Newsletter #1216

A short edition tonight, various opinions on various topics and some Blue humour!

Heidi is offline for a few weeks so I have volunteered to edit the newsletter until the end of April, after which Svenn will take over until Heidi is back. Any articles can still be sent to the usual address of <editor(at)mcivta.city-fan.org>.

OPINION: LIVERPOOL YOUTH vs. CITY YOUTH (YOUTH CUP SEMI)

Following the extremely disappointing performance and result at Anfield when City’s kids were outplayed by a better Liverpool side, my pre-match thoughts of how ludicrous it would be if the City management failed to take the competition seriously and excluded Micah Richards unfortunately turned out to be right.

Call me naïve, but I went along to Anfield, along with nearly a thousand other City fans, hoping to see us win the game and eventually pick up a trophy. Like it or not, when you are a City fan, beggars can’t be choosers when it comes to picking up silverware, and I strongly believed that winning the FA Youth cup would be a huge boost for the club at a time when we are in major trouble, but to do that, we would have to play our best players, and our very best player, possibly the most talented 17 year old kid in the country at the moment, is unbelievably plying his trade at our club. So we had to play him. It would have inspired the rest of his team mates, and given us a far greater chance of success than leaving him out. But why even think of leaving him out? I’m sure Micah would have loved the chance to pick up an FA Youth Cup winner’s medal, and with his contract being negotiated at the present time, maybe not the best time to deny him the chance of glory, eh? The “two games in three days” argument doesn’t wash either. Had the Arsenal game been going on, on the Monday, he would have had to do that anyway. But it wasn’t, so not a problem.

I feared that the club lacked a winning mentality, and didn’t appreciate how important success, even in this trophy, would be for City fans. According to some City fans, it was no big deal that City didn’t play Micah Richards. Well it was a big deal, and if you don’t believe it is important for Manchester City to be successful, at all levels, then maybe you have to question what you are watching Manchester City for.

To suggest that because Micah hadn’t played in the two previous rounds justified not playing him in the final beggars belief. It was this attitude that saw Samaras, Reyna and Sinclair injured two days before the most important game we’ve played this century! Have we become so used to failure that we now shrug our shoulders at it and act as if it no longer matters?

That’s not for me. And never will be.

OPINION: WHAT PRICE PROGRESS?

I’ve been catching up on all things MCIVTA lately as I’ve been on my jollies and have to say Andy Clarke’s posting about the game was so spot on and also a little depressing! After all, we’re talking about a sport here and yet money is clearly dictating where the silverware goes – Chelsea (historically not a major success in English football being the case in fact).

It goes to show though that pretenders to the so called top 4 like Newcastle, Spurs and Middlesbore (quote Heidi!) – and does anyone remember a team called Leeds (?) – have spent ridiculous money with little or no return for their investment. It is a scary thought because we desperately want to be at the top of the game yet at what cost? It’s good to see that the club are being prudent in the wake of the Keegan era but it is such a fine line and surely some speculation in the transfer market is warranted this summer?

I don’t think organisations like the so called G14 help matters as their ethos is totally for the good of protecting their income and success domestically and preserving what they believe to be their God-given right to play in the Champions’ League – despite their rhetoric they have little or no interest for the good of the game, in my opinion.

It’s funny isn’t it? We’ve all heard Taggart go on about the fact that “we” play too many games down the years, yet the Chief Executive of “The Franchise”, David Gill and the rest of the chairman of the G14 want more games, albeit in the Champions’ League. Why? Because their clubs lost huge amounts of potential revenue when the format was changed, reducing the number of games from 18 to 14 or whatever it was.

Ah well, here’s hoping Bill Gates is planning a no holds barred takeover of the club as we speak!

In the meantime is Ernie Barrow alright? He hasn’t spoken for a while and it would be great to hear from him again!

[With my subscriptions hat on, I can tell you that Ernie unsubscribed a while back, I have no idea why – Mads]

OPINION: ANTOINE SIBIERSKI

Interesting link from Joel on that master of the midfield Antoine Sibierski but it says a lot when a French football school has to spend so much time repeating who he has played for as if to emphasise just how anonymous he really is. Incidentally, why are the participants all wearing red? Could this explain why our dribbling genius is so inept?

OPINION: THANK GOD WE HAVE 40 POINTS IN THE BANK!

A few weeks ago I wrote the following: “The season cannot come to an end quickly enough, because I cannot see us winning any more games with half of our best players either injured or suspended.” Well it’s 6 losses on the trot, the FA Youth Cup all but lost and nothing good to look forward to from a MCFC fan’s perspective.

The form we are in at the moment is relegation form; thank Christ we have the points in the bag!

Does Pearce need to ring the changes? Boy does he; how can a side like Portsmouth be doing so well? I know half of the trick is confidence, but some of our overpaid players seem to lack as much confidence as ability.

When I watched the Liverpool Youth team play on Friday, I thought their defence mirrored the first team, solid back four that know how to defend and never lose shape, and then when I watch City’s, they too mirror our first team, always likely to make one or two mistakes. SP should play Micah Richards where he plays best, either as a centre half or as one of the 2 full backs, period. Our players should play to their strengths.

Our midfield and forward line is the big problem, most of our midfielders are injured every second week, especially Reyna and Sinclair and then when Barton is out, there seems to be no one capable of filling his boots. Up front, Samaras can only get better, but needs to boss the play more with his height, as he doesn’t seem to win enough with his head.

Vassell cannot score for trying, and probably needs a break. However, we don’t have adequate cover.

It’s frightening to think that Arsenal are looking to sign the Serbia-Montenegro centre forward who is 6ft 10″, to add to their already potent strike force. I would love to see someone like Lualua play for us; he would be great as a foil or provider for Samaras. We might also get Julio Arca from Sunderland for not too much money, after offloading Thatcher.

There are loads of other players I wish we had at city instead of some of our “losers”, but hey, we can only dream!

To be fair to Pearce, he has one hell of a rebuilding job for next season, or we will be certain relegation candidates.

I am no different to lots of City fans, who look forward to the next match with bated breath and some optimism, hoping and praying for a victory, just to put a smile on our face; it’s been a long time now.

So here’s hoping we win our next match.

OPINION: LOOK OUT!

Hmmmmmm! Is forty points enough?

REQUEST: MANCITY.NET

After 10 years mancity.net seems to have come to a point where it could probably do with a new direction or owner.

If anybody is interested in the domain name or indeed feel they could give this site that new direction please let me know…

BLUE HUMOUR

“Manchester Court Ruling” from the Guardian Newspaper

Manchester, UK (AP) – A seven year old boy was at the centre of a Manchester courtroom drama last week when he challenged a court ruling over who should have custody of him. The boy has a history of being beaten by his parents and the judge initially awarded custody to his aunt, in keeping with the child custody law and regulations requiring that family unity be maintained to the degree possible.

The boy surprised the court when he proclaimed that his aunt beat him more than his parents and he adamantly refused to live with her. When the judge suggested that he live with his grandparents, the boy cried out that they also beat him. After considering the remainder of the immediate family and learning that domestic violence was apparently a way of life among them, the judge took the unprecedented step of allowing the boy to propose who should have custody of him.

After two recesses to check legal references and confer with child welfare officials, the judge granted temporary custody to the Manchester City FC, whom the boy firmly believes are not capable of beating anyone.

RESULTS

16 April 2006

Aston Villa           3 - 1  Birmingham City       40,158
Blackburn Rovers      0 - 1  Liverpool             29,142

15 April 2006

Bolton Wanderers      0 - 2  Chelsea               27,266
Arsenal               3 - 1  West Bromwich Albion  38,167
Everton               0 - 1  Tottenham Hotspur     39,856
Fulham                2 - 1  Charlton Athletic     19,146
Newcastle United      3 - 1  Wigan Athletic        52,302
Portsmouth            1 - 0  Middlesbrough         20,204
West Ham United       1 - 0  Manchester City       34,305

14 April 2006

Manchester United     0 - 0  Sunderland            72,519

League table to 16 April 2006 inclusive

                             HOME          AWAY        OVERALL
                    P  W  D  L  F  A  W  D  L  F  A  W  D  L  F   A   GD Pts
 1 Chelsea         34 16  1  0 41  9 11  3  3 25 11 27  4  3  66  20  46  85
 2 Manchester Utd  34 12  4  1 33  8 11  3  3 33 22 23  7  4  66  30  36  76
 3 Liverpool       35 14  3  1 29  7  8  4  5 20 15 22  7  6  49  22  27  73
 4 Tottenham H.    34 11  5  1 29 14  6  5  6 20 19 17 10  7  49  33  16  61
 5 Arsenal         34 13  2  2 43 10  4  4  9 14 17 17  6 11  57  27  30  57
 6 Blackburn R.    34 11  3  3 28 17  5  3  9 17 23 16  6 12  45  40   5  54
 7 West Ham United 34  8  3  6 27 22  6  4  7 21 28 14  7 13  48  50  -2  49
 8 Bolton Wndrs    33  9  4  3 23 11  4  5  8 20 27 13  9 11  43  38   5  48
 9 Newcastle Utd   34  9  5  3 24 15  5  1 11 15 26 14  6 14  39  41  -2  48
10 Wigan Athletic  34  6  3  8 20 22  8  3  6 19 21 14  6 14  39  43  -4  48
11 Everton         34  8  2  7 20 20  5  4  8 11 24 13  6 15  31  44 -13  45
12 Charlton Ath.   34  7  4  6 20 18  5  4  8 18 26 12  8 14  38  44  -6  44
13 Manchester City 34  9  2  6 24 15  3  2 12 16 26 12  4 18  40  41  -1  40
14 Middlesbrough   33  6  5  6 26 29  5  2  9 19 26 11  7 15  45  55 -10  40
15 Aston Villa     34  5  6  6 18 18  4  6  7 19 29  9 12 13  37  47 -10  39
16 Fulham          34 11  2  4 29 21  0  4 13 14 34 11  6 17  43  55 -12  39
17 Portsmouth      34  4  7  6 14 20  4  1 12 17 35  8  8 18  31  55 -24  32
18 Birmingham City 34  5  4  8 17 19  2  4 11  9 29  7  8 19  26  48 -22  29
19 West Brom A.    34  6  1 10 21 23  1  6 10  8 29  7  7 20  29  52 -23  28
20 Sunderland      33  0  4 12  9 29  2  2 13 12 28  2  6 25  21  57 -36  12

MCIVTA FAQ [v0506.02]

[1] MCIVTA Addresses

Articles (Madeleine Hawkins)     : 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.mcfcosc.com/); the “Centenary Supporters’ Association” (http://www.reddishblues.com/CSAWebsite/CSA.htm) and “The International Supporters’ Club”.

[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://mcfc.videoloungetv.com/do/preLogin?clubSiteCode=MCFC&CMP=AFC-003.

[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://www.foxsportsworld.com/named/FSW/Index/Soccer, http://www.soccertv.com/, and http://www.livesoccertv.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.

Madeline Hawkins, editor@mcivta.city-fan.org

Editor: