Newsletter #87

Seems I may have spoken too soon when I said the sacking had been handled OK by Frannie. I’ve since seen it described as a ‘disgrace’, ‘a shambles’ and ‘leaving a bad taste in the mouth’. As the fog clears a little it seems that Lee probably had his hand forced and had to sack BH earlier than he would have liked. This was probably a result of BH confronting Frannie on the issue and precipitating his own dismissal. Naturally BH was only seeking to clarify his situation which had been made almost unbearable by the press speculation. Paul Howarth rightly pointed out that many papers on Monday were not speculating that BH was going to be sacked but were clearly stating that BH had already been sacked. This intimates that Lee had already made the decision and someone leaked it to the press. If this is a fair approximation of the truth then Lee is probably more than a little angry at having to carry out the sacking in a less than dignified manner and hopefully he’ll be looking for the idiot who let the cat out of the bag.

The polls for the ‘Player of the Year’ and ‘Manager’ have now been closed, the result of the latter (which was primarily aimed at seeing whether people desired a new manager) has already been given in the previous MCIVTA and the former is contained in this issue. Svenn has now designed a new poll for a replacement manager which again takes the form of a first, second and third choice voting system. Previous votes will not be taken into consideration which means basically that the poll is starting again from scratch. To vote, please mail Svenn (svenn@hanssen.priv.no) with your choices for a new manager.

NEWS – READING BETWEEN THE TELETEXT LINES

Rioch has complained that the media speculation surrounding him and the City post is pissing him off. He hasn’t said he doesn’t want the job, is staying at Bolton, etc etc.

NEWS – FERGUSON CRAP, OFFICIAL I

In the annual league managers’ poll, conducted by the 92 managers, Frank Clark was number 1, Kenny Dalglish number 2. Alex Ferguson polled the grand total of zero votes.

NEWS – FERGUSON CRAP, OFFICIAL II

With immaculate timing, Andrei Kanchelskis has stated that he can no longer work with Alex Ferguson and wants to leave OT.

NEWS – MANAGER ADVERT!

As the dust settles after recent events, I was quite interested to see a small advert in today’s (Friday) Daily Mirror advertising for a new manager. Surely they cannot be this desparate! It pains me to see this. People should be falling over themselves for the job. Oh and may I congratulate Alex Ferguson for getting no votes at all in the manager of the year poll. It’s nice to know his fellow managers think about as much of him as myself and Andrei Kanchelskis put together.

Is this someone try to pull a fast one, surely it can’t be the club?

NEWS – SOUVENIR SHOP

After reading Martin’s piece on the souvenir shop in MCIVTA 86, I remembered an item in the QPR programme, which read as follows:

The club is pleased to announce that it will be opening a new Souvenir Shop on the stadium forecourt at the beginning of June 1995. The new shop will be the official Manchester City Souvenir Shop and will be able to meet all your requirements for Manchester City Football Club leisure and sporting wear and souvenirs. Please give it all your support. Further information will be provided in the next weeks.

I think the new shop will be located in what is currently the social club, so there will be much more space available than in the current souvenir shop. The extra space, combined hopefully with a better range of merchandise, should go some of the way towards Francis Lee’s aim of increasing the club’s turnover by 50% in the current financial year.

Another boost to the club’s finances will hopefully come from the new “executive” facilities in the Kippax, also announced in the QPR programme. These range from 500 pound season tickets in the top (3rd) tier of the Kippax, which also include Cup matches and access to a lounge bar/restaurant on the 5th floor, through to facilities costing 1,000 (+VAT) and 1,850 (+VAT) pounds per season which include carvery or 5-course silver service meals respectively, right upto full-blown executive boxes. Obviously these facilities are out of the price range of most supporters, but if the club has got its marketing right and the uptake is good, the financial situation will be significantly improved and we might just be able to compete with the big boys in the future.

FINAL RESULT OF THE WWW/MCIVTA PLAYER OF THE YEAR POLL

          PLAYER OF THE YEAR 1994/95
          No Player               Pts
          1 Uwe Rösler            44
          2 Keith Curle            5
          3 Paul Walsh             2
          4 Michel Vonk            1
            Steve Lomas            1
            Peter Beagrie          1
            Maurizio Gaudino       1
            Niall Quinn            1
            Alan Kernaghan         1
            Garry Flitcroft        1

          YOUNG PLAYER OF THE YEAR
          No Player               Pts
          1 John Foster           12
          2 Steve Lomas            2

Congratulations to Uwe and John; anyone out there care to tell them 8-)). Finally, thanks to Svenn for coordinating everything.

OPINION – NEW PLAYERS?

Any new manager needs some money to buy in some new players. He will also need to sell players that are surplus to requirements. Who might this include? Well to start at the back, Dibble should go. We could get 3-400K for him. Of the defenders, Vonk and David Brightwell are not good enough and should be sold. These two could raise around 800K-1M. Of the midfielders, there is only really Simpson who I might be tempted to sell (500K?). Of the forwards, I would definitely sell Mike and Griffiths, which should raise about 700K.

This gives the manager around 2.5M to spend. If he decided not to buy, the team could be soething like:-

                                Coton
        Summerbee       Curle           Kernaghan       Edghill
                Flitcroft       Gaudino         Lomas
                Quinn           Rösler          Beagrie
Subs:-  Walsh,  Phelan, Margretson

Summerbee is at right-back because, despite a poor season, he was very good for Swindon (B international !!!) and often played at right-back.

But what about new players? Well there are several areas which need strengthening. In goal, we need either a reserve or replacement for Coton, if his injury does not heel. For a replacement, Nigel Martyn? (2M ?).

For the defence, a right back and reserve/first-team central defender are needed. Stubbs from Bolton would be ideal but costly at around 3M!

In midfield, we could go for Lee Clark, who wants to leave Newcastle, Draper, or McAteer. Clark would be cheapest (1M) whereas the other two would cost at least 3M!

Up front we need a goalscorer that will get us 30 goals a season. These, however, are rare and would cost 5M!!!

So, assuming we go for a reserve keeper, Stubbs, Clark and Draper, this would cost around 7M. With 2.5M raised from the sale of players, FL would have to find around 4.5M. Let’s hope he has been holding this sort of money back from Horton.

The team I would therefore like to see next season is:

                                Coton
        Summerbee       Curle           Stubbs          Edghill
                Flitcroft       Gaudino         Draper
                Quinn           Rösler          Beagrie
Reserves:-  Walsh, Phelan, Kernaghan, Clark, Lomas + a young goalkeeper.

Surely this is not too unrealistic if we want to challenge for trophies (remember them?). This side, with a good coach and manager, should manage a top eight finish and a cup semi’ next season. A vast improvement on this season. The manager should then be given more money in a year to sign one or two quality young players and build from there.

Yours hoping for Rioch

OPINION – HORTON SACKING

Well City are still in turmoil as to who is going to take over the reigns at the academy. I just hope whoever takes over is given more than the usual Maine Road limit of two seasons and gets some money to do the job.

I believe that Lee was forced into a corner and sacked BH earlier than he had anticipated, because of all the media pressure. Basically they (press) can be held repsonsible for BH’s distasteful sacking. OK so he (BH) hadn’t done himself any favours but the way the club eventually got round to sacking him leaves a bitter taste in the mouth.

With the initial denials and statements about BH’s future being resolved at a board meeting in June, I can only assume that Lee was still in negoiations with his chosen man. Has the sacking upset Lee’s proposed plans for a manager?

We’ve had plenty of names passed around as to who’s getting the job, Rioch & Todd, Kinnear, Souness, Kidd, Graham, Coppell, Bassett, McCarthy, the list seems endless; any manager seems to be included.

It wouldn’t surprise me if Lee himself took on the job of manager. Strange and ridiculous as it sounds, I don’t think the idea can be discounted; would it fulfill Franny’s desire at the Club? Does anyone else get the impression that Franny is a bit of an egomaniac, and this would send him on the ultimate ego trip? As for the suggestions about Franz Beckenbauer, that is another possibility, after all they claim to be good friends. Maybe the Beckenbauer angle is the right one to approach the City crisis from? Someone with continental ideas, to bring a fresh approach to Maine Road.

Whoever comes, I just hope they can bring some success to us the long suffering fans. A trophy would be nice; at least then we’d have something real to cheer about rather than the odd match and the downfall of the rags.

OPINION – MANAGER & PLAYERS

Manager

Rioch, if we want to see some football

Players to buy

How about Mark Robins for 1M?

Player to keep

Niall Quinn; he will always give us an option whenall else fails, even this season when looking halffit he’s got us some vital results, and took super Hendryto the cleaners.

Midfield ball winner

How about Vinnie Jones 🙂 if guts is what you’re after.

WHY BLUE?

This is actually a rather different ‘Why Blue?’, coming not from a long time supporter but from a fairly new convert. I have only really followed City since the start of the 93/94 season but suffice it to say that I have become totally hooked. In fact, next season will see me as a season ticket holder for the first time. But anyway, what is strange is that my conversion to City also marked my conversion to Football as a whole. As a child and a teenager the game never really interested me at all. Maybe it was because I was crap at it at school or maybe it was because my group of friends were also all football-agnostics, I don’t really know.

Anyway I moved to Manchester in August 1991 to become a community worker in Moss Side and began to take a slight interest in the fortunes of City, as I lived just down the road from Maine Road. However, it wasn’t until April ’93 that I got to go to my first match (note my first ever football match). What happened was that a friend of mine who I had met while doing voluntary work was a Liverpool fan. He came up to to visit me during the Easter weekend and decided to drag me along to the City vs. Liverpool match on Easter Monday. It is quite embarrassing to say now but my first experience of seeing City play was in the away end which was packed with Liverpool supporters. I though, instantly got a taste for the tension and excitement of ‘live’ football and swore that I would definitely try to get to some more matches. I managed two more that season, thankfully both were in the City end, and by the start of the next season I had become a Blue. I managed to get to about half the home matches during that season and began to dismay myself about how fanatical I was getting about finding out the scores for the other matches. I think what attracted me to City was the whole atmosphere around the club and also the commitment of the fans. I found City really exciting to watch because of the wole unpredictabilty of the team. Sometimes they would be boring and sometimes well they would just blow my mind.

The 94/95 season saw me attend the majority of home matches as well as a handful of away ones, including the historic victory at Ewood Park this April and, as I have already mentioned, next season I will be taking up by regular seat in row 23 of Block AA of the lower tier of the New Kippax Town.

For the record the best City game I have seen would have to be the Blackburn game where we beat them 3-2. The worst was against Sheffield Utd. at Maine Road in April ’94. I find it quite hard to envisage how I have become so committed to one club in such a short space of time. I think it pays tribute to the easy-going nature of the fans and the flamboyance of City’s game.

HUMOUR – FA CUP DRINKING GAME… from Alex Amsel

I saw the following F.A. Cup final drinking game on rec.sport.soccer. An unconscious state can also be guaranteed by including the rule that every time Paul Ince argues with the referee then you must down half a pint!

Rules:

1. Place all of the following ‘events’ into a pint glass (usually empty!), so that noone knows what they are.
2. Everyone playing should take it in turns to pick an event until the glass is empty.
3. Then, simply drink when one of your ‘events’ occurs.
4. If something occurs which would mean drinking for 2 ‘events’, then you still have to drink for both events. e.g. Pallister being booked and you have one on him being booked, and one on any Utd. player being booked.

The Events:

There are approximately 40 events – feel free to leave some of them out if you don’t have enough people.

(in no particular order)

• Camera shot of Alex Ferguson frowning and chewing gum – 2 Fingers (of beer).
• Camera shot of Paul Ince gritting teeth – 2 Fingers.
• Steve Bruce gets Yellow Card – 2 Fingers.
• Gary Pallister gets Yellow Card – 1 Pint.
• Gary Pallister gets a Red Card – 1 Pint of Beer + 1 Pint of Snakebite.
• Gary Ablett scores – 1 Pint.
• Anders Limpar loses ball taking someone on – 2 Fingers.
• Mention of Duncan Ferguson elbowing someone – 2 Fingers.
• Any phrase about ‘escaping relegation’ – 2 Fingers
  and if Anders Limpar is mentioned regarding saving Everton from relegation last year – another 2 Fingers.
• Any mention of Spurs (media still smarting about dream final) – 1/2 Pint.
• Any mention of players unavailable, Cole, Cantona, Ferguson, etc. – 2 Fingers.
• Anders Limpar holds his arms out beseeching a decision – 2 Fingers.
• Any mention of the Ferguson-Royle FA semi (with Oldham) – 2 Fingers.
• Any mention of when Royle played at Wembley – 2 Fingers.
• Use of the phrase ‘Welsh/English/Scottish/Irish team mate/s’ – 2 Fingers.
• Commentator speculates on what the effect of Cantona’s absence had on the FA Premier League Championship – 2 Fingers.
• Mark Hughes makes a tackle without his studs coming clearly into view, or any Hughes crazy attempted tackle – 1/2 Pint.
• Paul Ince shakes hands with, and congratulates, an Everton goalscorer (including just after the match) – 2 Pints of Snakebite.
• Goal celebration involving a corner flag (Lee Sharpe maybe?!) – 1/2 Pint.
• Any mention of a goalkeeper’s height – 2 Fingers.
• 2 Fingers for the commentator saying ‘The players are rising to the occasion’.
• 2 Fingers for the commentator saying ‘The pitch is in great shape’.
• 2 Fingers for the commentator saying ‘It’s a classic cup final’.
• 2 Fingers for the commentator saying ‘Danger here for Man Utd’.
• 2 Fingers for the commentator saying ‘Danger here for Everton’.
• Mention of Merseyside rivalry/any Liverpool vs. Everton final – 2 Fingers.
• A run up the wing by Pallister (with the ball) – 1/2 Pint.
• Paul Ince argues with the referee – 2 Fingers.
• Any Utd player is shown spitting – 2 Fingers.
• Any Everton player is shown spitting – 2 Fingers.
• Any Utd. Player gets booked – 2 Fingers (bad one this!).
• Any Everton Player gets booked – 2 Fingers.
• Any Utd. Player takes a blatent dive (majority decision) – 2 Fingers.
• Any Everton Player takes a blatent dive (majority decision) – 2 Fingers
  and if it’s Anders Limpar make it 1/2 Pint.
• The Commentary mentions Ferguson’s Injury/Court Case Problems – 2 Fingers.
• Any mention that Hughes was on the bench for the 1st half of the West Ham game – 2 Fingers.
• Any mention of Blackburn winning the championship/Utd. are runners up/Utd. failed to complete the double – 2 Fingers.
• Any mention of Andy Cole’s miss in the West Ham game – 2 Fingers.
• Each Utd Goal – 1/2 Pint.
• Each Everton Goal – 1/2 Pint.

Editor: