Newsletter #1507

A lacklustre performance from the Blues on Saturday, as we failed to capitalise from the postponed game at Fratton Park. With match views and questions arising tonight about the attitude of some players and frailties of defence, what is it with City doing struggling teams a favour?!

We also have opinion from those looking beyond and behind the immediate “sack the manager” reaction and interesting news on Sweep’s suspension from the FA and their rulebook.

With European action next up, we have details of a really useful guide to the forthcoming Copenhagen game.

MATCH VIEW I: PFC 2 MCFC 0

After about 3 minutes I realised that this was going to be a fruitless afternoon. We are becoming a one trick pony in possession: hold the ball around the back four whilst the opponents set up their defences and then launch an aimless long ball so that our gargantuan forward line can muscle the defenders out of the way and create scoring opportunities. There is a flaw in this approach – we don’t have gargantuan forwards and in any event it was so poorly executed that it would have been unlikely to have been effective anyway. Not since 1962/3 in the days of Alex Harley can I remember us playing so steadfastly this way; we were relegated despite Harley scoring 23 goals. We seem to have only one player on our books who can sometimes deliver a long ball with any sort of accuracy (Elano) and when you make him one of the front runners the approach is doomed to failure. Now if this is Hughes’ plan then questions have to be asked about his competence, and it’s no wonder so many of the players look so disinterested. If it is not Hughes’ plan then either his motivation or his communication skills are sadly lacking. The players, of course cannot be absolved from blame either, professional pride alone should make them perform better than they did at Portsmouth. Portsmouth played no better than they had done at Eastlands earlier in the season, the difference in scoreline was entirely down to the way City played (aided a little by the referee but more of that later).

Given: Played no better than Hart has done all season – has City’s coaching really had that effect so quickly? If he’s going to play like this then we have wasted our money; at least Hart can gain experience if he’s playing.
Bridge: Confirmed my view that we should have gone for Glen Johnson.
De Jong, Onuoha: Unconvincing, didn’t really look as though they had met each other before going onto the pitch. De Jong in particular was outsmarted by Kranjcar.
Logan: Marginally better than most of the rest; at least he looked enthusiastic but surely the coaching staff have explained to him that when you are defending the far post for a corner you are supposed to defend the side of the post inside the goal?
Kompany, Zabaleta: Didn’t really notice that they were playing until Zabaleta was substituted.
Ireland: Not up to his usual standard but more involved than most.
Bellamy, Elano: Created nothing much going forward and offered no support to their full backs.
Robinho: Who? Well if nothing else we should have learned that Robinho is not well used as a central striker.
Caicedo: Ran about a bit more than Robinho but to no more effect.
Evans: His header made him a rival with Logan for City’s least poor player.

Lee Probert was a replacement for Foy as referee and after Foy’s bewildering performance at the Stadium of Light earlier in the season that could have been no bad thing (though he wasn’t bad when we lost to West Brom). However, Probert seemed to me to give as one sided a display of refereeing as I’ve seen since Graham Poll refereed City vs. Arsenal a few seasons back. He managed not to see (and referees now seem to have as selective a vision as Arsene Wenger) a pull back on Bellamy’s shoulder by Distin, what seemed to me a blatant handball round the edge of Portsmouth’s penalty area, about four barges in the back flattening various City players then as Sol Campbell cynically stepped into Bellamy’s path with his arm out he managed to award a free kick against City; one of the most obvious corners (both the last two touches were Portsmouth players) was given as a goal kick. De Jong was booked for a challenge on Kranjcar who committed three similar challenges on De Jong and about three more on other City players with only a mild admonition. He booked Ireland after he had been subjected to two aggressive challenges of the type that had been given as fouls against City and when he tried to make a block Ireland was booked. Ireland had made a bit of a lunge but it was about 12 to 18 inches in front of Davis who caught Ireland with his follow through but his reaction to catching Ireland would have caused Newton to rewrite his laws of motion. So in my view Probert was every bit as bad as the City players; it is as well that City were so lethargic otherwise he could easily have lost control of the game, in my view. Don’t really think his performance made any difference to the result.

Only real surprise was that we haven’t made a bid for Nugent to add to our list of strikers who can’t hit a barn door at five paces.

Footnote on SweeP. It appears to me that the FA have acted outside their terms of reference in respect of the banning of Shaun Wright-Phillips.

The entry on the FA website shows the charge as Wednesday 4th February 2009:

“Wednesday 4 February 2009
Shaun Wright-Phillips, Manchester City FC
Stoke City FC vs. Manchester City FC
Premier League, 31 January 2009
Wright-Phillips was charged with a breach of FA Rule E3 violent conduct.”

Whilst their disciplinary procedures for dealing with incidents not seen by thematch officials states: “(i) The Charge
A Charge under these provisions may only be issued within the period of twoworking days of the incident ….”

So SWeeP should have been charged by 6pm on Tuesday 3rd February. Seems the FA can ignore their own rules when it suits them, shades of 1905?

Aah, that’s better!

[Interesting point there Dave on the FA rules, wonder if anyone at the club has followed this one up? – Ed]

MATCH VIEW II: PFC 2 MCFC 0

We managed to plumb new depths in this game. The City performance was dire, gutless, pathetic. In the first half we were unable to string two passes together, continually giving the ball away with unforced errors. It was about 40 minutes before we forced James into a save. The only surprise was that we managed to get to half time without conceding, with Crouch and Nugent guilty of missing good chances for Portsmouth.

We started the second half by immediately giving the ball away again. After 65 minutes Hughes made his first change, bringing on Caicedo for the ineffectual Robinho, though to be honest it could have been anybody. The Portsmouth goal then was no surprise when it came. It was also no surprise it came from a mistake by Bridge, who really is proving himself to be a very poor defender. Instead of clearing the ball into touch, he managed a weak pass straight to a Portsmouth player who fed Johnson who then skinned Bridge, cut in from the dead ball line, and having seen his shot parried out by Given picked up the rebound to fire into the roof of the net. That gives Bridge 3 assists to our opponents in the last 4 games by my reckoning.

Our inability to defend set pieces was highlighted again when Hreidersson towered above an absolutely static Kompany to power a header into the roof of the net for their second a few minutes later. I’d really had enough at that point but being a City fan I persevered, as I have for the last 40 years. In the 85th minute City’s best opportunity for a goal came and went as Ched Evans, on as sub, saw his powerful header pushed away brilliantly by James. A City comeback was as unlikely as it would have been undeserved. Make no mistake I really dislike Portsmouth, living in the area as I do and having to face their in-bred supporters for the next few days, but they looked keener and hungrier for the ball and fully deserved their victory.

With Liverpool, Villa and Chelsea to come in the next 4 games we still look a long way from safety. Hughes out? I’ve given up caring. I just want my team to do well and I don’t care who b****y does it.

MATCH VIEW III: PFC 2 MCFC 0

I must write on the blackboard 500 times, ‘I mustn’t get up at an ungodly hour in the morning and watch that football team again’!

Once again a struggling side out-thought, out-muscled (those words again) us. Kompany, Onouha, Ireland, and de Jong could hold their heads up and I suppose Given and to a lesser extent Bellamy. Robinho and Elano are a disaster. They have got to realise they’re not playing for Brazil, playing lovely football and not running far, but having to get involved and put some effort in. If Bridge is better than Garrido, then I’ll run naked down the main street of Christchurch. We brought on Caicedo and didn’t play to him.

Portsmouth played the football, looked like they wanted to score and looked every bit a better team.

So two ex-City players masterminded our downfall – congratulations. I would have been really happy if we’d played with the same attitude and passion that Portsmouth did.

I seem to have my facts a little haywire. Was sure Paul Hart had been at City at some time either as a player or assistant manager/coach – does anyone know? All in all a very disappointing afternoon and result.

P.S. Chelsea losses of £67.5 million last year; any mention of that from Blatter, or the ‘United’ controlled press?!

MATCH VIEW IV: PFC 2 MCFC 0

A very disappointing performance from the team versus Portsmouth, the difference on the day was that Portsmouth were hungry to win.

I know one City supporter that will have a bit of a mixed feeling to the result, that being Graham Mills whose close friend Paul Hart was caretaker manager for the day of Portsmouth. Paul Hart is the son of a popular City player from the 50’s, that being Johnny Hart.

I’m afraid I can’t find much positive to say about the game; collectively I give the whole team a 5 out of 10.

Good to have given young Logan a game; it should tell the rest of the Academy you are not forgotten.

The closest City came to scoring was when Ched Evans came on as a sub, his header in the 82nd minute brought out the best in David James in the Pompey goal.

Looking forward to the game in the UEFA Cup versus Copenhagen; we have to come out with a better attitude, and win.

Come on you Blues! Yes I still trust in Sparky (but he has to do better)!

MATCH VIEW V: PFC 2 MCFC 0

Congratulations to David James for his record-breaking number of appearances, re today’s match. And his was a terrific save from Ched Evans late in this game.

As for the City players, not too much to talk about really. For one thing, how truly unbelievably awful Robinho’s display turned out to be. Quite why Mark H chose to wait until as late as the 2nd half to substitute this all-too-often sad excuse of a player is difficult to understand. Still, better late than never, when all is said and done. Picking up such a huge salary for churning out nonsense like today, Robinho is fast becoming a joke. He mirrors a lot of what is wrong with football today, exceedingly grossly overpaid talent all too sparingly used, whenever the player feels like it. As a result, an obvious focus for opposing supporters to berate, incessantly. He simply does not fit Manchester City. Elano is no better.

The two Brazilians are lightweight in the extreme and their inept displays today should not be tolerated. Neither should start the next league game, but take their places firmly on the bench. Clearly, neither has the stomach for a fight. I’ll settle for less technically gifted players who are willing to sweat blood in a blue shirt, anytime.

Wayne Bridge is a concern. Again, a player who is paid an enormous sum of money each week but to me is merely mediocre. He needs to play much better and be more solid and assured.

In his after-match interviews, it is easy to see that Mark H is frustrated with what he is seeing on the pitch from many of his overpaid City players. Today we absolutely got what we deserved. Nothing. Fully deserved 3 points for Portsmouth, that’s for sure.

To add insult to injury I read Sturridge is demanding £60,000 per week? If true, that is outrageous. This ongoing money madness needs to stop. Like watching City, it is becoming tiresome and somewhat of a farce, sad to say.

Perhaps a word from the Chairman may be not be too far away, after today’s débâcle. A kind gesture from the club would be to refund the costs of the fans who wasted their time travelling down to the south coast. Then again, maybe they should have known better.

OPINION: LOOKING BEYOND

Congratulations to Paul Hart who had a winning début as Pompey manager, but unfortunately had to do it against us. I’m surprised the press didn’t make more of the situation but Paul grew up as an avid Blues fan in Chorlton. Paul was a year older than me at school and all we ever did was play football in the playground. After he left school he got a trial at Stockport County, where I was on schoolboy forms, and he turned himself into a good no nonsense centre half. His dad, Johnny Hart, was an old Blues great and worked for the club after retiring from playing. He went on to manage City in the 80’s before illness caused him to retire. I’m sure Paul still looks for City’s results first on a Saturday. It’s in his blood.

To those who will slate MH after this poor performance and blame him and his tactics, you should please take note. Let’s make it really clear. On Saturday, MH put out a team that most of us would have put out, given the suspensions and injuries we have at the moment. The team performed very poorly. Not MH! All he did was select the team we all wanted to see out there. He also made a positive substitution, when he brought on Caciedo for the struggling Robinho. Positive because he was showing the “superstars” that when they perform below par he will sub them and give a run out to a player who is knocking on the door to start. After going down a goal MH made another positive move by throwing caution to the wind and bringing on Evans as a third striker. So to those who constantly whine that “he doesn’t have a clue” about tactics, pray tell us what you would have done. And what line up you would have picked.

Other “facts” should also be noted.

Fact. Almost the whole squad, with the possible exceptions of Ball, Garrido, Berti, Zabaleta, and Ireland were away on international duty until Thursday. On Thursday they would come in and have light warm down training and receive treatment on any bumps and bruises picked up on international duty. Friday would be light training as it’s the day before a game and to go over tactics. So no time to work on game-plans. It was strictly up to the players to perform and clearly they didn’t.

Fact. Almost the whole Pompey squad with the exceptions of James, Johnson, Crouch and Krancjar had the whole week to prepare for this game.

Fact. Whenever a manager gets sacked the team ups the ante for the next 2-4 games. Guaranteed!

These are not excuses because I am bitterly disappointed at the display, but is a genuine attempt at trying to analyse our poor performance. It was a collection of poor performances really with not one player coming up to the standards they can, although of a bad bunch I thought Onuoha and Given didn’t do too much wrong. So give me a break and don’t slate MH.

There will be those “experts” who slate MH and will point to Jo, and David Moyes’ superb handling of him. Don’t make me larff. Jo was still at City on Monday 2 February. On the Tuesday, Jo went to Everton and trained. For Everton this was the day before the FA Cup replay with Liverpool, so a light training day and going over tactics for the following day. Jo was cup tied so would not have been too involved. Wednesday was game day so no training. Thursday was warm down day. Friday would be light training before Saturday’s games. So anyone who tries to say David Moyes masterminded him to score 2 goals on his début must be smoking something really strong.

One point that I will lay at MH’s door is our terrible dead ball defending and attacking. This is what you can really work on in training and no excuses. We never look close to scoring from dead balls and never even trouble the other teams. On the other hand we don’t look very good defending set plays. We’re not as bad as Arsenal, but so many poor teams, Bolton, Stoke, Blackburn, Everton make it their only real threat going forward. We need to improve at dead balls for sure and Mark Hughes needs at least this season and next to be judged fairly and we need to get behind him and the team to help make it happen. Let’s put a stop to the whining.

Thanks to Heidi and her team and to Phil for his reports and Ernie for his views.

OPINION: PLAY TO YOUR STRENGTHS

Away day blues once more, and very predictable. Every time we play a team at the bottom or one that has had the worst record to date, you just know that all will change once they play City, and yes it happened at Portsmouth. Hughes complained that too many big name players went missing again, so why pick them? It is blatantly obvious that we are c**p when we play away, and we need all 11 players pulling together, but we have 3 or 4 going missing. Hughes needs to address this by leaving out the under performers, especially up front.

Secondly our defence is probably the worst in the Premier League; the back 4 just do not operate as a unit, and Wayne Bridge has been the major culprit, being totally responsible for 3 of the last 4 goals conceded.

Then we lack a physical presence, so why doesn’t Hughes play Caicedo or Evans to balance this? I know I took a bit of stick from Paul Mooney in the last MCIVTA regarding Robinho (believe it or not I am a passionate Brazil fan), but Robinho goes missing a lot, especially when we play away. I feel Hughes plays Robinho due to the fact we paid £32 million for him and is not as astute a manager as he should be. Put him on the bench for certain games and bring him on as an impact sub.

I am a player manager for a hockey team, and I would be the first to admit it’s a bit different to being a Premier League Manager, however there are similarities. You know the teams in your league, you also know your own team’s strengths and weaknesses, and you make sure the spine of your team is as strong as possible. If you feel a draw is the best possible result in a particular fixture, you set your team up to get that as a minimum, and do not play open kamikaze football. How often were our defence exposed on Saturday, compared to Portsmouth’s? I never thought I would say this, but I just can’t wait for the return of Dunne. It’s no good having flair when you are losing.

Elano and Robinho play well for Brazil because the team play to their strengths, at City we hope they will produce something out of nothing. At times we used to complain that Petrov used to sulk in games when he didn’t get the ball, but he has probably been our most effective left winger for a long time. I can see Hughes getting the push very soon, as we are not making much progress at all.

Have we really got a chance next week away to Liverpool?

OPINION: WHO’S HUGHES?

How long before someone realises that he does not know what he’s doing? Blackburn is a team where you can’t fail and all you have to do is get average players to play average.

How the hell can you expect international players to take coaching tips from an ex-Canary? Who is Mark Bowen and what knowledge does he actually have? A coaching badge does not make you a good coach. Come on now, we are becoming a total laughing stock. Hughes Out, Hughes Out, Hughes Out. Bowen as well.

OPINION: WHOSE FAULT TODAY?

Well here we are again, another match and not only another defeat but another woefully, shockingly bad performance. So whose fault is it this time? Obviously it cannot be fault of Mr Hughes. That’s simply not allowed according to some contributors on this forum. The ‘thought police’ on here will quickly criticise and shout people down who actually dare to offer an opinion or insight that doesn’t match their own. Therefore it can only be the fault of (perm any combination from the following that suits): The players, the fans, the referee, the pitch, the tea lady, the match commentators on radio Manchester or even possibly the weather et al.

Why, oh why, oh why cannot people see the fault lies totally in the team selection, team formation, tactical plans (or lack of) the total and absolute lack of coaching, motivation, inspiration, leadership and man management from ‘You Know Who’? Yes Mr Hughes!

It is blatantly clear a number of players have given up the ghost where Mr Hughes is concerned. They are world beaters when they play in international games or even when playing for other Premier League Managers (David Moyes for example) but simply don’t want to know when Mr Hughes is in the dug out. It is also clear that not acquiring a high class centre half who can dominate in the air during the recent transfer window is another major error. Week in week out we are being undone in the air where it counts in the penalty box. And let’s be fair you didn’t really require the wisdom of Solomon to suss it out either did you?

My greatest fear is that Mr Hughes will not be happy until he has a complete team of huffers and puffers who ‘give you 90 minutes week in and week out’, a collection of players who ‘never shirk a challenge’ and those stout men of oak who will always ‘stand up and be counted’. Players who are naturally, truly gifted, who want to entertain, who can turn a game in the blink of eye, those who have you out of your seat with a single and total outrageous piece of skill will never darken the door of our great club or be allowed to prosper under the current management regime – on that you can be assured. There is security in mid-table mediocrity in the mind set and thinking of Mr Hughes and his coaching staff (if the word ‘coaching’ should be used in this sense?).

However, there is an opportunity: Big Phil Scholari is available and he is available now. If only our wealthy and generous owners would bite the bullet and depart with Mr Hughes now. It is obvious he is a dead man walking and he will gone at the end of season anyway. The opportunity is now and it must be grasped. The ‘Special One’ he’s not – but he is the next best thing. We need him and we need him now to save us all from what is continually being served up at Portsmouth / Stoke / Blackburn / West Brom etc.

[There are no “thought police” on this newsletter Ray, merely people who’s opinion differ from your own, which is what MCIVTA is and always has been about – Ed]

OPINION: SMARTYPANTS?

Jack Millington might have a valid point in saying that both Jo and Ben Haim were poison in the dressing room.

I would like to add an afterthought on my part, that it could be that Mark Hughes is smarter in more ways than some managers, that he got rid of his trouble; as an example, Scolari never got rid of his trouble (John Terry comes out and says half the Chelsea dressing room was split) so what happens: Scolari gets fired.

Maybe many of us read somewhere along the line that there were some players trying to get Sparky fired, so Mark Hughes does the right thing and out with the bad, so they did not get to affect him.

Sparky also brings in Bellamy to help create more on the pitch, plus a better dressing room; the picture gets clearer now, yes, the fog is lifting!

Now after Elano’s great display playing for Brazil, will we see him back in the City side? I would like to see him back in the line up, more so with SWeeP missing for three games.

I can see Sparky’s point in playing Zab in midfield: he is a driving force, which is sometimes needed, but as I have said before I would like to see Zab at right back, and Elano in midfield. Put Richards on the bench for a couple of games; he will fight for his place back in the team, and then I shall wish Micah good luck!

Could be that Sparky is rotating some players, and they all will get their turn? When the occasion will benefit the team.

Robinho played great for Brazil and with one of his dazzling goals. Please also note Jo never played for Brazil. I write this on Thursday night, well before selections are made for the Pompey game.

I made my comments on the Brazilian Blues, and I stand corrected about Jo; if you can’t get a player on your side then get rid, now let’s get the right money for him and move on.

Just one more comment: has the crazy transfer fee offered for Kaka affected some City players money wise?

Daniel Sturridge, whom we want to stay with City, is asking for a large amount for a teenager. The trouble is that if City do not sign him, Chelsea are waiting ready to pounce. I just hope that a compromise can be found, Sturridge can get much larger amounts in the future, if it holds out that he becomes a great player. He certainly is on the way to being that, and in truth age means nothing, it’s all about ability. No question I like Daniel Sturridge.

Come on you Blues! In Sparky I trust.

OPINION: SWEEP’S SUSPENSION

Just a note on Mark Ryder’s contribution in the last issue. Like Mark I was struck by the amazing contrast between SWP’s position and Bosingwa’s deliberate and malicious studding of an opponent on the same weekend. This is the reply from the FA:

Mr Paton,

Thank you for contacting The Football Association. At a Regulatory Commission on 9 February, Manchester City midfielder Shaun Wright-Phillips was given a three match suspension.

The charge related to an incident with Stoke City midfielder Rory Delap during the first half of the match at the Britannia Stadium on Saturday 31 January.

The incident was not seen by referee Martin Atkinson. Having watched video footage of the incident, Atkinson has informed The FA that, had he seen it at the time, he would have shown Wright-Phillips a red card for violent conduct.

In the case of Chelsea’s Jose Bosingwa we appreciate your views on this issue and fully understand your frustration on this matter.

Referee Mike Riley has informed The FA that, while he did not see the incident himself, it was seen by his assistant Mo Matadar. No action was taken against Bosingwa by the officials.

Under the FIFA Laws of the Game, The FA is prohibited from taking disciplinary action when incidents are seen at the time by the match officials.

If you would like further information on The FA’s disciplinary processes please visit the following link: http://www.thefa.com/NR/rdonlyres/C78670E4-FC3D-4AF2-A526-59DEA094982E/148784/DisciplinaryProcedures0809.pdf

The Football Association receives many letters from supporters of clubs complaining about what they see as favourable or unfavourable treatment. Football is a game of opinions, but our concern is to be even handed across the board. We are confident that the disciplinary procedures off the pitch as well as the referees on the pitch uphold the laws of the game without any bias to player or club.

I appreciate this may not alleviate all your concerns. However, I would like to thank you again for taking the rime to write in. We do appreciate all of the feedback we receive from supporters. This feedback is collated and used to build a picture of public opinion and is subsequently fed back internally within the organisation. Please rest assured your comments will form part of this feedback process.

Kind regards,

Customer Relations
The Football Association

So there we have it. Assistant Mo Matadar is “very lenient”, pity he was not in charge to see SWP’s retaliation.

OPINION: UEFA RULES

Further to Alex’s comment in last week’s news summary, the UEFA Cup squad never could have included Nigel De Jong. Under UEFA rules a player who has played for any team in that season’s competition cannot play for another team in the same competition. A player who has played in the Champions’ League however, can play for another team only in the UEFA Cup.

OPINION: VAT ATTACK

Sorry Joel, but VAT is charged at “the point of purchase” and season cards were purchased when it was 17.5%.

There is no retrospective discount. I bought a new laptop when it was 17.5%. I can’t ask for a refund just because I am still using it now VAT has dropped to 15%.

Bite the bullet and don’t blame the club.

REQUEST: COPENHAGEN BLUES

We have received an extremely useful guide via MCFC for City fans at this week’s game vs. FC Copenhagen, covering travel and ticket arrangements. This document is available in PDF format on our website for those who are travelling to or interested in the game.

Please visit http://www.mcivta.com/

Thanks to the Club for passing this on!

REQUEST: SUNDERLAND GAME

For those who are interested, there is a gathering of Blues in Shambles Square before the game at home to Sunderland so spread the gospel and let’s get loads of Blues into Manchester prior to the game whether they are going or not.

RESULTS

14 February 2009

Portsmouth            2 - 0  Manchester City       20,018

League table to 15 February 2009 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  24 10  1  0 25  4  7  4  2 16  6 17  5  2  41  10  31 56
 2 Liverpool       25  7  5  0 19  7  8  4  1 23 10 15  9  1  42  17  25 54
 3 Aston Villa     25  5  6  1 18 12 10  0  3 22 12 15  6  4  40  24  16 51
 4 Chelsea         25  6  5  2 21  7  8  2  2 23  8 14  7  4  44  15  29 49
 5 Arsenal         25  7  3  2 18 11  5  5  3 20 14 12  8  5  38  25  13 44
 6 Everton         25  4  5  4 18 16  7  2  3 16 12 11  7  7  34  28   6 40
 7 Wigan Athletic  25  6  4  3 13 11  3  3  6 13 13  9  7  9  26  24   2 34
 8 West Ham United 25  6  1  6 18 17  3  5  4 13 15  9  6 10  31  32  -1 33
 9 Manchester City 25  8  0  5 28 12  1  4  7 14 22  9  4 12  42  34   8 31
10 Fulham          23  7  3  1 19  9  0  6  6  3 10  7  9  7  22  19   3 30
11 Sunderland      25  5  2  6 15 15  3  4  5 12 18  8  6 11  27  33  -6 30
12 Hull City       25  3  3  6 13 25  4  5  4 18 21  7  8 10  31  46 -15 29
13 Newcastle Utd   25  4  5  3 19 20  2  4  7 14 22  6  9 10  33  42  -9 27
14 Bolton Wndrs    25  4  2  6 11 14  4  1  8 16 23  8  3 14  27  37 -10 27
15 Portsmouth      25  5  2  6 18 21  2  4  6  9 20  7  6 12  27  41 -14 27
16 Tottenham H.    25  4  5  4 11  9  2  2  8 15 22  6  7 12  26  31  -5 25
17 Stoke City      25  6  3  3 13 11  0  3 10  8 29  6  6 13  21  40 -19 24
18 Blackburn R.    24  3  4  6 15 21  2  4  5 12 19  5  8 11  27  40 -13 23
19 Middlesbrough   25  3  5  4 10 15  2  2  9  8 21  5  7 13  18  36 -18 22
20 West Brom A.    25  5  2  6 18 24  1  2  9  6 23  6  4 15  24  47 -23 22

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[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: