Newsletter #1832

England march onwards! Well, a slightly purposeful stroll at the very least.

It was a relief to see that Swedish ‘keeper Isaakson hasn’t improved since letting in 8 against Boro a few years ago. Ok, Walcott’s shot did swerve but not by that much!

Nigel’s fate could be resolved this evening. Although the Dutch have lost both games, if they can beat the Portuguese then they still stand a good chance of qualifying. So come on Nige, stop those (ex) Red wingers in their tracks!

Some thought-provoking articles tonight and some threads developing around Mario and Blues at the Euros, plus a fantastic end-of-season summary of the MCIVTA Fantasy League from Dave Kilroy.

Dave thanks very much from us all for your hard work with it. It’s much loved by those who take part and always appreciated.

ARTICLE: MCIVTA FANTASY LEAGUE

A bit belatedly after the celebrations of our championship win I thought I’d report on the final placings for the MCIVTA league and the MCIVTA Head-To-Head league.

Congratulations go to Yousif Ali’s ¥CHAMP1.6NS who finished top of the pile with 2263 points although it is something of a hollow victory, and an imaginary red card, for transgressing the unwritten, self-administered, law of including Swamp dwelling players in his squad!

In fact 3 of the top 4 should administer heavy fines on themselves for doing likewise (yes I will name and shame you). Fourth placed Ruairi McLoughlin’s SILVA LINING (2097pts) and 3rd placed Thomas Hill’s SUPER MARIO’S SANITY (2177pts) also transgressed.

Holding their head up high with a Red-free 2nd place were Roger Booth’s DEEP POCKETS (2189pts).

In the Head-To-Head league I’m pleased to say the top 4 were all Red free zones. On an only slightly less exciting than the real thing final day, Roger Booth’s DEEP POCKETS signed off the season as champions with 81 points following their resounding 62-36 victory over Malmo City FC. Andrew Healey’s DE JONG’S THRONG (77pts) finished second despite their last day loss to Blue Moon. Colin Savage’s PRESTWICH BLUES managed a creditable 3rd (76pts) and Roger Haigh’s BLUE MOON XI (75pts) grabbed what would ordinarily be the 4th Champions’ League place.

I hope those that took part enjoyed the fun. Those that took part this year should automatically be invited to take part next year and when registrations for next season are launched I will post the invite in MCIVTA. Watch out for rule changes as there are usually some.

P.S. I meant to add that 75 people took part in the normal league and 44 in the head-to-head league.

ARTICLE: ERNIE AND MARIO

Ernie Barrow said that Balotelli got too many red cards last season and is liable to get sent off in important matches and leave us playing with 10 men. Mario actually only got 2 red cards last season, one in 83rd minute vs. Liverpool, when their players’ shameful ref-circling got him sent off, and another in the 90th minute vs. Arsenal when he was careless in the first half but cleaned up his act in the second right until the last minute when his frustration escaped. City only played with 10 men for 7 minutes because of Balotelli being sent off.

Other red cards were worse and Yaya and Barry both were ahead of Mario in the disciplinary table. I’m not suggesting that Mario isn’t reckless and doesn’t need to improve his attitude but his awesome goal scoring record, important goals too, suggest that we should persevere with him more than we would with another player with the same problems. There’s a chance that he won’t grow out of his stupid moments, like Barton didn’t, but there’s also lots of examples of players who were stupid when they were young but who eventually grew out of it.

I don’t like using them as examples but Beckham and Rooney both had reckless moments in their younger days when they were in the media spotlight. Apart from his awful referee-pestering, Rooney has one of the cleanest disciplinary records in the league – only one yellow last season I think.

Above all I think we should trust Mancini’s judgement on Mario; he knows him better than anyone and our boss has shown last season how gifted he is with soft-skills management of the big ego players.

ARTICLE: MARIO

Just arrived back from a business trip to Brescia in Italy and during a meal the conversation (inevitably) turned to football and the shocking “missed opportunity” by Mario for Italy.

The young quality engineer opposite smiled when I said that he was well-known in Manchester both on-and-off the field. He said that he was a friend of Mario’s brother and that he had met Mario himself. He then told me that Balotelli misses Milan (and this guy was born there) so much that he would do anything to get back.

So much for his “I want to stay at City”. So who do we swap him for? Anybody half-decent I guess.

ARTICLE: END OF SEASON DVD

Yesterday I got home after working away for a few days and I opened a parcel and suddenly remembered I had ordered the end of season DVD from Amazon (it was a lot cheaper than buying it from the club and it meant I could buy a copy for my son too).

It is now 00.25am and I have just finished watching it and having wiped away lots of tears of joy I am looking forward to the next season (fixtures out on Monday at 9am) but I am still reminded that winning the title still seems totally unreal.

It really is a DVD to lift my spirits in the months and years ahead!

ARTICLE: GLOBAL HUMILIATION

Have a look at this vid on YouTube. What a p*ss take out of United:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJd8Dju-i1w

ARTICLE: CITY AT THE EUROS I

The name checks in the last issue got me thinking about how many current and former City players are playing at Euro2012. I came up with 16 then my brother-in-law spotted a sneaky 17th.

This must surely be some kind of record for any Premier League club. Can you get them all?

ARTICLE: CITY AT THE EUROS II

Should not Isaakson, Sweden’s goalkeeper, be on the list?

He looks very much like the lad who joined us from a French club a while ago. He had a short, injury-curtailed time with us as far as I remember. Also. Glen Whelan, who was alive and kicking for Ireland.

ED – Yes good point Derek, Isaakson is a former Blue and Whelan played a game for us under Keegan I recall.

ARTICLE: Dublin / Irish Blues help needed!

I’m doing a bit of research into City’s youth teams of the 1980’s and I am asking if anyone in Dublin / Ireland (or anywhere!) can help locate John Clarke.

John came to City from Home Farm junior team in Dublin and was in the squad when City won the FA Youth Cup in 1986, coming off the bench twice and remaining on the bench 4 times during the cup run. He then played in every game the following season that reached the semi-final and was then released, returning to Dublin.

If anyone has any details as to any other club in Ireland (or anywhere!) he played for – or knows where he is(!) please can you contact me?

AND FINALLY… NUMBERS

Just a number to add to James Nash’s contribution:

20th Premier League Winners

A suitable banner for next season methinks.

RESULTS AND TABLE

Final League table

                    P  GD Pts
 1 Manchester City 38  64  89 *CHAMPIONS*
 2 Manchester Utd  38  56  89
 3 Arsenal         38  25  70
-----------------------------
 4 Tottenham H.    38  25  69
-----------------------------
 5 Newcastle Utd   38   5  65
 6 Chelsea         38  19  64
 7 Everton         38  10  56
 8 Liverpool       38   7  52
 9 Fulham          38  -3  52
10 West Brom A.    38  -7  47
11 Swansea City    38  -7  47
12 Norwich City    38 -14  47
13 Sunderland      38  -1  45
14 Stoke City      38 -17  45
15 Wigan Athletic  38 -20  43
16 Aston Villa     38 -16  38
17 QPR             38 -23  37
-----------------------------
18 Bolton Wndrs    38 -31  36
19 Blackburn R.    38 -30  31
20 Wolves          38 -42  25

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: