Newsletter #1108

International action for Blues this week; we have news on Reyna and Schmeichel Jr. Also a round-up of all things happening City-wise, the reserves in winning form and opinion on youth, management past and present and the usual requests.

NEWS SUMMARY

The Full SP

Increased Tempo: Mr. Stuart Pearce reiterated his desire to increase the tempo of training, after he identified a worrying fading by some players in City’s last game. “I think for want of a better phrase we ran out of legs in the latter part of the game against Spurs,” Pearce told the club’s official website. “The extra training will be encapsulated in the higher tempo that we set now. The players will find that they come off the training pitch and will feel that they have worked harder than before. But they will not have spent much more time out there. The tempo that they will be asked to work will improve their fitness. The demands that we will put on them and because we will keep pushing them will hopefully make us stronger in the games to come up.” And Gaffer Psycho made it clear that he will not be staying at the club next season, should the Board choose another candidate for the manager’s post. “I would leave,” he confirmed. “It wouldn’t put me in a difficult situation at all. I would have been the manager of this club and if worst-case scenario happened that I would walk away. Absolutely. The club would want a new man to come in and with that new man would come his own men. As far as I’m concerned I’m here for the long haul and I want to be successful at this football club. But I am a realist to know that hey, if this doesn’t work out, then what you’d have to do is walk out. It’s my responsibility to get enough out of these players to get those results in the eight games from now until the end of the season. If I fail I will fair honestly. But when I walk away I won’t have an excuse for anybody. I will never say ‘if only, if only’. If I am unsuccessful it will be down to my lack of ability.”

Players Back Psycho: The players sound like they appreciate the new regime. Richard Dunne says the players want SP to remain in charge beyond this summer. “He’s been there so long and training has improved already. I think everyone would appreciate it if he got the job,” Dunne told BBC Radio Five Live. “He is a nice man and he gets on well with everyone but I suppose it’s his way of doing things – he is a lot stricter,” said Dunne, “His appointment gives the team a bit more motivation for the rest of the season because we’ve not got much to play for. It’s just a case of pride and making sure that you stake a claim to be in the team for next season.” Meanwhile, Geert De Vlieger is in no doubt that Stuart Pearce is the man to lead Manchester City in the future. “I feel really confident in Stuart Pearce. I know him from the start of the season and have seen him at work. He is more prominent now and is very clinical in how he works. He is not the easiest manager in the world but maybe that is not bad for the team. He is proving himself at the moment and I hope we can pick up some good results under him. I think if that happens then I don’t believe that anyone needs to talk about a manager for next year. I think the Manchester City manager for the next few years is already working at the club. All the players know how he works as he has been a coach here for several years. Now he has stepped up his profile and we are all happy working with him as we know him.”

Unwanted Rumour of the Week: A Sheffield United fans’ website thinks that City might be making a move for their obnoxious manager Neil Warnock. “If people decide that they don’t want ‘designer managers’ anymore, then Neil’s name, especially given his record in the game, is bound to crop up,” Blades’ vice-chairman Terry Robinson admitted. “But as far as we are concerned there is a job to do here and there is no reason to believe that Neil won’t continue to do it.”

General News

Have a Hart: Reserve team manager Asa Hartford has given a state-of-play report to the club website. “We’ve got a chance of winning the league, but it’s an outside chance,” he admits. “We’ve drawn our last three games, two of which saw us in winning positions. But we’ve got the Manchester Senior Cup. It’s going to be a great game against Manchester United.” Hartford thinks that the promotion of Willo Flood and Nedum Onouha to first team squad members will mean a chance for other youngsters to impress in the second team. “Danny Warrender, Paul Collins and the D’Laryea brothers now have a chance to feature more,” said Hartford. He is sad to see a pair of his centre halves leave the club, but he understands why. “Paddy McCarthy and Mikkel Bischoff have both got the chance to play regular first team football, so I wish them the best of luck,” he said.

International Blues: Goalkeeper David James had a double dose of bench sitting this week, watching England’s victories over Northern Ireland at Old Trafford and Azerbaijan at St. James’ Park. Richard Dunne was not included in Brian Kerr’s squad in the Republic of Ireland’s 1-1 draw with Israel on Saturday, although he did play in the friendly fixture against China on Tuesday night, a 1-0 victory for the Irish. Willo Flood played sixty eight minutes in the Republic of Ireland U21’s 3-1 defeat by Israel in their Euro qualifier on Friday. Claudio Reyna captained the USA in their 2-1 defeat to group rivals Mexico on Sunday afternoon. The USA played the second of their World Cup qualifiers on Wednesday against Guatemala.

Beating Leeds: The Reserves enjoyed a fine win against Leeds United on Tuesday evening. The Blues, featuring Danny Mills at centre half, beat the White Rosers 3-0, thanks to goals from Ishmael Miller, Karl Bermingham and Bradley Wright-Phillips. The win takes the Blues to second place in the table. Team: Weaver, Warrender, Collins, J D’Laryea, Richards, Mills, Croft (Laird 82), Ireland, Bermingham, B Wright-Phillip, Miller (Bennett 73). Subs: Matthewson, Lee-Matthews, Williamson.

Transfer News and Gossip

Hungry Like the Wolves: Twenty four hours after Mikkel Bischoff had said he was looking forward to fighting for a place in City’s first team, he returned to Wolverhampton Wanderers for a second time this season on loan – though this time the deal could end in a permanent transfer. Wolves’ Chief executive Jez Moxey said: “We have made approaches for Mikkel before but, under Kevin Keegan, we were knocked back. When Kevin left and Stuart Pearce took over, we re-approached the club and a deal was finally agreed. Mikkel did well during his time here earlier in the season but, obviously, that was under a different manager and now Glenn Hoddle wants the opportunity to see him before we commit to a full transfer.” Bischoff admitted that the deal had been a bit of a bombshell. “It came as a bit of a surprise to hear that I was set to return to Wolves but I really enjoyed it last time I was here,” he told the official Wolves website. “While I know things have changed since I left, I look forward to what the next month has in store for me. You have to take your chances wherever you are and I hope to play well when I get that opportunity. I would like the chance of making a permanent move to Wolves. I have followed the team closely because I enjoyed my time here earlier in the season and I have kept in contact with one or two of the other lads. Glenn Hoddle is a big name and has a good reputation. He has been England manager and I have heard a lot of good things about him from the lads here and some of the lads at Manchester. I am excited to be working with him.” The first game of his second spell with the Molineux club comes on Saturday as Wolves travel to Elland Road to face Leeds.

Dark Blue Shaun: “SWP FOR SW6” screamed Friday’s Daily Mirror back page headline. Shaun Wright-Phillips had reportedly chosen Chelsea over Arsenal and will join them for £20 million this summer. The Mirror claims a deal has been agreed for the 23-year-old to join Jose Mourinho’s Blues at the end of the season. Wright-Phillips was believed to be Arsene Wenger’s top transfer target and if he has snubbed the Gunners, it will be a bitter blow for the soon-to-be-deposed Premiership champions. Next we had Barcelona again making a sweep for Sweep, with midfield star Xavi stating that SWP would be a big hit at the Camp Nou. The Spanish star is reportedly pushing his bosses to make a bid for our wing star. “Shaun is a very quick winger and a great player,” said Xavi. “He would be a great success in our team.” Sounds like it’s time for another denial from Mr. Chairman to me…. “We will do everything in our power to keep him here, he is our player under contract for another 3 years,” John Wardle told the M.E.N. “We have never said we want to sell him and he’s never said he wants to leave. There’s been no official approach.”

European Tour: At last! – we have some word of some moves to bring players in to the club. SP says he is scouting in Europe to look for potential new talent. “If I put my hand on my heart, I would say that in some way the squad needs three or four new players added to it. That’s the bottom line,” he said. “At the moment, there is a transfer embargo, so I can’t sign anyone, certainly not until the summer. But we are very open-minded and our scouts are looking all over Europe. I’ll be going into Europe this weekend to look at players and we are always looking to bring players into our squad. Yes, I think we need players in certain positions,” he confessed. “I’m acutely aware of that, the board is aware of that and hopefully they will act on my recommendations. I’ll be going to see one particular game hopefully somewhere very hot! My scout is working really hard to look at games in Europe and he needs me to come out to give the final approval of ‘yes’ or ‘no’. I certainly won’t be having a weekend at home. Though it would benefit me, it certainly wouldn’t benefit the club. So if we can do as much homework as we can between now and the summer it would be great. If we had a list of players who we could say ‘yes’, ‘yes’ and ‘yes’ to these and can we act and bring them in during the summer, to bolster our squad that would be great.”

Thomert Tracked: Lens attacker Olivier Thomert is still keen to move to the Premiership, after ruing his failure to join Tottenham Hotspur last summer. And City have been mentioned as a possible contender to sign the forward. Spurs were rumoured to have offered £6 million for the 24-year-old but Lens dismissed the offer out of hand, much to Thomert’s chagrin. “It was difficult to swallow the blow,” Thomert told France Football. “That failed transfer can partly explain my poor start to the season. Tottenham was so tempting. I am still attracted by England. I think I have the right profile to play there but, for the moment, I don’t get mad about it.” Charlton Athletic were reportedly keen to sign Thomert for £3 million during January’s transfer window. Non-London based suitors are said to include City, Bolton, Marseille and Paris Saint Germain.

Making a Big Impression: According to Wednesday’s Daily Mirror, big Sam Allardyce is keen to sign Lee Croft in the summer. This might be a bit of a surprise, because the last time Croft faced Bolton, he was playing for Oldham in the FA Cup, and was responsible for a poor tackle which injured Bolton’s Nicky Hunt. It’s obviously the way to impress Sam though…

Ex-Blues’ News

Georgia on His Mind: One of City’s other Georgians, former City centre half Kakhaber Tskhadadze, has been appointed as the new manager of Georgian giants Dinamo Tbilisi. Tskhadadze, who joined City for £300,000 in 1997, also represented the CIS (former Soviet Union) team at the 1992 European Championship and won six caps, scoring a goal in a friendly match against England. After a couple of uninspiring seasons with the Blues, he had just fought his way back into Joe Royle’s team in the Division Two season in 1998-1999 when a serious injury in a game at Fulham curtailed his City career. His contract was paid up in March 2000.

Vuoso a Go Go: The M.E.N. reports this week that Matias Vuoso is exciting the interest of European clubs. As the article says, Vuoso’s £3.5 million transfer to the Blues “became symbolic of Kevin Keegan’s wasteful use of precious transfer cash”, and is now a potential target for Spanish club Villareal. Vuoso left City for Mexican club Santos Laguna for an undisclosed fee (although the M.E.N. reckons it was for less than £1 million, and this season has scored ten goals in ten games. If Vuoso joins Villareal, he would be reunited with his former strike partner at Independiente, ex-Red Diego Forlan.

Unjust for Jeff: Manchester’s evening journal also featured another former wearer of a sky blue shirt this week, namely Jeff Whitley. Joe Royle’s ratter was in town to play for in Northern Ireland’s meeting with England at OT, but the Sunderland man is clearly still irked by his departure from the City scene. “When I was growing up we lived no more than a good goal-kick from Maine Road,” said Whitley. “When Kevin Keegan took over from Joe Royle, I was in the first-team at the start of his first campaign but I broke my ankle in the second match against Norwich and looking back now, that was the start of the end of my City career. By the time I had recovered, lots of new players had arrived and it soon became pretty clear that I was surplus to requirements and that I would have to try my luck elsewhere. Kevin Keegan was the manager so you have to respect his decision. But that doesn’t mean to say that you have to like it.”

Squad News

Retiring Macca? Stuart Pearce announced this week that he was discussing the future for Paul Bosvelt and Steve McManaman. “I’ve spoken with Paul and I’m going to speak with Steve this week with regard to their situation,” he explained. “They will be made totally clear in regards to where they stand, as best as I possible can at this stage.” And two days later, perhaps coincidentally, Steve McManaman said he was considering retirement. McManaman said on BBC Radio Five Live: “I will go away on holiday and sit down and if my body feels good I might carry on. If it feels terrible and I still have aches and pains then it might be time. But I won’t know for six months or so.” He added: “I’ve always been very lucky with injuries – until I went to Manchester City, where I’ve had numerous. Whether that’s my body’s way of telling me something’s wrong, I will wait and see and have a break in the summer.”

Here Comes the Sun: A website based in China reports this week that Sun Jihai has signed a two year extension to his current Blues’ contract, which was due to run out in the summer. Sun has been injured for most of this season, having sustained a knee injury during City’s Premiership win over Chelsea in October.

Geert Back: Geert De Vlieger has been speaking about his comeback to match action last week, when he played the first 45 minutes of the reserves clash with Wolverhampton Wanderers. “It was good to finally play a game after being involved in full training again for a couple of weeks,” he explained. “I was feeling good before the game and to play forty five minutes was just great. I wanted to be a hundred per cent sure I was fit enough before I went into a game. From that point of view I wasn’t expecting any setbacks from playing in the game and so it has proved. Now I need to pick up more games get into the rhythm of matches and get to play as much as possible,” he added. “The season was supposed to be over after I got this injury last August so really anything that comes along for me now is a bonus. It is up to me to make as much as possible from them and take them into the next season.”

MATCH REPORT: LUFC RESERVES 0 MCFC RESERVES 3

City travelled to Yorkshire on Tuesday night to face Leeds in a bid to keep the pressure on league leaders the Rags. We were forced to take the scenic route thanks to problems on the M62 but still arrived at Wakefield Trinity’s ground in plenty of time.

Line-ups below as usual; this game saw Mills brought in but no Macken or De Vlieger as mentioned by the M.E.N., otherwise a young City side. Unfortunately the announcer mistook us for that other club whose name begins with Manchester, but was swiftly corrected by the few Blues there.

In the first few minutes Ireland was awarded a yellow card for a tackle on the Leeds No 11. Leeds though didn’t pressure us much during this first half and we were soon awarded a free kick taken by Ireland, Miller heading the ball in on 14 minutes. We then saw a terrific run covering two thirds of the pitch by BWP down the right flank, and he crossed to Croft in the centre of the area; Bermingham missed the header, which was a shame as that would have been a nicely worked goal. BWP then had a shot saved, and a Croft corner onto Ireland was again headed over by Bermingham. In the final minutes of the first half, Croft sent a curling shot in from the edge of the area, which shaded over the bar. Into the break at 0-1 up.

Second half saw City at sixes and sevens for the first 10 minutes, with Leeds attacking and a deflection leading to a corner with some pretty poor defending. Fortunately Leeds couldn’t find the net.

On 62 minutes, Bermingham hit a fantastic shot from 25 yards out on the right, across the area and into the left hand side of the goal – completely unmarked and Sisa Ilic (sounds like an anagram) could only watch: 0-2.

Leeds then were back on the attack and Weaver for some reason went to ground about a minute before the ball was hit, leading to a corner but he caught that easily.

We needed another goal to put the game beyond all doubt, and BWP did not disappoint as he slotted home on 75 minutes. 0-3.

City move up into 2nd place in the table now as we face Bolton next week at Mini-CoMS.

City: Weaver, Warrender, Collins, J D’Laryea, Richards, Mills, Croft (Laird), Ireland, Bermingham, B Wright-Phillips, Miller (Bennett).
Subs: Matthewson, Lee-Matthews, Williamson.

Leeds United: Ilic, Edwards, McDaid, Rothery (Gardner), McStay, Parker, Gray, Woods, Corr (Howson), Smith (McKeown), Morris.
Subs: Wilberforce, Stansfield.

OPINION: OUR LEADER

Wow, SP has only been in the job 2 weeks and the back biters are at it already, that must be a record even for City.

Of course Pearce won’t stay if he isn’t offered the job on a permanent basis in the Summer, would anybody?

Would he be manager material if he did anything but leave if City discard him as manager? I would just like to know how many people would get the job that they had worked for, then when it was taken away from them, go back to being what they were before without a whimper.

As far as I am concerned I want a manager who has principles, is a strong character, believes in himself and his abilities, and can pass that belief on to the players in his charge.

I think we have that man, don’t talk about lack of experience, even Godmade a few mistakes when he started out.

This guy has a great chance of being the best young manager in the Premiership, because all the right ticks are in all the right boxes.

Come on Stuart, I think we’ve been waiting for you for a long time.

Keep the faith.

OPINION: YOUTH POLICY

I write in response to recent postings in McV (latterly from Debs Derbyshire and I Burgess) regarding the off-loading and lack of playing certain youngsters, namely Elliott, McCarthy, Croft and Bischoff.

If the management/coaching staff/chairman etc. at the club believe that they will not make the first team at MCFC, then the obvious decision is to sell them or loan them out to try and prove their worth at first team level.

As supporters we have to accept that decision as we are not a party to such dealings even though we may not agree with them.

However, of the young players mentioned that have been sold (even though they are clearly worthy of not selling in some fans’ eyes), how many have moved to a Premiership team seeking a trophy/European place? How many have moved to a Premiership team regardless? Ah, maybe then that goes some way to confirming that the club’s decision to sell/loan out is vindicated?

Look at the situation, we currently have a very good central defensive partnership in place with an able deputy in Onuoha and not to forget that we currently have 8 defenders in our first team pool – so no imminent chance of others getting in.

The same goes for midfield, we have a first team pool of 10 midfielders and so again, chances are going to be very limited. It is therefore in the best interests of the player that if an offer comes in he should go.

Why then do people jump up and down in anger to hear that one of our younger prospects have gone to… Leicester, or Sunderland or wherever – when the quality of the team/league has definitely gone down. Save your anger for when we let a youngster go to the Gooners, the Filth, Liverpool, Chelsea etc. because then there will have definitely been an error of judgement – look at the bigger picture and put some faith in the club.

Thanks for listening, rant over now, will get back to some left over Bank Holiday DIY’ing!

Keep the faith.

OPINION: KASPER ON INTERNATIONAL DUTY

Denmark 1 Moldova 1
(European Under 19 Championship)

Kasper Schmeichel was in goal as Denmark and Moldova fought out a 1-1 draw at Christie Park, Morecambe. There was no small degree of skill involved as Denmark looked the more likely to break the deadlock early on as they attacked with pace. Despite this, Moldova had a couple of opportunities with a great save from close range from young Kasper.

A free kick just before half time saw Denmark take the lead, with the hapless Moldova ‘keeper seeing the ball go through his hands to give the Danes a 1-0 half time lead.

In the second half, Schmeichel junior was similarly comfortable as his kicking and handling was confident, although a Moldovan goal that looped over him might have had people questioning his positioning, although in truth he wasn’t majorly at fault.

Peter Schmeichel was there to see the young Danes, and had a long conversation with the Danish coach in the tunnel after the game. Not sure what this was about as despite my close proximity to the conversation, my Danish is non-existent.

On this performance though, if I was Stuart Pearce, I know which of the two young Danish goalkeepers I’d be keeping.

OPINION: REYNA ON INTERNATIONAL DUTY

In the game USA versus Guatemala tonight in Alabama USA, Claudio Reyna was not selected, the reason given being that he has an ankle injury. Claudio finished the game versus Mexico at the weekend without any appearance of any injury.

We don’t know if Claudio was hurt in training, or during the game versus Mexico; it could be minor and precautions have been taken. I feel sure that MCFC will let us all know soon what it’s all about.

In a fast and furious game the USA played some great football, the passing was accurate and fast, they could easily have won this by a bigger score.

On May 28th the USA entertain England in Chicago in a friendly; hope this will be on TV in England.

The player to watch is Ed Johnson who is 21 on March 31st, he has played 7 games for the USA and scored 8 goals. Ed Johnson now plays for FC Dallas, already Benfica (Portugal) have offered $5 million and were rejected.

So City looking for a striker? Worth watching this player.

OPINION: CROFT TO BOLTON?

I caught a recent snippet that Lee Croft has turned down a 1 year contract with City and now that Bolton are waiting in the wings. It would be a terrible shame if we let him go and I hope City do their utmost to keep hold of him amongst other youngsters who clearly represent a good future for the club.

OPINION: ROYLE

Yes I am a dedicated Joe Royle fan. Look what he has achieved at Ipswich (even if they do not gain promotion). City should regain esteem and bring Joe back as “searcher of talent in the lower divisions”. Think of the money we would have saved if we had done this years ago.

Mr Tueart, accept your error in bringing in who was it? Are the Directors so ashamed we do not publish the value of our (mine as well) shares, not even once a month on our website?

Oh yes I remember who it was: Kannot Koppe.

OPINION: SPANISH FANS

Ian Ferguson was aggrieved that I had tarred all spaniards with the same brush when I accused them of being racists.

I wrote: “how after his last visit to Spain SWP must be thrilled to be in the company of Spanish racists who still think General Franco was a good president”.

I should have said – “how after his last visit to Madrid SWP must be thrilled (sic) to be in the company of Andalucian racists who possibly still think General Franco was a good president as evident by the crowds that visit his mausoleum on the anniversary of his death”

I should have clearly have differentiated between Catalonian (Geordies in the North East) and Andalucian (Brummies/Cockneys in the Midlands and South) Spaniards.

Apologies to ex-pat Catalonians. No offence meant, it was merely a jibe at those morons who chanted at SWP when he got the ball.

It was nice to see UEFA clamp down on this despicable act by fining the club circa £400 for the offences. How are they going to kick racism out of football with a 750 euro fine, which is probably the cost of 4 corner flags?

On the subject of SWP, I would accept £20 million from Arsenal on a player exchange along with Edu and Van Persie and Pennant when he gets out of the joint.

REQUEST: LIVERPOOL TICKETS

I’m back in the UK for the weekend next week and would like to the City vs. Liverpool match.

Does anyone have 2 tickets spare for this match? Any help is much appreciated.

REQUEST: DENTON BLUES

The next meeting of Denton OSC will be on Monday 11th April, when our special guest will be Gary Owen.

Meeting starts at 8pm at Denton Con Club, for further details please contact me direct.

REQUEST: SPANISH BLUES VIEWING

After years of ignoring the requests for known bars in Outer Mongolia that show live City matches, I’m actually posting one of my own.

Does anyone know of any bars in the Vitoria area in Spain that show the odd City match, or even better a bar frequented by a group of Blues for game watching purposes?

REQUEST: MCFCSTATS PLAYER DETAILS

We have started the process of refreshing the Players’ Records pages, and surnames A and B have been updated. Once complete, the “Seasons” and “Calendar Years Played” for each player will be available and accurate. Using my newly purchased reference book “Football League Players’ Records 1888 to 1939” (I really do need to get out more!), I am updating the Christian names of many previously unknown players from the early and war years. You will notice some Christian names of wartime players are now in italics. These are players who only played for City during the war years, so no “fuller” details had previously been available to me, but this new reference book indicates it is “probable” that they guested for City on at least one occasion. If anybody can confirm any player details, please email me stating your source.

REQUEST: VOTE FOR CITY SITES

You can vote for the original Manchester City Supporters’ website in this year’s footballshirts.co.uk Fan Site awards.

Voting is by visiting our homepage at http://www.uit.no/mancity/ and following the link, or direct at http://www.football-shirts.co.uk/mancityfans.html and voting for Supporters’ Home Page.

RESULTS

League table to 29 March 2005 inclusive

                             HOME          AWAY        OVERALL
                    P  W  D  L  F  A  W  D  L  F  A  W  D  L  F   A   GD Pts
 1 Chelsea         30 12  3  0 30  4 12  2  1 28  6 24  5  1  58  10  48  77
 2 Manchester Utd  30 11  4  0 27  7  8  5  2 21 10 19  9  2  48  17  31  66
 3 Arsenal         30  9  5  1 39 17 10  2  3 29 15 19  7  4  68  32  36  64
 4 Everton         30  9  1  5 16 14  6  5  4 19 18 15  6  9  35  32   3  51
 5 Liverpool       30 10  2  3 25 11  4  3  8 18 20 14  5 11  43  31  12  47
 6 Bolton Wndrs    30  7  4  4 18 12  6  3  6 20 22 13  7 10  38  34   4  46
 7 Charlton Ath.   30  8  2  5 24 19  4  5  6 11 23 12  7 11  35  42  -7  43
 8 Tottenham H.    30  7  3  5 29 20  5  3  7  8 14 12  6 12  37  34   3  42
 9 Middlesbrough   30  7  5  3 23 17  4  4  7 21 25 11  9 10  44  42   2  42
10 Newcastle Utd   29  7  4  4 24 21  2  7  5 17 24  9 11  9  41  45  -4  38
11 Aston Villa     30  8  3  4 23 13  2  5  8 11 26 10  8 12  34  39  -5  38
12 Manchester City 30  5  5  5 17 13  4  4  7 18 21  9  9 12  35  34   1  36
13 Birmingham City 30  6  4  5 19 12  3  4  8 14 25  9  8 13  33  37  -4  35
14 Blackburn R.    30  3  7  5 16 19  4  4  7  9 18  7 11 12  25  37 -12  32
15 Portsmouth      30  6  3  6 20 20  2  4  9 12 26  8  7 15  32  46 -14  31
16 Fulham          29  5  3  6 16 21  3  3  9 17 26  8  6 15  33  47 -14  30
17 Southampton     30  4  9  2 22 19  1  3 11 11 26  5 12 13  33  45 -12  27
18 Crystal Palace  30  5  3  7 15 13  1  5  9 18 36  6  8 16  33  49 -16  26
19 West Brom A.    30  3  7  5 13 21  1  5  9 16 30  4 12 14  29  51 -22  24
20 Norwich City    30  3  5  7 23 31  0  6  9  6 28  3 11 16  29  59 -30  20

MCIVTA FAQ [v0405.02]

[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. The Fans’ Committee has been relaunched as “Points of Blue”. It has appeared on the club website as a minor entry under “Fans Zone”.

[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: