Newsletter #134


Last issue before the derby and we’ve plenty of news and opinion, reserve match reports and a great Why Blue. Teletext today reports that Ball is writing a letter to over 100 City fans assuring them Uwe and Flipper are not for sale and that he will fight tooth and nail to keep them… good news.

I’m off out for my 10th Wedding Anniversary meal tonight so I don’t really have time to rant on about the derby and what we need to happen there. Let’s just hope the lads can play something like they did last week and make a game of it.

Next game, Manchester United away, Saturday 14th October 1995.


MATCH REPORT ‘LIVE’

MANCHESTER CITY RESERVES vs. LEICESTER CITY RESERVES, Tuesday 10th October 1995

Yes, it’s finally happened. My struggle against sad-dom ended in defeat on Tuesday night as I finally caved in and went to my first reserve match.

It was vaguely eerie being in such an empty Maine Road. Only the Main Stand was open, and I suppose there were only a few hundred spectators (I’m very bad at judging crowd size though!). It only cost a pound to get in, and that included a free team sheet (photocopy!).

The game was surprisingly entertaining, and City were by far the better of the two sides. I’m afraid I’ve misplaced the team sheet, but I’ll write this now and fill in the names of the promising players in a later issue.

Tony Coton played, and made some good stops. He was dominant in his penalty area, coped well with crosses and looked fit and confident. I like Immel, but TC may be on his way back… It certainly can’t do the Blues any harm to have two good ‘keepers competing for a place (if Dibble is reading this, yes I did just use the words ‘good’ and ‘keeper’ in the same sentence).

Foster played at right back, and had a fairly poor game – which made me less critical of Ball’s decision to play Brightwell last home match. I can’t remember the name of one of the centre halves, who was adequate but nothing special; the other was ooohh Vonky Vonky! He was superb, making only a couple of small errors; he read the game extremely well, sprayed the ball around from the back, looked dangerous in the air and scored from the spot. Apparently, Reid and Sunderland are still in for him, but on this form he should not be let go for anything short of a substantial sum – and then only if Ball rates Kernaghan higher. I’m not so sure.

The left back was good – he got forward well while paying more attention to his defensive duties than a certain Mr Phelan does on occasion. He lacked a bit of pace, though.

The midfield consisted of Summerbee, a left-winger, Brown and one other in the middle. Summerbee was outstanding. He took people on, and was able to flick it either way and outpace his opponent at will. When he got bored of peppering the penalty area with perfect crosses and corners, which created numerous chances, he decided to cut in to the middle of the pitch and charge towards the goal. On one such occasion, he was scythed in the area: Vonk stuck it in to put us one up. In the second half, Buzzer seemed even more confident – and his performance culminated in a beautiful goal, struck from just beyond the corner of the penalty area into the far corner. Surely his current form warrants a first team start soon? He certainly seems to have benefited from a brief respite (evidence of good management?).

Brown had a good game too, making numerous intelligent interceptions, running at the defence, and almost scoring a couple of times. His tackling was good. I think this is the best I have seen him play: is he getting better, or is this the level of football at which he is comfortable?

The left-winger was very promising as well, and probably the fastest player on the pitch. He was usually involved at some point in the flowing attacking moves that the Blues strung together (yes, I know, makes your mind boggle, doesn’t it?). I’d like to see him play for the first team at some point.

The one other was just that, and missed a sitter (supplied inevitably by Buzzer) – definitlely not his night.

One of our strikers was a bit crap, to be honest, but the other was very lively and enthusiastic and linked up very well with the midfield. Better than Creaney (or am I being too hard on the poor lad too soon? Better give him a few more chances I suppose, but not when Rösler and Quinn are fit).

So, all in all my fellow blues, there is much to take comfort in. I know this was second division reserve team football, but the old faces looked good and a few of the new looked promising, so you never know. The Leicester goal was fairly undeserved, although Lee Philpot played very well for them and forced an exceptional save from TC from a free-kick. We did well to come back and win. And without doubt, Buzzer was the man-of-the-match. I’d certainly recommend seeing a reserve team game – if only to appreciate the lovely white seats in the Kippax spelling out Manchester City!

P.S. Latest news that I’ve heard is that Blackburn have renewed their interest in Flitcroft and we are putting a bid together of around £750,000 for Sheffield Wednesday’s John Sheridan. This was from our porter, though – the source of most of the “information” that I pick up during the day – and he has been known to be economical with the truth. Guess who he supports?

Final Score 2-1

Matt Varley (MSRTSMV@fs1.ec.man.ac.uk)

RESERVE REPORT (Tuesday 10th October)

City reserves returned to winning ways with a 2-1 victory over Leicester City at Maine Road. Both sides featured some unusual names with so many players injured or away on international duty. Gerry Creaney was playing for Scotland “B”, Niall Quinn and Alan Kernaghan were with the Republic of Ireland squad and injuries kept out Scott Thomas and Chris Greenacre. Both sides had spells of dominance throughout the match, City hitting the post twice and Tony Coton making some good saves. The Blues opened the scoring from the penalty spot just before the break after Summerbee was brought down at the end of a good run; Vonk stroked the ball home nonchalantly. Leicester equalised with a flicked header at the near post early in the second half but man-of-the-match Summerbee clinched the points with a powerfully-hit shot from the corner of the penalty area which sneaked inside the far post. Watching in the crowd were Peter Reid (he’s after Vonk I believe) and Steve McMahon, who may be after a winger following Joey Beauchamp’s return to Oxford.

Paul Howarth (paul@wg.icl.co.uk)

NEWS – RÖSLER SIGNS NEW CONTRACT

Uwe has at last signed a new 3-year contract, hopefully putting an end to the incessant transfer speculation in the media over the last few weeks. Here’s a rough transcript of an interview on ClubCall:

ClubCall: Uwe, it’s been a great week for you; two goals, seen your family and friends and now you’ve signed a new contract at Maine Road.

Rösler: Yeah, it was a very good week I thought. I told my friends “after every storm comes the sun again”, and this week was very sunny for me. I’m happy and just now I’ve signed a new contract and I look forward to the future.

ClubCall: You make a lot of Man City fans very happy on the pitch and I’m sure when they hear this news they’re going to be even more happy. You have always said you’re going to stick by City and get us back up to the top haven’t you? You’ve always said that.

Rösler: Yeah, I was surprised [by the speculation]. I never asked Alan Ball or Francis Lee to sell me; this speculation came from the newspapers and I told Francis Lee if he wants to sell me he must speak with me and we can speak about everything, but I never caused this situation; I didn’t go to City and ask for a transfer. I’ve had a wonderful 18 months with City and I must say “thank you very much for great times at City” and I can’t run away now; this is why I signed a new contract.

ClubCall: You love Manchester too don’t you? You love England, you love being here. You’ve been here now 18 months; does it feel like home to you now?

Rösler: Yes of course. I don’t want to go to a new town, I don’t want to go to a new club. I’m satisfied with my situation, my girlfriend likes Manchester, I like Manchester, so I signed a new contract.

ClubCall: And you’ve got the nice weather.

Rösler: Ha ha!

ClubCall: As far as playing is concerned, do you feel the Wycombe 4-0 win might be a turning point for us this season?

Rösler: I think it was very important for us to beat Wycombe; they’re a second division team and you must win when you’re a Premier League team playing a second division team but it was very hard. Of course in a lot of the cup games Premier League teams make mistakes and our confidence was very bad.

ClubCall: I was dying to see you score a goal and get the team’s confidence up – whatever sort of goal it was going to be: a header, a 20-yard shot … it was just a tap-in but you celebrated, the fans got behind you and you could see all the players’ heads lift in the air and the confidence came straight back.

Rösler: Yeah, I told everybody that if they give me chances to score goals, I’ll score goals. I’ve enough confidence to say that; in the last weeks there weren’t any chances, that was the problem and our people worked to try better on the pitch and so we scored goals in the Wycombe game. Hopefully we can do the same in the derby because I think if, err … when when we make it a second win against Man United it will be a big turning point in our situation.

ClubCall: I have to mention one more point to you, about your second goal against Wycombe; the ball from Kinkladze, we saw there what Georgi can do – it was a perfect ball for you and I know you are hoping, obviously, that that bond between the two of you can go from strength to strength because that is the type of service you want, isn’t it?

Rösler: It is normal to have problems when you have a new player, and we’re playing a new system. Georgi is a great player but he’s only 21; he must learn more things and I think a lot of people think he’s the new Le Tissier; he has the potential to one day be like Le Tissier but not just now. I see it in training and in two or three games this season what he can do for the club but he must learn to play the system; this is the main problem because normally the English players learn from their schools how to play 4-4-2. We’re used to playing a different system to him; it’s easier to learn if we’re playing with confidence; with players who have no confidence it’s harder to learn to play together.

ClubCall: Do you feel he will give you more and more chances?

Uwe Rösler: Of course, of course. He plays a very important role in the team; he and another person are responsible for our forward game and it’s going better and better and better. Hopefully one day we – all at this club – will be back on the road to success.

ClubCall: One bit of competition – Martyn Margetson!

Rösler: Ha ha! Yes, it was a good joke; he played well!

ClubCall: Nice to see people smile though.

Rösler: Yes, it was not too happy a situation when we weren’t scoring goals – it’s frustrating. Normally you must be frustrated when you’re not scoring goals, when you’ve lost every game, and if I’m not frustrated I’m not a good professional. I think everybody at this club was frustrated, Francis Lee, Alan Ball and the other players, and the newspapers write always my name; I think they thought I was so frustrated maybe I would leave the club!

ClubCall: Well you’ve answered the papers, you’ve always said you were going to stay, you’ve signed a three-year contract, we wish you all the very best at Old Trafford for Man United on Saturday.

Rösler: Thank you very much, we need it!

Uwe was also on “The Rock’n’Goal Years” on Granada TV on Tuesday evening describing how Kevin Keegan was one of his heroes and the very high regard Keegan is still held in in Germany, particularly Hamburg, whose fans would like him to be their manager!

Paul Howarth (paul@wg.icl.co.uk)

NEWS – KINKLADZE RUMOUR

I heard from a mate (who is going out with the daughter of a City director and is usually reasonably reliable) that City in fact only paid £600-700 thousand for our Georgian star Georgiou Kinkladze. Realising that the fans would only be happy with a big money name they claimed he cost £2 million. Apparently this is a reasonably common practice. If this is true, then we certainly do have the bargain of the season!

Steve Tobias (smt11@damtp.cam.ac.uk)

NEWS – VONK

GMR reports that Michel Vonk has been sold to Sunderland for £400,000. Roker Park manager Peter Reid is also thought to be interested in Nicky Summerbee.

GMR also reports that Peter Reid is now interested in taking Tony Coton on loan “to help him get back to full match fitness.”

The Mole

NEWS – VONK NOT SOLD!

I read in today’s paper that Reid denies that he has signed Vonk for £400,000. However he is interested in signing Vonk, having recently attended a reserve fixture the other night.

On another note does anybody know anything about an official Man City WWW page? Liverpool have got one and City were supposed to have agreed to do the same thing, however I have seen nothing yet. The idea was to have a page on which the club could put press releases etc, but such a page wouldn’t take away the limelight from what is classed as the ‘fanzine pages.’

Jim Walsh (pldjrw@cent1.lancs.ac.uk)

The Official’pages are ‘PremierNet’ which is for the entire Carling Premier League but it’s been having problems getting sponsorship through on time so it’s fairly rudimentary at the moment. Eventually merchandise and press releases should be available.

Ashley

NEWS – INGEBRIGTSEN RETURNING

I quoted a newspaper report a few weeks ago that Kåre Ingebrigtsen was reluctant to return to Manchester. Now the story has changed.

Today (12.10.95), Verdens Gang (Norway’s largest newspaper) is reporting that Kåre Ingebrigtsen has been contacted by Alan Ball, who wishes to welcome him back to Maine road. “Ball has told me that it’s up to me to get a place in the first team. I am looking forward to going back to be given a fair chance, which I didn’t get the last time.” he said.

He feels he was badly treated by Peter Reid and Peter Swales; Brian Horton never rated him. But with Alan Ball in charge he is confident of rebuilding his England-career; “All my foes at Manchester City have left the club now.” He added; “I have developed as a footballer since the last time I was in Manchester. I have proved that by being drafted into the national squad again and I have had a good season playing with Lillestrøm. I should be good enough for a place in City’s starting line-up.” Lillestrøm’s loan deal with City ends on the 1st of November. The same day Kåre will be back at Platt Lane, training with City.

P.S. As the derby game will be screened live over here, I will try to put togheter a “match-report” for MCIVTA. I hope you don’t mind my awkward english…

Tor-Kristian Karlsen (tkkarlse@login.eunet.no)

OASIS

Huw Thomas’ plea for Oasis to buy City a midfield may not be that far fetched! According to an interview with Paul Gallagher (Noel and Liam’s older brother) in The Face, Noel and Liam have visited the boardroom more than once.

He also had a few things to say about Rags supporters too. When asked about Oasis’s fashion sense, he replied that they were cool because they followed City, whose fans have all their “proper labels” and that U****d fans all wore pink Umbro tracksuits (heh, heh, heh).

Andrew Inman (s-inmana@melvin.silas.unsw.edu.au)

PLAYER OF THE MONTH (as judged by MCIVTA subscribers)

15 subscribers voted for the inaugural Sept. ‘Player of the Month‘. Most of the votes were for the new boys (Gerry ‘Nelly’ Creaney) excepted, although Buzzer grabbed a bagful.

The Result was:

                 SYMONS (27%) 23 points
                 IMMEL (27%) 23 points
                 KINKLADZE (19%) 16 points
                 RÖSLER (14%) 12 points
                 SUMMERBEE (8%) 7 points
                 OTHERS (5%) 5 points

So Ike and Kit are inseparable. A fair reflection in my opinion. Thanks to all who voted and let’s hope for more next month. In case anyone thinks the points don’t add up, it’s because a couple of people only voted for 1 player.

Christian Westergard also sent me his preferred team of the moment which may be of interest:

                               Immel
                  Foster    Curle   Symons    Phelan
                Kinklaze  Flitcroft Summerbee Beagrie
                           Quinn   Rösler

Subs: Lomas Kernaghan Creaney

I would agree with Christian on the 11 first choicers but I think I would have Brown, Lomas and Brightwell (I) or Margetson on the bench.

Ken Foster (kf737@vossnet.co.uk)

FULL BACK SITUATION

Am I the only one puzzled by our current strategy regarding full-backs? Did Phelan get a knock against ‘Boro? If so, then why was he listed in the Reserve squad (which Martin kindly sent me) on the same night as the Wycombe game? Also, it was reported by the Web site that John Foster was fit and available for selection again. Is Foster/Phelan a better pairing than Edghill/Brightwell? I think AB likes Edghill :-(, because he wasn’t dropped after the ‘Boro game.

IMHO the purchase of a right back is the most urgent priority at the club. It wouldn’t break the bank if we went looking down a Division or two. Whilst on the subject of players, does anyone know the current situation regarding Paul Lake?. He is still listed as squad no.31, but I can’t find any current info. on him. There’s nothing in the new City magazine (I thought issue 1 was better than the current one – the editor seems to be going more for a ‘lad’ type readership in issue 2 – it’s still worth buying though). Somebody at our local John Menzies keeps hiding the blue’un behind the myriad rag mags (sorry Giggs poster books) and I now have to root through the red dross to find the sky blue quality, 1 copy of which now lies over each swamp thing.

Ken Foster (kf737@vossnet.co.uk)

FANTASY FOOTBALL & MAGILTON?

Should anybody else on the list be interested, the Electronic Telegraph Online fantasy footy league is a blast. You don’t even need an anorak and notebook. The league starts Saturday, just like the Blues’ season.

Also is it true we’re trying to buy Magilton? Anybody know anything?

Have fun on Saturday

Huw Thomas (huw.thomas@ac.com)

KIWI BLUES!

Not being able to get to many games since moving to New Zealand I find great satisfaction with the only positive football factor down under. You see, as we are in the Southern Hemisphere we are top of the Football League and Newcastle look certain relegation candidates to me.

You think you have it hard watching the game at Maine Road. I will be at a bar in town at 3 in the morning with three other Blues and 70 Rag @#$%s. We will be wearing our City shirts (imported as they only sell Rag, L’pool and Arsenal here) and my car with its “KIPPAX” number plate will be parked nearby. When we win I’ll probably get a cab home as I will be in no state to drive.

Howard Pheby (100354.1627@compuserve.com)

OPINION – RÖSLER NEW CONTRACT

Throughout the last couple of weeks there has been much speculation about Rösler’s future at Maine Road. I have heard many rumours that he has had problems with the management and was not adjusting to Alan Ball’s set-up.

I then hear out of the blue that he was going to sign a new contract but had a few problems with the contract that had to be ironed out. I hope that the new contract doesn’t stipulate that if we go out of the Premiership he is released from it.

The reason I ask this suspicious question is because of the quote he said just after signing the contract, which was:

“I think I will stay with them if they play the next three seasons in the Premiership”

Please, please, please tell me that the hierarchy of Manchester City would not permit such a contract. I would rather see my team go down (which I personally think we won’t) than have players who are going to leave a sinking ship when things get tough.

I’m sure we can all remember the Howard Kendall scenario.

Let’s hope this is not the case.

Paul Johnson (True Blue) (johnson_p@a1yuppy.rdgmts.hhl.mts.dec.com)

OPINION – SATURDAY

With City now starting to play a little better, and after last week’s win hopefully the team will have some confidence to take to Old Trafford on Saturday. Quinn had a good performance for the Republic and it was good to see him try to control the ball in the box. Kinky also played well for his country and got a goal. The main problem on Saturday will be if Curle and co. can hold the United attack but as United aren’t playing too well we can only hope. We’d better win because I’m sick of people taking the piss because we’re bottom.

Here’s hoping we have something to celebrate on Saturday night.

A.J.Braithwaite (MCBI3AB1@fs1.ma.umist.ac.uk)

HUMOUR

Here’s another offering from Chantelle which was sent in by Steve Garrod and Nick Mills. Don’t forget that the language is somewhat ripe!

Ashley

jonni barkur cums bak to skool – by chantelle

it woz grate to see jonnis fat ugli clock cumin thru the skool gates agane. i neerli stopt finking abowt big eriks return to yewnited for a secund. the poor likkel basturd ad been suspendud for stikkin is hand up miss niteshades skurt. it woz a bit of a swiz aniway coz sheed cote im smokin beehind the bike shedz and she sed sheed sed “i want yu to cum to the hed wiv me” and jonni rekond sheed sed “i want yu to cum to bed wiv me”. al the teechurs went fukin barmi and tryed to cumfurt miss niteshade by puttin ther arms rownd er and that. jonni barkur woz suspendud for a munth. al the teechers woz pisd off coz they wonted im expeld for ever. funili enuff, mistur smif woz the onli teechur oo sed ee shunt be band and that ee woz sure ee cud get jonni to behave in futur.

evrione went fukkin crazi tho. ees sutch a giftud skollar sed is mum and dad and yuve got to mek allowansez for giftud skollars coz theyv got this dark side and ther offen misunderstud and aniway miss niteshade woz a slag oo woz obviusly gaggin fur it. is mum and dad evun ad the local papurs rownd is owse. jonni woz askd if ee woz pissd off abowt bein band and ee sed “wen magpies nik tops off milkbottels yer best porin the fukkin lot away”. the papur ad a local sychiatrist examinin wot eed sed. ee rekond ee woz a genius (or ee woz off is fukkin trolli, he cunt deside witsch). wen we new ee woz cummin bak we woz ded eksited. we al thote ee woz a gud laff befor but aftur ee got band we all thote ee woz the fukkin beez neez. me and leannes made sum adverts for im cummin bak and stuk em arownd the skool. 1 ad a picci of im stampin owt is fag wiv the wordz “ees paid for is mistakes – now itz that tart miss niteshades turn” anuuther ad a close up of is bumfluffd face wiv the wurds “this is an apologi. last munth i groped mis niteshades leg. i shud av fondeld er tits first. ime sorri” leannes on the skool mag and she got it so that in this munths edishion evri page woz abowt jonni.

on the day ee came bak it woz fukkin unbeleevabel. kids from ovver skools were payin up to 50 pee to swap places wiv owr kids just to see jonni. we all ad us fases paynted and waved theez big flagz. sum kidz ad ad sum tee-shurts made witsch sed “2nd of oktober 1995 – jonni returned” and ther woz a picci of im wiv “the king” underneef. evrione was fukkin clamerin for em.

mister smif ad jonni stand in the coridor til we woz all sat down. then ee opund the dore and showted “EEERS JONNI” and ee came runnin in and we al went fukkin mental. wen mistur smif red owt the registur and ee sed “jonni barkur?”, jonni just sed “here sir” and neerli everione faynted. mister smif sed wot a difrence it woz avin im bak and that weed all du ded wel in ower exams. mister smif made jonni promis eed never do owt naughti evur agane. jonni went down on is ands and nees and sed “i am a man of onor – i promis” but wen we woz avin owr lunshtime fag behind the bike sheds ee sed if miss niteshade or ani ovver slag of a teecher wantud a gud shaggin then ow cud ee ignor is animal passhuns. well ees onli human int he?

Chantelle!

WHY BLUE?

Like most kids of around 6 or 7 I guess I flitted from team to team as the fancy (or results) took me. In the mid/late-sixties there were no overly-dominant teams; one week I was an Everton fan, the next week Chelsea, the next West Brom, etc. My two brothers and one sister were all Reds. My dad must have been quietly biding his time until one day when I decided that I was a City fan. He promptly took me to Maine Road against Spurs. We were sat in the old Platt Lane Stand and I still remember everyone standing up as the action got close to the goal, so I don’t think I saw any of the goals. We won 4-0 and Colin Bell was the hero of the day. Of course, after this I was hooked.

The following few years were marvellous as we won the four major trophies with one memorable evening for me spent in the Platt Lane with my Dad seeing City drub Schalke 04 5-1 in the ECWC semi.

It wasn’t until the early seventies until I was allowed to venture to Maine Road on my own and I stood on the Kippax terraces during Rodney Marsh’s heyday. He seemed to have about one good game every four, but when he turned it on (nutmegging clueless defenders) he was a joy to watch.

The mid-seventies saw us assemble a great team and I was at Wembley in ’76 to see Tueart’s winner in the League Cup. We seemed to get the upper hand at the derbies most of the time as well; City’s 4-0 win over United in the League Cup was probably the best, with Asa Hartford completely controlling the game in midfield. Despite Bell’s injury at the hands of the despicable Martin Buchan, I can’t remember seeing a more overwhelming performance by the Blues over United, including the famous 5-1 win.

How we threw away the chamionship to Liverpool still baffles me. Soon after this, when all my favourties like Asa and Tueart were sold, I lost interest a little and didn’t renew my season ticket. For a few years after that I seemed to be more interested in United losing (e.g. the ’79 Cup Final) than in City winning and it was not until the mid-eighties that I took up travelling to games again regularly. By that time I had moved to East Anglia (a footballing desert if ever there was one) so I saw more away games than home.

The eighties were up-and-down times with many amazing games and the banana era. At the first promotion clincher against Charlton (5-1) it was great to be back on the Kippax with a 40,000+ crowd. The second clincher against Bradford City was more nerve-racking. We needed only a draw to go up, and at 0-1 down a City fan got onto the pitch and seemed to have a quiet word with each of the players before the stewards got to him. It seems that Palace were 4-0 up against Brimingham and if they scored another and we lost 0-1, then Palace would clinch promotion on goal difference. It seemed to do the trick and we equalised. The whole ground was full of Blues and the place erupted.

Then came the Kendall/Reid era and the two Maine Road derbies stick in my mind. The first under Kendall was soul-destroying. I won’t forget my joy when Colin Hendry stuck the third goal in only to see Reid substituted and the Reds pull two back and then nearly snatch a late winner. The second was a packed house when City/Utd occupied first and second place in the league. Tickets exchanging for £100+ outside the ground. At that time, the current City scapegoat was Adrian Heath and a lot of the fans truly hated him. I was stood in the Kippax next to this huge bloke (7 feet tall and built like a brick s***house) who shouted at the top of his voice for the fans to get off Heath’s back, which they did. A tense game saw Heath miss an open goal towards the end of the game – final result 0-0. You could feel the whole of the Kippax turn to the bloke next to me with a withering look. He suddenly didn’t seem all that big (I assume that Tor-Kristian Karlsen’s suggestion in MCIVTA120 of bringing Heath back was pure sarcasm).

To some extent I have to look back at the Reid era with some envy. How we miss a really competitive midfield terrier like Reid or McMahon.

This brings me on to the game which is probably the most disappointing of all that I’ve seen in 27 years of watching the Blues. The FA Cup quarter final against Spurs at Maine Road will forever stick in my mind. My brother had queued for 2 hours in the rain at Maine Road to get me a ticket. It was the usual cock-up in the ticket office with their computer having gone down, surly staff etc. (my brother – a Red – resisted the urge to say to the other queuing, pissed-off Blues “You don’t get this trouble at Old Trafford you know”). After the long drive from East Anglia I took my seat in the Main Stand, just next to the North stand which was completely full of Spurs fans. They were all singing away, drowning out the noise from the Kippax. Being near the touch line I saw Phelan’s brilliant dash and inch-perfect cross to Sheron for City’s first goal. The North Stand was suddenly quiet and I had visions of asking my brother to queue up later that week for a semi-final ticket. By mid-way through the second half, with City now 3-1 down, I was completely gutted and after Spurs’ fourth had gone in I had had enough. I missed the pitch invasion and Phelan’s late consolation goal (I still think he has the potential to be a great attacking full-back for City, if he receives proper coverage at the back when he’s going forward).

I’ve sinced moved to the USA so I only get to see games once or twice a year, although I did catch our win over Blackburn last season which was taped and televised on one of the cable channels here.

Looking back over the years, perhaps the most entertaining (and nerve-racking) games were when we were relegated twice in the eighties and had to fight our way back up. Perhaps a short spell in the 1st division ain’t such a bad thing?! One way or another, our time will return.

Forever Blue

Paul V. Muschamp (CONCERT/RSMPO03/muschap%Concert_-_Reston_2@mcimail.com)

RESULTS

No results due to the international fixtures this week.


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


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Thanks to Ken, Steve, Howard, Steve (x2), Paul (x3), The Mole, Huw, A.J?, Jim, Tor-Kristian, Nick& Matt.


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.


Ashley Birch, mcivta@tollbar.u-net.com

Newsletter #134

1995/10/12

Editor: