Newsletter #1055

A 7-1 routing of Barnsley on Tuesday night sees us through to the third round of the Carling Cup with Arsenal visiting CoMS (and most Blues with already hoping that Wenger puts his usual reserve side out). The Gooners visit on Saturday, which will give a good benchmark on progress from last season.

Tonight’s news contains managerial comments (Kev’s back on top form0, and current and former Blues in the news. We have a match report on the reserve victory at Molineux, views on those media tales, form, backing the team and requests for Polish Blues and tickets.

NEWS SUMMARY

General News

Manager Out? It’s amazing what two wins and nine goals scored does to the news agenda doesn’t it? Since Wednesday morning there have been little if any “Keegan Out” stories in the press. Now WBA’s Gary Megson seems to be getting the treatment since Albion were defeated in the Coca Cola Cup at Colchester this week. But before bashing Barnsley, KK still had to endure speculation over who would replace him. Yet again, the Sun reckoned that Gordon Strachan would be in charge of the Blues before too long. And once rumours of Sam Allardyce being the next City boss started, his chairman at Bolton Phil Gartside dismissed the tale in withering fashion. “I don’t think Manchester City is a big enough job for Sam,” he told the M.E.N. “It is well known they are in debt and not in the market to buy players. I have said before that I would not stand in Sam’s way if a big enough job came along for him but, other than United, I don’t think any club in the area is on the same footing as Bolton. If United wanted him, I would take him there myself because that would be seen as a step up,” he added. Prior to the Palace game, KK was still in defiant mood, expressing his desire to stick with the job at City. “My intention is to see out my contract. It is a tough old job at the moment but I enjoy it and I intend to stick it out,” he said. “There is a lot of flak out there but that is nothing new. It is to be expected. If you don’t expect it in my position then it would be me that would be foolish. Whatever people are saying, I take it fully. I don’t in any way shirk my responsibility. But I cannot answer what boards are going to decide when results go wrong. It is nothing to do with the manager. The board runs the club and they have been very supportive. Even I know that if results keep going against me, then they won’t keep supporting me. The buck stops with the manager. If the chairman taps me on the shoulder and says ‘hey, Kevin thanks but no thanks’ then so be it. I will be distraught but I will understand it. I am a realist and know that it is part of the job. If you don’t do well, managers get sacked, but I hope that does not happen to me.”

Last Week’s “Bust Up at Training”: You’ll remember that the Daily Mail accused Danny Mills and KK of having had a falling out at training. The Independent’s website claimed during the week that Mills was taking legal advice to see whether he could take proceeding against the Mail for the story branded as “garbage” by Mills. And prior to the Palace game Mills stressed how he and the rest of the squad still backed their manager. “The players are fully behind the manager. That has never been in question,” he said. “It is down to the players. They have got to be honest with themselves and take responsibility for performances. We can work on things all week in training but once the whistle goes it is down to us as players. Sometimes it is easy to hide behind excuses and managers and coaches. We have got to prove we are better than we are at the moment. The Palace game is one we feel we should win but talk is cheap. We have got to go out and show it.”

This Week’s “Bust Up at Training”: The Sunday papers were not about to let a trifling City victory spoil their tale of unhappiness at the club. Thus the People began a report: “ROBBIE FOWLER has been fined a week’s wages of £48,000 after a no-holds-barred slanging match with under-fire Manchester City boss Kevin Keegan.” The journal alleged that Fowler had argued with his boss after being substituted against Everton, and that a confrontation occurred at training a few days later. But City spokesman Paul Tyrrell denied these allegations: “Robbie Fowler has not been fined as there was no argument between him and the manager. In spite of constant speculation, the manager, coaching staff and players are unified and looking forward after the win at Crystal Palace. It is business as usual at Manchester City.”

Win for Reserves: Having won last week, City’s reserves were at it again this week. Karl Bermingham celebrated his first ever reserve game by scoring the only goal of the game against Wolves. Team: Ellegaard, Onuoha, Collins, J D’Laryea, McCarthy, Bischoff, Croft (Bennett 88), Negouai, Bermingham (Murphy 82), Ireland, Laird. Subs: Schmeichel, Warrender, Lee-Matthews.

Transfer News and Gossip

Bye Bye Bernard: KK has decided to allow Bernard Diomede to leave the club after struggling to get international clearance for the former Liverpool and France midfielder, who has been training at Carrington for the last fortnight. “The problem is that I cannot get him to play in a proper game,” Keegan stated. “If I get his registration, he can’t sign for anyone else. I’m not willing to sign a player who I have only seen on the training ground. I’ve only done it once and I won’t do it again. He understands that. He has been here for two weeks, got himself very fit.”

Defoe is The Spur? Jermain Defoe has said that he wants Spurs to sign Manchester City winger Shaun Wright-Phillips. Defoe told the Sun: “I’d love us to sign Shaun. I don’t think there is another winger like him in the country. He is quick and aggressive. He scores goals and he is strong for his size. Shaun is my mate as well so I would definitely sign him if I was manager!” Keep dreaming, Jermain…

Ex-Blues’ News

Old Habits Die Hard: Paulo Wanchope struck at the death to secure Malaga their first win bonus of the new Spanish League campaign to complete a 2-1 win at Real Mallorca. Malaga had not even managed to find the net in their previous two matches but it proved third time lucky as the southerners took a 24th-minute lead through Angolan-born striker Edgar. That stunned Benito Floro’s Mallorca into action at the Son Moix stadium and Serbian forward Andrija Delibasic looked to have rescued a point with his 71st-minute equaliser after eluding a clutch of defenders to poke home. However, Costa Rica international Wanchope then popped up to head in the winner eight minutes from time.

Elliot Update: Another former City player is in rich goalscoring form, albeit in a lower division. Stephen Elliot struck twice for Sunderland last Saturday, as the Black Cats beat Preston 3-1. Elliott is now high up in the leading scorers list for the Championship, with five goals in as many league games. KK, meanwhile, believes City have got the best they could have hoped for after a tribunal found that Sunderland have to pay a fee of up to £375,000 for reserve striker Stephen Elliott. Sunderland chairman Bob Murray said that the finding was “fair and reasonable” and though Keegan would rather have Elliott in his squad, he feels the fee is the best they could have hoped for given the circumstances. “I would sooner have the player,” admitted the manager. “Really it is the Irish connection that has got him to Sunderland. Mick McCarthy knows him and he promised him first-team football, which I couldn’t do. All in all, we got what we thought we would get but if somebody had phoned me up when he was here and offered £375,000 for him, I wouldn’t have sold him. But I suppose it’s fair.” Oh, and Elliott scored again for his new club in the Carling Cup tie with Crewe on Tuesday.

Joe Goes Deva: Former City and England goalkeeper Joe Corrigan has joined the coaching staff at Chester City. Corrigan, 55, worked alongside City boss Ian Rush on the Liverpool coaching staff before leaving Anfield in the summer. He will now work with the goalkeepers at the Deva Stadium. “The work that Joe did at Anfield was outstanding and I know he will be extremely beneficial for our goalkeepers,” Rush said.

Reactions and Comments

A Coup at the Palace: Two goals from Nicolas Anelka earned City a 2-1 win and three much-needed points against Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park on Saturday. The Frenchman struck twice in the second half, once from the penalty spot, to give City the lead. Andy Johnson hit back with a penalty for Palace but the Londoners were condemned to a fifth straight Barclays Premiership defeat as the pressure lifted off KK. Mr K. was understandably a relieved man, as City notched their first way win in the League since February. “I am pleased with the win and I think we deserved it. We certainly didn’t make it easy for ourselves and squandered a number of chances to finish the game off,” said the manager. “I guess people will say that is Manchester City, that we like to keep people on tenterhooks and that our fans are never sure what we are going to do. But today we did most of the things that were required to win a football match against Crystal Palace. We matched their effort. We were resilient, we were determined and we were all together; that is probably a lot of things people have accused us of not being. We were inventive too, particularly in the second half when the game opened out. We forced them to come out and we got some great opportunities. I didn’t think about losing here today but it would have been a much more difficult press conference if we had lost. What we have done in the last year has not been good enough for me.” Palace’s assistant coach Kit Symons said “We worked very hard and showed great endeavour.” The former City captain continued, “A lot of the games we have played in have been on a knife edge and could have gone the other way. We need to keep our togetherness and try and produce a little more quality, which we are capable of doing, to turn these narrow defeats into narrow victories. It is always a worry when you have not got a win in the league. When I was at Man City we went 12 games without our first win in the Premiership. We won our 13th game at home and then went unbeaten through the month of November. It’s a very similar situation. This season we haven’t been battered by anyone we have played the likes of Chelsea with millions of pounds worth of squad. We are going to come against real quality in this division, we have coped well with it so far, we just haven’t done enough.”

Putting Out the Garbage: KK was asked how he had coped with the continuing press speculation about his future. “I don’t know what people have written, I genuinely have only bought the Racing Post this week, but I know when friends ring you up and say ‘keep your chin up’, it’s been pretty violent,” said Keegan, “I do think people should write the truth and the Danny Mills thing was a lie. If there were any cracks in our armour, any weakness or disarray in our camp, they would have been shown here at Selhurst Park today because the one thing Palace do is they are going to fight you. Teams who come here are going to have to stand up to them so if there are chinks in your armour and any problems in your camp they will be exposed. Today I thought we were resilient.” Keegan had little time for suggestions his job was hanging by a thread because he feels under no more pressure than any other Premiership manager whose team are not performing how the board might like. “I am safe for a week. We have tough games coming up and maybe the pressure will come back but maybe you the media will move your circus somewhere else, take it to another town and maybe some poor other guy will get the stick I have got this week,” said Keegan. “That is the way we all understand it to be. We accept it. I am not coming here and saying ‘I refuse to talk to you’. I told the truth, that any manager who doesn’t get results is under pressure. The chairman and the board have been very supportive but if results don’t keep going my way, like any other manager, I would be bound to come under pressure.” Keegan thanked the fans for the support they had shown him and the team. “I appreciate the fans’ reaction getting behind me and the players during the match,” said Kevin Keegan. “I think there are the odd few who seem to delight in taking part in phone-ins and talking absolute garbage about the club they are supposed to love. But I believe most of the fans have been behind us all season. You will always get one or two who are unhappy with the manager; that is bound to happen, especially when the results are not going too well. They were marvellous at Crystal Palace and that is the reason I want to see out my two years and leave the club in the Premiership in a better position than when I found it. I am sure I am capable of doing that with the players I have got and the support that I have.”

7-Up Is Good for You – Ask Kevin! Barnsley were given the chop from this season’s Carling Cup on Tuesday, as a rampant City side trounced the Tykes 7-1. The goals came from Joey Barton, Willo Flood, Sweep and a brace each for Jon Macken and Antoine Sibierski. “They gave everything but we had too much for them,” observed Keegan, who raised eyebrows by omitting Robbie Fowler from his squad even though Nicolas Anelka was rested. “I wanted to see how Shaun Wright-Phillips did up front,” added the City chief. “I had a chat with Robbie. He trained today and will be training again tomorrow. This game was a potential banana skin because Paul Hart’s teams always compete and play good football. We stopped the rot at Crystal Palace and though I changed the team we again showed a lot of spirit and endeavour.” Keegan explained that David James, Richard Dunne and Nicolas Anelka were rested with Saturday’s home game against Premiership leaders Arsenal in mind. But he was delighted with the way his side – a mixture of youth an experience – performed. And he singled out Willo Flood who found the net in only his second senior appearance. “For the past month Willo has looked like a first team player, but it is difficult to put in a youngster when things are not going well,” he added. “I don’t think Arsene Wenger will bring his team here thinking the result will be a foregone conclusion,” said Keegan. “We will go into the game thinking we have a chance because we have players who can hurt them. In fairness, they have 11 who can hurt us but we gave them a hell of a game last year and were unfortunate not to get something out of it. If we can defend well and reach the standards of the last couple of matches, who knows what could happen?” Paul Hart, the Barnsley manager, said: “We were OK for 20 minutes but then we contributed to our own downfall. Our defending was ordinary but then that’s what you’d expect, because we’ve got three central defenders out at the moment and we had to have a reshuffle. They were too good for us.” SWP contributed to each of City’s magnificent seven on the night. Hart must have had mixed feelings, because he had nurtured SWP as a trainee during his time at Nottingham Forest. “He used to come up from London every week and I think the journey got too much for him,” said Hart. “It definitely wasn’t my decision that’s for sure. I have known Shaun for a long time and it is only natural you watch players like him progress. That is the pleasure of working with youngsters.” City’s reward for destroying my in-laws’ team is a nice easy tie at home to Arsenal at the COMS. The game will be played on either Tuesday or Wednesday 25/26th of October.

Squad News

Barton Bound – To A Contract: Joey Barton has signed a new three-year contract. His deal had been due to run out at the end of the season but the 22-year-old wants to see his career out at City. “There was speculation I would move but I have stated I want to stay here and be part of a successful Manchester City. Hopefully we can get that. There was no decision to make. If I can stay in the team and enjoy it I will stay here for the rest of my career,” Barton said. “My agent was in on Tuesday morning and as soon as he told me he had a deal I put pen to paper in the afternoon,” Barton revealed. “The club were happy and I was certainly happy and wanted to get it done and dusted as soon as I could. The new deal will take me up to the age of 24 when we will assess the situation again.” Barton admitted that SWP’s decision to stay at City was a major factor in him opting to follow suit: “Wrighty has become a legend here already and he deserves everything he gets for what he has done. Now I am looking forward to playing with him for the next three years.” So no move back “home” to Liverpool as reported in the press recently – not without a nice fat fee for City, at least…

Sweeping Up the Table: Lord Shaun of Eastlands was in defiant mood prior to the Crystal Palace match, stating that City be up with the big boys this season. “The squad believes we can challenge for honours,” he said. “The immediate target for this season is a place in the top half of the table, which would mean we had done better than last season and with the quality we have I don’t see why we can’t achieve it. Lots of people have been speaking about me getting picked for England but City remains my main priority and I will continue to play at 110% for the club as I always have. What we have to start doing now is stringing some results together. That would give us extra confidence and we can use that to do even better.”

Thanks Skipper! Since making his début against Blackburn in 2002, Mikkel Bischoff has suffered a series of injuries that have severely restricted any first team action since. Bischoff has said this week that Sylvain Distin has helped Mikkel Bischoff come through this depressing period. “I played quite a few games and gained some experience. Playing with the first team was a welcome change from just playing reserve matches. That’s given me experience I can use if I get into the first team. Sylvain has helped me a lot and told me that I am good enough to play at first team level and that it is just a question of keeping fit. That helped me mentally because your focus can drift when you are out for a while.” Bischoff was named amongst the substitutes for the 1-0 defeat against Birmingham.

MATCH REPORT: WOLVES RESERVES 0 MCFC RESERVES 1

City Keep Wolves Quiet

Our first away league meeting with Wolves in many years gained City their third league win of the season, courtesy of a reserve début goal for Karl Bermingham. The game took on the cliché of a game of two halves as City dominated the first period and sat back and defended stoutly in the second.

City broke the deadlock as early as the third minute when good work down the right from Lee Croft gave him space to deliver a far post cross, which our very own Zeus, Christian Negouai, beat two close quarter defenders to, to knock down to Bermingham, who buried his shot past the returning Matt Murray, who has been sidelined from their first team for over a year now through a knee injury.

The former England U21 ‘keeper was Wolves’ man of the match as he time and again kept Wolves in the game during the first period. His first of many saves came when Mikkel Bischoff played a good, long pass to the feet of Negouai, who cut inside and drilled a cross along the ground to Bermingham, but Murray came off his line and smothered Karl’s shot at his feet.

Wolves were spared again only a minute later when Marc Laird played a good long ball out wide to Lee Croft, who delivered another fine, deep cross that Negouai, playing in his new striking rôle, rose majestically to head over the advancing Murray but somehow Wolves’ Michael Townsend got his head high enough on the line to head it over the bar.

Murray then made two saves in a minute in the last ten minutes of the half. First from Bermingham at close quarters and then a good curling shot towards the far corner from Negouai.

Three minutes from the break, Wolves’ Martin Riley then cleared a final effort from Laird off the line after numerous attempts were either blocked or saved by Murray in a twenty second goalmouth scramble.

The second half was a bit of an anti-climax and Wolves’ Lewis Gobern chose the wrong option of shooting at goal when he had two team mates totally free in front of goal when they hit us on the break from our free kick near the edge of their area when Lee Croft lost possession too cheaply.

City’s third league win of the season from five games lifts them temporarily to third in the league table and also keeps my 100% record for reserves whilst attending as they lost the two games I was away. As such, having seen the games I have, I have been impressed with the level of performance of the team given that we have so few striking options.

City face Sunderland next Wednesday at home; bizarrely, they have only one point from five games after being such high flyers in previous seasons.

Ellegaard: Didn’t have one save to make all match. 7
Onuoha: Solid as always, with one great crunching tackle in the 1st half. 7
Collins: Dreadful first half, was slightly better in the second. 5
J D’Laryea: Worked hard, drove forward well and broke up play. MoM. 8
McCarthy (capt.): Kept his back line in order well. 7
Bischoff: In the same mould as Paddy, has become very reliable. 7
Croft (89): Great first half then reverted to his usual expensive self in the second. 7
Negouai: Commanding performance in the first but was quieter in the second. 7
Bermingham (82): His best performance at this level for City. 8
Ireland: Never really got into his stride. 6
Laird: Like Bermingham, his best performance for City at this level. 8
Murphy (82): Too little to mark.
Bennett (89): Again no mark.
Not Used: Schmeichel, Warrender, Lee-Matthews.

Wolves: Murray, Flynn, Rafferty, Clingan (capt.), Riley, Townsend, Gobern, O’Connor, Musson, Cornes (France 28), Davies.
Not Used: Ikeme, Taylor, Fitzpatrick, Little.

Att: 315.

OPINION: LIES AND STATISTICS

Guess what, City need to be motivated to win.

I know everyone who’s watched them for the past two seasons knows this already, but now I have some statistical evidence to support the theory.

During an idle moment (or two), I went through our Premiership results for last year and this year, and worked out how often we win after a win, lose after a win, draw after a win, win after a draw, etc. The results are very interesting.

After a win, we have lost the next game 78% of the time, and won 0% of the time. After a draw we have lost the next game 53% of the time, and won 13% of the time. Yet after a defeat, we have lost only 17% of the time and won 44% of the time. So, our chances of success are inversely proportional to our previous result.

What does this tell us? Well, it suggests that after a decent result (a win or a draw), we just haven’t had the motivation to play as hard in the next game. In contrast, when our backs are against the wall, we finally put in some real effort, and the chance of a win goes way up.

Now the sceptical amongst you (including myself) may wonder if this pattern is the same for all teams. So I did the same analysis for Everton (a team with a pretty similar record to us over the last two seasons), Charlton, Fulham, and Arsenal and found very different results indeed. These can be summarized as follows; The likelihood of Everton, Charlton, and Arsenal winning or losing is unaffected by their previous result, whereas Fulham are almost as bad as we are after a win (they’ve only won two in a row on one occasion), although they are more likely to win after a draw than a defeat (so their results aren’t exactly inversely correlated, like ours).

In summary, most other teams appear to be relatively unaffected by their previous Premiership result. In contrast, we seem to be somewhat unique (didn’t we all know that already…?) in that the better our last result was, the worse our next result is likely to be, and vice versa.

The next question is why? Does the manager only kick arses when we’ve just lost? Does the weight of expectation (in part attributable to the crowd) hold them back? Or do the numbers support what many have been saying for the last couple of years; this City team is a bunch of highly paid players who coast along when things are going okay, and only really dig deep when they absolutely have to?

Note: I haven’t yet had time to analyze any other teams’ results, and I have also ignored results from other competitions, which could affect a team’s performance in the next Premiership game.

P.S. I wouldn’t recommend looking through Arsenal’s results; all those W’s in a row made me dizzy.

[Does this mean we’re goosed for Saturday then? – Ed]

OPINION: CONSPIRACY THEORIES

Gosh there’s a lot of rubbish written about my beloved City, some true but a lot that isn’t. There seems to be a conspiracy about City, which seems a little disturbing. With all the ‘comings and goings’ going on it’s a wonder that we’re not at the bottom of the league. What has gone wrong with football these days?

I live in New Zealand and all I have is the Internet to catch up on the news, and the news sources seem to take great delight in rubbishing City. One says one thing and City deny it, and on and on it goes.

Saw the highlights of the Palace game, and thankful of the three points. Glad to see Macken get a run (he needs an extended spell), Sibierski always looked likely and what a magic pass from Joey Barton, we need more of that vision.

Well Arsenal next! I wonder which City side will show up? I really hope we ‘stick it’ to everyone. On the back window of my car are the words ‘Lord give me strength – I support Manchester City’, and that sums up what being a City fan is all about: ‘being strong’!

OPINION: STAND BY YOUR MEN I

In MCIVTA 1054 Simon Challiner suggests that Anelka could sulk for Britain, but I think he’s disqualified by being French (and he’d find far harder competition getting into their national sulking team!) but otherwise I agree with all he says.

The idea of getting rid of Anelka or KK right now is simply daft – without Nico’s contribution where would we be? Who could we afford to replace him? And starting the managerial merry-go-round again would certainly not improve our prospects – we’ve been there and done that and in case anyone has forgotten I’ve got a couple of names from our illustrious past to bear in mind. Coppell? Ball? Big Sam won’t leave Bolton for the CoMS and even with his OAP pass the trip from Newcastle to Carrington every day would be too much for Sir Bobby Robson. Those talking about a European manager should remember that there are as many Alain Ballés out there as there are in this country; continental managers are not all Arsene Wenger.

Keep the faith. This is City and anyone expecting us to rip up trees every week must have had their dosage reduced too far 🙂

P.S. Two trips to the COMs and 9 goals for with 1 against – anyone want to sponsor me to attend more games from Kent? 🙂

OPINION: STAND BY YOUR MEN II

Enjoyed Roy Trelfa’s article in today’s MCIVTA. I cannot agree that Anelka is better than the Goat, but he certainly is world class and doing a job for us. Goat, however, is in a different league due to his return and his persistent commitment to 100% every game. It would have been interesting to see how they both would have fared together for the last 18 months; I am convinced it would have been very productive. I am convinced Shaun would also have shown up at matches like Grodzisc and Wolves away. However, some statistics from the Palace programme to qualify the point: City top scorers in the last 10 years, from 92-93:

Goater 84; Rösler 50; Horlock 37; Anelka 34 (now 36, maybe 40 after tonight?); Dickov 33; Quinn 29; Wanchope 27; Huckerby 22; Kinkladze 20; White 17.

The only people in that list to challenge Nico in terms of class, besides the Goat, in my opinion are Gio and big Niall. I hope this supports Roy’s claim. And maybe Whitey when he was in that blistering streak, until Taylor sapped all his confidence – I still think he was our best player in Santander and was scapegoated for not putting away the chances he was creating for himself. Thoughts turned to Niall on Saturday with Anelka on his hat-trick. Quinny bagged the perfect three, left, right and a header, at the same ground and also scored the only goal at Wembley for Ireland that same week if memory serves. Good days…

Second point: Bar the impressive, professional warm-up of the Palace team – it made ours look a bit ragged Juan – the only other thing impressive about the set up down there (portaloos and stanchions) was the programme. I am getting tired of reading home price tickets at £23 and then being charged £35 to sit in a shed – am I getting snobby due to our more salubrious surroundings, or should ticket prices reflect the experience? Similarly, Birmingham £26 and £40, home and away, respectively. Is this an old argument? Rumours on the train were that Chelsea tickets are now £55? That’s a tenner on top of last season’s rip-off! I wonder how much home fans pay? The solution, I would venture, would be to publish our home and away price ratio. I would hope we do not do the same. Playing tit for tat would not help the situation – apart from Southampton who had the gall to complain about their allocation on the very last match at Maine Road, and then not fill what they got! I now may have myself a little project… is anyone else interested… am I that bothered?!

Whatever you do. Stay Blue!

[Stand by for some action on ticket pricing. The Football Supporters’ Federation are taking up with particular reference to Birmingham and the Office of Fair Trading are now involved – Ed]

OPINION: STAND BY YOUR MEN III

The press have always had a dig at City, let’s face it… most of these so-called journalists are Rag fans, what do you expect! Where do they live? Mostly in London. Our fans must support the manager. No-one is bigger than the team. Look what our team did to the Americans in the Ryder Cup! Remember how our boys performed in that match against Spurs. It did matter to them, it matters to all of us. We demand and should expect total loyalty to the team, the fans, the manager.

Sing loudly, frequently, with passion at every home game (our away support is the already the best). Remember how it was against the Rags; let’s have more of it. Yes, the Club could do more by trying to accommodate those fans like myself who yearn for the days when we will be permitted to have a standing section.

Just imagine what the atmosphere would be like if we were allowed to stand behind both goalmouths. You can forget the Kop, we’d have two Kippax Kops. We still do have some superb players and I’ll say it again the best fans in the land together with the finest ground.

OPINION: LOYAL FANS?

Thought people might be interested in the following article that was in Bill Burrows’ column in the Daily Mirror on Saturday 11 September:

Two facts Lawro…

• In 1991, when Newcastle (who last won the title in the same month CharlesLindbergh made the first non-stop solo flight from New York to Paris) werein the second flight of English footie, 13,077 “loyal” fans saw them playCambridge United at home.
• When Manchester City faced Blackpool seven years later, their firstfixture in the third tier of the professional game, they somehow scrapedtogether a paltry 32,134.

Loyal? Yeah and I’m Peter Andre’s hairdresser.

What a top guy!

OPINION: FORZA CITY

Hi from Torino to everybody who loves City!

I watched the game of last Saturday on Italian Sky TV and I finally saw an excellent squad! Anelka and SWP were superb, but Macken, Thatcher and Mills did their own very very well. Only the last 5 minutes make me feel so pain: especially Distin seems an invisible man and not a strong captain like we wait from him!

Why doesn’t KK find a new captain for our squad, such as Dunne, or Reyna, or Nico too? I believe things shall become better!

Now our clever Blues need to confirm their class against Arsenal at CoMS. It would be very difficult to take almost a draw, because I think Gunners are always the best squad of England.

But, however, fingers crossed and … Forza Magico City!

REQUEST: POLISH BLUES

Let me introduce ourselves; we are Manchester City Fans from Poland. We are three people who are really interested in the Citizens’ history and the current form. Unfortunately there is not so good time for us, however the real fans are always together with the team, not only when the club is on the top.

We are writing to you in order to give the sign that also in this part of Europe Man City may count on our support. As you exactly know we have had a great opportunity to attend the Man City match during the Uefa Cup journey in Poland at Grodzisk Wlkp. It was a pleasure to host almost 1500 MC fans in Poland. I visited the Grodzisk city on Thursday 27th of November. I spent second half together with MC fans at their sectors. Of course I have made a lot of photos inside and during the first half outside.

By the way – at the beginning of K. Keegan time we have also visited Hamburg during the football match against HSV, unfortunately we lost 0:1.

We would like to inform you that we have un-official polish website dedicated to our favorite club. The url is following: http://www.mancity.webkonto.us/ (menu in English!). As I mentioned above we are three person but in the other locations in Poland so each of us has circa 400 km to another one (like a triangle). Therefore we are trying to find a time to manage the news at this site; it’s updated on a daily basis. It’s good time to inform you about small but strong Man City Fan Club in Poland.

Any Blues in Poland, please get in contact!

REQUEST: SOTON TICKETS

Desperately seeking 2 tickets for Southampton game. Please call 07899 998 997 or 0207 586 6238 or email.

REQUEST: NEWCASTLE TICKETS

Two for the Newcastle game 23rd October (away). Will arrange to meet beforehand.

Please contact on 07736035984 or email.

REQUEST: INTERNATIONAL CITYCARD

Has anyone bought a ticket(s) using Citycard International? Wondering how successful the application, where the seats were, was car parking available, how far in advance of the game was the notification of successful application given? And I’ve lost the email address <blush> If I remember correctly (and that is by no means certain 🙂 ) the instructions were to send an email to someone at the Club with little guidance to what to include as a request. Help muchly appreciated. TIA.

RESULTS

20 September 2004

Manchester United     2 - 1  Liverpool             67,857

League table to 22 September 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          6  2  1  0 10  5  3  0  0 11  2  5  1  0  21   7  14  16
 2 Chelsea          6  2  1  0  3  1  2  1  0  3  0  4  2  0   6   1   5  14
 3 Everton          6  2  0  1  4  5  2  1  0  4  1  4  1  1   8   6   2  13
 4 Bolton Wndrs     6  2  1  0  7  3  1  1  1  4  5  3  2  1  11   8   3  11
 5 Tottenham H.     6  1  2  0  2  1  1  2  0  2  1  2  4  0   4   2   2  10
 6 Middlesbrough    6  2  1  0  6  4  1  0  2  5  6  3  1  2  11  10   1  10
 7 Aston Villa      6  2  1  0  6  2  0  2  1  1  4  2  3  1   7   6   1   9
 8 Manchester Utd   6  2  1  0  4  2  0  2  1  3  4  2  3  1   7   6   1   9
 9 Newcastle Utd    6  1  1  1  5  3  1  1  1  6  7  2  2  2  11  10   1   8
10 Charlton Ath.    6  2  1  0  5  1  0  1  2  2  9  2  2  2   7  10  -3   8
11 Manchester City  6  1  1  1  5  2  1  0  2  3  4  2  1  3   8   6   2   7
12 Liverpool        5  2  0  0  5  1  0  1  2  2  4  2  1  2   7   5   2   7
13 Portsmouth       5  2  1  0  8  5  0  0  2  1  3  2  1  2   9   8   1   7
14 Birmingham City  6  1  1  1  2  2  0  1  2  2  4  1  2  3   4   6  -2   5
15 Fulham           6  1  0  2  2  5  0  2  1  5  6  1  2  3   7  11  -4   5
16 Blackburn R.     6  1  2  0  3  2  0  0  3  2  9  1  2  3   5  11  -6   5
17 Southampton      6  1  0  2  5  6  0  1  2  1  4  1  1  4   6  10  -4   4
18 Norwich City     6  0  2  1  2  5  0  2  1  3  4  0  4  2   5   9  -4   4
19 West Brom A.     6  0  3  0  3  3  0  1  2  2  6  0  4  2   5   9  -4   4
20 Crystal Palace   6  0  0  3  2  7  0  1  2  3  6  0  1  5   5  13  -8   1

MCIVTA FAQ [v0405.01]

[1] 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

[2] What are MCIVTA’s publishing deadlines?

Deadlines for issues are nominally 6pm, Monday and Thursday evenings bu email. Unfortunately we cannot accept email attachments.

[3] 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.

[4] What is the club’s official web site?

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

[5] 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).

[6] 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.

[7] 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/.

[8] 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/.

[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] Where can I find a list of City-related websites?

Try Wookie’s Lair: http://www.wookieslair.com/modules.php?name=Web_Links

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, editor@mcivta.city-fan.org

Editor: