Newsletter #357

What a wonderful Xmas present, even though I did half expect it. Great to see the defence looking solid under attack from Boro, who I thought were the best team to visit Maine Road this season. Shelia in particular looks a good buy, he gave us much-needed height and quality distribution.

This issue has several match reports and matchviews as well as news of more rumblings on the takeover front. There is also the usual opinion and an unusual Why Blue? Apologies for the late delivery.

The next MCIVTA will probably be Monday 29th.

Have a happy Xmas, Ashley.

This one reaches 1,788.

MATCH REPORT – ‘LIVE’

MANCHESTER CITY vs. MIDDLESBROUGH, Saturday 20th December 1997

Ho Ho Ho, there’s your present Robson! Have that 2-0 result and all the best for a miserable new year (that’s the bitterness over with).

Also as it was my birthday I’d had a little to drink (the night before and also on the day) so things my be a little shaky from my perspective.

So was I the only one to be turning up at Maine Road in a pessimistic frame of mind? I certainly didn’t really fancy the Blues’ chances of getting a result from a sky-high Boro. When I saw the team I was perplexed, why so attack-minded, where’s the defence? The Blues lined up with an unusual formation (or was it the festive Christmas tree formation?):

			TW
               KS       GW         MS
        RE         MB       GB           CR
                        GK
                  PD          UR

Considering 4 of the team are attacking players I thought we’d left the midfield under-strength and therefore the defence exposed. However, it did seem to work with Boro completely baffled and out-played by a team at last.

City took the game to Boro and when Gio was scythed down by the hippy left back of Boro, it was nice to see nearly all the team get over to the incident and show some team spirit (now I can’t condone any fisticuffs on the field, but it’s a long time since the team showed this much spirit). City were running Boro ragged, with Edghill marauding down the right and exposing the said ‘tart’ at left back. City were awarded a penalty after about 15 minutes. Edghill crossed from the right (after a great through ball from Gio or was it Uwe?), Russell mis-hit the first ball, it bobbled back to him, he controlled it (albeit taking it away from goal) and was felled in the box, clear penalty. Rösler took up the challenge after Gio’s surrender of the duties and hammered the ball home (was it straight down the middle?), 1-0! Still Boro were unable to create anything and for once it looked City could create chances at will. The second goal came as a result of old twinkle toes creating his magic in the box. Gio drifted into the box on the right wing, beat two players and then from the byeline pulled the ball back (now was I imagining things, but was it really with his right foot?). It fell to Dickov whose shot eventually hit the back of the net (his shot seemed to take some time, was it half-saved?). 2-0. Still I had this nagging doubt screaming from the inner recesses of my brain that Boro would come back! Rösler nearly wrapped things up from a Gio through ball but Schwarzer just managed to block Uwe’s shot. So half time came with City deservedly 2-0 up!

At half time it was announced that Glenn Hoddle was in the crowd, so who was he watching, surely it wasn’t Ged Brannan!

The second half started and it soon became clear that it would be different. From the formation and tactics Boro seemed to be in the ascendance (I wouldn’t credit this all to Captain Marvel, more likely that FC had told the players to become more defensive). City seemed quite intent on getting as many players behind the ball and leaving the breakout down to a couple of players. There were instances in the 2nd half when only one City player was in the Boro half facing at least three defenders, with no support whatsoever. Boro for all their possession never really threatened a goal. City ran out 2-0 winners.

It was a good result, but there were a couple of points that got me annoyed. Firstly, the second half performance was just too defensive. We’d proved in the first half that we could beat Boro so why change tactics and sit back and invite so much Boro pressure? Even when City did go forward it was in small numbers, one, two or occasionally three players. We should have left the tactics as they were and changed only if necessary. Secondly, Brown had run himself into the ground and was completely knackered with about 10/15 minutes left, why didn’t FC replace him? Also Russell, someone else who had worked tirelessly, was knackered as well, yet he too had to stay on the pitch. Who were the subs: Bob, van Blerk and Whitley, any of whom could have filled the gaps!

Final score City 2 Boro 0.

Overall it was a great result from a hard working, committed team (when was the last time we could say that about the Blues?). Hopefully we can carry on the good work now and start to look up the league rather than down the league.

My man of the match, well I could obviously give it to Gio for his skills, but I’ll plump for one of the defenders. It’s been a while since we’ve had a defence that looked so assured and safe at the back. Shelia looked solid, won most headers and tackles. Russell, although a striker, fitted into the right wing-back rôle like a natural. He was prepared to run his socks off up and down the wing and won a few needed tackles. However my Man of the Match is going to one of the unsung heroes, a player who usually misses out on most of the plaudits: Richard Edghill – he caused no end of problems down the right and was also always there at the back. Yes his passing was still a little shaky but overall he had a good game, so good on ya Tricky.

The down side – trouble once more. Why is there so much ill feeling and trouble when Boro come to town? How come the Boro trouble causers were allowed out of the Boro section of the North Stand and got into L block (I noticed about 20/30 leave the Boro section with about 20 minutes to go)? Why did it take so much time for the Police and stewards to arrive and separate the fighting factions?

As an aside, I heard that the Boro trouble causers were given a pasting outside the Sherwood later on! I walked past there after the match and there were a load of City fans waiting and mulling around, surely the Police should have moved them on?

Have a good ‘un, we can go into Christmas with a smile.

MATCH REPORT – ‘LIVE’

MANCHESTER CITY vs. MIDDLESBROUGH, Saturday 20th December 1997

Phew, what a game – talk about having games of two halves… Just over 28,000 turned up to see City turn in one of their best first half performances of the season so far before going back to normal in the second half. Clark played an attacking formation (as you would expect at home). The team lined up with Wright deputising for the injured Margetson, Edghill, Symons, Shelia, Wiekens, Brown, Brannan, Russell, Kinkladze, Dickov and Rösler. Middlesbrough were without Emerson, who was injured or suspended depending on which teletext page you read, but did include Merson, who Glenn Hoddle had come to watch, and Festa, who broke Steve Lomas’s nose in that cup tie last year.

City started the game as if someone had shoved rockets up their backsides. Middlesbrough just couldn’t cope with the amount of pressure being piled on them. Brannan looked as if he’d finally remembered what his feet were for, Brown was everywhere, Russell, who’d been dropped back into midfield to allow Dickov and Rösler to play together, finally looked as if he was settling into the side, and as for Kinkladze… We could easily have been 3-0 up within the first 15 minutes. Rösler had a shot well saved, Brannan headed one just over the bar, and I lost count of the number of times the ball was desperately cleared by the ‘Boro defence. Edghill had his best game for a long time going forwards, and did some lovely overlaps with Kinkladze, who completely skinned the ‘Boro defence for fun time and time again. We did start to wonder if Hoddle was there watching someone else – isn’t Brannan English? Not that we were getting carried away or anything. After about 10 minutes, Kinkladze was coming towards the Kippax ready to give the ball to Edghill and keep going when there was a truly awful tackle from behind from the ‘Boro number 3, Harrison. Edghill stood up to him, at which point the entire ‘Boro team – and most of ours as well – ran over and joined in. Harrison was booked for the tackle and was roundly booed every time he touched the ball after that. How dare he kick Gio? Five minutes later the pressure finally paid off for City when Russell was squashed by two ‘Boro players in the box and the penalty was given. Now, I’ve seen a fair few penalties missed this season, so it was with some trepidation that I peered through my fingers whispering “please please please please please please” as Rösler stepped up to take it. I needn’t have worried, he hit it hard and straight and the ‘keeper didn’t have a chance of saving it. As Jo Blakeway said on the tannoy, “Merry Christmas!”

On the half hour City deservedly went further ahead. A lovely jinking run from Gio (how often have we seen that) down the right left the ‘Boro defence lunging at space. He crossed the ball and Dickov wellied it in, seemingly via the ‘keeper’s body but who cares? City were on fire, the crowd was the noisiest and happiest they’ve been for months, nothing could go wrong now. Out came the Santa hat, which I hadn’t dared put on before the game as we lost to Port Vale the only other time I’d worn it! Could this be the day to break the jinx?

Unfortunately though, that was almost the end of the great attacking play by City. For the remaining 10 minutes of the first half and most of the second half, they reverted to hoofing the ball forwards cluelessly and watching the ‘Boro midfield pick up the ball and come back at them. The referee was absolutely useless, as per normal – I don’t think he was going to give the penalty until the linesman in front of the Main Stand started waving furiously. City seemed to give up on midfield and sit back to try to defend their lead. Ooh scary. Still, it worked. ‘Boro did dominate the midfield but they never really looked like scoring. They had a couple of free kicks on the edge of the area (cheers ref – not) but only managed to hit them either straight at Wright or straight over the bar. Didn’t worry me, ahem well not much. Shelia picked up virtually every high ball, and Symons next to him was almost back to his best – there was one particular occasion in the first half where he dispossessed the attacker, then coolly ran round him and passed – that’s passed – the ball onto Edghill. Still, being City, there was always that feeling that if Boro got one they’d get three.

Festa was his normal filthy self too. He was booked towards the end – not for the persistent fouling, shirt tugging and kicking that he’d been doing all the way through, but for kicking the ball back to the ‘keeper when a free kick had been given against him.

So, a good solid performance by the defence, a battling one (in the first half anyway) by the midfield, and a display of pure genius from Gio. I hope Hoddle enjoyed the game, there was only one player showing real international class out there on Saturday and it wasn’t Merson.

On a final note, there was trouble at the end in the North Stand. There were a lot of police outside the ground, probably expecting trouble after the way the Boro fans have behaved at Maine Road in the last couple of years, but no-one was expecting what actually happened. It appeared that about 50 Boro “fans” had come in through the gates in the North Stand when they were opened ten minutes before the end to let the City fans out (the Boro fans were to be kept in) and went on the rampage through the fans who were sitting at the back.

A caller on the GMR phone-in said that they had been in the pub all the way though the game waiting for their chance. Idiots. Amazingly no arrests were made, but surely City must have what happened on video – they should be banned for life for that sort of behaviour, surely?

So, on to Crewe on Boxing Day, hoping City don’t do what they normally do after a good performance and play dismally. Don’t eat too much turkey boys…

MATCH REPORT – ‘LIVE’

MANCHESTER CITY vs. MIDDLESBROUGH, Saturday 20th December 1997

It seems like ages since I submitted a match report, even though I have been to them all. So just before I give my Boro report, a few comments from recent games.

West Brom was a great night out, with a great all-round performance capped by a late winner. The only bad point was the West Midlands Police traffic control. Turning left to get towards the M5, I was told to do a U-turn half way up the hill. After driving around for a mile or so I spotted a diversion for the M5 and followed it. Eventually arrived at a set of lights hoping to go straight on, I was told to turn left. Getting rather cheesed off by now I wound my window down and half-politely suggested that he let me go straight on. I was told: turn left. I turned left and spotted another PC walking down the street. In between telling him what I thought of his collegues, he gave us directions through Smethwick, telling us to turn right at a set of lights. Arriving at the red lights, another PC was stood in the road directing all traffic left again. Just then he went to the kerbside to speak to someone. As the lights changed I shot off to the right and was soon on the motorway, eventually passing the City coach in Staffordshire, which shows you how long we were held up.

Wolves. What can you say other than they were more than physical, and were outclassed by us, with Kit unluckily spooning one into his own net. But the performance was encouraging, which is saying a lot after the Stockport episode the week before. There was some trouble outside the North Stand after the game, with one particular Wolves fan blatantly shouting obscenities in our direction. This even provoked a reaction from me, telling the scum to f*** off back to his cave. Unfortunately a couple of younger headstrong lads started chucking coins at him from 10 yards, to which he reacted by taughting them even more. One couldn’t resist the temptation to gave a go, and was jumped on by 5 policemen as he was about to pounce, slammed against a wall, handcuffed, arrested and thrown in a van. The Wolves scum walked on to the coach without any police involvement. This area is a potential disaster zone, and one day some innocent fan is going to get caught up in the middle. Why don’t the police keep the away fans in for 10 minutes after the match, or cordon off a passage for the away fans to their coaches. I was told by Noel that clubs can be sued for false imprisonment, but surely common sense should prevail? If all clubs adopted a policy of keeping in away fans for 10 minutes, fans can then make a choice, i.e. if you don’t fancy being locked in for your own safety, don’t buy a ticket for away games! West Brom have the right idea. The away fans share a stand with the home fans, similar to the North Stand. A set of high steel gates between the home and away entrances are open before the game, but are closed before the end of the game, so fans cannot come into contact. Seems like a reasonable idea at City, but you know what they say about the simplest ideas…

Birmingham. My pen ran out as I had to change every name on the City line up. Another excellent performance, with the City end echoing to the shouts of “Sheila, Sheila…” (sic) after Murtaz capped an excellent début with a headed goal in the 88th minute. I was very impressed with his heading ability. Not only does he get great height, but he keeps his hands/arms down, so very rarely gets penalised. And those thighs! Stuart Pearce the second or what? As a ref, I was surprised to see five minutes added at the end of the first half, although there were a couple of stoppages. With 2 minutes to go, the goal went to our heads, and in hindsight FC has to shoulder some blame for not “time consuming” by making substitutions after the goal went in, thus stopping Birmingham’s momentum. Referees won’t usually add on time for substitutions, unless it is blatant time-wasting (was it a Stoke player who was replacing divots as he left Maine Road?). However, Birmingham’s equaliser came in the 94th minute, with the lanky ex-Stockport striker Francis proving a handful for City. Still, we would have settled for a point before the game, so blow yer whistle ref and let’s go home. Unbelievably, the ref was quite happily playing on and in the 98th minute disaster struck, and we were beaten. The image of the City players lying on the floor will remain with me for ages. We just couldn’t believe it. To make matters worse, West Midlands Police did their usual stunt of leaving us in a short queue of cars for 20 minutes with no apparent traffic on the main road we wanted to join. Even worse was listening to the local phone-in, with blinkered Brummies saying how negative City were, how brilliant Birmingham were, how City deserve to be at the bottom. The fact was that City were in total control until the 90th minute, and would have been good value for three points.

And so to Middlesbrough. Went down to Platt Lane on Friday to eat my butties in the car park. Spotted Kit, Brannan, Russell, Clough coming out. Then Kinky appeared with Murtaz. I went over and asked Gio if he was playing tomorrow, to which he answered in broken English “yes” (I think). It’s nice to see how easily he has picked up the language after two and a half years. Anyway he signed my pennant (that makes about 10 autographs), and I then asked Murtaz if he would do the same, or rather I held the pen and pennant up and did a “please sign my pennant” mime. I don’t know if I scared him, being 6ft 4in and dressed in a dark suit, but he nodded that he understood my request, and did the honours. As he gave me back my stuff, I put my thumbs up and said/mimed “great goal at Birmingham, Murtaz”, to which he smiled and nodded, as if to say “f*** off and leave me alone you sad b*****d.” Got my Bradford ticket, saw Peter Barnes, and Steve Lomas’ car (?), but couldn’t get the new book from the superstore.

Spoke to Noel pre-match, who remained tight-lipped about a prediction. On paper, top-of-the-league against one-point-off-the-bottom could only mean one thing… a City win, and that is what we got. I was disappointed to see Margetson dropped (or is he injured?), as I thought he had established himself. The same applies to Vaughan, who I thought had been very good since getting back in after injury. If FC had awarded places in the team on merit and effort, which is how it should be, then Kit should have been dropped instead. I was very worried at Birmingham to see the backward step of replacing Brown with Brightwell, and prayed that he wouldn’t be given a start. On a more positive note, thankfully Emerson was missing for Boro (I couldn’t bear to watch him wiggling his fat cycle-shorted arse if he’d scored).

A surprisingly unfull house of 28,000, including a disappointing Boro turnout, awaited our biggest home game of the season so far. Straight from the start City came out guns a-blazing and went close on a number of occasions early on. Boro were always on the defensive when City were suprisingly awarded a penalty in the 17th minute when Russell was brought down as he went round the outside of a Boro defender. Uwe picked the ball up, never even considered offering it to Kinky or Dickov, and blasted the ball into the middle of the goal. City continued to press and went 2-0 up in the 33rd minute when Uwe played a great ball through to Kinky, who jinked down to the touch line and pulled it back for Dickov to fire home. The most memorable pass I have seen for yonks was when Kinky picked up the ball on the half way line, saw Edghill making a run down the right, and knocked a 40 yard swerving ground pass through four Boro defenders, straight into Edghill’s path on the corner of the six yard box, with a corner resulting. Half time 2-0.

In the second half Boro controlled the game, with City always looking half a yard behind the play. But the defence put in another great performance, and held up under the pressure. Kinky saw a curling free kick well saved by the Boro ‘keeper, and the crowd rightly applauded every time a City player chased a loose ball. Thankfully we only had to endure two minutes stoppage time, and the players had a collective scrumdown type gathering after the final whistle blew. Final score 2-0.

Ratings:

Wright (6) Made a couple of good saves, but looks awkward, his distribution is not as accurate as Margetson, and he was caught well out of goal, à la Port Vale, when a long range shot ended up in the net, only to be disallowed for offside. Come back Martyn.
Edghill (7) Better performance than of late, but sometimes lacks the confidence to have a go and take on players.
Shelia (10) Don’t think I saw him lose one header. Oozes international class and an invaluable gem of a defender. A natural leader, so watch out Kit.
Wiekens (9) Looks like he has been in the team years. What more can I say?
Symons (7) Solid performance, but doesn’t look the part somehow. Today’s schoolboy error was heading the ball into trouble instead of away from danger. Fortunately Shelia saved his bacon. I would give Vaughan a go on the left, with Shelia in the middle.
Brown (9) Give me a bottle of whatever he and Dickov are on please. May lack a bit of finesse at times, but this lad epitomises the spirit we need. Don’t disappoint the lad, FC, by dropping him on this form. I swear I saw him sweating blood.
Brannan (8) Has made me eat my words in recent games, notably when Horlock has been absent. Has grafted for the cause.
Russell (9) Another pocket dynamo who chased and fought for every ball. Definitely his best performance so far, but I reserve long-term judgement.
Kinkladze (9) You can tell when Kinky is up for it, and today was one of those days. The pass I described earlier is why I forked out 300 pounds this season. You never know what to expect.
Dickov (10) Ran back 50 yards on numerous occasions, bore down on every back pass to the ‘keeper, and was rewarded with a goal. Great inspiration, but will he make way for Bradbury in the New Year? I hope not.
Rösler (9) Outstanding performance. Won plenty of ball in the air, held it up well, passes were marvellous, especially the one for the second goal. Can we afford to let him leave the club? The answer is a big fat Father Christmas no!

All that remains is for me is to wish all MCIVTAites, DOSLAites and Blue Viewers a very Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year.

Commercial break:

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MATCH VIEW

City came into the match boosted by the return of Gio, the home début of Shelia and Uwe partnering Paul Dickov up front. Boro lined up without Lionel Richie but Nationwide player of the month Mickel Beck was leading their attack.

City started very strongly, Gio causing the Boro defence some difficult moments, one of which led to their full back being booked and a free-for-all near the Kippax. Incidently it was good to see all the City players running across the pitch to help Kinky.

After about 17 minutes Russell, going away from goal, was brought down for a clear penalty which Uwe smashed down the centre for a deserved lead.

City still kept up the tempo of their play and a flowing cross-field move, some great skill from Gio and a neat finish from Dickov made it 2-0 to the Blues.

In the second half, City employed their usual tactic of playing too deep which allowed Boro to take control of midfield. Despite a lot of pressure they were mainly restricted to long range shots by Merson and City held on comfortably for a good win.

Ratings:

Tommy W – Boro’s most promising moments came from his kicks but he was very safe with any shots that came his way. 7
Richard E – Looked very willing to go forward and had his best game for a while. Crossing could be better. 8
Murtaz S – Looks like he could be the hard defender that we need. He is strong in the tackle and good in the air. 8
Michael B – had a good game in the centre of midfield, looked a bit tired in the second half though. 8
Kit S – Looked quite confident and gave a good performance. 7/8
Gerard W – Looks an excellent defender and a good captain. The 3-man defence looked quite strong.
Ged B – OK in the first half, tends to drop too deep and was alongside Wiekens in the second half playing centre back. 7
Craig R – Looks quite effective at wing back. Made some good tackles and defended well, managed to get forward and won the penalty. 7
Paul D – Ran his heart out as usual, good to see him get the reward of a goal. 8
Gio K – A good return for Gio. Had the boro defenders chasing shadows at times. Great skill set up the second goal. 8/9
Uwe R – Looked willing and chased every ball, showed lots of commitment. 7

If only they played like this against the teams at the bottom of the league.

MATCH RATINGS

As there already plenty of decent match reports, I thought I’d confine myself to rating the performances. To be honest, I’m not sure that I could manage a match report as I was barely able to watch the second half, despite the fact that our defence looked solid.

Ratings:

Wright (6): Wright made a couple of good stops (nothing that wouldn’t have been expected of any goalie though) and one excellent save. However, his kicking and throwing out were pretty awful and often got us into trouble, or more tellingly, failed to get us out of it.
Edghill (9): Excellent performance, he opened up the Boro’ left repeatedly giving us another option, and still defended well.
Symons (8): Symons seems to get dirtier by the game, which is OK in this division as refs don’t seem to bother overly much about pushing, shoving and tackling from behind. This enabled him to keep the talented Beck largely under control.
Wiekens (8): Another stirling performance.
Shelia (8): This guy looks a quality player; he heads the ball beautifully, seeming almost to float whilst choosing which player to head the ball down to – yes, I did say down!
Russell (7): Played well in a new rôle and looked very comfortable defending, which is unusual for an attacker.
Brannan (6): Worked hard, but he just doesn’t look as if he can rise above a certain level – mediocre.
Brown (8): Ran himself ragged, got booked for another wild challenge (got away with an even wilder one) and looked utterly knackered with 25 minutes to go.
Gio (8): Back in form, tormented the Boro’ defenders and several times deliberately gave then the ‘come and get it’ routine. Their number 3 was booked for a totally reckless challenge which Gio eveded with his customary agility. However, when the defender was on the deck, he clearly kicked him and was lucky to get away with it.
Dickov (8): Usual never-say-die performance, a good finish and a couple of other decent chances.
Rösler (8): Looked tired in the second half, but previously gave the attack bite and caused quite a bit of trouble for the Boro’ defence, who obviously didn’t like him.

Festa (10): Brilliant performance, managed to recover from a life-threatening injury (twice) in one match, aided only by the ref telling him to get up or be booked! Should have been playing at the Palace, not Maine Road!

NEWS – TUEART BLAMES DIRTY TRICKS CAMPAIGN FOR CITY SLUMP

From PA Sport

Manchester City’s new director, Dennis Tueart, believes a dirty tricks campaign is being run to undermine the First Division strugglers. Tueart is particularly upset by rumours that the job of manager Frank Clark, a long-time friend, is in jeopardy. “Frank Clark’s the manager and he will run that side of it. I spoke to Frank this week and he mentioned there were one or two malicious people he felt trying to do damage to this football club,” said Tueart. “Now this situation makes me believe there are devious, malicious people trying to cause problems for Manchester City. Frank Clark, as I’ve said, is the manager. He knows we’re near the bottom of the table and he’s doing his best to try and put that right. We want a situation of togetherness here. We’re trying to pull together to achieve better results for the club.”

Tomorrow City face leaders Middlesbrough at home with just 21 points and the season at his halfway stage. Tueart, a former City and England star, joined the board this week as three directors left in a shake-up at Maine Road. Meanwhile, Clark today confirmed that Everton had recently made an inquiry for midfielder Gio Kinkladze, but insisted the Georgian international is staying at Maine Road. “Gio’s is very happy at the club, and so long as he’s happy, there will be no discussions about a transfer,” said Clark. “Gio does have a gentlemen’s agreement with myself and the chairman. I think we owe him that for his loyalty, but Kinkladze wants to stay at the club and we are more than delighted to have him.”

NEWS – TUEART’S WARNING FOR CITY BOSS

New Manchester City director Dennis Tueart has fired a warning to Frank Clark on the anniversary of his first year as manager at Maine Road. The former City star said: “Frank has to realise we need things to improve soon. He is judged on the part he plays in the team’s progress.” Tueart, a member of the 1976 City team that won the League Cup, added: “I like Frank. We have been mates for years but patience is a word that has been banded about here for far too long. I’m on the board to put forward the opinions of major shareholders – and I will do that.” Only 24 hours ago Clark admitted that his first year at City had been a major disappointment. He said: “I admit that there have not been many ups and I’m obviously disappointed to be in almost the same position as when I came.”

NEWS SUMMARY

The rumour-mongers just won’t let go of the idea that Gio Kinkladze is to leave City; this time it’s based on the Georgian’s attendance of the Newcastle United vs. Manchester United game on Sunday, though the possibility that he was just there to watch his friend and international team-mate Temur Ketsbaia seems to have been ignored. City director Dennis Tueart, a regular at St. James’ Park due to his hospitality business, was also there.

Once again, Frank Clark played down the rumours: “I don’t want to put a price tag on Kinkladze because he is not for sale. He doesn’t want to leave and I don’t want to sell him. I don’t think the way forward is to sell your best players. I’m still of the opinion that we can be successful with Gio in the team, and if we’re successful with him in the team we’d be entertaining as well and that’s what I’m aiming to do. We’ve never had a deal that was strong enough to say it would be right for Gio and the club. Gio has a great affection and affiliation with the supporters, and it’s refreshing to see. Gio is happy to stay at the club and as long as he’s happy to stay, we’re happy to keep him. He will be the one to decide when he wants to go.”

Another noteworthy spectator this weekend was England coach Glenn Hoddle, who watched Paul Merson at Maine Road on Saturday. Hoddle declined to speak after the game, though it’s doubtful he’d have had much to say about Merson’s quiet performance. Incidentally, there were only four Englishmen in the City side that beat Merson’s Middlesbrough 2-0: Richard Edghill, Ged Brannan, Michael Brown and Craig Russell.

One of City’s foreign contingent, Uwe R