signings, and if reported correctly one big name, big enough to fill the CoMS.

I feel sure many fans and supporters will be speculating on whom a big name star would be? Will Sturridge and Chad Evans come through, along with other young guns from our Academy?

One eye already on the last six games of this season, and the other eye although kind of early on next season. The last six games will be very interesting not just for the results, but some players might be playing for a lifeline to stay at City.

Come on you Blues, play with pride and passion!

OPINION: MEDIOCRITY

Regular readers of this newsletter may possibly recollect I have previously posted several comments about our quality-lacking performances over this season. Clearly, not everyone has agreed with my unbiased thoughts about the various inadequate displays etc. As such, several readers have taken direct issue with my comments and subsequently attacked my opinions, within various MCIVTA issues. You know who you are.

However, in hindsight, and especially after the latest woeful débâcle at Birmingham, it would now seem most of my earlier comments are now fully justified at least, to all but the most biased of City fans, of which there are likely some still around.

I have previously stated we are not as good a side as some would have us believe. I have previously stated we are a mid-table side, at best. I have also indicated that any talk of us in terms of being ready to play in Europe is complete folly.

Perhaps now, and especially after recent on-the-pitch displays, people may realize that I was not, after all, too far off the mark in my considered objectivity.

I take no pleasure whatsoever in offering criticism of our performances. But, for those who have citicised my views in the recent past, you may wish to choose your words towards others much more wisely, in the future.

In my view Sven now has, quite possibly, one of the most unenvied positions in football, that of managing on of the greatest enigmas in the game. Manchester City. I do not envy his position one bit.

OPINION: MAINE ROAD

I noticed the comments about Maine Road’s original naming and thought I’d add a couple of bits.

I became fascinated with the very deliberate re-naming of the street in the 1800s as part of my research for “Farewell To Maine Road”, and searched for evidence and answers to the name. Ultimately, there is no absolute cast-iron proof that the Maine part of the name was chosen because of the American Civil War, however it does seem likely.

The story was covered in my book on pages 42 to 44. As was a similar story that the troops who went to north America from the area actually fought in the American War of Independence.

The family that brought the band of troops together was the Lloyd Family (hence Lloyd St) and it was apparently George Lloyd who took 150 volunteers to fight in the War of Independence against the Americans (obvious I guess!).

Maine became a significant battle ground, so it does all seem logical (whereas the Civil War is not so logical, though it is possible as lots of Europeans did fight for the North).

Anyway, the most fascinating part in terms of naming of the road is that the street was originally called “Dog Kennel Lane” and that it was a significant route south of the city through to present day Princess Parkway. Why this street was named “Dog Kennel Lane” is a mystery, but that street absolutely, definitely became Maine Road during the mid to late 1800s.

I never got to the bottom of that renaming!

REQUEST: LONDON 5-A-SIDE

A group of us (mixture of fans) have had a regular slot at 6pm on Wednesdays in Whitechapel, London for the last few years. We’re in need of some new players willing to commit to playing regularly every week. There’s no league as such, we pick teams each week from those who have signed up. As a guide the current age range is 25-36, the fitness level is fairly high, the standard reasonably good but by no means semi-pro, games are fairly competitive but there’s generally no aggro.

Please e-mail me if you are interested. Thanks.

REQUEST: SOUTH WEST BLUES

Are there any branches in the South West that run transport to games on a regular basis? If so can you provide details?

REQUEST: MANCHESTER FOOTBALL

Readers may like to know that my book on Manchester football: “Manchester – A Football History” will be released at the start of May.

All of those who pre-ordered will be sent the book before it appears in the shop, and anyone else who would like to find out more can email me care of the publishers.

REQUEST: BERT TRAUTMANN PLAY

By popular demand, Dreamshed Theatre’s new play ‘I’ll be Bert’ returns to Cheltenham following its sell-out run at the Everyman’s Studio Theatre last December.

Written and performed by local author Bill Cronshaw, a life-long Manchester City fan, the play takes an affectionate look at growing up in post-war Manchester and the impact that Bert Trautmann, City’s legendary German goalkeeper, had on an impressionable schoolboy.

Bill says of the play, “It’s a humorous look at hero worship and club loyalty, which should appeal to football fans and non-fans alike.”

With current football players accorded superstar, showbiz status, come and be reminded of a time when players earned five quid a week and a broken neck was treated by a bloke with a bucket of water and a sponge!

RESULTS

League table to 02 April 2008 inclusive

                             HOME          AWAY        OVERALL
                    P  W  D  L  F  A  W  D  L  F  A  W  D  L  F   A   GD  Pts
 1 Manchester Utd  32 15  1  1 41  5  9  3  3 27 10 24  4  4  68  15  53  76
 2 Chelsea         32 11  5  0 32 10 10  3  3 24 13 21  8  3  56  23  33  71
 3 Arsenal         32 12  4  0 33 10  8  6  2 29 16 20 10  2  62  26  36  70
 4 Liverpool       32 10  6  1 39 12  7  5  3 17 12 17 11  4  56  24  32  62
 5 Everton         32  9  3  3 28 13  8  3  6 20 14 17  6  9  48  27  21  57
 6 Portsmouth      32  7  7  2 24 12  8  1  7 22 21 15  8  9  46  33  13  53
 7 Blackburn R.    32  7  5  4 21 16  6  6  4 21 22 13 11  8  42  38   4  50
 8 Aston Villa     32  8  3  5 25 19  5  7  4 27 25 13 10  9  52  44   8  49
 9 Manchester City 32 10  4  2 23 14  3  6  7 14 23 13 10  9  37  37   0  49
10 West Ham United 32  6  5  4 18 18  6  3  8 17 21 12  8 12  35  39  -4  44
11 Tottenham H.    32  8  3  5 44 30  2  6  8 17 25 10  9 13  61  55   6  39
12 Newcastle Utd   32  6  5  5 20 24  3  3 10 17 34  9  8 15  37  58 -21  35
13 Middlesbrough   32  5  4  6 15 19  3  6  8 13 26  8 10 14  28  45 -17  34
14 Sunderland      32  8  3  5 19 16  1  3 12 10 33  9  6 17  29  49 -20  33
15 Reading         32  8  2  7 19 22  1  3 11 18 36  9  5 18  37  58 -21  32
16 Wigan Athletic  32  7  3  5 18 14  1  4 12 10 33  8  7 17  28  47 -19  31
17 Birmingham City 32  5  6  5 23 19  2  3 11 15 30  7  9 16  38  49 -11  30
18 Bolton Wndrs    32  5  5  7 20 18  1  3 11 10 30  6  8 18  30  48 -18  26
19 Fulham          32  4  5  7 19 26  0  7  9 10 27  4 12 16  29  53 -24  24
20 Derby County    32  1  5 10 10 27  0  3 13  6 40  1  8 23  16  67 -51  11

MCIVTA FAQ [v0708.01]

[1] MCIVTA Addresses

Articles (Heidi Pickup)          : editor@mcivta.city-fan.org
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[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 Points of Blue (formerly the Fans’ Committee)?

The committee operates as an interface between supporters and the club. Points of Blue appears on the club website as a minor entry under “Fans Zone”.

[7] What match day broadcasts are available on the web?

The Radio Manchester (née GMR) pre and post match phone-in is available on the web at http://www.bbc.co.uk/manchester/sport/manchester_city/index.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://msn.foxsports.com/foxsoccer, 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] 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/.

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: