Newsletter #1592

Back to our drawing ways on Saturday at the Reebok, although thanks to results elsewhere we’re still up there in 6th place. We have opinion on the game tonight and which is the real MCFC?

The Hughes debate continues, with opinion on referees and defence, a return from a long lost McVer and the usual requests.

MATCH VIEW: BWFC 3 MCFC 3

This game was a draw for two main reasons: first, a referee and his assistants never showed fair judgements in their calls, and second, the City defence was not at its best, letting Bolton score three times – there can be no excuses.

Unlike some of our previous draws, this one against Bolton was not a game when we lost points, but rather a game when we had to fight back to get a point.

Tevez played with great zest and confidence, scoring two goals he was my man of the match. Good to see Micah get his goal.

Bellamy was sent off for two yellow cards so he cannot make an appeal; a player can only do that after a single red card. Tough to understand some rules when you have a referee that looks like he was out to get Bellamy. Bellamy has never been sent off for several years but he must still learn that only the captain of a team is allowed by the rules to talk to a referee, though I still hope that he continues to play in his fiery way.

Disappointed with the result, but good to see a fight back in difficult conditions.

Now on to White Hart Lane and a game that should produce some good and exciting football, I just hope that all the squad will be fit after some injuries and knocks.

Come on you Blues!

OPINION: WHICH CITY?

Why is it that City are only ‘up’ for eight games this season?!

It’s all very well boasting about winning against Chelsea and Arsenal, but then Bolton, Hull, Birmingham and the like, take points off us. I’ve said before would rather lose against the top four and win the rest; if we won the rest we’d come close to winning the League, certainly get into the Champions’ League, to put it in a simple example.

We can moan as much as we like about referee decisions, injuries, players getting sent off, the fact is ‘good’ sides win the majority of games against, if you like, minor opposition. Some say ‘but we’ve only lost once this season’ true, but if you take mediocrity!

On the other hand we’ve only won six games this season, hardly Champions’ League material. Still, there’s worse things happening than City not winning.

OPINION: REFEREE BLUES

When are City going to catch a break with these so-called elite referees?

Farcical offside on Bolton’s first goal and don’t get me started on Clattenburg’s sending off of Bellamy. Dive… it was a blatant penalty? I do hope Sparky protests the second yellow. We need Craig for Tottenham.

I have a brain teaser for MCIVTA readers!

Just watched Victory (the Michael Caine WWII football flick) for the first time in ages and noticed there were two former Man City players on the Allied XI. Can anyone name both players?

Will send answer later this week.

Hope we can do a Wolves and stick it to Tottenham.

OPINION: ONUOHA

Am I the only one who thinks that Onuoha is just not good enough? Against Liverpool his hapless clearance led to their equaliser and then against Chelsea his reckless challenge in the box on Drogba led to a penalty, which as we know was fortunately missed!

We surely have better defenders in the squad. Silvinho should now be given a try out and Kompany should also be above Onuoha in the pecking order. Getting rid of Dunne was Hughes’ biggest mistake. None of our defenders are fit to lace his boots! Anyone agree?

OPINION: HUGHES I

It grieves me to take issue with my good friend Martin Hunt in his disparagement of Mark Hughes’ management abilities in the wake of those two ‘defining’ victories over Arsenal and Chelsea, and I write this well before our rather difficult away games against Bolton and Spurs. As an aside, perhaps, the true measure of how far (and if) we have progressed this season will be reflected in the results of both games. Should we lose them, however disappointing, it should not, in my view, fuel the anti-Hughes vitriol. He’s done a very good job so far with a varied bunch of highly paid talented egotists, all of whom make noises through their agents if they’re not automatically in the starting line-up. Spoilt kids will sulk. So far, his quiet, determined if humourless style has brought a sense of discipline to the squad. Perhaps, we the CTID supporters should follow and emulate his stoicism. After all, we’ve had over 30 years’ experience!

But the point of this note is addressed to Martin. You will not accept MH because of his former Rag connections. Not, surely, on the basis of how he was so visibly gutted when we lost 4-3 in the 7th minute of Fergie-time at the Swamp. Does his former Chelsea career fill you with similar distrust? But he guided our team to that magnificent 2-1 win over them. If we played Barcelona tomorrow, another team for whom he played, do you doubt that he would do everything he could to ensure a City victory?

However the season pans out, we need managerial stability and MH is that man. Sir Phalex’s ringing (un)endorsement of him, while he was a player at Trafford Rangers something along the lines that ‘… I never thought of Mark Hughes as management material; Bryan Robson was a natural…’ will do for me and will, no doubt, fire up up the resolve in our manager when it comes to the Carling semi-finals. After all, he’s our man and City’s.

Let’s get behind him!

OPINION: HUGHES II

For the record Andrew Keller I never did lose my faith in Mark Hughes,. I have made comments that were not always in his favour, when I felt that things were not quite right; I am not going to make glowing articles about Mark Hughes if there is a reason not to make them. I made remarks a few weeks back how Jim Cassell had been treated but that was right away cleared up by Jim Cassell himself on video, and I learned very quickly like many other have, don’t read the News of the World for information regarding football.

I think that Mark Hughes still has some things to learn as a top British Manager, but he learns fast and together the club will move forward.

If Andrew thinks that because I never finished my articles with “In Sparky I trust”, if you had read all my articles in the past you will recall that I said that I was not going to do that all the time.

I have also had an Email from a reader who does not like me using Mark Hughes’ nickname “Sparky” because it is his United nickname,; the same person does, however, support him as City manager.

So for the record I am very much for Mark Hughes, and I have always said give him a chance until the end of the season, when we all will have evaluated what he has done for the club; so far I think that he has done a very good job but still some games until the end of the season.

In Mark Hughes I trust (OK so I will not use Sparky).

Come on you Blues!

OPINION: WELCOME BACK!

I’m writing to let you know how happy I am to be reunited (or is that re-Citied?) with MCIVTA. I was doing a random City-related Google search when a link to a MCIVTA article appeared at the top of the search engine’s listings. I clicked on a link that opened the floodgates on a deluge of fond memories associated with this newsletter.

Under the heading of “Surely Not”, I went to the True Blue Stories and was stunned that mine was still there. I mentioned in my story that I was 31 years old when I wrote it: I’m now 45! Scary how time flies.

When I first subscribed to MCIVTA I was living in Singapore and the Internet was in its infancy. The newsletter was a vital and much-needed link to City news and City fans. It really had a big hand in me keeping my sanity throughout my exile years.

Through MCIVTA I met the only other City fan in Singapore, Sam Yong; I hope he’s still around. Oops, I lied, there was another City fan in the country at the time who went by the name of Nick Leeson, but he was in jail for busting some bank.

Sadly I lost contact with MCIVTA when I returned to the UK but it’s great to see some familiar names still around and I’m looking forward to receiving my weekly newsletter all over again.

REQUEST: TICKETS WANTED FOR SEMI-FINAL

Not sure if my mate and I are going to make the points cut off, so if anyone with enough points who isn’t going is able to help, please get in touch.

I managed to get tickets this way for Hamburg away on here, so would hopefully be able to get them to vouch for me if you have concerns.

RESULTS

13 December 2009

Liverpool             1 - 2  Arsenal               43,853

12 December 2009

Stoke City            2 - 2  Wigan Athletic        26,728Birmingham City       1 - 0  West Ham United       28,203Bolton Wanderers      3 - 3  Manchester City       22,735Burnley               1 - 1  Fulham                18,397Chelsea               3 - 3  Everton               41,579Hull City             0 - 0  Blackburn Rovers      24,124Sunderland            1 - 1  Portsmouth            37,578Tottenham Hotspur     0 - 1  Wolverhampton Wndrs   36,012Manchester United     0 - 1  Aston Villa           75,130

League table to 13 December 2009 inclusive

                             HOME          AWAY        OVERALL                    P  W  D  L  F  A  W  D  L  F  A  W  D  L  F   A   GD Pts 1 Chelsea         16  7  1  0 23  4  5  0  3 17  9 12  1  3  40  13  27  37 2 Manchester Utd  16  6  1  1 16  8  5  0  3 18  6 11  1  4  34  14  20  34 3 Arsenal         15  6  0  1 22  7  4  1  3 18 12 10  1  4  40  19  21  31 4 Aston Villa     16  5  2  1 16  6  3  3  2 10  8  8  5  3  26  14  12  29 5 Tottenham H.    16  5  0  3 21  8  3  3  2 14 14  8  3  5  35  22  13  27 6 Manchester City 15  4  3  0 16 10  2  5  1 13 11  6  8  1  29  21   8  26 7 Liverpool       16  4  2  2 22 10  3  1  4 10 12  7  3  6  32  22  10  24 8 Birmingham City 16  4  2  2  6  4  3  1  4 10 12  7  3  6  16  16   0  24 9 Fulham          16  5  1  2 12  6  1  4  3  8 11  6  5  5  20  17   3  2310 Sunderland      16  5  2  1 17 10  1  1  6  5 12  6  3  7  22  22   0  2111 Stoke City      16  4  2  2 11  9  1  4  3  4 10  5  6  5  15  19  -4  2112 Blackburn R.    16  4  3  1 11  7  1  1  6  5 21  5  4  7  16  28 -12  1913 Burnley         16  5  2  1 12  7  0  1  7  8 27  5  3  8  20  34 -14  1814 Wigan Athletic  16  3  2  3  9 12  2  1  5 10 24  5  3  8  19  36 -17  1815 Everton         16  2  4  2 11 14  2  1  5 11 16  4  5  7  22  30  -8  1716 Hull City       17  4  3  2 12 13  0  2  6  5 21  4  5  8  17  34 -17  1717 Wolves          16  2  2  4  7 12  2  2  4  8 16  4  4  8  15  28 -13  1618 West Ham United 16  2  2  4 15 19  1  3  4  9 12  3  5  8  24  31  -7  1419 Bolton Wndrs    15  1  3  4 11 18  2  1  4  9 14  3  4  8  20  32 -12  1320 Portsmouth      16  2  0  6 10 12  1  2  5  4 12  3  2 11  14  24 -10  11

MCIVTA FAQ [v0910.01]

[1] MCIVTA Addresses

Articles (Heidi Pickup)          : editor@mcivta.city-fan.org
News/rumour (Alex Rowen)         : 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 by email. Unfortunately we cannot accept email attachments.

[3] MCIVTA Back Issues and Manchester City Supporters’ home page

http://www.mcivta.com/ 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. You can also follow on www.twitter.com/mcivta to get the latest updates.

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

The official club web site can be found at http://www.mcfc.co.uk/ and the official club Twitter page at www.twitter.com/mcfc. The club also has a facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/mcfcofficial

[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.mancitycsa.com/) 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.mcivta.com/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: