Newsletter #1374

Very short edition this time. Various opinions on the King of Thailand and the team spattered with some ticket and viewing requests. We also have the result of the MCIVTA competition from Svenn.

Chelsea up next – a real test to see how far we have come this season.

Heidi’s still on her break from her editorial duties, so I shall be standing in until further notice. Please keep the articles coming to the usual address of <editor(at)mcivta.city-fan.org>.

THE MCIVTA COMPETITION – AND THE WINNER IS…

I have to admit that I was a bit premature when I claimed that nobody had managed to get any correct answers in the last section of the quiz. In fact Graham Aldred nailed Neil Young on question 5, which brought him up alongside Jeremy Poynton at the top of the table, each with three correct answers. According to the rules we should make a raffle and pick the lucky winner. The outcome of this procedure was that Graham Aldred came out as the winner. Congratulations! The signed copy of Shaun Goater’s biography will be mailed to you shortly (after you send us your postal address).

OPINION: THE KING OF THAILAND

Those of you at the game against Birmingham may have been curious as to the half time and full time declarations on the score board. For those not there or in the bar/toilet, a few slogans appeared on the score board:

‘Long Live The King’
‘Happy 80th Birthday to The King Of Thailand’
‘Happy Birthday Your Majesty for 5th December’

Personally, I was a bit miffed over these announcements in what surely amounts to a propaganda stunt. Do we similarly mark either of The Queen’s birthdays with scoreboard announcements? And, other than Frank and his immediate consorts, does he really think any of us actually gives a **** about the King of Thailand? Shame on City for allowing this to happen.

So, whilst with a few minutes to spare, I googled the King of Thailand (expecting to see some link to the film ‘The King & I’) and discovered the following news link dated 14th October 07:

Thailand’s beloved and influential 79 year old King Bhumibol Adulyadej was in hospital yesterday after feeling weak on the right side of his body, the royal palace said.

The King was admitted to Bangkok’s Siriraj Hospital, where tests found “a slightly inadequate blood flow to the brain”, a palace statement said.

King Bhumibol, the world’s longest-serving living monarch, celebrated his 60th year on the throne with lavish festivities last year. More celebrations are planned for this December, when the monarch turns 80.

He is a unifying figure for his country, which usually turns to him in times of crisis even though – strictly speaking – his powers are limited as a constitutional monarch.

Because of the almost universal respect he commands, politicians and civil servants usually follow carefully any prompts from the palace.

But former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, ousted in an army-led coup last year, was widely believed to be at odds with him, and it is generally thought that the king’s inner circle provided encouragement to those who deposed the elected leader.

So whilst Frank is making overtures towards the King via a football stadium in England – a full 6 weeks before the King’s birthday – it appears he has little support from the King back home. Let’s hope we have seen the last of these ‘announcements’ on the scoreboard.

OPINION: TEAM

No doubt, every City supporter is longing for us to strengthen the team in January, as the odd injury to key players could potentially derail our smoothly running train. I think we are more than okay in the goalkeeping department and certainly do not need the german “whinger” Lehmann, not great for morale. Currently, we are very dependent upon Elano to pull the strings in-front of the midfield, with the added bonus of him scoring a few goals too. I dread to think what would happen if he was injured. Geovanni is meant to be a replacement, but he is not in the same mould as Elano, as far as I am concerned. We need someone with good creative instincts, players like Deco or Riquelme, I know they don’t come cheap but they are class. Unfortunately, these types of players want to play regularly which makes things very difficult.

Then we have Bianchi’s discontent, to a point understandable, and I feel Sven should bring him on earlier or even rotate him and Mpenza, so both are match fit. In hindsight, the player who would have thrived with our current team is Kenwynne Jones; he has height, speed and is a real nuisance to defences (similar to Adebayor at Arsenal) and hopefully Sven will look to bring in a forward of similar attributes, as Mpenza for all his work rate, is just a tad too short. We have a player in our squad, who could be our “Jones or Adebayor” as he has the same attributes – a Mr Samaras at 6ft 3″, but he just does not put it about like the 2 players mentioned. Shame really, as he could be a great money saver and would also improve his status in football and at City – maybe Sven should take a gamble and play him as the lone striker in the Cup games?

I can see Sven resurrecting the Bresciano deal in January, who is a holding midfielder player as cover for Hamann and Fernandes.

I now have complete faith in S-GE and know he will not disappoint.

Come on City, keep making us proud and happy.

BRESCIANO

Can we dispel the myths about Bresciano? He is not a holding midfield player. He normally plays in the right midfield position currently assigned to young Ireland.

BALTIMORE SPORTS BAR?

Next week I find myself in Baltimore, USA, whilst City are at Bolton in the cup. Does anyone know of a bar in the city centre that show live games?

MATCH VIEWING – CHELSEA

I’ll be in the Bay Area at the weekend and I’m wondering if there is a bar in downtown San Francisco that will show the game live (7am kick-off) or the replay later in the day? It’s on the ‘Fox Soccer Channel’.

TICKET REQUEST – CHELSEA

Desperately seeking ticket for Chelsea. If you can help please call 07908 738897 or email me at the address below.

WRONG WORDS!

With regard to the lyrics posted for a new song recently.

To the tune of 500 miles by the Proclaimers…

Da da da da da da…

Oh you can freeze 500 million pounds.
You can freeze 500 more.
Coz Thaksins got another 500 million beneath his bedroom floor.

Shina watra shina watra shina watra

Da da da da da da…

If you try to sing it the words just don’t fit, The actual words are:

Oh you can freeze 500 million
You can freeze 500 more
Coz Frankie boy has got 10 billion
Underneath his bedroom floor

Shina-watra (shina-watra) Shina-watra (shina-watra)

RESULTS

22 October 2007

Newcastle United      3 - 1  Tottenham Hotspur     51,411

League table to 24 October 2007 inclusive

                             HOME          AWAY        OVERALL
                    P  W  D  L  F  A  W  D  L  F  A  W  D  L  F   A   GD Pts
 1 Arsenal          9  6  0  0 16  4  2  1  0  5  2  8  1  0  21   6  15  25
 2 Manchester Utd  10  4  1  0  8  0  3  1  1  7  3  7  2  1  15   3  12  23
 3 Manchester City 10  6  0  0 10  2  1  1  2  5  5  7  1  2  15   7   8  22
 4 Liverpool        9  1  3  0  9  3  4  1  0  7  2  5  4  0  16   5  11  19
 5 Portsmouth      10  2  2  0 11  6  3  1  2  8  6  5  3  2  19  12   7  18
 6 Blackburn R.     9  3  1  1  8  5  2  2  0  5  3  5  3  1  13   8   5  18
 7 Chelsea         10  2  2  0  4  2  3  1  2  6  6  5  3  2  10   8   2  18
 8 Newcastle Utd    9  4  1  0 10  4  1  1  2  6  7  5  2  2  16  11   5  17
 9 Aston Villa      9  4  0  2  9  7  0  2  1  4  5  4  2  3  13  12   1  14
10 West Ham United  9  2  1  2  7  5  2  0  2  5  4  4  1  4  12   9   3  13
11 Everton         10  2  1  2  6  5  2  0  3  7  8  4  1  5  13  13   0  13
12 Reading         10  3  0  2  5  6  0  1  4  7 16  3  1  6  12  22 -10  10
13 Fulham          10  1  3  2  9 11  0  2  2  3  5  1  5  4  12  16  -4   8
14 Birmingham City 10  1  1  2  3  4  1  1  4  5  9  2  2  6   8  13  -5   8
15 Wigan Athletic  10  2  1  2  5  4  0  1  4  3 10  2  2  6   8  14  -6   8
16 Sunderland      10  2  0  2  4  5  0  2  4  7 14  2  2  6  11  19  -8   8
17 Middlesbrough   10  1  2  2  7  8  1  0  4  3 10  2  2  6  10  18  -8   8
18 Tottenham H.    10  1  1  2 10 10  0  3  3  7 11  1  4  5  17  21  -4   7
19 Derby County    10  1  2  1  5  5  0  1  5  0 17  1  3  6   5  22 -17   6
20 Bolton Wndrs    10  1  1  3  6  7  0  1  4  3  9  1  2  7   9  16  -7   5

MCIVTA FAQ [v0708.01]

[1] MCIVTA Addresses

Articles (Madeleine Hawkins)     : editor@mcivta.city-fan.org
News/rumour (Don Barrie)         : news@mcivta.city-fan.org
Subscriptions (Madeleine Hawkins): subscriptions@mcivta.city-fan.org
Technical problems (Paul)        : paul@city-fan.org
FAQ (David Warburton)            : faq@mcivta.city-fan.org

[2] What are MCIVTA’s publishing deadlines?

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

[3] MCIVTA Back Issues and Manchester City Supporters’ home page

http://www.uit.no/mancity/ is the unofficial Manchester City Supporters’ home page. Created in 1994, it is the longest running of the Manchester City related web sites. Back issues of MCIVTA are also hosted on the site.

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

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

[5] What supporters’ clubs are there?

Manchester City FC recognises three supporters’ clubs: The “Official Supporters Club” (http://www.mcfcosc.com/); the “Centenary Supporters’ Association” (http://www.reddishblues.com/CSAWebsite/CSA.htm) and “The International Supporters’ Club”.

[6] Where can I find out about Points of Blue (formerly the Fans’ Committee)?

The committee operates as an interface between supporters and the club. Points of Blue appears 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] 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/.

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.

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

Editor: