Newsletter #1394

Sarah’s news round up tonight brings us reaction to the West Ham cup game, arrests in Thailand, transfer moves and potential targets.

We also have Alex’s December round-up, a lengthy top 50 City moments to get you thinking (only part one tonight), smoking and steward problems, and derby arrangements.

Next up our trip to Goodison, usually an enjoyable day out for the travelling Blues. Hope I’ve not jinxed it now.

NEWS SUMMARY

Match Reaction

The Good, the Not-So-Good and the Un-Given: (Namely Castillo’s performance, not winning and… the non-penalty).
Sven-Goran Eriksson believes Nery Castillo will be integral to Manchester City’s future after watching the Mexican striker make his début against West Ham. Castillo, who joined City in December on a year-long loan from Shakhtar Donetsk, produced an impressive performance at Upton Park and came close to marking his début with a goal. However, despite looking the more dangerous, City could not manufacture a breakthrough and the tie ended goalless, with the replay back at Eastlands, next Wednesday. Petrov was a constant thorn in the West Ham side and City had strong shouts for a first-half penalty when he went down under a challenge from Ferdinand.

“I think it was a penalty,” said Eriksson. “I think we were unlucky. We will have it at home, hopefully.” While some Premier League clubs opted to rest key players for the third round, both West Ham and City fielded full-strength sides. Eriksson said: “If you are in the Champions’ League and are fighting to win the Premier League, then I can understand it. But we are not playing in Europe, we were knocked out of the Carling Cup so we will do everything we can in the league and the FA Cup.” And a successful replay will earn the Blues an away-day to Sheffield United. The FA Cup third-round replay between Manchester City and West Ham United will be screened live on BBC One on Wednesday 16 January. But for those who want to experience the atmosphere live tickets are on sale at a reduced rate. Seasoncard holders can buy tickets at the special price of £10 for adults (this will rise to £15 on the day of the game), with tickets for juniors and over 65s just £5.

General News

Banged Up in Bangkok: (Thanks to George Alexander for this)
The wife of Thaksin Shinawatra was handed an arrest warrant after she returned to Thailand to face corruption charges that could put her behind bars for 20 years. Police hit her with the warrant at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi International Airport and asked her to sign it, to ensure she is the person wanted. Earlier, Mrs Shinawatra’s lawyer, Pichit Chuenban, said she had sent him a statement saying: “I intend to fight the charges in court in accordance with the judicial system.” The case involves Mrs Shinawatra’s 2003 purchase of some prime Bangkok property from a state rescue fund directed by the central bank. An anti-corruption law bars Prime Ministers or their spouses from doing business with government agencies. The Supreme Court issued warrants in August for the Thaksins on charges of conflict of interest and malfeasance, each of which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. The couple also face arrest over alleged concealment of his ownership of millions worth of shares from the Thai Stock Exchange. Mr Shinawatra’s lawyer said on Monday that the former Prime Minister planned to return to Thailand from self-imposed exile by mid-April and was also prepared to defend himself in court. The court released Mrs Shinawatra on 5 million baht (£94,000) bail pending the first hearing on January 23, instructing her not to leave the country or “do anything to obstruct the judicial process, or the bail will be revoked”.

Players Get Their Kit On: A new kit without sponsor or manufacturer branding, but with an integral black ribbon of remembrance will be worn by City at the derby match on 10 February, which takes place 4 days after the 5oth anniversary of the Munich air disaster. All of City’s travelling fans will receive a letter from Sven and Richard Dunne and a photograph of Frank Swift, City’s former ‘keeper turned- journalist. The travelling faithful will also be able to decorate the away end of Old Trafford with Frank Swift memorabilia and each supporter will receive a club scarf before the match.

Team News

Johnson Targets the Derby: City hope to have young midfielder Michael Johnson back within a fortnight. The England Under-21 international has been out for a month after suffering a recurrence of the abdominal problem that forced him to have surgery in November, but he has just started running again.

He’s On the Ball: After giving him his first England cap I was surprised when Sven seemed surprised at Ball’s progress back into his Man City team. Why did he not just reflect that he had seen ‘something’ in the player and accept that the player had matured as he would have hoped?

A Dunne Deal? Richard Dunne is close to penning a new deal. Dunne has been a key figure in Manchester City’s revolution this season. The Republic of Ireland International has captained the side to a place challenging the big four at the top of the league and the City boss is hoping to tie the defender down to a longer term deal.

Back in Attack: Sven has been handed a timely boost with the news that Danny Sturridge has returned to full training with the rest of the squad. The highly-rated striker, who made two substitute appearances early in 2007, has been sidelined since the summer with a hip injury. However, after a lengthy rehab programme under the supervision of City’s medical and fitness team at Carrington, the 18-year-old has now joined in full football training. “He’s not ready to play in games just yet, but maybe in a couple of weeks time or within a month he could be ready for a reserves match.”

Transfer News

Mills Becomes a Battling Ram: Derby County have signed defender Danny Mills on loan until the end of the season. The former England international becomes Paul Jewell’s first signing and Jewell believes “his experience and versatility will be invaluable to us, as he is a hardened battler and with the injury problems we have at the moment his versatility is also a big asset – he can play right-back or left-back.” Mills joins the setup at Pride Park with a hefty task ahead of him, as the club are currently rooted to the foot of the Premier League table with just one win all season.

Laird’s New Den: City youngster Marc Laird has joined Millwall for £50,000.

Should He Stay or SHould He Go? (1): Italian giants Juventus are believed to be keen on signing Rolando Bianchi. The Italian striker has scored 5 goals in 20 appearances for City so far this season, but has failed to settle in England and is seeking a move away from the Premier League at the end of the season. However, according to la Stampa, Juve are keen to offer Bianchi a way out and will make a move for the striker during the transfer window.

Should He Stay or SHould He Go? (2): City boss Sven Goran Eriksson has revealed that Andreas Isaksson has been told he can leave the club. The 26-year-old Swede has struggled to hold down a first-team spot at Eastlands this season, with Eriksson opting to play youngster Joe Hart. And after holding discussions with Isaksson, Eriksson has confirmed that he will not stand in his way should he seek a move away from the club in the January transfer window.

Should He Stay or SHould He Go? (3): Birmingham City are ready to throw Georgios Samaras a Premier League lifeline and bolster Eriksson’s transfer kitty. New St Andrew’s boss Alex McLeish is ready to sign the 22-year-old Greek international striker, though City will have to say goodbye to more than £3 million of the £5.1 million the Blues spent two years ago.

Should He Stay or SHould He Go? (4): Manchester City midfielder Geovanni is negotiating a move to Deportivo La Coruna, according to his agent. The former Barcelona player is being linked with a return to La Liga five years after he left Camp Nou. Geo has only made the starting line up twice since signing in the summer although he did famously net the winner against city rivals United at Eastlands. Nery Castillo’s arrival at The City of Manchester Stadium on loan from Shakhtar Donetsk has also put Geovanni’s future in doubt.

After dismissing the speculation that he is interested in bringing Mancini to Manchester, the Blues’ boss has confirmed his desire to make Iraq international Nashat Akram one of his January signings. The 23-year-old, who was one of the stars of the side that won the 2007 Asian Cup and reached the Olympic semi-finals in 2004, has been training with the Blues’ squad at Carrington this week. Eriksson has been impressed so far and is hopeful a deal can be struck with the Al-Ain club in the United Arab Emirates. “I think he will come,” Eriksson said. “We need to fix the work permits but I don’t think that will be a problem.”

On Trial Before Signing for Keeps: Manchester City have invited IF Elfsborg goalkeeper Abbas Hassan to join them on a one-week trial. Hassan was born in Lebanon but has represented Sweden at U21 level and is highly thought of by his club. Although not expecting to be offered a deal at the end, Hassan is happy to come as the Swedish season is not due to start again until April and it offers him the opportunity to experience life at a Premier League club and to judge how well he is progressing.

Former Blues’ News

R.I.P. Former York City striker, Paul Aimson, who began his career at Manchester City has died aged 64.

Horlock Leaves Rovers: (Thanks to Matthew Thomas for this)
Midfielder Kevin Horlock has left Doncaster Rovers after his contract was cancelled by mutual consent. Horlock, 35, joined Rovers in 2006, but spent the majority of last season out with a knee injury and was recently sidelined by a shoulder problem.

OPINION: DECEMBER ROUND-UP

It’s difficult to round up a month in which we only won one game from seven and yet found ourselves sitting comfortably in the top five, pushing Liverpool for the much coveted fourth place. Our first four games of the month came against opposition with relatively new management in charge and City found it difficult to overcome the fresh challenge and yet allowed the fans to keep the promising feeling that makes us believe that Europe should be coming next year and that the future is brighter than ever.

The trip to the JJB was Steve Bruce’s first game in charge and although City found the back of the net within the first thirty seconds – Geovanni making the most of a Titus Bramble mistake – Wigan pulled level and had enough character to impress their new boss with a point against in the in form Blues. Although most Citizens were slightly disappointed that we’d dropped points against a side struggling in the bottom three, in hindsight, considering Wigan’s more recent results, a point seems to be more of a success than first assumed. A rejuvenated Spurs side was the first team to overcome the Blues since that 6-0 drubbing at Chelsea and the Ramos-orchestrated side beat City 2-1 for the second consecutive season. It was our home form that brought us back to a winning style as the boys made it nine wins from nine at CoMS with an emphatic result against Gary Megson’s Bolton. The then out of favour Rolando Bianchi (who went on to score three in three) began the goalscoring and with some help from an own goal, a Vassell finish and Kelvin Etuhu’s first for the club, the Blues beat the Trotters 4-2.

A second match in nine days against Spurs ended City’s most likely hopes of a trophy this season as Defoe and co. overcame the Citizens even after losing a player to a sending off in the first quarter of the game. The semi-final would have seen a two legged trip against league leaders Arsenal and of course I must use the old cliché that we will now have more time to spend on our league position but there’s also the FA Cup to rely on for an early summer trip to Wembley.

Should the amazing happen and City find themselves in the final of England’s most prestigious trophy then it looks likely to be an English ‘keeper who stands between the posts for the club. Having allowed all three ‘keepers to put themselves to the test in the Premier League, Sven chose the England Under 21 number one to be his first choice and led to rumours that Andreas Isaksson may leave in the January transfer window. With regards to incoming players, one player was already making his way towards the club. Nery Castillo, a 23 year old Striker from Mexico, made a one year loan move to Eastlands from Ukrainian champions Shakhtar Donetsk having moved there only in the summer of 2007 despite interest from Sven. The move seemed destined to struggle as the Ukrainian club demanded £3 million for only a one year loan but such was Castillo’s determination to try his hand in the Premier League that he paid approximately £2 million of the fee himself.

The three remaining matches of December led into the busy Christmas period and provided three more welcome points to reaffirm our high flying position. Having taken a point from a tough trip to Villa Park, the Blues went on to drop points at home for the first time this season. A controversial late goal for Blackburn’s Roque Santa Cruz ensured a point for Rovers and a seasonal pun for all sports journalists around the country. Two-Two was acceptable but when the team is leading with less than ten minutes to go, a win was on the cards. December concluded with a goalless draw against Liverpool- the fourth draw of the month- and although we had only won one in six league games, City found themselves sitting comfortably above the ‘best of the rest’ teams and in a position where we are the most likely to break up the top four for the first time in years.

December’s Key Performer- Richard Dunne. The ever-reliable captain was here, there and everywhere for the Blues as usual but deserves special credit this month for his special performances against Liverpool and Aston Villa. Credit as ever to Micah Richards and noticeable mention to Martin Petrov who has well and truly settled into the English game.

December’s Key Moment- Watching as Geo took advantage of a defensive cock up and a rare start at the JJB and scored the goal that all Blue fans had been willing him to score since the derby.

OPINION: THE SOUL OF MANCHESTER CITY

I haven’t done much for MCIVTA this season so far, partly due to doing a lot of travelling between Manchester and London and also probably because everything seems to be going so well! Thought it was about time I remedied that so this is an abridged version of an article that I originally wrote for King of the Kippax. Having been posed the question, I was having a think about what constituted the “soul” of the club and came up with the fifty incidents that I consider best summed that up. Inevitably, it is biased towards the years (60’s onwards) that I know best but there is some significant older stuff in there. There’s the good, the bad and the downright ugly and I’d love to generate a lively debate. Here are number 50 through to 26. The top 25 will follow shortly.

50. Sunderland in the FA Cup, February 1973
It looked like a trip to Wembley was on but we drew 2-2 at home and lost the replay. Sunderland went on to win the Cup but we got Dennis Tueart and then Dave Watson so not too bad a result after all.

49. Denis Law’s 6 “disallowed” goals, January 1961
A typical “typical City” moment occurred when we were drawn away to Luton in the FA Cup. Law scored all 6 goals for City as they went 6-1 up but the game was abandoned. A few days later the match was replayed and City lost 3-1. Naturally Denis got the 1.

48. David Makin’s radio rant, February 1998
The Lee era wasn’t going well and a 1-0 defeat by Bury at Maine Road proved the final straw for David Makin who rang the Radio Manchester phone-in demanding that Lee and his board step down. It was a killer blow for Franny.

47. Sven’s the man, July 2007
Sven had seemed to laugh off the possibility of managing Manchester City but he was offered the job and took it and so far, has done pretty well. There was certainly a lively debate among City fans at the time (to put it mildly).

46. Last match at Maine Road, May 2003
The vast majority of us had known no other ground but we had outgrown it and needed the extra capacity. In the event the result was almost irrelevant, which was just as well as, of course, we lost to Southampton.

45. West Ham, August 2007
The first game under Sven and we were pleasantly surprised as the new-look team swept to a 2-0 win. It wasn’t just the result but the manner of it that opened the eyes of City fans.

44. Sale of SWP, July 2005
Did he jump or was he pushed? The sale was somehow symbolic as it robbed us of our last real hero of those times and also possibly affected his subsequent career adversely.

43. Alan Ball arrives, June 1995
Francis Lee got rid of Horton and appointed his old pal Ball, who had little in his history to recommend him as a top-notch manager. And history was not about to be changed as we headed straight out of the Premiership and Ball headed out of the door.

42. Middlesbrough May 2005
We were one game away from a UEFA Cup place and, playing our rivals for that place in the final game. It was the most dramatic finish possible as we got a penalty with virtually the last kick of the game but it was saved. Probably just as well because we only managed 15th place without the distraction of Europe.

41. The 1957/58 season
Scoring 104 goals while conceding 100 – it could only be City.

40. Spurs FA Cup, February 2004
3-0 and one man down at half time and a cricket score followed by KK’s P45 seemed inevitable. But amazingly 10-man City fought back to win it in injury time. One of the greatest FA Cup matches ever.

39. Blackburn May 2000
A year after the play-off final at Wembley we were in line for a return to the Premiership. Blackburn dominated the first half and only the woodwork kept us in it. After the break City got their act together and scored four goals to take us back to the top flight after four long years away.

38. Oldham, FA Cup, January 2005
The wind howled, the cold rain teemed down and we never remotely looked like we fancied it, duly falling at the first hurdle to a lower league club yet again.

37. 10 Premiership goals at home, 2006/7
We got a sorely needed nine points in the three games over Christmas and New Year but little did we suspect that the 2 we scored against Everton on New Years Day would be the last we saw at home for the season in the Premiership.

36. FA Cup Final May 1981
Only a wicked deflection off Tommy Hutchinson’s shoulder kept Spurs in it on the Saturday. The match went to a replay that turned out to be one of the most memorable finals, with an outstanding goal from Ricky Villa.

35. Fire at Hyde Road, 1921
Hyde Road became our home in 1887 and by the early 1900’s could hold 40,000 but even that wasn’t enough. The club were looking for alternatives but this search was hastened after a fire destroyed the main stand. A new home was purchased in Moss Side and Maine Road was born.

34. Manchester United 5-1, September 1989
Back in the top division again after the various ups and downs of the 80’s but we’d only had one win from six when the Rags visited. The omens didn’t look too good but, as often happened, we confounded the odds to record a stunning and wholly unexpected victory over our dear friends and neighbours.

33. Our move to CoMS, August 2003
We finally left Maine Road for our state of the art stadium. Barcelona were the first visitors with Ronaldinho, having turned down a move to the Rags, being greeted effusively by City fans. A few days later came the first competitive game with the visit of TNS in the UEFA Cup then our first Premiership game saw a draw against Portsmouth.

32. Plastic Bananas, late-1980’s
The story of the plastic bananas may or may not have anything to do with Imre Varadi but whatever was behind it, the fashion took off like crazy, to the puzzlement of most opposition fans.

31. Managerial merry-go-round, 1996
Five managers in five years would have been bad enough but five in five months? Alan Ball’s reign came to an end at the start of the 1996/7 season and Asa Hartford stepped into the breach for a few games. Then Coppell came. And went 32 days later. Phil Neal was the next caretaker until Frank Clark brought his guitar with him at the end of 1996.

30. The Revie Plan 1954
Les McDowall was a bit of a visionary manager in his time and after watching Hungary demolish England, adapted one of their tactics. The centre forward (Don Revie, after who the plan was named) was played deep, ensuring the opposing centre half was drawn out of position when Revie received the ball. City went to two FA Cup finals on the back of it.

29. Blackburn FA Cup, March 2007
Away at Blackburn was tough but it could have been worse. We started well but Blackburn got back into the game and scored twice. City failed to respond and the mood turned ugly, with the City fans publicly turning on Pearce and the team.

28. Denis Law’s back-heel, May 1974
Did it get any better than this? Our bitter rivals went into the last game, in which a defeat meant relegation. And it was a derby match as well. A pass to the edge of the six yard box found Law with his back to goal and he instinctively back-heeled it into the net. The enormity of what he’d just done was apparent from his face and even Mike Doyle seemed to feel sorry for him.

27. League Cup 4th Round, November 1975
It was to be a memorable game in so many ways and things started well when Tueart slotted home in the first few minutes. A second soon followed then a third looked likely as Colin Bell raced into the area. However, he was tackled by Buchan and sustained a serious injury. We then went on to win the game and the League Cup of course but without the King.

26. Colin Bell’s comeback, December 1977
He’d actually returned to action briefly later in the 1975/76 season but the injury hadn’t healed properly and he only played a few games. Finally on Boxing Day 1977, in a home game against Newcastle he came back again as a half-time substitute. Grown men will freely admit to being in floods of tears that day.

Part two, covering the top 25 will follow shortly.

OPINION: SMOKING POLICY AND STEWARDING

Has any one else noticed that since a policy was introduced to close the exits to the ramps at half time in order to stop some going outside for a smoke, small pockets of smoking have emerged in the bar/refreshment areas?

To those who don’t, before the ban half time in this part of the ground (CB upper aisle 326) was ghastly, with a thick fog due I suspect to a lack of air passing through. While the stewards are busy policing the exits, presumably for safety reasons, they are not in a position to watch what is going on inside.

Let’s hope that this was an isolated case (this incident was at the Liverpool game and maybe down to some who have stayed away until now and either cannot understand the no smoking signs or have been on planet zog when smoke free areas were introduced or, more likely simply ignore the rules).

I have not raised this with the club in the expectation that someone from MCFC will be monitoring our pages. If so let’s hope they will be ready to put some remedial steps in place for the next home game.

Personally I don’t have a problem with those wanting to go out on the ramp to smoke in the open air and in my view the gates should be opened at half time. I do, however have serious objections to smoking in a closed area: apart from being unlawful, it is dirty and harmful to others when in a confined space, the whole point of bringing these rules in.

I suspect that if the City Council have decreed the whole site smoke free the club had had to respond by closing the doors – let’s get them reopened and allow the smokers to carry on without injuring the rest of us.

OPINION: FREE TRANSFERS

I am a bit puzzled why Manchester City groom budding stars through their Academy and then give them away on free transfers?

Marc Laird is the latest ‘Christmas present’ to Millwall and I seem to recollect that both Lee Croft and Bradley Wright Philips went for next to nothing.

Not much point producing great young talent if you then just give it away. Pretty shoddy economics if you ask me?

OPINION: YOU DIRTY RAT

I’m always amused by Alex Channon and his calendar shenanigans at Christmas time in the various stores. Love it.

Well, the MUEN is carrying a story about the City being plagued with rats and I couldn’t help penning the following. Didn’t think they’d allow it on but they did!

http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/c/1030779_citys_plague_of_rats

Manchester has been plagued with rats since the late 1950’s when all and sundry decided to become United supporters and jump on the bandwagon. These rats come from all over the world in the name of a club and City that they have no connection to. And, like rats deserting a sinking ship, they disappear when their team aren’t doing so well.

OPINION: DERBY ARRANGEMENTS

This cribbed from the MEN:

City’s shirt sponsors and manufacturer have agreed that their branding should be removed from the kit worn in next month’s Munich anniversary derby at Old Trafford.

The decision by Thomas Cook and Le Coq Sportif came after talks between the companies and concerned Blues’ fans who want to ensure the 50th anniversary of the tragedy is properly respected.

Producing a unique kit that will incorporate a black ribbon of remembrance is just one of several initiatives that City have adopted after lengthy discussions with their own fans and several meetings with United counterparts to develop ideas.

Every one of the 3,000 City fans who receive a ticket for the match on February 10 will also be given a letter from boss Sven-Goran Eriksson and skipper Richard Dunne, plus a picture of Frank Swift, the legendary Blues’ ‘keeper who died in the plane crash at Munich.

The letter reads: “Prior to this game, the 50th Anniversary of the Munich Air Disaster will be marked with a special commemoration. Many supporters will already be aware that Manchester City lost one of our own in the tragedy, goalkeeper Frank Swift. Twenty-two players, staff and journalists also lost their lives. We ask that all supporters uphold the good name of Manchester City and respectfully support the commemorations, which will also be attended by friends and family of the victims including Frank Swift’s family. This initiative is backed by the Official Supporters’ Club and Centenary Supporters’ Association. Thank you for your support.”

United have given City permission to decorate the away end concourses at Old Trafford with Swift memorabilia and all Blues will be given a club scarf on the way into the match.

“After discussions with the Official Supporters’ Club and the Centenary Supporters Association both Thomas Cook and Le Coq Sportif offered to remove branding from the shirts,” confirmed Blues’ spokesman Paul Tyrrell. “Le Coq are happy to produce a unique kit for the occasion.”

[Nice to see they have taken some of the fans’ suggestions on board Phil. Although consulting just OSC & CSA is a bit like preaching to the converted and doesn’t reach the majority of fans! – Ed]

OPINION: CITY DOWNLOADS

In response to Steve’s request in the last edition, it’s not so much downloads but http://www.footytube.com/ has weekly football highlights through embedded youtube videos.

OPINION: CHANTS

With ref to the postings about chants, I went to the West Ham game with my lad who lives down there and in one of the 10 pubs we went in to try to find a decent pint of bitter (we failed), we were trying to think of a Castillo song along the lines of the Bianchi song (comes form Italy, he plays for Man Citee… etc.).

We failed to produce one. Needless to say, we needn’t have worried For those of you who were not there, this is what was heard alomost from the kick off, sung to the Volare melody.

Castillo, oh oh oh oh.
Castillo, oh oh oh oh
He paid his transfer fee, to play for Man Citee…

Brilliant. Someone out there should be copyrighting these songs and getting the royalties. It brought a big smile to everyone. Well done whoever you are!

RESULTS

League table to 07 December 2008 inclusive

                             HOME          AWAY        OVERALL
                    P  W  D  L  F  A  W  D  L  F  A  W  D  L  F   A   GD  Pts
 1 Arsenal         21 10  1  0 25  7  5  4  1 17  9 15  5  1  42  16  26  50
 2 Manchester Utd  21 10  1  0 23  3  5  2  3 15  8 15  3  3  38  11  27  48
 3 Chelsea         21  6  4  0 20  8  7  1  3 13  8 13  5  3  33  16  17  44
 4 Manchester City 21  9  2  0 19  7  2  4  4 10 15 11  6  4  29  22   7  39
 5 Liverpool       20  4  5  1 21  7  6  3  1 13  6 10  8  2  34  13  21  38
 6 Everton         21  6  1  3 22 11  5  2  4 15 11 11  3  7  37  22  15  36
 7 Aston Villa     21  6  1  4 16 14  4  5  1 21 13 10  6  5  37  27  10  36
 8 Portsmouth      21  2  6  2 11  8  7  1  3 20 12  9  7  5  31  20  11  34
 9 Blackburn R.    21  5  2  4 12 12  4  4  2 16 16  9  6  6  28  28   0  33
10 West Ham United 20  3  4  3 12 11  5  1  4 13  8  8  5  7  25  19   6  29
11 Newcastle Utd   21  5  3  3 16 17  2  2  6 11 16  7  5  9  27  33  -6  26
12 Tottenham H.    21  5  1  4 30 21  1  5  5 12 17  6  6  9  42  38   4  24
13 Reading         21  6  1  4 14 15  0  3  7 15 29  6  4 11  29  44 -15  22
14 Bolton Wndrs    21  5  3  3 16  9  0  2  8  7 23  5  5 11  23  32  -9  20
15 Middlesbrough   21  2  3  5 11 17  3  2  6  7 18  5  5 11  18  35 -17  20
16 Birmingham City 21  3  3  4 12 12  2  1  8 10 20  5  4 12  22  32 -10  19
17 Wigan Athletic  21  4  2  4 13 12  0  3  8  8 25  4  5 12  21  37 -16  17
18 Sunderland      21  4  3  3 11 13  0  2  9  9 27  4  5 12  20  40 -20  17
19 Fulham          21  2  5  4 16 18  0  4  6  6 19  2  9 10  22  37 -15  15
20 Derby County    21  1  2  7  7 19  0  2  9  3 27  1  4 16  10  46 -36   7

MCIVTA FAQ [v0708.01]

[1] MCIVTA Addresses

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[2] What are MCIVTA’s publishing deadlines?

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[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.

Heidi Pickup, editor@mcivta.city-fan.org

Editor: