Newsletter #43

Just what was it about the Tottenham match? We have yet another match report which, at a total of three, probably equals the ‘live’ record for MCIVTA. Furthermore, Russ got to meet Uwe and John got to meet Frannie though I guess a BR urinal wouldn’t have been his first choice. To top it all, Rob also managed to meet Frannie but in more congenial surroundings, read on!

I’ve included my subscriber distribution list. It’s not really an article as I haven’t attempted to glean anything from it; I’ve merely presented it as a table. Apart from showing you how widespread subscribers are, it also tells you how many Blues are in your town! If you want to get in touch with others (as the London Blues have done) then mail me and I can give you the addresses.

Jon Hurst mailed me about discussion, more precisely, whether any discussion group exists. The answer to this is no, really. Any discussion would have to take place outside MCIVTA as the volume of mail would overload yours truly and lead to a personal system crash, most likely induced by a blunt object being brought down on my head, courtesy of my Boss! My suggestion would be either to mail people directly who send in articles or if anyone wants to be part of such a group or (shock, horror!) would like to act as moderator then write a piece for MCIVTA.

Can anybody do match reports for the Leicester and Villa games as Martin is on holiday? Let me know.

Next game Leicester City at home, Wednesday 25th January 1995

MATCH REPORT ‘LIVE’

TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR vs. MANCHESTER CITY, 21st January 1995

Well then – this should be a good day out I thought after being invited to view Tottenham Hotspur versus Manchester City from the comfort of an executive box, courtesy of Grant Thornton (via a friend of a friend).

Off to Stockport station for the 9:38 to Euston, meet up with Bill and Steve, upgrade to a ‘Weekend First Class’ for extra comfort, cloudy but bright cold morning – no problems.

Arriving in first class, had a little difficulty spotting 3 seats sort of next to each other but two kindly gents moved over so I sat with them on a table for 4 and Steve and Bill sat just across the aisle on a table for two. Pulling into Macclesfield, I had a vision of Francis Lee stood on the platform. However, this was no vision; the bloke I was sat next to was Colin Barlow and Franny jumped on the train and sat opposite me!

He is a very congenial bloke even when he wasn’t having a leak (see John Shearer’s report). We all chatted amiably about a variety of subjects including referees, the redevelopment of the Kippax, various English players, various foreign players, the dirtiest sides in the Premier (rags and Blackburn) and all very interesting it was too. Franny decided to travel by train as he wasn’t keen on flying in a small private plane with the impending weather forecast. Colin bought the beers and crisps and was bemoaning the injury list at Maine Road which, as far as I remember was: Phelan, Coton, Dibble, Hill, Edghill, Lomas, Flitcroft, Brightwell, Foster, Quinn and someone else I can’t think of. Various other supporters came for brief chats with Franny and he made time for all of them and talked tactics with a young girl called Sophie about midfield ball winners.

Got in a taxi at Euston to WHL in pouring rain; heavy traffic but not too bad. Into the executive bar for the Holsten Pils (being the only beer on the ground for obvious reasons), then up to the box. The pitch looked in perfect nick. They had the roller and aerator moving up and down but there really was no water on it and none coming up from the grass, even with the roller on it. I thought they were taking the mickey when they said there was a pitch inspection at 2 O’clock. Not so – they took the nets down at 13:55 and I never even saw the ref come out at 2!! We had all just sat down and were finishing our paté and toast when the incredible news came over the tannoy. None of us had even dreamed the match might be off.

So, I had to spend the rest of the glorious sunny afternoon watching England stuff the Irish while consuming chicken, fruit, Pils, cheese, biscuits, port and various wines. The journey back was uneventful apart from the British Rail police who kept telling us to remove our cans and bottles from the table as the train was supposedly ‘dry’ and all the scousers up front coming back from Wimbledon might get upset if they knew we had alcohol and they didn’t. They obviously hadn’t got the brains to conceal some about their persons.

Big laugh from Franny and Colin when we asked them what Manchester City and Camilla Parker-Bowles had in common?

Answer: Both had been f****d at the Palace.

PS. On Ladbrokes’ betting list for the scorer of the first goal, the name Quinn wasn’t even printed!! Why was that? Adie Mike was in there but no Niall!

NEWS

Most of this weekend’s papers say that Alan Ball will push to sign Carl Griffiths for Southampton during this week. Rumoured price is around £500,000.

NEWS

Just to mention that contrary to the information I was given outside White Hart Lane, the rematch of our water-logged game against Spurs has yet to be arranged. Stewards at Spurs told me that the game would take place on Wed. 1st Feb. Having contacted City this morning they assure me that no date has yet been set for the rematch, though original tickets for last Saturday’s game would be accepted at the game whenever it takes place.

LOCATION OF SUBSCRIBERS

ASIA:                   8
--------------------------------
AUSTRALIA:              4
Melbourne       (1)
Victoria        (1)
Sydney          (1)
Queensland.     (1)
SINGAPORE:              3
NEW ZEALAND:            1
Auckland        (1)
________________________________
MAINLAND EUROPE:       12
--------------------------------
FINLAND:                1
Espoo           (1)
HUNGARY:                1
Debrecen        (1)
ICELAND:                1
Reykjavik       (1)
ITALY:                  1
Frascati        (1)
NORWAY:                 5
Bo              (1)
Oslo:           (2)
Tromsø:         (1)
Trondheim:      (1)
SWEDEN:                 1
Lund (Malmö)    (1)
SWITZERLAND:            2
Geneva          (1)
Zürich          (1)
________________________________
BRITISH ISLES:         82
--------------------------------
ABERDEEN:               2
BELFAST:                2
BOLTON:                 2
BLACK COUNTRY:          6
BRADFORD:               5
BRIGHTON:               1
BRISTOL:                2
CAMBRIDGE:              1
CIRENCESTER:            1
EDINBURGH:              1
GLASGOW:                1
HUMBERSIDE:             1
KENT:                   2
LEEDS:                  1
LIVERPOOL:              1
LONDON:                10
MANCHESTER:            29
NOTTINGHAM:             1
OXFORD:                 1
READING:                1
SHEFFIELD:              5
SOUTHAMPTON:            1
WREXHAM:                1
IRELAND:                4
Dublin          (4)
________________________________
MIDDLE EAST:            1
--------------------------------
DUBAI:                  1
________________________________
NORTH AMERICA:         23
--------------------------------
CANADA:                 3
Brit. Columbia: (2)
Ottawa:         (1)
USA:                   20
CALIFORNIA:             7
CHICAGO:                1
DALLAS:                 1
GEORGIA:                1
ILLINOIS:               1
MISSOURI:               1
MAINE:                  1
NEW YORK:               2
OHIO:                   1
PENNSYLVANIA:           1
TEXAS:                  1
VIRGINIA:               1
WASHINGTON DC:          1
________________________________
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WORLD TOTAL            125
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GAUDINO – STATISTICS

Born: December 12th, 1966
Height: 183 cm
Weight: 80 kg

263 Matches in the Bundesliga, scored 46 goals.
5 National Team Matches, scored 1 goal.

Previous clubs:
Vfb Stuttgart, Waldhof Mannheim, TSG Rheinau

Data is from July, 31st 1994

WHERE ARE THEY NOW – DAVE CONNOR

Dave Connor played for City 152 (+12 sub) times in two spells between 1962 and 1975, including the FA Cup semi-final in 1969. He was the (unused) substitute for the final. Dave now runs the Mellands sports centre, about halfway between Belle Vue and Levenshulme. I play five- a-side there most Monday evenings and he’s been known to turn out occasionally if a team’s a man short.

OPINION – THE FUTURE OF OUR DEFENCE

Our current defence is perhaps the most expensive in the Premier League but is unfortunately one of the least effective. I agree that Curle is without doubt one of the best in his position but the question is – how long is he going to last?

In my opinion, being a central defender myself, it is essential to have a big man and a quick man at the back. Possibly Kernaghan will make the big man rôle his own but more urgently we need a replacment for Curle. I suggest Ricky Edghill. I remember him playing there against Arsenal a couple of seasons back and he played very well.

I know Richard personally as we were in the same junior side for three years and in my opinion his best position was then in midfield. Whether he will go back to this later in his career who knows but he should certainly not be disguarded as a result of the derby. He was a City fan in his youth and I know he was as upset at the result as anyone.

With regards to our fullbacks that is a problem!!

We need this defence to provide a sound basis for years to come. Let’s get it right this time.

OPINION – KK/EB FEUD

I was concerned to see James Nash’s reference to the rift between City’s two major fanzines (MCIVTA 40). James says that “Noel at Electric Blue really has it in for Dave of King of the Kippax since Dave’s appointment as Fan On The Board. Apparently, there was almost fisticuffs outside the ground on Saturday [the Coventry match] when some people (not Noel himself) decided to pick (verbally) on Dave.”

This seems to imply that Noel is jealous of Dave’s appointment and that certain fans have picked up on Noel’s comments and had a go at Dave with them.

Yes, this all sounds pretty gloomy but I think it misrepresents the situation. I subscribe to both fanzines and have followed the ‘rift’ closely. While I write a column for EB, I should say I have never met either Noel or Dave. However, I get the impression that they have always engaged in a bit of sarcastic rivalry whilst being friends (Noel said as much in a recent issue). Noel has recently complained about the lack of democracy in the ballot for the Fan On The Board, which is a fair complaint. He has also printed supporting statements for Dave from many of EB’s regular columnists; statements that have criticised his own carping. Hardly the actions of a jealous man.

The most recent issue of EB (29) raises another problem and that could possibly be at the heart of the recent ‘fisticuffs’. Noel reported on a rift that has occured between Dave and the London Branch of the Official Supporters Club. Members of that branch were furious at Dave’s criticism of their decision to remain in the OSC and not go independent. Kevin Cummins and David Garner responded with an article titled ‘The King’s New Clothes’ in their own fanzine, Terminal Blues (formerly Purple Reign) and several London members have decided to boycott KK.

The matter didn’t stop there it seems, as Noel reports that, at the League Cup win over Newcastle, Dave “launched himself at the unfortunate Mr Garner, warmly shaking hands with his throat.”

Now it has to be said that Noel’s part in all of this seems to have been nothing more than an amused and slightly baffled observer (to the story – he wasn’t present at the event in question). It is also possible that the event at the Coventry game was connected with the rift between Dave and the London Branch and had nothing to do with Noel’s comments in EB over the Fan On The Board matter.

I just think Noel deserved some kind of defence in his absence; I also thought it would do everyone a bit of good if I dispelled some of the gloom cast by James.

Lighten up, everyone! The club is on the way to big things and it’s going to take three or four years.

RESULTS SERVICE

One of our subscribers has set up a WWW page with the following information available; might be good for George in Oz:

• It’s a free no password required Premier League results service.
• It’s updated at the most 1 hour after all Premiership games finish.
• It contains: results from every Premiership game, scorers and attendances, league tables, top scorers and some match reports.

It can be found at: http://turnpike.net/metro/meggie/results_premiership.html

WWW MANCHESTER CITY SUPPORTERS’ HOME PAGE:
http://www.uit.no/mancity/

Thanks to Brian, Rob, Meggie, Paul, Michael, Adam, Roger & Andrew.

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.

Editor: