Newsletter #1808

OK, Thursday was a tad frustrating, though I don’t think we deserved to lose and, if I can be controversial for a moment, I want us to ditch the Europa League.

I cast my mind back to last season and we absolutely took off the moment we went out of the tournament. Looking at this season it is, and always has been, all about the Premier League. Nothing should distract us from that.

But then wanting the Boys in Blue to lose? Cuts against the grain doesn’t it? Ok ok… let’s go win them both – the only way to guarantee “that lot” remain potless!

ARTICLE: SUPPORT EVERY CITY PLAYER

As Carlos Tévez trains to get fit, I still read how some City fans will not give Tévez any support. I understand why people feel this way: he has hurt us all, but has said “sorry”.

But on the way to winning the Premier League, we must not be divided; the Rags will love it, don’t let it happen!

Support any player selected to play for City by Roberto Mancini, and cheer on our team!

Tévez scored his first goal in the reserves for City and was cheered by the over 1,000 fans in attendance; as Tévez came off he waved back to the City fans.

If Roberto Mancini can forgive then so will I and there is no certainty that Tévez will get his place back in the team, unless he is deemed worthy of his place by our manager.

The team have been playing very well without Tévez; he has got to be back to his very best to get into this team!

Come on you Blues, play every game as a Cup Final with every player that puts on a City shirt to get our support (I know it will not be that easy at times, but do it to win the League)!

We can win the Europa League without Tévez; he is not registered!

The team needs our support now more than ever, come on let us show it!

In Mancini I trust! Come on you Blues!

ARTICLE: GMR

Next up on Tuesday 13th March on Radio Manchester is Ian Cheeseman – Blue Tuesday. If you haven’t heard the show it covers all things City (every Tuesday) around 6pm. It’s a little bit twee and more than a whiff of “ee by gum and we’re up north” and the interactions with the fans are a bit banal to say the least, but then again it’s not Radio 4. However, they usually pick a couple of fan guests with double digit IQ who are prepared to go into a bit more depth than just saying “Agüero is brilliant, Tévez should go”.

The highlights of the show are resident pundit Paul Lake who is very even handed (Blue but fair). Unlike the BBC they will have an opinion on matters; Tévez saga, Kompany red card and of course Mario. They always have a phone-in guest, last week was Rodney Marsh who admitted he upset the team in March 1972 (can you believe he signed 40 years ago this month?) and that cost the Championship; very revealing admission from Rodney Rodney.

Next week the guest is Neil Custis (sic) from The Sun Newspaper and the topic is “Why does it feel that everyone in the media hates City?” Discuss!

Apologies I am vague about the time of the show but I think it’s 6-8pm.

I never listen live as a) it’s usually never convenient b) the podcast always edits out the news and traffic bulletins, which cuts it down to 90 minutes.

RESPONSE: STEVE KERSCH ARTICLE

Just a quick post to reflect what Steven Kersch of Florida said in the last MCIVTA… about City being a class act and the contrast between us and that team based in Trafford Metropolitan Borough.

I live near the Reebok and as such a lot of friends are Bolton fans. Earlier in the season my mate’s son was to be Bolton mascot when they played away at that other club outside Manchester. While his 7 year old son was proud (and brave!) to lead Bolton out that day, and the Bolton staff looked after them, they weren’t really welcomed or looked after by anyone connected with ‘The Unmentionables’ and my mate left with pretty much the same low impression of them that he always has had.

Contrast this to when City played Bolton last week and this time it was the same mate’s daughter who was to be Bolton mascot (note: it’s dead easy to be mascot for Wanderers at away games, no comps, no extortionate fees like at some teams, you just phone them up and within a few weeks your son/daughter is leading the team out!). As you’d expect, my son and I watched out for her from our usual seats in the family stand when she ran out onto the pitch and gave her a wave from a distance.

After the match I sent him the link to the ‘CityTV TunnelCam’ so they could watch themselves in the tunnel and the build-up to the game again, which they both thought was great.

Despite the result from their point of view, both my mate and his daughter had a great day out and said City treated them fantastically throughout the day. They said everyone at the club had been amazing and had looked after them really well, his daughter was given goody bags and other small gifts as mementoes of her special day. Beforehand they’d expected the same sort of treatment as when they’d run the gauntlet in bandit country, but were amazed and overwhelmed by how much effort City had made to look after them and the total difference between ‘us and them’.

ARTICLE: END OF SEASON

Got to give the Rags credit for hanging in, and with City due to play both Chelsea and Arsenal as well as the United home match on April 20th, there really isn’t any room for a City slip-up.

Just have this nagging feeling that we are going to win the Europa League but somehow United are going to edge us in the League. I think we have a good shot of beating them April 20th but some dodgy refereeing decisions will cost us against Arsenal, Chelsea and maybe even Newcastle.

Look at how the Rags scraped all points against Norwich and took full points against Tottenham even though they were played off the park, and you figure Fergie’s luck is somehow going to steal the Championship from us.

Hope I am wrong (Ed – so do we all!) but it is uncanny how United can play so badly, yet get referee’s calls in their favour.

Hope I am wrong, but I have this nagging feeling.

OFFER: RETRO MAN CITY SHIRTS

I thought it may of interest to a number of readers of MCIVTA that I am selling a number of my City shirts that I have collected over the years. I’m sure you don’t want people advertising, but I thought as it’s City- related and I’m sure readers would be interested if you would include it.

The shirts’ auction end dates are this Saturday and Sunday and if readers are interested just go to ebay.co.uk and:

1. Click ‘advanced search’ to the right of the keyword search box on the eBay home page.
2. Members > Find a member. Enter user ID and click ‘search’

My seller name is slothmcfc.

Any problems/questions they can contact me directly at the address below.

AND FINALLY… Ooh Balotelli!

If these clips don’t cheer you up then nothing will!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-tagn3lB3I

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=Vx9uqUGN8IY&NR=1
What a train journey!

RESULTS AND TABLE

League table to 04 March 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 27 14  0  0 42  6  7  3  3 27 13 21  3  3  69  19  50  66
 2 Manchester Utd  27 10  1  2 37 15 10  3  1 29 12 20  4  3  66  27  39  64
 3 Tottenham H.    27 10  2  2 30 13  6  3  4 22 20 16  5  6  52  33  19  53
 4 Arsenal         27  9  2  2 29 11  6  2  6 26 27 15  4  8  55  38  17  49
 5 Chelsea         27  8  2  3 30 19  5  5  4 17 13 13  7  7  47  32  15  46
 6 Newcastle Utd   27  7  5  2 21 15  5  3  5 18 24 12  8  7  39  39   0  44
 7 Liverpool       26  4  8  1 15 10  6  1  6 15 15 10  9  7  30  25   5  39
 8 Fulham          27  7  4  3 29 19  2  5  6  8 17  9  9  9  37  36   1  36
 9 Stoke City      27  6  4  4 18 14  4  2  7  9 24 10  6 11  27  38 -11  36
10 West Brom A.    27  4  2  8 14 16  6  3  4 20 19 10  5 12  34  35  -1  35
11 Norwich City    27  5  4  4 20 17  4  4  6 18 27  9  8 10  38  44  -6  35
12 Sunderland      27  5  4  4 20 13  4  3  7 15 18  9  7 11  35  31   4  34
13 Everton         26  5  3  5 14 13  4  4  5 13 15  9  7 10  27  28  -1  34
14 Swansea City    27  5  6  2 18 10  3  3  8 12 24  8  9 10  30  34  -4  33
15 Aston Villa     27  3  4  6 14 17  3  8  3 16 18  6 12  9  30  35  -5  30
16 QPR             27  2  5  7 14 22  3  2  8 14 24  5  7 15  28  46 -18  22
17 Blackburn R.    27  4  1  9 20 27  1  6  6 18 33  5  7 15  38  60 -22  22
18 Wolves          27  3  2  8 17 28  2  5  7 13 28  5  7 15  30  56 -26  22
19 Bolton Wndrs    27  2  2  9 15 27  4  0 10 14 29  6  2 19  29  56 -27  20
20 Wigan Athletic  27  1  6  7 11 24  3  2  8 12 28  4  8 15  23  52 -29  20

MCIVTA FAQ [v1112.01]

[1] MCIVTA Addresses

Articles (Philip Alcock)         : editor@mcivta.city-fan.org
News/rumour                      : 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/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/.

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.

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

Editor: