Newsletter #777

Sunday’s 3-1 victory over Norwich with a brace by Berkovic (whose second goal showed his class) and penalty by Wanchope sees us now 3 points clear at the top of the table. All this by a 10-man City squad after Tiatto was dismissed on 10 minutes by a rather over-zealous referee and fourth official.

Tonight sees two excellent match reports, plenty of opinion with even more confusion over the origin of the Invisible Man, update on Neil Young and requests.

Those in the Manchester area may care to pop down to Ewen Fields, Hyde on Wednesday night when our youngsters take on Gillingham in the FA Youth Cup. Kick-off is scheduled for 7pm and there is a minimal entrance charge.

MATCH REPORT I: MANCHESTER CITY 3 NORWICH CITY 1

There have been plenty of occasions this season where whistle happy referees have spoilt games with inexplicable free kick decisions and eleven vs. ten contests. However, today at Maine Road, the inept man in black helped produce the best atmosphere of the season as the crowd inspired the team, and vice versa, after Danny Tiatto had received his 10th minute red card.

Tiatto had seen red, metaphorically and literally, after being clearly obstructed by Steed Nedergaard when playing a 1-2 with Horlock. Tiatto’s reaction, to tug the shirt and thrust a forearm into the neck of the wing back, was worthy of a sending off, as shown by the half time replay. However, the reaction of the player, who held his face when the contact was lower, was disgraceful. More perplexing though, was that the decision to dismiss the Aussie came not from the referee, but from he 4th official. Referee and assistant had missed the incident and Tiatto had escaped until the 4th official called the man in charge over for his version of events. It is my understanding that the 4th official’s rôle is simply administrative, unless called upon due to injury. It is surely beyond his remit to issue red and yellow cards to players. Whilst Tiatto would almost certainly have been banned after a ‘trial by TV’ – and that may yet happen after is petulant walk down the tunnel, kicking water bottles and being restrained from the Norwich bench by Kevin Keegan – it will be interesting to see whether this official crossed the line.

At this point, City had already had 7 attacks of note, including a cast iron penalty claim when Shaun Wright Phillips was bundled over after nicking the ball past Craig Fleming, and had had Kevin Horlock booked for an innocuous challenge. But a regrouping was now required. A scrappy period followed, City players fired up after the sending off and Horlock in danger of talking himself into an early bath. On 22 minutes, Norwich exploited the space left by Tiatto and crossed only for Nash to make a magnificent full length save. Until then City had tried to keep 2 up front, but immediately after this chance Wanchope was pulled back into left midfield.

On 25 minutes, Daryl Russell was booked for a foul on Ali Benarbia 25 yards out. It wasn’t a bookable offence but the referee had made a rod for his own back with the early yellow for Horlock. It was Horlock who curled the free kick around the wall for Robert Green to make a good save as the ball was travelling at some velocity. A minute later, another Norwich booking for a foul on Wanchope as City broke out. The foul left Berkovic on his own with 4 defenders after a crazy advantage was played. But despite just having 10 men, City were creating more and better chances. For example a well-worked free kick saw a Berkovic goal bound effort deflected wide, although when attacking the body count in the box saw City outnumbered 8-2. Berkovic missed a difficult chance on 40 minutes. A Wanchope cross was poorly dealt with but Berkovic stabbed wide from 10 yards. There were a lot of bodies between him and the goal and he had to hit the ball first time with the outside of his boot, but the crowd thought maybe their chance was gone.

But Eyal made amends 3 minutes later. Wanchope’s galloping run – the type he has patented – though the centre beating 3 men culminated in a block tackle by the last defender. However, the ball broke to Goater, and with the Norwich defence in disarray, his ball found its way across the box for Berkovic to despatch a bullet finish, beating Green at his near post. The crowd went mad. City successfully negotiated the final minutes of the half, including 4 of injury time caused by Steve Howey (who was replaced by Ritchie), and took a half time lead.

There was barely chance to settle in your seat for the 2nd half before Norwich had equalised. City were slow to react and couldn’t prevent a short corner. This dragged them from their positions and Neilson nodded the cross in from barely a yard. It wasn’t deserved, but City’s hard work had been undone. And it could have been worse but for a great Nash save from a long shot 5 minutes later.

On the hour, City’s prodding was rewarded when Goater collected a Berkovic dinked ball into the box. He rounded the ‘keeper only to be brought down by his body. A penalty was given although the crowd held their breath to see if The Goat was to be booked for diving. Wanchope won the fight with Pearce to take the spot kick that he blasted under the body of the diving ‘keeper. The pace and the fact that the ball didn’t leave the ground thwarted Green’s good attempt to stop it.

Goater, having picked up an injury, was immediately replaced by Huckerby and straight away his pace worried the Norwich defence. His wonderful run down the left ended with a cut back to the surrounded Wanchope when perhaps a shot on goal was preferable and the defence cleared. Within 5 minutes though, Nash caught a Norwich free kick and quickly threw to Eyal Berkovic, stood at half way on the Kippax touchline. With no support, the Israeli had only one option – head for goal. And head for goal he did, leaving defenders in his wake, beating them not with fleet of foot, but with speed of thought. Eventually finding himself 1 against 1 with Green, he cheekily megged him to score a magnificent solo goal. The jubilation on and off the pitch illustrated how vital the 2 goal lead was.

There were still 25 minutes to negotiate, and fatigue was clearly setting into some, but City held firm. Wanchope and Wright Phillips picked up more odd bookings, but there was no real threat to the City goal. Richard Dunne was again in particularly commanding form, and Norwich’s possession, inevitable against ten men, was snuffed out.

In 1987, Eric Nixon’s ill discipline against Crystal Palace resulted in him being sent off, City losing the game along with all momentum in their promotion challenge, eventually finishing 9th. Today’s Manchester City are made of sterner stuff though. They handled the setback superbly, to pull off possibly their best 3 points of the season. With promotion now theirs to lose, it will take some setback to derail them now.

MATCH REPORT II: MANCHESTER CITY 3 NORWICH CITY 1

“I would go as far as saying that it was one of the best if not the best performances I have had since I became a manager.” – Mr K Keegan, Sunday 13 January 2002.

What an atmosphere, what a result, what a performance, what a referee. Norwich were comprehensively taken apart by ten men, quite what could have happened with a full quota of personnel is probably one that’ll give Nigel Worthington recurring nightmares. City were superb from start to finish with only a minor blip after half time when Norwich threatened to hold on for one point.

City lined up Nash, Pearce, Howey, Dunne, Wright-Phillips, Tiatto, Horlock, Benarbia, Berkovic, Goater, Wanchope. Norwich were without their talisman Ewan Roberts, and Marc Libbra (scorer of the first at Carrow Road) featured on the bench. City kicked off from Platt Lane to North Stand and for those who were worrying about Moonchester, worry no more as he now comes complete with female companion Moonbeam.

For once City started like the proverbial house on fire. Whether it was the opportunity to pull away from the chasing pack or the hunger to revenge our 2-0 away defeat, City were like a team possessed. The ball was being used effectively by Ali & Eyal but it was Wright-Phillips who was causing the most problems. It was pretty early on that the ref decided to fluff a decision as Shauny Wrightwrightwright burst into the Norwich box and was felled by Craig Fleming. “Penalty” screamed the crowd, but no, Mr Pearson waved away the appeals – TV watchers confirmed it was a penalty. This added something to the atmosphere of the match but it took a touchline incident to really raise the temperature.

Tiatto had the ball on the left wing near the touchline well into the Norwich half, he was challenged by Nedergaard, the linesman flagged for a City free kick and the ref gave it. Tiatto reacted to the challenge, raised an elbow, Nedergaard decided he’d been shot and fell to the floor like a sack of spuds. The ref and linesman decided there was nowt doing and were ready to get on with the game (Nedergaard was still on the floor) when the fourth official caught the referee’s attention and after consultation called Tiatto over and sent him off. I must confess I didn’t realise the fourth official was in a position to advise the ref on decisions, although TV watchers were unsure if contact was made. Tiatto was obviously a little upset and stormed off the pitch, kicked over some bottles of water (towards the Norwich dugout), had a spat with Doug Livermore (Norwich coach) before Keegan restrained Danny and shoved him down the tunnel with the assistance of a couple of stewards. We obviously haven’t heard the last of that little outburst, especially with Keegan not quite seeing eye to eye with Tiatto on many occasions in the past.

By now the atmosphere was at boiling point but rather than flying into the tackle City decided to continue where they left off. Norwich seemed unable to lift themselves and resorted to aimless forward balls and over hit crosses. The ref was now beginning to lose control and Howey was felled on 20 minutes so giving Norwich a free kick that Nash saved well; although Howey had received some treatment he was replaced by Ritchie. Pearce was now beginning to stamp his authority on the game. I remember hating him when he used to play for Forest and West Ham and spent the match mouthing off and knocking players, but now he’s a Blue it’s all amusing smiles. Nedergaard probably wished he’d really been caught and injured by Tiatto as Pearce shoved, clattered, mouthed off and generally wound Nedergaard up – wonderful stuff!

City were still probing and pressing with Wanchope being the major outlet, his ability to hold the ball and twist and turn into openings was causing the Norwich defence all sorts of problems. A run down the left flank of the Norwich box saw Paulo flick the ball across to the Goat, the ‘keeper dived at his feet and the ball shot out of the box to Berkovic who with the outside of his right foot placed the shot just wide of the post. Head in hands and a feeling that it wouldn’t be our day, but within minutes we were ahead. Wanchope picked up the ball and went on one of ‘those runs’, taking on the entire Norwich defence. His run brought him to the edge of the box where he proceeded to almost lose the ball before managing to stab the ball towards the Goat, losing his boot in the process. The Goat placed a right foot cross across the box to the far side where Eyal hammered it home (a much harder chance than the one he missed earlier); the ground erupted. The goal has to be seen as I don’t really think I’ve given full justice to Wanchope’s run. So, 1-0 to the ten men and half-time brought much cheering and booing (depending if you were in blue, black or wearing a shirt with Nedergaard on the back).

Half time entertainment saw an 86 year old ex-ticket office worker (who’d only retired at 70 odd) carrying out the half-time draw, and some poor attempts at the kick for cash so the pot is now at £550. Second-half started with a whimper, a Norwich corner (Kippax/North Stand) saw a free header for Nielsen and a very static defence. Damnation and hellfire we thought and Norwich proceeded to look for more free kicks/corners with the hope of another set-piece winner.

However, City continued to play some decent football and within 20 minutes they regained the lead. Goat was fed and his run was checked by the onrushing ‘keeper. “Penalty” screamed the crowd and this time the ref gave it. No idea if it was penalty as it was at the far end of the pitch, but my Norwich supporting friend (sat next to me in the North Stand) had already decided that at 1-1 the ref would give us a penalty; interestingly the keeper wasn’t even booked. Wanchope stepped up, the ‘keeper guessing right and diving to his left, but with enough power on the shot it crossed the line for a 2-1 lead.

Before the game was restarted Huckerby came on for the Goat who had earlier been limping and possibly wasn’t at his best after being felled (Huckerby was already stripped before the penalty was given). Four minutes later we witnessed a goal that’ll long live in the memory. Berkovic picked the ball up on half-way and took on the whole Norwich team, his run didn’t stop until he’d placed the ball past the ‘keeper and into the net. Now that last sentence doesn’t even come close to describe the sheer brilliance of Eyal’s run and finish. This time the ground really went mental, celebrations on and off the pitch seemed to go on for ever and at 3-1 we were cruising (well done to the bloke next to me who’d had a bet on a 3-1 win). Having counted that we were really down to ten men, City sat back and controlled the remainder of the match and despite a triple substitution (involving Nedergaard, who was probably glad that he’s unlikely to be playing against Psycho in the near future), Norwich were content to flash shots over or wide of the goal.

With 5 minutes to go Berkovic was replaced by Killen to a standing ovation and the TV man of the match award followed. The tannoy at the ground gave the award to Shaun Wright-Phillips – any idea why we have to have this discrepancy? Bradford was a similar one where Dunne was undoubtedly man of the match (as confirmed in the studio) but the award went to Mettomo at the ground. Anyway I detract, the final whistle greeted a 3-point margin for a team who are beginning to put a quality run together. I’ll not mention the ‘p’ word, but you get the impression that teams are beginning to fear us. With the pace we have and the quality in Eyal & Ali we are close to running up a cricket score against someone, here’s hoping for the sake of my Norwich friend it’s Ipswich.

The scores:

Nash 8 – Top quality saves, could do nothing about the goal.
Pearce 7 – Will be forever remembered for making Nedergaard wish he was back in Norfolk.
Dunne 8 – Top quality, he’s really on the top of his form.
Howey 7 – Hope his injury isn’t too serious.
Wright-Phillips 7 – Plenty of pace but often loses the ball under his feet.
Benarbia 8 – Plays a lovely passing game, even tracked back on a few occasions.
Berkovic 9 – Man of the match, was superb and the second goal he scored was one for the archives.
Tiatto 5 – Played supremely well, until he lost it. Must control his temper, could be on his way out if Keegan’s current purge continues.
Horlock 8 – A revelation of late, yet another player who Keegan is getting a lot more out of than Royle ever did.
Goater 7 – Great cross for City’s first, but is going through a rough patch in front of goal.
Wanchope 8 – A great performance for a man who seems happy, settled and refreshed from an injury-enforced break.

Subs:
Ritchie 7 – Did alright, but didn’t really have too much to worry about.
Huckerby 7 – Is unlucky not to be regularly playing, but his time will come when Paulo is off playing for Costa Rica next month.
Killen – Wasn’t on long enough to get a mark and possibly only had one touch.
Weaver, Negouai – unused.

OPINION: WORST XI

The recent discussion on Blue View of ‘Biggest City Donkey’ has got me thinking of some of the lesser talented players who have graced the Maine Road turf over the years. You’ll have to bear with me as I only started going to Maine Road in about 1984, when I was 9 (so any cr*p players pre-1984 haven’t been included in the ‘Dream Team’ – maybe a few of the older MCIVTA readers could help here), but off the top of my head I reckon a pretty bad team would be:

GK
1. Siddall, Barry

Defenders
2. Kerr, David
3. Frontzeck, Michael
5. Kernaghan, Alan
6. Rimmer, Steve

Midfield
4. Ekelund, Ronnie
7. Groenendijk, Alfons
8. Heaney, Neil

‘Attack’
9. Fashanu, Justin
10. Clarke, Wayne ‘Sniffer’
11. Conlon, Barry

I opted for a 4-3-3 formation, as, quite frankly, more terrible strikers jog the memory than awful midfielders. My bench, in case the unlikely event of the Dream Team not performing to their usually high standards, would be:

12. Burridge, John
13. Williams, Bill
14. Atkinson, Dalian
15. Robins, Mark
16. Mills, Lee

Manager = perm one from Ball / Clark / Neal etc., but a Dream Team of this standard doesn’t need a manager, it manages itself mate!

So come on MCIVTA readers. Reach into the backs of your minds and drag out the loan signings who played one half, journeymen who played for a month, or youngsters who played one game before melting into obscurity and now ply their trade for Marine or some other obscure Bass NW Counties Team (apologies to Steve Rimmer).

OPINION: BANANAS & JAFFA CAKES?

Just a quick note to sing the praises of the Maine Road tour that I went on just before the recent Swindon game.

The highlight of tour for me was walking down the tunnel and imagining I was running out for Manchester City… yeah I know, in my dreams.

I was particularly surprised to see how small the after match interview room was, and that the away team dressing room still has the old fashioned large bath. Perhaps the biggest surprise of the tour was to discover that City’s pre-match diet consists of bananas and Jaffa Cakes (more packets than you can shake a stick at).

During the tour we bumped into Sir Alex Williams whom I found to be a genuinely pleasant bloke. I kept my fingers crossed that I would bump into Kevin Keegan but unfortunately he must have been avoiding us. Next time Kev.

All in all, a thoroughly enjoyable day capped off with a comfortable win in the F.A. Cup. I highly recommend the tour, and at £3 a person… enough said.

OPINION: NEIL YOUNG TRIBUTE ‘THE END’

It’s been a little over 18 months since the inception of the Neil Young Tribute Campaign. In many ways it seems like only yesterday that I was sat writing the original article that started it all and in others it seems like it’s been a lifetime. Which ever view you take though, finally the campaign is over.

The idea first saw the light of day in MCIVTA so it’s only fitting that the closing comments be seen here first too.

In its simplest form the campaign involved around 200 people working to differing degrees to make it a success. The activities that have taken place have raised nearly £24,000 gross. That figure though represents just a fraction of the time and effort that has been given so freely and willingly by so many people. Support has been incredible with people as far apart as Canada and Australia, Norway and Malaysia, taking part in events and donating their time and money to the cause.

Although everybody’s effort is greatly appreciated there are a few people who deserve special mention. Firstly there are our fellow committee members. Apart from Vanda and I one constant has been Mike Wagstaffe who helped set up a lot of the branch visits and sat as deputy chair of the committee. Also from the early days Heidi Pickup put in a lot of hard work helping get the idea off the ground. Latterly Tudor Thomas and Gary Lewis were pivotal to the activities of the last few months and especially with helping to organise the main dinner.

From the supporters’ clubs, Howard Burr and his colleagues from Reddish CSA put in an enormous amount of effort, laying on a dinner and helping to promote the campaign. Dave Lloyd from Mossley OSC helped with the organisation of the Vets match which, after the main dinner, raised the second greatest amount for the fund. Special thanks also to Droylsden and Prestwich and Whitefield branches for the benefit nights they held. All the supporters’ clubs who hosted Neil at their branch meetings and generously donated to the fund, we appreciate your efforts also.

We received help from quite a few celebrity Blues and former players as well. Francis Lee, Mike Summerbee, Peter Barnes, Gary Owen, James H Reeve, Fred Eyre, Jimmy Wagg, Charlie Lambert, all the former players who turned out in the Vets match to name a few but especially Franny and Mike who helped enormously with the gala dinner.

From the earliest times promoting the campaign was always the hardest part and for that we can thank as well as Jimmy, Peter and Gary (above), Dave and Sue Wallace, Noel Bayley and Tom Ritchie from the main fanzines. From the media, the staff at the Manchester Evening News, Sky Sports, The Advertiser Group, Oldham Chronicle and BBC GMR and North West. The key though to the speed with which the campaign grew owes a large part to the various City websites so we would like to thank Dave Scally, Bob Young, Doug Bennett and Ashley Birch and latterly Heidi for all the invaluable plugs they gave us.

Finally we would like to thank the club for listening to us and giving us their support as well as helping with some of the promotion.

The original request was for a testimonial game for Neil. That still hasn’t happened but from discussions with the Chairman, David Bernstein, we are led to believe that it is still an option and that the club are considering whether they will play one. All on the committee live in hope that one day that request will be granted. Neil has waited a long time for the game he was promised back in 1972… let’s hope that he gets that and very soon.

OPINION: THE INVISIBLE MAN ORIGIN I

Just a quick response to Howard Burr’s question on whether the ‘hotel trashing’ in Cork is where the song dates from. Unfortunately (or fortunately) it’s not, Howard. I think that explanation came up in King of the Kippax once – but the song definitely pre-dates that incident.

The song goes way back to the mid 80’s when City played away at Luton Town. If you remember Luton used to ban away fans at the time. Anyway, as per usual, thousands of City fan travelled and were scattered around the ground. In the 2nd half City fans who had sussed each other out started singing this song: “We are not, we’re not really here… we are the fans of the invisible man…” Geddit!

So kill the myth now. It is:

1. Not a reference to our spell in Division Two when most people first heard it as it seemed to rear its head a lot, and
2. Not a reference to an incident in a hotel in Cork, although again it was,allegedly, sung by those fans when the local constabulary turned up to askquestions.

A lot of people don’t like it – but I think it’s class. Any song that belongs to us, and us alone, gets my vote.

OPINION: THE INVISIBLE MAN ORIGIN II

You may already know by now but the invisible man chant started after an unfriendly article was published by The Daily Mirror following one of our lowest home attendances on record against (I think) Mansfield at home in the less than fashionable Auto Windshield trophy which we had to suffer the embarrassment of entering when we were relegated to Division 2.

The game in question came very soon after Trafford Merchandise FC had sold out at home to someone like Bayern Munich at home and the Daily Mirror covered the “story” by showing a split image of their crowded stands compared with our very empty looking stands. Understandable when you consider the difference in quality of opposition and the game involved.

The story was run under the headline “Where have all the City fans gone” and went on to suggest that our loyalty had been tested once too often etc. and that we had deserted our team never to return.

Many City fans found this article a bit uncalled for and quite rightly considering the unbowing loyalty that they had showed during the relegation season the year before when we had very little to sing about.

So the story goes, at the next (weekend) home game probably in front of about 27,000 fans, the Daily Mirror representative in the press box was surprised by the rather angry reception he received from some nearby fans and left the ground early. Ironically the original article was written by a freelance hack.

On the same day, the “Invisible Man” chant was born. Probably aimed at the media in general as well as the Daily Mirror specifically, it was a welcome reminder that we don’t desert our team after we lose three home games consecutively.

Hope this clears things up. Personally I think it sums up both the loyalty and the humour of the City fans and it’s also one of my particular favourites. Having to play Macclesfield in the same week the Rags were playing European fixtures was acutely embarrassing as it was but this guy kicked us when we were down. It was probably the cheapest and most cowardly article ever written about us so it would be interesting to know what the journalist in question is doing now. Who knows, he could be reporting on Sunday league fixtures.

REQUEST: PLAYER BANS

How true was the story I heard about a City fan (who went on to become a Crewe player) having been arrested at the Spurs FA Cup Quarter Final at Maine Road – and subsequently being banned from the ground, yet he still was able to play for them against us?

REQUEST: CSA BRANCHES

All CSA branches and branch members are invited to the next CSA Committee meeting, which is on Tuesday 29th January at South West Manchester Cricket Club, Chorlton starting at 8.00pm. For more info please contact Howard Burr.

RESULTS

Recent results from 2 January 2002 to 13 January 2002 inclusive.

13 January 2002

Manchester City       3 - 1  Norwich City          31,794
Wolverhampton Wndrs   3 - 1  Coventry City         21,009
Stockport County      0 - 1  Crystal Palace         5,541

12 January 2002

Bradford City         3 - 1  Portsmouth            14,306
Gillingham            0 - 1  Sheffield United       8,814
Grimsby Town          0 - 0  West Bromwich Albion   6,011
Nottingham Forest     0 - 0  Barnsley              18,190
Rotherham United      1 - 1  Watford                6,409
Sheffield Wednesday   1 - 0  Crewe Alexandra       16,737
Walsall               1 - 2  Preston North End      6,314
Wimbledon             0 - 0  Burnley                7,675

10 January 2002

Millwall              1 - 1  Birmingham City       11,856

League table to 13 January 2002 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 28 11  3  1 38 13  6  1  6 28 24 17  4  7 66 37  29  55
 2 Wolves          28  8  3  4 22 13  7  4  2 21 11 15  7  6 43 24  19  52
 3 Burnley         27  8  4  1 28 17  7  2  5 21 21 15  6  6 49 38  11  51
 4 Millwall        28  9  2  3 29 15  5  5  4 20 15 14  7  7 49 30  19  49
 5 Norwich City    29 10  3  1 24 11  5  1  9 18 28 15  4 10 42 39   3  49
 6 West Brom A.    29  8  2  4 17  7  6  4  5 16 16 14  6  9 33 23  10  48
 7 Birmingham City 29  9  2  3 27 10  4  6  5 18 23 13  8  8 45 33  12  47
 8 Crystal Palace  28  9  1  3 32 13  5  1  9 17 27 14  2 12 49 40   9  44
 9 Preston N.E.    28  6  5  2 26 12  5  5  5 18 24 11 10  7 44 36   8  43
10 Coventry City   28  7  2  4 20 12  6  2  7 14 17 13  4 11 34 29   5  43
11 Watford         27  7  4  3 27 18  4  3  6 15 14 11  7  9 42 32  10  40
12 Nottm Forest    29  7  7  1 19 10  2  5  7 13 17  9 12  8 32 27   5  39
13 Gillingham      28  8  3  4 27 14  3  3  7 14 25 11  6 11 41 39   2  39
14 Sheff. United   29  4  6  4 21 20  5  5  5 11 15  9 11  9 32 35  -3  38
15 Wimbledon       27  5  6  3 20 15  4  3  6 22 24  9  9  9 42 39   3  36
16 Portsmouth      28  7  1  5 23 19  3  5  7 17 25 10  6 12 40 44  -4  36
17 Bradford City   28  8  1  6 36 28  2  4  7 13 25 10  5 13 49 53  -4  35
18 Rotherham Utd.  27  5  7  2 19 17  2  3  8 15 24  7 10 10 34 41  -7  31
19 Barnsley        29  6  5  3 25 20  1  5  9 14 32  7 10 12 39 52 -13  31
20 Crewe Alex.     27  4  5  3  9 14  3  3  9 17 28  7  8 12 26 42 -16  29
21 Walsall         29  6  3  6 20 19  1  3 10 12 29  7  6 16 32 48 -16  27
22 Sheff. Wed.     28  4  5  6 19 24  2  4  7  9 21  6  9 13 28 45 -17  27
23 Grimsby Town    29  4  5  6 14 19  2  4  8 11 29  6  9 14 25 48 -23  27
24 Stockport C.    29  1  1 13  9 30  1  5  8 16 37  2  6 21 25 67 -42  12

MCIVTA FAQ [v1.6]

[0] MCIVTA Addresses

 Articles (Heidi Pickup)        : editor@mcivta.city-fan.org

 News/rumour (Don Barrie)       : djb1305@yahoo.co.uk

 Subscriptions (Geoff Donkin)   : subscriptions@mcivta.city-fan.org

 Technical problems (Paul)      : paul@city-fan.org

Comments concerning this FAQ should be sent to David Warburton using the address: mcivtafaq@warburton.org

[1] MCIVTA Deadlines

Deadlines for issues are nominally Monday and Thursday evenings.

[2] MCIVTA Back Issues and Manchester City Supporters’ home page

http://www.uit.no/mancity/ 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.

[3] Club Web Site

The official club web site can be found at http://www.mcfc.co.uk/

[4] Supporters’ Clubs

Manchester City FC recognises three supporters’ clubs: The “Official Supporters Club” (http://www.mancity.net/osc/index.html); the “Centenary Supporters’ Association” (http://www.callnetuk.com/home/sef/) and “The International Supporters’ Club” (http://www.mcfc.co.uk/extra/fanzone/isc.asp)

[5] Fans’ Committee

The Fans’ Committee operates as an interface between supporters and the club. It has its own website, http://www.mcfc-fans.com/ containing info about forthcoming meetings as well as minutes from previous gatherings.

[6] City of Manchester Stadium Progress/Web Cam

The latest information regarding the progress of our new home can be found at http://www.commonwealthgames.com/

[7] Match Day Broadcasts

Live match commentaries and archives of games, reports and interviews can be found here: http://www.mcfc.co.uk/comment.asp. An alternate live commentary service, hosted by Yahoo, is located at: http://uk.sports.yahoo.com/foot/audio/live/schedule/index.html. GMR Saturday Sport is also available live online between 1-3pm, and 4.45-6pm at http://www.bbc.co.uk/manchester/sport/index.shtml

[8] Goals on the Net

http://citygoals.topcities.com/ has available for download, usually within 24-48 hours of a game being played, all the goals from City’s matches.

[9] 01/02 Season Match Day Theme Tune

The music the teams run out to at Maine Road this season is “Nightmare”, by Brainbug, and is available on the Positiva label.

[10] Acknowledgements

Thanks go to John Arnold for providing the information regarding match day music and to Ian Bell for pointing out the alternate live match commentary service.

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.

Heidi Pickup, heidi@mcivta.freeserve.co.uk

Editor: