Newsletter #78

We have some interesting news and another Why Blue, this time from the very old John Shearer (his words!). Also, we are trying to meet up on Saturday for a jar before the Newcastle game; anyone fancying coming along can take a look at the ASCII map courtesy of the multi-talented Paul Howarth 8-)). I’ll put another MCIVTA out on Thursday if there is sufficient material, so if you want one, get writing! I’ll be flying Thursday evening and returning on Monday so the next but one MCIVTA will most likely be on Tuesday 2nd May.

This one reaches 243.

Next game Newcastle United at home, Saturday 29th April 1995.

NEWS – VONK OUTBURST OVER HORTON’S COACHING ABILITY

The MEN suggest Vonky is likely to be fined for his reported comments in a Sunday newspaper with angry BH having already spoken to the Chairman. I actually read the article with Vonk reported as saying Horton is a really bad coach who he cannot work with, that the players prefer a flat back four but BH won’t listen and continues to mess about with no consistency etc. Vonky believes BH will quit or get sacked in the summer even if we stay up. I couldn’t agree with Vonky more, hope he is right, but let’s hope Vonky quickly follows him out of Maine Road.

It was also reported that Vonk was angry City turned down a £900K bid for him last year from Middlesbrough. No way can he be as angry as I am; City should have take the money and laughed all the way to the bank! At least it would have given us a bit of revenge for Boro’ ripping us off by selling us the much improved but still very ordinary Kernaghan. It was reported Peter Reid may be interested in taking Vonk to Sunderland; it wouldn’t surprise me at all if that is where he ends up in the summer.

In one of the Sunday papers, City were again linked with Tony Gallimore, the Carlisle United, £500K rated left back.

NEWS – RÖSLER SET FOR INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITION

According to the MEN, City have been advised that Germany are to send out some top officials to see Uwe in action before the end of the season with a view to an international call up. Let’s hope Uwe does himself justice; he certainly deserves the chance to show what he can do at international level.

NEWS – VONK

I see Vonk was in the News Of The World saying that Horton must go, or he will leave! Didn’t realise Middlesbrough offered £900,000 for him last season; why didn’t City accept the offer? Peter Reid is monitoring the situation.

NEWS – VONK & UWE

A couple of items on GMR today:

• Germany will be sending representatives to watch Uwe in action shortly.
• Michel Vonk is in trouble after remarks he apparently madein the press recently suggesting that BH will be on his wayin the Summer.

NEWS – YOUTH CUP SEMI-FINAL, 2ND LEG

The Spurs WWW has a report of this; we lost 2-1, 7-1 on aggregate 🙁

NEWS – VONK

Michel Vonk has been suspended for 2 weeks and fined 2 weeks’ wages after his comments regarding BH, his coaching methods and his future at the club. Francis Lee was said to be “furious”.

NEWS – PAUL LAKE

Paul Lake has had an operation to remove a disc which was causing his back problems. He’ll have to rest for three months but may be fit for the start of next season.

NEWCASTLE PINT?

As a result of unforeseen circumstances I will be in Manchester this weekend and will be going to the Newcastle game. As I definitely won’t be able to make the ‘meet’ for the QPR game (this is still on), a few of us will be meeting up before Saturday’s game for a pint and a chat. After discussing which pub to meet in we finally plumped for ‘The Old Abbey’, if for no other reason than it was the first suggestion I received (thanks to Roger Haigh)! This is basically between Manchester Piccadilly and Maine Road, just behind the Science Park near the University. It’s just far enough away from the ground not to be heaving but near enough to walk. It’s a fairly small pub which will hopefully mean that we’ll be able to find each other. It also has ample parking nearby.

The Science Park is just after the Dental Hospital going towards Maine Road. The pub is on Pencroft Way at its junction with Guildhall Street. Pencroft Way runs parallel to Lloyd Street which is to the East. Lloyd Street itself is parallel to and between Oxford/Wilmslow Road and Princess Road. It’s known as Cambridge Street nearer to the city centre (see accompanying map).

Anyone who wants to turn up is welcome to (lunchtime onwards).

                          C i t y   C e n t r e
| |                   | |                      | |
| |                   | |               _/~~~~~~~~~
| |___________________| |______________/   ________
|   M A N C U N I A N      W A Y          /    | |
| |~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| |~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~     | |
|P|                   | |                       
| |          Higher   | |                       | | Oxford Road
|R|         Cambridge | |                       | |
| |          Street   | |        Royal Northern  
|I|                   | |       College of Music | |
| |          _________| |________________________| |______________
|N|                      Booth Street West           Booth St East
| |          ~~~~~~~~~| |~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| |~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|C|                   | |      Manchester         | |
| |                   | |      Business School     
|E|          _________| | Dental Hosp.             | |
| |    Burlington St.   |                          | |
|S|          ~| |~~~~~| |                          | | Oxford Road
| |           | |     | | Lloyd        University  | |
|S|       PUB | | Ent.| | Street                     
| |           | | Hse.| | North                     | |
| |           | |     | |                           | |
| |___________| |_____| |______________             | |
|R    Denmark Road         Denmark Road               
| |~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| |~~~~~~~~~~~~~~               | |
|O|                   | |                             | |
| |                   | |                             | |
|A|                   | | Lloyd                       | |
| |                   | | Street           Whitworth  | | Oxford Rd
|D|                   | | North               Park    | |
| |                   | |                             | |
| |___________________| |_____________________________| |
|   Moss Lane East             Moss Lane East           |
| |~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| |~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| |
| |                   | |                             | |
| |                   | |                             | |
| |                   | |                             | |
| |                   | | Upper                       | | Wilmslow
| |                   | | Lloyd                       | | Road
| |                   | | Street                      | |
| |                   | |                             | |
| |                   | |                             | |
| |___________________| |_____________________________| |
|   Claremont Road         Claremont Road             | | RUSHOLME
| |~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| |~~~~~~| |~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| |
| |                   | |      | |Maine Rd.           | |
| |                   | |      | |                    | |
| |                   | |      | | Moss Side          | |
| |                   | |      | | Academy of         | | Wilmslow
| |            Lloyd  | |      | | Footballing        | | Road
| |           Street  | |      | | Excellence         | |
| |            South  | |                             | |
| |                   | |                             | |
| |                   | |                             | |
| |                   | |                             | |FALLOWFIELD
| |                   | |                             | |
| |___________________| |_____________________________| |___
   Wilbraham Road             Wilbraham Road
| |~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| |~~~
To M56                                            To Withington
                                                  And Didsbury
Close-up of area near pub:
                                              |  | Dental Hospital
     _________________________________________|  |
           B u r l i n g t o n   S t r e e t     |
     ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| P|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|  |
                      | e|                    |  |
                      | n|                    |L |
                      | c|                    |l |
           The Old    | r|                    |o |
           Abbey      | o|                    |y |
                ______| f|___  Enterprise     |d |
         Guildhall St.  t                     |  |
                ~~~~~~|  |~~~  House          |S |
                      | W|                    |t |
                      | a|                    |  |
                      | y|                    |N |
                      |  |                    |o |
                      |  |    MANCHESTER      |r |
                      |  |    SCIENCE         |t |
                      |  |    PARK            |h |
    __________________|  |____________________|  |__
    Denmark Road           Denmark Road
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|  |~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|  |~~~

OPINION – HORTON

For my money I think City should persist with BH for a number of reasons. Firstly, in any code the coach is always the one who gets the blame for a team’s losses, but surely the players are at least partly responsible for their indifferent form? The coach can’t get out there and kick the ball for them, can he? Secondly, unless there is an outstanding candidate waiting in the wings then I’m inclined to think that the most important thing at the moment is a bit of stability. Too many coaches can be counterproductive to the team’s development. Also, it should not be forgotten that BH appears to have the players’ support. On another note I do hope they don’t sell off Niall Quinn. His aerial ability is a good foil to Rösler’s running. City don’t have that many strikers that they can afford to give Quinn away.

COMMENT – ‘BLUE’

In reply to the feature regarding the collaboration of Noel Gallagher, Billy Duffy and Mike Pickering. First of all is this true? I’ve heard many a wind-up about musical collaboration of City fans but this could be by far the ‘coolest’ group. I mean Status Quo and the Rags!! I wouldn’t mind but the Quo support Spurs don’t they? Anyway, as a footnote, Noel stated, as reported in MNE (Manchester North of England) some 18 months ago that he’d written a song entitled, It’s hard being a Blue if you know where I come from. Anyway, is there any truth in the song Blue and if so, do we have to wait until we get to Wembley before it’s released?

BUILDING THE FAN BASE

After a ridiculously long strike, the baseball season finally gets underway here in the US this week. This in itself is probably of little interest to most MCIVTAcunians, and I only mention it because an advert on TV for the New York Yankees made me wonder what, if anything, City are doing about trying to build up their fan base, which has surely been severely eroded in the last 15 years. The Yankees are today opening up their ground free of charge for their final practice game before the season, and offering free hot dogs and soda (pop to you and me). Not only this, but they are also giving away vouchers which will get you a free ticket to a second game with the purchase of any ticket this season. I also know that the Colorado Rockies (a two year old baseball team) gives away thousands of tickets for every game to local school kids who do well in their studies (or on their school baseball team). Since there are probably 10,000 empty seats at most City home games (correct me if I’m wrong), how about giving away a few thousand to local school kids each week? In many cases they’d drag at least one of their parents along as well, and they’d buy food, drinks and programmes, so the club would probably make a few bob as well. In any case we’d get higher attendances which always leads to more atmosphere, and many of the kids might be persuaded to support City instead of United – it seems to be these kinds of early positive experiences that have caused many of us to end up supporting the Blues (and consequently having them most of the time). It’d be nice to show United that you don’t have to rip off your own fans to do good business, and that the “feel-good-factor” can be equally lucrative in the long run.

They have all sorts of free giveaway days at baseball games too – some company sponsors the game and gives away a hat or a cup or a bat to each fan (hmm… maybe giving a baseball bat to every fan at a footy game isn’t such a good idea…). I’d hate anyone to think I was suggesting “Americanising” the game (do they still have cheerleaders on Sky?) so I won’t push my other ideas to have eighteen 5 minute periods, no goalies (for a higher scoring, more exciting game), TV time-outs just when something interesting’s about to happen and 40 players on each team who can come in and out of the game as and when they please….

SINGAPORE MANAGER

In response to Kevin’s comment on the above matter: It is a shame that the beautiful game of soccer has been plagued by the evil disease of bribery, and this is not a phenomena localised in Asia or Malaysia alone. Even countries like France (the host of the next WC) and England are affected! However, all parties involved in soccer in any levels in these countries should be presumed innocent unless otherwise proven.

Anyway, my suggestion of the Singapore manager is to highlight the fact that maybe City can look at other continents for a good manager. Maybe someone can suggest a good manager in North or South America.

CELEBRITY FANS

Courtesy of a recent issue of 4-4-2 (glossy newish football mag), I can confirm that the great Stuart Hall is indeed a City fan. Given the nature of his deranged reports from the matches he attends for Radio 5, I never believed he could be anything else …

Howard Davies, who is president of the CBI (interviewed in KK a few issues back) is tipped to become deputy governor of the Bank of England. Does this mean he will be able to command a few special print runs at the Royal Mint on our behalf?

WHY BLUE?

OK the purists amongst you will notice 2 things very quickly –

1. this bloke is very old
2. he wasn’t born in Manchester

My first recollection of City was in the 1955 Cup Final when as a small lad I watched the game on a small black and white tele. Lost 1-3. And again in 1956 – same tele, same score but this time in City’s favour. At this time I used to go and watch the local team – Leyton Orient. Whilst in those days a small lad could go to the game on his own, a trip to Manchester was, well, impossible. Cars were virtually non-existent for your working class bod. There was one car in our street at that time. I wrote off to City at this time as Bert Trautmann was now marginally in front of Stanley Matthews in the popularity stakes. A sheet containing all the players’ autographs came back – and yes I’ve still got it. It must have been about this time when I declared to my street urchin friends that I was a Manchester City supporter. I can’t remember the first game I actually watched where City were playing but I would guess it would be away to Spurs, probably around 1960. I didn’t go to many football matches between the years 1966 – 1976, I was too busy playing myself. Only village football but it was on Saturdays, and sometimes Sundays, and occasionally on a Wednesday. And then there were the kids to bring up. None of these things were insurmountable and then we moved up North – to Rotherham. Yes, I then supported my local team, with occasional visits over the Pennines to watch City. And then divorce, and I was working in Manchester on contract so, I moved to Fallowfield and then to Northenden. OK, I’m more southerly now, in Milton Keynes, and my interest in football had lapsed a little of late, but then a job with PCs and Internet and thanks Ashley it really regenerates the interest again.

Memorable games that I’ve attended:

• West Ham (A), last game of the 1963 season. City had to win and Birmingham had to lose for City to stay up. City lost 6-1. Alan Oakes was playing.
• Palace (A), 1972. lost 1-O, Got Colin Bell’s autograph. The only footballer’s autograph I ever got. What a privilege for that man Bell. The one and only.
• Spurs (A), 1968. Penultimate game of the league championship season. Won 3-1.
• Newcastle (A). The game following Spurs. Won 4-3 to lift the league title.
• Wembley Cup Final, 1969. Neil Young’s only goal to beat Leicester 1-0.
• Luton (H), needing a draw to stay up. Lost 1-0.
• Charlton (H). Last game of the season. A win (or was it a draw) required to win promotion. Won 5-1. Took the kids and had to explain to them afterwards that not all games are like this.
• Liverpool (A) a few seasons ago. Drew 2-2. Went with a load of Liverpool fans, but cheered like hell when the last minute Quinn equaliser went in.

REQUEST – TEAM PHOTO

I have in my possession autographs of Man. City from Sept ’71. I am trying to find a team photo from this time to accompany them. I’ve had no success so far dealing with the club or the Manchester newspapers; perhaps someone out there could be of assistance.

Nick’s in Ontario so he really needs help from someone in the UK

BLUE HUMOUR

Q.

How many City fans does it take to change a lightbulb?

A.

None – they’re quite happy living in the shadows.

WWW MANCHESTER CITY SUPPORTERS’ HOME PAGE:
http://www.uit.no/mancity/

Thanks to Nick, John, Tony, George, Jeremy, Jim, The Mole, Colin, Mike, Nizam & Paul.

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.

Editor: