Newsletter #1013

EDITORIAL NOTICE

Don Barrie our newsman will be standing in for issues 1014 and 1015 (3 and 6 May) and Chris Cobb will stand in for issues 1016 and 1017 (10 and 13 May) as I will be taking a break. Thanks to both in advance.

Please keep your articles coming in to the usual address:

<editor(at)mcivta.city-fan.org>

NEWS SUMMARY

General News

Summer Time Specials: The club have confirmed two pre-season friendlies, against opponents from Lancashire. As we reported last week, City go to Bloomfield Road to face Blackpool for Andy Morrison’s testimonial game. That game takes place on Saturday 24 June, kick-off 3.00pm. Three days before that the Blues visit Gigg Lane to face Bury, kick-off time to be announced.

Reserves Draw as Well! City Reserves were held to a 2-2 draw by WBA this week, thanks to a late Albion equaliser. The home side had taken the lead on 14 minutes, but City led 2-1 going into injury time after goals by Bradley Wright-Phillips and Christian Negouai. However, Morten Skoube popped up to snatch a point with his second goal of the game.
Team: Timms, Warrender, Smith (Logan 82), J D’Laryea, Onuoha, Jordan, Croft, Negouai, B Wright-Phillips (Bermingham 81), Ireland (Laird 62), Collins. Subs: Matthewson, Murphy.

No Clean Sweep for Sweep: Sadly SWP did not win the PFA Young Player of the Year award last Sunday. Despite having a storming season in the Premiership, Shaunie lost out to Chelsea’s Scott Parker.

International Blues: The Republic of Ireland U-21 side boasted three Blue Boys this week – goal machine Stephen Elliott, midfielder Glenn Whelan and, making his début at this level, Paddy McCarthy. The Irish drew 2-2, fighting back from two goals down. The first of the comeback goals came from Elliott (who else?). Whelan was earning his fifth cap and coach Don Givens praised the contribution of the 20-year-old defensive midfielder. “I thought Glen was magnificent in the middle of the field,” said Givens. “We have decent players all over the pitch but for my mind he stood out for his passing of the ball and trusty defensive duties – he did everything that was asked of him.” Meanwhile Paul Bosvelt was recalled to the Holland squad for the friendly with Greece, as coach Dick Advocaat has been robbed of four key players. Bosvelt is still hopeful of securing a place on the plane to Portugal, but his lack of regular action for Manchester City resulted in Advocaat overlooking him for selection. The Dutch won 4-0 on the night. Elsewhere, French coach Jacques Santini has continued to make encouraging noises about Nicolas Anelka making the squad for Euro 2004. Santini said this week that Anelka “… is scoring goal after goal. A big team needs goalscorers. He is a marksman. He didn’t score for a couple of months, but you know that over five or six matches, he will bounce back.” Of Anelka’s rivals for a squad place, Santini commented that “Today, Sidney Govou and Steve Marlet are injured,” while Djibril Cisse, who is suspended until the semi finals at the earliest “has only a 1 per cent chance” of making the squad.

Transfer News and Gossip

Sunday Speculation: The fall-out from Joey Barton’s fall-out with the management has kept the Sunday tabloids busy. According to the Sunday People, KK will offload Barton to Charlton Athletic for £1.5 million. Other sources reckon that Joey could be homeward bound as Liverpool’s manager Gerard Houllier is plotting a £2.5 million raid on City. The news week wouldn’t be complete without a “Le Sulk heads for…” story, and we can thank the News of the World for reporting that Celtic will swoop for Anelka, offering £8 million. KK values him at over £10 million. Atletico Madrid are also interested.

Kamara Exposure: City are one of a number of Premiership clubs said to be keeping tabs on the progress of Wimbledon full back Malvin Kamara. The 20-year old was apparently watched by scouts during the Dons’ match with Burnley last week and could be set for a move from the Milton Keynes based club in the summer following their relegation from Division One. Everton, Bolton and Wigan Athletic are also said to have had representatives watching the London born prospect who is also able to fill in on the right hand side of midfield. Kamara is just one of a number of youngsters who have tasted regular action with the Dons this season as their delicate financial position has meant the club has had to rely on youth.

Ex-Blues’ News

Seamo Still Cares: David Seaman fears for City’s Premiership future, but is backing KK to lift the side of the relegation mire. “I’d be gutted if City got relegated. I had a great time up there in Manchester and City is a wonderful club,” Seaman told The Sun. “When I left, there was no hint they’d be in this trouble and I feel sad about the position they’re in. It’s about a lack of confidence as they have the players to get out of it. But once you lose confidence, it’s difficult to turn it round. We saw that with West Ham last season. Relegation’s awful, it happened to me at Birmingham in 1986. Everything that can go wrong does go wrong. A tiny mistake will always cost you and you feel like the world is caving in. But I’ve played for Kevin Keegan at City and for England and I’m sure he’ll keep them up.”

Pre-Match Blues News

“We’re Doomed!” As reported last week, the newspaper coverage of City’s travails had made pretty dire reading. The trend continued on Friday and on Saturday morning, as this snippet from Friday’s Sun reveals: “PLAYERS GET KEV THE AXE By Neil Custis. Player power will force Kevin Keegan out of his Manchester City job at the end of the season. The City boss suffered the humiliation this week of having his players tell him what they should be doing in training. That revelation has caused raised eyebrows in the boardroom – even with Keegan’s staunchest supporter, chairman John Wardle. Several players are unhappy with Keegan’s style of management and have grown frustrated with the organisation in training and preparation for games.” City’s Trainee Manager, Stuart Pearce, was quoted elsewhere voicing his concern at the club’s plight. Pearce has been through it all twice before at Nottingham Forest, and the prospect of City slipping into the Nationwide again was too grisly to contemplate. “Relegation hurt Nottingham Forest a great deal,” stated Pearce. “Financially, it probably put them back five seasons. Purely from a financial point of view and with the investment that had been put into the playing staff, Manchester City is a team that should be in the Premiership. We have a new stadium and a lot of talent but the only way we can keep it and build on it is by staying where we are.”

KK Fights Back: We then began to see KK launching his counter attacks to the criticism he had received. First he accepted total responsibility for City’s disastrous Premiership slump. “I had the money, I spent the money and I am the one who hasn’t got the players playing as well as I would like. As far as I am concerned the buck stops with me,” admitted the former England boss. “The board have supported me and the fans have been more than loyal. I attended the supporters’ meeting because I didn’t want John Wardle to be in a position where he was fending off questions that were my responsibility. John is a terrific chairman. He has put his own money into this club and he doesn’t deserve any stick. I know some of the fans aren’t happy and I know some of them think we have underachieved. At the moment they are probably right but while I have never been frightened to criticise my players in the past, on this occasion I don’t think it is their fault.” Keegan had been accused of weakness for allowing the players to dictate the training regime for the week, but his response was that: “In management you have to be prepared to listen. We’ve had a fruitful meeting and a good week in terms of soul searching, and that includes the staff as well as the players,” he said. “Why do you think big firms have these suggestion boxes? Some of the best ideas come from people working on the shop floor, so I don’t see it being wrong. There may well have been some criticism applied, but I’d always encourage players to have an opinion and I took it as a positive sign.”

Bad Boy Barton: KK was keen to put his side of the story after Joey Barton had reportedly walked out of the COMS after learning he hadn’t made the squad for the Southampton game. He said: “I cannot understand any player not wanting to watch his own team. How can Joey come to me on Monday morning and say he should be playing when he hasn’t even watched the game? He has apologised to me in front of all my staff, which was the right thing to do. This kind of thing started when Eyal Berkovic wasn’t in the side and didn’t want to watch. I think Joey saw that and copied it. It’s not what I expect from a young player just starting off in the game. I don’t think it’s right and I told him that. It’s not wrong to be disappointed that you’re not playing, but you should make sure you watch your team at the very least. When you don’t do that, it doesn’t send out the right kind of message to me, the other players and the fans.”

Reactions and Comments

Prologue: The Independent contained an interesting piece about the referee for the Leicester vs. City game, and in hindsight it makes interesting reading. Entitled ‘Andy D’Urso: Abuse, snarls and sandwiches – a day in the life of a referee’, Mr. D’Urso reminisced about the day he had the temerity to give a penalty against the Reds for the first time at OT in 126 years (well almost). It was for Middlesbrough in 2000, and caused Keano’s eyes to bulge as he and his acolytes screamed abuse at D’Urso. “It was my first season in the Premier League, my first time refereeing Manchester United and my first time at Old Trafford. With more experience I would have stood my ground. I kept saying ‘go away’, but the further back I walked the more they walked on. A more experienced referee would not have retreated. But there are no grudges. I’ve refereed Roy Keane on a number of occasions since without a problem.” Of the game at the Walkers Stadium, “… he will firstly tell his fellow-officials what they already know, that there is a crucial relegation battle ahead. He will ask them to judge their involvement according to the mood of the game, and to make sure they share his ‘wavelength’. He will also brief them on any enmity between Leicester and Man City.” Hmmm now let me think, was there any enmity? You know,I think there was. And did the ref lose control? Now let me think…

Save of the Season? There was a bit of brouhaha, a hell of a hullabaloo and quite a kerfuffle at the Walker’s Stadium as City disputed a highly contentious penalty given against the Blues in the dying moments of the 1-1 draw with Leicester City. The penalty was given for Michael Tarnat’s high tackle on Muzzy Izzet. Tarnat’s team-mates appealed for a clear handball by Izzet in the build-up and tempers quickly boiled over, with Tarnat confronted by compatriot Steffen Freund, already substituted, and Marcus Bent squaring up to Paulo Wanchope. D’Urso took several minutes to investigate and then settle the fracas with four yellow cards before Dickov stepped up, only to see his low kick saved by David James. Should City survive in the Premiership this season, then the two penalty saves in 4 games made by James recently will be seen as crucial. “There’s no doubt it was a bad decision as the guy definitely handled it and we felt aggrieved,” said KK afterwards. “I’d like to think the referee made the decisions honestly – he just got them wrong. There was a melee because a lot of passionate people care.” He added: “It was a great game of football given what was at stake and we stood up to them. Team spirit was good and we were only missing two vital ingredients – composure and confidence. We’ve still got it in our own hands and might be able to drag somebody in. Whilst it might be tense we’ve got to handle it like we did today and find that bit of composure now.” His opposite number, Mickey Adams played down the furore, insisting that: “You’re talking about two teams scrapping for survival and I think it was much ado about nothing. I’m delighted with our overall performance and I can’t ask any more in terms of work-rate. We didn’t give Manchester City a moment’s peace but it is never simple at this club – not this season anyway.” But Adams refused to blame Dickov for his penalty miss, insisting: “I feel for Paul because he is the one in the spotlight but he is brave enough to put himself there. He has a fantastic record from the penalty spot but it hasn’t happened for him today. He won’t be the first to miss and he won’t be the last. The delay before the penalty would have affected anybody’s concentration. But it is disappointing because that was a game we could have won.” Responding to a suggestion that Freund may have confronted him in German, Keegan added: “Steffen speaks very good English, and certainly knows his swear words. He shouldn’t have gone on the pitch, and neither should I.”

What a Way to Swap Shirts! Penalty save hero David James observed: “It was a blatant handball that everyone in the whole stadium except the referee and the linesman saw. We’re in a position where we could go into the bottom three and livelihoods are at stake. While you can’t condone the actions I don’t think there was anything more than a bit of pushing and shoving but again considering the circumstances it’s difficult to expect any other reaction.” James added: “We had opportunities to win and that has caused a degree of frustration but we are also pleased we haven’t lost. We created lots of chances again and as long as we do that in each game we have the opportunity to win. If we had not created chances and got away with the 1-1 draw we would have been more frustrated. We can’t be too critical of what we have achieved today.” Michael Tarnat denied the suggestion he and fellow German international Steffen Freund almost came to blows. “It was a foul by me on Izzet but he handled the ball twice and I don’t know how the officials missed it,” he declared. “Steffen and myself saw things differently but there was no problem; we all shook hands at the end and swapped shirts.”

Not-so-Sweet FA: The altercation over the penalty took some of the attention away from a game that City could have won easily if any of the numerous goal chances had been converted (Nicolas Anelka was singled out by the media as the worst culprit), yet supporters were left feeling almost grateful for the point once Dickov had had his penalty saved. On Monday, City confirmed that no one from the Football Association has been in touch with the club or requested any footage of the incident. “We have had no contact from the FA,” confirmed a City spokesman. “If we are contacted then we will give an explanation of the circumstances. We will state our case politely yet forcefully and passionately.”

Squad News

Bisch’s Crook: Mikkel Bischoff has had a wretched time this season with injuries. Having played just 9 times for the reserves this term, and made one first team appearance (in the UEFA Cup qualifier second leg against TNS), Bischoff is again injured. “Mikkel is out for the rest of the season. We have given him a programme now to take him through the close season and hopefully he will start again in pre-season,” said KK. “He has just had one injury after another. I think we need to strengthen him up so he does not suffer any more injuries. It is not just the foot, it has been all sorts of injuries. He is just growing and then the training on top of that has just thrown up little problems for him like the foot. But it is nothing major. It is lots of niggley things so we have just taken a decision with the physio department. We could have got him back for the last couple of games but we need to get him right. He will stay on a bit longer and will not go back immediately at the end of the season. He will have less rest in pre-season and will stay here longer. All the players will leave here in June with training programmes and always have done. They will have advice on what they should and should not do and what sort of weight they should be aiming for, but we do not have any problems with that.”

Hiatus in Training After Hernia: As we now know, the players are all reporting for extra training, but there’s one exception. Richard Dunne will have a hernia operation in the summer, so is not expected to turn out for the extra sessions. “The hernia problem is holding up fine. I only missed one day training last week,” said Dunnie. “I didn’t train on Monday of this week and finished another session early because I didn’t do the hard running. I am joining in all the tactical things and the games in training; it is just the running and the weights that I have to be careful with.” The Boss Man is more than happy to accommodate the needs of the Irishman after his good work in matches. “I think Richard Dunne has been exceptional for us this last half of the season,” remarked KK. “He has been very solid for us. I have been very pleased not just with his performances but also with his attitude. When he has had a problem he has been able to fight through it this year, which in the past has always been difficult for him. He has matured a lot this year.”

MATCH REPORT: WBAFC RESERVES 2 MCFC RESERVES 2

Baggies Blunt City’s Third

A game that City needed to win to keep up their chase for equalling last year’s finish of third place fell harshly, deep into stoppage time at the end of the game, when a sloppy late equalizer was conceded at Aggborough Stadium, the home of Kidderminster Harriers and West Bromich Albion’s new reserve venue. City scored twice after falling behind to Morten Skoubo in the first half. Goals from Bradley Wright-Phillips and Christian Negouai looked to have earned City all three points, only for Skoubo to pounce on some poor defending as the match drew to a close.

The first half was not a great epic, as many of the City players had not had the opportunity to play alongside each other much before this match. So it wasn’t much of a surprise to see that West Brom started the stronger after making only three changes from their creditable draw at Hyde thirteen days ago. But even though West Brom held the upper hand, City’s strong defence marshalled the experienced West Brom forward line quite well.

West Brom’s goal came when a half cleared cross fell to Skoubo, who had been able to evade the marking from Nedum Onuoha and then freely strike at goal past Ashley Timms, who was making his début for the reserves and had, like six of City’s starting line up, played forty eight hours earlier in their one-nil defeat at Sheffield United in their U19 Academy League semi-final play-off game.

Both teams were lucky not to have been reduced to ten men on twenty eight minutes when ex-Manchester United player Ronnie Wallwork decided to pick a fight with Negouai. Both players got away with only a caution. Two minutes later West Brom nearly doubled their lead when former Irish U21 international James O’Connor had a great strike from thirty yards, but Timms got across his goal to save well.

City finally started to get into their stride ten minutes from the end of the half, and on thirty seven minutes Bradley had a good turn and shot on target, which led to us winning our first corner of the match. Four minutes from the interval saw a poor cross from a Lee Croft corner half cleared and go to Stephen Ireland, who delivered a perfect in-swinging cross that Bradley headed in for his eighth league goal of the season.

West Brom made two changes at the break but these changes failed to turn around their fortunes as City started the second period as the first had ended, coping much better with the changing weather conditions as the heavens continued to open, amidst thunder and lightening. So, only three minutes into the half, Ireland should have put City into the lead when good work by Man of the Match Jonathan D’Laryea, returning to the reserves after a long injury lay off, and a square ball from Lee Croft, resulted in Ireland blazing his shot over the bar.

Then, a contentious moment: Croft latched on to a loose through ball and bore down on goal, the substitute ‘keeper Daniel Crane brought down Croft in the box but the referee didn’t even speak to him, let alone caution or give him his marching orders, so when the ‘keeper saved the initial penalty shot from Croft and Paul Collins blasted the rebound wide, the City players and fans felt harshly done to. Moments later the ‘keeper again denied Croft, but there was no City player there to tap in the spilled shot.

Finally, on seventy six minutes, City took the lead that they deserved when a deep cross from the left by Craig Smith to the far post was met by the outstretched telescopic leg of Negouai, who forced the ball past the ‘keeper. City brought on Karl Bermingham to replace Bradley and Carlos Logan to replace Smith in the final ten minutes to help give City some fresh impetus and help extend their lead. They nearly did, when Collins met a good cross from Bermingham, but his shot was blocked on the line.

Two minutes from the end a chance from a square ball from Croft to D’Laryea was put agonisingly wide. As the seconds ticked away a ball over the top to West Brom’s left was not cleared by Danny Warrender and the ball ran into the penalty area. The ball pinged around the defenders but then came out to the unmarked Skoubo who curled a fine shot into the top right corner of the net.

City now face a double header against Middlesbrough next week, where the away leg will be played on the Saturday morning as an U17’s only game right before the first team play Middlesbrough at the Riverside stadium.

Timms: Good début, not at fault for either goal. 8
Warrender: Has to be marked down for his costly last minute error, otherwise good. 6
Smith (82): Again a good début for the youngster, always strong in the tackle. 8
J D’Laryea: Drove forward well from midfield and good distribution. MoM. 9
Onuoha: Lost his marker for the first, otherwise very solid. 7
Jordan (capt): Solid and dependable as ever. 8
Croft: Lots of possession but yet again failed with the final ball. 6
Negouai: Worked well with John in midfield and a good poacher’s goal. 8
Wright-Phillips (81): Looks tired after a long season, but a good goal. 7
Ireland (62): Not his fault, but he was out of place up front and had a stinker. 5
Collins: Again played out of place till the final ten minutes, not his best game. 6

Subs:
Laird (62): Linked up well when he came on, played some nice balls. 7
Bermingham (81): Too late to mark.
Logan: Too late to mark.
Not Used:
Matthewson, Murphy.

West Brom: Murphy (Crane 46), Midworth, N’Dour, O’Connor, Berthe, Mkandawire (capt), Volmer, Wallwork, Hulse (Patterson 46), Skoubo, Walmer (Holmes 56).
Not Used: Tomlinson, Smikle.

Att: Approx 250.

OPINION: STRANGE WORLD

Well things looked better on Sunday night than they did on Saturday night but this is City so who knows what next Saturday and Sunday will bring. A few things bothered me this week.

It appears that Graham Poll is allowed to effectively call a player a cheat now even though it is a Rags player; I don’t see how the FA can allow this. If they do then surely any player or manager is entitled to call any referee a cheat without any punishment from the FA? Next I watched the Newcastle vs. Chelsea game and saw a clear stamp on Alan Shearer go unpunished; the FA apparently will not take action because the referee had seen it!?

City and Leicester face an investigation into the uproar surrounding the penalty on Saturday but you can bet that one issue that won’t be considered is whether Andy D’urso contributed to the uproar. If this had been an industrial explosion there would have been two aspects to consider. Could the explosive atmosphere have been avoided and could the spark have been avoided. When players are playing for their Premiership lives I would suggest that tension will always be high and without destroying the competitive nature of the game it is probably difficult to avoid a potentially explosive atmosphere. So let’s look at the spark, which has two elements, a deliberate handball and the decision of the referee. I thought deliberate handball to gain an advantage was a sending off offence; at least it seems to be so for goalkeepers outside their area, so as Mr D’Urso didn’t see this, presumably the FA can impose a suspension on Izzet? Next, it was clear from the replay that the City players stopped and appealed and this in part seemed to cause Tarnat’s late reaction when he realised that the referee wasn’t giving handball. Now it should have been clear to Mr D’Urso that the City players were appealing for something even if he didn’t see the handball. Hence the sensible thing for him to do (as in the Spurs vs. Arsenal game) was to consult his assistants (and maybe 4th official) before giving a decision. Now even if none of these four illustrious gentlemen had seen neither of the handballs (unlikely but possible!) then by the time he gave his decision the City players would have known that all the consultations had taken place and there was no point in asking him to consult. So the major part of the spark for this incident was Mr D’Urso’s failure to see the incident and his premature awarding of a penalty without consultation. Dickov and James sure did Mr D’Urso a favour as well as City. By the FA’s rules of engagement it also seems clear that Mr D’Urso saw the flare up sufficiently well to book three City players so that should also be excluded from their investigation.

I also saw Leeds awarded another dodgy penalty against Portsmouth, this time awarded by the linesman after the referee saw nothing wrong; the same linesman, a few minutes later, missed a clear offside against a Leeds player but fortunately the ball went wide.

The focus of all my concerns: referees seem to be out of control and yet many matches are decided by refereeing decisions, and there must be temptations for referees. So why don’t the FA have a more transparent and realistic way of controlling the standard of refereeing? Next we’ll be hearing that Herr Blatter wants referees to decide the “winner on points” for drawn games. Why not go all the way and forget playing the game at all?

OPINION: BUY THE GOAT AND HE WILL SCORE

Will someone, somehow get the management at City to buy back the fans’ favourite player of all time?

Goater would revel in the chances that Anelka, Fowler et al have missed.

OK, so he is not the world’s most gifted player but he does what a striker does best: finish. He is in the right place at the right time and that’s what we need.

We don’t want someone who tries to walk it into the net 99% of the time, getting tackled along the way, we don’t want someone who doesn’t have the fitness to stretch or sprint that final 2 yards to make contact.

We want The Goat and we want him now! And while you’ve got the cheque book out, get Huckerby back. Top scorers of Reading and Norwich.

Please, please dump Anelka and Fowler. Just get rid. Same with McManaman, Reyna and Bosvelt.

Buy van Buyten, whatever the cost and make him captain, play Wiekens, play Tiatto, what about Bishcoff? If they can play any worse or with less desire that what we have shown, then we shouldn’t even have them in the reserves anyway. I think Sinclair and Sibierski could eventually become great City players.

Here’ s hoping for next year’s line up:

                  Arason
        Dunne, van Buyten, Wiekens
Sun, Tiatto, Sibierski, Barton, Wright-Phillips
              Goater,  Macken

Subs: James, Distin, Sinclair, Bishcoff, Wanchope.

Manager: Paul Jewell.

Chairman: David Bernstein

We’ll be straight back up with that line up! Trust me, I’m a doctor.

OPINION: REFEREES? SURELY NOT?

I’d like to welcome all the Manchester City fans to a new site that will chart and report on all the appalling and lamentable decisions handed down by The FA and its officials.

Welcome to www.redcard.tv

REQUEST: NEWCASTLE TICKET AVAILABLE

I have one spare ticket for the Newcastle game due to work commitments. For details ring 01472 350389 after 3pm or email me at the address below.

REQUEST: MELBOURNE BLUES VIEWING

City vs. Newcastle will be shown live on SBS at 12 midnight on Saturday. Melbourne Blues will be meeting at the Keeper’s Arms in North Melbourne (corner of Queensbury & Peel Streets). If you are in Melbourne, get yourself down to the Keeper’s and will the Blues to win.

REQUEST: HELP CITY STAY UP

Considering the perilous situation the Blues find themselves in, a group of City fans are organising some direct action to urge supporters to give the team some vocal support. To try to achieve this we intend to conduct a mass flyering campaign outside the ground at the last 2 home games of the season. We are printing 30,000 flyers and will distribute them to as many fans possible entering the stadium at each turnstile. The flyer is simple to keep costs down and will appeal to each and every fan to help create the sort of atmosphere that might inspire the lads. Our intention is to try to replicate the atmosphere we experienced at the derby.

The fact is that too many supporters are getting on the backs of players, which considering their lack of confidence and motivation, certainly isn’t helping. Instead we hope we can drive the players on with non-stop singing from start to finish.

We have obtained permission from the club to flyer outside, but here’s the catch, we need help! At the moment we have 10 volunteers but we need upwards of 50 to cover every entrance and approach to the ground.

Please email me back to confirm receipt of this email and tell us whether you’re willing to get involved.

The plan is meet 2 hours before kick off (1.00pm) outside Entrance G, so we can supply boxes of flyers to every volunteer. Two people will act as distributors in order that we don’t run out.

I am also going to be in contact with the local media (TV, radio and newspapers) to ask for their support by way of publicity.

I look forward to hearing from you soon. Call 07899 877609 or email.

REQUEST: CHEAP SHIRTS FOR OZ BLUES

If any Blues in Sydney are interested, there is a Reebok outlet store that is selling this season’s “First Advice” shirt for $55 instead of the $129 in other sports stores. Sizes are medium, large, X-large and Bernard Manning. Apparently they’re hoping to sell the new shirt for approximately the same price when it comes in later on this year.

The store is in the factory discount outlet on Orange Grove Road at Liverpool. About one kilometre going north from the Hume Highway, on the right behind McDonald’s.

RESULTS

League table to 25 April 2004 inclusive

                             HOME          AWAY        OVERALL
                    P  W  D  L  F  A  W  D  L  F  A  W  D  L  F   A   GD Pts
 1 Arsenal         34 14  3  0 38 13 10  7  0 31 11 24 10  0  69  24  45  82
 2 Chelsea         35 10  4  3 29 13 12  2  4 32 16 22  6  7  61  29  32  72
 3 Manchester Utd  35 12  3  3 36 14 10  2  5 25 19 22  5  8  61  33  28  71
 4 Liverpool       35  9  3  5 26 14  5  8  5 23 22 14 11 10  49  36  13  53
 5 Newcastle Utd   34 11  4  3 32 13  2 10  4 15 21 13 14  7  47  34  13  53
 6 Aston Villa     35  8  6  3 23 17  6  4  8 23 24 14 10 11  46  41   5  52
 7 Fulham          35  9  4  5 29 20  4  5  8 20 24 13  9 13  49  44   5  48
 8 Charlton Ath.   35  6  5  6 25 26  7  4  7 19 19 13  9 13  44  45  -1  48
 9 Birmingham City 35  8  5  5 26 21  4  7  6 16 23 12 12 11  42  44  -2  48
10 Bolton Wndrs    35  5  8  4 20 18  7  3  8 22 34 12 11 12  42  52 -10  47
11 Southampton     34  8  4  5 20 13  4  5  8 19 22 12  9 13  39  35   4  45
12 Middlesbrough   35  7  4  7 23 22  5  5  7 18 22 12  9 14  41  44  -3  45
13 Blackburn R.    35  4  3 10 23 30  7  4  7 26 27 11  7 17  49  57  -8  40
14 Portsmouth      34  9  2  5 28 16  2  5 11 11 32 11  7 16  39  48  -9  40
15 Everton         35  8  5  5 26 18  1  7  9 16 30  9 12 14  42  48  -6  39
16 Tottenham H.    35  8  4  6 32 27  3  2 12 12 29 11  6 18  44  56 -12  39
17 Manchester City 35  3  9  5 25 23  4  5  9 23 28  7 14 14  48  51  -3  35
18 Leeds United    35  5  6  7 22 28  3  2 12 14 43  8  8 19  36  71 -35  32
19 Leicester City  35  2 10  6 16 27  3  4 10 26 33  5 14 16  42  60 -18  29
20 Wolves          35  6  5  6 21 32  0  6 12 14 41  6 11 18  35  73 -38  29

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 Subscriptions (Madeleine Hawkins): subscriptions@mcivta.city-fan.org

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

 FAQ (David Warburton)            : faq@mcivta.city-fan.org

[1] What are MCIVTA’s publishing deadlines?

Deadlines for issues are nominally 6pm, 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] What is the club’s official web site?

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

[4] What supporters’ clubs are there?

Manchester City FC recognises three supporters’ clubs: The “Official Supporters Club” (http://www.mancity.net/osc/); the “Centenary Supporters’ Association” (http://www.reddishblues.com/CSAWebsite/CSA.htm) and “The International Supporters’ Club” (http://www.mcfc.co.uk/article.asp?article=111845&Title=International+Supporters+Club&lid=Membership).

[5] Where can I find out about the 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] What match day broadcasts are available on the web?

The GMR pre and post match phone-in is available on the web at http://www.bbc.co.uk/england/gmr/sport_intro.shtml.

Live match commentaries and archives of games, reports and interviews can be found at http://www.mcfctv.com/, whilst an alternate live commentary service, hosted by Yahoo, is located at http://uk.sports.yahoo.com/foot/englandprem/cal/index.html.

[7] Where can I find out if City are live on satellite TV?

http://www.satfootball.com/pl.html provides a listing of Premiership games being shown on UK domestic and foreign satellite channels. Useful sites for North American viewers are http://canadatvsoccer.tripod.com/Fixtures.htm, http://www.foxsportsworld.com/named/FSW/Index/Soccer, and http://www.soccertv.com/.

http://www.foxsportsworld.com/content/view?contentId=1288602 also provides a guide to pubs in the USA showing football.

[8] What’s the music the teams run out to?

At the start of the 03/04 season it was actually a mix of two tracks: Starting with “O Verona” (from the film “William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet”) leading in to “Barber’s Adagio for Strings (Ferry Corsten remix)” by William Orbit. The first part is available on the movie soundtrack (volume 2) and the second is included on a variety of CDs such as Kiss House Nation 2000, Galaxy Hit Mix, Cream Live, Ibiza Chill and Dance Nation 4.

Currently we use a selection of different music, which seems to change each game.

[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://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,289893,sid9_gci213262,00.html

[10] Do any squad members have their own web pages?

There are a number available and direct links can be found at http://www.uit.no/mancity/players/

[11] Can I buy shares in the club?

Yes you can: Shares in Manchester City PLC are traded on OFEX. The latest prices can be on found the OFEX web site http://www.ofex.com/ (registration required) or in the business section of the Manchester Evening News.

[12] Where can I find match statistics?

Statistics for the current season are available from the club site, but for a more in-depth analysis try http://www.mcfcstats.com/.

[13] Acknowledgements

Thanks go to Damian Quinn, Stephen Webb, Roger Haigh, Martin Price, and Adrian Howarth for the Satellite TV info.

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, editor@mcivta.city-fan.org

Editor: