Newsletter #141

Two match reports this time around as well as news, opinion, humour and a Why Blue. City win and the souvenir shop is finally selling produce benefiting the club; we spent much time looking for a flying pig!

More internationals next weekend so there are no games ’til the 18th; if anyone would care to use this time to do a ‘Why Blue’ or ‘Ten greatest goals seen’ article then they’d be most welcome. Also, does anyone out there have any videos which haven’t been reviewed yet; there are loads. If anyone cares to review any, take a look at the WWW and send ’em in!

Next game, Sheffield Wednesday away, Saturday 18th November 1995.

MATCH REPORT `LIVE’

MANCHESTER CITY vs. BOLTON WANDERERS, Saturday, 4th November 1995

Team: Immel, Foster (Creaney), Edghill, Symons, Curle, Lomas, Flitcroft (Brown), Rösler, Quinn, Summerbee.

Another glorious day for football (is it really November?) and expectations were high with the media claiming the match was a six pointer. I had intended to go to the Old Abbey before this one, but my son Tom was keen to go and I didn’t want to deprive him of his enjoyment ;-). Living 60 miles north of Manchester we decided to set off early expecting heavier traffic when we reached Bolton. This didn’t materialise and we were outside the ground at 1.45. MCFC have taken over the Souvenir Shop and ripped the guts out of it. It was still open but with one till and a big cardboard box for all the money it was going to be a long day for the 4 staff. I settled for buying ‘King of the Kippax’ (fanzine) and after a brief wander round we went to our seats situated in the North Stand.

While I proceded to read KK (thanks for the MCIVTA plug to Bill Chapman, Sydney), Tom watched the kick-in. Hartford crosses the ball for Quinn, Rösler and Creaney in turn to run on to then try to beat Margetson. Tom informs me that the scores were Quinn 5, Rösler 4, and Creaney 2. The game started and City were really buzzing (pun intended). The shape of the team loooked good with Edghill far happier on the left and Foster looking solid on the right. There was no width on the left up front but sacrifices had to be made with Buzzer starting the game after his recent improved form. Flitcroft and Kinkladze were finding themselves in acres of room and dictated the play.

Flitcroft was picking the ball up deep from the back four and releasing Buzzer on the wing. He was taking his man on and getting good crosses in. Kinky was on song as well and getting a few shots in. The goal came after 11 minutes. Quinn danced past his man on the half way line with some nifty footwork. He slid the ball through to Kinky who had made a good run into the last third. Kinky saw Summerbee unmarked to his right, rolled it across to him and Branagan was beaten at his near post with a wickedly swerving shot. City should have had another 4 as we completely dominated a sorry looking Bolton. Flitcroft had a couple of efforts just wide. Lomas had one charged down. Kinky had one tipped over and Buzzer blazed a couple over the bar.

Although we were playing so well, I was a bit disappointed to see only 1 goal registered. I was also a bit miffed when the referee booked Quinn for jumping to head the ball against Branagan and committed no offence whatsoever. City’s only scare came when a freak slip by Symons resulted in him on his backside with McGinlay racing towards goal mMan next to me said Symons must have Mick Channon’s boots on). Fortunately Eike pulled off a good save.

The game changed with 2 decisions from Roy McFarland. Just before half-time and with Bolton being overrun in midfield he decided to bring off Paatelainen, their big centre forward and replace him with Patterson to stifle us out in the middle. Just after the break Flitcroft went off injured and we just couldn’t cope in midfield. Curcic, after looking impressive in the 1st half began to have a big influence. The game changed round completely and Bolton were dominating. The only relief for us was that they had no firepower up front and we could hit them on the break. Summerbee had to play deeper but couldn’t help stem the Bolton flow. Edghill looked to pick up a minor knock (twisted ankle?) but he soldiered on after getting no sympathy from his glances towards the bench.

AB was getting more and more animated and springing up from his seat every 2 minutes. David Lee got past Edghill a couple of times and after making inroads into the box he should have scored but hit them straight at Eike. We had a couple of chances at the other end with Rösler setting up Quinn who should have scored (it was blocked) and then Lomas who hit it over.

For some unknown reason McFarland took the best player on the pitch (Curcic) off and from then on Bolton didn’t look as dangerous. Foster dislocated his shoulder in a clash with Thompson and Creaney came on to demonstrate the art of falling over the ball once again. I was, however, relieved when the final whistle went and it was nagging me that we couldn’t counter a simple change of tactics by Bolton. Ball admitted on the radio afterwards that Flitcroft had started the game only 75% fit and Kinky only 90% fit. We definitely need this 2 week break.

Ratings: Immel (8), Foster (8), Edghill (7), Symons (7), Curle (7), Lomas (7), Flitcroft (8), Kinkladze (8), Rösler (6), Quinn (7), Summerbee (8).

Final score 1-0!!!!

MATCH REPORT `LIVE’

MANCHESTER CITY vs. BOLTON WANDERERS, Saturday, 4th November 1995

This was my first visit to Maine Road this season and I was both excited and scared as I boarded the train from London. Firstly I should add that I had in tow two “football first-timers” (virgins?) who I had managed to convince to travel with me, and they informed me that a City victory was essential if they were to “convert” from footballing heathens to City supporters.

Arrived in Manchester around 11.00 and thought a trip to the the new City superstore would be worthwhile. After wandering around lost inside the Arsedale centre for a few minutes we eventually stumbled upon our goal. To be honest I was fairly impressed, a wide variety of impressive, high quality gear was on sale, and had I had more cash then an Oasis style “CITY F.C – Definitely Manchester” T-shirt would definitely have been acquired. After a brief stop off in Didsbury for a few jars we arrived at The Academy around 2.40. This was the first time I’d seen the new Kippax in all its glory… and I must say it was ****in impressive. I usually sit in the North stand but today there was nowhere else I was going to sit!

Overall I gotta say that the Maine Road crowd was quite quiet, but given all that we’ve been through this season it’s hardly surprising. Straight from the kick off City were all over our neighbours from Bolton. In fact I can say that our first half performance was one of the finest I’ve seen for quite some time. The players looked hungry for the ball, were committed in tackles(!), and showed a dedication and awareness that has been lacking all season. The goal itself was a piece of sublime skill and arrived after 11 minutes. Quinn showed a piece of deft skill on the touchline, fired a pinpoint pass to Kinky who, with a swivel of the hips, beat a Bolton defender and passed the ball to the onrushing Nicky Summerbee who lashed it into the net. It was magic, and as Alan Ball said after the match “Yeboah will have to do something pretty special to top that for goal of the month.” For the rest of the half City totally dominated and went off at half time to a chorus of cheers.

To be fair the second half performance paled significantly in comparison with the first. City applied pressure for the first 20 minutes of the second spell but then seemed to want to throw it all away in the last 25 minutes (sound familiar?) when Bolton at last came to life. Whether or not the lads were exhausted by the effort they’d put in earlier I don’t know, but we’re going to have to learn to compete for a full 90 minutes if we’re going to climb away from the bottom of the table. After an agonising 6 minutes of injury time the referee (R.Hart) blew the whistle and Maine Road was on its feet singing Blue Moon and celebrating our first win of the season! My two friends were beaming from ear to ear and stating that they’d never enjoyed football so much. One has already pledged her loyalty to the Blues from now on!

Just a few points in conclusion, on what was a truly great day for Blues supporters. Firstly Quinn, Kinkladze, and Summerbee played out of their skins and deserve special praise. Niall showed he’s still got a lot to offer City, and Kinkladze was sheer class all afternoon – this man is worth the admission price alone. As for Nicky Summerbee I’ve criticised him in the past but today he deserved nothing but praise. His spell in the reserves seems to have done him the power of good, let’s keep playing that way Nicky! Secondly I have to say the Bolton fans provided some of the most boring, tedious and repetitive singing I’ve heard for a while. If “Super John McGinlay” is the best they can do then I really do feel sorry for them! And finally a message for all those long suffering Blues out there: We won’t go down! Believe it ’cause if the Blues play half as good as this for the rest of the season then we’ve no worries. Not that I’m saying it’s going to be a piece of cake, just that with a bit of self-belief and good support then we’ll at least make mid-table by May 1996. Cheers and Stay Blue,

MATCH VIEW

A gloriously sunny day which had us looking enviously into the bowels (now being disembowled) of the Souvenir Shop at the baseball caps. I just know when we manage to organise ourselves to get to the ground earlier enough to make a purchase and still make the kick off, then the sun will disappear. All I can say is ‘get that next tier on top of the Umbro box’.

City played excellently in the first half but were ragged in the second, but a win is a win and we all went away happy. We also heard some songs that have been absent for a long, long time! Here are my thoughts on the players:

Immel (8) Made a couple of excellent stops, he just knows instinctively where the opposition strikers are going to place the ball. His kicking and catching were also admirable today.

Edghill (6) Edghill looks streets better on the left and better than Phelan (IMHO). His first half score would have been 8; he covered well, attacked and ran for Kinky. The second half was 4; he just didn’t run any longer (Ken says he had a knock). There were countless opportunities to overlap which he passed up. He also let McGinley by him several times, after one of which he looked like he was going to do his well known ‘tackle from behind for a penalty’ routine.

Foster (8) Looked very good, some vital tackles and Bolton didn’t do very well at all. He just looks a little lacking in confidence up front where he wasted several opportunites by bad crossing into the box. Definitely our best right back, pity Ball has taken 12 matches to find this out.

Symons (9) Excellent and included a menacing, mazy run to the opposition’s box in which he put the ball to one side of a player and ran round the other.

Curle (8) Spent much of the second half telling Edghill what he should be doing.

Kinky (8) Looked very flashy at times, great dribbling and distribution and even got forward for a shot.

Lomas (7) Tackled hard and gave his all but still has a tendency to give the ball away stupidly.

Flipper (7) Looked good but faded visibly in the second half and looked like he was carrying an injury (he was).

Summerbee (8) Very good display again; he ran into space and took his man on repeatedly, winning into the bargain! His delight at scoring was palpable, his fist gesture to the Kippax undoubtedly contained an element of ‘sod you’ but who can blame him, his goal was a peach.

Quinn (7) Controlled the ball well with some neat skill but doesn’t look sharp in front of goal.

Rösler (5) Uwe was so slow he almost came to a complete standstill; he has lost form badly and needs a rest.

Creaney (5) Came on for five minutes but forgot to put his boots on. Had a good go on goal but fell over… again.

We badly need a striker; Christiansen would have been potentially our saviour as we are making loads of chances but have no one to stick them in the back of the net!

NEWS – CHRISTIANSEN I

Looks like Thomas Christiansen will not be joining City. The club received a fax containing an increased wage demand from the Spaniard and the deal is now off according to GMR.

NEWS – CHRISTIANSEN II

GMR reported at 7.25 am on 3/11/95 that Christiansen is unlikely to join the Blues now. Although the clubs have discussed and agreed the fee (around £600,000) AB has called off the deal due to Christinasen’s personal terms being to high.

NEWS – RELEGATION

There have been a couple of queries about promotion and relegation from Premier to Endsleigh and vice versa. The situation is definitely 3 up / 3 down for at least the next 2 seasons, subject to promoted teams meeting the recommendations of the Taylor report.

SNIPPETS

From Saturday’s programme:

Firstly, a piece on Paul Lake from Alan Ball’s notes:

While my immediate priority must be with the first team, I would like to take time out to mention a player who unfortunately is still in the background here.

Many fans have been enquiring about the welfare of Paul Lake. Paul, as you know suffered very serious knee ligament damage five years ago. It has been a long, difficult fight-back to full fitness for him and my physiotherapist Roy Bailey assures me that he is progressing well. Everything appears to be OK with his knee and he is to start ball training. Then we will have a better picture of his future. I thank all of you for your concern and everyone here wishes him well in his battle to get back into first team action.

Secondly, news of a fixture change:

Please note that the game against Nottingham Forest on 16th December has been chosen for the Sky televised game and will now take place on Monday 18th December, kick-off 8pm.

Finally, news of the souvenir shop:

As from Wednesday 1st November, Manchester City FC have taken over the Souvenir Shop at Maine Road. Although extensive refurbishments will be taking place over the next few weeks, we would like to inform supporters that the shop is still open for business. Further announcements will be made in future programmes.

MCIVTA RECORD

I had a feeling that Thursday’s issue was a ‘biggy’ so asked Paul if he could run a check to see if it was the biggest MCIVTA ever. Here’s his answer:

It’s a record! Here’s the top 10:

Bytes Edition

 62974 MCIVTA 140

 56739 MC1VTA 120

 52725 MCIVTA 138

 51451 MCIVTA 129

 46129 MCIVTA 76

 45127 MCIVTA 75

 43724 MCIVTA 86

 42790 MCIVTA 44

 42717 MCIVTA 99

 42413 MCIVTA 64

The record was smashed – and with only one match report!

AT LAST! I

It had to happen sooner or later didn’t it?

We’ve done it – we’ve won a game. All the pressure of recent weeks just disappeared when Nicky Summerbee scored on Saturday – the first time we’ve scored with our feet and the first time we’ve held a lead all season.

It wasn’t the greatest game in the world but it was certainly one of the most important for us this season. Man of the match in my opinion was between Niall Quinn, who ran his heart out for City, and John Foster – really unlucky to dislocate his shoulder late on in the game.

These are the games that we’ve got to win if we’re going to stay up. Let’s hope this win will kick-start our season – bring on Sheff. Wed.!!!

Up The Blues.

AT LAST! II

Just a quick note to say well done to the Blues and to all other Blues supporters who have stuck by the club this season. I know a 1-0 victory over Bolton cannot guarantee anything but at least it’s a start, so come on City let’s have some more.

I would also like to say that I was at the Oasis concert on Sunday night and it was good to see other City fans decked out in their shirts. It was even better to hear Oasis dedicate a song to all the City fans in the audience.

I was proud of City, proud of its supporters, proud to be Blue.

A PLEA FOR SOME ADVICE

You see, I had a ticket for Saturday’s game against Bolton (a friend’s season ticket, but don’t tell anyone – they say they are not usable by anyone other than the holder: the first time I did this, I wasted a lot of time and effort memorising the full address details of the ticket holder so that I would pass the inquisition on the way in).

Anyway, I had a ticket but at the last minute decided not to go – I’m in love you see, and it tends to do funny things to you like that. And we won. It wasn’t that Quinn shimmied his way though the midfield, or that Kinky demonstrated good awareness of those around him, or that Summerbee blasted home with a cool head; or even that Bolton are pretty crap and are probably going down (as well?!). No, it was because I wasn’t there.

So, my dilemma is this: should I avoid all of City’s games so that we win them? Or don’t you believe in that sort of superstition? I don’t really, but with our season in the state that it currently is I’m prepared to believe almost anything. Football, or certainly supporting a football team, is a bit like religion isn’t it? (All that time in the pews, and all you get in return is sore knees and aching buttocks).

Looking forward to reading all your excellent reviews of our first win.

ANYONE FOR A LONDON GAME?

Break open the bubbly! Win at last. We have won at last!

Since I don’t have a list of fixtures for this season, could one be tagged on to the end of each mailing? Alright, it would take a bit of work at first but once done, it would be useful. I’m quite willing to do it myself, if someone will pass me a copy.

On the same subject, since I haven’t been to a City game in years (the last one was in ’79 when Dalglish scored a hat-trick and Liverpool won 4-1 at Maine Road, while we had to sit next to three very loud Scousers) and the lads need the support this season more than ever, is anyone in the mood for a MCIVTA Party in London when City play one of the London clubs?

Personally, I would prefer a game where we stand a reasonable chance of winning (i.e. not Arsenal or Spurs) and seeing a decent game of football (i.e. not Wimbledon). Anybody up for it?

We have a mini-list of London & SE-based blues but after talking to John Shearer on Saturday (he co-ordinates it) we will probably change to advertising a pub to meet in before the game so that anyone can turn up. Maybe John could write a small article outlining his thoughts? As for the fixture list, what do people think?

OPINION – GIVE BALL A BREAK

Once again I feel compelled to write in in support of someone receiving a lot of abuse in MCIVTA recently… Alan Ball!

Firstly, how can he be expected to change what, in my view, is a pretty mediocre team into a successful one? Whoever said that most of our players would walk into any Premiership team in the country can only be seeing the world through pale-blue tinted spectacles. We lack players of vision and skill that carry other teams to success. In answer to the question of “how come we are so much worse than last year yet have essentially the same squad?”, well I don’t think that we are particularly worse than (the end of) last season. The main difference is that the teams like City who could not afford to make expensive purchases have all gone down (Ipswich, Norwich, Palace) to be replaced by teams who do seem to be able to bring in some stars (such as Middlesbrogh). OK, City are a big club compared to the likes of Norwich but the financial situation of both clubs is pretty similar at the moment.

Secondly, if we did get rid of AB, who in their right mind would come to Maine Road to replace him? I certainly could not imagine there being a huge amount of job security in managing a team with as few prospects as City!

Thirdly, what on earth am I doing travelling all the way from Norwich this weekend to see the Bolton game?

Oh, and as for celebrity(ish) Blues, there’s a band that have been compared to a young Oasis, called Northern Uproar, who confess to being fans.

OPINION – CAN THINGS GET ANY WORSE?

I suppose Rösler could go to the Rags and AB could take A. Ferguson’s son on for a loan period, but apart from that isn’t it a bit early to be relegating us? After all, don’t teams at the top (oh to be there again. who remembers consecutive fifth places a few seasons ago? Europe! Sorry, just dreaming) always say that it is too early to say you’ve won the title etc. when they are a couple of points ahead of the rest. Everything is, to use the old cliché, to be taken a game at a time.

If we, the fans, start believing that we are going down before the start of November, then how on earth are the players going to lift themselves? Everyone knows that AB is a nightmare and can’t seem to lift the players above mediocrity. After all, what can it do to a player’s confidence to hear his manager say that the team that just destroyed you were ‘irresistable’. As a football ‘fan’ AB could get away with this, but he is a manager of one of the country’s greatest teams. Just for now we shall forget that Old Trafford must be pissing themselves at AB and FL’s ability to play the media game!!!!

What has to be remembered is that we are not one or two men. Whatever anyone says it is us, the fans, that keep this team alive. City are bigger than all of this. I know it is hard but we must unite and get behind the team, however inadequate some of them are. If the best in our squad cannot perform because of the pressure of being bottom and the off the field sniping of fans, then how are the average players supposed to raise their game when we go down early in a game? Players need to play for pride again and if the manager can’t inspire the team then it should be down to us.

Talk of putting all of the players on the transfer list is stupid. In theory it would work along the lines of everyone playing for a place but can anyone really imagine this happening? What would be more likely is a exodus to teams like Leicester and Millwall in the hope of joining a team that will come into the Premiership next season.

If there is no money available then there is no money available; we should accept that and get behind the players. Maybe a few reserves should be given a game and a few should be off-loaded while we could still get a price for them (Quinn again is the obvious choice), but talk of wholesale listing is not rational.

As I said, City are bigger than AB, bigger than FL and bigger than this one season. We must accept the fact that, whether his heart is in it or not, FL is looking at City long term. Hopefully we are struggling today to be strong tomorrow. Wrecking a long term financial plan on a few risky loan deals makes no business sense. As everyone has stated, this is the same squad that at times last season made me proud to be a Blue amongst the gloating Rags that exist round here. Why bring in Hagi or even worse shit like Clough to try to stem the tide?

Does anyone really believe that Hagi would come? If we lost a couple of games with him does anyone imagine that he would be able to give 100%? Would he shite! He’d do exactly what Klinsmann did at Spurs and bugger off with the money once City didn’t make it. After all, why would he want to come here and fight it out at the bottom of the table with no hope of trophies and European football in sight? Money might get us quality players, but it won’t get us players that will tough it out, 1-0 down on a drizzly January night against the likes of West Ham. We need players that will fight for City and play for us, not the money.

If we can’t find players who will give 100% then don’t bother buying them. The rushed decision to get AB in has already cost us dearly result-wise and pride-wise, so why make another hasty mistake? What we need to do is give the players that are there pride again. Instead of picking on their bad points revel in their positive ones. You never know, they might start to show them again. It’s hard and I’m sick of smug, gloating Rag and Mag scum here in the North East patronising me but if the rôles were reversed which shitty top would they be parading around in all smug like?

I believe that we are the greatest, most loyal, most passionate and unfortunately the most tortured supporters around. This is not about AB or FL but about us, and I for one am not going to write us off until Des Lynam mutters those immortal words, “it’s only a mathematical chance of staying up.”

We can’t get rid of AB for plenty of reasons (financial, morale etc.) so we should hang on, get behind the team and hope that there will be an amicable parting of messrs Ball and Lee soon. Keep singing and stay Blue.

See you at the Wimbledon game when I hope we’ll be a win away from moving off the bottom.

OPINION – NO DRAW POLICY PLEASE!

So we beat Bolton… hip hip hooray. Make no mistake this means very little other than the fact that our points tally has now passed that of our goals scored tally. Very little, that is without a solid look at all the same problems that were being addressed the same time last week.

With reguards to the many suggestions that have been floating around about five man defence tactics and grinding out results, I agree that occasionally it is necessary to play a game that is dull to watch in order to protect yourself against the type of barrage that we received at Anfield on the last two visits, but is this really a direction that we want the team to start drifting in as a rule? I know some will say that desperate times call for desperate measures, but is this worth the risk of getting ourselves stuck in the kind of ‘endless series of draws’ rut that BH inherited? How many times have you walked away from Maine Road feeling frustrated by the thought that what started out to be a promising match ended up in a dreary draw, with the away team happy with a point and City apparently more concerned with keeping it that way than attempting to secure three for themselves? Not to mention the number of times when an early goal (or two) put paid to the enthusiasm of the team even to work for a draw – the boo boys perk up, heads go down and a goal just seems nigh on impossible.

Compare this to last season. Remember that feeling? There were times when things didn’t work out, granted. However, no matter how bad it got, it often felt like it didn’t matter because we were likely to score any time we got the ball. I sat in the North Stand block N last year; Beagrie used to run towards us when we attacked that way. There was always a belief that a goal was on the way. You could almost physically see the effect of the crowd’s excitement injected into him as he baffled defenders to our cheers and geers. It was the same with Walshy, Summerbee (at times), Uwe and even big Niall seemed to get excited once or twice. Players and fans loved each other, encouraged and fed off each other and even at Selhurst Park the boo boys were on vacation for the most part. Is this not what being a football fan is about? Surely this is what we want to see?

I know some will say that we were lucky against NU last season, or BR were in decline. Who gives a ****? I for one felt like any luck we got was well deserved and for the first time as a City fan last year – perhaps since as far back as ’81 – I felt the possibility of success, I’m sure I wasn’t the only one. I felt that with just a little bit of strengthening, the team we had were going to take everyone by storm within a season or two. I know that many must have felt the same, which to an extent is part of the frustration this season. I am in America this year and have not seen a match therefore will not make critical comparisons. This season all makes for very frustrating reading though.

If I am lucky I will get home at New Year and see Southampton, West Ham and the FA Cup match. The way things look I doubt if I will recognise more than a handful of the players. Back to my point though. We will never win a cup with a team that grinds out results. I also have major doubts as to whether or not it is possible to play five man defences for some games and then suddenly play with attacking flair in others. It’s not fair to expect this from the players; for one thing it requires certain players to be dropped from game to game regardless of form, which cannot be good for morale.

This gets me neatly on to the issue of morale, which is clearly a problem and I imagine will not be cured by a 1-0 home win over Bolton. Therefore I agree with the ideas of dropping the entire team; making everyone fight for their places can only be healthy. Playing a few good games in the reserves in order to fight back into the first team could well improve a player’s confidence. I know that some have critisised the disruption that this causes in the reserve side but I believe Vonk to be an exception, and remember that the regular reserve players would now be getting spurred on by the opportunity to fight for a place in the first team. If Nigel Clough is to come to Maine Road – which incidently I wholeheartedly agree with (remember the 3-3 game at OT?) – and as I have now also heard is possible, Michael Thomas, then they should not be gifted automatic places in the first team either, as AB seems to be saying is going to happen to whoever arrives before the Sheffield Wednesday game. Instead, they should be included in the same fight for places as everyone else. Remember Liverpool in the 70’s and 80’s? New signings didn’t appear in that team for months sometimes – they had to prove themselves too. Clough in particular I believe would respond well to this type of challenge and could well turn out to be a long standing name at Maine Road – he has surely been long frustrated at Anfield – if this is politics or not we can’t say, but I am sure that given a fair crack he will flourish and Maine Road could well be the place for him… we’ll see.

Anyway we should of course carry on playing attacking football; scoring goals will come back if the pressure is lifted from the strikers – if they know that they can afford to miss one or two chances and be sure of plenty more crosses. When they feel that every ball might be the only one they’ll get in the game then the pressure to make it count must be immense – pessimism, frustration and disappointment from the stands translates to players’ performances as easily as excitement and expection does. If we do all this we should win everything within a couple of years, then we’ll buy a flagging Frenchman from a nearby team and in his last game he can backheal the declining Rags into Endsleigh oblivion… perfect!

• sorry for going on for so long, but desperatetimes create desperate men (with desperately long-winded opinions).
• cheers for reading and thanks for keeping mein touch – the Mid-West is a lonely spot for a City fan.

FAMOUS BLUES I

Just a note about ‘celebrity’ City fan Howard Davies, former chairman of the CBI. About two years ago, he featured in one of those questionnaire things they run at the back of colour supplements. It went as follows:

What is your greatest ambition?
For Manchester City to win some silverware.

What is your greatest fear?
That I might not live long enough to see it happen.

FAMOUS BLUES II

In reference to Charles Augere mentioning The Fall’s love of City in MCIVTA 140, apparently in one of their recent songs they omit lyrics and have a recorded telephone conversation between one of the band and John Peel about a City game they’ve just been to. No idea which album, but I remember reading it somewhere.

Also, Bernard Sumner from New Order. One person who is definitely not a Blue is Shaun Ryder from Happy Mondays/Black Grape. Shaun Ryder, as you may know, is a dumb smackhead who can’t sing, but has a band anyway. Although he and Bernard Sumner later became friends of sorts, when they first met, Ryder apparently tried to stab him when he found out he was a Blue not a Rag.

BLUE HUMOUR

I heard another story recently, of a man standing on the roof of Old Trafford, preparing to jump on to the pitch below. The police were called, and the chief superintendent called up:

‘What are you doing up there?’

‘I’m going to kill myself!’ came the reply.

‘Why?’

‘Because Manchester City are bottom of the Premiership and going to be relegated.’

‘But’, said the copper, ‘You’re standing on the roof of the Stretford End. Why don’t you go to the Kippax Stand? It’s much higher, for a start.’

‘You must joking,’ said the bloke. ‘Have you seen the size of the queue over there?’

Here’s hoping the Bolton game marks the start of something less terrible.

WHY BLUE?

Well I have been sitting patiently listening and reading and loving all the news so it is now time to throw in the ‘Why Blue’. I’ll make it short and precise and show how much being a City fan means.

As every football fan knows, being a fan is more than watching the finals and being up to date on the team when they are ahead. If that was the case there would be no fans. Being a fan is waiting and waiting and when that is finished it means a little more waiting. Being a fan is waiting ’til the last minute of extra time when your team is down 0-2 and hoping that Immel will kick the ball out and it will bounce over the opposition keeper’s head and from the kick off the ball will be buried once again in the last seconds of injury time to earn a ‘well deserved draw’ for City.

Not many of my friends know that I am a City fan. That’s probably because I have not had much to crow about for the past decade or so. But I wait patiently. I have been a fan now for nearly two decades and cherish all the memories good and bad of City through those times.

It probably started with the League Cup Final against Newcastle and that sadly is one of the last winning memories that I hold dear. I still hate Halifax for kicking us out of the Cup all those years ago and I still rant on about Malcolm Allison (to anyone who will listen…) and I look longingly at my City shirt waiting for my yearly trip to City to see the team play (being exiled here in Austria).

The old names still ring true (Joe Corrigan, Tommy Hutchinson Summerbee… and so on and so ad nauseum until the people who I was talking to seem to have drifted off…) Not to worry I am waiting patiently. Never fear boys we will be back.

REQUEST – TUSCON

I am visiting Arizona in January and have contacted Ian Caldicott in Tuscon about the possibility of having a pre-match MCIVTA meeting in a bar before a game on TV. Does anyone know the schedule for live TV games in January – I doubt City will be on because pantomine season is over by then!! Any info will be greatly appreciated.

RESULTS

Sunday, November 5 1995

EVERTON               1-0    BLACKBURN ROVERS       30,097

Saturday, November 4 1995

ARSENAL               1-0    MANCHESTER UNITED      38,317
CHELSEA               0-0    SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY    23,216
COVENTRY CITY         2-3    TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR      17,545
MANCHESTER CITY       1-0    BOLTON WANDERERS       28,397
MIDDLESBROUGH         1-1    LEEDS UNITED           29,467
NEWCASTLE UNITED      2-1    LIVERPOOL              36,547
SOUTHAMPTON           2-0    QUEENS PARK RANGERS    15,137
WEST HAM UNITED       1-4    ASTON VILLA            23,637

Sun 05 Nov

Team                Played   Won Drawn Lost  For  Against   Points
Newcastle United      12     10    1    1     29     9        31
Manchester United     12      8    2    2     23    12        26
Arsenal               12      7    3    2     16     6        24
Liverpool             12      7    2    3     25    10        23
Aston Villa           12      7    2    3     17     9        23
Middlesbrough         12      6    4    2     12     7        22
Nottingham Forest     11      5    6    0     19    12        21
Leeds United          12      6    3    3     18    14        21
Tottenham Hotspur     12      5    4    3     19    16        19
Chelsea               12      4    4    4     11    14        16
Blackburn Rovers      12      4    2    6     16    16        14
West Ham United       12      3    4    5     11    16        13
Everton               12      3    3    6     13    16        12
Sheffield Wednesday   12      3    3    6      9    13        12
Southampton           12      3    3    6     13    20        12
Queens Park Rangers   12      3    1    8     10    19        10
Wimbledon             11      3    1    7     15    25        10
Bolton Wanderers      12      2    2    8     12    23         8
Coventry City         12      1    4    7     10    24         7
Manchester City       12      1    2    9      4    21         5

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http://www.uit.no/mancity/

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Thanks to Neil, The Mole, Kieran, Tony, Andy, Mike, Paul, Andrew, Chris, Nigel, David, John, Russell, Roger & 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.

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