Newsletter #1308

Another gritty issue, with opinion on the state of the club, season ticket renewals and pricing strategy.

Don’s news brings us reaction to the new reserve team manager, reaction to last week’s defeat, injury news and possible transfer deals. There’s also more rumour on investment, and the best header of the ball ever is moaning.

Quarter Final weekend – let’s get behind the team irrespective of all the other problems and hope for a result in our favour on Sunday.

NEWS SUMMARY

General News

I’ll Get Me Jackett: The revolving door of SP’s staff has spun again – this week former Watford and Swansea boss Kenny Jackett replaced Frankie Bunn as the Blues’ reserve team boss. The Boss said of Jackett’s appointment: “We’re delighted to have him here. He is someone that I had hoped to bring in at some stage and had previously thought about working with. I’ve known Kenny for a good length of time. I’ve worked on courses with him, I’ve played schoolboy football with him and he’s someone who I’ve always felt could do a good job. He’s worked at Swansea for three years and did extremely well there with a promotion, a play-off and was in seventh in the league when he was moved on. I think in our respect we’ve done extremely good business getting Kenny in,” confirmed Pearce. “I have two assistants now that have both managed and that in some ways is invaluable. Steve Wigley has been a fantastic help to me and Kenny will fit in well. Maybe at the end of the changes I now have a better staff than I did two weeks ago.” A hint of bitterness from Our Leader there perhaps?

Sack Race: And here’s the first instalment of a recurring theme in this week’s news – SP insisted that he is not living in fear of the sack, despite admitting his future is on the line. “I don’t fear the sack. I’ve gone into management knowing that somewhere along the line, by the law of averages, I’m probably going to get the sack. Worrying about it will not avert it or make it any quicker. I don’t fear for my job because I know what it entails from Monday to Friday, and then getting results at the weekend. I used to fear for my job when I worked for the council when I needed to pay my mum rent, or the mortgage.” Asked if he would consider walking away from City, after mounting disquiet among the club’s fans, Pearce said: “Why should I? I’ve got a fantastic job, one of the best in the country. This is one of the biggest clubs in the country. If I’d spent £50 million, £60 million, or £70 million putting talent on the pitch and it wasn’t happening then I might say to myself ‘hang on a minute son you haven’t done it’, but that’s not the case.”

Come Back, Paul: Our goalscoring problems are over (ahem) – Paul Dickov’s on the comeback trail. The Pocket Pest played for almost an hour in Wednesday night’s Pontin’s League Reserve fixture against Preston at Deepdale. The Blues drew 1-1, thanks to late equaliser from Ian Daly.
Team: Matthewson, Logan, Williamson, M.Daly, Morris (Tsiaklis 83), D’Laryea, Weiss (I.Daly 72), Williams, Dickov (Poole 58), Grimes, Mouritsen.

American Idiots? According to today’s Daily Express, City have taken another step towards joining the Premiership’s American revolution. It claimed that a mystery delegation of US businessmen paid a flying visit to the club over the past 48 hours. Chairman John Wardle would step aside if he and business partner David Makin recouped their £20 million investment. If this deal comes to pass, then a fifth of the Premiership’s clubs would be US-owned. The other teams include Aston Villa, Liverpool, and ooh don’t tell me, it’ll come to me in a minute..

Transfer News and Gossip

Billy, Don’t Be a Zero: Can you believe it? Given a choice of signing for Chelsea, Everton or the Mighty Sky Blue Warriors, Plymouth Argyle’s teenage sensation Dan Gosling has plumped for… the multi-millionaires of West London. It’s said that the 17-year-old right winger-cum-defender has already trained with the Londoners and is set to sign. The fee for the starlet could rise to £2 million, and then he would return to Plymouth on loan for 2007-2008. Everton and Manchester City were also interested in the talented Pilgrim. Elsewhere, Crewe assistant boss Neil Baker has denied speculation claiming City and Everton are in talks with the club regarding compensation for Billy Jones. The 19-year-old defender is set to leave Gresty Road in the summer having turned down the offer of a new deal from the Alex, but due to Jones’ age, if Crewe do not agree a deal with interested clubs, the fee would depend on a tribunal. “There’s nothing in it and no-one has been in touch,” said Baker. “We realise Billy will go at the end of the season, but nobody has come in with an offer and if we don’t get something we’re happy with it will go to arbitration. He’s a 19-year-old who has captained England in his age group, he’s played a lot of games in the Championship and we made him the best offer in Crewe’s history, which shows how highly we regard him.”

Get Your Cheques Out: The more anti-Psycho elements might read the following comments as City’s beleaguered manager getting his excuses in first – but SP has called for substantial investment in the transfer market this summer. “Over the last two or three years, we have not speculated as well as we should have done financially,” he said. “It is probably catching up with us a little bit. It gives us a reminder going into the summer.”

Craven Approach: Fulham are targeting Sylvain Distin, it’s been reported this week. The twenty-nine year old is out of contract in May and has shown no sign of wanting a new deal. Cottagers’ Manager Chris Coleman has already made moves to secure the signature of Distin (apparently) who almost joined Middlesbrough last year. The City defender has told Pearce he would not sign a new contract until the club proved their ambition – but it’s alleged that Distin will have talks with the West London outfit later this month, with Coleman hoping to agree terms before the end of the season. Distin has been at City since a £4 million move from Paris St Germain in 2002, but will leave on a free transfer.

Out of the Frying Pan: How many left backs does it take to complete a team? I only ask because City and Aston Villa are said to be chasing Paul Konchesky, currently plying his trade at that the disaster region of this season’s Premiership, namely West Ham United. Konchesky (and 15 others, if Monday’s papers are to be believed) is expected to be made available in the summer after trying to get a move out of Upton Park in January.

Ex-Blues’ News

Sour Sibs: There was a long interview in Independent with Antoine Sibierski this week, and you get the feeling that his departure from the COMS last August was tinged somewhat by bitterness. “I’m delighted to be at Newcastle because here the manager understands where I am at my best and he recognises I am effective in this position. When I am on the pitch I know the manager has confidence in me. He knows I can score my fair share of goals and he trusts me and believes in me. That’s very important as a player to feel that.” Just in case we’re missing the target of that barb, Sibs added: “I didn’t play regularly last season because I was injured and when I did play I didn’t get a run in my best position. I never felt any confidence from Stuart Pearce last year. It is why, even when I was on the pitch, I was not the real Antoine Sibierski. I was like another player. When you play without confidence you cannot be at ease with yourself and perform to the best of your abilities. I am still the same player who left City last August but I am a player with confidence this season. If you have the full support of your manager and your club, then you can be a different player.” And it isn’t just the manager who feels the Frenchman’s wrath – the fans are also to blame. “I had just left Manchester City and only heard bad things being said about me there,” recalls the 32-year-old. “Some City fans were quick to criticise me and that’s all I was thinking about when I signed for Glenn Roeder. I didn’t have time to think about what the Newcastle supporters may or may not think. I was just so hurt by the reaction of the City fans. I have always been an honest player and it was really painful to hear what they were saying about me when I left. I didn’t think too much about the fact that Newcastle fans were unhappy with my signing. After the first few days I felt it a little bit. But the feeling disappeared within a few days.”

Reactions and Comments

Folan Groovy: Caleb Folan’s winner at the COMS on Saturday allowed Wigan to leapfrog City and leave the Blues teetering on the edge of the Premiership drop zone. An 18th-minute header from Caleb Folan, a £500,000 signing in January, settled City’s fate just as the 24-year-old striker had helped former club Chesterfield do in September, when he netted one of the goals that knocked SP’s boys out of the Carling Cup. Folan took advantage of a static City defence to plant in an unmarked header. Lee McCulloch earlier blasted over from eight yards and Wigan should have killed the game off by the interval. City lacked a creative spark and a set piece provided their best chance, with Emmerson Boyce clearing Micah Richards’ header off the line. There were isolated shouts of “Pearce out”, while a few hundred fans gathered outside the club’s main entrance for a more prolonged protest after the game. City have taken just one point from their last five League games and their home match against Charlton on April 6 will be crucial. Wigan manager Paul Jewell hid his delight well, saying “We’ll only know how important that is at the end of the season and there’s a long way to go. It drags them into it and the more teams we can do that to, the better it is for us. The most pleasing thing was a clean sheet and three points against a team down there with us.” His signing of Folan, who got an equaliser at Watford 10 days earlier, has already paid dividends for Wigan. But Jewell refused to boast, saying: “Every transfer is a gamble, and, if we do survive, £500,000 for Caleb looks good business. But, for a player who’s 6ft 3ins, 24 and has scored goals in the lower divisions, it was probably the lowest risk I’ve taken.”

It’s All In the Game: “Watching from the sidelines, it looked like it was just a matter of time before we conceded and so it proved,” said SP. “As soon as we conceded I think we competed reasonably well with them. But you can’t walk over the touchline, especially against a team like Wigan, and not compete.” And of the crowd’s reaction, the former England defender commented: “If you lose 1-0 at home you expect boos and moans. I have had a moan as well. Once we conceded a goal, we then decided to do something about it and for 70 minutes gave as good as we got. When you are in the bottom half of the table the first goal is so important and often dictates who wins the game. We are concerned, but I feel it will be any three from the bottom eight who could go down. Our defensive record would probably put us in the top eight in the table, but we are not scoring enough goals.” And he accepts that he could face the sack if results don’t improve. “The fact that fans are questioning my future is all part of football management,” he stressed. “If your team gets beat, then you blame the manager and I have got to do something about it for next weekend. If we don’t win enough matches I am a big boy and know exactly what is out there in front of me. It is a passionate game and fans are disappointed that we got beat but not half as disappointed as me. There are plenty of clubs in the identical situation as us at the moment and they are all thinking the same thing. It might not be so much quality as endeavour that gets us over that finish line. You get beaten 1-0 at home, so the fans criticise. I never shy away from the fans.”

Squad News

Sun Not Set in the West: Sun Jihai admits he has still not settled into life in England. Sun has spent five years with Crystal Palace and City but believes Asian players have difficulty in acclimatising. The 29-year-old has revealed his young family have failed to settle. “I don’t feel integrated into English life at all. The only reason I am here is for football,” said Sun. “My family don’t like the life here. We cannot speak English. We don’t know the culture here.” Sun has at least found a friend in Dong Fangzhuo, who has joined up with some Traffordonian Swamp dwellers after two year on loan in Belgium. “I have spoken to Dong a lot. We came from the same club. We have the same hometown. The accent is the same. He has come here and we have the same friends,” added Sun.

Kounting on Kasper: Falkirk boss John Hughes wants to hang onto goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel. The 20-year-old Dane has made eight appearances to date since moving to Scotland on loan and has impressed Bairns boss John Hughes, who would like a season-long deal in place for 2007/08.

OPINION: MCFC RIP?

I’ve been holding my breath for some time now, and talking about the situation of our beloved club with fellow fans, we all seem to be disillusioned with the way things are being run. So in no particular order, here are my concerns and I apologise in advance for the rant.

Tickets / Renewals

Haven’t City missed the boat here? I expect that renewals are down greatly on previous seasons, for reasons stated here previously, but when clubs around us are slashing their prices by up to 25% (Blackburn’s dearest seat now £399, Bolton now £449 and City’s is £550), on top of that we’re asked to renew by the 9 March to get our discount! Other clubs have a cut off date of end April to secure your seat; not good old City, they want your hard earned 7 weeks earlier when we don’t even know what division we are in. There is also a big discrepancy between the cost of seats on the sides to the corner/ends. Whilst prices had to rise in the transfer of stadium and to bring the Kippax up to the Main Stand (sorry, I can’t call them by their new names) there is a difference of £110 between sitting in the Kippax and the North Stand!

Custodianship

Well that’s what they like to call it. I call it management of the club. We’re losing money, too much and too fast. We have a financial guy now running the club and we still cannot make ends meet. What is happening? I read the finance articles with interest, they made sense to a layman like me, and concern. Where is the money going?

The club are alienating fans left, right and centre. They don’t send players out to branches (yes I read the comments last year from the PR man, but really they don’t wash). He says City “talk to our fans more than any other club”. We say “talk with the fans and listen to them”; it is no good dictating, you need to listen to what we the fans and paying “customers” are saying. We have been coming for years, we will keep coming when you lot are gone, yet you are treating us with contempt. They say they get opinions from Points of Blue, but they don’t. They might have meetings with them, but they then tell them what to do or ignore their requests! The club runs Points of Blue, not the fans, the club even wants to know what is in the minutes before they get sent out! They talk to the supporters’ clubs, but they talk to one lot more than the other. Take the example of asking for opinion on season ticket prices: they asked the OSC, they asked the CSA but wouldn’t meet with them to get the dates, they asked Points of Blue and then sent out the renewal packs before meeting with them to get their views! Talking to supporters? I don’t think so. Are they trying to play off one group against another? It looks like it to a lot of us.

We are told that the stadium is a great venue for concerts this week. Well I am sorry, it is a venue for football first of all because it is a football club. If you want to run a great venue for concerts, go and try the MEN arena.

Investment

Does anybody believe this? Most of the Blues I talk to think it is all smokescreen and mirrors. Why, after years of supposedly looking for investment and hearing nothing, does it get announced on the morning of the AGM to quieten the shareholders attending with their difficult questions? Call me an old cynic, but I will believe it when I see it.

Team

Enough said about this lot already. Overpaid, over rated and need some fireworks shoving up their backsides. I like Pearce and think he has integrity. I do not know about Wigley, or the training methods they use but they are not working. As for a change of manager now, I think it would be wrong until the summer. The players we have now are letting down the fans, the manager and the blue shirt.

There is something very wrong at Manchester City now, something destroying its very soul and it horrifies me. I feel like the club is dying, it’s in intensive care with unqualified people tending it. I really think a shakeup of senior management and the board is needed. I thank John Wardle for his investment, but he is let down by people working for him. He must be sickened of what is happening to his club, he is a Blue as the rest of us.

Remember David Makin phoning up GMR a few years back and ranting away about the way the club was? Well he should be doing it again now!

Apologies for the rant. I will be there on Sunday supporting my team, but for how much longer I do not know.

OPINION: THE R WORD

Am I bovvered about possible relegation? Honestly I have my doubts. The Premiership is dead to all bar the top 4. This probably won’t change even if we are bought by any of the interested parties. Sides like Newcastle, Spurs and Villa have plenty of cash but I can’t see them breaking the monopoly. For all the riches the club receives and will receive if we survive, City can’t even trade even.

So 5th to 20th is it and with that I’d gladly trade an FA Cup win for relegation by United as they clinch the title just for that 1 day of glory! There, I’ve said it. Feel better now. This is why the crowds are dropping fast. Pundits pointed to our loyalty during the seven years, seven seasons era but it was easy to keep going then, always something new. Now I admire Everton and Villa fans for still turning up watching dross, year after year.

Sadly Blackburn have probably spanked us and grim survival hopes will resume. If we survive, what next? Pearce can go but who comes in? In the hope of at least watching decent football I’d get Mike Newell who has sold all his players of any use but Luton always play the game in a way we can only dream unless we get Keegan’s 1st year DVD out.

Is Scunny away less appetising than Boro?

OPINION: ANARCHY?

I was a thinking about our illustrious leader, Wigan, the state of the team and all that. Also I remember reading how Psycho likes to put on a CD after a game and contemplate life, footie, punk et al. I, like Psycho, often turn to the meninblack for inspiration. “Something better change” has been springing to mind of late. Ignoring a few tracks off rattus gives us: sometimes (I get to feel so mean), hanging around (samaras anyone), get a grip (obvious), ugly (the footie), and lo and behold – last track – down in the sewer. Somewhat apt eh? Moving on to “no more heroes” (Mike Doyle anyone?) bitchin, dead ringer (samarass double who we bought) something better change, no more heroes…

Alright it gets a bit tenuous after that. Like a lot of things it starts with a good idea. The meninblack has the excellent “thrown away” on it.

Once again I forget my point. And like a lot of people I do like Pearce. Wasn’t he the player who used to warm up by smashing a ball against the wall in the changing room whilst listening to “Anarchy in the UK”? Is this a case of people who can, do; people who can’t teach?

As for the Wigan game, it was being shown in the US delayed by a couple of hours. I opted to take my hangover to work and get paid to not see it. Now that is sad.

OPINION: SLACKERS

Having read Stuart Pearce’s recent comments, I know Manchester City are in dire straits. He sends his team off to Dubai for a vacation break and their response to this respite was a totally lacklustre performance against Wigan, and Stuart’s reaction to that was “just got to play better next Sunday”.

And then, in response to having Vassell fit for Sunday, he says “I would like to have that selection problem”. What problem? Pearce’s weekly dilemma is what group of misfits do I want to field today? Let’s face it, he has tried every offensive permutation in the book and so far his pop-gun attack has conjured up 20 goals. He had his chance to rectify this problem in the transfer window and didn’t. So know we have to hope that West Ham, Watford and Charlton continue their suicidal form and that we can scrape a couple of 1-0 wins and 0-0 draws. Pretty pathetic. But stranger things have happened.

Blue til I die but rapidly flatlining.

OPINION: SCORING

I heard George Michael is soon to play at the COMS – even he’ll have more chance of scoring there than our strikers!

Still you can but get in behind the boys and support them in the Cup and for safety – now we get to see what they’re really made of, a steely resolve to play for the pride of the blue shirt and the best fans in the land or just the fat weekly pay packet to keep her indoors in diamonds and the 4 Mercs in the driveway!

I like my fellow kiwi Ryan Nelsen but I hope he has an absolute stinker this weekend – sorry Ryan, blood runs sky blue for football, black for everything else mate.

Then bring on that team that is wrecking Premiership football and we hope will win nowt this season in the hope that the Shevchenkos and Ballacks all buzz off back to whence they came – 1-0 to City from a Micah Richards header please, then we can ask for £30 million in the summer!

Stay True Stay Blue or I’m sending Ricky Hatton round to your house!

OPINION: RENEWALS SURVEY FINDINGS

Following on from the publishing of the survey stats in the last issue, I have included some extracts from the comments received. As you will see as you read them, there is a lot of constructive anger out there, and not just about City! Please bear in mind though that the average age of the respondents is 43. The total number of “season ticket” years for the forty five people who stated the length of their MCFC allegiance adds up to 671 years (City’s history in years multiplied by five and a half); an average of 15 years each. So these are not the opinions of kids paying £95 for next season, but the views of mature fans who have supported City through thin and thinner, and have given a considered response.

I sincerely hope that somebody high up in the club reads through these comments, assimilates them, passes them on to the Board, and champions some much-needed change in the way the Premier League is run. Somebody certainly needs to get a grip on the vast amounts of money swilling around in it.

My own opinions were not included in the survey, but I honestly believe that next season will see a major watershed at our beloved club, whether or not we stay in the Premier League. With the ridiculously early season card renewal dates (brought about because of cashflow problems at this time of year), the club actually missed a major opportunity to be remembered for being the first Premier League club to slash prices for their loyal (adult) fans, an honour now held by Blackburn Rovers.

As you would expect with an accountant running the club, it is pretty obvious that revenue is all that matters to City. When you look at the sorry plight of Leeds, we all think “there but for the grace of God go I”, but we are in danger of going exactly the same way by doing the exact opposite, i.e. not spending any money. There has to be a happy medium, but it is not looking that way at City as our Finance Department asphyxiate the money bag holding Stuart’s “spends”.

Am I being cynical or is it just coincidence that the club are at the early stages of negotiating a takeover deal as the renewal deadline looms? I personally do not want to be taken over by foreigners who have no affinity with my club; I would be quite happy for my club to remain owned by City supporters like John Wardle and David Makin, because I believe that will be to our advantage when the Premiership bubble finally deflates, the TV money is gone along with the circus of foreign players, and the Russian and American “investors”. I wanted the club to reward my loyalty with something approaching entertainment on the pitch, but I fear the infrastructure within the club is about to collapse.

Why were there no signings in the transfer window Mr Mackintosh? And don’t wind me up by mentioning the last day attempt to sign Mido – the transfer window opened on Jan 1st not the 31st. Many will hold him, not Stuart Pearce, personally responsible if we are relegated in May. I hope the club will be honest after the March 9 deadline and declare how many adults have renewed in comparison to last season and the season before. If the figures are as disappointing as this survey suggests they will be, I wonder if the club would be brave enough to hold their hands up and say they got it wrong, re-do the maths and beat the 25% reduction in adult prices announced by Blackburn? Rest assured, if the TV money ever goes away, the fans will dig deep again and support the club financially, but this is a rare opportunity for it to go the other way for a change.

If this collective opinion of sixty City fans stirs enough debate to bring about some change of financial book-balancing within the club, or the eviction of the incumbent bean counter, then it hasn’t been in vain, has it?

The next stage is for me is to publish an on-line survey (with the expertise of my son Ashley from his flat in Sydney) that will be pretty much based on the collective responses, and will reveal if other clubs’ supporters feel the same way as City fans.

Here is the voice of those who have the choice:

“Mainly financial, but getting seriously disillusioned with Premiership football. Want to pick and choose my games next season. Having a season ticket is of no serious benefit any more; I can still get a seat at every home game.”

“Too many casuals at games. Probably ’cause real fans can’t afford the prices but some of the muppets I get sitting around me are unbelievable – “who’s 27”, looks in programme “oh that’s *trableesi* (sic)”, “never heard of him, is he from the youth team?” Don’t know the club, the players or the songs (even Blue Moon) and we complain about atmosphere…”

“Value for money and lack of 3pm Saturday matches. Too much football on TV – nobody wants to watch a match in half empty stadiums either live or on TV.”

“Compare it to a concert: you pay £15-£25 now for a gig at a venue like the Apollo and in return you get a band at a certain stage of its career, playing a gig you’ll see only when they tour, which can often be once in every 2/3 years. and they’ll play their f*cking hearts out for 60-90 minutes. In other words, for something a whole lot more special, individual and in a way unique, I pay less for two tickets than I pay for one ticket to see a football match. Oh – and I can also have a drink while watching the performance without being classed as a security risk.”

“When the money I’m paying has started to go to players like Antoine Sibierski so he can get his gaff on MTV Cribs, I really started to question all this. If players’ wages are capped in the UK by the Premier League, all we would see is that young men would still choose it as a career over getting a job if they can make it as a player. In other words, once we realise that these Baby Bentley-driving w*nkers stop holding a gun to the heads of the fans, we’ll still see players playing football. The wages that translate into us paying £25 average a game are a false economy, and paying a maximum of, say £10,000 a week would not stop the next Gazza or Rooney coming through – in fact it would encourage players to become as good as possible because their money would then start coming from endorsements, thus motivating them more.”

“Any reduction in revenues through the gates would be toothless if people continue to fund the wages via subscribing to Sky Sports – that also needs strangling. However, of course, if there is no-one at most games, the thrill of watching on television would go, and people would get bored of that.”

“The same 4 teams win everything each year.”

“No forward direction from MCFC Management/ Board i.e. Quality signings.”

“Too many managers berating referees instead of their cheating players (I see it in U14 football too).”

“May renew if we stay up but I’m not paying £460 (or more) to watch the rubbish currently being played and in a lower division. If we get relegated do we get a refund on part of the price of our tickets?”

“Most of the people I used to go with are no longer going, no social aspect any more (8 years ago there were 11 of us as regular ST holders, now there are 4). No competition (top 4 win everything), playing for 6th is just not exciting. No atmosphere. Too expensive. Stupid KO times.”

“In ’69 it used to cost ten shillings I think to stand on the Kippax St terrace – about 4% of my disposable weekly income. A cup final ticket (“purchased at above face-value”) cost a fiver. If £35 (as charged, notoriously, at Bolton, for one) is 4% of your disposable weekly income, then you have £875 to spend each week. A pint by contrast would have cost about a sixth of the entrance money in ’69, but despite horrendous price rises for beer too, the cost of going to Bolton (just to get in the ground) would buy you a stupefying amount of what passes for beer these days.”

“The elite clubs (top 4) are getting better and better and richer and richer with everyone else picking up the scraps. I never thought I would hear myself saying this 5 years ago but watching on TV is easier and cheaper. It’s very strange – TV money has ruined the game and I’m saying I’m going to watch it more! The future doesn’t look good.”

“Sick of watching second rate players earn thousands a week and not giving a s**t about the team and looking for a transfer every window – even products from our own Academy.”

“Social aspect decline (only a few mates left who go regularly – was about 12 at start – down to 3 of us left!). General decline in my love of football generally. Clubs who have stung City fans at away games for years, then get sanctimonious about ticket prices and lower them in a blaze of publicity – Blackburn, Birmingham, Wigan etc. The club has no ambition. Clinical atmosphere at the game. Our style of play is boring and our manager is inept and only interested in his England career.”

“I am a massive City fan and it may sound strange but I don’t care if we lose as long as I have been entertained. I would sooner see us on the wrong side of a 3-2 defeat (the Brian Horton era) than scabbing a 1-0 will at home to some bobbins team where we’ve only had 1 shot on target. If I was only bothered about the result then I would watch it on teletext. Cheating – I *hate cheating* and I cannot bring myself to pay money every week to watch cheats. No matter where I sit I no longer look forward to games because of the r*t*rds hurling abuse at anything they find. It’s disgraceful and is something I no longer want to endure. The Champions’ League including 3 or 4 teams is one of the major problems with football because of many knock-on implications. Prices – The new TV money should subsidise ticket prices.”

“I gave up my season ticket at the end of last season (and so did my partner). I no longer felt part of the club, S.P. asking me to get behind the team, stewards threatening me with loss of season ticket when I did. High prices for the effort of the team, multiple changes of kick off times/day, now doing as the team does… turn up when I feel like making the effort. Kick off times/days changed at whim of Sky, price of tickets, my hard earned money going in to the pockets of players who don’t try and laugh in the face of the fans, money going out of the game (which could keep down the price of tickets) and into agents’ pockets, lack of atmosphere, and lastly we are no longer fans but customers and are expected to buy the corporate image, clap politely and go home. This is my club, not the Board’s, the players’ or the manager’s but I now feel that they no longer want me as I may wake some of the “customers” up by singing. I could go on and on and on!”

“Have been consistently averaging 35 games a season for over 31 years. In recent seasons I’ve been sitting with my brother (attending fan for the last 8 years) and my mate X, who’s been going since the 1960’s, but last year my brother decided he’d had enough, X then followed suit. I thought I would stick it out, but after the FA Cup exit, my disillusionment began to pick up pace. I hadn’t renewed and four more spineless home performances that were costing me £100 finally broke the camel’s back. This season started and I got a complimentary ticket for the Arsenal game (never, ever had one of those before). By the end of the year I’d seen four more home games (3 x 0-0 and 1 x 1-0). Money doesn’t come into it now as I don’t have a season ticket and can pick and choose. I have picked up tickets for no more than £15, off ST holders who can’t be *rsed going. So the club haven’t had any of my money. But it’s still not been worth the money. I went to the derby at OT and the FA Cup game at Sheff. Weds, couldn’t be bothered with the home game, I’d seen enough. I will be going to Arsenal as I’ve never been there before, but I can’t envisage going to another game this season. I actually see 95% of the games in the pub. Think about this, if you buy a ST now you will be paying up front for the final home game of next season, which is 15 months away! I’m not a sack the manger every five minutes merchant, but Pearce has had the job for almost two years now and I can’t see what he’s trying to achieve. Does this reflect the club? What are their ambitions? The Premiership is supposedly rated as the best league in the world. I’m afraid I can’t agree. If it was, it would be like the 1970’s in that when the season kicked off in August every fan of every club (even the newly promoted), hoped this might just be their year (and sometimes it was). The biggest problem for most fans today is that Faith is based on believing it will all come right one day, with little or no evidence to back it up, but with no Hope there is no Faith. So what’s the point?”

“As for City, Pearce’s negative tactics mean we aren’t scoring goals, fans hate the football, big gaps in the crowd, downward spiral until Pearce gets himself sacked. When was the last goal City scored at home in the league?”

“Poor football, 10 goals at home a disgrace, woeful manager, inept board, goddam awful kick off times, too many players picking up obsence amounts of money for doing sod all!”

“I was disappointed that no concession was made for adults. I believe that the club could have set an example to the Premiership that they actually cared about their “loyal” support. I now believe the opposite is true and that we represent such insignificant income that we no longer count. I believe that attendances will crash next year. However, I will be renewing my seasoncard as I need something to force me into going to matches in order to vent my frustration live.”

“Too many foreigners, too much cheating, win at all costs, therefore not attractive any more. Do you notice the stats on Sky at the end of the games – how much football is played in the middle third and very little goalmouth action?”

“I am a season ticket holder for 25 years (5 year break whilst living in Jersey). I now sit in the family stand with my son and my brother. We are all knocking the ticket on the head due to cost of tickets. I will now pick and chose my games. No more Sunday a.m., Monday evening, Saturday evening kick-offs due to Sky! The football is rubbish. The club lost its working class “real” supporters about 10 to 15 years ago. The kn*bhead stewards in blue coats. Take me back to Maine Road any day of the week!”

“Lack of investment in squad, plus City will probably never win the Premier League or a trophy in my lifetime! Football is dying – too much money to players; no transparency i.e. transfer fees; no competition; cost.”

“Giving up season ticket. I have followed City even when they dropped into the third tier of the English leagues, it is sad to say that the City Board and the inept performances the team have produced this season has driven me to this decision. Since Kevin Keegan’s departure, when the club was well established in the middle of the Premier League, they should have been looking to kick on. Instead, the board has shown a distinct lack of ambition in their actions. Combined with SP’s poor transfer deals, the team is left with a strike force that is incapable of scoring regularly. Football fans in general (who attend matches) are getting a raw deal by paying too much to watch most Premiership games, which can now be watched in pubs/clubs via a foreign channel.”

“Expensive (ticket, car park, drinks and sandwich = £40/match), overpaid players under-performing (with a few exceptions like Dunne, Vassell, Richards, Weaver), lack of excitement (no atmosphere), fellow-supporters’ lack of footballing knowledge, loss of key players like Cole and James, etc. Clubs unable to hold on to talented players (e.g. SWP), fashionable clubs soaking up the market, money, television. I will always be a City fan (I’ve been through too much with them not to be!) but I have always primarily been a football supporter and I’m afraid that the elite and their money are ruining the game for the rest.”

“Fed up with the prices, the fixture changes and the lack of direction of MCFC and their board, no loyalty to us the fans who have been going for years. The regular match-going fans are being priced out of the game, clubs are more interested in big money and corporate/TV deals than loyalty to their own supporters. It’s pure greed. More enjoyment watching non-league games!”

“Overpriced admission to watch overpaid under-achieving players. Too many average foreigners in the game.”

“Renewing Season Ticket. Loyalty. See it as a ‘Badge of Honour’ to do so.”

“Unfair distribution of money leading to an uncompetitive league. Those in control not realising that by giving more money to the “successful” they are in fact killing the game as a competitive spectacle. Sport is about competition. The gap between the have’s and have not’s even in the Premiership grows wider every season and soon fans of even big clubs will give up because there is no prospect of success on the horizon, ever. Mid-table mediocrity is all that beckons.”

“Renewing Season Ticket (but will probably be last year if game does not return to its roots and start treating supporters with a bit of respect). Rip off pricing by away clubs. Two good friends made at Maine Road (sat in front of me) have shredded their renewal forms as they say the football is c**p and they have better things to do with their time and money. They have been season ticket holders for 22 years!”

“The club’s insistence that pastry filled with reconstituted meat and containing high levels of saturated fat constitutes food and their subsequent denial of my basic human right to partake, if I so wish, in a legal activity – a drive originally started in a bid to reduce fire insurance premiums and lower airline operating costs through closing a/c systems: the only health concern that of the budget sheet.”

“I gave up my season ticket of 10 years this season as I had had enough of the crazy kick off times and of a team which promised so much yet delivered so little. I have supported City for over 45 years and held season tickets at various times over that period. I have always looked forward to the matches until the last couple of season. I don’t know if it was the move from Maine Road or the greater influence of Sky TV but the buzz I used to get has gone. I still watch City on a satellite system with a motorised dish and a pukka art card (Saudi Arabian TV). Have watched 23 games of the present campaign for less than the price of a season ticket! But just watching City is getting a bit disheartening at the moment.”

“As far as the Premiership is concerned the soul and fun have gone out of the game. It’s all about “average revenue per customer” and avoiding losing rather than trying to entertain and win.”

“Had CityCards from its inception up to last year when decided £20 per card for the privilege of buying tickets that were easily available was not worth it. Now have access cards and have been to 2 games this season. If we spend the same amount of money on theatre tickets, or cinema and meal, we are guaranteed entertainment, which is not the case with football.”

“Overpaid, disloyal, greedy footballers and their agents. I feel bad for the club, and particularly David Makin and John Wardle who have put in so much of their own money, because they are caught in a vicious cycle of having to pay such high wages and transfer fees etc.”

“Fed up with watching boring football, no flair players, too many Bosmans in the team. No atmosphere at COMs, don’t like the way fellow fans are treated if they stand etc. Club appears to have no ambition, why are smaller clubs such as Bolton, Reading, Portsmouth etc. out-performing us? It’s a sad thing to say, but I enjoyed it more when we were in the old 3rd division, the club was in dire straits but everyone pulled together from the Chairman to the Tea Lady i.e. we all felt part of the family that is ‘MCFC’. No truthful information from the Board on the state of the club, which direction it’s going. Why should I give my hard earned money to this? I could go on and on but you said it should be kept brief! Avoiding relegation is a success! Too much football on TV, you can see a 3rd of our games on TV so why buy a season ticket? Players’ attitudes stink, it’s all about money so club loyalty goes out of the window. Cost of attending away matches, don’t like been ripped off ’cause we’ve got good away support (or did have). I thought I would just pick and choose which games I attended this season, but haven’t been to one single game yet! Reasons for this: It’s difficult to buy a ticket for an individual game, the standard of football this year is worse than last year’s, worst forward line I’ve ever seen. So it just goes to show that when you stop attending it’s hard to get back into it, and the sad thing is I don’t miss going! You should do a survey on how the fans think things should be put right.”

“I could say the atmosphere but this isn’t really the reason, although the matchday atmosphere is extremely poor it is more to do with the on-the-field problems that keep me away. The main reason is the lack of quality. City have no quality in their team anymore, along with around 70% of the Premiership.”

“Uncompetitive league, largely ruined by the Champions’ League clubs making a dull league for the other 16, who play fear football as all there is to achieve is avoid relegation. City no longer able to relate to supporters, though they probably call them customers.”

“Kick off times, playing on Sundays, away ticket prices, c**p atmosphere, don’t feel part of the club anymore.”

“Why no cuts in Adult season tickets with the new Sky money? Stuart Pearce’s mind-numbing tactics and the board’s penny pinching are the causes of this. The Board is showing no ambition: best players are sold off and not replaced so why should I keep pouring money into a black hole? The Board don’t respect the fans nor do they engage them properly. I’m fed up with the lack of respect for fans in general and will pick and choose my matches next season (£20 for City Card is a rip-off, I have to say). Ungrateful, overpaid players who behave appallingly (e.g. Barton).”

“Renewing Season Ticket. Loyalty to the club and having supported them for nearly 20 years – stupid I know! As for City, a poor team, poor tactics and I’m sorry to say, a poor manager. But I’m still going to renew – go figure!…”

“One of the main problems is the *deliberate* inconsistency of enforcement of rules, e.g. blatant fouls by defenders (holding, jersey tugging etc.) are not usually penalised in the penalty area. It seems that the FA have decided that awarding a penalty is too great a punishment – so why not introduce a lesser punishment for minor offences in the box e.g. yellow card.”

“The clubs have sold their souls to Sky, they took the money and are now reaping the benefits, great for the armchair supporter, but live crowds dropping at an alarming rate. Over inflated transfer/wage fees, the players need to get a grip and start earning their wages. I can’t keep re-arranging my work and personal life just because yet again the kick-off times have changed. It’s easier if I go down to my local pub and watch all the City games in there, at least I don’t feel ripped off at the end of the 90 minutes after another appalling display of so called football from the “best league in the world”. I enjoyed the old 2nd Division more!”

“Football has lost local ‘representative’ element for the players – no attachment to area – no loyalty – not enough commitment. Physicality element of game has been largely taken out – players have turned into jessies.”

“I don’t think it’s as bad as some people would have you believe, but the ticket prices are definitely too high by at least 20%… overall, it’s still pretty good in general; it’s not the apocalypse scenario a lot of people describe.”

“Not value for money, never know when playing so can’t plan family events and want to spend more time with my children. The commitment from players is awful. If I was on £30,000 a year, never mind a week, to play football I would expect to train 7 hours a day 5 days a week and I would give it my all.”

“Losing Interest, No fun any more. No one standing up for fans’ rights (alcohol and standing allowed in seats at concerts but not at matches).”

“The Premier League is in control of the Champions’ League crowd, plus there is a real chasm between the Premier League and the Championship, which will be made even worse with this new deal – so teams play not to lose – which makes the standard of football incredibly dull to watch.”

“Live in USA. giving up season ticket, two of them. I get back home a couple of times a year and bought the season tickets because I thought I would have a hard time getting tickets for matches. It worked well the first couple of years as my brother was able to sell them for the games when I wasn’t home. The money generated paid for the renewal. This year there is no demand to use them as it appears there is no problem just getting tickets as needed.”

OPINION: RENEWALS

First time I’ve felt the urge to contribute. I agree with Mike Strahand’s article and just wanted to add a few thoughts of my own.

I’ve never known a time before when so many of my City friends have decided not to renew season tickets. Apart from a long time match travelling buddy of mine giving up after many years, alarmingly, the chap I sit next at the ground to is also wavering. This is someone who has to be considered a hard core supporter. Someone who attended every home game from 1977 through to the end of the Maine Road days. Now he’s completely apathetic. How many more people are there out there like this and if people like this have lost the will then what will the attendances be like next season and beyond?

This mirrors my own feelings. I’ve been attending since ’78 and had a season ticket since 1980 but this is the first time I’ve seriously considering not renewing. Why?

Well for many of the reasons others mentioned. For me the decline started with the move to the new stadium. Maine Road was home and I think we left the soul of the club there when we left. No – I’m not a sloppy sentimentalist, the COM is so clinical, impersonal and “any stadium UK”, it’s not City specific and is a symptom of how the TV/Corporate/big salaried game has turned over the last few years.

I don’t feel connected with the stadium, I don’t feel connected with the players and now the board have failed to react properly to what people are saying about ticket pricing I’ve lost any faith I had in them. If they’re not going to reduce adult season ticket prices now with all of the extra TV revenue due, they never will. They may have got away with it if we were being served up quality football on a regular basis but all we’ve had is passionless dross. On the rare occasion we get to see a good game and a good City performance it shocks me into realising that actually what I’m supposed to be there for is to be entertained. It’s easy to forget this.

With supply and demand you can keep prices high but with what we’ve had to put up with, the club should have reduced prices. I hope they feel embarrassed about what Blackburn have done. Come on Board, never mind what the big boys charge, they can get away with it. It’s a working class game. Or it used to be anyway.

If there is a silver lining then it has to be the development of the young players. Well done to everyone involved with the Academy; let’s hope they continue to produce good players that may wear the shirt with more pride than most of the players brought to the club since the move to the concrete bowl have.

OPINION: TICKET PRICES

With thousands of empty seats each home game you would think the powers that be would get their act together and start cutting prices.

No such luck, I was going to take my niece and her friend to the Chelsea game but the tickets would have cost me £109! When are City going to do something right? They are useless on the pitch and clueless off it.

Whether we like it or not, the game against Charlton will be massive for us. Will the club slash ticket prices to ensure a full house and a great atmosphere? Not a chance.

OPINION: POSITIVE THINKING I

Following my piece on the negativity surrounding City at the moment, I’ve received a number of personal responses that have all been pretty supportive of my views – and no doubt there will be many others both agreeing and disagreeing in this issue, which I have yet to read. I don’t think any City fan likes the situation that has been created any more than the club does – but it’s something that can be mended, regardless of performances on the pitch. I genuinely believe the performances on the pitch will take care of themselves once we get the rest of our house in order.

My original piece was mainly an appeal for City fans to put everything that is bothering them to the back of their minds and get on with the job of supporting the team and being positive towards whatever happens on the pitch. My stance is quite straightforward. The relationship between the fans and the players on that pitch is the most important relationship within the club. We should always strive to make the players feel wanted and appreciated and they should always strive to please us with their results and performances on the pitch.

One side not keeping their half of the bargain should never be used an excuse for the other to not pull their weight. If we allow that to be the case, then all we succeed in doing is dragging each other down very quickly and that’s no good for anyone. A stubborn refusal to be supportive of the team (even if we’re faced with lacklustre performances) isn’t going to do anybody any good, things will just get worse. What we need to do is spin the whole scenario on its head.

Anyway, like I say, looking towards the long-term, this situation can be rectified, regardless of performances on the pitch, and I think the club have a huge rôle to play. So let’s just forget the team for the moment and try to get to the root of the problem of why we’ve got ourselves in this situation because I really don’t believe that Stuart Pearce and the players are entirely to blame. Their performances are merely the face of the mood within the club on the whole and it’s not surprising that they’re struggling to express themselves in home games when all they have been surrounded by is negativity for 12 months.

As some of you may have guessed, I’m very big on the subject of psychology. I’ve read a lot of inspiring books over the last couple of years, books that have changed my own life for the better, and, in nearly every case, I’ve been able to relate a lot of what I’ve learnt to the situation at City.

In my opinion, City fans are trapped in so many ways at the moment. The club have created a feeling of imprisonment amongst the fans and those fans that haven’t already escaped that prison (by no longer attending matches) are growing increasingly resentful of the fact that they are still imprisoned. In fact, many are planning their escape right now as I’m sure the club (to their horror) have realised by the shortage of season tickets renewals for next season.

The club might not realise exactly what it is they’ve done wrong, they’ve just tried to employ the laws of standard business practice but the relationship between a club and its fans is a very delicate and precious one that needs to be awarded special treatment – and I honestly believe I have the answers.

The changes it would involve would not be that difficult to implement. Whether anyone at the club is prepared to listen or not is another matter. But the club must realise that they have a very important rôle to play and although they have made some token gestures towards appeasing the fans, it’s nowhere near enough.

They need to realise they have a very real crisis on their hands and the worrying thing is that what we’re seeing now might only be the tip of the iceberg. First of all, the club needs to realise that some things are more important than money. If they only shifted their focus, they would soon realise that the real money to be found in football only comes with success on the pitch and success on the pitch can only be achieved with everybody pulling in the same direction. When you concentrate so much energy on pinching the pennies, all you succeed in doing is taking your eyes off the pounds.

Gary Leboff (the psychologist I referred to in the last issue) talks about the ‘Golden Triangle’ that links a club, its city and its fans. Well one side of that Golden Triangle is clearly fractured at City, so what we have is anything but a triangle.

Like I say, what we currently have is a situation where the City fans who can still be bothered to turn up feel like they’re trapped. We’re imprisoned by the empty seats that surround us because those empty seats serve as a constant reminder that we no longer have to be there, which in turn creates the impression that we’re no longer there out of choice, that we’re suffering from some kind of horrible affliction. That, in itself, is the biggest contributory factor towards the current level of negativity, in my opinion. Needless to say, we need to fill those seats. That much is imperative. We need a full stadium every week.

At the moment, we’re turning up for games in a negative frame of mind, looking for reasons on the pitch to justify our decision to turn up and not getting any. The fact that we’re being so negative in the first place merely ensures that a half-decent performance is invariably seen as a bad one. Meanwhile, it also means the team are finding no inspiration whatsoever from the fans and, in turn, that is affecting performances. It’s a vicious circle we have got to get out of.

We don’t follow City because of results on the pitch alone, we never have done. We follow the club because it’s in our blood. We’ve tolerated poor teams and poor performances in the past, so why are we not prepared to tolerate them now?

We need people to start feeling privileged about possessing a ticket, even if we’re bottom of the league. We need to create a situation where several thousand people are actually missing out for each game, then those people will make damn sure they try a little bit harder to get a ticket for the following week.

So the first thing I would say to the club regards the obvious problem of ticket prices.

Adults should be able to pay no more than £10 and juniors/OAPs should always be half price. With that, I’m referring to the cheapest seats behind the goal. The club can still knock out thousands of tickets at £15, then £20, then £25 as you head towards the best category seats down the side of the pitch.

The initial clamour for £10 tickets would immediately provide a ‘tipping point’ and set the ball rolling towards a sell-out every week. Imagine you make a journey down to the ground to buy a £10 ticket on your lunch break. You find that the £10 tickets have just sold out, are you going to walk away empty-handed and refuse to pay an extra fiver? I very much doubt it. The same thing happens when the £15 tickets sell out, and so on. What you are effectively creating is a snowball effect.

What won’t solve the problem is half-hearted gestures from the club, which are merely being put forward as publicity stunts. I mean slash the prices across the board – make thousands of tickets available that are affordable to absolutely everyone.

The second idea might seem a little strange, but I would seriously recommend reducing the number of season tickets. Season tickets by their very nature are a commitment, another form of imprisonment if things aren’t going well. I guarantee that if you reduce the number of season tickets to, say, 10,000 (with a huge waiting list) then there would soon be a clamour for the 35,000 remaining tickets at affordable prices for individual games. Instead of fans feeling that the club owes them some kind of debt, the focus would be shifted on to fans being scared of missing out.

The whole process might take a little while to get going but I guarantee it would be hugely beneficial in the long run.

The problem with implementing this system at the moment is that the current process of obtaining tickets is too drawn out, too much hassle. We need tickets to be made more accessible, window sales only for the cheapest available tickets. The higher category tickets can be obtained over the phone. No booking fees. No 0870 numbers. No touchtone telephone process to get through. No queuing on the system.

Another solution would be to do away with the awful loyalty points system. It’s just another process of trapping the fans. Those that don’t have enough loyalty points to get to important away games feel unwanted by the club, they see it as a closed shop. Meanwhile, those that have an abundance of loyalty points feel that the club should be indebted to them.

All it achieves is to create a hierarchy amongst the fans, that some fans are more important than others. What we should be creating a sense of togetherness. No City fan is more important than any other, however large or small their part in attending games during the season. When we all go to the grave, none of us are ever judged by how many loyalty points we have or how many games we attended. We are Blues – that is all that matters.

Those who have the most loyalty points will obviously disagree with this stance but I guarantee that any City fan who is committed enough will still get to all the important away games, just as they did when we had to queue up from 6am on a Saturday morning for Macclesfield away.

The camaraderie created by having to queue up in the early hours for away games creates a positive energy and positive feeling about the club, it generates excitement and anticipation and creates a real togetherness between the fans. It makes the fans feel part of something. Away tickets could be sold in two instalments: half of the tickets sold to season ticket holders only one day, the other half on open sale to everyone and anyone the following day.

At the moment, the elite few that have the most loyalty points (and I was one of them until this season) have it too easy. In many ways, it’s just like the England team whereby the likes of Gerrard and Lampard are guaranteed to be on the team-sheet with nobody else in the squad putting them under any real pressure. Their minds are complacent, as if merely turning up is enough.

Finally, we also need a proper singing section, not just a block of seats next to the away fans. A block of seats the same as any other in all but name, I hasten to add.

We need the whole bottom tier behind the North Stand goal. Let’s get the vociferous supporters as far away from the visiting supporters as possible. I know the majority of my fellow singers might not agree with me on this, they might think they will miss the banter with the away fans – but that’s another part of the problem. Anybody who spends the entire game focusing their attention on the away fans is directing their energy at the wrong target. They should be directing their energy at the pitch and the players. We need to just get back to supporting City, forget the away fans and the away team. Move the Family Stand into the South Stand next to the away fans. You never know, it might even quieten the away fans down.

We need flags and banners, noise and colour. The more creative supporters should be given license (funded by the club) to think up ingenious ways of making games feel special again. We need to create a carnival atmosphere. We need the club to support us on issues such as safe-standing, not hide behind the regulations as if they’re powerless.

If anybody at the club is reading this, I would ask them just one favour. Read a book called ‘The Tipping Point’ by Malcolm Gladwell (an American psychologist) and then read my thoughts again. I want to know if you think it makes sense, I’d be more than happy to hear your views. That said, you could always bury your head in the sand and hope things just mysteriously take a turn for the better without your intervention. Maybe the time to act is next season when the average attendance will probably be about 25,000.

In the meantime, I just plead with City fans to get behind the team and stay positive.

OPINION: POSITIVE THINKING II

Bloody brilliant! If the whole ground started shouting “one-nil, one-nil” to the team until they (City) scored then maybe it could work. Just think about it. If every supporter in the stand made this unison sound then it would give the team a great push and bring the opponents down as well. I mean it would be like predicting doomsday for the visitors 🙂 Then you can go back to “Blue Moon” and after a while start singing “two-nil, two-nil”. If the visitors take the lead just continue with singing “one-one”.

OPINION: POSITIVE THINKING III

In response to Mike Holden (MCIVTA 1307). We have had our games of this ilk. Spurs in the cup. And perhaps more memorably, Gillingham.

Liverpool, and I doubt even France, will experience comebacks like this. However, Spurs over the weekend did. They are once in a lifetime erm… ‘one-off’ games. So I suppose in typical City fashion – we’ve had two.

When the chips are down, really down, you need more than high spirits to see you through. It may be worth mentioning that both of those games happened away from home. Typical.

On a relative plus note, 10 of us have managed to save £110 by going in the new singing section. That means no standing, no flag waving, no giving the V’s to them ‘orrible Stretford types and probably no singing. Can’t wait.

OPINION: POSITIVE THINKING IV

It’s not that bad! Chin up lads, and get behind the team!

Don’t forget, turning into a miserable terrace of whining Rag impersonators was a prelude to our fall into Division 2. We got out of Division 2 with a smile on our face (God bless Nicky Weaver). Maybe a bit of positive thinking will be the catalyst to keep us up.

I work in an industry where every year, if performance targets are not met, management is changed. Or at least that’s what happens at mediocre companies, with mediocre results.

You cannot buy success, and short term knowledge is not what success is based on. The only way to achieve it is long term understanding and stability.

There are countless examples of this throughout all sporting and management disciplines, in particular in my own industry, which combines sport and engineering.

In Short: There is no point in going through a painful learning process, to then remove the staff who have learnt all of the lessons with new personnel who have not.

We should not revert to the old MCFC motto of “If a lesson is worth learning, it’s worth learning 7 or 8 times…”

• There is no-one to replace Pearce.
• There are no quick fixes.
• He is a sound man.
• He is learning hard lessons, publicly.
• We knew that was going to happen when we signed him up.
• We may get relegated, and if we do, we should not fire him.
• We should give him a pay cut.
• Get behind him.

I can’t get to COMS for the remaining games of the season – I wish I could. But instead of whingeing about there being no atmosphere, let’s hear every man jack of you belting out Blue Moon for 90 minutes.

OPINION: ILLEGITIMI NON CARBORUNDUM

The future of MCFC is in the hands of Stuart Pearce. He has to find a way to motivate the players, and in particular a certain player by the name of Samaras who appears to play without any desire to succeed.

The players should have some pride to do their best for City, who pay them their money.

They should realize that if they have no plans of staying with MCFC in the future, that other potential clubs are watching how they play.

Collectively everyone connected with the club has got to step up a notch. There is too much at stake, every club at the bottom of the Premiership are prepared to play for their survival; we did not see this from the players who played against Wigan, which is why so many of us are upset.

Just because we have a couple of games in hand means nothing if we don’t win them.

Our next game at Blackburn is a tough one in the Quarter Final of the F.A. Cup, and all focus must be on this game.

Every game from now on should be looked upon one game at a time, and not look at games ahead of us; play every game as if it’s a Cup Final. Remember that there are bonuses for the positions in the table at the end of the season, come on City get up there!

Stuart Pearce is a well-liked man, and I do think that the majority of City fans want him to be successful, not just for the sake of our club but for the man himself.

Come on Stu, get the players prepared with a good game plan, get the players to show some passion, and that desire to win every game with a 110% effort.

I think that the supporters will show that passion and be back at the CoMS when that happens and in force.

Come on you Blues! Desire, passion, pride in oneself.

OPINION: THE PROPOSED SUPPORTERS’ TRUST

For those who have been asking about what happened at last Sunday’s meeting, Sue Wallace managed to take far more copious notes than I, and has published them on the KotK website here, http://kingkippax.blogspot.com/

RESULTS

League table to 07 March 2007 inclusive

                             HOME          AWAY        OVERALL
                    P  W  D  L  F  A  W  D  L  F  A  W  D  L  F   A   GD Pts
 1 Manchester Utd  29 12  1  1 35  8 11  2  2 31 11 23  3  3  66  19  47  72
 2 Chelsea         28 10  4  0 30  8  9  2  3 20 11 19  6  3  50  19  31  63
 3 Liverpool       29 11  3  1 29  4  5  2  7 15 16 16  5  8  44  20  24  53
 4 Arsenal         27  9  5  0 34 11  6  2  5 16 12 15  7  5  50  23  27  52
 5 Bolton Wndrs    29  8  3  4 21 14  6  2  6 13 20 14  5 10  34  34   0  47
 6 Everton         29  7  4  3 21 11  4  6  5 16 15 11 10  8  37  26  11  43
 7 Reading         29  9  1  4 26 16  4  3  8 17 22 13  4 12  43  38   5  43
 8 Tottenham H.    29  9  1  4 25 17  3  5  7 15 26 12  6 11  40  43  -3  42
 9 Portsmouth      29  8  4  3 22 12  3  4  7 14 19 11  8 10  36  31   5  41
10 Blackburn R.    29  7  2  5 19 16  5  2  8 16 23 12  4 13  35  39  -4  40
11 Newcastle Utd   29  7  5  3 23 17  3  2  9 11 20 10  7 12  34  37  -3  37
12 Middlesbrough   29  8  3  3 21 14  1  6  8 11 20  9  9 11  32  34  -2  36
13 Aston Villa     28  6  4  3 15 11  1  8  6 14 23  7 12  9  29  34  -5  33
14 Fulham          29  6  5  4 14 13  1  7  6 17 31  7 12 10  31  44 -13  33
15 Wigan Athletic  29  5  2  7 14 20  4  3  8 16 24  9  5 15  30  44 -14  32
16 Sheff. United   29  5  6  4 18 17  3  1 10  7 24  8  7 14  25  41 -16  31
17 Manchester City 27  5  4  5 10 12  3  2  8 10 21  8  6 13  20  33 -13  30
18 Charlton Ath.   29  5  3  6 15 17  1  3 11 11 32  6  6 17  26  49 -23  24
19 Watford         29  2  7  6 13 20  1  4  9  5 23  3 11 15  18  43 -25  20
20 West Ham United 29  5  2  8 17 21  0  3 11  4 29  5  5 19  21  50 -29  20

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: