Newsletter #1017

Greetings everybody. Tonight we offer more reflection on the season soon-to-be-past and some surprising deviation from the understandable doom and gloom that we are entitled to be feeling at this juncture. We have more ‘should he stay or should he go’ contributions in the Great King Kev Debate and, in advance of next season, lots of managerial advice from those willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. And we have pictures from the Player of the Year Awards. Saturday’s encounter with Everton is charity dress-up day and several of our number are entering into the spirit. From those of us who can’t be there, have fun everyone. Heidi returns next week after her much deserved rest. Thanks to those who sent supportive and helpful comments. I have received many contributions for this edition and have passed a couple of items, which are not time sensitive, to Heidi for later use. Have wonderful summers and take heart: We live to fight another season in the Big League.

NEWS SUMMARY

General News

It Was the Fans Wot Did It: KK has praised City fans for their support this season. “The fans have been fantastic. Sometimes in situations like we were in you think the fans could have helped you more,” said Kevin Keegan. “But our fans could not have done any more to help us, the have been excellent. They could have been more down on us at times. They could have been more against us at times when you consider some of the performances that we have produced, but they have been fantastic with us.” And the manager admitted it couldn’t have been easy for Blues’ supporters to get used to and settle into the new stadium. But he says the atmosphere grew at Eastlands throughout the season and was instrumental in helping the side to two crucial victories. “I don’t think it has been easy for anyone settling into our new home. There was a school of thought that it might be that way. But I had a feeling at the time that we would do very well in this first season in the stadium. The fans did struggle in there at the start but they got their act together better than we did. The atmosphere got good but the performances didn’t get any better towards the end of the season. The fans got one up on us there. There is no doubt they pulled us through against Manchester United and Newcastle, they were terrific.”

Bother at Boro: Middlesbrough were not best pleased with the behaviour of the City fans last Saturday, and are threatening to reduce the ticket allocations for Blues’ fans from 3,000 down to 1,000. As the Evening Gazette recounted: Thirty fans were arrested during and after the Boro vs. Man City game, police revealed today. Saturday’s total is believed to be the highest number of incidents on a match day this season. But only five arrests took place within the ground at the 34,000-plus sell-out game. Offences ranged from breach of the peace to carrying offensive weapons. Inside the ground early in the first half, stewards and police were called after visiting fans refused to sit down in their seats and a number of fans were ejected. Many City fans remained standing, despite a tannoy appeal. Club spokesman Dave Allan said: “I can confirm there were only five arrests within the stadium – all Manchester City supporters. As always, the behaviour of Middlesbrough supporters within the stadium was impeccable.”

Relegation Avoided – Again: They moved to a new ground, had a disappointing season in the Premiership and just survived relegation in the latter weeks of the season. Yes, City’s Ladies team proved that it’s not only their male counterparts who struggled this season. The Ladies team secured survival in the Nationwide FA Premier League Northern Division by beating Bangor City 5-0 in the penultimate game of the season, with Mel Garside scoring four goals. Chairman Gary Moores commented, “Everyone is happy and relieved to have secured a place in the Premier League for next season,” he said. “It’s been a rollercoaster of a season – what with moving to our new home at Abbey Hey. The first team started strongly but faded after Christmas. Fortunately they came good in the end and we can now look forward to next season with optimism. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all our supporters for the help and assistance they have given us this season and hopefully next year we can be more consistent and climb up the table.”

Red Invasion of Eastlands? MUPLC are so big now, they’ll be fielding not one but two reserve sides next season. Worried that Altrincham’s Moss Lane can’t cope with all that extra football, the Reds are looking further afield. “We’ve considered the mini athletics stadium at Eastlands next door to the main stadium,” confirmed David Gill, United chief executive. The club have also looked at using Hyde United and Bury as alternative venues. United have asked the City Council about the viability of their Pontins League team playing at Eastlands, with the Premier League Reserve Division side staying in Altrincham.

Double Trouble: It was not a good week for the Reserves. As Gavin reported on Monday, an under-17 side disguised as the Reserves lost 1-0 at Middlesbrough, and now a more recognisable second eleven lost 3-1 at Old Trafford to hand the Manchester Senior Cup to the Forces of Darkness. Cup Final Team: Ellegaard, Flood, Collins, Onuoha (Warrender 65), McCarthy, Jordan, Croft, Negouai (J D’Laryea 75), B Wright-Philips, Whelan, Tiatto (Tandy 75). Subs: Timms, Laird.

Tiatto Talks Turkey: Despite an injury-ravaged season, Danny Tiatto has been recalled to the Australian national squad. The Aussies face Turkey in two matches, on Friday 21 May and on Monday 24 May.

Transfer News and Gossip

Time for Change: On Friday KK discussed next season’s transfer budget with the board. Now that City’s Premiership survival is assured, plans for the squad can be made. “You need to know when your season is going to start, while last week we did not know for sure,” explained the manager. “So this week is a big week. I have spent all week looking at the playing squad and what that costs. I have been giving thought to what players we will release and looking at what players we would like to bring in.” Reviewing this season’s transfers, KK mused: “Last year we brought in a lot of experienced players and I think there is no doubt that even if we climb a few places it will have been a disappointing season. The players like Antoine, Paul Bosvelt, Claudio Reyna and Trevor Sinclair have had a year to settle and I think that will make a big difference next season. I think everyone at this club and I include Shaun Wright-Phillips and Richard Dunne who have both had very good seasons can improve on this season. There is no doubt about that and if anyone thinks that they cannot not then they are kidding themselves. Nicolas and Robbie could score more goals for instance and you can go right throughout the side and say that. Trevor Sinclair has scored only one goal and I see him as an attacking player while Shaun has double figures. Next season it could be the other way round.”

Ta Ta Tarnat: Michael Tarnat has revealed that he will not be with City next season. KK has told the 34-year-old that he will not be offered a new contract when his current deal runs out, so his appearance against Everton on Saturday will be his last for the club. “I will be very sad because I have enjoyed my time at Manchester City so much,” said Tarnat. “The manager has spoken with my agent and I am told my contract will stop at the end of the season, and I will not get a new one. I am very disappointed because, three weeks ago, he suggested to my agent that maybe if we stayed up I could possibly stay at City. I was happy with that because I have settled well here. I will miss the City fans especially. They are the best I have played for in my whole career. They create an incredible atmosphere and are so loyal. I hope that they feel I have given them something to remember me by this season. I hope they think of me as a true professional who helped bring the club a little bit forward.” The full back hopes to stay in this country. “I feel fit and I want to stay in England. I enjoy the fantastic atmosphere in the stadiums, and I think the game is very quick and played way I like to play it. I hope that another club will have an interest in signing me. I am on a Bosman and I am not too expensive!” he added.

Onward Christian Soldiers: Do City need another veteran central midfielder? KK certainly seems to think so, if today’s news stories are to be believed. Reporter Alan Nixon (who files the same stories in both the Mirror and the Independent) writes that Keegan is in talks with veteran French star Christian Karembeu about a return to the Premiership. The 34-year-old midfielder currently at Greek side Olympiakos and his agents claim to be close to agreeing a one-year contract at the City of Manchester Stadium.

Doriva & Danny Links: There seems to be a bit of a Boro vibe to the transfer gossip this week. According to the Observer, Middlesbrough are set to lose defensive midfielder Doriva. Spurs, Villa, Blackburn and City are ready with rival contract offers. Meanwhile, Danny Mills has also emerged as a transfer target. The England right-back is set to leave Leeds, where he still has four years left on his contract, on a free transfer. Middlesbrough, where Mills is on a season-long loan, Birmingham, Tottenham, Celtic and Rangers are also in the chase for the 26-year-old. Agreeing personal terms could be a problem however, as he is earning a reported £40,000 per week. “Danny is contracted on loan to Middlesbrough until May 15, and after that he will return to Leeds,” said Mills’ agent Neil Featherby. “We appreciate the chances of him staying at Leeds are more than slim, so we will be talking to other clubs. Danny will listen to offers that are made but, at the end of the day, he will do what is right for his family. We are more than happy to listen to whatever Leeds bring to the table. But again, we will only do what is right for Danny. We don’t want to be obstructive, but we are not going to be rushed into anything.”

Going for the Young Guns: Just to show that City do want some players under 30 – it’s being reported that City are keen to offer Shaun Wright Phillips and Joey Barton improved contracts, to fight off interest from other clubs. It is said that KK has urged the board to offer Barton a new contract in an attempt to stop the young midfield player from joining Liverpool. City are prepared to triple Barton’s wages to around £15,000 a week, but Keegan fears that he will lose the 21-year-old. According to The Daily Telegraph, Liverpool are expected to make a bid for Barton, who is seen as Dietmar Hamann’s successor. Although Wright-Phillips has two years remaining on his current contract, Arsenal and Liverpool are both thought to be interested in signing the England Under-21 international. The Blues’ board want to stave off any interest by tying the 22-year-old to a longer-term contract but to achieve that they would have to offer a substantial increase on his current contract, estimated to be worth £10,000 a week. “Shaun has been our best player in most games this season,” said Keegan. “The exciting thing about him is that he will get better. He is nowhere near the finished article but he has been magnificent for us at times. We have got him for another two years but I understand why other clubs are interested in him. People are talking about him. Am I worried he may go to another club? Well there is always that chance, but I want Shaun to stay.”

Whelan and a’Dealin’: Sheffield Wednesday have completed the capture of City midfielder Glenn Whelan. The 20-year-old has signed a two-year deal with The Owls and will join them at the end of the season. “Glenn is a passing midfield player who sees things early,” said manager Chris Turner. “He now needs to build a first-team career and we’ve had excellent co-operation from Manchester City manager Kevin Keegan over the deal. We’re delighted Glenn chose to come to Sheffield Wednesday.”

Turkish Delight for Ramzi? Turkish club Trabzonspor have entered the race to sign Moroccan winger Adil Ramzi. We reported last month that City had been watching the PSV Eindhoven player, currently on loan at FC Twente. Ramzi would prefer a move to City, apparently. The 26-year-old has had a good season at Twente, scoring seven goals and reaching the Cup final.

Ex-Blues’ News

Careless Hands: David Seaman has had part of Peterborough’s ground named after him, no less. The sponsors’ lounge at Posh’s London Road ground has been re-named the David Seaman suite. Seamo began his League career there in 1982, and was guest of honour last Saturday for the renaming ceremony. Director Bob Symns said David has always indicated that he wanted to support the club where he began his career and therefore in honour of him, we decided to name the sponsors’ lounge after him. There will be further support from David throughout this year because he loves this club so much. There are currently no plans to repeat the tribute at the COMS, although The One Season Too Many suite does have a ring to it.

Dickov to Stay in the Prem? Birmingham and West Bromwich Albion are both said to be interested in extending Paul Dickov’s stay in the Premiership. Leicester were recently relegated from the top division, and Foxes’ boss Micky Adams is reportedly willing to let the Scotland international leave if a Premiership club came in for his signature and paid the asking fee believed to be in the region of £100 000 as stipulated in the forward’s get-out close. Baggies’ boss Gary Megson was at the Walkers Stadium on Saturday to run the rule over the 31-year-old, who scored in the 3-1 win over Portsmouth as well as having a hand in the Foxes’ other two goals. “Micky Adams has said he can go if the clause payment is met and if Paul wants to leave the club,” Dickov’s agent, Phil Smith said this week. “It’s unfortunate this has been leaked out the way it has. Albion are one of the clubs that have expressed an interest in Paul.” Meanwhile the lawyer representing Dickov, Frank Sinclair and Keith Gillespie, denied British press reports that charges had been dropped against the players following incidents involving three women at a club training camp in southern Spain in March. “In fact the judge is not at all about to give his decision,” Ana Ruiperez said. “Nothing will be decided in the short term. The DNA is currently being analysed in Madrid and when we know the results, the judge will decide if the case will go to trial or not.”

Reactions and Comments

Poor Start: City failed to take their winning run to two games on Saturday, allowing Middlesbrough to score twice in the first 32 minutes. The Blues could only muster a Paulo Wanchope effort in reply. “The first half an hour was very disappointing. We did not start well and did not compete well,” said the Boss Man. “We certainly did not pass the ball well but when we went two goals down we saw a bit of life and determination in us. I said to all of them at half time that none of them were winning their battles anywhere. I told them that they all had to look at themselves and ask themselves if they could do better and get more involved and the answer was yes right round the dressing room. In the second half we were much better and had more chances but didn’t convert them. When you give teams especially away from home a two goal start it is very difficult to score three goals.” Keegan added: “Possibly, because we had avoided relegation last week, the players felt the job was done, but our challenge to them was to finish three places higher, which we were capable of doing. I was very disappointed with the performance and I said to players at half-time we were losing too many 50-50 tackles. We have to be a lot sharper, more committed than we were early on today. Not enough hard work has been done this season.”

McClaren Merry: Boro’s Steve McClaren was pleased with his team’s show against City. He said: “It was a very, very important game for us, a big game and very important we won. We have already given the fans an historic season and we wanted to finish on a high at our last home match. We would have been disappointed to parade the cup around if we had not won.” McClaren said he was not concerned whether Maccarone had intended to score or not with his driven cross. He added: “He deserved it. He made the run and beat the boy [Richard] Dunne and finished it well. We were 2-0 up and in control of the game and although their goal unnerved us for a time the main thing was we got the win. It puts us in with a good chance of finishing in the top half of the table next week. The table never lies and where we finish is where we deserve to be.”

Let’s Hang On To What We’ve Got: After the game, KK was asked whether he would be leaving the club this summer, especially as it had been reported in the press that day that he would have no funds to buy new players. “I will be there on 5 July, don’t worry about that. I will be just as hungry as ever. I know there are no finances for next season, but I knew that before the board meeting. I didn’t need to go there to find it out,” said Keegan. “It leaves things exactly where they were before the meeting. We have the players and must get them to play better as a team and perform to their maximum more often. We have to hope this has been bedding-in period. The players will analyse their own performances and nearly all of them will feel they could have done better. There is a lot for them to aim for. We have had a disappointing season and we know it will be better next year. Maybe people will get off our backs if we do better.”

Squad News

Crunch Time for Young Kev: KK says that young ‘keeper Kevin Stuhr Ellegaard has until Christmas to prove his worth and earn a long-term contract. “Kevin Ellegaard has a big year ahead of him next season. He is coming into the last year of his contract,” confirmed Keegan. “We will have a look at him up until Christmas and then decide, but so far we are pleased with what he has done. He has come on and developed for having the games in the senior side. His inexperience was why I brought Arni Arason in.”

Keep On Keeping On: Jon Macken has been expressing his hopes for the future, both for himself and for the club. “We are professional people and we have to make sure we don’t have another year like this in terms of our league position,” said Macken. “I have got two more seasons on my contract and I hope it is better for me personally, too. It has been frustrating for me because I feel I have done enough to warrant a start in certain games but that start hasn’t come. I have to keep going and see how it goes but it is frustrating, of course it is. Fifteen minutes here and there makes it hard to get into a rhythm. That has been me more or less all year. Hopefully things might be a little bit different in pre-season and I can stake a claim. I will certainly be reflecting but I will come back the same Jon Macken. I will keep working hard and keep giving it my best shot.”

Captain Jamo? David James put last season’s relegation with West Ham to good use, when advising the squad at City this season. “Our performances I believe have not been that bad but results have not gone with them,” explained the ‘keeper. “Somewhere down the line that has to be looked at. Next season it will not be acceptable if we are in the same position. Because I had been in a relegation battle last season when West Ham went down I knew the warning signs. There were occasions in the last few weeks when Trevor Sinclair and myself put our views over to make sure that we didn’t fall into the same traps. We wanted to be sure that everyone knew what would happen if some things were not changed in some respects. As a team we did what we needed to do. We went out and won a game and that is to our credit. We couldn’t sit around and hope that other teams did us favours. Communication is the key to any successful business or venture and this is a business and for us a venture. Every player comes in here with the anticipation of doing well. There has to be points during any season – any given day, week or month – when discussion has to be had and the best way forward worked out. We weren’t in a good position in the last six games we have only lost once but we have only won once so things were frustratingly not quite right and sometimes a clearing of the air makes people feel a lot better.” James was asked if he fancied the rôle of club captain with the Blues. “If the opportunity arose to be captain, I would quite like it,” he said. “It’s a rôle I had from time to time at West Ham and I quite enjoyed it. But we have a captain here already and I won’t be pushing Sylvain out of the way.” Coach Stuart Pearce paid tribute to the ‘keeper’s contribution for the Blues, and looked forward to Euro 2004. “I think if you’re going to win anything, you’re going to need your goalkeeper to be on top form and that goes at any level, be it international, club or whatever,” said Pearce. “If you’re going to have a goalkeeper who is going to let you down, you’re not going to win anything. It’s as simple as that. If you’re going to get a result at the most intimidating grounds, you need your ‘keeper to be the best player. That’s what England need with Jamo. They need him to produce those saves. Fingers crossed, he will. He doesn’t get a lot to do in games, but he makes the key saves when you need him to. He did it against Wolves and Leicester with penalty saves. He is at the right age, he has got the experience and I think his last nine games for England have been as good as I have seen him play.”

In Sinc For Next Season: David James’ partner-in-relegation-last-season, Trevor Sinclair, thinks that we’ll see a better level of personal performance on the pitch next term. “It has been a difficult season for me,” Sinclair admitted. “It is still a dream move here, but it has been difficult finding a level of performance. I have been a bit inconsistent, but fingers crossed that hard work can put that right. I have been in and out of the side, which has been something new for me to deal with. I have never been in that position before and I don’t want to be like that next year either. When the summer comes, I am going to take a proper rest. It has been a long time since I have had six weeks or two months off. I can recharge my batteries properly, and I think it will be a different story next year. As long as I have that good summer break, I think I will be able to get back up to those World Cup levels again, and I am confident in my ability to do that. One thing I don’t think you could say is I don’t work hard.”

Dan’s the Man: The M.E.N. reckons that Daniel Van Buyten will play some part in City’s end of season game with Everton. The journal also says that van Buyten may well join City on a permanent basis this summer, with David Sommeil remaining with Marseille as part of the deal. The 26-year-old has made impressive progress in recovering from a damaged groin muscle, but the manager doesn’t sound like he’s too sure the Belgian is ready for action. “Personally, I think he is so keen to get back that he feels he has let us down and that his heart is ruling his head,” said Keegan. “But if the physio and the doctor say he is all right to come back, then I would like him to come back.”

ON THE BRIGHT SIDE

I thought I’d chip in with my thoughts on this season, especially as I disagreed most strongly with Haydn Morris’ “Kev Must Go” article and yet I also disagree with pretty much everything KK has done over the last 12 months or so as well!

Unlike most City fans, I’m almost satisfied with the way this season has gone. For once, we have been taught a harsh and serious lesson, and it has not resulted in our relegation as it usually does. I think Kev is ready to learn from his mistakes this season, and this has to be a big positive: if we sacked him, we’d only end up replacing him with yet another messiah wishing to do it his own way, at our expense, as per usual. The thought of City appointing another Royle or Reid fills me with dread. Here is my analysis of the lessons that I hope have been learned this season.

1. Flair Players. What is it with City fans that we always wish toscapegoat flair players? Not long ago it was Kinkladze. Last season it wasDarren Huckerby; he got a load of stick from a good number of fans,virtually every time he touched the ball. Why were so many supporters soangry at such a good player, who always gave 100%, and was always a dangerto the opposition? I know the Norwich fans ain’t complaining about Hucks’contribution to their cause. The good news for me as shown this season, isthat we can sink to the bottom of the Premiership, without a Huckerby or aKinkladze anywhere in sight. So can we learn this lesson please (especiallyfor next time a clown like Joe Royle shows up)? I hope Kevin Keegan andall those City fans that booed and heckled Huckerby are delighted withTrevor Sinclair as his replacement. I know which player I’d rather have onmy books, and I bet Norwich City do too. Sadly though, now that Huckerby hasgone the next scapegoat appears to beSteve McManaman. And yet he has hardly featured in the last few months.To me, Macca has always looked up for it in the few games he has played, andI think the worst you can say is that ‘the jury is out’, but for sure wehaven’t seen enough of him to start blaming him for the débâcle of thisseason. Get off his back and let’s see what he can do.
2. The Manager. This time last year KK was out of control; spending moneywe didn’t have, on players we didn’t need. Now he is at last thinking verycarefully about what players we need for next season, instead of going at itlike a bull in a china shop. I for one think this is a positive, comparedto bringing in a new manager needing his ‘own’ people, and his ownmasterplan etc. I still have some faith in KK, more so than this timelast season. Pity about losing Tarnat though.
3. The Board. Another positive hopefully is for the board. Have they atlast learned that you cannot simply ‘trust’ a football manager to get onwith it: he needs managing too. We have seen that ‘splashing the cash’regardless, is no substitute for careful team building and people management.Why we have failed to pick this up since as long ago as the 2nd Allison erais beyond me. The board must remain in control from now on. Pity we had tolose Bernstein in the process.
4. The Squad. I don’t blame the squad too much for this season’s mess. Forexample, I wouldn’t put our failings down to a lack of effort. I have seenplenty of totally inept performances, mad team formations and playerswondering where their next pass is coming from. I’ve seen players give freekicks away on the edge of the box, week in, week out. Whenever you see abad footballer on the football pitch, the only person to blame is themanager for picking him (or not substituting him etc.). If a player is notgood enough, or fit enough, he should not be picked, it really is thatsimple. Haranguing them from the stands is not going to help either.Accept from now on, that they are all hopelessly overpaid wastrels, and geton with it.
5. Youth Scheme. Name Liverpool’s two best players. Name the key playersupon whom United built an empire. Name City’s brightest prospects thisseason: SWP and Barton. And they all come from their respective club’syouth set-up.
6. Players’ Contracts. Last week I heard that City are already trying torenegotiate the contracts of SWP and Joey Barton. I hope like me, you wereangry and annoyed at this disgraceful show of opportunistic behaviour by theclub. Surely, we should leave their contracts to run out, and thenre-negotiate them? Am I crazy for saying this? Well yes and no. Becausethis is precisely the kind of rubbish people were talking about EyalBerkovic at the start of this season, when the boot just happened to be onthe other foot. Let’s recap. We’d lost Foe and Ali B, making Eyal main manfor midfield. Understandably, Eyal saw this as the right time torenegotiate his contract with City. He had joined us in Division One,played really well and subsequently seen KK throwing cash around on thelikes of Fowler and Anelka (on double Eyal’s wages?). So why should Eyalnot share in this largesse? And even if he wasn’t to get his new contract,all KK had to do was say “no”, and carry on picking him for the team, untilhe had a bad game. Big deal. Yet to ostracise him from the squad wastotally absurd and nonsensical management, and it has really cost us a lot(nearly big time), judging by the complete failure to replace him inmidfield this season. So think about it, now that City are trying to tieBarton and SWP onto longer term contracts – just because it suits the clubto do so now, can we criticise Eyal Berkovic for attempting to do the samething in return? Lesson learned – hopefully. All contracts arere-negotiable at all times – it’s the simple truth of the business world.
7. Kinkladze. I’ve said my piece about my hero Gio above, buts it’s worthpointing out that whenever his name is mentioned nowadays, some smart alecrefers to a mythical law about “never going back”. Take the case of Junhinoat Middlesbrough this season, he ‘went back’ and they won a trophy, sosometimes it can be the right move. Personally, I think City should haveanother look at Kinkladze over the summer – it will cost us nothing afterall. And I’d argue, that provided he can get his fitness back, it willlessen some of the close attention that is due to be paid to SWP in everygame next season. I’ll accept any other reason for not looking at Kinkladzeother than the “we shouldn’t go back” nonsense that is invariably peddledabout.

So you can see why I think this season could prove useful to us in the longer run. Looking back over the last two decades and you will see most of the above issues repeated endlessly, by different managers, with different players, the same defiant set of supporters, but seemingly with no lessons being learned in the process! Hopefully, next season will see the start of something good. KK must stay and show us what he can do as a manager; I’m keen to find out.

Vented.

ACCELERATION OR RELEGATION

The only game I managed to watch live during this season was the one against Man. United in December. I listened on the broadcast of some other games. What puzzled me was the lack of speed in the City team in the United game. Are City always playing like that? I mean, they were only strolling about and passing neatly, but getting nowhere. If this continues, then I’m confident nothing good will come out of next season, which makes me worried as a forever devoted City fan.

MANAGING UP – WE HOPE!

This is a table of all managers for each of the current Premiership teams over the last 30 years, with the number of years for current manager in parentheses. It’s strange how the top 3 of the list have also been by far the most successful.

City average a new manager every 2 years, the Rags/Arsenal/Liverpool every 5-7 years. The top 4 teams (I included Charlton because of the size of the club just staying in the top half of the Premiership is successful) have also had the longest serving managers.

Man Utd      4 (18)
Arsenal      5 (8)
Liverpool    6 (6)
Charlton     7 (9)
Bolton      10 (5)
Everton     10 (2)
Boro        10 (3)
Brum        11 (3)
Aston Villa 11 (1)
Soton       11 (1)
Leicester   12 (2)
Spurs       12 (1)
Newcastle   12 (5)
Leeds       12 (1)
Blackburn   13 (4)
Portsmouth  13 (2)
Chelsea     14 (4)
Fulham      14 (1)
Wolves      14 (3)
Man City    15 (3)

Okay, I do agree you have to have a good manager in the first place to have success but can anyone honestly say we have had a significantly better manager than Keegan in the last 30 years? In his first year, we murdered the 1st Division and won our first trophy for years. In his 2nd year, we finished in the top half of the Premiership and took 4 points from the Rags. Yes, this year was a complete disaster but it could have been so much different.

The Premiership is definitely a tough league and you need a little bit of luck, good refereeing and a good team to be successful. I think on several occasions we didn’t have the first two and towards the end of the season the 3rd went missing also.

Arsenal home – lost 2-1, played well should have had a point.
Spurs home – tied 0-0, did everything but score. Should have won.
Wolves away – lost 1-0, turning point of our season. Should have at least got a point.
Chelsea away – lost 1-0, played well enough to get a point.
Boro home – lost 1-0, Boro didn’t even have a shot on target and they won? Should have won.
Everton away – tied 0-0, outplayed them and were the better team – should have won.
Leeds home – tied 1-1, better team again. Terrible mistake cost us 3 points.
Brum away – lost 2-1, don’t think we deserved to win but Brum’s 2 goals sum up our season.
Charlton home – tied 1-1, never a penalty and unlucky when Seaman saved it to score anyway.
Pompey – lost 4-2, hmmmm.
Arsenal away – lost 2-1, pretty much same story as the home fixture. Thought we played well enough to earn a point.
Leeds away – lost 2-1, no way was this a penalty. Cost us a point, maybe all 3.

Guess I could go on and on, and I know you have to make your own luck but you also need adequate referees too. But this season just seemed to spiral out of control. I did only see one game live but I did see a lot of games on TV and thought in general we played some good football, especially the first half of the season.

If just half of the results above had gone our way, which based on the performances they could have easily done so, we would have had more confidence and a stronger finish to the season and be one of the teams challenging for Europe.

A lot of ifs, ands and buts, but my point is I think Keegan is close to getting things right and we need to give him the time to do so (or at least the time to prove me wrong).

Let’s hope we don’t start next season with our 16th manager in 31 years.

OUR COACHES: GOING IN THE WRONG DIRECTION?

There’s been quite a lot of comment about which players should stay and which should leave over the summer, and also with regards to the manager. Does this apply to the coaching staff too?

We have severely underperformed this year, everyone agrees. Keegan has been unable to motivate the players. But it’s not just all motivation. I watched City against Newcastle and saw Sun Jihai “defending narrow” against Robert, who was hugging the touchline. By the time he got to Robert he did generally defend quite well, but Robert had a huge amount of space, and was able to get crosses in regardless (it’s a good job Robert is lazy). In the second half I could see Dunne screaming at him, at times, to push wide. Now OK, you could say that we should let Sun go because his positional sense was/is poor. But he’s been playing as a full back all season, we have had a back four for most of the season, so why is this still an issue? I remember an interview with Stephen Finnan at Fulham when Tigana was manager. One of their most common training approaches was to split the team into small units and practice how to defend particular sections of the pitch. As right back, his unit was the right central defender, and the right-winger. The drills were specifically designed to make the players aware of their positions in relation to each other, and how to deal with any defensive situation, from any given starting point. If Dunne has to scream at Sun to go wide so that they can carry out what they have practiced, is that not a coaching issue?

It’s clear that Sun and SWP can combine well, as they do it in an attacking sense. SWP always knows when Sun is going to bomb on past him or come inside. So why does the combination not work going backwards? Should we not have come up with new drills that eliminate this problem? Surely it can’t simply be the case that the player can’t work it out? Look at how Arsenal have developed Lauren. His positional sense when he moved to that position was poor, but they coached him into coping with it. I’m not saying that the solution at City is easy but there must be one.

CHANGE AND STABILITY

The Manchester Evening News in the “Manchester City” section of its website, reports results of a poll: 70% of City fans say City should keep Kevin Keegan.

Most of us older City fans can remember what started the big gap between the Evil Empire and City. It was a revolving door of managers. We need stability. Two great seasons from K.K. and one poor season, and some fans (not the majority) want a new manager.

We all know that Kevin Keegan has not had a good season and he himself is the first to admit that. But the team last season was fourth on shots on goal. What if more of them had gone in? Being fourth with shots on goal was proof of a Kevin Keegan type team playing attacking football. Trouble being, as I have stated before, our strikers underperformed. We had “when prima donnas collide” in Fowler and Anelka. The defence underperformed; that’s why KK brought in van Buyten and David James to strengthen it. I agree the team needs a lot of changes, but not as many as our friend Hayden predicts, and if all the players mentioned were to go, how could we replace them?

We have some up and coming players in the reserves and KK has already said some will get their chance in pre-season games. The team has to have a mixture of the experienced, and players like Barton and SWeeP. Paul Bosvelt had some decent games, enough to be picked by his country Holland, and we should keep him. I’m not going to go through a lot of players’ names, but I do agree some have to go. There are many older players doing well in the Premier League. It’s a case of getting players together that will work for one another as a team. KK is best to rebuild the team because he knows the weaknesses and strengths better than anyone. KK can motivate. Look what happened at White Hart Lane (the comeback game). The question is why it did not happen more often? Perhaps a good move by the club would be to make some coaching changes, make Stuart Pearce the Assistant Manager, Cox and Fazackerly to other positions or eliminated.

A chant for the last game of the season: “We’re MCFC, that’s who!”

Come on you Blues!

TWENTY-THREE REASONS WHY KK (AND OTHERS) SHOULD BE SHOWN THE EXIT

The season is over. Let’s get this club going forward again but instead of sitting down for four days and analysing where it all went wrong as KK is going to, let me save everybody at City the trouble by asking a few simple questions.

1. Who employed Arthur Cox and Derek Fazackerly? And what the hell do theyactually do?
2. Who employed Stuart Pearce? And why do we employ him if we are so eagerto release him the moment he gets another offer – he obviously isn’t goodenough to keep.
3. Who bought all the players that everyone says underperformed thisseason? And not only that but all the big name players that everyone seemsto think wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for KK.
4. Who bought so many midfielders that he has to constantly change the teamand never knows what his best side is?
5. Who refused to give Barton a longer contract saying people don’t signlong term deals nowadays – resulting in Liverpool sniffing around him andprobably buying him for a knock down fee? And yet we sign a 31 year oldSinclair on a four year deal!?
6. Who was responsible for leaving us devoid of any defensive coverthroughout the season? A fact that he later admitted was a problem. Thismeant we had no way of dropping a single member of our entire back four allseason due to the total lack of cover. And yet the last ditch signing hemade on deadline day at the start of the season was yet another midfielderin Reyna.
7. Who signed a past it, injury prone goalkeeper on exorbitant wages we canill afford? And then had to spend money we didn’t have in the transferwindow to bring in another one.
8. Who has spent all our money leaving us with a worthless, aging squad andno cash to spend on new players and still no defence?
9. Who was told by his players that they wanted more training and offeredideas on tactics and how they wanted to be coached!?
10. Who gave the captaincy to man that is blatantly not suited to the rôle?
11. Who refuses to give youth even a sniff of the first team bench?
12. Who has absolutely no idea about tactics and merely substitutes like forlike every time?
13. Who refuses to drop Anelka when the man can barely be bothered to gointo the opposition’s box unless it’s bonus related?
14. Who continued to play Fowler when he clearly has – and very sadly – notgot it any more?
15. Who the hell bought Fowler!?
16. What has happened to Vuoso, Nacken, Negouia, Bischoff? To name but afew. Money down the drain. I like Macken but KK doesn’t seem to.
17. What makes Manchester City such a great club? I’ll answer this one foryou. The fans and the stadium and the tradition. Not the manager or theboard or the players.
18. Why oh why did we let David Bernstein go?
19. Mr Wardle – do not run a club like Peter Ridsdale. City is a businesswhether you like it or not. Resign and bring back Bernstein.
20. This club needs stability as everyone points out. But stability with agood manager and chairman! The reason we have sacked so many managers andbeen devoid of stability over the years is because all our managers havebeen c**p! KK has had a go and failed at the top level. I’d rather have aweek with a good manager then four, five years stability with a bad one.
21. And do not say we have had bad luck this season. Yes we have lost gameswe deserved to win. But bad luck ceases to be so at some point and thenbecomes bad management. And we scored plenty of last minute and ill-deservedgoals this season, without which we would have been holding up the table.
22. How can teams with considerable smaller squads with lesser talentsperform so much better than ours? Charlton, Birmingham, Bolton? Themanagers!
23. The league table does not lie!

Four days to analyse where the season went wrong? Two minutes, more like. Wardle and KK? Thanks but no thanks.

If either of you had a brain you’d walk away. Sadly as this season has shown the chances of that happening are zero. I look forward to our relegation battle next season.

Come on you Blues!

MORE QUESTIONS THAN ANSWERS

Throughout my turbulent love affair with the Blues, I have never felt so dismayed, confused, and frustrated by our performance this season. Previous relegations and relegation battles have always left me feeling low, but this one has been really depressing. Thank God the season is almost over and we’ve managed to survive. What’s important now is that we have a root and branch investigation into what went wrong this season. This review should be a significant and robust enquiry, and not some superficial gloss-over. You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to know that we have been truly woeful in several vital areas, and I personally would like explanations concerning the five main points below – I’m sure regular readers will have their own questions they would like answering.

1. Why have we been poor all season in defending set pieces?
   Thoughts: has our training been tactical enough? How much time was spent onformation work vis-à-vis open match play? I think this has been our biggestproblem all season and there is something very seriously wrong with City’sdefensive preparation. We need to bring more balance to our style of playi.e. recognition that defence is an integral part of the modern game, andnot a necessary evil.
2. Why has management stuck with the Anelka and Fowler combination whenindividually neither player has been playing consistently well, and togetherour attacking play is predictable and one-dimensional?
   Thoughts: has John Macken been given enough opportunities? Why has RobbieFowler been given so much time to try to prove himself? In my humbleopinion, the Anelka/Fowler combination will never work!
3. Why have more experienced players failed to make an impact this season?
   Thoughts: did we get our mix of youth and experience right? Do players’contractual conditions provide too much of a comfort zone, rather than actas an incentive? Why have players like McManaman and Bosvelt failed to makeany kind of positive impression on the pitch… sorry to be blunt but arethey just too lazy?
4. Why has the team collectively failed to display a fighting spirit in themajority of games – notwithstanding more recent games?
   Thoughts: there doesn’t appear to be a leader who can take the game by thescruff of the neck and motivate other players around him. Has our choice ofcaptain been wrong?
5. What are the factors that have negatively impacted our confidence whenplaying at home?
   Thoughts: do we play enough (if any) practice games at Eastlands? Did wefocus too heavily on the logistical matters of transferring operations fromMaine Road to Eastlands, and not enough on the psychological issues? Forexample, the distribution of seating at Eastlands may have dispersed thenucleus of those fans that created much of the noise/atmosphere at MaineRoad.

Let’s hope we get these, and other issues, fixed for next season. I don’t think I could take another season like this one.

GIVE US OUR VOICE BACK

Have you noticed that the fans have stopped singing the individual player songs when we are playing at home? A goal or fast wing play might bring ripples of “Nicolas Anelka” or “Shaunie-Wright-Wright-Wright”, a good save and “England’s number one” is murmured but that’s about it. The easy explanation is that we don’t actually like the players very much but I think there is another problem, something that adversely affects the atmosphere in the ground on the whole.

For fifteen minutes or more before the kick-off, we are subjected to very loud, upbeat music and an over-excited announcer imploring us to support “our very own” Manchester City. This is the key time when songs are sung and the atmosphere builds up but we are suffocating it under a blanket of meaningless noise. Most of our home games start in almost complete silence (apart from the away fans) and it takes something from the team to get things going. It should be the other way round, our noise and enthusiasm ought to be encouraging our players and intimidating the opposition. By all means have a music show as the crowd gathers but I think it should be cut short when the teams leave the pitch after warming up so the atmosphere can develop.

(Forgive this interruption but Paul is so right. The phrase “our very own” is a direct steal from National Hockey League games in Canada and the USA where they attempt to orchestrate every minute of fan behaviour. “Make Noise” is another phrase that often appears on the big video screens at NHL arenas – usually when the home team is performing so badly, most fans feel like asking for their money back. I noticed this pre-game trend, and the initial fan silence, when I was at the City stadium a couple of months back and was most dismayed. It’s a piece of Americana sports fan engineering that has no place at football grounds for the very reason Paul states. It disenfranchises the paying fan. Fight hard against this one or it will get worse. Guaranteed. Ed.)

GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN

Went along to the Sheff Wed/QPR game with a QPR-supporting mate at the weekend (congrats to QPR, it was a great afternoon – was nice to watch a team actually playing with some passion!) and was pleasantly surprised to see two former Blues in the starting XIs: Richard Edghill (QPR) and Terry Cooke (Sheffield Wed). Edgy had a really good game at right back and from what my mate was saying he’s been doing very well for them. Great to see after the struggle he had to get a club after leaving us and I couldn’t help thinking back to the last time he got promoted from Division 2. He’s a City legend for that day alone. Cooke was quieter, put in a few decent crosses and got involved but in fairness his whole team were fairly c**p.

QUESTIONS FROM TANGLED UP IN BLUE: THE ANSWERS ARE BLOWIN’ IN THE WIND

In the latest issue of King of the Kippax, one writer, ‘Tangled Up In Blue’ wonders if this season will make or break Kevin Keegan. He writes:

“He (Keegan) has always tried to act in a decent manner… Though a cult figure from his first days at Anfield, he was no prima donna. He worked at his game with single-minded determination and consequently got better and better. His self-respect was tied up with ideas of honesty, of giving a fair day’s labour for a fair day’s pay, of winning the esteem of his peers, of demonstrating competence at his chosen craft, of loyalty to his own. These were the values of the working class community that produced him.”

The writer goes on to examine the mistakes made, the confidence lost, the under-achievement of the players etc. and concludes:

“So what will Keegan do? Will he decide that the situation is irretrievable, that he has no choice but to resign? Is his pride mortally wounded? Or is he one of those who can profit from adversity, learn from it and grow, both as a person and a manager? If so, Keegan’s flaws, now so obvious, will prove to be no more than the crack that is in everything, the place where the light gets in.”

So here’s to an enlightened KK next season – and a team exhibiting some of the value-for-money commitment KK holds dear.

Thanks to all at MCIVTA for an excellent production throughout the season – and belated congratulations on the 1000th issue.

The bumper (52 A4 pages), end of season issue of King of the Kippax will be on sale outside the ground for the first and last time on Saturday. An excellent read, including the full article of ‘Make or Break’, and lots more.

If you’ve never read this or any other fanzine before, then here’s the place to start – an in-depth review of an extraordinary season, plus hopes and fears for the future of MCFC in particular, and football in general.

P.S. I believe it’s ‘Fancy Dress day’ on Saturday – presumably the team will be coming as professional footballers?

SENIOR CUP SLIPS AWAY

MCFC 1 MUFC 3

A game where City had the chance to salvage something from their lacklustre season ended in the same vein as all the other matches at other levels had ended, by failing to perform when it really mattered. Two goals from the big American centre forward Kenny Cooper, and a late goal from Sylvan Ebanks-Blake were enough to give United the Senior Cup for the twenty-sixth time in their history. A first half equalizer from Bradley Wright-Phillips turned out to be just a consolation goal for City as they failed to capitalise on their second half possession.

Although City won their first corner within the first five minutes, it was United who dominated the early play and created good openings for Colin Heath and Cooper. So it was no surprise that United took the lead after twenty-four minutes and it was less surprising that the goal was clearly offside and yet the referee’s assistant failed to raise his flag as he was constantly far behind the level of play. The goal came when Kieran Richardson was allowed to run down the left wing and play the ball forward into and across the box to Cooper to poke the ball into the corner of the net.

This woke City up and they started to find each other far better with their passing, creating a few openings. The best opening fell directly on the half hour mark, when Willo Flood made a strong run down the right and played a great cross along the ground across the box that Lee Croft and Glenn Whelan just failed to connect with. On thirty-nine minutes Bradley made a strong run into the box and shot at goal, but his shot was deflected narrowly wide. City gained their deserved equalizer though from the resulting corner. Paul Collins played a short corner to Whelan, who returned the ball to Paul and his in-swinging cross found the unmarked Bradley to head for goal off the upright.

City would walk into the half time dressing room deflated though, as into first half injury time, City allowed United to take the lead once again. This time space in midfield allowed Chris Eagles to find Cooper, forward in space, who ran at Paddy McCarthy and sent him the wrong way, drilling his shot into the bottom right corner of the net.

Bradley had three good efforts within fifteen minutes of the break but each time Northern Ireland international Roy Carroll was up to the efforts. Indeed, he made a great fingertip save to push Bradley’s first headed effort onto the bar. After that, City played some good, neat football and brought on all three substitutes to change things around, but only having one recognised forward in your sixteen-man squad doesn’t help. So City huffed and puffed but failed to create another clear-cut opening. They even had to play the last ten minutes with ten men as Flood limped off with a bad shin or ankle injury.

United then rubbed salt into City’s wounds when Paddy failed to clear or shepherd out properly, allowing substitute David Poole to get around him and square the ball into the box; neither Stephen Jordan nor Kevin Ellegaard were committed to the ball, which allowed Ebanks-Blake to run in and score the third goal.

I must say I was really disappointed with the starting line up as after last week’s poor discipline from Tiatto and Whelan, and knowing that they would not be playing for City next season, why give them the chance of a season ending consolation when they had let their teammates down so badly last week? Also, with having Stephen Elliott injured, surely one of Karl Bermingham, Ishmael Miller or Kelvin Etuhu on the bench would have been the correct and proper team selection, to give you at least one attacking option on the bench. Let’s hope we see an improvement in the coaching staff to see these problems that run right through to the first team; but I shall not be holding my breath.

Ellegaard: A fair game for him, a couple of good saves. 7
Flood: Put himself about, but never delivered the final ball. 6
Collins: Defended well and played some good balls. 7
Onuoha (65): Not his best game in an unfavoured right back rôle. 6
McCarthy: His worst game for City at reserve level, blamed for two goals. 5
Jordan (capt): Never got able to help command the back line. 6
Croft: Went backwards with the ball more times than forward. 5
Negouai (76): Very unlucky to be subbed, was playing well. 7
Wright-Phillips: Ran his socks off and scored a good goal. MoM. 8
Whelan: Played some good long balls, but failed to dominate. 7
Tiatto (76): Played some half decent stuff in a couple of bursts, otherwise average. 6

Subs:
Warrender (65): Didn’t alter the play really. 6
J D’Laryea (76): Didn’t do anything wrong when he came on. 6
Tandy (76): Failed to get down the flank on his brief spell. 5
Not Used: Timms, Laird.

United: Carroll, Lynch (capt), Tierney, Spector, Howard, Jones, Eagles (N’Galula 90), Fox, Cooper (Ebanks-Blake 66), Heath (Poole 79), Richardson.
Not Used: Heaton, Picken.

Att: 3,484.

WE’VE GOT PICTURES

I attended the Player of the Year Awards on Monday night and took some photos of the event. I have uploaded them to my Webshots page and they can be found at http://community.webshots.com/user/madsmcfc/. I thought readers might appreciate having a look at them. Please feel free to leave any thoughts in the guestbook.

FOR FUN AND A GOOD CAUSE

Here is an extract from Tuesday night’s MEN, which hopefully many McV readers like myself will take part in.

Manchester City fans will prove again that they have few peers when comes to humour, enjoyment and community spirit when they bring the curtain down on the Premiership season this Saturday.

The one thing the Blues’ supporters have not lost is their ability to laugh at adversity and enjoy themselves and they have set out their stall to smash the British record for the biggest ever fancy dress party in Britain and at the same time raise thousands of pounds for charity.

The aim is to celebrate the first season in the palatial stadium by setting up for fancy dress. The hope is for 30,000 and to ask supporters to donate £1.00 to the scores of collectors.

All the money raised will go to a charity dedicated to relieve the suffering of those with Parkinson’s disease. And 50p from each programme will be donated to the Sports Relief Charity.

If you see some d***head dressed in a blue and white Santa outfit pushing a wheelchair that’s me, give us a wave.

P.S. Many thanks to the McV readers who contacted me regarding my ticket request for the last game of the season. My friends will now be able to see the game thanks to the generosity of someone out there. MCIVTA forever.

ANY MORE OUT THERE?

Can anyone please help an exiled friend of mine down the ‘other’ end of the M62? Ideally, one ticket required for the South Stand, but he will sit on the roof if necessary! Many thanks in hopeful anticipation. Please call/text on 07745343968 or email the address below.

FEELING RIPPED OFF

Sorry but this is another moan. Ordered three shirts in advance through City and spent £115. Then found some good sports shops, and rubbish ones too, are selling said kit for between £25 (kids) to £30-35 (for adults).

Two questions, which I hope you guys can put to the City hierarchy.

1. Why did I not get my 5% season ticket discount?
2. Mr Wardle says we are fantastic fans etc. and then promptly fleecesus. I spend in excess of £1,200 following City, and after this experience theclub shop isn’t getting a penny more. Do you think you could get anexplanation from the club?

P.S. Are we turning into the Rags with every passing day (the board that is)?

Comments please.

BLUE MOON

Does anyone know where I can download a copy of the version of Blue Moon that City now run out to and Ricky Hatton enters the ring to? I believe it is by a group called Supra.

RESULTS

12 May 2004

Southampton           3 - 3  Newcastle United      31,815

9 May 2004

Newcastle United      1 - 1  Wolverhampton Wndrs   52,139
Fulham                0 - 1  Arsenal               18,102

8 May 2004

Manchester United     1 - 1  Chelsea               67,609
Everton               1 - 2  Bolton Wanderers      40,190
Leeds United          3 - 3  Charlton Athletic     38,986
Leicester City        3 - 1  Portsmouth            31,536
Middlesbrough         2 - 1  Manchester City       34,734
Southampton           1 - 1  Aston Villa           32,054
Tottenham Hotspur     1 - 0  Blackburn Rovers      35,698
Birmingham City       0 - 3  Liverpool             29,533

League table to 12 May 2004 inclusive

                             HOME          AWAY        OVERALL
                    P  W  D  L  F  A  W  D  L  F  A  W  D  L  F   A   GD Pts
 1 Arsenal         37 14  4  0 38 13 11  8  0 33 12 25 12  0  71  25  46  87
 2 Chelsea         37 11  4  3 33 13 12  3  4 33 17 23  7  7  66  30  36  76
 3 Manchester Utd  37 12  4  3 37 15 10  2  6 25 20 22  6  9  62  35  27  72
 4 Liverpool       37 10  3  5 28 14  6  8  5 26 22 16 11 10  54  36  18  59
 5 Aston Villa     37  9  6  3 24 17  6  5  8 24 25 15 11 11  48  42   6  56
 6 Newcastle Utd   37 11  5  3 33 14  2 11  5 18 25 13 16  8  51  39  12  55
 7 Bolton Wndrs    37  6  8  4 24 19  8  3  8 24 35 14 11 12  48  54  -6  53
 8 Charlton Ath.   37  6  6  6 27 28  7  5  7 22 22 13 11 13  49  50  -1  50
 9 Fulham          37  9  4  6 29 21  4  6  8 21 25 13 10 14  50  46   4  49
10 Birmingham City 37  8  5  6 26 24  4  8  6 16 23 12 13 12  42  47  -5  49
11 Middlesbrough   37  8  4  7 25 23  5  5  8 18 24 13  9 15  43  47  -4  48
12 Southampton     37  8  6  5 24 17  4  5  9 19 26 12 11 14  43  43   0  47
13 Blackburn R.    37  5  3 10 24 30  7  4  8 26 28 12  7 18  50  58  -8  43
14 Portsmouth      37  9  4  5 30 18  2  5 12 12 35 11  9 17  42  53 -11  42
15 Tottenham H.    37  9  4  6 33 27  3  2 13 12 30 12  6 19  45  57 -12  42
16 Everton         37  8  5  6 27 20  1  7 10 17 32  9 12 16  44  52  -8  39
17 Manchester City 37  4  9  5 26 23  4  5 10 24 30  8 14 15  50  53  -3  38
18 Leicester City  37  3 10  6 19 28  3  5 10 28 35  6 15 16  47  63 -16  33
19 Wolves          37  7  5  6 23 33  0  7 12 15 42  7 12 18  38  75 -37  33
20 Leeds United    37  5  7  7 25 31  3  2 13 15 47  8  9 20  40  78 -38  33

MCIVTA FAQ [v0304.07]

[0] MCIVTA Addresses

Articles (Heidi Pickup)          : editor@mcivta.city-fan.org
News/rumour (Don Barrie)         : news@mcivta.city-fan.org
Subscriptions (Madeleine Hawkins): subscriptions@mcivta.city-fan.org
Technical problems (Paul)        : paul@city-fan.org
FAQ (David Warburton)            : faq@mcivta.city-fan.org

[1] What are MCIVTA’s publishing deadlines?

Deadlines for issues are nominally 6pm, 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] What is the club’s official web site?

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

[4] What supporters’ clubs are there?

Manchester City FC recognises three supporters’ clubs: The “Official Supporters Club” (http://www.mancity.net/osc/); the “Centenary Supporters’ Association” (http://www.reddishblues.com/CSAWebsite/CSA.htm) and “The International Supporters’ Club” (http://www.mcfc.co.uk/article.asp?article=111845&Title=International+Supporters+Club&lid=Membership).

[5] Where can I find out about the 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] What match day broadcasts are available on the web?

The GMR pre and post match phone-in is available on the web at http://www.bbc.co.uk/england/gmr/sport_intro.shtml.

Live match commentaries and archives of games, reports and interviews can be found at http://www.mcfctv.com/, whilst an alternate live commentary service, hosted by Yahoo, is located at http://uk.sports.yahoo.com/foot/englandprem/cal/index.html.

[7] Where can I find out if City are live on satellite TV?

http://www.satfootball.com/pl.html provides a listing of Premiership games being shown on UK domestic and foreign satellite channels. Useful sites for North American viewers are http://canadatvsoccer.tripod.com/Fixtures.htm, http://www.foxsportsworld.com/named/FSW/Index/Soccer, and http://www.soccertv.com/.

http://www.foxsportsworld.com/content/view?contentId=1288602 also provides a guide to pubs in the USA showing football.

[8] What’s the music the teams run out to?

At the start of the 03/04 season it was actually a mix of two tracks: Starting with “O Verona” (from the film “William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet”) leading in to “Barber’s Adagio for Strings (Ferry Corsten remix)” by William Orbit. The first part is available on the movie soundtrack (volume 2) and the second is included on a variety of CDs such as Kiss House Nation 2000, Galaxy Hit Mix, Cream Live, Ibiza Chill and Dance Nation 4.

Currently we use a selection of different music, which seems to change each game.

[9] Do we have a Usenet newsgroup?

Yes we do: uk.sport.football.clubs.man-city is our home on usenet. If you are not familiar with usenet, a basic explanation is available here: http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,289893,sid9_gci213262,00.html

[10] Do any squad members have their own web pages?

There are a number available and direct links can be found at http://www.uit.no/mancity/players/

[11] Can I buy shares in the club?

Yes you can: Shares in Manchester City PLC are traded on OFEX. The latest prices can be on found the OFEX web site http://www.ofex.com/ (registration required) or in the business section of the Manchester Evening News.

[12] Where can I find match statistics?

Statistics for the current season are available from the club site, but for a more in-depth analysis try http://www.mcfcstats.com/.

[13] Acknowledgements

Thanks go to Damian Quinn, Stephen Webb, Roger Haigh, Martin Price, and Adrian Howarth for the Satellite TV info.

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.

Chris Cobb, editor@mcivta.city-fan.org

Editor: