Newsletter #854

Don’s news round-up has some interesting items tonight ranging from an ex-Manager’s demise to an almost Baringesque foul-up by our new financial backers. We’ve also drawn Wigan in the next round of the Worthington Cup. How we remember them well.

Gavin has sent in his report from our reserve outing against Bolton (we won 2-1 thanks to the Goat and Huckerby on a bitterly cold night in Hyde). The debates continue on team selection, formation, and our current ‘dip’ as we have another 10 days until the Chelsea game. We also have an unusual request on City ‘models’.

Finally, greetings to those who were at the excellent Roadshow in Tameside tonight; it was great to put more faces to names, and hope you all had a safe journey home.

NEWS EDITING

Our resident newsman Don is off on his holidays for issues 858 (24/10) and 860 (31/10). If anybody would like to have a go at providing the summaries for those two editions, please contact Don directly (news@mcivta.city-fan.org) who will be able to give you guidance on his ‘blue’ sources.

Thank you.

NEWS SUMMARY

General News

Off to the JJB we go! City have been drawn away to Second Division Wigan Athletic in the next round of the Worthington Cup. The tie will be played on Tuesday, November 5. Mr. Murdoch’s sports channel must be scenting a Cup upset, as they will be televising the game on Sky Sports. A winner will have to be found on the night, by extra time or by penalties if necessary. This will be the Blues’ first competitive game at Wigan’s JJB Stadium. In 1998-1999 the sides met in the League and in the Second Division play-offs, but these games were played at Wigan’s former ground, Springfield Park. A Premiership game has been switched to cater for Sky TV. City’s visit to Sunderland has been moved from Saturday December 7 to Monday December 9, kick-off 8.00pm.

Reserves Lose to Reds (but Stuff the Trotters): The Forces of Darkness triumphed last Thursday as Stretford Wanderers beat the Blues’ Reserves 1-0 at Altrincham’s Moss Lane ground, in the Manchester Senior Cup. The winning goal came after 28 minutes from young forward Ben Muirhead. Mikkel Bischoff was stretchered off after 53 minutes, and the game marked the return to action of Richard “I’ve Been” Dunne. Team: Flowers, Charvet, Shuker (Barton 77), Wiekens, Dunne, Bischoff (Paisley 53), Whitley, Loran, Vuoso, Browne, Kerkar (Whelan 77). Unused Subs: Murphy(GK), McCarthy. The second XI fared better on Tuesday, when they beat Bolton 2-1 at Hyde’s Ewen Fields, with goals from Shaun Goater and Darren Huckerby. Richard Dunne once again featured for City, while Bolton’s goal was scored by Chris Armstrong. Former Blue Colin Hendry was at the heart of the Trotters’ defence. Team: Murphy, Charvet, Shuker, Wiekens, Dunne (Paisley 46), Loran, Huckerby, Whitley, Barton (Tandy 80), Goater (Flood 62), Kerkar. Subs: Ellegaard(GK), McCarthy.

International Blues: There are no Premiership games this weekend, as most of the countries competing in Euro 2004 qualifying groups face two games in a week. Kevin Horlock has been named in the Northern Ireland squad for their forthcoming games with Spain and the Ukraine. The Irish side travels to Albacete to face a strong Spanish side on Saturday, while four days later Sammy McIlroy’s men entertain the Ukraine. Shaun Wright-Phillips has been named in the England Under-21 squad for the forthcoming games against Slovakia and Macedonia. David Platt’s side are away to Slovakia on Friday evening before taking on Macedonia at Reading’s Madejski Stadium on Tuesday 15 October. Nineteen-year-old full back Stephen Paisley has been named in the Republic of Ireland’s under-21 squad for next week’s clash with Switzerland, to be played at Kilkenny on Tuesday. Mikkel Bischoff will play for the Denmark under-21 side at home to Luxembourg on Friday evening, while young striker Gary Browne is in the Northern Ireland under-21 squad for their clash in Spain on Friday and for the home qualifier against Ukraine on Tuesday.

In Safe Hands: You know how it is – you’re a bit tired after that liquid lunch, you start to flag a bit, and whoops! You accidentally lean on your computer keyboard and a row of noughts appears on your screen. No harm done, of course apart from earning the derision of your work colleagues… unless you work at say, an investment bank, called perhaps, Bear Stearns. Please recall who is behind City’s recently announced financial package, and read on. “Experts Say Little Damage From Bear Stearns Trader’s Error New York – A “clerical error” by a Bear Stearns (BSC) trader that mistakenly turned an order to sell $4 million worth of stock into a $4 billion transaction appears to have had minimal impact on the securities market, experts said Thursday. The foul-up came late Wednesday, when the Bear Stearns employee executed an order to sell $4 billion of Standard & Poor’s securities. The mistake was caught a few minutes later, and the trades were halted. But by then, $622 million worth of orders had already gone through on what was supposed to have been just a $4 million stock sale, the New York Stock Exchange said in a one-paragraph statement late Wednesday. Despite the size of the transaction, the error “doesn’t seem to have had a large impact on the [S&P] index overall,” said Paul Hickey, an analyst with Birinyi Associates, which monitors trading activity”. Well that’s alright then!

Transfer News and Gossip

Spend, Spend, Spend! In the light of recent poor performances, some reports have implied that KK might “Do an England”, and walk out on his underperforming Blues side. This, however, is not supported by the Manchester Evening News, which believes that KK will spend his way out of trouble come the January player sales. Despite his summer spending spree of