Newsletter #1803

A slightly early issue this week as, with no game at the weekend, I think we have all the articles following our win in Portugal.

A belter of a result though marred by the racist abused hurled in the direction of Messrs Balotelli and Touré. The upshot? We get charged for letting a firework off! Brilliant UEFA, priorities aligned with the insane and prejudiced yet again.

Makes you wonder…

MATCHVIEW: PORTO 1-2 MANCHESTER CITY

What a cracking game in the Europa League last night and an immense performance from Lescott, Yaya and Richards in particular. The magnificent game was spoilt for me though by the dreadful coverage from ITV.

Apart from appalling camera work, which perhaps they can’t be blamed for as they rely on the Portuguese coverage, the supposedly neutral but hopefully English club supporting commentary was appalling.

These two quotes from last night’s commentary:
‘City are down a competition and down a goal’ – immediately after Porto scored.
‘Thank goodness for Manchester United’ – when City were behind in the tie after United had beaten Ajax earlier.

It makes me so angry but there really is nothing more we can do, is there?

We play the best football in England, have players that every neutral seems to love such as Silva and cult hero Balotelli, a manager that is always courteous and respectful in the interviews he gives, have given the two stand out performances in televised games this year (against Spurs and United away), have several England players in our side and a passionate support.

Yet still they snipe, patronise and goad City. It’s not good enough and I encourage anyone who feels the same to complain, as I have, to <viewerservices(at)itv.com>.

ARTICLE: LESCOTT

I have to agree with Steve O’Brien. I have expressed my anxiety about Lescott’s propensity to cost us dear with dreadful lapses, but he has been rock solid and immense since Vincent’s dodgy ban. In fact Vincent looks more wobbly than Joleon at the moment.

I well remember the nightmare of early Corrigan. Joe made countless gaffes and cost us many games before he became the most reliable and steady ‘keeper in the country. Let’s hope Joleon’s improvement is a similar step and he does not revert to the unpredictable.

Nigel de Jong has not featured greatly this season, but he has also been rock solid since his return (also coinciding with Vincent’s dodgy ban). The talk of him being shipped out at the end of the season is worrying. The man is sheer quality and has been so solid. He is a Blue at heart, but sadly, that seems to count for little these days.

Still going strong and looking good. How many more derbies are in the pipeline this year?

ARTICLE: TÉVEZ

I do not question the football talents of Tévez; he has shown us what a great footballer he can be but, after all that has happened, I would be very doubtful that we will see his 100% commitment to the cause and worse still, the negative effects upon the team by having him in the dressing room.

His behaviour suggests a need for a psychiatrist far more than a football trainer and I do not believe City would benefit at all by letting him play again. Get rid of him ASAP and let Roberto lead us to the title.

ARTICLE: MAD STRIKERS

Balotelli – It would seem I was wrong (not the first time I am sure others will tell me gladly) but if the inference of his penalty – missed matches – by the FA is that this player did the action deliberately do we continue to support the club that resumes to play him? The penalty would appear to infer he is a thug!

Tévez – Well again do we want to see this type of player play again for the club we support? OK, he had an argument with his boss and did not do any apologizing and thus get on with it but seemingly instead ran off to Argentina, which is a poor reaction.

I guess, however, there is the problem of the expenditure the club management has incurred by signing these two particular players and if I was that very fortunate person to be able to do what the man from Abu Dhabi has done, I am sure that my medium to long term plan would be to see the “Club” turn a viable working profit and thus see the “light at the end of the tunnel” sooner than later! Thus I would be tempted I am sure to do what happened at Wolves and do a rant at the players, which of course immediately undermines the manager but unfortunately that is human nature and we can get carried away with our comments and actions and perhaps rue the day it happened.

So I expect we will continue to see both players play again for City. I realize Balotelli has done so already in Oporto – not that I saw this match as Sky NZ in their wonderful thinking decided only to show matches of teams that play in red – except of course the Rags did not as they too were playing away. Most likely if I complained to Sky NZ their answer would be their budget only goes so far as far as ESPN matches are concerned! Money concerns yet again!

There were only about three of the Europa matches shown and the other UK team was Stoke. Therefore the club’s management will I am sure inform Mancini he has to get some return from them both sooner than later.

I do have concerns when I see how easily it is for football clubs to find their expenditure exceeds income all too quickly and then the club management try reorganizing, which does not work and thus you have the likes of the Portsmouth and Rangers situations occurring yet again, with probably more waiting to happen and thus I would not like to read that for all the wealth City seemed to have been blessed with that the club goes the same way. So Mancini and club management and owner will be finding a good reason to appease us all soon with why Tévez in particular should be welcomed back in the fold.

As for the other players, I am sure not everyone gets on with their co-workers all the time so the human resource team at City will be working to see that the other players make allowances no matter their individual opinion and knowledge of these two players.

As for players’ team spirit, I have read it is simply an illusion glimpsed in victory!

ARTICLE: NEXT GENERATION STRIKERS

This Guardian article may be of interest to readers:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2012/feb/15/john-guidetti-manchester-city-feyenoord

REQUEST: PARKING TIPS

Hi all, I will be driving up from Bristol for the Bolton game to take my 7 year old son to his first game. It will also be the first matchday I’ve driven there.

Could anyone give advice on where to park and how early we would need to get there for a space.

TICKET REQUEST: SWANSEA

Have made plans to go to the Swansea game, but tickets are currently on offer only to those with over 8000+ loyalty points, and I only have 6000 – so unlikely to get down that low. If anyone with that many points would be kind enough to buy a ticket I would be very very grateful.

AND FINALLY…

The Football Supporters’ Federation is holding a ‘Watching Football Is Not A Crime’ event at City’s Etihad Stadium, Thursday 1st March at 7.30pm.

This is an opportunity to ask questions at the forum to a panel consisting of:

• Peter Fletcher, City’s Head of Safety and Security
• Dr Geoff Pearson, Lecturer in Law at Liverpool University
• Chief Supt Mark Roberts from GMP
• Representative from Tucker’s Solicitors

The event is free (you even get the first pint free!) and open to members and non-members but you do need to register beforehand – and places are going quickly as fans from all over the North West and Yorkshire are invited too.

To register: http://www.fsf.org.uk/news/FSF-event-in-Manchester-Watching-Football-Is-Not-A-Crime.php

RESULTS AND TABLE

League table to 15 February 2012 inclusive

                           HOME           AWAY           OVERALL
                    P  W  D  L  F  A  W  D  L  F  A  W  D  L   F   A  GD Pts
 1 Manchester City 25 12  0  0 37  6  7  3  3 27 13 19  3  3  64  19  45  60
 2 Manchester Utd  25 10  1  2 37 15  8  3  1 24 10 18  4  3  61  25  36  58
 3 Tottenham H.    25 10  2  1 29 10  6  3  3 20 15 16  5  4  49  25  24  53
 4 Arsenal         25  8  2  2 24  9  5  2  6 24 26 13  4  8  48  35  13  43
 5 Chelsea         25  7  2  3 27 19  5  5  3 17 12 12  7  6  44  31  13  43
 6 Newcastle Utd   25  7  3  2 18 12  5  3  5 18 24 12  6  7  36  36   0  42
 7 Liverpool       25  4  8  0 14  8  6  1  6 15 15 10  9  6  29  23   6  39
 8 Norwich City    25  5  4  3 19 15  4  4  5 18 26  9  8  8  37  41  -4  35
 9 Sunderland      25  5  4  4 20 13  4  2  6 14 13  9  6 10  34  26   8  33
10 Everton         25  5  3  5 14 13  4  3  5 12 14  9  6 10  26  27  -1  33
11 Swansea City    25  5  6  2 18 10  2  3  7 10 22  7  9  9  28  32  -4  30
12 Fulham          25  6  4  3 24 19  1  5  6  7 17  7  9  9  31  36  -5  30
13 Stoke City      25  4  4  4 15 14  4  2  7  9 24  8  6 11  24  38 -14  30
14 West Brom A.    25  2  2  8  9 16  6  3  4 20 19  8  5 12  29  35  -6  29
15 Aston Villa     25  3  4  6 14 17  3  6  3 15 17  6 10  9  29  34  -5  28
16 QPR             25  2  4  6 13 20  3  2  8 14 24  5  6 14  27  44 -17  21
17 Blackburn R.    25  4  0  9 19 26  1  6  5 18 30  5  6 14  37  56 -19  21
18 Wolves          25  3  2  8 17 28  2  4  6 11 21  5  6 14  28  49 -21  21
19 Bolton Wndrs    25  2  2  9 15 27  4  0  8 14 24  6  2 17  29  51 -22  20
20 Wigan Athletic  25  1  5  6 11 22  3  2  8 12 28  4  7 14  23  50 -27  19

MCIVTA FAQ [v1112.01]

[1] MCIVTA Addresses

Articles (Philip Alcock)         : editor@mcivta.city-fan.org
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[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/Twitter

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://www.bbc.co.uk/news/england/manchester/.

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

http://www.satfootball.com/ provides a listing of Premier League games being shown on UK domestic and foreign satellite channels. A useful site for North American viewers is http://msn.foxsports.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://searchnetworking.techtarget.com/definition/Usenet

[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] Do any squad members have their own Twitter accounts?

A list of genuine player accounts is maintained at http://twitter.com/#!/MCFC/players

[12] Where can I find match statistics?

Statistics for the current season are available from the club site, but for a more in-depth historical analysis try http://www.mcfcstats.com/.

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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.

Philip Alcock, editor@mcivta.city-fan.org

Editor: