Newsletter #1263

News, views and reaction tonight to the WHU game including the tabloid obsession with our club. A clean sheet thus far at home, and last year’s FA Cup Finalists beaten; of course attention turns once again to the road as we visit Goodison – scene of mixed fortunes traditionally for the Blues.

The crowd played their part on Saturday, the youngsters acquitted themselves well and we ended up with Psycho acclaiming a soft toy. What is the world coming to? Don also brings us the latest injury news, and Newcastle sniffing around another City reject.

We have opinion on the state of the finances, the club and football in general. We also have a few more unusual requests.

Finally, a big thanks to Shaun Goater et al for the wonderful evening this week. Wonderful to meet a few of the McV regulars at long last too!

NEWS SUMMARY

General News

Wrong Kind of Job on the Line: Prior to the West Ham game there was still plenty of doom and indeed gloom surrounding the future of Stuart Pearce, whose name on Thursday and Friday was apparently proceeded by “under fire.” According to the Daily Mirror, SP had three games to save his job. The man himself showed admirable calm when quizzed about his future by the nation’s press, and tried to put his position into some sort of perspective. “There is no crisis. People have a right to look at our run of results and make an opinion on them,” said Pearce. “But there are three teams below us, we are level on points with Spurs and one behind West Ham who have the strongest squad in their history. I won’t make excuses – our defeat at Chesterfield was poor but I have faith in my players and I will continue to do the job to the best of my ability. Tottenham are on the same number of points as we are – is Martin Jol being asked whether his job is on the line?” Trevor Sinclair was one of a number of players who spoke up for the gaffer this week: “There is no loss of faith in what the manager is doing,” he said. “He works tirelessly on all aspects of our game. He is trying to take pressure off the players, as all good managers do. After the Chesterfield defeat, he said the blame lies with him. We all know that is not the case. As players, we have to respond. After a result like that, people will be looking at us. We have to shut them up, shed the sweat and produce a performance of grit which will prove we are 100% behind the manager, fighting in his corner for the benefit of Manchester City.”

Irish Call-Up: Richard Dunne and Stephen Ireland have retained their places in the Republic of Ireland squad for the Euro 2008 qualifiers. Ireland play Cyprus in Nicosia on October 7th, followed by a home fixture against the Czech Republic at Lansdowne Road four days later.

Clean House? Last Tuesday the BBC’s Panorama programme investigated claims that football in England was blighted with a culture of illegal payments to agents, managers and scouts to secure transfers. Harry Redknapp and Sam Allardyce fiercely deny the allegations made against them (although this didn’t stop one wag labelling this week’s match between Portsmouth and Bolton as “The Battle of the Bungs”), and Redknapp’s former assistant, ex-City player Kevin Bond, lost his job as Assistant manager at Newcastle soon after the show. Most Premiership managers were asked for their opinions on the programme’s allegations, and SP was no exception. “I have been in the football industry for many years,” he said. “I want it to be as clean as it can be and I would like to think that is the case – from where we are it is. It would be disappointing to think anyone might be taking money out of the game they have not earned. I was brought up to believe if you work hard you will get your rewards. It is as simple as that.”

Transfer News and Gossip

Sturridge Settlement: Remember this summer, when we were all worried that Daniel Sturridge would be whisked away by a club with a lot more money than City? Well all’s fair in love and football apparently, as a few years ago City took on Dan when he was attending Coventry City’s academy. The Football League appeals committee ruled this week that City will pay £30,000 immediately, with the fee rising to £200,000 based on various clauses. A 10% sell-on clause has also been awarded. “We are very satisfied with the settlement, which we think is excellent considering it is based on a 13-year-old who was with us for just 14 months,” said Coventry’s finance director Mal Brannigan. “We are to receive £30,000 now and then a further £30,000 after the lad makes five first team appearances, £30,000 again if he makes 15, a further £30,000 if he makes 25 and a final £30,000 if he makes 40 first team appearances. On top of that, we will receive £50,000 if he goes on to make a senior international appearance, and will get 10 per cent of any sell on.” Not bad for Cov methinks, who had Sturridge aged 12 and 13.

Ex-Blues’ News

Our Willie’s in Charge: Willie Donachie has been put in charge at Millwall after manager Nigel Spackman left the club by mutual consent yesterday. The Lions are second from bottom in Coca-Cola League One after relegation from the Championship last season. Defeat at home by Northampton at the weekend appears to have been the final straw and chairman Stewart Till said: “This has been a very difficult decision for both parties. We firmly believed Nigel was the manager to take us back to the Championship. His qualities as a man and his vision for Millwall’s future were impeccable, but unfortunately circumstances have dictated that things have not worked out as either he or we anticipated.” Donachie’s presence at the club has led to suggestions that his old mucker Joe Royle may soon be in the gaffer’s hot seat at the New Den.

Wandering Waterreus: Newcastle are supposedly on the verge of signing former City goalkeeper Ronald Waterreus. Magpies’ boss Glenn Roeder wants to bring in the 36-year-old former Dutch international on a short-term deal to act as cover for Steve Harper, as first choice Shay Given is recovering from abdominal surgery. Waterreus moved to City in 2004, but he made just two league appearances during his five-month stay and joined Rangers in January 2005. Waterreus made 62 appearances for Gers during his 18-month spell in Glasgow and helped the club win the Scottish title. But he left in June after failing to agree a new contract at the Ibrox club.

Reactions and Comments

Grasping the Nettle: This is more like it! City’s miserable recent run came to an end last Saturday, as Georgios Samaras scored twice to reward the Blues with all three points at the expense of West Ham. The Greek international volleyed in his first after picking up the pieces from 19-year-old team-mate Ishmael Miller’s run and shot. Samaras doubled City’s lead when he clipped the ball over goalkeeper Roy Carroll after being played in by fellow striker Bernardo Corradi. West Ham did not muster a shot on goal. Mr. Pearce said: “I am pleased for the players, because they have got the result for themselves under a little bit of pressure. I’m also pleased for the fans, I think they really came to the party today. The one thing about Manchester City fans is that if you give them a bit of adversity they step up to the plate. One or two of them would not have been happy about the results of late, like I’m not, and rightly so. They got right behind the team today. West Ham did not have an effort on our goal, and you have to give credit to the whole team for that. You have got to defend from the front, if you get through the midfield you will open teams up eventually. The whole team defended reasonably well and showed a good spirit, but work starts again on Monday. We have to have a critical eye on the next game and make sure we get more good results than bad. Today’s game will give Corradi and Samaras a world of confidence, and Ishmael Miller will go home thinking that he really can play in the Premiership. We were a bit tentative to start with, I would have liked us to grasp the nettle a bit more in the first half and really go after them. We spoke to the centre halves at half time to get them to get the defensive line up a bit more, to back our ability and our pace. Once we did that we were more comfortable.”

And Lo, the Greek was Fed: Ishmael Miller received high praise from the pundits on Sky Sports, for his energy and pace down the left side, although the two goal hero grabbed much of the coverage elsewhere. Of Big George’s goals, Psycho said “They were top quality. It’s difficult to score in the Premiership but they were two good finishes. He needs to show a bit more aggression in his play, we had told him that before the game and he delivered today.” And as the match report on the club website noted, the ground rang to the tune of “Feed the Greek and He will Score”, in front of a watching Lord Shaun Goater, no less. Samaras echoed his gaffer’s comments about a more aggressive approach when he noted that “The manager and the coaches spoke to me about that over the last few days, and I felt good about myself today. I believe in myself so I just tried to get the goals in the games, because I have been getting them in training.” You could almost hear the relief in his voice when Georgios said: “It was really important for the team and the fans that we got the three points because the last few weeks had not gone so well. We were a bit unlucky against Reading and Blackburn. We did our best over the 90 minutes, and I think we deserved it for the club and for the manager. There was a lot of pressure after Chesterfield, of course, because it was a bad result. When you are low you must get back up quickly for the next game and it was important that we did that against West Ham.” Samaras’ first came from a volley outside the area after a lung-bursting run by Ishmael Miller. “Ishmael was great today, but we are a team and we have the quality,” said the double goalscorer. “Sometimes it’s Claudio on the left, we have DaMarcus now and Ishmael is coming through as well. We have the quality in the squad, but we must work as a team to get the results to move us higher up the table.”

Twelfth Man Tribute (Part I): And what did the full débutant Miller think to his first start in the first XI? “It was a great feeling and a great day, it’s one that I’ll never forget,” he said. “The crowd were tremendous, they gave me the extra lift I needed. They were like the 12th man and they really helped me through the game. What we needed to do was take our chances in the last couple of games, but we did that and the win was just what we needed. We got back on the right track, we are always tight at home and we don’t concede many goals here. George’s goals were great finishes and I’m really happy with the reception the crowd gave me when I came off at the end, it was a great day.”

Psycho’s No Has-Beanie! The press and TV wallahs reckoned they had discovered City’s secret weapon in their weekend triumph – it was a cuddly horse clearly visible next to the drinks crate in he technical area. Let the so called hard man of football explain. “My daughter turned up with Beanie the horse and asked if Beanie could sit with me next to the drinks cabinet on the touchline. It’s very hard to explain to a seven year old that this is the Premier League and perhaps Beanie would be better off up in the stands with Mummy. The way things have turned out it is now highly likely that Beanie will be travelling to Everton with us next week!” Ya big old softie, Stu! The gaffer didn’t reveal what squad number his latest recruit would be wearing lucky number 7 perhaps?

Twelfth Man Tribute (Part II): SP even found time to pay tribute to one of his substitutes as well. He said: “People are not privy to one thing that epitomised us against West Ham, and it came after I left out Paul Dickov last Wednesday and again on Saturday. He came into the dressing room when he knew no-one was looking, where Georgios was seeing the doctor because he had a blow to the head. Paul went straight up to him and said, ‘That was absolutely brilliant today.’ Now this guy had taken his place and scored two goals. George’s finishing was brilliant, but Dicky did not have to do that and say what he said. If you get characters like that, who say ‘this team’s much bigger than I am’, you’ve got half a chance in my eyes.”

Squad News

Tough Time: Let’s have a quick bulletin from crock’s corner. Darius Vassell hopes to be back in action by the middle of next month. “I have good people around me, and, whilst it has been disappointing to be injured, as it always is, I hope to be back in three or four weeks and scoring goals,” he declared. “You cannot rush an injury like I have had, because if you do so it will almost definitely go again when it comes to a tackle. It has been going well in the rehab and the gym. The specialist said I could be out at least six weeks and up to twelve weeks. So I am pleased it will not be as long as the worst case scenario.” And we still await an appearance by our Swedish international keeper Andreas Isaksson. He is frustrated that injuries have prevented his City career getting off to a good start. He has been sidelined with a knee injury and has been forced to look on as Nicky Weaver has put his own injury problems behind him to impress in the early weeks of the campaign. “It feels very tough. I had surgery, recovered and got injured again after a couple of training sessions,” Isaksson told Sportbladet. “It’s very tough, especially since I have just joined a new club. I want to play. The last year has been quite tough, to say the least, with injuries. It has been new ones all the time. I haven’t felt any pressure, so it must be bad luck.”

MATCH VIEW: MCFC 2 WHUFC 0

It’s the big day again. 390 mile round trip for two exiled Blues in deepest darkest Berkshire (well at least we could almost walk to Reading away this year – second thoughts we did and we bl**dy lost). Still, Saturday and the Hammers; beat them 2-1 last year with a brace from Andy (traitor ex-Red scum) Cole. Surely a good omen for the first home game of the year that we could attend?

It didn’t bode well.

Traffic jams on M40 and M6. Long queues on outer ring road. Five and a half hours’ drive. Usual parking places full. Abandoned car (don’t worry pal – it’ll be fine on the corner here, that’s a fiver me old son) and quick route march get us to our seats just after the kick-off, no time for a pre-match pie’n’pint today.

And we’re off. City Lined up:

Weaver growing with confidence after so many unlucky breaks (no pun intended)
Micah Richards at right back (RIP Danny “shoot” Mills)
Distin (please stay) looking solid
Dunne clattering their striker early on
Jordan Still not sure about him – but who else do we have?
Sinclair all over the pitch, harrying back, making tackles in both boxes, ok he can’t bloody cross for toffee today but boy did he cover some ground
Ishmael Miller looking good on the left, pace and aggression, could be a real find (unless we sell him like we seem to do every other good young’un)
Hamann – tell me we didn’t actually pay Bolton for him; what a waste of space, 2 forward passes all game to a blue shirt. Needs match practice and a caffeine injection
Barton – can’t fault the aggression and the attitude but please let someone else take the free kicks and corners Joey – you may be a scouser but Steven Gerrard you are not
Samaras eager, has pace and I think will actually be the striker we are looking for and have been since Anelka and The Goat left us
Corradi – slow, keen to fall over, off the pace and usually offside, another one for whom the jury is still out

First half was not really awe inspiring but after 20 minutes it appeared that we actually believed we could do something and started to pressure. It has to be said that West Ham were just bl**dy awful – I can’t remember 1 single shot on target in 90 minutes. The worse they played, the more our confidence grew.

Half Time – Guest appearance from the Goat – rendition of Feed the Goat and he will score.

Second half and within 20 minutes it’s all over. The first a belter – fantastic run from Miller from just outside his own box, cleared shot chested down by the Greek and wallop – the net bulges, I drop a balti pie, City score.

The second, Corradi forgot to fall over and flicked a lovely pass to Samaras; we cursed he’s let it run too far but no, he flicks it over the ‘keeper, sod the pie, City score 2 in the same game!

Two-nil: surely we’ll attack now and kill off the game? The Hammers are down and almost out, ready for the final blow to put them out of their misery. It should have been a sack full but we panicked and started to remember what normally happens when we get in front. We switched off. We stopped playing.

Corradi off for Dickov – good move we thought – bite, guile and nibble a few ankles – go get ’em Paul.

Then, to my bemusement. Miller off for Reyna – aarrgggghhhh no, take the blind and clueless Hamann off and play Reyna as a holding midfielder, he’s hopeless on the left – have to say Reyna was boo-ed when he came on, first time I can remember one of ours being greeted like that. Samaras off for Ireland – yep, we’re playing a 5 man midfield with a 5’6″ striker and we play the long, high ball tactic for the last 5 minutes.

[Or maybe it was a case of slow things down and keep at 2-0, whatever there’s no need for booing our own players onto the pitch – Ed]

But hey – a win is most definitely a win.

Roll on the next trip North buoyed by a new-found belief that we might, just might be ok this year. Relegation? Nah, mid table mediocrity will suit me fine with a trip to Wembley for the FA Cup.

Sheffield United I believe is our next game – get the bet on now, 3-0 to the boys.

OPINION: WHAT PRICE LOYALTY?

Does loyalty exist any more? Several recent contributors seem to doubt that it does, whether talking about fans or players. I have no problem with anyone who doesn’t renew his season ticket because of the expense, and I can well understand those who give up their tickets because they’re sick of financing already over-financed players. I suspect, though, that a lot of these fans remain staunch City supporters, even if they no longer travel around the country following the team. I’ve been a fanatical and biased City fan for 60 years, but rarely see them play these days. In spite of that, I consider myself absolutely loyal – the pain I feel when they lose to inferior opposition is still just as real as when I was a small boy. During the dark days of the Second (Third) Division I often woke up wondering what on earth was happening to my beloved team. At least I live in a part of Britain where there aren’t all that many Reds, so I didn’t have to put up with too much gloating. In spite of the absentees, over 40,000 watching a team that has just been beaten by Chesterfield isn’t bad, is it? I feel that it takes more to support City than it does to follow a team that is constantly successful and also feel that some of the comments in these columns that sneer at armchair supporters aren’t necessarily fair – we may be old, lazy, infirm, but that doesn’t mean we don’t care!

Loyalty amongst players is rather different. I doubt if many Bury supporters would have felt that Colin Bell was disloyal when he signed for us. City (at least in those days!) were a far bigger club, and Bell was simply taking a step up the career ladder. Henrik Larsson, after years of rightly being idolised at Celtic, chose to leave and spend a final season at Barcelona, where he crowned a marvellous career with the star performance in the European Cup Final. I doubt if many Celtic fans would have called him disloyal, although they would have loved it if he had stayed longer in Glasgow. Jimmy Dickinson played 764 games for Portsmouth; Alan Oakes played 561 for us – not much point in questioning their loyalty. Some players like Niall Quinn have been more or less forced out of a club by a manager who didn’t want them there – their loyalty shouldn’t be questioned, either.

None of us enjoy working for an antagonistic employer. One of my City favourites was Denis Law, and I remember being shattered when he left us for Italy. We didn’t think him disloyal, however, as if we were honest, we realised that he thought far too quickly for the rest of the team and deserved better.

Unfortunately, a new breed of footballer has appeared on the scene, and this has coincided with the rise in importance of players’ agents, which in turn is a result of the vast amounts of money now ploughed into the game by TV. It stands to reason that if an agent sees an opportunity of an easy lump sum through arranging a transfer, then he will do his best to persuade that player to move. The player then has to ask himself if he feels any loyalty to his present team. In the case of Ashley Cole, it would appear that an extra few thousand a week was enough to convince him he didn’t. If we look at his namesake, our beloved Andrew, it seems that the fact that City had paid his ample wages since February when he was injured cut no ice with him at all. His move came as a complete surprise to me – I hadn’t even known he was fit. It’s beginning to look as though he may not be very fit, and although I don’t wish him any injury, a couple of seasons in Pompey reserves would give him an opportunity to count his money and ponder on matters such as loyalty.

More worrying now is the position regarding Barton and Distin, both of whom I regard as decent players. I have the feeling that if an attractive offer came along, they’d be off. Apparently Distin nearly was, but either the financial package or the scenery didn’t appeal in Middlesbrough. Although he’s nowhere near as valuable a defender to City as Dunne, the two of them have put in some very good performances over the years. I still hope that Barton will develop into the fine midfielder he once promised to be – if Arsenal or Chelsea then come calling, I suppose we couldn’t complain that he was being disloyal.

On a different matter, I’ve been surprised and disappointed at the venom in some of the comments directed at our manager. Unlike so many today, he doesn’t appear to be greedy – he didn’t want a fixed contract initially, and I read recently that he has refused to have a clause in his present contract, whereby he would get compensation if dismissed. That sets him apart from the majority. His record so far is nothing to write home about, but if integrity and passion count for anything, then he should have a good chance of turning things round. We must remember that it’s not the manager who puts the ball over the bar or past the gaping goal, although he seems keen to accept all the blame that’s going.

Well, I’ve got that off my chest. I haven’t said anything original or startling, but I feel better.

[And very well said too, David – Ed]

OPINION: WHERE IT ALL WENT WRONG

Luke Todd’s mournful piece in MCIVTA 1261 struck more than a chord in me. I had a season ticket for the Kippax from 1972 until the formation of the “Premiership” in 1992. What did it for me was Swales (in his rôle as Chairman of the FA Chairmen’s committee) responding to a question about 50% price increases, smugly smiling at the camera and saying “I don’t think it matters what we do, the fans will always turn up”. It was that sickening Gerald Ratner moment that brought me to my senses.

For those too young to remember the con, the Premiership was foisted upon us as a way of “improving the England Team by reducing the number of fixtures”! Worked didn’t it? Nearly as many matches (they were to reduce to 16 teams) and no English lads in the Premiership (except the few who play for England).

Murdoch dictates when you see your match. You pay a year in advance for the ticket and some Aussie tosser decides you have to re-arrange your weekend/workdays/family arrangements on his whim. If there were no crowd, there would be no “atmosphere” and TV ratings would plummet, so why do you pay for the privilege of being shafted? You should be paid as “extras” for creating the special atmosphere for the benefit of the armchair supporters. Instead you queue for hours in the rain for cup tickets whilst the telly people decide whether or not to change the date to suit them.

It isn’t starting to go wrong Luke, it is already way beyond rotten. I tried, as you suggest, to arrange a boycott. All my mates fully agreed with every point I made and every one of ’em is still paying ludicrously over-the-odds to be treated like s***e. City are one of the better clubs, but the Premiership stinks to high heaven. Unless everyone follows Luke’s excellent idea it will definitely continue to get worse and worse.

City is still in my blood, the passion is still there (beyond logic and reason), but I wouldn’t dream of paying those prices to be treated like that. In every other business, the “customer” is important. In this game you are the last consideration because you allow yourselves to treated beneath all contempt. Swales knew it all the time.

[Still waging a one household protest against the evil Sky empire! – Ed]

OPINION: CITY FINANCES I

Just a brief word of appreciation for Colin’s serialised analyses of the state we’re in. Quite brilliant!

Just a couple of observations:

1. The ‘hard’ (securitised) loans i.e. against future gate, merchandise etc. receipts.I assume the rate of interest is fixed and that if, as Colin indicates, therate of inflation – say at 2.5% compound – persists and is constant, incurrent real terms (i.e. purchasing power at any given future date, comparedwith the present) our repayments, by contemporary value, against capital willbe diminished as time goes by. However:
2. The ‘soft’ loans e.g. Wardle and Makin are a different matter. They’re notdaft. Fixed interest or not, they will be aware of the ‘rule of 72’ and theywill be aware of the aforesaid rate of inflation – which is a devaluationaryfactor on their return on investment. If their loans are not secured byequity, one of their ways out of this impasse is to make the loansconvertible i.e. if the stock rises to a suitable level, they translate theloans into stock and sell the shares. In order to do this, the club wouldhave to issue new paper. I believe this could only be done by vote for aresolution at the AGM.

But, if the market doesn’t oblige, my main worry, therefore, is that our director benefactors call in their loans and pile the proceeds into the Halifax or whatever. All the more reason, perhaps, for the rest of us to give serious consideration to equity ownership of the club through a Supporters’ Trust. This would give us voting power but it would not necessarily pump funds into the club. Individually or collectively, we would be buying into the market – rather illiquid, I’d imagine – from existing shareholders (including board members?) who are willing to sell. None of that money would go to the club’s treasury.

To reduce significantly or even eradicate the debts, the alternative, of course, would be for the club directors to issue new shares for purchase by the fans – which shares the directors would eschew buying – but thereby dilute their percentage ownership.

As they say in Hollywood – ‘dream on!’

OPINION: CITY FINANCES II

Along with many others, no doubt, I feel the need to place on record my thanks to Colin for all the effort he is putting into his extremely informative articles on the club’s structure and finances.

I could be wrong on this, but I did think that when the subject of lease payments to the council came up at a ‘Points of Blue’ meeting, Alistair Mackintosh confirmed that we pay 50% of all gate receipts over 34,000, but nothing for income from the corporate side on match-day, nothing from catering, programmes, concessions, and nothing from non-match functions including concerts.

Anybody confirm otherwise?

OPINION: HALF FULL OR HALF EMPTY?

The recent cup loss was in itself a very poor showing from players who are, since money now appears to be the main motivating factor in the game, paid to perform at a much, much higher level; simply not good enough, no matter which way you may choose to look at it. Stuart Pearce was not pleased, and I go along with his feelings about that particular non-acceptable performance and eventual result by his players.

The win versus West Ham was welcome and overdue; but, to show a little perspective, not really the highest quality of opposition to overcome, by any means.

In my view, it is far better to keep a critical eye on things than to blindly accept mediocrity (not a criticism of others’ views – merely an observation).

It begins, and ends, on the pitch, it’s as simple as that.

I maintain my faith in Stuart Pearce; I cannot, at the moment, say the same about some of the players. Time will tell – and, against the higher-level clubs in the league.

I look forward to this season – it shall, as usual, be interesting in the fortunes of the club.

OPINION: GEORGE HESLOP AND THE CITY GATES

I only found out about the death of George Heslop as I got to the game on Saturday since I carelessly deleted MCIVTA last week that carried the news. I was told by a friend at the match that there had not been a minute’s silence/applause for him. I wasn’t even born during his playing career but if he didn’t get a minute’s silence/applause, then I am utterly dismayed that the club could overlook this and there had better be one at the Sheffield United game. I can’t see how a player who was in our only post-war title-winning side could not be given such an honour. I really hope the club affords him this.

It also makes me think of the City Gates pub that was mentioned. When I was a kid, I went past the City Gates pub; for some reason, it really fired my imagination when I first saw it, I was really proud that my team had a pub dedicated to it; I later learned that it was the building that the club was founded in in Gorton back in the 1880s.

It truly irritates me when I think that even bl**dy Chelsea kept the wall of the Shed end standing behind Stamford Bridge, meaning that no matter what Chelsea has become, their fans will always have that reminder of their club’s past. City missed a chance to buy it in the Franny Lee era, and it was finally demolished a few years ago. I’d love to know whether the club made any final attempt to buy it. I personally think that it would have been well worth the club looking at doing a Shambles Square-style brick-by-brick taking apart and rebuilding of that pub on the grounds of Eastlands (they rebuilt two pubs after the 1996 bomb for those who don’t know what Shambles Square was).

[Believe there was a campaign by some fans, Marc, but for whatever reason it was ignored by the club – Ed]

There is enough space at the ground and it would have served as a stunning relic to have on site of our new ultra-modern home – the old Victorian building where it all started, all renovated and working as perhaps a matchday social club or a home for the JBs or whatever it’s called. Did we have the vision? Did we f***! To the same note, where the sodding hell are the mosaics? We had two and they were drilled out and when I went down and asked bloke who did it what was going to happen, he told me the club would reassemble one of them made of the pieces, and has this been done? Of course not (don’t get me wrong, I like the Joe Mercer mosaic but unless you look properly, you’d miss it – the thing it’s housed in looks like a road sign … it’s been done on the cheap).

[One of them is in the Memorial Garden. No idea where the other one is, but I’d quite like it for a patio – Ed]

Typical City! Sorry, I know this is a rant and there’s nothing we can do about the City Gates, but it just winds me up that once we let these things go, we never get them back. We missed a great chance to have two very special features at Eastlands that would be interesting for visitors and younger fans to look at, a subtle nod to our heritage.

OPINION: SUPPORTERS’ TRUST MISSION STATEMENT

All four of us feel passionately about what we are doing and hereby issue a “Mission Statement” setting out our aims. After giving it your careful consideration, please feel free to contact us on the address below. and keep up to date with progress via http://mcfcsupporterstrust.blogspot.com/

The supporters of Manchester City appear to be increasingly disillusioned about their club and generally feel remote from it. Crowds are falling as fans see themselves as less important than other external stakeholders. We see a democratically constituted Supporters’ Trust as the ideal vehicle to try to reverse this, being independent from the club management but ideally working with them, to ensure that the paying fans are recognised as key stakeholders in Manchester City’s future.

We want to create a mass-membership organisation, covering every element of our fantastic support, where everyone has an equal stake and whose actions are democratic and transparent. We see a trust as a channel that is run by the fans, for the fans and with the club’s best interest at its heart. We also recognise the excellent work that Manchester City already does in the community and wish to support that and spread it further, wherever possible. We do not see the trust as simply a pressure group but do see it engaging with and challenging management where we feel their actions are not conducive to the best interests of the club and its supporters.

We see a trust as the appropriate umbrella for existing shareholdings and also as a vehicle for potentially acquiring further shares, wherever possible. However, membership will not be limited to existing shareholders of Manchester City plc but all members will become shareholders in the trust for an affordable subscription, thereby ensuring it is accessible to the widest possible constituency.

Thank you for your time and we look forward to working together with you towards a better future.

REQUEST: LEGAL BLUES

Any readers out there with legal experience, we could do with some help! It appears that the bank account set up with HSBC for the Foe Memorial Fund is being targeted by hackers and dodgy mobile telephone company direct debits. Fortunately the money is safe and the programme to get 5,000 kids through a sports, HIV awareness and leadership development training in Cameroon is in place since January, but the inability of an international bank and mobile companies to keep their houses in order is worrying, as is their unwillingness to accept lapse procedures and blatant disregard for DD regulations.

We would definitely appreciate some advice on this but, as it’s “charity”, are relying upon goodwill.

Please contact me if you can assist from either a banking/direct debit perspective of legally.

REQUEST: TREKKING BLUES

I am about to miss the next two matches in order to support a very good cause. I am doing a charity bike ride in Kenya to support a charity called New Ways. New Ways supports some excellent development projects (water sanitation, education), mainly in Kenya. All of their staff work for free and as I am taking someone’s place, all of my sponsorship will go straight to the charity. I need to raise a lot at short notice and would appreciate all of your help.

Please donate at http://www.justgiving.com/struanmalcolm

Thanks so much.

REQUEST: WEDDING DAY BLUES

In a month or so I am getting married and my wife to be and I have decided that instead of numbering guest’s tables 1-12 we are going to name them after City players from the last 30 years.

I’m looking at players of either greatness, character, commitment to City or players that have made a difference and left an impression. But it got me thinking, when it comes to players of the last 30 years, what would other City fans’ choices be?

So far I have the following: Tony Book, Mike Doyle, Colin Bell, Uwe Rösler, Andy Morrison, Georgi Kinkladze, Shaun Goater, Niall Quinn. I’ve only started thinking about this tonight and there are so many it’s not as easy as it first seems.

I’m 35 now and when I started going to City players like Corrigan, Tueart, Barnes, and Owen were in the team. This was followed by the likes of Reid, Caton and Ranson. I also used to enjoy watching Tolmie and Melrose, Varadi, Phillips (David not Buster).

As time went on so could I and I think this list of mine may take some work before the big day in November. So come on, 12 players, who would you choose?

RESULTS

25 September 2006

Portsmouth            0 - 1  Bolton Wanderers

League table to 27 September 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          6  3  0  0  6  1  2  0  1  5  2  5  0  1  11   3   8  15
 2 Manchester Utd   6  2  0  1  6  2  2  1  0  6  2  4  1  1  12   4   8  13
 3 Portsmouth       6  2  0  1  4  1  2  1  0  5  0  4  1  1   9   1   8  13
 4 Everton          6  2  1  0  7  3  1  2  0  4  2  3  3  0  11   5   6  12
 5 Aston Villa      6  3  0  0  6  1  0  3  0  2  2  3  3  0   8   3   5  12
 6 Bolton Wndrs     6  2  1  0  3  0  1  1  1  2  3  3  2  1   5   3   2  11
 7 Liverpool        6  3  0  0  7  1  0  1  2  1  5  3  1  2   8   6   2  10
 8 Reading          6  2  1  0  5  3  1  0  2  3  4  3  1  2   8   7   1  10
 9 Arsenal          5  1  2  0  5  2  1  0  1  1  1  2  2  1   6   3   3   8
10 Blackburn R.     6  1  1  1  5  5  1  1  1  1  3  2  2  2   6   8  -2   8
11 Fulham           6  1  1  1  2  3  1  1  1  3  6  2  2  2   5   9  -4   8
12 Newcastle Utd    6  1  1  1  4  4  1  0  2  2  4  2  1  3   6   8  -2   7
13 Manchester City  6  2  1  0  3  0  0  0  3  2  8  2  1  3   5   8  -3   7
14 Wigan Athletic   5  1  1  0  2  1  0  1  2  3  5  1  2  2   5   6  -1   5
15 West Ham United  6  1  1  1  4  4  0  1  2  2  5  1  2  3   6   9  -3   5
16 Middlesbrough    6  1  0  2  2  6  0  2  1  3  4  1  2  3   5  10  -5   5
17 Tottenham H.     6  1  1  1  2  2  0  0  3  0  6  1  1  4   2   8  -6   4
18 Watford          6  0  2  1  2  3  0  1  2  2  4  0  3  3   4   7  -3   3
19 Charlton Ath.    6  1  0  2  2  4  0  0  3  2  7  1  0  5   4  11  -7   3
20 Sheff. United    6  0  2  1  2  3  0  0  3  0  6  0  2  4   2   9  -7   2

MCIVTA FAQ [v0607.01]

[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.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 Radio Manchester (née GMR) pre and post match phone-in is available on the web at http://www.bbc.co.uk/manchester/sport/manchester_city/index.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://msn.foxsports.com/foxsoccer, 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 Plus Markets Group web site http://www.plusmarketsgroup.com/ 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] I hear there is a TV programme specifically about City?

InsideMCFC is broadcasted by ChannelM. It is available on the SkyDigital (ch.203) and NTL (ch.26) platforms as well as being transmittedtraditionally within the Manchester area (ch.39). In addition, theprogramme is available to watch via the web. More details and schedule:http://www.channelm.co.uk/features/city.html

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: