Newsletter #1742

A week where City lost another legend as Mike Doyle sadly passed away at the age of 64. Another of those former players, Blue through and through, and always with time for people. RIP Mike.

Tonight we have opinion on the transfer window and action, or lack thereof, biased reporting and the US tour.

OPINION: TRANSFERS

Incredibly, City have been one of the slowest clubs in the transfer market to date. There has been a lot of paper talk regarding several names, and Sanchez has been heavily featured.

Sanchez must be considered as potentially the next big thing, as quite a few clubs have shown interest, with Udinese licking their lips at the prospect of a “bidding war”. How these players evaluations are so high just amazes me, especially as most of them are relatively inexperienced, and relatively unknown, so more often than not, you are buying potential!

Monday has seen us linked with Hulk: Why, I just cannot fathom, as this is not a position we are weak in, through lack of numbers. Then there was a bit in the Sun about us looking at 3 players playing in Italy, none of whom I had ever heard of, and one was a goalkeeper. Just how many goalkeepers do City need? We must already have at least 5… again, this never ceases to amaze me.

If anyone watched City last season, there are 2, possibly 3, positions that we really need to strengthen, they are left back, centre midfield and an attacking midfielder. For left back, in my opinion I would have 3 targets: Coentrao, Baines and Cissokho, possibly in that pecking order. My first choice for attacking midfielder, would be Wesley Sneijder, but, I also really like Juan Mata from Valencia (David Silva’s old colleague), and he looked a really good prospect at the Euro Under 21’s. He would be a great prospect for us, as he has skill and keeps possession just as well as Silva. We have the financial might to make these deals happen. My colleague at work said that all deals will start on the 1st July, something to do with the European contract structures… (not too sure?).

We still have to offload a lot of players, and I am sure that their “inflated” wages at City will not be matched by any other club, hence the very slow movement.

I am just hoping that Mancini and his back room staff buy the players we need and not some unheard of player, who will take a long time to get used to the pace in the Premier League. Generally, the better and more experienced the footballer is, the easier it is for him to acclimatise to the Premier League. Man United have purchased 3 good players to date, and who’s to say they won’t get any more, and to think they won the league without these new additions. Chelsea will no doubt go on a spending spree and get some very good players. Liverpool are looking to do the same, and we have to do likewise, if we are to harbour the ambitions of the owners.

Fingers crossed that City buy good, experienced professionals that make us stronger and more competitive in all competitions.

Come on City.

OPINION: JAMES LAWTON’S REPORTING

Following our fantastic finish to the season I felt the urge to write to the Chief Sports Writer of The Independent. For those who have not come across James Lawton’s never ending diatribes against City, then the letter I sent (copied below) is self explanatory. I actually kept the article in question, not sure why; after a lifetime supporting City I kept waiting for the banana skin to appear!

Dear Mr Lawton,

You can’t imagine how much pleasure it gives me to write this letter. I write as a 60 year old long-time fan of Manchester City, and week after week this season I have put up with your constant sniping at my team, its owners and its wealth. But let me get straight to the point: following the pre-season Emirates tournament, you wrote your usual hymn of praise to Wenger and Arsenal, but you then finished your article with “… it is a no-brainer that Arsenal will still finish above … £100 mmillion, or whatever it is at the latest count, Manchester City.”

No-brainer indeed; unless I am very much mistaken, City did finish above Arsenal. So, money can’t buy success? Well, either we have proved the impossible or, rather more likely, we have bought what we needed to achieve success sooner rather than later. Sooner being a relative term; I’ve been waiting 35 years! Ever since the formation of the Premier League, most supporters have had to watch the rich get richer, have had to watch them poach their young players (e.g. Rooney from Everton and Wright-Phillips from City), had to listen to pundits refer to the ‘top four’ (almost with reverence, as though the four names were an addendum to the Ten Commandments), and watched our teams and managers penalised (both on and off the pitch), whilst these same four have appeared inviolate. Money and spending are hardly new in football. As well as the obvious spending of Roman Abramovich and Jack Walker, even Sunderland’s spending in the 1950’s made them become known as the “Bank of England club”. I doubt that City’s owners have become involved in football in order to make money, and indeed, their aims have been well documented on the Club’s website. I have never in your articles seen any reference to the fans. The club has made going to watch City a pleasure; they make a determined effort to find out what we want and I know from personal experience how superbly they deal with problems.

A recent pre-cup final survey showed 80% voting a resounding “Yes” to the question ‘Has supporting City been more enjoyable since the takeover by Sheikh Mansour?’ And to the question ‘What is your attitude to the amount of money City have spent?’ 85% answered “It’s great” or “Not bothered”. Following 20 managers in 35 years, Roberto Mancini has given us success after only one and a half seasons in charge. He has done it with dignity and style, has never promised more than he could deliver and has always insisted that time was needed to develop the team. The Blue Moon is rising and I hope for a more balanced reporting in the season ahead!

Yours etc.

Needless to say, I’m still waiting for a reply!

OPINION: MIKE DOYLE

Goodbye Mr. Mike Doyle and enjoy our Blue heaven. God speed.

REQUEST: CLUB AMERICA GAME

For you Blues going to the City game in SF, if you go online to City’s home page you can access AT&T Park ticket office from there, and by putting MANCITY in the code box save yourself 20% of the cost of the ticket. What’s even better is that you pick what part of the ground you want to go into. I am in section 107 right behind the goal; hoping more Blues can meet up in that section and show our colours.

Not sure about calling for tickets at the box office, but you can have them sent to you via FED EX, for a nominal fee. I believe some people are meeting up at Reds on the Embarcadero; stay thirsty and come on you Blues.

MCIVTA FAQ [v1011.01]

[1] MCIVTA Addresses

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

[2] What are MCIVTA’s publishing deadlines?

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

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

http://www.mcivta.com/ 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. You can also follow on www.twitter.com/mcivta to get the latest updates.

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

The official club web site can be found at http://www.mcfc.co.uk/ and the official club Twitter page at www.twitter.com/mcfc. The club also has a facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/mcfcofficial

[5] What supporters’ clubs are there?

The Official Supporters’ Club and the Centenary Supporters’ Association have merged to become the Manchester City Supporters’ Club (http://www.mcfcsupportersclub.com/). The club also recognise the Manchester City Disabled Supporters’ Association (http://www.mcdsa.co.uk/).

[6] Where can I find out about Points of Blue?

The committee operates as an interface between supporters and the club. Points of Blue appears on the club website under the “Fans” heading (http://www.mcfc.co.uk/Fans).

[7] What match day broadcasts are available on the web?

Live match commentary can be found on the club website. The Radio Manchester pre- and post-match phone-in is available on the web at http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/manchester/hi/tv_and_radio/.

[8] Where can I find out if City are live on satellite TV?

http://www.satfootball.com/pl.html provides a listing of Premier League games being shown on UK domestic and foreign satellite channels. Useful sites for North American viewers are http://msn.foxsports.com/, http://www.soccertv.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.

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

Editor: