Newsletter #747

The goal fest continues, fortunately in our favour on Saturday with a 6-2 drubbing of Sheffield Wednesday. Ali B continues his sparkling form. Life under KK is never dull.

Tonight’s issue sees match reports from Sheffield and Coventry (thanks chaps), Ken’s diary, opinion on season so far, votes for mascots(!), OSC meetings, requests, etc.

Finally, the news summary will be going to a once-a-week format (Thursdays) for a few weeks due to Michael’s work commitments.

CITY DIARY 24-30 SEPTEMBER

Well, sports returned to New York on Friday night after a week’s layoff, and 41,000 at Shea were treated to stirring performances by the pipe bands playing patriotic tunes, Diana Ross singing God Bless America, Liza Minelli doing “New York, New York”, and Mike Piazza belting a two-run homer to give the Mets a come from behind win in the bottom of the eighth. Then on Saturday morning the Internet brought news of City’s 6-2 romp at Sheffield. Very nice. And Gary Owen is such an enthusiastic commentator (“let’s have seven, this lot deserve a right pasting” he was saying on Saturday. But could someone tell the enthusaistic Gary on behalf of those of us listening that when he’s yelling into the microphone “would you believe it? did you see that? will you look at that?” that we might if we had but we can’t?).

24 September:
Peter Barnes and Gary Owen scored in beating Bristol City 2-0 at Maine Road in 1977. Rodney Marsh got the winner, 1-0 home to Stoke in 1975. In 1960 City lost 6-3 at West Brom. Don Revie & Bobby Johnstone scored when City beat Blackpool 2-0 at home in 1955. In 1966 City went to play Blackpool at the seaside and won 1-0 through a goal from Johnny Crossan. The Illuminations were on and a good many City fans spent the evening on the trams, and at least a few of them were out early that morning riding the donkeys on the sands.

25 September:
City 3 U****d 2 in 1954, Fagan, McAdams, and Hart scoring. City did the double over them that season, winning 5-0 at Old Traffford in February. Mike Sheron scored at Sheffield Utd in 1993, in a 1-0 win. Bell, Lee, and Wyn Davies gave City a 3-0 win vs. Southampton in 1971.

26 September:
City lost 3-0 at Swansea Town in 1964, and won 4-0 at Torquay in the League Cup in 1990. In 1908 there was a hat-trick for Irvine Thornley but City lost 6-3 at Everton.

27 September:
Billy Meredith scored City’s winner against Chesterfield in 1902. This date featured friendlies with Altrincham in 1904 (lost 3-1), 1905 (lost 3-2) and 1911 (won 1-0). Swindon Town, then top of the Nationwide First Division, were beaten 6-0 at Maine Road in 1997 and the result briefly seemed to be the start of a climb up the table, but as everyone knows things went the other way.

28 September:
City’s 3-1 win over Leeds in 1968 was one of only two Leeds defeats that season, when they took over the championship title from the Blues. Rodney Marsh got the only goal against his old club QPR in 1974, and in 1963 a D. Hodgkinson scored at Bury in his only appearance for City. In the same match Joe Hayes suffered the knee injury which effectively ended his City career. There was a fine 5-1 win over Spurs in 1957, Hayes & Johnstone getting two each, Colin Barlow the other, and City’s Ken Branagan scoring in his own goal. And in 1954 on this day City played two trial matches against an England XI, one in the morning and one the afternoon; both were draws.

29 September:
Paul Stewart scored but City lost 3-1 at Hull in 1987. Power and Deyna gave City a 2-1 win at Leeds in 1979. In 1998 there was the Night at the New Den, when Lee Bradbury’s late goal got City a point and his miss when he might have scored the winner probably saved City fans from even worse treatment than they got in the streets around the ground afterwards.

30 September:
Ian Bishop’s last goal before he was sold to West Ham, as City beat Luton 3-1 in 1989, Oldfield & Brightwell getting the others. In 1967 City lost the Manchester derby at Maine Road. – Colin Bell scored first but then with the score at 1-1 Mike Doyle kicked the ball straight to Bobby Charlatan for their winner. It was alo Ken Mulhearn’s first game, signed after Harry Dowd broke a finger.

MATCH REPORT: SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY 2 vs. MCFC 6

After the East Yorkshire branch’s pre-season test runs to Scunthorpe and Huddersfield, this was the first ‘real’ bus trip. A mood of cautious optimism pervaded the bus in spite of losing by the odd goal in seven in mid-week, with nobody predicting a nil-nil (who would these days!). After our police escort away from Scunthorpe, Paul had this time arranged for us to be the guests of the South Yorkshire Police (I kid you not!) at their Sports and Social Club near Leppings Lane, so we were all on our best behaviour and I must say that cheap beer and scoff were most welcome. I asked a couple of Wednesday fans what they thought the result would be. “We’re due a win and our goalie’s on fire at the moment.” Oh dear!

After 3 minutes we were just getting settled in our seats and we were one down. Having seen the highlights on TV yesterday the goal was indeed as soft as it looked at the time, with Bonvin bumping into the cross and chesting it past a static Weaver. The Kop erupted and their drum band went into overdrive. We were struggling to make headway after that and didn’t look too clever until our Algerian maestro pulled one out of nothing and we were level, threading it through a packed penalty area to beat Pressman on his near post. Three minutes later and the Goat put us in front, sticking out a leg to lob the aforementioned incendiary ‘keeper.

Happy half time and then blow me we were level again; minds still in the dressing room, and another softish goal that Weaver won’t have been pleased about but wasn’t really his fault. Then of course Ali Bernabia started to run the show. For his sake, I hope Peter Reid doesn’t watch the Nationwide highlights or he’ll be rueing the day he refused to give Ali a contract. Watching him again on TV it’s marvellous to see him in full flow, hesitate and look up and then place the ball exactly where it’s needed. The chipped crosses for Wanchope and Goater to score were great examples of his vision. He seems to know where players are going to be even if they don’t, bearing in mind we’re pretty much talking about the same set of players as last season. I kept rubbing my eyes to make sure I was reading the scoreboard correctly. With each goal a few more Owls left their roost, and the amazing thing is we could have had more; one of the most blatant penalty area pushes you’ll ever see and the ref waves play on; Huckerby blasts over after we’d knocked the ball around for a minute or two to chants of ‘ole’.

No individual scores but a few observations:
Weaver – didn’t have much to do, kicked OK overall, but would rather not have had those two go past him.
Defence – Competent performance (again in spite of the goals) though Pearce was not as commanding as he has been. Ged again played well though I recall he rarely let us down when asked to play in defence.
Midfield – Edgy wasn’t really getting forward and then of course he was crocked, but doing well defensively. Granville had good and bad spells, but got forward to support well, hence the goal. Tiatto ran and ran and Etuhu had another good game breaking things up in midfield, but of course Ali stood out. Clearly doesn’t hide for away games like some we could think of. Imagine when he’s fully fit (knackered after 80 minutes and went off).
Forwards – Goat and Chop are working well together (15 league goals for the partnership tells a tale). Huckerby should have done better when he came on with a couple of chances.
Crowd – 5,000 or so gave great support and some good chants: “You’re not drumming any more”, “worst support we’ve ever seen” and the guy in front of me who kept trying to get going with “town full of strippers”.

I know we were warned to expect ‘exciting’ football with Keegan but this is almost ridiculous. There have been 40 goals in our 8 league games this season (not to mention 6 in the one Worthy Cup game). Goater’s in double figures for the League already. You get people saying ‘Oh well we’re 5-2 up so we’ll at least get a point’ and not altogether joking about it. You can almost imagine the last game of the season and us needing to win 8-0 against Portsmouth and knowing we’ll get them. Mind you there’ll be nobody there to see it as all City fans will have died of heart attacks in the intervening 37 games. Richard Littlejohn was wondering on Radio 5’s “606” if we were playing rush goalie! God help the 1st Division if Berkovic and Bernabia play together in the same team. As for Wednesday and their fiery ‘keeper… they’ve got the Sheffield derby at home next.

MATCH REPORT ‘LIVE’ I: COVENTRY 4 vs. MCFC 3

It’s 18 months since I wrote, because I only managed to get to the home defeat by Leicester last year and was too depressed to write then!

It was half-way through Wednesday afternoon that I found I could go the match, which added to the adrenalin normally pumping through the body on a drive down the A14 (horrid road). I set off expecting to see an exciting match and also feeling that my run of 8 matches (lost 7, drawn 1) might not end.

I got a ticket at the back of the East stand out of the wind, in amongst some very vociferous Coventry fans. It was great fun; they spent the whole match abusing their own players and especially the ref. apart from the brief moments when goals went in.

As this report is late I am sure many of you will have read reports from the away end of the ground so I will describe a bit more what went on up my end. The two class goals and a miraculous save from Nicky happened under my nose.

Right from the start it looked like City were here to play and there would be goals. Coventry looked pretty average, apart from Richard Shaw, and it seemed that Ali, Tiatto and Etuhu were going to carve their way through and let Wanchope and the Goat in with space to spare. After about quarter of an hour something happened. From my viewpoint, a very long way away, it seemed the ball was played into the City area, nobody moved and the ball went in the net. Much celebration ensued around me (first goal seen at Highfield road this season).

City still attacked strongly, Tiatto was being double marked and was having trouble getting past them. Ali and Edghill provided the main thrust and were working exceptionally well together. Crosses and through balls were coming in quick succession. The Goat got a touch on, or just missed most of them and Wanchope was conspicuous by his absence. Then some real class. A good cross from Tiatto on the left, headed perfectly by Goater (I am sure) dropping behind the defence. Ali swooped in from the right (my left), controlled, and smashed into the far corner of the net from quite a tight angle – great goal.

Just before half-time Coventry went forward and a cross went into City’s area. Weaver came out for it – no problem there I thought – then he kept coming and coming, as the ball drifted away. Ball hits Coventry player on edge of area and into the City net. More mad celebrating, praising lady luck etc.

City made changes at half-time, Horlock and Colisimo for Etuhu and Tiatto. This changed the shape a bit but City carried on attacking in waves. In the second half some of the sweeping moves down the centre right with Wiekens, Horlock, Colisimo linking with Edghill and Ali were great to watch but sadly never produced anything.

The ref., who was pretty dire and was upsetting the Coventry fans a lot, gave City a free kick by the right corner flag. This was then moved in 10m for dissent. Ball went into the box and came out to Horlock who smacked it. This first attempt bounced back out and he buried the second from the edge of the area. Much swearing at ref. and Coventry players from around me.

I don’t remember Coventry’s third goal, it was nothing special but I remember it came about because City failed to clear the ball. City’s third came from a cross from Granville that was knocked in by one of their players after the Goat and Wanchope missed out. Coventry started attacking more and it looked like they were bound to score, as every time the ball went near City’s defence they panicked and it was bouncing around like a pin-ball. In the most frenetic of these sessions, Weaver made an absolutely brilliant save (and the Coventry fans were saying so too) from point blank range. As I said the ball was going all over the place which means his reaction to the snap header was even more remarkable as he was twisting and turning as the ball bounced one way then the other. Two minutes to go and Horlock fired one at goal and just missed after some very neat work down the right. City can win this I thought but then again seconds later Coventry came back with some neat football(!) down their right, a ball in behind Granville who lunged at his man and missed, the ball controlled and smashed into the far corner from almost exactly the same spot as Ali’s goal. 4-3 and a minute to go, mad celebrating around me.

Although City lost, I enjoyed watching this game more than any other in the past four years or so (including matches not involving City). Wherever City play this year the home fans are going to be entertained both by City’s attacking and woeful defending. Sorry this is a long report but it could have been much longer!

Player scores:
Weaver 5 – Appalling mistake and failed to command area. One world class save only good point.
Pearce 5 – OK but the left side of defence as a unit were awful.
Wiekens 7 – Seemed to play fine but maybe a bit too far to the right, leaving left exposed.
Howey 4 – Made quite a few blunders passing across the defence and pretty poor generally.
Granville 7 (forward) 3 (defence) – Good crosses but defending with Pearce was bad.
Edghill 8 – Good game, links very well with Ali and put in some class tackles in defence. Only one dodgy moment when the ball skidded off the top of his head and headed towards goal instead of towards the half-way line. I have recollections of similar incidents. He needs some hair!
Tiatto 6 – Tried hard but found it difficult to get past two markers.
Etuhu 6 – He will be a great player. Almost brilliant moves and passes that were just mistimed. One awful tackle.
Ali Benarbia 8 – Class. Didn’t quite always get through close attending defence. Superb goal.
Goater 6 – Was not fed adequately. Did little wrong.
Wanchope 2 – Where was he?

Colisimo 7 – Very good. Coventry players obviously had no idea where he was going to be and he had lots of space.
Horlock 8 – Linked well with Granville going forward and added another dimension on the left. Him and Pearce need to sort out who wants the ball when.

MATCH VIEW ‘LIVE’ II: COVENTRY 4 vs. MCFC 3

My first live City game for a long time was certainly entertainment and incident packed. The last time I saw a game with so much packed into 90 minutes was the one when Paul Lake swallowed his tongue, there were 6 goals (including two of the best strikes you will ever see from Trevor Morley and Gary MacAllister) and a sending off.

Ali was fantastic until he tired towards the end, easily the best player on the park and an absolute joy to watch. He seemed to bring the best out of Edghill, and I thought Kevin Horlock looked an excellent midfield partner for him. Much underrated is our Kevin.

I thought it amazing we have scored so many goals when Goater and Wanchope looked so static and didn’t seem to play off each other. As for the defence, it was woeful and particularly ineffective against pace (and it wasn’t exactly Michael Owen they were playing against). They might have got away with it if it hadn’t have been for the skinny blonde goalie who had an absolute shocker. Whatever happened to that young prospect Nick Weaver? He was brilliant the last time we were in the 1st Division, can’t we bring him back?

Seven goals at Highfield Road, 8 at Hillsborough, I reckon it’ll be 5-4 at Maine Road on Saturday. See you there, and don’t forget the sedatives!

By the way, any Blues out there in Berlin?

OPINION: SEASON SO FAR I

Simon Fink’s spot on – Edgy looked fantastic against Birmingham; if only we’d had him in that form at the end of last season. He’s shown incredible bottle to fit his way back into the side, I hope he can hold his place but it looks like Simon Colismo’s going to make Edgy fight for his place in the coming weeks.

Shame that Huckerby doesn’t seem to show the same application. He’s looked hopeless so far this season. At Notts County, he seemed perfectly able to beat Division 2 defenders but then was clueless and had no idea what to do next. He could have calmly slotted in a Shuker cross for City’s fifth but decided to try an elaborate scissor kick and missed the ball completely. Talented but can’t deliver so best we get lose him – sooner rather than later.

Keep the faith.

OPINION: SEASON SO FAR II

Just a few observations on the season so far.

Firstly, Simon Fink waxes lyrical in support of Reg and I’d agree the guy has a Jereboam-sized bottle and he’s Blue through and through. I’ve watched a few televised games recently and can’t quite bring myself to eulogise. Reg earned plaudits from the TV commentators for one awesome tackle where he swept the ball away from a Brummie player on the edge of the box, and cleanly too.

But it was a tackle he shouldn’t have had to make, after he was caught out positionally and had to hare after the forward (Johnson?) and recover lost ground.

The defence is truly awful. Edgie can’t get forward and make any sense. For me you can bring back the new ‘Claude Charvet’ – is he injured? (not according to the MCFC website but you can’t believe that load of sh1t – they had us down, briefly, for a draw at Coventry – Ceefax put me right). Howie seems to have lost it (temporarily I trust) and we should bring back Carlo and drop Calamity Nick, the David James of Division 1. Nicky Weaver has more problems with walls than Humpty Dumpty and he has my heart in my f-in mouth every time he comes off his line. Granville works well going forward but can’t defend. Pearce shouldn’t have to play centre and left back.

I maybe have some inside track on Dickie Dunne. Change of job scene means I am working approx 25 yards away from his uncle Gerry (Dick’s da’s bro) who reckons RD is not a great boozer – orange juices and an early night with the girlfriend when they came over to watch him – and he ain’t that unfit, despite his pie-muncher physique. But apparently the lad is an Olympic Gold medal sleeper – if not King of the Kippax, certainly the king of kip and needs a dozen or so alarm clocks to wake him up. So maybe that’s why he failed to turn up on Sunday. Anyhow, that’s the story. There the case for the defence rests, over to m’learned friend Mr Keegan.

Ali B. What can I say? The passing ability of Kung Fu Man from across town, the lungs of our own Nijinsky if the evidence of the Sons of Jasper Carrot victory is to be believed. Worth sacking JR for that alone. Only joking (I think) but I’d still prefer to lose 3-4 than 0-1 and have to listen to Joe’s woeful after-match comments – “okay we only had 2 shots all game, none on target but I felt we were a bit unlucky”. I still believe we’re in for an absorbing, very City-like season and we might win a few friends after lasts year’s dour stuff alienated the world. By the way I thought Chopper was superb against Birmingham – right option almost every time and Ali B sure knows how to find him. His delicate shot against the post for Goat’s goal was masterly – many a striker would have blasted it into the stand.

Just a non-PC thought concerning Berko and Ali B. Berko undoubtedly is a patriotic Israeli. Is Ali B a muslim and could this lead to problems in the dressing room? Hope not. Both great players and we’re gonna need all the class we can get.

Any chance we could turn Super Kev into a wing-back? Again, just a thought.

Keep the faith.

OPINION: REG vs. KIPPAX 2000

M’Lord,

I would like to state the case for the defence. On the said Saturday, one Richard Edghill did put through his own net against Coventry, whilst visibly having, what is know in football parlance as a ‘shocker’. However, in mitigation the great majority of the Kippax were, in fact, supportive and vocally encouraging of one of their own at a time of his testing. The ‘small minority’ attributed to having dealt vocal criticism toward one Reg Hill must have been extremely small, as from the vantage point I occupied on the Kippax that day there was nothing more than rallying and support for our misfortunate brethren.

I therefore challenge any future contributor to this discussion to maintain the Pravda type rewrite of history, as seen in the ‘Kinkladze was a bad influence’ debate, and claim the City crowd were on Mr Edghill’s back on this occasion. I am pleased to see Reg back all the stronger, but please do not blame his relegation that day on the massive, because your ‘onour, I was there, and he got full and total backing at a time when it was required. The crowd should be commended in such circumstances, and I wish to decry any further castigation of Edgy’s treatment.

Good to see you back Reg, keeping wearing the shirt with pride as many a journeyman would do well to appreciate. And please, all you convenient journalists, let’s have the truth.

OPINION: JUST HOW LONG AGO WAS THAT?

I may have been a little bemused by the goings on at Hillsborough on Saturday, probably casued by having to stump up £1.50 for a bottle of Pepsi Max at half-time, but having thought about it for a whole day now, could anybody out there please tell me the answers to the following questions:

1. When was the last time City scored 6 goals away from home?
2. If the answer to the above is a cup match, then when was the last timewe scored 6 goals away from home in a league match?
3. Have I imagined Ali B in response to some deep-seated need to see a’real’ footballer at Maine Road or is he really the ‘genuine article’?

Your cooperation in the above would be much appreciated.

OPINION: THE GEIST INDEX

Lots of changes this week although City still are projected as Champions. Burnley and Wolverhampton move up to challenge.

And I think we can say pretty conclusively at this point that the Index indicates that Stockport will be relegated.

Projected Final Positions results through Sunday September 23. The number in parentheses is their current league position.

01 Manchester City (4)
02 Burnley (1)
03 Wolverhampton (3)
04 Bradford (7)
05 Norwich (2)
06 Coventry (9)
07 Grimsby (6)
08 Preston (17)
09 West Brom (8)
10 Birmingham (14)
11 Nottingham Forest (11)
12 Wimbledon (12)
13 Gillingham (15)
14 Watford (16)
15 Barnsley (20)
16 Sheffield Utd (19)
17 Crewe (18)
18 Sheffield Wednesday (21)
19 Portsmouth (5)
20 Crystal Palace (10)
21 Millwall (13)
22 Walsall (22)
23 Rotherham (24)
24 Stockport (23)

OPINION: GREAT WIN

The away gypsy was kicked off the bus with a 6 pack to go. Way to go City!

Come on you Blues! Great stuff!

OPINION: ONGOING FRENCH DEBATE

In recent articles Mark Barrat and Simon Exall have discussed descriptions of Ali Benarbia that appeared originally in French. Ali was described as “un larron”, which Mark translated as “a drainage pipe” and Simon as one half of presumably, a playing partnership. Both translations have merit although, perhaps surprisingly, I prefer Mark’s. A more general term for a drainage pipe is a conduit – and then it becomes obvious that the original French author intended to describe Ali as a playmaker.

However, both worthy gentlemen, linguists both, don’t have it quite right. “Un larron” is old French (and we have a lot of this in Canada) for a thief or poacher.

Which brings us to an interesting debate in terms of what we can expect from M.Benarbia. A playmaker and a goal poacher. Maybe he can take us back to the Premiership single handedly.

Greetings to Blues everywhere. See you at the TG.

VOTE FOR MOONCHESTER TO WIN GRAND NATIONAL OR BE BEST MASCOT

As some of you may know, the Mascot Grand National is coming up on the 30th September at Huntington racecourse (http://www.mascot-grand-national.com).

Netbetsports.com are taking bets on mascots, and Moonchester has been given odds of 25/1, with Cyril the Swan the favourite at 11/1. Fred the Red is also 25/1, with some outsiders placed at 100/1. To place a bet on Moonie, go to:

https://www.netbetsports.com/betsite.htm?https://www.netbetsports.com/betsite/event.cfm?Area=6&EId=1757

If you don’t want to part with your cash, then please vote for Moonchester to become best mascot. It’s free, all you have to do is place your vote at: http://www.discover-racing.com/mascots/

The winning mascot will get a trophy and £500 for a charity of their choice. And Moonchester will obviously think of a worthwhile charity to give it to, and of course, we need a trophy to fill the void in the trophy cabinet at Maine Road!

If you want to go to the 3rd Mascot Grand National, then see the MGN website for details on tickets etc.

OPINION: US THANKS

As a City fan here in the United States, my heart was heavy for those who did not survive the World Trade Center disaster of 9/11/01. I just want to personally thank each and every one of you who have contributed in whatever way you could for all the help and support, both emotional as well as financial (contributing to the Red Cross chapter). What you have done shall not be forgotten.

RESPONSE: THE PROMS

In response to J Heavis’ request in the last McV, as the last night of the Proms is always a sell-out, they started a couple of years back having open-air “overflows” in Hyde Park, and then around the country, and it’s those they were showing.

REQUEST: SOUTH AFRICAN BLUES BARS

I’m off to Cape Town in South Africa for the first half of October, does anyone know of any decent bars that follow the beautiful game or maybe the Blues in particular?

Thanks also for those of you who responded with info on pubs in central London recently. Top job.

REQUEST: MILTON KEYNES OSC

We will be holding our September meeting this Thursday (i.e. Sept 28th) starting at 8pm. The venue will be Great Brickhill Cricket Club. If you’re coming to the meeting, why not bring a friend? Supporters of all clubs welcome except one!

Please contact me if you’d like more information, travel details etc.

REQUEST: COUNTY WICKLOW OSC

The County Wicklow branch of the official supporters’ club will be meeting this coming Tuesday 25th @ 8pm and as usual will be in Katie Gallaghers in Bray. Hopefully whilst we plan for trips to Maine Road etc. (not an easy task these days) Ali B and Co. will be putting lowly Warsaw to the sword.

REQUEST: LONDON LIFT

From an increasingly train-weary member of the London branch:

Is there anyone travelling by car from Central/East London to home games who has room for a passenger – willing to share cost of petrol/parking and I always get my round in!

REQUEST: TV GAMES

Would just like to say cheers for these excellent newsletters, which are much appreciated by a fan in Austria!

One request though: could you please include more info about when we are on TV and on what channel? I don’t have Sky, but there are several Irish pubs that do. As MCIVTA is my main source of City info, knowing when we are on TV would be very useful!

BTW, any Blues in Vienna are welcome to get in touch!

RESULTS

Recent results from 20 September 2001 to 23 September 2001 inclusive.

23 September 2001

Birmingham City       0 - 1  Preston North End     23,004

22 September 2001

Coventry City         2 - 0  Portsmouth            18,303
Crewe Alexandra       1 - 0  Watford                6,507
Crystal Palace        1 - 0  Barnsley              15,433
Gillingham            2 - 1  Rotherham United       7,688
Millwall              2 - 0  Sheffield United      12,276
Norwich City          2 - 1  Burnley               19,849
Sheffield Wednesday   2 - 6  Manchester City       25,731
Stockport County      3 - 3  Grimsby Town           7,834
West Bromwich Albion  0 - 1  Wimbledon             19,122

21 September 2001

Walsall               0 - 3  Wolverhampton Wndrs    8,327

20 September 2001

Nottingham Forest     1 - 0  Bradford City         18,546

League table to 23 September 2001 inclusive

                             HOME          AWAY        OVERALL
                    P  W  D  L  F  A  W  D  L  F  A  W  D  L  F  A  GD Pts
 1 Burnley          9  3  0  1 13  8  4  0  1 11  6  7  0  2 24 14  10  21
 2 Norwich City     8  5  0  0 10  2  1  1  1  2  5  6  1  1 12  7   5  19
 3 Wolves           8  1  2  0  5  4  4  1  0 11  5  5  3  0 16  9   7  18
 4 Manchester City  8  3  0  0 11  2  2  0  3 13 14  5  0  3 24 16   8  15
 5 Portsmouth       9  3  0  1 10  6  1  3  1  6  7  4  3  2 16 13   3  15
 6 Grimsby Town     9  2  2  0  4  2  2  1  2  7 12  4  3  2 11 14  -3  15
 7 Bradford City    8  3  0  1 13  5  1  2  1  4  4  4  2  2 17  9   8  14
 8 West Brom A.     8  3  0  2  7  2  1  1  1  4  4  4  1  3 11  6   5  13
 9 Coventry City    8  2  1  2  6  5  2  0  1  4  2  4  1  3 10  7   3  13
10 Crystal Palace   7  3  0  1 11  4  1  0  2  7 10  4  0  3 18 14   4  12
11 Nottm Forest     8  3  1  0  8  3  0  2  2  1  3  3  3  2  9  6   3  12
12 Wimbledon        9  1  2  1  7  6  2  1  2  8  7  3  3  3 15 13   2  12
13 Millwall         8  3  0  1  9  3  1  0  3  3  7  4  0  4 12 10   2  12
14 Birmingham City  8  3  0  2 10  5  1  0  2  3  7  4  0  4 13 12   1  12
15 Gillingham       8  3  0  1 12  4  0  1  3  2  8  3  1  4 14 12   2  10
16 Watford          8  3  0  1  9  5  0  0  4  1  8  3  0  5 10 13  -3   9
17 Preston N.E.     8  1  2  1  4  4  1  1  2  3  9  2  3  3  7 13  -6   9
18 Crewe Alex.      8  3  0  2  4  7  0  0  3  2  8  3  0  5  6 15  -9   9
19 Sheff. United    8  0  3  1  4  5  1  2  1  4  5  1  5  2  8 10  -2   8
20 Barnsley         9  2  2  0  7  4  0  0  5  1 12  2  2  5  8 16  -8   8
21 Sheff. Wed.      8  0  2  2  4 10  1  1  2  3  5  1  3  4  7 15  -8   6
22 Walsall          8  1  1  2  3  6  0  1  3  5 10  1  2  5  8 16  -8   5
23 Stockport C.     8  0  1  3  4  8  0  2  2  6 10  0  3  5 10 18  -8   3
24 Rotherham Utd.   8  0  2  1  4  5  0  1  4  4 11  0  3  5  8 16  -8   3

MCIVTA FAQ [v1.5]

[0] MCIVTA Addresses

 Articles (Heidi Pickup)        : editor@mcivta.city-fan.org

 News/rumour (Michael Leafield) : mplctid@aol.com

 Subscriptions (Geoff Donkin)   : subscriptions@mcivta.city-fan.org

 Technical problems (Paul)      : paul@city-fan.org

Comments concerning this FAQ should be sent to David Warburton using the address: mcivtafaq@warburton.org

[1] MCIVTA Deadlines

Deadlines for issues are nominally Monday and Thursday evenings.

[2] MCIVTA Back Issues and Manchester City Supporters’ home page

http://www.uit.no/mancity/ is the unofficial Manchester City Supporters’ home page. Created in 1994, it is the longest running of the Manchester City related web sites. Back issues of MCIVTA are also hosted on the site.

[3] Club Web Site

The official club web site can be found at http://www.mcfc.co.uk/

[4] Supporters’ Clubs

Manchester City FC recognises three supporters’ clubs: The “Official Supporters Club” (http://www.mancity.net/osc/index.html); the “Centenary Supporters’ Association” (http://www.callnetuk.com/home/sef/) and “The International Supporters’ Club” (http://www.mcfc.co.uk/extra/fanzone/isc.asp)

[5] Fans’ Committee

The Fans’ Committee operates as an interface between supporters and the club. It has its own website, http://www.mcfc-fans.com/ containing info about forthcoming meetings as well as minutes from previous gatherings.

[6] City of Manchester Stadium Progress/Web Cam

The latest information regarding the progress of our new home can be found at http://www.commonwealthgames.com/

[7] Match Day Broadcasts

Live match commentaries and archives of games, reports and interviews can be found here: http://www.mcfc.co.uk/comment.asp. An alternate live commentary service, hosted by Yahoo, is located at: http://uk.sports.yahoo.com/foot/audio/live/schedule/index.html. GMR Saturday Sport is also available live online between 1-3pm, and 4.45-6pm at http://www.bbc.co.uk/manchester/sport/index.shtml

[8] 01/02 Season Match Day Theme Tune

The music the teams run out to at Maine Road this season is “Nightmare”, by Brainbug, and is available on the Positiva label.

[9] Acknowledgements

Thanks go to John Arnold for providing the information regarding match day music and to Ian Bell for pointing out the alternate live match commentary service.

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.

Heidi Pickup, heidi@mcivta.freeserve.co.uk

Editor: