Newsletter #12

Well, we have a staggering three ‘live’ reports and a couple of newspaper ones as well, which enables this to go out on Monday rather than Tuesday. What is it about QPR, do they do good burgers? Things are happening on the WWW Home Page front and hopefully I can report something next time around. I will send MCIVTA 13 out on Friday unless we get enough stuff for a midweek issue.

This issue is going out to 44 people.

MATCH REPORT ‘LIVE’

QPR 1 (0)               CITY 2 (0)
Wilson (62)             Flitcroft (56)
                        Walsh (58)
Att: 13,631

A classic.

My first match of the season and City’s first away win coincided to produce a most memorable game. After a first half in which City rarely threatened and Rangers could have scored a hatful but for the heroics of Dibble and some desperate defending, it exploded into life in the second period. The only incident prior to that worth mentioning was Edghill taking out the more than useful Sinclair, rightly earning himself a yellow card.

Summerbee had been getting nowhere fast down the right, afraid to take his man on, preferring either to be fouled, get a throw-in or lose the ball. QPR defended stoutly in the middle so it seemed logical when the ball was hoofed down the right to Beagrie (brilliantly keeping the ball in play on the touchline), who made a perfect cross to the charging head of Flitcroft to make it 1-0 to City. It was the first quality moment of the game.

So, we thought, can we hold on for half an hour? Two minutes later, another hoof down the right wing this time eluded Beagrie and the attendant defender passed back to Roberts. Walsh was making one of those useless runs towards the keeper which normally end up with him being offside when the ball is headed back from the goalie’s clearance. Only this time, Roberts smashed the ball into Walsh’s head and it ricocheted into the bottom corner of the net. 2-0. Party time! We can sit on this lead no trouble, we assumed. We were forgetting something. We’re City.

QPR were more than a little miffed, it has to be said, and they immediately raised the tempo of the game. Their passing had been good all afternoon and City’s midfield was now stretched even more; Terry Phelan continued to display his natural talent for being caught out of position and Curle and Brightwell had their work cut out but were coping well.

Rangers’ goal came from a mistake by Dibble; he jumped too far out of his area and handled the ball. It was in a melange of players so the ref gave him the benefit of the doubt and only yellow carded him. From the free-kick, old City boy Clive Wilson hammered it through the wall into the net. We had a game on our hands and Curle only made things worse by getting booked; our players were furious about something and I must admit, it sounded like the ref had blown twice for the free-kick. But the players’ reaction was idiotic – half a dozen of them could have been sent off there and then!

QPR continued to press and when Ferdinand raced onto an excellent through ball, Dibble came rushing out and superbly tackled him. A better goalkeeper-as-sweeper incident I have not seen for a long time. Then the ref sent Dibble off for a professional foul.

Tony Coton, not fully fit (in fact he aggravated an injury while he was on) came off the bench to even bigger cheers than Dibble had just gone off to. Down to 10 men but with England’s No. 1 goalie, we still thought we could hold on, with our strong contingent making plenty of noise. Four minutes later, Edghill was sent off for a second bookable offence. No complaints this time but it looked like the away curse had struck again.

QPR then proceeded to reign in a succession of shots which all looked like going in until either TC nudged them high or wide or the ball did the work by itself. In the last 5 minutes, remarkably, they still hadn’t scored and City’s tactic was to hoof it to Quinn who would then try and place the ball as far away from the City goal, leaving Rangers to fetch it again. It’s an under-statement to say we were under siege.

Finally, after four painfully long minutes of extra-time, the whistle went and the City fans went wild. We’d stolen three points with only nine men and whilst not giving a good performance, had shown plenty of guts and fight. “Jingle Bells” ensued. Yes, it was Christmas and Santa had been extremely generous. 🙂

The forthcoming Cup game is going to be interesting!

MATCH REPORT ‘LIVE’

QPR vs CITY (There’s only one Tony Roberts!)

I arrived at Loftus Road expecting the worst, having seen the blues on their three previous trips to the capital (0-3 at Arsenal, 0-3 at Chelsea and 0-1 at Barnet!!). It is all very well hearing about these dashing displays at Maine Road – but it’s pretty frustrating when they come away and don’t do the business.

The return of Curle at centre-half was the only change from the team which had so nearly beaten Notts Forest the week before. Dibble continued in goal as TC has not fully recovered from injury (and he was to play a major part in what turned out to be comedy game).

As usual this season, City started off slowly and allowed the home side to dictate the first half. I don’t know why it always seem to take a half-time roasting from Horton to get the boys going. Particularly impressive for QPR was Trevor Sinclair, who looked as though he could beat players at will. You may remember City were interested in him, and tried to sign him from Blackpool – but for some reason he chose to go South (it could only be the wages!). City were being largely overrun, and the two central midfielders Flitcroft and Lomas were having to work overtime to cope. The defence looked reasonably solid though, and I thought Brightwell and Curle coped well with the threat of Ferdinand (although Curle still has the worrying tendency to head the ball in the wrong direction). Dibble also showed that he is a capable understudy with some fine saves.

All the action arrived in the second half. So much happened that I’m not certain about all the participants. City’s first goal came from a break down the left in the 56th minute. Phelan played a ball down the line over his head to release Beagrie. As usual he didn’t disappoint in getting in a superb cross to the far post where Flitcroft was arriving late to head in. The joy of the City fans was amazing, as I think we all secretly knew that we had stolen the lead. Better was to come two minutes later in the first comedy moment of the game. Roberts seemed in no danger when he comfortably fielded a back-pass. However he reckoned without SUPER WALSH who streaked in from the left hand touch-line, long locks flowing. Roberts panicked (who wouldn’t?) and decided to blast the ball away, unfortunately for him he smacked Walsh square in the face and the ball ricocheted into the QPR net. Oh Joy!

It wasn’t long though before things started to go wrong for the blues (sound familiar?). QPR pumped a long ball forward and there was good old Andy to punch the ball off Ferdinand’s head. Unfortunately nobody had told Andy that he wasn’t allowed to handle the ball outside the box and the free-kick was duly given. Some Rangers fans thought that Dibble should have gone, but there was no way Ferdinand was clean through with a run on goal, so it was not a Professional foul. Dibble was let off with a lecture, and started to arrange his wall. Unfortunately, he arranged it with big Niall in the middle, and when Clive Wilson’s (City Reject, City Reject) low shot came in Niall thought it would be good to jump over it, giving Andy no chance.

Now came the time for the referee to show that comedy is still alive and well in Shepherds Bush. Dibble came racing out of his area to deny the threat from Ferdinand with a superbly timed challenge, winning the ball cleanly. The referee, still obviously thinking about the handball incident, decided that he ought to do something and sent poor old Andy off. What a miscarriage of justice. So much so that Ferdinand is going to speak on Andy’s behalf at any FA hearing, saying that the decision was a disgrace and that Dibble never touched him. Good for Ferdinand! City were forced to bring on the still not fit Coton for Summerbee, and to rearrange as best they could. Worse was to come when Edgehill had a rush of blood and decided to kick Sinclair very hard and very high – his second bookable offence of the game. This time there could be no arguments (although Walshy did have a try) and City were down to nine men. The final ten or so minutes were nerve-racking for the City fans (although I personally felt we were never in any danger – honest!). Hill came on for Walsh and we finished playing with a 5-2-1 formation.

The final whistle – jubilation – City had done it as we always knew they would do! The performance was not one of vintage quality, but frankly who cares! I’m now looking forward to the rematch between these two teams on Tuesday week in the Coca-Cola cup (and I’m sure the QPR fans will look forward to the chance of revenge). Lets hope it’s as action packed as the second half, and that by then City have Uwe back.

TEAMS

QPR: Roberts; Bardsley, Wilson, Yates, McDonald, Impey, Holloway, Barker, Allen, Sinclair, Ferdinand.

CITY: Dibble, Edghill, Phelan, Brightwell, Curle, Summerbee, Lomas, Flitcroft, Beagrie, Quinn, Walsh

Referee: G Willard (a complete jester!)

MATCH REPORT

QPR vs MANCHESTER CITY: 15th October 1994

NINE MAN CITY HANG ON FOR FIRST AWAY WIN

Manchester City scored their first away win of the season at a sunny Loftus Road despite having goalkeeper Andy Dibble and right back Richard Edghill sent off in an eventful second half.

The first half was quite even in terms of possession but it was QPR who created the best chances. According to both Radio 5 and Match of the Day, QPR dominated the first period; I’d say that was quite an exaggeration but they were the better side. The main threat came from Trevor Sinclair, signed from Blackpool about 18 months ago when City were also showing an interest in him. He plays like Tony Daley, fast and tricky and caused Richard Edghill no end of problems. After a number of tussles between the two, Edghill was deservedly booked. In goal, Andy Dibble played well, making a couple of point blank saves from good, hard shots. I was in the lower tier of the School End stand (away end) for the first time and was pleasantly surprised by the good view (the upper tier is so close to the pitch that you can’t quite see the goal line unless you stand up). Needless to say, Dibs won rapturous applause from the sizeable City contingent (the lower tier was just about full; couldn’t see how full the upper tier was). Les Ferdinand, playing his last game before a three match ban for being sent off last week, was busy but was well marked by Ian Brightwell playing in the centre of defence again. Keith Curle was back after his recurring hamstring problems and never looked to be in any trouble. I just wish City wouldn’t leave it to him to distribute the ball from the back. Keith has many talents, but making creative openings for the side is not one of them.

City kicked off the second half attacking the end where their fans were gathered. Beagrie and Summerbee were getting some decent crosses in occasionally but Tony Roberts in the Rangers goal was commanding his area well so there was little real danger. Clive Wilson was having a good game at left back for Rangers, generally keeping Summerbee quiet but Beagrie was having more success against Bardsley. About ten minutes into the second half, Niall Quinn hit a low hard ball across the six-yard box (not sure if it was a shot or a cross). Beagrie came in from the left and caught it just before it went out, hitting a low drive against the outside of the post. Five minutes later City opened the scoring when a deep Beagrie cross was met by a majestic leap from Flitcroft who hit a looping header over Roberts and into the far corner of the goal.

Not long after that City made it 2-0 with a truly bizarre goal. David Bardsley hit an innocuous looking pass back to Roberts from the touchline. Roberts controlled the ball and took a step back to give himself some room to clear the ball upfield. Meanwhile, the irrepressible Paul Walsh was closing Roberts down to try to get him to fluff his clearance. To say he fluffed his clearance would be a bit of an understatement – he whacked the ball straight into Walsh’s face and it rebounded into the goal! The City fans were delirious, singing “There’s only one Tony Roberts” and “Tony is a City fan”. Before anybody suggests it was a fluke goal, may I remind them that Gary Penrice scored an almost identical goal against us at the same end last time we were at Loftus Road in March.

This goal seemed to spark Rangers into life; their fans were getting very annoyed at what they perceived to be time-wasting by Andy Dibble at the other end. I didn’t think he was time-wasting myself; it was only the reaction of a QPR fan on 6.06 (national phone-in radio show) after the game which clarified this point. Needless to say, when Dibble came charging out to the edge of his area to punch a ball clear and landed outside the area, they were baying for a red card. Amazingly it didn’t come. The referee presumably accepted Dibble’s argument that either he hit the ball whilst still in the area or he didn’t know he’d left the area. Justice was probably done when Clive Wilson hammered the resulting free-kick into the net. There may have been a slight deflection off Ian Brightwell who was trying to charge the ball down. At this point the City players all gathered around the referee to protest about something. I couldn’t see what it was they were complaining about and the highlights on Match of the Day were no help either. We were obviously going to be in for a tense last 25 minutes.

Shortly afterwards, things got worse. A long ball was sent upfield for Ferdinand to chase. It was a 50-50 ball between him and Dibble and they both got to the ball at the same time, Dibble putting in a two-footed challenge which took the ball. Ferdinand jumped over the challenge and was not touched by Dibble, but the linesman flagged for a foul. By now there was quite an atmosphere with the QPR fans not exactly being happy with Dibble’s play. Under the new FIFA directives, tackles such as Dibble’s are punishable by red cards and that’s what it got, even though it took the ball and not the man (as shown on TV later). After all the inevitable arguing about the decision, Summerbee was withdrawn and replaced by Coton, still nursing his jarred shoulder injury. The City fans welcomed him onto the pitch with “England’s, England’s number 1”, which must have been quite disheartening for QPR.

At this point, QPR were buzzing. Crosses and shots were coming in from all angles, with Sinclair causing havoc down City’s right hand side. Nonetheless, Walsh and Quinn still looked dangerous on the break and we’ve all seen occasions where 10 men play better than 11, so we were still optimistic. This was to change within five minutes. Sinclair got past Edghill yet again and was upended by a horribly late tackle. After his earlier booking there could be no doubt that a red card would be shown, and it was. I don’t think anybody could have any complaints about that one.

It was now a real backs-to-the-wall effort. QPR had two men over and were trying really hard to make it count. After another two minutes of this (still 15 minutes to go taking into account the substantial amount of time the referee would undoubtedly be adding on), Walsh was withdrawn so that Hill could come in at right back. Despite Coton having to make a number of excellent saves, City managed to hang on, helped by a very vociferous backing from their fans. When City got the ball, it was played upfield to Niall Quinn who was completely on his own but still managed to hold the ball up well, taking it into the corners and keeping it for a while, despite the attentions of three and sometimes four QPR players. On other occasions, hoofed clearances would be met by Quinn’s head; he’d flick them on and into touch near the corner flag. a rugby union player would have been proud of some of the “kicks for touch” played by City in this last period.

At the end of the game, there were mass celebrations reminiscent of the derby at Old Trafford the season when Leeds won the title (City came back from a goal down after having Neil Pointon sent off for kicking Ryan Giggs). “Nine men, you couldn’t beat nine men” rang around the ground. It should be some atmosphere when we return next week for the Coca-Cola Cup tie!

The team:
Dibble; Edghill, I. Brightwell, Curle, Phelan; Beagrie, Lomas, Flitcroft, Summerbee (Coton); Quinn, Walsh (Hill)

MOM: Niall Quinn. Led the line brilliantly in the last 15 minutes.

MATCH REPORT

QPR vs. MANCHESTER CITY

It’s about time City had something to smile (?) about from an away match. I didn’t get to this match, (but I am going to the Cup game!!) so my views are only based on MoTD highlights and newspaper reports. So City beat QPR if only with 9 men (an idea for future matches??) thanks to goals from Flipper and Walsh (never giving up certainly gets rewards, nice one Paul!)

The refereeing certainly left a nasty taste in the mouth; how the hell could he really send off Dibble after a clean tackle that any outfield player would have been proud of? Let’s just hope that the ref sees the error of his ways and decides he was wrong and helps Dibble’s cause (Ferdinand has already said he’s willing to help), or else City are really stuck. Dibble faces a three match ban for the sending (!) off and Coton aggravated his shoulder injury in the backs to the wall defence of the 2-1 lead. Plus Margetson with a strained back muscle leaves City well and truly struggling.

Flipper’s was a good headed goal from another Beagrie cross (slight hint of a foul?). Walsh’s just goes to prove that persistence pays off. He chased a backpass and succeeded in steering a delicate header into the far corner; in other words he charged down the goalie’s attempted clearance and blocked the punt with his head!! Talk of déjà vu, Dibble had a similar thing happen to him at QPR last season when Penrice blocked his clearance.

Paper talk has once again hinted at future City signings (that’s if you believe anything that’s printed in the Sunday papers??). First of all there’s Mauro Silva, Brazilian international defender (boy did that cheer me and give me a good laugh). The second player mentioned was Scott Oakes from Luton!

MATCH REPORT

CITY’S NINE MEN GO CRAZY

For nearly an hour at Loftus Rd on Saturday very little happened. From then on there was very little that didn’t happen. “A crazy game,” was how Brian Horton described it.

The match ended with City down to 9 men after two sendings-off and QPR doing everything but score in a frantic attempt to retrieve a situation partly of their own making. Both sides had cause to feel hard done by – City because the referee seemed to deal with them rather harshly, QPR because on any other day their rewards would surely have been better rewarded.

Drama there was plenty of; quality rather less. Both teams suffered from similar shortcomings – a paucity of team-work which rendered good individual contributions irrelevant. For QPR, with only 1 win all season, the need to address the problems is the more urgent, especially as they are about to lose Les Ferdinand for 3 matches because of suspension.

But before that happens, they will have to get over this game, whose character started to change when Flipper headed City in front after 56 mins. QPR had made the better chances up to then, and looked capable of recovering.

Three minutes later, however, City went 2-0 up when Tony Roberts made the mistake of taking a second touch in dealing with a back pass. His eventual clearance was charged down by Paul Walsh and the ball ricocheted into the net.

Another 3 minutes, and another piece of goalkeeping misjudgement – this time by Andy Dibble – allowed QPR back into the game. Conceding a free-kick just outside the area, he was then beaten by Clive Wilson’s low shot.

With 18 minutes to go, Dibble sped out to challenge Ferdinand, some 20 yards off his line, and although he appeared to win the ball cleanly, the linesman flagged for a two-footed tackle and out came the red card.

QPR sensed their chance, all the more so when Richard Edghill, booked in the first half for a tackle on Trevor Sinclair, repeated the offence. Unfortunately for QPR, there were still enough City men left on the pitch to thwart them. They hit the post, they hit the bar, they played their best football of the match (not bloody difficult against 9 men). But the damage was beyond repair.

Adapted without permission from the Independent on Sunday.

MATCH REPORT FROM QPR’S VIEWPOINT

QPR vs MANCHESTER CITY

Early Rangers pressure as per normal with nothing to show. A City cross comes in from the left, and Flitcroft scores in the bottom left, a carbon copy of the Wimbledon goal. Then Roberts concedes a goal to better his mistake at Forest, more of this later.

We pull back a 2nd half goal from a free kick on the edge of the box, Wilson the scorer(?)

Dibble was sent off for his second bookable challenge outside the area. Coton came on and even carrying an injury could not be beaten by Rangers.

Edghill was sent off soon after for a nasty lunge at Sinclair. Gallen came on for Yates, in an attempt to find an equaliser.

So down to 9 men, and with the opposition’s keeper carrying a knock, we still couldn’t score.

We didn’t actually play badly during the game, but we really do lack the killer touch at the moment. I’m not sure why this is. It could be due to our lack of creativity in the middle of the park, but we did create a few chances. Or perhaps when Ferdinand isn’t playing well we lack anyone else with the killer touch. I’m not saying we played brilliantly, but we played well enough to win.

Two good things did come out of the game.

1. Tony Robberts must now definitely be dropped. After his keystonecops impression for their 2nd goal, there can be no excuse for playinghim. Let me take you through the incident. Roberts receives aregulation back pass from Bardsley(?), and with Paul Walsh rushing atbreak neck speed towards him, guess what Roberts does? Of course hedoesn’t kick it, that would be too easy. No, our magnificent keeperdecides to stop the ball on the six yard line and RUN BACK as iftaking a leisurely goalkick. Walsh must have thought it was Christmasas Roberts kicked the ball at his head with the rebound settling inthe bottom corner of the net!
   
   
2. The Guardian reports:
   
   “Once Gerry Francis’s side start to convert pressure into points theyshould rise to more pleasant heights….”

Anyway, I guess the bottom line at the moment is, another Monday morning another defeat to talk about.

We’ll beat them in the Cup.

WHY BLUE? (Ashley Birch)

As a Molecular Biologist/Geneticist I should really reduce this to its component parts, namely, genetic and environmental influences. To tackle the former first of all; my Dad was born in Levenshulme and for many years lived in Moss Side, walking distance from Maine Rd (now only with a Sherman tank!). Hardly surprising then that he turned out to be a City supporter, though being a pleasant intelligent bloke naturally inclined him to be a Blue (United dig already, oh dear!). He attended matches week in, week out after the war and in the ’50s, even watching United play at Maine Rd when Old Trafford was unusable due to bomb damage. I also think that City got floodlights before Utd and this became another reason why the Reds played there. When I was a young lad my Dad would occassionally take me to a game where we would meet my Uncle Gordon in the Kippax, I have no recollection of these early games and I now wonder how I ever managed to see anything! In fact, my first real City memory is from when I was 8, I remember being in the car with my Mum and Dad and my Dad cheering as the result of the Newcastle game came in, meaning that City had won the League. I can’t recall it being Newcastle (it was) though perversely I can recall that we were in Ashton under Lyne at the time in a light blue Ford Anglia estate registration number PWE 921E! Not quite the same as knowing where you were when Kennedy was assassinated!

As for environmental influences, I too was born in Stockport (as was Martin Ford), perhaps it’s all that Robinson’s beer in the atmosphere that does it? Luckily, aged 7 my Dad had the good fortune to be able to move us out to the countryside, New Mills to be precise. Although in Derbyshire, New Mills is actually 50 miles from Derby and only 25 from Manchester so it was no problem to remain a Blue as 90% of my schoolfriends supported City or United, with just the odd Derby County, Nottingham Forest or saddest of all (at that time anyway) Stockport County fan.

I took up supporting full time in 74 when the Rod Marsh Saga was at its height, what a player but was he good for the team? (a long, long, story and where oh where is his like nowadays?). I went with my mate David (Wires) Wyatt and some others from Whaley Bridge and we’d travel down to Manchester on the train and then walk down the station approach at Piccadilly, dash to the old Virgin shop (when Richard Branson was worth about 200 quid!) to listen to some obscure rock records and then get the bus down to Maine Rd. The highlight of this period was of course the League Cup Final against Newcastle United at Wembley in 76. Luckily I was able to get a ticket by virtue of having attended almost every home game and some aways thus being able to assiduously save those mundane but precious little tokens on the backs of the programmes. I remember Wembley itself as an ugly concrete monolith stinking of piss and inedible fatburgers, what a national disgrace and I haven’t changed my mind since (haven’t been since either!). Of course, who can forget Tueart’s brilliant goal and Doyle’s superb handling of the ever-dangerous Malcolm MacDonald. Great days but who would have believed that that would be the last time we won anything.

I was planning on forking out for a season ticket in 76/77 and eventually bought one just to the right of the goals in the Platt Lane End (looking at it). Although many of you will be non-plussed by anyone wanting to leave the Kippax, this was precipitated by a Boxing Day match against Leeds United in 1975 (I think). We all finished the family lunch and then trekked off down to Maine Rd, City were flying high and Leeds were a good team, though past their best. The ground was packed and I spent the entire matched crushed and only able to see about the middle third of one half. City piled on the pressure but Leeds scored totally against the run of play, Paul Madeley I think (I didn’t see it) and stole the game. I swore I wasn’t paying to see so little of a game again so Platt Lane was where I went.

I spent two seasons there and I even persuaded my Dad that a season ticket would be a good idea after a 20 year hiatus. I always remember the guy who sat next to my Dad who was so outrageously biased we just had to laugh at his rantings. Without fail and I really mean without fail, everytime an opposition player took the ball within about a foot of the touchline he would be up on his feet shouting for a throw-in and conversely, if a City player took the ball over the line, however blatantly, he would be up shouting at the linesman. He was a character and I’m sure he never believed for even a second what he was shouting but he certainly enjoyed himself! It was a brilliant two years to be a season ticket holder with the explosive Tueart and the gifted Peter Barnes on the wings and many more (this is not the place to list them). In a way, I was glad when I had to go to university (Scotland), Allison destroyed all that we loved at Maine Rd, our own group’s favourite and dyed-in-the-wool Blue, Gary Owen disgracefully told he was not wanted and transfer-listed, Barnes kicked out (he was never the same again), Brian Kidd a 100% player and top scorer, I could go on. What really galled was the shit he bought in to replace them including the hugely ungifted Steve Daley, Britain’s most expensive player, Leman (remember him?), and many more forgettable individuals (laugh I nearly committed suicide!).

Exile did have it’s moments though, I saw a portly George Best playing for Hibs on a Siberian Saturday afternoon in Edinburgh. He was a fat drunkard and out of condition but what a player. He capped off his performance with a magical freekick which we thought was way over and which the goalie just left, with 5 yards to go it dipped visciously and hit the bar, he got a standing ovation for that one. Now I come to think of it, we were probably already standing! It didn’t last long, a few months later he didn’t turn up for a game and it turned out that one of the guys who played for our 5-a-side team had been drinking in a local hostelry and seen a guy who looked remarkable like Besty, it was 3.30pm! Yes folks, you could drink all day in Edinburgh even back in the early 80s, not the most suitable environment for George. Scandinavian students however, found this much to their liking! (this one is for our 4 Scandinavian subscribers).

I returned to Manchester (UMIST) in 82 and managed the odd game but since 85 I’ve been in Switzerland where the only live football I’ve seen was a truly dreadful display by Scotland in the pouring rain at the Wankdorf Stadium in Bern. This is the biggest venue in Switzerland and looks like it belongs to a club like Accrington Stanley (the weather helped!). We were amused by droves of friendly, drunken Scotsmen who sang the following song in the tram, blissfully unaware of the presence of any Englishmen: “You can stick your ***ing Gazza up your arse”,….repeat many times to the tune of “She’ll be coming round the mountain when she comes”. Typically Scottish, they preferred to sing anti-English songs even though they were playing Switzerland! I also saw Grasshoppers vs Sampdoria, the Swiss being outclassed.

Well, it’s more exotic than Manchester, but it’s just not the same as watching a floodlit evening game at Maine Rd in the driving rain! (donations for a trip home will be gratefully accepted!). Well, who knows, maybe I’ll make it at Xmas.

I apologise for any tricks my memory might have played on me, especially with regard to dates.

ERROR

In MCIVTA 11, I erroneously stated that the Rags WWW home page was in Dallas when this is in fact the machine name; it’s actually location is Dublin. Thanks to Paul Howarth for putting me right though I’m now worried that you’ve been peeking there Paul!

Thanks to James, Steve, Paul, Martin & Phil.

Editor: