Newsletter #1822

Typical City? Same old City? Champions of Cock-ups?

or…

Champions Elect?!

I’m sure there’ll be at least one headline incorporating one of these and we are all praying it’s the latter!

Despite the electric atmosphere inside the ground on Monday night, the game itself was too one-sided to be described as a classic. Tomorrow’s game you sense may be different. The way Newcastle play and the attacking strengths they have give them little option but to ‘have a go’. If that happens then quite literally anything could happen.

A lot of Blues are travelling to Tyneside over the course of the next 24 hours as they did in May 1968 when this editor was just a few days old, my excuse for not being there! Those who were there can still vividly remember every detail, so memorable was it.

Wouldn’t it be nice if in 40-odd years’ time there’s a newsletter with contributions recounting the tales of glory of May 6th, 2012?

Whatever happens, enjoy it. It’s been a long wait.

ARTICLE – CITY AT NEWCASTLE 1968

I won’t be able to send any words of wisdom about City at Newcastle – 2012, I’ll be watching on Sky from 12,000 miles away but here is my contribution although it’s a bit dated now, – it first appeared in the “Forty years On” issue some years ago. Fingers crossed for a similar outcome.

“NEWCASTLE, 4.45 PM, 11-5-68” so reads the Dymo label on my small, air tight packet of grass from the spot(ish) where Franny Lee scored the fourth. The grass is not quite as green as it was but considering it’s been in my wallet (I’ve got a backup in a safe place in case I get mugged) for the past 40 years that’s not surprising.

In 1968 I was an engineering apprentice at AEI doing HNC on block release at Stretford Tech. The City fans numbered about 3: me, Dave Cooper and Brian Chapellow. Even the lecturers were Rags although the worst one had shut up after we won 3-1 at the Swamp in March.

In those days my usual routine was to go to the match, home or away, and then race back to the Lowenbrau Bier Keller in Piccadilly where the football atmosphere was amazing with chants of “City! United!” going on all night with not much trouble, usually. The arrangements for Newcastle are hazy now but I think that Charlie Chapellow and I got a Fingland’s coach from Levenshulme and we were amazed that all the traffic seemed to be blue and white. In those days I’m not sure if I really believed that we could win the league but Joe and Malcolm changed all that.

At St James’ Park we stood waiting to get in with lots of Geordies and everything seemed very good natured. The game has been well documented but we were in the covered end where Buzzer scored so we must have run the length of the pitch at the end to get the grass from Franny’s spot. I did well to get some grass because the pitch was wall to wall Blues with the same idea.

Obviously the journey home is even hazier but the coach seemed to stop lots of times and everywhere there were Blues singing and dancing. At one point there was even more excitement when the City coach was spotted on the road near us and they were partying the same as everyone else.

We eventually got home and I arrived back in Burnage sometime the next day. I think my travels had included the Bier Keller, Mr. Smiths and… ? This was my first experience of winning a big one (we had had promotion etc.) but over the next two years I was at Wembley twice for the FA Cup and League Cup and Vienna for the Cup Winners’ Cup. I thought that this was how it was going to be forever!

P.S.: If anyone wants to see my grass they’ll have to come to Wellington because I live in New Zealand now.

ARTICLE: COME ON CITY

We stand on the threshold of a potentially momentous day. It’s been possible to celebrate the double derby win for a couple of days or so, but we know that there are two even more important matches to come.

It was good to hear Vincent Kompany’s thoughts quickly turning to Newcastle in his post-match interview on Monday. It shows we are focused, even in the aftermath of a great night, which returned City to the top of the League.

Hopefully City will approach the next game with the same positive approach, as in the last 4 winning games. The same team that has a superb balance of attacking and defensive qualities would give us our best chance to win at Newcastle.

Now I need to think about something else, because that’s my way of dealing with it until 1.30pm Sunday. Have a great weekend.

Come on City.

ARTICLE: SEISMIC MOMENT? CLASSIC?

Sorry, I can’t disagree Phil, but perhaps our elders can!

My first game was the 3-all draw with United in 1971.

Even at Maine Road, I never, ever saw absolutely the whole stadium on their feet roaring, waving their scarves and belting it out like they all did on Monday night at the Etihad, it was awesome.

I too think this will all be looked back on as a seismic moment, when the balance of power visibly shifted in Manchester. For me a reflection of the thoroughly professional, considerate, and attentive way the Club is organised and run these days, from the very top Sheikh Mansour, throughout to the very bottom. On and off the field the plans coming to fruition are truly amazing.

Irrespective of whether we win the Premier League this year or not, that gives me confidence and is all the more reason for us all to celebrate come what may. The undercurrent of utter frustration, alarm, despondency and fear amongst United fans at the prospect of being the also-rans in Manchester is palpable. This was laid bare for all to see in every twist and turn on and off the field on Monday night and in that sense this game was actually, an absolute classic.

C’mon City!

ARTICLE: THE LAST TWO GAMES

I watched the game between Chelsea and Newcastle United last night and was awestruck by Newcastle’s devastatingly potent strike force of Demba Ba and Papiss Cisse.

Mancini and Platt were sitting in the stand watching and one wonders what tactics they are going to employ to counteract these two. I am thinking that maybe Barry and de Jong should both play from the start, each being assigned to man-mark them as closely as possible. That would mean one of Touré, Silva, Nasri or Tévez would have to be sacrificed. It will be interesting to see what Mancini does.

The game against QPR should be no contest at all because of QPR’s poor away form but we should not underestimate them because it will be their last chance to save themselves from the drop.

As for United, their last two games are both potential banana skins and I am thinking that they might slip up against one of them, most likely away at Sunderland.

TICKET REQUEST: QPR

Like a turnip I left getting a QPR ticket far too late.

Any chance you can put a plea out for me in the next issue? I can collect from anywhere, take up to three tickets but would be properly well chuffed with one!

AND FINALLY… BREAKING TEAM NEWS

Joe Hart to start against Newcastle having been rested for the Manchester derby.

RESULTS AND TABLE

2 May 2012

Chelsea               0 - 2  Newcastle United      41,559
Bolton Wanderers      1 - 4  Tottenham Hotspur     22,349

1 May 2012

Liverpool             0 - 1  Fulham                40,106
Stoke City            1 - 1  Everton               26,500

League table to 02 May 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 36 17  1  0 52 10  9  4  5 36 17 26  5  5  88  27  61  83
 2 Manchester Utd  36 14  2  2 50 19 12  3  3 36 14 26  5  5  86  33  53  83
 3 Arsenal         36 12  3  3 36 14  8  3  7 32 30 20  6 10  68  44  24  66
 4 Tottenham H.    36 12  3  3 37 17  7  5  6 26 23 19  8  9  63  40  23  65
 5 Newcastle Utd   36 11  5  2 29 15  8  3  7 26 31 19  8  9  55  46   9  65
 6 Chelsea         36 11  3  4 39 23  6  7  5 23 18 17 10  9  62  41  21  61
 7 Everton         36  9  3  6 25 14  5  7  6 22 25 14 10 12  47  39   8  52
 8 Liverpool       36  5  9  4 20 15  8  1  9 23 23 13 10 13  43  38   5  49
 9 Fulham          36  9  5  4 34 25  4  5  9 12 23 13 10 13  46  48  -2  49
10 West Brom A.    36  6  3  9 19 19  7  4  7 22 28 13  7 16  41  47  -6  46
11 Sunderland      36  7  7  4 26 16  4  5  9 18 27 11 12 13  44  43   1  45
12 Swansea City    36  7  7  4 26 18  4  4 10 17 31 11 11 14  43  49  -6  44
13 Stoke City      36  7  7  4 23 18  4  4 10 11 32 11 11 14  34  50 -16  44
14 Norwich City    36  6  6  6 26 30  5  4  9 21 33 11 10 15  47  63 -16  43
15 Aston Villa     36  4  6  8 19 24  3 10  5 17 26  7 16 13  36  50 -14  37
16 Wigan Athletic  36  4  7  7 19 25  5  3 10 19 35  9 10 17  38  60 -22  37
17 QPR             36  6  5  7 23 25  3  2 13 17 38  9  7 20  40  63 -23  34
18 Bolton Wndrs    36  4  3 11 21 37  6  1 11 21 36 10  4 22  42  73 -31  34
19 Blackburn R.    36  6  1 11 26 32  2  6 10 21 43  8  7 21  47  75 -28  31
20 Wolves          36  3  2 13 19 43  2  7  9 19 36  5  9 22  38  79 -41  24

MCIVTA FAQ [v1112.01]

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[5] What supporters’ clubs are there?

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

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

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[9] Do we have a Usenet newsgroup?

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

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[12] Where can I find match statistics?

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Editor: