Newsletter #1544

As the “will they, won’t they” saga continues with Eto’o and Tevez, we have opinion tonight on club expenditure, our defence, teams of the future and the usual requests. The club has today confirmed a pre-season game versus Celtic on 8 August.

We also bring you a new FAQ with updated websites and tweets for MCIVTA (Svenn’s been busy!) and the CSA and tonight I joined a number of website and fanzine editors at CoMS for a sneak preview of the new MCFC website, which will launch on Wednesday 1st July.

The new website promises to be something special with plenty of innovative ideas for fans from extensive video applications to interactive features, and some exciting developments for match day which far flung Blues will appreciate. Truly a ground breaking website signalling the progress being made behind the scenes at City! Look forward to hearing what people think of it.

OPINION: HEY BIG SPENDER

I found this interesting table on transfer spending. I’m fed up of hearing from Swamp Dwellers how they don’t “buy success”. Looks like they’ve spent a few bob to me.

If you’re interested the link is http://www.epltalk.com/rafa-or-fergie-who-spends-more-in-the-transfer-market/8339

OPINION: DUNNE

Just to add to what will become an ever increasing debate over Dunne’s should he stay or should he go issue…

There is no doubting that during his 9 year tenure with MCFC he has had more better years than bad. The club stuck by him when he could have (and possibly should have) been sacked.

However, over the last couple of seasons or so, his form has dipped markedly. I would go so far as to say he wasn’t the same player since Distin left the team.

To move forward we need to improve the playing staff and that includes removing Dunne as our first choice central defender. For me I would prefer Lescott, his scoring record is excellent (15 goals in the last 2 seasons I think) whereas Dunne just can’t score for us, more against us!

I really hope that the club keep him for another season though because he will then be due a much deserved testimonial. I don’t think anyone would begrudge him that and the event would be well supported I’m sure.

Keep the faith.

OPINION: SOCCER BABIES UPDATE

Soccer Babies is an organisation being set up to support youth football clubs in Africa and beyond. The Manchester City Babies club based in Ghana was really the inspiration behind the project. When Alex Channon of the MCCSA launched a kit appeal for the club a while back it grabbed my imagination. Since then I have visited Ghana to meet the club and deliver the kit that was so kindly donated by football fans from around the country.

In the meantime, willing volunteers have been working on setting up a charitable organisation that will aim to help aid the creation and development of youth football clubs in Africa and beyond. We are currently working on finalising the set up of the organisation and the Manchester City Babies club in Ghana is our first sponsored club. The spirit of our set up will be to use the joy of football to aid the development of the local communities where clubs are based.

We’ll be publishing our first newsletter soon and this will provide a more information about the charity set up, what we’ve achieved so far with the MCFC Babies, and how you can help out. We’ll be launching another kit appeal soon for example.

If you have an idea of how you can help now, then please get in touch. At this stage, we would be particularly interested in hearing from anyone who has experience of setting up charities (especially football) or anyone who has in-depth knowledge/experience of Ghana or football in Ghana.

In the meantime you can follow the progress of the charity in any number of ways:

• Visit the Soccer Babies website regularly:http://www.webjam.com/soccer_babies
• Join the Soccer Babies Facebook Group:http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=91331434353&ref=nf
• Follow on Twitter: soccer_babies

Many MCIVTA readers have been following the progress of the Manchester City Babies in Ghana. This weekend just past, with the sponsorship of Soccer Babies (above), the MCFC Babies in Ghana played in a pre-season Gala Tournament in Tamale. At the time of writing this, all of the updates from Peter in Ghana had not yet been received, so am keenly awaiting to hear how the under 12s got on in the semi-finals today.

By the time you read this the update from Peter should be on the MCFC Babies dedicated page. Please take some time to go to their page (http://www.mcfcfans.co.uk/mcfc_babies) and read Peter’s last 5 or so blog updates. He is now regularly updating the site and it is a real heart-warmer to read about their progress. Peter has been working flat out with many others in Ghana to run the club and his efforts should be very highly commended. The Babies enter the Ghanaian youth league (U12s, U14s, U17s) for the first time this season. The season starts on the weekend of 4th / 5th July.

REQUEST: CAMBRIDGE BLUES

We are looking for new members to join the OSC branch of the Cambridge & District Manchester City Supporters Club.

If there are any readers who live within a 30 mile radius of Cambridge and are interested in joining the branch to meet up or go to games then please contact me at the email address given below.

REQUEST: SEOUL BLUES

I am moving to Seoul, South Korea, later this year; are you aware of any City supporters out there? If there are any Blues that meet up to watch games, please get in touch!

REQUEST: DOVES TICKETS

If there are any City fans who buy the new shirt online and receive the offer of two tickets for the exclusive Doves gig but are not interested in the Doves gig, then I would be delighted to relieve them from you and make good use of the tickets!

I’m a big Doves fan, but not a fan of buying / wearing replica shirts!

MCIVTA FAQ [v0708.01]

[1] MCIVTA Addresses

Articles (Heidi Pickup)          : editor@mcivta.city-fan.org
News/rumour (Alex Rowen)         : news@mcivta.city-fan.org
Subscriptions (Madeleine Hawkins): subscriptions@mcivta.city-fan.org
Technical problems (Paul)        : paul@city-fan.org
FAQ (David Warburton)            : faq@mcivta.city-fan.org

[2] What are MCIVTA’s publishing deadlines?

Deadlines for issues are nominally 6pm, Monday and Thursday evenings by email. Unfortunately we cannot accept email attachments.

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

http://www.mcivta.com/ is the unofficial Manchester City Supporters’ home page. Created in 1994, it is the longest running of the Manchester City related web sites. Back issues of MCIVTA are also hosted on the site.

[4] What is the club’s official web site?

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

[5] What supporters’ clubs are there?

Manchester City FC recognises three supporters’ clubs: The “Official Supporters Club” (http://www.mcfcosc.com/); the “Centenary Supporters’ Association” (http://www.mancitycsa.com/) and “The International Supporters’ Club”.

[6] Where can I find out about Points of Blue (formerly the Fans’ Committee)?

The committee operates as an interface between supporters and the club. Points of Blue appears on the club website as a minor entry under “Fans Zone”.

[7] What match day broadcasts are available on the web?

The Radio Manchester (née GMR) pre and post match phone-in is available on the web at http://www.bbc.co.uk/manchester/sport/manchester_city/index.shtml.

Live match commentaries and archives of games, reports and interviews can be found at http://mcfc.videoloungetv.com/do/preLogin?clubSiteCode=MCFC&CMP=AFC-003.

[8] 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://msn.foxsports.com/foxsoccer, http://www.soccertv.com/, and http://www.livesoccertv.com/.

[9] Do we have a Usenet newsgroup?

Yes we do: uk.sport.football.clubs.man-city is our home on usenet. If you are not familiar with usenet, a basic explanation is available here: http://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.mcivta.com/players/

[11] 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/.

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: