Newsletter #757

Another game, another point from our visit to the City ground where an on-form Forest gave us a run for our money in a 1-1 draw.

Tonight’s issue sees Ken’s diary, plenty of good opinion, a few requests and another Why Blue. Unfortunately no match report; if I get time I shall do one for Thursday.

CITY DIARY: 29 OCTOBER – 4 NOVEMBER

29 October:
After the reports of thrashings by Liverpool in last week’s diary, this week has better news, a 6-1 win over the Scousers on this day in 1929 and 3-1 in 1977 when Mike Channon, Joe Royle, and Brian Kidd got City’s goals. Wolves were beaten 4-0 in 1975 (Hartford 2, Barnes, and Tueart), Tueart got four by himself at home to Notts County in the League Cup (5-1) in 1980 and Rösler and Kinkladze shared City’s three at Southend (won 3-2) in 1996.

30 October:
It’s Paul Power’s birthday (1953). Matt Barraas scored a hat-trick in the 6-1 home win over Clapton Orient in 1926. City’s 1-0 defeat at Burnley in 1897 was their first loss of the season. In 1971 one S.C. Carter (who?) scored in a 1-1 draw at Huddersfield, in one of his very few appearances in a City shirt. And City won 4-0 at Old Trafford in 1973; Francis Lee scored three and Bell got the other – to beat Walsall in a League Cup 2nd Round second replay. Something of a pub quiz trivia question there.

31 October:
City 2 Ipswich O in 1970, Bell & Lee. Dennis Tueart got the winner in the 1-0 win at Everton twenty years ago today. In 1992 City won at Everton again, 3-1 through Mike Sheron’s two goals and one from David White.

1st November:
It’s Paul Dickov’s birthday, and Kevin Horlock’s too (1972). Colin Barlow’s hat-trick plus goals from George Hannah and Frank Hayes beat Spurs 5-1 at Maine Road in 1958. In 1967 City lost 3-2 at Fulham in the League Cup.

2nd November:
Kevin Horlock missed a penalty when playing for Swindon Town vs. City in 1996, Andy Dibble saved. The much-mentioned Andy Black got a hat-trick on this day in 1946 when City beat West Brom 4-0 at home in Division Two. In 1976 the Blues won 2-1 in a friendly against a “Manchester City Triple Championship XI”. Who was in that, anyone know?

3rd November:
Billy Meredith made his home début in 1894, scoring his first two goals in an unfortunate 5-2 defeat to Newton Heath. Ivor Broadis & Don Revie got City’s goals in the 2-1 win at Craven Cottage fifty years ago today. In 1937 league champions City met Cup-winners Sunderland in the Charity Shield match at Maine Road, winning 2-0. Alex Herd scored after 7 minutes, after Fred Tilson had hit a post and Sunderland had a goal disallowed for offside. Peter Doherty headed the second goal from an Eric Brook centre. The match raised £850 for charity. In 1934 the splendidly-named J.S. McLuckie scored his one and only goal for City in the 3-1 win at home to Tottenham.

4th November:
Bell and Lee scored to beat Honved of Hungary 2-0 (3-0 on aggregate) in the European Cup Winners’ Cup in 1970. In 1950 R.W. Haddington scored on his début, playing inside-right at Leeds. He went on to score in City’s next three games, but played only seven times altogether. Nicky Summerbee’s goal in the 1-0 win at Bolton in the Premiership in 1996 was City’s first in six games, and only their fourth league goal of the season. Peter Dobing got a hat-trick at home to West Ham in 1960, but he was on the losing side by 5-3. And in 1970 a greyhound called Kinkladze ran at Belle Vue Stadium – no idea of the odds or if it finished.

OPINION: ACADEMY

Our Academy is going to be a very big part of Manchester City’s future as we all know. Dnnis Tueart and Jim Cassell along with other staff members are doing a great job. I can’t wait for the day when young players like Lee Croft and Dorryl Proffitt come through and play for our first team.

The future of the club is in very good hands, from our Chairman, David Bernstein, our dedicated club directors, our Team Manager, Kevin Keegan, and his staff, to all the playing staff.

And then a couple of years down the road, a state of the art new stadium at Eastlands. And of course Manchester City – we have the best fans in the world.

Come on you Blue – promotion!

OPINION: QUARTERLY REPORT I

Thanks to Jonathon Haggart for his quarterly report. Thorough and bound to generate opinion. I know it is difficult to cover the whole squad but I was wondering where Alfie Haaland might fit into the scheme of things? I understood he was back in training.

OPINION: QUARTERLY REPORT II

A good review of the season so far from Jonathan Haggart in the last MCIVTA. I have to agree with him about the Goat – the guy’s just not up to it. Just look at the facts – he has been the top scorer at his various clubs (and I watched him for 2 seasons down at Ashton Gate) for, I think, 7 of the last 8 seasons, and in all but one of those seasons has scored over 20 goals. Clearly out of his depth in the game. So yes – why not go the whole hog, and transfer him? Why bother with dropping him, when you could get rid of him completely? We don’t need a 20-goals a season striker anyway, do we?

OPINION: QUARTERLY REPORT III

I was reading Jonathon’s comments with keen interest and quietly agreeing with all he said… until that is, his “faux pas”.

How on earth, regardless of how he is playing, can you consider dropping a guy who has scored 16 goals in 17 games and if you include the back end of the Premiership, 25 goals in 26 games? If we require a hold-up player in Wanchope’s absence, then surely Huckerby has to be left out?

OPINION: WHY BLUE I

Congratulations to Chris Wiseman on his epic (both in size and quality) Why Blue. Despite the historical backdrop to his memories and the recollections of seeing CIty win trophies, I can assure him that the over-riding experience of being a City fan remains completely unchanged. In any case, they gave us a cup for finishing third in Division 2, and trips to Luton and Wycombe were a bit like time travel, so I kind of understand…

By the way Chris: “I’ve been back to MR several times in the past 8 years, but have always missed City or not been able to get a ticket when I’ve been there.” Next time, leave a message here and between us I’m sure we’ll be able to secure you a seat. Maybe you could try the Gene Kelly stand – that might represent a new City experience to add to your extensive collection. All the best!

OPINION: WHY BLUE II

Commencing my City life around the mid-fifties, I derived great enjoyment reading Chris Wiseman’s serialised ‘Why Blue’ and all the memories it provoked. This was a truly well written piece and in his final summary he managed to explain why we City supporters are what we are. For me he caught the essence beautifully.

What a book that would make, if one of our City ‘anoraks’ could attack the ‘Why Blues’ file and re-mould it into a City history through the eyes of the fans. I know it’s been done before, by Colin Schindler, but a true City story wouldn’t need a reference to the wrong side of town in its title to aid its sales.

Well done Chris.

OPINION: CUNNING PLAN

I have a cunning plan; last time we played Forest away the big lad (fat Bob) scored a cracking goal, so this weekend (which will have past by the time you all read this), I will place money on our flying winger: the one and only Richard (slim) Dunne to score the first or last (or both!) goals on Sunday. I could be very rich (in beer tokens) or £5 worse off. Did I waste my money?

On another note, failed to mention last time how I enjoyed the Preston Karaoke (ooooh ahhhh); what a bunch of happy clappy tw*ts!

The Premiership deserves these supporters? 21,000 vs. City, average gate 14,000 (say no more!), see you all in BAAAAArnsley.

P.S. Lousy plan, lost my £5 and fat Bob scored (in the wrong end) at Wolves. Right bet – wrong game. Ho hum. Great game at Forest too.

OPINION: ‘VIEW’ FROM AFAR

Having enjoyed Gary Owen’s antics on Century for the season so far, I finally got to see the boys in the first ‘live’ visual feed to pubs in Zambia. A new bar has paid the licence for Supersport 5 (HQ at Northmead for those of you passing through Lusaka). The others choose just up to channels SS3/4 for the Premiership etc.

Having ‘seen’ the Academy’s finest eleven in the flesh, I am left with a question. Now we have played Nottingham’s finest, does Dazzer get to shave his beard off and dispense with the Sheriff’s look? Hard done to by the ref, but the volley was there for the taking. Shave off the beard and cut down on drag…

Final verdict: plenty of hard work ahead, league is clearly doable and there for the taking. However, there is another 5 or 10% in a lot of players based on this viewing.

Over to you Gary…

OPINION: GEIST INDEX

Top two remain the same this week but the good news is that City are back into the play-off zone. Nice to see the Index working well when Preston travelled to Portsmouth mid-week… Meanwhile, Stockport is back in the “they’re toast” zone.

Projected Final Positions results through Sunday October 28. The number in parentheses is their current league position.

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

REQUEST: ANOTHER MYSTERY PLAYER

My mate Patrick was in Wyoming recently. He was in the Million Dollar Bar in Jackson and the owner said he was Mickey Burke (or possibly Burns) and that he was originally from Stratford but that he played with Marsh, Summerbee and Bell in the seventies.

I don’t remember him but I was only a little kid in the north stand and not until ’75 anyway. My earliest recollections are Barnes and Tueart really.

Pat was wondering if this guy was for real or a joker. Any information would be gratefully received.

REQUEST: CITY BADGE

Could you or anyone from our magnificent fan base answer this question for me? On the official MCFC emblem we have a shield with a ship on it; what does this ship represent?

REQUEST: SPORTSPERSONS’ DINNER

Nantwich branch of the OSC will be holding a Sportspersons’ Dinner on 1st November at the Nantwich cricket club. Note it’s a sportspersons’ dinner, anyone over 13 welcome.

The guest speaker will be Mike Summerbee, with comedian Mike Lancaster. The £20 price includes a 4 course beef dinner (vegetarians will be catered for with prior notice). For tickets contact me at the address below.

BLUE HUMOUR

Final whistle just gone at Old Trafford… Man U 3 vs. Bolton 2

Keane 7217
Van Nistelrooy 7219 (pen)

Injury time record?!

WHY BLUE?

I’ve toyed with the idea of submitting a Why Blue, but my story is pretty humdrum. I first developed a minor interest in English football during a trip to London. It was in May of ’98 – the week of the FA Cup Final between Arsenal and Newcastle United. The evening before the match, I purchased several cans of Caffreys, ignited a Montecristo Tubos and walked over to Trafalgar Square to watch the Gunners and Magpies taunt each other. I sat on the massive pigeon sh!t-encrusted wall surrounding the square. It was a pretty cool experience (watching the lads – not sitting in bird sh!te). The pubs along the Strand all had “No Team Colours” signs in front. For whatever reason, I found that amusing. Everyone was buying walk-aways and drinking them on the sidewalk. Several drunks decided to run nude through the fountains. Circumcision is apparently not offered in the UK.

Anyway, I left London with a new appreciation for the EPL. However, I did not yet have a team to follow. Jumping on the Arsenal bandwagon didn’t seem right. And Newcastle’s kit was too damn ugly. Thank God for superficial thoughts. About 10 months later I was in Cayman, snorkelling around Captain Marvin’s boat in the North Sound with a group of doctors and insurance brokers from Chicago. Brother Ian, a Cayman-based Mancunian, was also on the boat. He wasn’t swimming due to a recent sex injury. Ian and I talked a bit about the FA Cup final. He was kind not to correct me when I said I had been in London during the “Arsenal / Man U” final. Ian ignored my blunder and mentioned that he was from Manchester. He pointed out that there were actually two clubs in Manchester. His team was the one the locals supported. The team Liam and Noel Gallagher supported. The “form team” (I had no idea what he meant by that). Brother Ian was obviously passionate about City (although, he was anxious to get back to shore to watch a Man U match… but, in Ian’s defence, it was only to take the p!ss out of a Red mate of his). In any event, Ian’s enthusiasm impressed me and City became my club. Besides, I was already a fan of Boddingtons and the trippy “Manchester sound”, so what the hell.

When I returned to Chicago, I discovered the Blues were not in the Premiership, they were in something called Nationwide Division Two. I figured that must be the level directly below the EPL. So young, so na