Newsletter #1537

A bumper news section tonight with the off-season already starting to get busy with a signing and plenty of speculation.

From contributors we have a range of thoughts on transfers and general good feelings eminating about Gareth Barry joining the ranks.

Keep the contributions coming.

NEWS SUMMARY

General News

New Partnership with Umbro: Umbro’s senior Vice President of Football spoke of his excitement towards the deal: “This is an exciting opportunity for both Umbro and Manchester City FC to build on their collective heritage and create truly iconic modern football brands. MCFC were the first beneficiaries of our tailoring heritage in 1934, the same year they won The FA Cup wearing Umbro kits. MCFC will be the first club side to benefit from our tailoring process for the 2009/10 season, which means the best sportswear products for players and fans alike.”

Garry Cook stated on behalf of the club: “We are thrilled to announce this key partnership. We are building a successful and sustainable football club for the future and our partners are integral to that. Umbro share our commitment to innovation, the city of Manchester and creating world-class experiences for its customers and our fans.”

City’s Brand and Marketing Officer, David Pullan, explained why the deal had been struck: “This partnership will help both MCFC and Umbro to cement their places at the very heart of the city of Manchester and to continue to grow in prominence across the globe. The Club is delighted to work with such a progressive and innovative brand and looks forward to further developing our partnership over the coming decade.”

Making His Mark: Being a former United player was never going to set Mark Hughes up for an easy time as City manager and his first season has been surrounded either by rumours of his impending dismissal or scandalous reports of ‘underhand’ transfer policy but the former Wales boss believes his first year at the club has only made him stronger: “I’ve changed – I’m a little bit more philosophical these days. When I see certain things in the media I shrug them off rather than get upset. There have been some ridiculous stories. It’s quite laughable at times, but it’s water off a duck’s back now. In years gone by, maybe I would have been more upset about the things that have been said, but it comes with the territory here and you just get on with it. I’ve enjoyed it. It’s been great, even with so many things needing to be addressed. Part of the art of management is seeing things coming and pre-empting them. This season has certainly tested me in that respect! Given that we’ve got through such a lot, we are all better at what we do than we were 12 months ago. As a club and as a squad we have benefited from the work we’ve done together. We have all learnt, we have had to. Things have happened this year that none of us had experienced, and we are stronger for it. It won’t be a smooth ride next season, but it will be more stable – it has to be. Stability comes from playing well and winning consistently, which is what we aim to do.”

Re-Shuffle: In a week where a political crisis is set to cause a cabinet re-shuffle, the Blues led the way early in the week with their own change of backroom staff. Club doctor Mark Whitaker and first team physiotherapist Ali Beattie have left the club. The men who have made up the club’s medical staff for a number of years have now departed in order to allow Mark Hughes to appoint his own backroom staff. The club has thanked the two men for their excellent service to the club and has wished them well in their future careers.

Class of ’99: Ten years on from that wonderful day at Wembley, the class of ’99 have been honoured by the club’s new regime and proclaimed as “the reason why all this is in motion”. At last month’s final game of the season against Bolton, Paul Dickov, Andy Morrison, Gerard Wiekens, Gareth Taylor and Tony Vaughan all walked out onto CoMS and received a standing ovation from 45,000 City fans who truly appreciated everything the Class of ’99 had done for the blue shirt. Though Manchester City Football Club is a very different prospect to the one of ten years ago, had Joe Royle’s men not fought back on that day against Gillingham, who’s to say where the club would be now?

Late substitute that day, Gareth Taylor told of his fond memories: “I never played in a match like that again. Joe sent me on with three minutes to go and they were 1-0 up. It was my third time at Wembley, with two losing ones behind me, then Gillingham scored again – I was like, ‘Oh my God’. But I had a hand in both our goals from two long diagonal balls, flicking one on to Kev and the other for Paul’s goal. I can remember fans coming back into the stadium when it went 2-1. When it went to extra time, I knew that we had them. They were just so flat. It was understandable – you’re 2-0 up with a minute to go … I knew that we’d won. I went to a few of the lads before extra time and said ‘this is ours’. And when it went to penalties, you just had that feeling that it was our day. It’s good to see a few familiar faces and stroll down memory lane. I played for Wales and in four Wembley play-off finals but that game was special.”

Paul Dickov, goal scoring hero, said: “I’ve seen that clip of me sliding on my knees a good few times and it still makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. But when their second goal went in, I was on my knees at the half way line. We got ourselves out of jail that day. We all felt that in extra time, and that for once it was going to be City’s day, because we do very well at cocking it up a little bit! But after being 2-0 up and then pulled back to 2-2, you could see in the Gillingham players’ faces that they were devastated. It was one of the great days – scoring at Wembley, an incredible late win, promotion. I always said I didn’t think I’d ever feel those emotions again, that I’d never be able to match that feeling, and ten years on that hasn’t changed. I still live in the area and go to most games – I’ve a girl and two boys, all City fans – and whenever I meet a City fan it’s still the first thing they ask me about. I’ll never forget it, nor will anybody else.”

Tony Vaughan spoke of how he wonders where the club would be todaywithout that win: “People still recognise me. I was talking to someonethe other day and he said, ‘where would we be now if we’d not won thatday?’ The lads went up again the next year. You just think it could allhave been a lot different. But we had that never-say-die attitude evenat 2-0. I don’t watch much football now. I walked in for the Boltongame and people were asking for autographs for the first time in ages.It was a nice feeling.”

Proud Skipper Andy Morrison wrapped up the feel good feeling: “I’ve still got clear memories. It was a fantastic day that couldn’t have been scripted better. Our team spirit was great. There were a lot of characters – you needed to be in that league, the places you went. I do think that day had a lot of bearing on where the club is now, and we still smile about that. If we hadn’t won at Wembley, there was no Plan B. We had to win that day, simple as that.”

The Battle Within: Valeri Bojinov may only just be making a name for himself in City colours, but this weekend the former Juventus striker hopes to put a few goals past club colleagues Richard Dunne and Shay Given. Bulgaria and Ireland go head to head this weekend in the 2010 World Cup Qualifiers and the striker believes only a win will do for his side, which includes City winger Martin Petrov and United striker Dimitar Berbatov: “We’re up against Dunney and Shay and an Ireland team we respect as a good side – it will be difficult, but we need to find a win to qualify, so it’s a very big game and very important to me. I love to play for the national team and always give 100 per cent anyway. But I really want to play in the World Cup next year. When you do that, you open more doors for everything. But Ireland will be a very big test for me, Martin Petrov and the other guys.”

Club skipper Richard Dunne is well aware of the threat that Boj’ poses and has warned his Irish compatriots that they face a tough test against the twenty-three year old powerhouse: “Valeri’s a very sharp player, if anything spills around the box he’s usually on the end of it and he doesn’t miss too many. Him, Petrov and Berbatov, if they come back into the team, can really cause us problems.”

Squad News

City ‘Till I Die: Following his best season for the club, which saw him take the club’s prestigious Player of the Season Award, Stephen Ireland has pledged his allegiance to the club for many years to come. The Irishman put pen to paper on a new contract this season and despite interest from Chelsea and Liverpool, the Academy graduate has told fans that intends to become a ‘hero’ at City: “I never had any doubts about staying. Regardless, I was going to be here and hopefully for the remainder of my career. I don’t see why not. I really want to become a hero here, to hopefully achieve things. I’m settled here – I love the club, I love the fans, and I don’t see what’s going to make me leave this club. These are very exciting times. It’s going to be interesting just to see what the line-up will be at the start of next season and how far we can push on. Hopefully we can compete for the title and get back into Europe. I’ve always trusted my ability, but it’s only this season I’ve come out of my shell. I worked hard last summer to try and reach the targets I set myself. I reached some; the others are something to aim at next season. But I never take my place for granted. I don’t think I ever would, I don’t like to take my foot off the gas.”

Manager Mark Hughes told of how vital it was to keep the club’s Player of the Season for the foreseeable future: “Stephen’s new contract is great news for everyone concerned. He was outstanding all last season and is now one of the best midfielders in the Premier League. He thoroughly deserves all the praise that has gone his way after the hard work that he undertook last summer, and I know that he is already aiming to do even better for us next season and beyond.”

Fitness Fanatic: Stevie also explained that the secret behind his success was his desire to succeed and the fitness regime that he undertook last summer, which he will continue again this summer: “I’ve already started my fitness programme again. I’m doing power-lifting and Olympic-lifting weights at my gym in Glossop. There’s a bit of kick-boxing in there and cage fighting too – all of it carefully supervised I should add! What I aim to do is make sure that I am the very best player that I can be and fulfill every bit of my potential. I’ll be ready to go from the moment we report back in July. I will have the same mentality going into the next season as I did in this one. You should never forget that you are only ever as good as your last game. There is plenty more to come in all aspects of my game. It is not easy to say I always did this well or that not so well, because every game is different. Some days it’s a battle, you get bypassed and just have to work hard for the team; others are full of great passing and technique. That’s why you have to be multi-dimensional and why I’m working on my all-around game.”

Vlad’s the Lad: The last half hour of the season saw the much awaited arrival of Vladimir Weiss, one of the most promising prospects to graduate from the Academy since SWP, and the manager has told the current crop of City youngsters that if they follow the example set by the Slovakian playmaker they too can break into the first team: “He found it a bit difficult when he first came up from the Academy. Maybe it was all a bit too quick and frenetic and he had to learn very quickly, but I’m glad he has been able to understand what the demands are at first-team level. The hope now is he comes on in leaps and bounds. In the last month or so he has impressed and he was ready for his début on Sunday. Now he needs experience with the senior squad. I think everybody saw how gifted he is and he could be a good option for us next year. He looks to have a real chance of becoming a top Premier League player. He needs now to build on that, work hard at his game and continue to progress on a daily basis. It’s a goal for other young players at the club. They know they will get their opportunities if they apply themselves correctly.”

Transfer News and Rumours

City Slickers: The season may have only just ended and most managers are off on their post-season breaks but Mark Hughes has told the Official MCFC magazine that his plan is to jump straight into the transfer market and bring in a top quality side that will be fit and raring to go when pre-season comes around: “I trust my eye and when I see a player and recognise the qualities he can bring to the team, I move very quickly. Sometimes I think you can over-analyze a player because when you watch somebody over a long period of time, you end up just looking at their negatives – and every player will have negatives in their game. I believe that if you can recognise quickly a player’s quality and, most importantly, whether or not they will improve the squad, then it’s a simple decision from my point of view. Once I’ve seen someone I like, I act very quickly.”

Gareth Barry: The quickest transfer in the club’s history was completed on Tuesday as Manchester City Football Club signed one of the Premier League’s best midfielders and Mark Hughes proved that he was a man of his word. Aston Villa skipper Gareth Barry signed a five year contract with the Blues and as reported in last week’s MCIVTA News Summary, the fee that prized the England midfielder from Villa was a rather respectable £12 million. Last summer, Barry was involved in one of the longest potential transfer sagas as Liverpool and Villa played tug-of-war over the appropriate fee but twelve months later, Cook and Co. have snapped the 28-year-old up in one working day. Barry explained that the reason for his move was ambition and fear of ‘going stale’ in his comfort zone at Villa: “I’m delighted to be joining City. It didn’t take much persuasion from Mark Hughes; they are heading in the direction I want to go. There is great potential here, and I’m sure there will be a few more additions to the squad this summer.”

The manager has explained the reason behind the transfer that could signal a move for Elano to Jose Mourinho’s Inter Milan: “Gareth is widely acknowledged as one of the top midfielders in the Premier League, and that is a recommendation in itself. When players of his quality become available then you have to be in the market for them, so we are absolutely delighted that we have been able to conclude this deal. The experience required to compete with the best in the Premier League is vital, and with Gareth we get the experience of someone who has played week-in, week-out in the hardest league in the world. He plays at a level that has an impact on the game, and we are thrilled that he is joining us. I have spoken to him briefly, and I will do at greater length soon. It’s clear to everybody that being at City is going to be exciting in the future, and Gareth sees that.”

Samuel Eto’o: As rumours of Tevez rumble on unsettled, it seems that the Blues have eyes elsewhere also. Champions’ League Final goal scorer Samuel Eto’o is reportedly close to a £20 million move to Eastlands following extensive talks between Garry Cook and Barça President Laporta. Though the foundation of the rumours are yet to be confirmed, there is no doubt that a quality striker is needed at CoMS and Eto’o was never Barça manager Guardiola’s first choice forward. Africa’s Player of the Year of three years is said to be keen on a move to the Premier League and City may be the perfect destination. Laporta hinted towards a move for the Cameroonian striker: “The market is very dynamic and there could be surprises. He’s a wanted man and we know he’ll receive offers.”

Robinho: Despite a statement by Santos club President that claimed ‘Robbie’ was keen on a move back to Brazil and Santos were working on a way of taking the ex-Real Madrid playmaker ‘home’, Robinho has moved fast to declare his love for City and re-state his desire to stay in the Premier League in order to become the world’s best player: “I am very happy at City. Santos are the team of my heart and one day I want to go back, but not now. I am very happy with the affection demonstrated by the fans in the final match against Bolton. The incentives shouted by the crowd, directed at my team-mate Glauber Berti in the final minutes, demonstrated how passionate City’s fans are. I am very happy and proud to play in a club that has such wonderful followers.”

Joe Hart: It seems that home many not be where the Hart is next season as Mark Hughes searches out the perfect location to send the young England international out on loan next season. Newly promoted sides Birmingham City and Wolverhampton Wanderers have both expressed an interest in the man who dropped down Hughes’ selection priorities following the £5 million signing of Shay Given last January and Hughes is happy to send the twenty two year old elsewhere for a season if it means boosting his chances of breaking into the England World Cup 2010 side: “Joe is frustrated and obviously wants to play. We will look at his situation in the coming weeks and it might be to both Joe’s and the club’s benefit if he did go out on loan. He’d be playing on a regular basis and, given his ability, he would no doubt improve his standing in the game and help his development and value to the club, so a loan is something we’ll seriously think about.”

Academy Blues

Javea International Tournament: The Academy Blues’ successful run of form in the Javea International Tournament came to an end this week as a more experienced Valencia side overcame the Young Blues in the final. The tournament, held in Spain, has been won by Alex Gibson’s boys three years running but unfortunately was not able to complete the same feat this time round. Academy director Jim Cassell feels that, despite the disappointment of not coming away from the tournament as victors, his young side, made up of various fringe players due to international call ups, will learn a lot from the experience and went on to praise the Spanish Champions: “Valencia were worthy winners, and the four games we played – against varying styles of football – represented a great education for the lads who played. They came up against some real rough and tumble stuff – one group game we weren’t involved in had seven players sent off – as well as the slick football that Valencia were able to play.”

TRANSFER THOUGHTS

Gareth Barry’s arrival at Manchester City represents a great start to the summer’s transfer dealings. It is a surprise signing but a very pleasant one indeed. When did City last sign another top English club’s best player? A Villa fan that I know described him as the best player at Villa over the last 10 years. He is a cracking signing at £12 million, which is a fair price to all. Indeed, he’s exactly the kind of signing that we need to make us a consistent team. Barry, who has richly deserved becoming a regular international, will offer our defence better protection in midfield, particularly down the left, and a driving presence going forward.

I’ve always rated Barry and I’m absolutely delighted that we have signed the former Villa skipper. He’s an all action, left footed, goalscoring midfielder with a good range of passes: he is a very good all round midfield player – just the sort to make us more durable. If we want to be consistent this is exactly the kind of player that we need to sign. He is not the sort of player who will not go missing on those away trips! If that is not enough positives, Barry is immensely versatile: he can play central midfield or wide left, at left back and has also played at centre back in his career. Gareth Barry’s signing is a great boost to this club’s ambitions in getting into the top six and pushing beyond to challenge for a top four spot.

True to his word, Mark Hughes has not wasted any time in improving the quality of our squad. Indeed, much credit is due to him and to the team at City who negotiated this deal. I like the way that we conducted this business. There was no statement from City about it until the Barry was actually signed and that is how it should be. The statement that City were talking to him actually came on the Villa website. The leaden-footed media were left trailing in their wake. Instead of writing prejudiced articles that fawn all over the Rags, some of these hacks should do a little bit of digging and work a bit harder. Or is it too much effort for the lazy hacks to get off their lardy behinds and put some effort in?

Barry’s signing is a real statement of intent, but this signing alone will not push us into the top six. There will be more signings. I’d love to see Carlos Tevez sign, though we must also sign a tall, physical centre forward to give our attack some real muscle and know-how. Didier Drogba’s name keeps cropping up. Drogba may make far more of a fuss of falling over than my one year old daughter, and he may need have problems with motivation at times, but I’d back Hughes to keep him focused. He could give us the push that we need to break the top 6, and perhaps beyond. At 31 though, he would be a short term signing, and we may get better value for money with a younger player.

There will be departures too. Darius Vassell certainly has his critics and whilst he wasn’t prolific for City, he scored some important goals at a difficult time for City, not to mention his Derby goals. Dietmar Hamann is another one that was important in steadying a rocky ship and keeping us away from relegation. Last season under Sven, we played our best football when he was anchoring midfield. Michael Ball is likely to move on too, having had a couple of years with us vying for a starting berth at left back.

There has been talk of Danny Sturridge being on his way to Chelsea for a long time now, with him allegedly asking for a contract upwards of £50,000 a week from City – something that was not going to happen to a player who does not warrant a regular starting berth. One suspects that this deal has been done some time ago and there has been an inevitability of him moving on for a long time now. Whilst it’s a shame to see such a talented player go, City have a wage structure in place and we cannot pander to every demand.

Elano has provided some very happy memories – that great free kick against Newcastle sticks out in particular as well as his cracking début – he is a player of great skill but sadly not a great player due to his lack of consistency. He has had a tendency to moan when not in the team, yet he has not warranted a starting berth for most of the season. Only in the spring did we see his best form this season. A few weeks ago he was talking about wanting to extend his contract at City, with 2 years still remaining. He has not offered the sort of consistency that we need over 2 seasons so I suspect that is the reason why extending his contract has not been a priority for Mark Hughes. Now he is positively courting a move to Jose Mourinho’s Inter Milan.

Best wishes to all our departing players and thanks for their contributions.

TRANSFER THOUGHTS II

First of all thank you Paul for giving Heidi a well earned break; Heidi has been doing an absolutely fantastic job and without all her efforts we would not have such a good McV.

[Ed: Hear, hear for Heidi!]

Mark Hughes has got off to a great start with the signing of Gareth Barry from Villa, this is a player that can split defences with his passing capabilities.

Now we need a very good striker who can put them in the back of the net from all the service that is about to happen from all areas of the pitch.

Then the defence needs some help.

And wisely Sparky is getting the players in before letting some of his players leave.

Come on you Blues! In Sparky I trust.

TRANSFER THOUGHTS III

I can see a number of reasons for top quality players signing for City this summer. The obvious ones are that they will be paid an attractive salary and City will be challenging for a top four position.

But the ultimate ambition of any player must be to play in the World Cup, which comes around every four years and the next one is at the end of next season. The Champions’ League will still be there the season after.

So why not sign for City? You’ll be playing in the best league in the world; in front of the best fans and you’ll only have to play 38 league games plus League cup and FA Cup (worst case only 2), so 40 games.

I’m sure there are other members of this site who can work out how many games players of Champions’ League and Europa Cup teams may end of playing.

So well done Gareth on joining a great club and enabling yourself to be in peak condition for England at the World Cup.

TRANSFER THOUGHTS IV

I’ve seen only snatches of City this season and caught 5live regularly (my wife has migraines/chronic daily headache).

I think only a few places are needing more support. The left back Wayne Bridge needs to either get fit or have a better left back take over or share the rôle – most of the goals I saw city concede this year came from lacking in the left defence area.

I think Richard Dunne – going on my past view of him – has a problem such that the understanding and support of other players leads to indecision/lacking – it did going way back when he first joined until Distin settled in.

I think time to settle is needed there.

Midfield is difficult; it’s very good at going forward though they lack a proper goal scorer.

Sweep on one side; Petrov will come back in form if allowed and coaxed properly.

I must say from what I’ve seen Ireland (although a 90 minute 200% player), Johnson – when back – and Elano are a weakness when facing the bigger, stronger, tough midfielders that tend to be in the grind out points matches we should win on paper – which makes a diffence of table position at the season’s end. Haven’t seen much of Kompany – de Jong – Zabaleta (seems to be 200% er) as to getting stuck in effectively. Must say Joey Barton used to give as good as he got (yeah, a touch too much) but have they replaced him in that respect yet? I wonder.

Through the season I mused at all the strikers everyone wants to buy; if you don’t feed them, get the ball in the box, especially at set pieces, with a regular goal scorer, you’re not going far.

Mark Hughes I have confidence with; personally I think Stuart Pearce would have been equal (and cheaper), though it was expressed he was a risk due to lack of management experience; I think 90% of the time you either have it or not! Strikers are the same (if you feed them).

Good luck to City in 2009-10. Concentrate on your good points and build from there.

P.S. Sven – forget him he was last year!

TRANSFER THOUGHTS V

Two points on Gareth Barry signing.

First (ignoring any future new signings and releases), my favoured set-up with GB is this – play (at least at home), in the Barça formation, that is 4-3-3. Ignoring the goalie and the back four, This how I would do it:

• DJ (or Zab/VK) in the central holding rôle of the middle three (as perBuschettes/Yaya Toure/Kieta).
• Then SI in the Xavi rôle. Plus GB in the Iniesta rôle.
• SWP as Messi (wide right), Eto’o or Drogba or RSC as Eto’o, and Robinhoas Henry (wide left).

Second Thing:

To the tune of the old Irish folk song “Kevin Barry”.

“At Carrington last Tuesday Morning,
MH and GC,
Got the young man GB,
To sign up for Man City.

Just a man of 28 summers,
And yet no one can deny,
That he’ll give his life to Eastlands,
And the cause of Man City.”

Hope they give this one a go next season.

OTHER THOUGHTS

I hope we don’t have to continually repeat this conversation, but all opinions on MCIVTA are valid if reasonably backed up by fact. It is possible to have slightly different interpretations of the facts, but facts do tend to speak for themselves, and some contributors could do with checking out the supposed ‘facts’ they trot out before then going on to ‘interpret’ them in their own narrow, close-minded and pre-conceived way. Certainly, disagreeing with someone else’s opinion is not yet a crime, and it is no coincidence that those people who provide the least amount of factual information to back up their opinions are also those who personally attack anyone who dares to contradict their opinion.

I would ask Andrew Keller to consider the following:

“Based in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the UAE, we started with an initial paid-up capital of AED500 million, with the twin objectives of creating an airline that would bear the UAE flag and extend true Arabian hospitality to our guests. Our name reflects this spirit: ‘Etihad’ is Arabic for ‘united’, and hence a symbol of the bonding among the seven emirates that constitute the UAE.”

(http://www.etihadairways.com/sites/Etihad/uk/en/aboutetihad/etihadstory/pages/etihadhistory.aspx)

This is from the Etihad website, so unless they are lying about their own history, then I think that’s put that particular argument to bed.

I too want “someone who has a history of winning trophies”. How would hiring someone like Pep Guardiola, for example, put us “back another year”? There are many other managers out there who have won things (it didn’t take Chelsea long to get Ancelotti, did it?), but you don’t exactly explain how getting one of these top managers in at the start of a close season would be worse than continuing with Agent Clueless. I have accepted now that we have another year of supporting a badly managed team, so perhaps we can have a top manager the next year.

You say that you “could quite happily get used to them [United] beating us year in year out so long as we finish above them over the course of a season and finish as Champions.” The point is, that we haven’t finished above them since the very early 1990s, and haven’t been Champions since 1968. So what do you use to keep you going in those long trophyless years? Well, a victory over the old enemy certainly helps, and come the day when we are above them and winning things, then maybe we won’t mind so much. Doing the derby double under Sven restored a lot of pride and avenged a lot of hurt that we’ve had to experience over the last twenty years at least. It also helps the players by setting the target of winning ‘big’ games.

I don’t disagree that Dunne hasn’t had the best of seasons, so you see it is possible to agree on some points, even if we don’t agree on the main premise concerning Mark Hughes. We certainly don’t need to suggest people need “medical assistance” or, even worse, are United fans just because we don’t share the same opinions.

SVEN AGAIN

To all Sven devotees

News flash… Sven is no longer Manager of M.C.F.C. and he will not be coming back.

We initially looked good under Sven but then progressivly got worse, culminating in the 8-1 humiliation. Yes we beat United twice… but can anyone say we really did them over? One lucky strike from Geovanni was the only difference from previous years. His signings, apart from possibly Elano were not good enough and all need replacing. Ok, possibly Bojinov could be good if he can stay fit. He played players out of position like Richards. He failed to realise we desperately needed improvements in the defence, and even ended up playing Elano at the back!

We may have played some fantastic football but it didn’t last. And once his coaching influence started to show, we then played some of the worst football I have seen. If you are happy with that then let’s go get Brown from Hull as our next manager!

He is not a class act. he may have won some things in the past. However:

• England… Sacked.
• City…. Sacked.
• Mexico… Sacked.

And now that Portsmouth are promising to “spend more than City”, look who is rearing his head.

I re-iterate, Sven has gone. Get over it.

I am not 100% convinced by Hughes; some of his team selections and substitutions puzzle me. He has wasted money on one or two players but on the whole SWP, Given, de Jong, Kompany, Bellamy, Robinho, Zab are good players. Players have flurished under Hughes – just take Superman’s improvement compared to how he performed under Sven. Hughes has even made Caciedo look like he might be ok.

So for now I’m behind Hughes. I am fed up of starting again. I trust him to buy decent players. I can only see us improving as the squad gets better and players like Fernandes are totally forced out.

ETIHAD AS SPONSORS

Well in reply to comments that I made, no I don’t sit wondering what Etihad could spell but the first two letters set alarm bells ringing.

Anyway, thanks to Kenneth Corfield, we have the following:

Eleven Talented Individuals Happily Achieving Dreams

However, get this, and I love this one, United have just announced a new sponsor, American financial company, AON. Wait for it, wait for it… All Over Now

Don’t you just love United?

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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.mcivta.com/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.

Paul Robinson, editor@mcivta.city-fan.org

Editor: