Newsletter #478

Despite the expectant air, JR had not managed to clinch a loan deal this week, at least as of 9.30pm Thursday. There are further developments at the club on the Internet front, with them now canvassing opinion on selling tickets via the Internet – they would appreciate hearing your opinions (a questionnaire is included). Continuing on this theme, we also have an article from a less than satisfied customer of the commentary subscription service – is this a general feeling, or are there many satisfied customers out there?

Peter Brophy has returned from the UK (sounds odd I know!) and has written an excellent review of the much reviled ‘Cups for cock-ups’. Information is sought on ‘Blue Moon’ and any Blues out there who might just live in Brazil! There’s also a lovely Why Blue. Lastly, spare a thought for Walter Smith, he’s had some less than congratulatory messages from aggrieved Rags after his trip to the Swamp, hilariously reported in a recent MCIVTA!

Please note that there will be a change to the way MCIVTA is mailed out from the next issue; please take the time to read what these changes entail, and mail us if you are experiencing any problems.

MCIVTA – MAIL CHANGE

For some time now, we’ve been considering whether we should send out MCIVTA as a single email. The reason for the current policy of splitting it into parts, is that some people have old mail servers which will not allow messages over 32kbytes. However, there are problems with this, so we’d like to try going to a single email for the newsletter:

Advantages:

• Fewer bounced mails.
• Less hassle for the editor splitting it up.
• Easier to file and read by recipients.
• Less load on distribution machines.

Disadvantage:

• Some people won’t be able to read MCIVTA at all anymore.

Paul suggested that we need to find out how many people have trouble with larger emails. So, what we propose to do is to send out the next (MCIVTA 479) and subsequent issues as a single (possibly very long) email.

If you cannot then read (or even receive) this and subsequent issues, you should get in touch with Paul (paul@city-fan.org) and he will (for the time being) send out the smaller segments manually to the accumulated list of “problem users”. Paul will assess the situation after a few weeks – to see whether we can continue with a single email – or whether it would be better to go back to splitting the issues.

Please bear with us, and ‘hollah’ if your supply is disrupted…

BELATED MATCH REPORT

TWO BIG MACCS TO GO PLEASE – I’LL PAY CASH: THANK YOU

If I had a lingering doubt about how or if our season had turned around in recent weeks, it was how would we perform against the lesser lights of the division. We have shown that we can rise to the occasion when playing the ‘contenders’ but when it comes to the minnows the feeling in the stand is that we have played as though the points were already in the bag, only to be outfought and left with another exhibit for our empty bag collection.

Saturday’s result went a long way to dispelling that doubt and what I saw was a Second Division side on its way to being a First Division side and not a Premiership side fallen on ‘hard times’ with a monumental sulk.

It wasn’t a great performance, but then great performances are not what Second Division football is about. If we had had a pinch more luck and say, two more chances had gone in, four – nil would have been a good scoreline and a better reflection of the day’s play. It would not have meant a better performance on our part though. Passes were still falling short or over hit or missing their intended target by the width of a modest cathedral. I say all this not to criticise (Hello! – my trousers appear to have undergone spontaneous combustion) but to put a sound performance in the context of what has to be sustained for the rest of the season. And let’s make no bones about it and let there be no excuses – we must continue to play like this. Promotion in any form is the minimum requirement for this season. Anything else is just another lost opportunity.

Meanwhile, back at the match.

For the first half hour or so Macclesfield were very nervous. You know how it is, you’re at a big occasion – meeting your intended’s parents, the Queen, the Chairman of your company. How’s my hair, – is my tie, hat, teeth straight – are my flies undone? Please God let there not be an involuntary parting of the cheeks.

You could see it on their faces – What are all these people doing here? – Is something supposed to happen? Whilst the Maccs players pondered these momentous issues, Goater put us one nil up. A long punt upfield (no – surely not!) was somehow kept in by Horlock on our left wing. It fell to their defender Steve Hitchin, who hit a rather weak ball back to the ‘keeper who started to come for it, but as the dark shadow of Goater passed across his countenance he sorely took a fit of the wobbles and changed his mind. Goater took the ball to the goal line and slotted it in from the most acute of angles. Moral of this story – make the goal eleven inches wide and Big G will score every time.

There then followed incidents that can only be described as ‘Dibblesque’. A weak clearance by the ‘keeper (it never got more than four inches off the ground and didn’t make it to the halfway line) was partially collected by Efetobore Sodje (150 points – Scrabble), it bounced free and Shaun hit it straight back towards the goal. The ‘keeper, Ryan Price (50 points – Scrabble) got it at the second attempt.

Barely had the words “…you don’t see that very often…” left my lips than he did it again, this time Horlock cleared the upright and crossbar by inches from just inside the Macclesfield half.

I can’t be too hard on the ‘keeper, he made some great saves before the goal and throughout the rest of the half that kept Macclesfield’s hopes alive. Wiekens, Morrison and Goater all went very close and Brown (I think) from where I sat seemed to have a good case for a penalty when a defender seemed to pull him down or perhaps he was just trying to get a better view and was using Brown as a step ladder. We hit the woodwork twice (Gareth Taylor, in particular having a good game and was unlucky to have not added to the scoreline). Macclesfield had their chances and had lots of movement and skill up front. Graeme Tomlinson wasted a particularly good chance, putting the ball into the side netting from the edge of the six-yard box. Their no. 10 was very clever with the ball and on a couple of occasions had our defence ‘waltzing with air’. He was lucky to complete the game when in the second half he elected to prove the theory that ‘the quickest way to a man’s heart’ was not via the stomach but rather through the backside.

I exaggerate for dramatic effect OK, but his tackle on Michael Brown from behind was dangerous and intentional and warranted only a yellow in the view of the Referee and as I remarked at the time, “had that been Pollock, he’d have been off”. For all the rules, regulation and guideline, Referees have all the ‘consistency’ of a dodgy Rusholme Kebab.

Did you see that the sending off of Liverpool’s Jamie Carragher by Mike Reed at Charlton has been upheld by the FA?

What’s Wrong With This Picture?

You want to improve refereeing standards? – Yes!

Any and all attempts to improve the match officials’ decision making process – kick into touch when you have found the slightest objections. Real reason – undermines the authority of the referee!

Any and all attempts to redress the many errors made by officials during matches – uphold even the most patently absurd decisions. The referee’s decision is final i.e. he is right even when he is wrong – (a privilege previously afforded exclusively to Popes, Politicians and Alex Ferguson). Real reason – undermines the authority of the referee!

Newsflash! – Football is a worldwide multi-billion pound industry, enjoyed, supported and played by millions. It was not invented in order that greengrocers, accountants, butchers and candlestick makers could exercise authority for 90 minutes each week.

Remember – If you are not part of the solution, then you are part of the problem.

Meanwhile back at the Match – Part 2

City’s second owed a lot, once again to sloppy defending. A Macclesfield defender some 30 yards from his own goal shinned a ball skyward, which Goater collected and laid off to Taylor on the left. He carried it just inside the penalty area before shooting low and hard into the far bottom corner.

Macclesfield showed spirit but the second goal all but killed them off, they might have rescued something from the game playing the City of three months ago. But the truth is we had more and better chances and even with the frailties I’ve already mentioned we were always in control.

Some performances of note. Morrision didn’t put a foot (or head) wrong and showed a real flair for ball distribution. His passing was for the most part accurate and effective and put real pressure on the opposition – there’s a difference between the long ball and the long pass.

My wife tells me to “leave the man alone” every time I mention Shaun Goater. In the last couple of weeks the real SG is beginning to re-emerge. He gets involved now and makes a nuisance of himself and this ‘presence’ was instrumental in both goals on Saturday. I don’t feel that he is ‘hiding in plain sight’ which, in the past I think he was guilty of. I think he could still grab more goals by varying his runs (to the near post for example) and perhaps he and Taylor could switch rôles and make space for each other.

Gareth improves, for me, with each game. Granted the improvement maybe almost imperceptible on some occasions for some City fans, but he is also getting goals and I think that part of his and our frustration has been brought about by wanting too much too soon.

The next few weeks may prove crucial, but before JR starts rummaging the ‘bargain basements’ for on-loan makeweights, just a few names he might like to conjure with. Shelia, Fenton, Mason and Tiatto. We have heard almost biblical lamentations about how even now the squad is too large and the wage bill too high, but if there are any advantages to a large squad then now in the last quarter of the season, with injuries and suspension looming, this is when such advantages become apparent. Bringing in on-loan players who may not have had regular games this season and will certainly not be familiar with or understand the City way (OK – so a lot of us don’t either) for a few weeks, seems an almost reckless tinkering with the good work that has been done over the last few months.

Spell checker alternatives as thrown up by my version of Microsoft Word:

Pollock – Police!
Morrison – Moron – I never said it, if you must blame someone Andy, try Bill Gates.

NEWS SUMMARY

Mid-Week Results

After Saturday’s results going so much in our favour, it was expecting too much for a few slip-ups amongst the teams above us who were all in action on Tuesday and so it proved to be. All four won, with Preston in particular showing how we should be dealing with the teams below us by giving Lincoln a 5-0 thrashing. This puts our scoring record into perspective – 38 to their 61. As it’s goals scored rather than goal difference that will count in the event of teams being level on points, and we’re currently worse than all the immediate rivals bar Stoke at the moment, we need to start banging them in as well as winning. The most realistic assessment still points to a play-off position but even that’s a far from foregone conclusion with a third of our season still to go. On the plus side, we are unbeaten in the league this year and so long as we’re not conceding (m)any we have an obvious foundation for winning games.

Reserves Report

A 2-0 home defeat by Wolves and a story of missed chances I’m afraid, with Danny Allsopp allegedly the worst culprit. Shaun Wright-Phillips was given a run out in the second half along with fellow striker Leon Mike. Danny Tiatto, Jim Whitley, Gary Mason and Tommy Wright were all in action for the Blues. Mark Jones and David Connolly netted for Wolves, the former opened the scoring on 20 minutes when he collected a pass from Carl Robinson and curled a shot around Tommy Wright. Tommy then “opened his legs and showed his class” as Connolly nutmegged him to double their advantage. I shudder at the prospect of Nick Weaver getting injured! Wolves are now above us though we do have games in hand on most of the teams around us; I’d rather we had the points.

Player-Go-Round

The virtual world has been full of speculation about possible loan deals but nothing concrete has emerged thus far. “I have a short-list of players we would like to bring in and I am speaking to other clubs all the time” said Joe but went on to say, “I am not going to start mentioning names at this stage because that can raise false hopes.” With the FA confirming the one match bans for messrs Horlock, Vaughan and Morrison and three for Pollock, the squad’s strength in depth will be sorely tested this weekend in particular.

MEN and TeamTalk have mentioned Nick Henry as being a candidate to fill one of the midfield holes left by our rash of suspensions. Described as a “midfield terrier”, now at Sheffield United having played more than 200 games for JR at Oldham (around 300 according to TeamTalk so take your pick), his appearances have been limited by a back injury that required surgery last year and he has only managed a handful of first-team games for United and is not featuring regularly in Steve Bruce’s side. So we may get a terrier in to replace our Rottweiler.

A less likely candidate is Danny Cadamarteri, Everton’s England under-21 international striker. TeamTalk brought up this one – source unspecified – but it seems a bit of a long shot. It’s unlikely that Everton would make Cadamarteri available, and even more unlikely that he would fancy a temporary drop, although that didn’t stop Michael Branch (or Terry Cooke for that matter). Interestingly TeamTalk seemed to be dismissive of our need for forward options; not sure I’d agree but would have liked Craig Russell to be given an extended run in his natural position. Shaun Goater is far from complacent about our attacking options, and is on record as appreciating the faith JR has placed in him thus far. “I know what’s expected of me and that I need to score more goals. There’s no question that my recent record simply hasn’t been good enough. At times I’ve not even been playing well enough to start games but the boss has stuck by me and now I want to prove he was right.”

So what about the player options we have got? Jim Whitley in for Jamie Pollock? Neil Heaney for Kevin Horlock? In defence, Richard Jobson would appear to be unlikely to be fit enough to face Chesterfield – “Richard is improving, but he is still some way off match fitness and will be struggling to be ready for Saturday” according to Joe though he did play against Wolves for the reserves – so with our two remaining Georgians still on the mend, a recall for Nick Fenton who last played when we lost to York (coincidence I’m sure)? Things may not be that simple, since Fenton didn’t play in the reserves so Joe might be considering moving Lee Crooks to centre half and moving Edgy back to right back. Gerard Wiekens is still not a guaranteed starter but should be over his ankle injury by Saturday. Whatever happens, it’s going to be a significantly different team to last weekend’s that steps out at Saltergate, so lets hope the ‘squad spirit’ principle is borne out in practice. I’m a bit nervous about the prospect of wholesale changes and would rather we left those that are available in their recent positions and filled the gaps.

In the other direction, Joe’s been stepping up his pruning programme and has given free transfers to Steve Rimmer and Anthony Fenton. The unwanted Fenton twin is going to Portsmouth on a week’s trial with Ginger apparently interested in signing him full time, with Steve Rimmer possibly joining him on loan after his spell at Doncaster. Wrexham have also enquired about taking Tommy Wright on loan but we’ve not responded as yet.

Millwall Postscript

Greater Manchester police have launched an official inquiry into the way the police officers on duty at Maine Road handled the recent crowd trouble. The investigation will focus on how the police failed to prevent the outbreak of trouble despite being provided with one of the most detailed intelligence reports ever compiled. Intelligence officers (almost an oxymoron you might argue!) in London predicted trouble, resulting in the game at Maine Road being a category C match, the highest bracket available, so Greater Manchester Police allocated more officers to the game than usual. Nevertheless, Millwall are claiming that their fans were not escorted to and from the ground and there have been accusations suggesting that the police were heavy handed. A spokesperson for the police said: “Following the outbreaks before, during and after the game, a police operation has been launched to investigate all crimes that occurred. It is thought that this will be a lengthy investigation.” After the match, head of operations, Superintendent Clive Wolfendale, said that it was sadly a return to the dim and dismal days of the past. Here’s hoping we don’t have to play them in future!

Share Sale?

Weekend speculation added a twist to the mystery backer story in as much as pubs and hotels group Greenalls were rumoured to be likely to sell their 7.7% stake in the club. They’ve not commented but them being a possible target for a £1.5 billion takeover bid by either Whitbread or Scottish and Newcastle which may lead to Greenalls selling their shareholding in City, thus increasing the rumours of a takeover.

Soccer School

Anyone young McVittee subscribers interested in the Easter soccer school (April 6th and April 9th at Mellands Playing Fields in Gorton) to be run by ex-City keeper Alex Williams should contact the Greater Manchester Federation of Clubs for Young People on 0161 862 9877.

Signing Off

Pete Brophy should be back in action for the next issue, so until further notice direct your gossip and tips his way at the address at the end of this issue, but before I go, if there is anyone out there from Planet would they please check out the quality of their connection as I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve been timed out of the official club site and this using a permanent 2Mb/s connection at work.

NEWS – ON-LINE TICKET SALES?

The ticket office is currently in discussions regarding the possibility of selling tickets via the Internet. It is proposed that there would be a secure site linked to the ticket information pages which would allow supporters to input their ticket requests and credit card details safely. The supporter would then be contacted by email with confirmation of the sale and a booking reference number. We are hoping to have a trial running towards the end of this season or the beginning of next. At the moment this would only allow supporters to purchase tickets for home league games although this may change depending on the results of the trial.

I enclose a questionnaire which will help us in our endeavours. Please email replies to nathan@mancity.bdx.co.uk by the 28th February. Please feel free to add any comments.

1. Are you a current season ticket holder?
2. Would you be interested in purchasing tickets online?
3. How often would you expect to purchase tickets online?
4. How do you normally purchase tickets, e.g. fax/phone/at the window?
5. How many home matches do you attend in a season?

Thank you for your help.

TICKET NEWS

Burnley vs. Manchester City, Tuesday 9th March

Tickets for this fixture are due to go on open sale on Wednesday 24th February at 9.00am. It is expected that an extremely limited number of seat tickets will still remain at this time. Tickets are priced £12 adults, £6 jnr/OAP.

Colchester vs. Manchester City, Saturday 20th March

Seat tickets for this fixture are sold out. A limited number of standing tickets still remain on sale to Regular Season ticket holders.

Preston vs. Manchester City, Monday 5th April

This fixture will kick-off at 12 noon due to police instructions.

KEVIN KENNEDY INTERVIEW

In case anyone missed the interview with Kevin Kennedy (a.k.a. Curly Watts from Coronation Street) regarding his infatuation with Manchester City (broadcast on BBC Radio 5 Live last Monday), I have converted the 20-minute interview into an MP3 file and placed it on a temporary website.

The download is 2.93 MB but is probably worth it. Don’t worry if you don’t have an MP3 player as I’ve also included a link to download that too.

Special thanks to Sikpupi for his help on this one.

Here’s the link: http://members.xoom.com/DonkeyFC/

WORLDNET 99

The Internet Football Association has announced its annual event for Internet Mailing List Football Teams. Worldnet99 – the Leicester Fiesta – will be held on July 17/18 1999 at Leicester’s Victoria Park.

Day one is a mini-league and day two will be a knock out competition leading to the grand final to decide who is this year’s Top Internet Mailing List Football team. The winners will recieve the Wilf Mannion Trophy.

Internet Football Mailing Lists use the Internet and e-mail to bring together supporters of football teams from all over the world. During the footballing year Internet Mailing List Football Teams meet to play each other all over the UK. Internet football is not just about winning. It’s about taking part and building bridges between rival sets of supporters.

Last year saw teams from AC Celtic, Swindon, Notts County, Leeds, Boro, Sheff Wed, Coventry, Watford, Colchester, Ipswich, Arsenal, Donnie, Derby, Leicester, Birmingham, Man Utd, Portsmouth, AEK, Forest, WBA, Gillingham, Man City, Bradford, Spurs, Hudds Town, Reading, Everton, Crewe, Rangers, QPR, Southampton, Stockport, West Ham, Villa, Chelsea and Wolves all taking part.

QPR ran out the final winners.

There is also a year-long league for teams to play in which is sponsored by PSInet. Teams usually play each other in advance of the teams they support playing each other as well as in various mini tournaments throughout the year.

For more information contact john.boocock@zetnet.co.uk

McVitee FC will be entering this tournament. Anyone interested in joining us please contact me and I can give you more details.

BOOK REVIEW – CUPS FOR COCK-UPS

A week off and a chance to recharge the batteries by spending some time outside crisis-torn Russia meant I ended up doing a lot of reading. Almost all of it was football-based and in addition to the Deloitte & Touche survey of football club accounts I read journalist Derrick Alsop’s inside view of a year in the life of his local team Rochdale and a similar account (co-authored by Alex Fynn, a well-known football consultant) of a year at Tottenham Hotspur. I’d recommend both as offering a behind-the-scenes insight at the respective ends of the football spectrum. Fynn deals with issues like the implications of a flotation for a football club and the rôle of agents in transfers worth millions. Alsop describes how the Rochdale manager is concerned with finding a pitch for his team to train on and how the players take their own sandwiches on the team coach to Torquay.

In the penultimate match of my first full season watching City, we demolished Spurs 5-0, and as little as six years ago we were facing them in an FA Cup quarter final which many pundits and neutrals expected us to win. Last Saturday I travelled up to Manchester to see us take on opponents who’ve spent most of their history dreaming that one day they might reach the same league as Rochdale. In terms of support and tradition, we have much more in common with the Spurs of this world. It’s a reasonable supposition, then, that the story of how we’ve come (entirely deservedly) to be rubbing shoulders with opponents who have much more in common with Rochdale could be the subject of a pretty interesting book. Ashley Shaw’s ‘Cups for Cock-Ups’, the third football tome I consumed in the last week, aims to be that book.

In the latest Bert Trautmann’s Helmet Noel Bayley dismissed Shaw’s efforts as a “red book in a blue cover” and I read this review before I read the book itself. Shaw, you see, is a Manchester United fan, and regularly punctuates the litany of City disasters with comparisons to United triumphs. The author would no doubt retort that, as the most successful club of the nineties both on and off the pitch, they provide a useful counterpoint which puts into sharper focus City’s failings in both departments. Nevertheless, he does overdo it and there are one or two occasions where he reflects on aspects of City fans’ feelings towards United despite his musings having no relevance whatsoever to the point at hand. For example, when making the perfectly valid point that in an age where United have aroused the hostility of many all around the country City’s image is helped by being their traditional rivals, Shaw is unable to resist a lengthy swipe at the “localised jealousy” of City fans. Whether or not this is fair comment, it’s immaterial to the argument.

While this was obviously a major flaw in Noel’s eyes, for me it was a relatively minor irritant and I found other failings which rankled more. For example, mistakes in written English go with the territory in fanzines or interactive online forums, but they annoy me in a book like this. Surely the publisher ought to employ people who can eradicate the use of “principle” where it should be “principal”, “it’s” instead of “its” or “reign” in place of “rein”. I know this is probably a minor issue for most people, but it does convey a slightly shoddy impression. More serious, and damaging to authorial credibility, are factual errors. Shaw states that Paul Simpson, who made his first-team début in 1982, was part of the successful 1986 youth side, he tells us that Dave Shindler wrote “Manchester United Ruined My Life“, he includes Crewe in a list of visitors who won at Maine Road last season and he affirms that we’ll be playing Shrewsbury Town in the league this season. If this is the extent of his knowledge, is he really the man to analyse where it all went wrong for City?

Doubts as to Shaw’s aptitude for the task intensify when he displays a complete lack of authority in discussing the boardroom and corporate issues which have had such an impact on life at Manchester City in the last few years. The most glaring of several examples comes when Shaw says that Francis Lee took a twelve per cent stake in return for loaning the club money. This just isn’t true. Lee, together with Colin Barlow and John Dunkerley, paid Swales and Boler the going rate for a 29.9% holding in the club, of which the chairman owned roughly two thirds. Lee’s personal sake, of course, was diluted to 12% by a subsequent share issue. The loan of funds to the club, which enabled City to avoid relegation in 1994 by signing Rösler, Walsh and Beagrie, was separate from the share purchase. Again, maybe this inaccuracy seems fairly minor in itself, but it’s symptomatic of a lack of clarity on Shaw’s part as to the way the football business works. And that’s important, because this lack of clarity is at the root of the book’s failure to provide an authoritative account of City’s decline.

It can be seen in contradictory statements throughout the book. For example, we’re told early on that flotation is the only way forward for major football clubs in the nineties, which is in itself a proposition which could be argued at length. At the end of the book, though, Shaw is talking enthusiastically about the club being owned by the fans rather than by investors who are motivated purely by profit. It’s not clear to me how Shaw squares the two statements in his own mind. What seems a better bet is that he doesn’t really understand the implications of either statement.

This lack of knowledge is presumably what makes Shaw appear over-reliant on his interviewees. So we have Mike McDonald, the only real alternative to Lee back in 1993-94, implying he’d have done a much better job. We have Raymond Donn, at the time hoping to put together a takeover bid, expansively revealing his vision of the future. We have Dante Friend, a leading light in the Free the Manchester 30,000 movement, talking about the influence of fan power. And we have Dave Wallace, reflecting that the board should have consulted with him, as “fan on the board”, over managerial appointments. If Shaw weighed up their arguments authoritatively, then agreed with them, I wouldn’t complain about the approach. Unfortunately, he lacks either the inclination or the critical faculty even to question even the most contentious elements of what he’s told.

The clearest of several instances comes when he refers to the eventual removal of Lee as having been forced by the City fans and gives Dante Friend, who incidentally wrote the book’s foreword, an uncritical platform to recount the aims and activities of the Free the Manchester 30,000 movement. Lee may have become an unpopular figure after four disastrous years but he showed no sign of being swayed from his determination to remain chairman by supporter pressure. I firmly believe (and am confident that most sensible observers would agree) that boardroom politics were the only reason for his demise, and I doubt that City historians of the future will record Free the 30,000 as having been instrumental in anything at all. In similar vein, Shaw’s treatment of McDonald and Donn is totally uncritical, while the fan on the board issue is given a very lengthy airing when to me (and I suspect most City fans) it would merit only a footnote in the chronicles of the Lee years.

The weakness is magnified as all of Shaw’s interviewees would naturally be expected to be fairly hostile to the Lee regime and there’s a consequent lack of balance. The point isn’t whether Shaw is right or wrong in condemning Lee, but if he wants to take this stance he should examine what mitigating arguments Lee might offer and explain why he rejects them. Moreover, Shaw tends to ignore completely any episodes where none of his interviewees can provide any insight. For example, there was protracted takeover speculation in the summer and autumn of 1996 and a question I’ve had ever since is whether any interested party could credibly have offered the club an injection of funds and a new direction. If so, was Lee receptive or obstructive? My own judgement of Lee could change significantly depending on the answers. It doesn’t even occur to Shaw to ask the questions.

Despite these very major criticisms, it would be unfair to say that the book has no redeeming feature. Shaw had access to people with an interesting insight and this is the saving grace of “Cups for Cock-Ups”. The interviews with Donn (if you can cut your way through the gushing descriptions of his LA Law-style offices on Deansgate(!) and his plans for a glittering, continental-style academy of footballing science in Moss Side) and McDonald shed light on two men who could easily have become City chairman. In particular, the information surrounding McDonald’s first bid for City is new and illuminating. I never knew, for instance, that after concluding a deal to buy a 52% holding in the club, McDonald had not only set up the White/Rocastle swap deal which went through a couple of weeks later, but had also arranged for Noel Whelan to come to Maine Road as part of the package. On the other hand, nine quid is a lot to pay for a book whose major merit is a couple of mildly interesting pieces of new information.

One of the reviews of the Alex Fynn book said it was a benchmark against which all football books of its type could be judged, and as I think that’s a fair comment, I’ll end by comparing it to Shaw’s efforts. For £6.99, Fynn offers over 400 pages well-written and well-argued insight into the modern game at top level, from a man whose background makes him well worth listening to on the topic. For £8.99, Shaw offers 170 pages which don’t even begin to approach a similar standard, with unsatisfactory reasoning to back up fairly mundane conclusions – that Swales mismanaged the club, Lee didn’t have enough money, couldn’t get rid of some people who needed to be removed and made some mistakes (tell us something we don’t know!). I expressed the view that there’s a great book begging to be written about City’s torments – there’s certainly scope for an authoritative and compelling treatment of a decline which has been swift, dramatic and brutally disappointing. Unfortunately, “Cups for Cock-Ups” is well wide of the mark.

INTERNET RECEPTION

Last Saturday was the first game that was transmitted over the net as a subscribed commentary game. I have listened whenever possible all season to the service and it has been an iffy service at best, however I put up with the poor quality because it was free. I know that many have expressed concern about having to pay for the service. I won’t go into the rights and wrongs of having to pay for this as that has been more than well debated over the previous few weeks. I was expecting the services quality problems to be slightly less as it was now subsriber based so I connected with some excitement last week. I was very quickly disillusioned some seconds after clicking on the broadcast icon when I received an error mesage telling me the link did not even exist. Man, I was pi**ed. I tried every couple of minutes until at 9.40am (I live in Houston, Texas and kick off was 9.00am) I managed to connect, therefore missing almost all the first half.

After the game I sent an e-mail to planetfootball.com to complain about what had happened and asking them to either extend my subscription for another week of refund me pro-rata. Below is what they sent back to me and my reply.

>From: "Hugh Middleton" <hugh.middleton@theplanet.co.uk>
>To: "David Hoffman" <davehoffman65@hotmail.com>
>Date: Wed, 24 Feb 1999 15:42:19 +0000
>Subject: Re: Connection problems
>
>Dear David,
>
>Since we cannot guarantee that you have uninterrupted commentary due
>to circumstances beyond our control, we are unfortunately  unable to
>offer refunds or extensions to subscriptions. Factors such as network
>bandwidth, problems with local Internet Service Providers and
>cacheing can all have a bearing on you being able to connect to the
>commentary successfully. For this reason, the commentary is offered
>as a free element withing the subscription package. We can guarantee
>the availability of the daily interviews because they are static
>files.
>
>I apologise for the loss of reception that you experienced, and can
>assure you that we are doing everything in our power to make sure
>that the broadcasts are transmitted successfully, but are not in a
>position where we can 100% guarantee faultless reception.
>
>Best regards,
>
>
>Hugh Middleton

Hugh

I understand full well that you cannot guarantee that the material you put out can be received. That was not my particular problem. My problem was that the web link simply did not exist for 40 minutes of the first half of the game. I know that ensuring that any links are written correctly on the web page is under your control. That is why I am unhappy and at this moment in time I am 50% down on the deal. I am not asking for a great deal, all I require is another game or if you prefer, a refund.

As for the commentary being free, I think you are being very naïve in thinking that anybody would pay for two-minute clips of players saying exactly what they are reported to have said in the text portion of the site. The only reason that I pay the subscription is that I can listen to the commentary. I think you would find the same with the majority of subscribers.

Please reconsider your reply.
Thank you
David Hoffman

I will let you know what happens in the next few days but it seems that planetfootball have a serious problem with customer satisfaction and if I do not get any joy and the service does not get any better I will have to forget the commentary and rely on Soccernet’s score service.

Good Luck Blues and here’s to the ‘P’ word!

THE ANORAK’S FORM GUIDE TO DIVISION 2

A very good week for the Blues – and for me as well. I took both my daughters to the match on Saturday for the first time – the youngest daughter Hannah really enjoyed it and wants to go again!

As I pointed out last week, we gain most when our rivals draw against each other in crucial 6-pointer games – and this occurred over the weekend (joy of joys).

On Saturday, the form guide indicated that we would clinch automatic promotion in second place by 1.5 points from Preston! Alas – Tuesday’s results did not go for us at all with Walsall now sneaking past us into the second automatic promotion spot.

It is now apparent that if we obtain 15 out of every 18 points we will (in all probability) achieve automatic promotion. Do we have the goal scoring capability to do this? I personally don’t think we have at the moment. Over the last two months we have drawn against both Walsall and Bournemouth – and in both games, we could have won if we had marksmen at the top of their form.

Team          Pld  GS Pts L6    Final   L6  Ave L6    Final    Pos
                          GS     GS     Pts   Pts      Pts
Fulham       30 +2 46 65  (6)7  64.67 (11)13 11.67 (92.00)99.67 =1
Preston NE   32 +2 61 62 (13)12 89.00 (13)10 12.00 (93.67)85.33 =4
Walsall      32 +2 44 61  (7)8  62.67 (11)11 10.00 (86.33)86.67 =2
Gillingham   31 +2 48 55 (12)12 78.00 (13)11 11.67 (87.83)82.50 =5
City         31 +1 38 51  (8)10 63.00 (12)14 13.33 (80.00)86.00 =3
Bournemouth  29 +1 48 50 (12)12 82.00 (11)11 11.67 (83.00)81.17 =6
Stoke        29 +1 37 48  (7)7  56.83  (4)4   4.00 (60.00)59.33
Wigan        30 +2 44 46 (11)7  62.67 (10)12 12.00     (?)78.00
Millwall     32 +1 36 46  (7)8  54.67  (7)7   8.00 (60.50)62.33
Chesterfield 30 +1 34 46 (10)9  58.00 (12)10 11.33 (79.00)72.67

Key:
Figures in brackets indicate last week's values
Pld = Played
L6  = Last 6
GS  = Goals Scored
Ave = Average
Pts = Points
Pos = Final Position

Notes:

1. Fulham will be champions.
2. We play Bournemouth in the play-off semi-finals.
3. Walsall appear to have got over their recent dip in form.
4. The wheels have come off Stoke’s promotion challenge.
5. At the moment the loss (or gain) of 2 points over 6 games results inchanges of nearly 7 points. As the season progresses these fluctuationswill diminish.

Keep the faith, Miracles do happen.

SOUTH FLORIDA BLUES

A good turn out of SF Blues saw the USA beat Chile 2-1 at Lockhart Stadium Ft. Lauderdale on Sunday the 21st of February. We were really impressed to meet Barry Porritt and his wife Sherry. They had travelled all the way from Clearwater Beach, which is a four hour drive!

The game itself was not up to a very high standard, as both teams are rebuilding and used the occasion to try out new blood. There was little to choose between them and I am sure that Man City could have beaten both without much effort. Even so it was a good afternoon out. Lockhart stadium provides a good view wherever you sit, and the atmosphere is always electric.

Now it’s onto the real stuff. The Major League Soccer (MLS) season opens with the Miami Fusion hosting the New York/New Jersey Metro Stars on Sunday March 20th at Lockhart stadium Ft. Lauderdale. A big crowd is expected and the SF Blues have decided to hold a tail gate party before the game. This is a change from the original plan to meet at the Tudor Inn. Game kicks off at 7:30 p.m. Tail Gate party begins at 5:30 p.m. All City fans welcome. Look for us at the South East Corner of the car park. Behind the main ticket office.

OPINION – LOOKING AT THE PAST THROUGH SKY-BLUE SUNGLASSES

What is Neil Haigh on? His assertion that Gio could have saved City last year beggars belief! Gio was quoted as having made a mistake soon after he signed a new contract for the Blues after two years at Maine Road. He certainly played like it in his final season!

He had two thirds of a season in the Premiership when he played well as an individual, as well as fitting into the team. However, the team were relegated and one Premiership manager was quoted as not being interested in signing Gio because “he had just got City relegated”. I always thought this was a bit on the harsh side, but I can see why the observation was made.

Gio’s form in year one of Division One was pretty patchy and City’s best run of results coincided with his absense through injury. His form in the second year of Division 1 was appalling and he was in need of a big kick up the ar*e from Frank Clark. As Gio was the chairman’s protegee this was never likely to happen.

Gio’s efforts for Ajax dispel any thoughts that he might perform better with good players around him. It would appear that he’s basically a lazy sod who will perform on his terms or not at all.

Gio was/is a supremely gifted player but he doesn’t seem to have the right stuff between the ears to ever make it on a big stage.

With regard to Michael Brown – I think he started the season with a rank bad attitude. His recent form has been a revelation and now he is probably one of the first names to go on the teamsheet. His performance aginst Macc was head and shoulders above Pollock and Horlock and he seems to have a very good understanding with Cooke. I don’t blame Joe for not picking him at the start of the season. I guess Neil will argue that Brown’s bad attitude was caused by Joe Royle – I’d give credit to Joe for recognising that Brown was over his problems and ready for first team football again – remember he didn’t have too good a start against Preston but he’s made up for it since.

On the same tack, hopefully a look outside Maine Road on his loan spell with Wrexham might focus Jeff Whitley’s mind on the mental and physical requirements of professional football.

Finally – I think we all owe Neil our undying gratitude now that he has stopped booing the players. City supporters are in general among the best in the land, however there has been a moronic element at Maine Road for as long as I remember (40 years or so) which has attempted to crucify certain team members, often for no apparant reason. Neil Young, Mike Doyle, Alan Oakes, Glyn Pardoe and Joe Corrigan survived to be part of City’s most successful team ever. Others like Ian Bowyer were hounded out of Maine Road but achieved honours for other clubs. Recently Tony Vaughan has suffered for the stupidity of Frank Clark who bought him to be a left back. Alan Kernaghan’s name comes readily to mind. Anyone who thinks booing a player will improve that player’s performance has no understanding of even the simplest aspects of player motivation. I used to have one of the biggest moaners imaginable sitting behind me on the Kippax. He’s stopped coming to matches recently – it makes you wonder if there are people whose main enjoyment from match day’s is having a moan and booing a few players.

Do yourself a favour Neil – look to the future and don’t dwell on over fond recollections of Gio’s contibution to City as a team. A club in continous decline such as City were in, couldn’t be turned round overnight. Joe Royle has now got rid of most of the hangers on and whingers on the playing staff, the team is winning again – I grant you that automatic promotion looks unlikely as both Walsall and Preston need to blow a gasket. On the financial front the club made a relatively small loss in the first half of the year. Last year the figure was measured in millions, so someone somewhere seems to have worked out that income and expenditure are not entirely unrelated. The future’s not entirely rosy but it’s looking better than it’s looked since Peter Reid was sacked.

OPINION – THE ‘DARKSIDE’ COMES CALLING

I just received this E-Mail:

‘I’ve just had the misfortune of your crowd report, sent to me by one of your fellow bitters.

Are you sure you went to the game ??’

Obviously from the Red half of the City, I replied with:

Hello Nick, me bitter never, I am enjoying my football games more than ever. I don’t hate Manchester United, not one bit. They are from my home town.

But what does get up my nose, is the amount of media that is pumped out, on a steady basis, at the whole of the nation. I would hate to go to City and hear very few Mancunians, I love City because they represent me, going to see my local side do ‘battle’ with another local team from somewhere else in the country.

I live in East London and the amount of Man U fans borders on the ridiculous, they all love ‘Man U’, they have no feeling for the club, they just follow the team most on the telly. It is this that gets up my nose. Even Alex Ferguson has admitted as much, saying in the local press that it is like a theatre ‘of dreams’, people just go to be entertained, offer little or no support. You should read Terry Cooke’s comments on the atmosphere of both Manchester grounds. Alex Ferguson blames the atmosphere on ‘Day Trippers’, but you reap what you sow. Beckham, Giggs and some others are plastered across everything, a club like Arsenal don’t do that to the same degree. How many Arsenal fans are there in Manchester, compared to the amount of ‘Man U’ fans in the London/SouthEast? Manchester United fans from the North West I can respect, because most have feeling for the club, but why people in East London?, they just use United as some kind of fashion statement, go to a game at Maine Road, sit in the North Stand, and see how many people are there to:

1. Love their team.
2. Use it as a fashion statement.

I wrote the piece to emphasis this, and if you are a true United fan you will see that the heart of your club is being ripped out, worry because I would.

The ticket I got was Block E231, Row 15, in the away end; the piece I wrote was for Blue eyes only, but if they feel it worthy to send on to United fans, well I feel flattered.

P.S. Fashions go out of style, what will happen to OT then.

Blues, if you going to send my articles on to ‘The Dark Side’, take my bloody e-mail address off please, I don’t want anymore visits from Lord Vader. I’m not proud of the fact that I stepped foot in the Swamp, I may join a counciling group to get over the trauma.

REQUEST – TICKET INFORMATION

Can anybody out there tell me how I could get hold of tickets for both the Reading game in April and the Bristol Rovers game in May? Do I have to have an ID card to apply for tickets from Manchester City?

I am fan based in Cardiff who badly needs this information as it is a rare opportunity for me to see City in action.

Appreciate it.

REQUEST – BLUE MOON

I’m currently exiled and living in the Midlands. As a result of this my neighbour is obviously a Rag – no surprise there… after all he’s lived all his life in the Midlands.

What I really need is a copy of Blue Moon – I’m desperate for it! What I need to know is who sings the version that’s played at Maine Road?

Any help would be brilliant!

REQUEST – BRAZILIAN BLUES

I am looking for any fellow City fans in Brazil, particularly the North-East. I am based in Olinda, Pernambuco at the moment. What I really want to know is if there is any kind of supporters’ club here, whether official or not, even if it is in faraway Sao Paulo. I have been trying to spread the word about City here, given that there’s a few who hear where I’m from and say, “Ahh manches-nitee”, pronouncing it “Manches-Nightie”, but I usually reply “Nao, eu sou City, rival… Manches-Nigtee… filhos da puta, canalhas.” In translation, that is unprintable for a family newspage. Adding that if the Rags were Palmeiras, I’m Corinthians till I die.

Except that Corinthians Paulista of Sao Paulo are the reigning champions of Brazil. And they were named after the old English amateur team Corinthian. I didn’t pick them as my team for either reason, but more because they are nicknamed “O Fiel” (The Loyal) and because their history is dotted with near-misses and spectacular cock-ups and, like us, their supporters are diehards through thick and thin. Their fans have their unofficial nickname, “Timao”, “The Rudder” because their fans see themselves as steering the club and not vice versa. Their organised supporters’ wing actually runs one of Sao Paulo’s main ‘Samba Schools’ (parade organisations) and they won the prize for best parade this year.

Amusingly, two of their players have posed nude in gay porn mags recently and when their manager answered no when asked if he’d be buying a copy, he was then asked why. His response: “Because they’re both ugly as F***”. Nice! There is no news as yet of Juninho following suit. Nor, sadly, Ronaldo’s missus.

In reality, the footy-madness in Brazil is mostly reserved for local derbies, the national championship from July to December (as opposed to state leagues, January to June) and the national unifier of all national unifiers, the “Selecao do Brasil”. France has been forgotten, but there are still sad-looking walls all over Recife painted with the legend, “France… on the way to our fifth”. Fifth what… …pint? Star player who’s clued-up enough to snub the Rags?

I can’t decide on a Recife team because all my mates support Sport, but Santa Cruz is where Rivaldo used to play, and any club which has been home to the Rudolf-humiliator is OK with me. Nautico Capibaribe (top name, yes indeed!) is in the national Third Division, and one of those is enough for me thank you. They play at the “Estadio dos Aflitos” meaning “Stadium of the Afflicted”.

I sympathise 100%.

One of the main network channels here is showing one of the European Runners-Up, er I mean Champions’ League Q-F games live, which means I can’t escape ‘them’ even at this distance. With Big Ron playing for Inter, I can’t see any other game being shown.

At least I can tell people that the “craque” (star forward, pronounced crack-ee here) of Kaiserslautern is an ex-Blue. There are bound to be goals from all the other games so I hope to see Uwe bag another few. I look forward to confusing the hell out of the locals here by going blue in the face in support of the team from Italy when Brazilians will be thinking I’d instantly side with the one from my hometown.

But they’re not from my hometown, are they!

P.S. Please don’t clog up my mailbox with hate mail re my former life as a City Mag writer. Or requests for a copy of dodgy Brazilian mags with nude footballers in them.

WHY BLUE?

Because my dad was Blue, is I suppose, the real answer! He was there in that 84,000 crowd in 1934! However, he later became disenchanted when he saw Ivor Broadis run the length of the pitch just to kick another player! I remember dad taking me to Maine Road in about 1955 or so when I was about 8. The match was against Blackpool and he wanted me to see the great Stanley Matthews. Stan spent about 15 minutes doing nothing and then hobbled off. I think City won 2-0. I have a vague recollection of Bobby Johnstone scoring. Or perhaps not.

I can remember the 1955 semi-finals and Newcastle vs. York being on the radio. For some reason I wanted Newcastle to win, I couldn’t understand why my father was cheering for a no bit team like York. Come the final at Wembley (not that I was there) I understood! When City lost after poor old Jimmy Meadows wrecked his leg and career, my old man consoled me with what happened in the thirties and sure enough, next year we returned and won. I can still name the team as a party piece – well I never come across anyone to contradict me! Somewhere I still have the programme.

When the Munich air crash happened, unlike most of my contemporaries in Reddish, Stockport, that actually strengthened my blueness. Well it was obviously a tragedy (and my granddad lived three doors from Roger Byrne – great stars had modest houses in those days), but I felt it was unfair the way some people were switching allegiance! By 1958 I was playing as a very unimpressive right winger for North Reddish Wolf Cubs. We were winning matches by cricket scores thanks to a very simple team tactic – give the ball to Doyley! Yes, even at that age Mike Doyle was leagues ahead of the rest of us. Unfortunately for some reason he couldn’t play in the final and we got beat 3-1. I still have my loser’s medal, the only thing I ever won playing football.

In 1965 I went to Leeds University and got pally with a real true Blue, Bob Chesters. Are you out there Bob? We started going to a lot of the matches within striking distance of Leeds. These were great times for City, the ultimate game being the last match of the 1967/8 season at Newcastle where we had to win to win the league. What a game. Does my memory play me tricks or was it really that lumbering geordie centre half George Heslop that scored the fourth and winning goal? Since then I moved to Kendal and have seldom been to a match. I can’t remember the last time. I grew sadder and sadder at what seemed to be happening at Maine Road. And then I discovered MCIVTA and have been amused and rejuvenated and somewhat to my surprise I’m actually going to Maine Road on March 6th for the Northampton match. Come on you Blues!

CTIFTWTHHHHIOTMWBALASAGP (City ’till I forget the words to Hi ho, Hi ho, it’s off to Mexico, with Bell and Lee and Summerbee and Glyn Pardoe)

RESULTS

Second Division Results, Tuesday, February 23 1999

Bristol Rovers            0-1  Gillingham             5,735
                               Hessenthaler (29)
Luton Town                0-1  Notts County           4,021
                               Rapley (71)
Preston North End         5-0  Lincoln City           9,849
Basham (15, 65)
Nogan (44, 48)
Macken (89)
Fulham                    3-1  Reading               11,247
Horsfield (47, 51)             Brebner (3)
Symons (68)
Northampton Town          0-1  Walsall                5,631
                               Mavrak (65)

Up to and including Tuesday, February 23 1999 (9:50pm)

                               HOME            AWAY
                         P  W  D  L  F  A   W  D  L  F  A   Pts   GS
Fulham                  30 13  2  1 32 10   7  3  4 14 13    65   46
Walsall                 32  9  5  3 25 17   9  2  4 19 17    61   44
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Preston North End       31  8  4  3 32 17   9  4  3 24 15    59   56
Gillingham              31 11  4  2 32 12   3  9  2 16 15    55   48
Manchester City         31  8  5  2 23  9   5  7  4 15 14    51   38
Bournemouth             29 10  4  0 30  7   4  4  7 18 22    50   48
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Stoke City              29  8  3  3 21 11   7  0  8 16 19    48   37
Wigan Athletic          30  8  3  3 23  8   5  4  7 21 22    46   44
Millwall                32  6  7  3 23 16   6  3  7 13 21    46   36
Chesterfield            30 11  1  3 25 10   2  6  7  9 17    46   34
Reading                 31  7  6  4 23 20   4  4  6 14 23    43   37
Blackpool               31  5  6  4 18 15   5  5  6 14 19    41   32
Luton Town              30  6  3  5 17 15   4  5  7 21 25    38   38
Bristol Rovers          29  6  6  4 24 19   2  6  5 16 14    36   40
York City               32  4  7  5 21 21   5  2  9 19 31    36   40
Colchester United       31  5  5  5 15 21   3  7  6 19 24    36   34
Wrexham                 30  6  4  6 16 20   3  4  7 14 25    35   30
Burnley                 32  5  6  5 15 17   3  4  9 21 35    34   36
Oldham Athletic         31  5  2  8 16 20   4  4  8 14 21    33   30
Lincoln City            30  6  3  6 20 20   2  3 10 10 27    30   30
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Northampton Town        31  2  8  4 12 14   4  3 10 13 21    29   25
Notts County            30  4  3  7 17 19   3  4  9 12 25    28   29
Wycombe Wanderers       31  6  3  8 21 17   0  6  8  8 23    27   29
Macclesfield Town       30  3  4  7 10 16   2  5  9 11 23    24   21

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