Newsletter #1439

Opinion tonight on the Sven legacy, money spent and an update on the Ghana appeal.

OPINION: MONEY WELL SPENT?

I seem to be among a minority of people who were distinctly unimpressed by Sven’s first year. The fact that we secured a top ten finish is not all that much to shout about given the money Sven was given. If Stuart Pearce had been given that kind of dough, what could he have done with it? Some things to consider:

Pearce was rightly criticised for failing to find an adequate striker and spending £6 million on flop Samaras. Sven also failed to find an adequate striker yet wasn’t much criticized for the £8.8 million outlay on Bianchi, probably because it was lost among the many millions going here and there. Sven also brought in Castillo, Bojinov, Benjani and Elano, only Elano having had any impact, sometimes, and in summary failed to find the right striker just like Pearce had. In fact, Sven fell back frequently on Mpenza, a Pearce buy.

Two of the stand-out players of the season were Hamann and Hart, both Pearce buys. Michael Ball (a Pearce buy) dislodged Javier Garrido (Sven) from the left back position.

Other stand-out players were Academy products brought through by Pearce, including Richards, Johnson, Onuoha and Ireland.

Before anyone claims that Sven did more with the Pearce’s buys than Pearce ever could, I’d point out that Pearce’s real problem in getting through a season (apart from his inability to find a striker) was lack of adequate cover. He was constantly falling back on the academy system and blooding young players for key games. Sven was able to call on his multi-million pound bench warmers to cover for positions when members of Pearce’s first team were injured.

Though Pearce’s low-budget team had problems when it came to scoring, I don’t remember anything like the humiliating scorelines under Pearce that we received at the hands of Chelsea and Middlesbrough this season.

So what did Sven give us? Corluka and Petrov did alright, Gelson was ok, and Elano off and on. Not that much of a haul really for the amount of money he spent. I wasn’t in favour of sacking Sven because I’m not big on switching out managers time and again, but then I wasn’t that big on sacking Pearce either.

OPINION: SPARKY

In answer to Andy Johnson “Where does Mr Hughes live by the way?”

Mark Hughes lives in (and owns three quarters of) Wilmslow; money will not be Mr Hughes’ motivation I can assure you.

OPINION: AND NOW… THE NEWS

I’d like to add my thanks to Don for doing such a great job with the news roundup over the years. You’ll be a hard act to follow mate.

All the best.

REQUEST: GHANA APPEAL

The Ghana Appeal has got off to a good start. To date I have received 4 cheques to a total of £285 from MCIVTA readers. I have a top bid so far of £100 from another McV reader for the Platt Lane ‘Penalty Spot’. I’m told by another reader there’s a cheque for another £100 in the post to me.

I also have a promise of a further £90 from 2 friends from the Swinton Branch of the CSA, which I know I will get. That’s a grand total on offer so far of £675. In addition to that I have a Manc friend who’s been living in Sweden for yonks who read my appeal on MCIVTA and is now going to transfer some money to my bank account for our Ghana branch. Cheers Ron, you’re a gent.

I thank the generosity of all those MCIVTA readers and I repeat my appeal to McV readers and ask you to put your hands in your pockets and support the Ghana Appeal. No donation is too small. I reckon that if a quarter of all MCIVTA readers sent me just the cost of a match day programme, £3 or the cost of a stale meat pie at CoMS, £2 the Ghana Appeal would raise about a further £2,500. Surely 2 or 3 quid is not a lot to ask for?

In case you need reminding what the Ghana Appeal is about it’s this: the Ghana branch of the Centenary Supporters’ Association (CSA) runs 3 junior football teams under the name of Manchester City Babies. They do not play in proper football kit and struggle to buy footballs to train with. The aim of the Ghana Appeal is to provide MCFC Babies with at least 3 full football kits, match balls, training equipment etc. Whilst we would also be promoting the name of MCFC in the African continent we would also be supporting a very worthwhile cause and backing a trainee teacher, Peter K Amoabil who is the driving force behind Manchester City Babies in Ghana.

Please make all your cheques payable to MCCSA and mark the cheque or envelope, Ghana Appeal. Forward cheques to me:

Alex Channon
‘Penalty Spot’
81 Milner Street
Swinton
Manchester M27 4AS

Kind regards and best wishes to all McV readers.

MCIVTA FAQ [v0708.01]

[1] MCIVTA Addresses

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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: