Newsletter #159

Another bad result but at least we played a lot more inventive football than of late. A couple of match reports and 3 match views! Just what is the difference between a match report and a match view anyway, anyone know?!!

Paul and I were down at Platt Lane this morning watching the lads training. We had lunch in the restaurant afterwards which was a most enjoyable experience; excellent food and all the players eat there as well! If anyone fancies going there then I can wholeheartedly recommend it; we even spied a Gallagher as well (I think)! I just can’t imagine that our friends down in Salford allow their fans to watch the team, by leaning against a token fence within the training complex (no security fencing between us and the players) and then have lunch and a pint (us not them!) in the same restaurant afterwards. Full marks to City, a wonderful setup, great facilities and all very friendly, a veritable paradise for autograph hunters.

Let’s hope we can sink Leicester this week, we have some important games coming up and now would be a good time to start converting our often attractive build-ups into goals.

MATCH REPORT ‘LIVE’

TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR vs MANCHESTER CITY, Saturday, 13th January 1996

“And all the goals that City score are blinding…”

Earlier than usual start for this one, given the warnings about the roadworks on the North Circular and the A10. We left Manchester at 8:30am, had a 40-minute stop at Corley (near Coventry) and arrived at White Hart Lane around 1:00pm – surprisingly there was very little delay due to the works. We set off south down the High Road to try to find the Elbow Room pub but after 10 or so minutes’ walk we decided it must have been in the opposite direction and joined the other Blues in the Red Lion instead. There were quite a few Spurs fans in there too, and a bit of a singing competition developed which I thought would bode well for the match. The Blues were also working on extra lines for the City version of “Wonderwall” but the only one that stuck was “And all the goals that City score are blinding.” It’ll be interesting to see how the song evolves over the coming weeks.

And so to the ground. The new South Stand is now finished, and very impressive it looks too. Good views everywhere and decent facilities, though no TVs this time. I met fellow MCIVTA-er John Shearer inside the stand, who had been in the Elbow Room. Apparently, I gave up too early and it was a bit further down the road! There were a couple of thousand Blues at the game, housed in the corner of the South Stand adjacent to the West Stand, both upper and lower tiers. It soon became apparent that the acoustics of the ground meant that the fans in the upper tier could hardly hear those in the lower tier and vice- versa. We were effectively split into two distinct groups and this made it hard for us to get any noise going. Television viewers around the world may well have noticed how quiet it was, in contrast to most of our recent away games.

The team came out wearing the normal blue kit – the first time I’ve seen us wear it at White Hart Lane. As expected, Ingram replaced the suspended Brightwell and Kinkladze returned after illness, with Michael Brown returning to the bench. The first good chance came City’s way after only a couple of minutes when Quinn pulled away from his marker, chested down Rösler’s cross but sliced his shot high and wide. Spurs appeared to hit the post at the far end a few minutes later. The next chance came to City, a good run by Gio ended with the ball at Uwe’s feet but he leant back as he shot and of course the ball went over the bar. He had another chance a little later, pulling wide to make an angle for himself and hitting the ball across Ian Walker in the Spurs goal, who managed to parry the ball and it skidded across the area where any lurking City player would have easily been able to score. Unfortunately, there was nobody there. It was the same story throughout the half, with the two strikers having to set chances up for each other and very little support from midfield. On a number of occasions a cross would come into the area and there would be one City player up against four defenders. Is it any wonder we don’t score goals?

I got the distinct impression that we had gone for the draw. Spurs had an impressive front line of Armstrong, Sheringham and Rosenthal and we seemed to be preoccupied with stifling these rather than getting up in support of our own front players. It didn’t help that Nicky Summerbee’s form took a dip after his excellent recent performances and he was restricted to much more of a conventional right back rôle and was much less of a right winger. Kinkladze was very well man-marked by Sol Campbell and was fairly anonymous throughout the game. Without these two creating chances, we are even less likely to score than normal. At the other end, Sheringham was well marshalled and had only one good chance which was brilliantly saved by Immel just before the break. However, Armstrong was outstanding and caused us no end of problems. His confidence is very high now and he showed off his skills to the embarrassment of Rae Ingram who was regularly beaten. To be fair, Ingram is really a centre-back – it’s about time we signed a real left back as everybody is aware of our difficulties in this area and all of our opponents seek to exploit it.

The only goal of the game came in the 66th minute when Campbell’s far post cross eluded everybody except Armstrong who could hardly miss. This was the cue for City’s tactics to change and we actually started to attack the home team. The difference in attitude was obvious – even when Spurs had a corner we left two players up in the centre circle, which we don’t normally do even at Maine Road. Brown replaced the anonymous Ekelund and City came close to scoring twice within a minute or so; firstly, Kinkladze’s 12-yard shot struck Nethercott (don’t think he knew much about it) and bounced away and then Rösler hit a piledriver from 22 yards which struck the post with Walker beaten and bounced out for a throw. You just knew it wasn’t going to be our day. City continued to press and get balls and bodies into the penalty area whilst Spurs looked to hit us on the break. The game was now end-to-end and there were further chances at each end right up to the last minute when Flitcroft robbed Nethercott as Spurs tried playing keep-ball but his effort was poorly struck and straight at Walker. The ball quickly went back up to our area and Sheringham put Caskey in with a great chance though he looked at least 3 yards offside; I don’t think he could believe the linesman hadn’t flagged and skied his shot. That was just about the last kick of the game.

In terms of possession I’d say this game was pretty even. City played good football up to the last third but then ran out of ideas and for most of the match, had no support from the midfield players. Spurs didn’t play particularly well (except Armstrong) but still created several decent chances and they stopped our most influential players from playing. Most importantly they scored a goal. Steve Lomas was my man of the match from the City side but he and his fellow midfield players will need to get forward more if we are to start scoring goals. Surely it’s time to bring in a left winger, somebody to get some crosses in? It must be clear for all to see that Quinn and Rösler are both at their best running on to crosses. Summerbee has been playing well up until this match but with nobody on the left side, opponents can afford to double up defenders against him and cut off the supply. How about it Alan?

Final Score: Spurs 1 City 0

MATCH REPORT ‘TV’

TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR vs. MANCHESTER CITY, Saturday, 13th January 1996

Another television report from me. I promise my next one will be live! Anyway; White Hart Lane has not been a good place for us in the past, so I had some mixed feelings when I understood this was going out to the rest of the world too. I believe we’ve only had one win in the last 5 tries at this field. The odds were against us, with Tottenham 4th in the table and with twice as many points as City. They had 31 goals scored, just as many as we had conceded. Their top-scorer Sheringham had two more goals than our total so far this season. So I threw in a 1-1 draw in Martin’s lottery, just to keep my spirits up throughout the match.

There was no sensational news as the teams entered the stadium. Paul was right when he suggested Ingram would play left-back in Brightwell’s absence. Summerbee was at right back, which would leave us without a decent winger. Neither Phillips nor Brown were named in the starting line-up. Ekelund and Kinkladze (Gio) were treading the flanks, with Lomas and Flitcroft in the middle. Rösler and Quinn up front, and Symons and Curle at the back. Immel was between the posts, which should leave his position unquestioned, when Coton is moving to Washington – or something.

The game started out in a peculiar way. Neither team looked interested in going forward, but relied on their strikers to do all the work. It was City who had the first good chance when Quinn chested a ball down in the area and blasted it over. Rösler also managed to stretch Walker with a nice shot from a difficult angle. No real danger, but it could have been if there had been any City players to collect Walker’s rebound. Ekelund lost his man after 5 minutes and the cross created a corner from which Sheringham almost scored. Luckily our man covering the near post knew how to kick a ball upfield. Some other half chances fell to both teams with Quinn collecting an offside after beautiful short-passing between him, Ekelund and Rösler. Just inches away, and what approach play.

After 20 minutes Armstrong took Ingram for his first ride down the right flank. After some turning and twisting, he left the young defender dizzy and crossed in for a great chance. Luckily Symons was there to clear in front of Sheringham, while Immel was stranded on the line. 2 minutes later Rosenthal tested the German goalie without luck. Another long range shot, this time from Edinburgh, shaved the left post for a corner. This was perhaps Spurs’ best period of the whole match, earning three corners within two minutes. They even got one ball in the net, but the linesman flagged for offside. Their posession lasted out the period and Immel had to pull off a magnificent save from a point blank Sheringham header. No question on who our lifesaver was at that time.

So half time arrived, even play, even score but a lame performance from both teams.

Nothing spectacular arrived with the second half. Ekelund was taken off after an hour, and Brown was given the chance. No flashing performance from the Dane this evening, and even Gio seemed kind of worried, even when he danced foxtrot with Sol Campbell. Perhaps he wasn’t quite fit after his illness. However it was the little Georgian who created most of the excitement, and sadly there’s nobody challenging him for it. After 66 minutes disaster struck: Campbell on the left side seeks Armstrong on the far post. Immel stays put and when Symons doesn’t reach the ball, it’s easy for Armstrong to dive in for the winner.

This was the cue for City’s best spell of the whole match. Suddenly the ball was flying between the players and some good combinations started to emerge. In particular our right flank got busier and Rösler created a chance of his own. Walker just managed to flick the shot to his right where Quinn collected the ball and set Gio up for the equalizer. Too bad Austin managed to stand in the way of a goalbound shot with Walker stranded. At this moment Quinn showed his ability on the ground. He met the Spurs keeper face to face, but shot straight at him. After 77 minutes Rösler was handed the ball on a plate by Quinn, and his shot was out of reach for the goalkeeper, but as luck goes, this wasn’t City’s day. The ball hit the right post and flew away from the danger area. Somehow I knew this was the final chance, and now we were only a couple of half chances away from calling it a night.

So this was it. Another defeat on foreign ground. Surely nothing to cheer about. Someone will claim that Immel is our best ‘keeper. He sure pulled off one great save in the first half, but often seems unable to get off the line to collect crosses. I know this is what Coton had problems with too, but I’ll be sorry to see the back of him without giving him another shot. Our full backs are a laughing stock. Perhaps Edghill and Brightwell are better, but Ingram was by no means a Premiership player this afternoon. All the time he let dangerous crosses go by, and when attacking he looked helpless and clumsy. Summerbee is wasted as a right back. Often we had possession in central midfield, but nobody to play to at the right flank. IMHO Summerbee could (and should) go forward even when he’s playing in the back-four. The midfield was non-supportive, and never on the ball when Quinn won in the air. And here’s my big question. Why are we playing Quinn when there’s no-one there to pick up his work? The guy was simply brilliant. Never lost a ball. Chested and nodded it down all the time, only to find three Spurs defenders chasing the ball, and the blue shirts gone fishing. Is it only me who believes that if we push up our midfield more we’ll get loads of opportunities? At least Rösler and Gio got their chances from Quinn! He is our best weapon at the moment, no question about that. But when Rösler has to make the cross, and the midfield is sweeping inside the circle, we’ll soon end up with a record of 20 matches without scoring goals. This afternoon City didn’t play any worse than Spurs, it’s just what happens when we don’t score goals, and they do.

I haven’t lost my hopes of staying up. There have to be three teams worse than ours in the Premiership. But forget the cup this season. If we win the FA-cup I’ll eat this report with some french-fries and Coke!!

Final score 0-1

MATCH VIEW I

As many of the other “non British” MCIVTA readers, I had the possibility to watch this game “live” on the TV. I haven’t got the inspiration to write a match-report as the result was too disappointing.

However, I think we didn’t deserve to lose this game. It feels so disappointing when you are playing quite well, the lads are fighting and the referee is a b****rd!! It is so typical City, isn’t it? To lose even games, in particular away.

Tottenham were best in the first half; Armstrong created a lot of trouble and havoc in our defence. Immel denied him brilliantly on several occasions. For us Quinn and Rösler had the best chances. Boring half however, but I was confident at half time, I thought we could get away with something in this game. Tottenham were playing poorly, so I fancied us to grab it! But as all of you know, I was wrong…

I think the second half was ours. The lads worked as hard as ever, but there was always something lacking! Most of the time it was a bad pass which ruined a brilliant attack. What makes me wonder is why are we involving terrible passers like Ingram in the build-up? Time after time this happened. Kinkladze or Flitcroft often started a good move or a counter-attack, then they had plenty of options but who were they playing to? Yes, Ingram… Then we lost the ball and Tottenham could reorganize their defence. Overall, City have problems to pass the ball properly. Especially the full-backs (including Summerbee) are horrible passers. This must be shorted out.

Once again I have to criticise Rae Ingram, he had a terrible game. OK, I admit Armstrong isn’t the easiest of players to handle, but I must say it was embarrassing to watch Ingram today. Armstrong treated him like a schoolboy and made a sport out of going past him. I already mentioned Ingram’s poor passes, but he also makes simple errors like extremely poor tackles and losing the ball over the touchline. Perhaps this performance by Ingram convinced Francis Lee that he should make a move for Chris Powell? Ingram was also involved in the goal, he should have marked Armstrong. Instead he let him go and Armstrong could head in the goal, with Ingram coming in behind him.

Then Quinn had two great chances which he wasted and Rösler hit the post with a stunning drive. Then I understood that this wasn’t our game. The referee didn’t make it easier for us. He was definitely giving the home side the benefit of all doubt in the game. I feel I am not being too single mindedly blue, when I am saying that the ref. was helping Tottenham.

My player ratings:

Immel 8 – Made some great saves. Looked confident as ever. Even made good kicks! Can’t be blamed for the goal.

Summerbee 6 – Fought all the way, but his passes were extremely poor. Had some problems with Rosenthal. Just about escaped the “5” for his efforts.

Ingram 4 – Totally outplayed by CA, failed in all his efforts to do something useful.

Symons 6 – Dealt well with Sheringham. Had some problems with Armstrong.

Curle 7 – Our best defender on the day. “Cleaned up” many times in defence. Good passes forward.

Lomas 5 – Almost invisible in the first half. Came more into the play throughout the game, but didn’t achieve anything.

Ekelund 5 – Some nice touches, but seems to be unfit and not feeling comfortable in the centre of the midfield.

Kinkladze 6 – Good first half where he exposed his great skill on several occasions. Faded away in the second half. Should see more of the ball.

Flitcroft 7 – Made great work in midfield.

Quinn 8 – Won everything in the air. Worked hard as ever, but should have scored on one of his chances. Our best player.

Rösler 7 – Worked hard as anyone. Great movements. He was stopped by the ref. all the time, many times without reason. My compliments to him for not giving up after all the silly decisions the ref. made against him.

Brown 6 – Came on for Ekelund and did a good job.

That was my view of the game. Based on this performance, better times must come. This team is too good to be relegated.

MATCH VIEW II

The Blues came to London looking for some points to boost the relegation fight.

City : Immel, Summerbee, Ingram, Curle, Symons, Lomas, Flitcroft, Ekelund, Kinkladze, Rösler, Quinn
Subs : Margetson, Brown (Ekelund), Kernaghan

Tottenham : Walker, Austin, Edinburgh, Mabbutt, Nethercott, Campbell, Dozzell, Caskey, Rosenthal, Sheringham, Armstrong
Subs : Day, Wilson, Slade

The first half was quite even with the Blues keeping possession well but not creating a vast amount of chances, although Rösler forced a good low save from Walker. Eike Immel was in outstanding form again making quality saves from a Sheringham header and an Edinburgh 25 yard drive among others.

In the second half we again matched Spurs for possession in the first 15 minutes, Ekelund linking the defence to attack very well. After around 60 minutes Brown came on for Ekelund in a straight swap. Five minutes later a cross to the back post found Armstrong isolated against Ingram who was beaten to the cross for Armstrong to make it 1-0.

During the second half we made a few chances, Rösler forcing another good save from Walker as well as hitting the post with a drive after good work from Quinn. Kinkladze also had a shot blocked after some more good work from Rösler. Immel also had pulled off some good saves to keep City in the game but unfortunately, City could not force an equaliser.

I’ve decided to rate the players for a change:

Immel – 9 More great stuff from the big goalie. Even his kicking detractors can’t complain as every kick was despatched upfield usually to come straight back via the Spurs midfield. Many great saves from Sheringham and Armstrong but had no chance with the goal.

Summerbee – 7 Had a solid game. Didn’t get to do much attacking as he had Rosenthal to deal with. Got caught out of position a couple of times but on the whole defended OK.

Ingram – 5 Started well but with no wide player to mark was asked to go up the flank and support the attack. This usually ended with a long cross to Quinn from a deep position which would be cut out by the Spurs defence. Got beaten in the air for the goal.

Curle – 7 Another sound game from the skipper. Had his work cut out dealing with Armstrong who was on form.

Symons – 8 A good game keeping Sheringham reasonably quiet.

Lomas – 6 Started the game well mainly playing the ‘holding’ rôle and supporting the left hand side of midfield. Fell away in the second half as did most of the midfield.

Flitcroft – 6 Yet another heel snapping, tackling performance but did not do enough prompting or providing the front men with quality possession.

Ekelund – 7 Ran at the Spurs defence on City breaks linking up well with Rösler and Quinn when City had managed to clear the ball to him, or holding the ball up to wait for support which quite frankly was very slow in arriving.

Kinkladze – 5 Had a poor game, not being able to get into it due to his shadow, Sol Campbell, following him around the pitch. Hardly got into the opposition’s half, but when he did he had a shot blocked after good approach play by Rösler.

Rösler – 7 A hard running performance, and he seems to have found his shooting boots, have two good shots well saved and hitting the post.

Quinn – 7 Played well, his all round game was very good, all he needed was to hit the back of the net.

Brown – 6 Did a solid job but nothing out of the ordinary.

Next game is Leicester, and let’s hope Kinkladze can get a bit of room to work his magic, and hopefully get Nicky Summerbee up the pitch a bit more where he’s dangerous.

MATCH VIEW III

“They’re a strange bunch Manchester City, you never know quite what to expect from them” – Martin Tyler opening minute of the game.

It was a very open game with City seeing a lot of the ball throughout the game. In the 2nd minute Quinn chested down a good cross from Rösler only to shoot well over the bar, a definite half chance. In the 6th minute Sheringham had an effort cleared off the line from a corner. It was played in to the corner of the 6 yard line like when he hit the post against the Rags (didn’t City watch the game?) Spurs had a few more corners that didn’t cause us too many problems throughout the half. 8th minute Quinn laid the ball off to Rösler who made a decent shot parried by the ‘keeper, but there was no one there to snap up an Ian Rush type goal. Immel made a great save going to his left from Sherringham. 0-0 was a fair scoreline at half time. I think City had decided about 10 minutes into the 2nd half to go for a draw, which was suicidal. The goal, well Armstrong got goalside of Ingram and headed home easily. I’ve replayed the goal a few times and can’t help wondering, if Immel was more mobile around his area, then maybe he could have come out and claimed it; it was a good deep cross though from Campbell. You then got the feeling it would be really difficult for City to get anything from the game. The goal actually sparked City into life with Rösler having another shot parried, Quinn laid the ball to Gio whose shot was blocked by a defender. Rösler then hit the post after a lay off from Quinn.

Immel – glued to his goal line, somebody tell him he can handle it outside the 6 yard line.

Full backs – distribution was poor, the ball fed to the forwards was always too long, giving Rösler and Quinn no chance to run onto it. Sign a left back quick. Ingram had a poor game.

Centre halves – allowed 3 or 4 dangerous headers – one resulting in a goal. Armstrong was very impressive though, he held the ball up well waiting for support. He and Sheringham were always a threat.

Gio – looks so comfortable on the ball. Had just one penetrating run in the 1st half, went past 3 but pulled it wide. Spurs were wary of him. Campbell had orders to stick with him. When he receives the ball he is way too deep and ends up passing the ball sideways. Can we play Kinkladze “in the hole” just behind the front two? I think he would be more effective in this rôle?

Flipper – I watched him closely and I really like him. His work rate is incredible and he really gets stuck in. He was really flying into some tackles, but not Roy Keane nasty/dirty. I understand now why he gets booked because if he misses the ball he’s so committed, then the player’s going down. His hustling almost paid off with 5 minutes to go but his shot was poor.

Lomas/ Ekelund – both very average, although they said Ekelund was ill?

Rösler/ Quinn – good work rate, got into and created chances but don’t have that killer instinct / little bit of luck? in front of goal. Rösler hit the post, would it have gone in last year? The whole approach play by the team was excellent and in my blue eyes we were worth a draw.

I think we need 3 players, a left back, midfielder and a forward but that’s the easy and obvious thing to say and with no money it’s not going to happen. Would Liverpool take Rösler + £1 million for Fowler? Not! Luckily the rest of the results went for us. Looking down the fixture list we have QPR and Coventry at home, both crucial 6-pointers as after that we have Newcastle and Arsenal. The team and the fans really have to get fired up for the next 2 games and play like they did against Villa; destiny is still in our own hands. Everything I wrote of course is just my opinion, an enny spelin mestakes ar dew 2 me krap ejucation in Norf Madchester! 🙂

Tara and Stay Blue (from sunny Florida)

NEWS – COTON AGREES TERMS

City have agreed terms with Sunderland for the transfer of Tony Coton but the fee has not yet been disclosed. Personal terms are still to be agreed but it seems that TC will also have the rôle of goalkeeping coach as well as playing. He said he was upset at not going out on “a high” at City but at this stage of his career he needed first team football.

Meanwhile, City’s search for a new left back continues, with Southampton’s transfer-listed Simon Charlton (he who crossed the ball which TC dropped into the net at the Dell last season) the latest target. He’s likely to cost around half a million pounds. Looks like Rae Ingram will fill the problem position at Spurs tomorrow, with Ian Brightwell suspended.

NEWS – TRANSFERS

City are now being linked with a defender currently playing for Werder Bremen, with a £500,000 valuation. His first name was “Oleg” but I didn’t catch his surname. There’s also speculation that City are interested in another Georgian, a striker currently knocking the goals in for Trabzonspor in Turkey. No move for him is likely until the summer though.

The Chris Powell deal isn’t yet dead; the clubs agreed a fee but differed on how it should be paid (i.e. City wanted to pay in instalments). Maybe the interest in the Bremen defender is an attempt to persuade Southend to agree to City’s terms?

In GMR’s early reports on Sunday they were saying that Tony Coton’s move to Sunderland had fallen though. However, there was no further comment on this subject later on in the day so it’s probably not true. Andy Buckley, head of GMR Sport (and avid Blue), has been talking to a Georgian reporter; he says that the Georgian people all love Kinkladze and as a result of his move to City, there are now 9 million City fans in Georgia!

DECEMBER PLAYER POLL – RESULT

The result of the December Player Poll shows an overwhelming vote in favour of Niall Quinn.

The full result was:

• 1st Niall Quinn 38 pts (47.5%)
• 2nd Gio Kinkladze 19 pts (24%)
• 3rd Nicky Summerbee 8 pts (10%)

Others 15 pts (18.5%) – Curle, Symons, Lomas, Immel & Rösler

The lowest anyone rated Niall was 2nd (2pts), so it has to be the most unanimous result so far. In view of the stick he received earlier in the season his improved form has made a few people eat their words. A phenomenal workrate and ubiquitous presence must make him a regular in AB’s thoughts at the moment. He’s always the first (along with Symons) to come and clap the fans at the end of a match. The ‘Disco Pants’ song has become a regular at away games. ‘Four Four Two’ magazine recently profiled big Niall and he somewhat strangely revealed that his most prized possessions were his cowboy boots!

I downloaded a ‘quicktime’ video clip of his first goal against West Ham from http://www.vol.it/RETE_/homerete.html. Did they get this from ‘Premiernet‘ or is it still ‘under construction’?

Thanks to everyone who voted (14 this time).

COTON DEAL – ON OR OFF?

What’s happening then with regard to Tony Coton? Is this deal on or off with Sunderland? Every paper seems to have a different story. The People stated yesterday that it was off as they couldn’t agree on a figure but the Sunderland Echo seems to think that it will be completed on Wednesday after the replay with the Rags.

I don’t know if it’s the same as reports in other press such as the M.E.N but I’ll give you a brief summary of what the S. Echo said. Apparently, Tony is not happy with not receiving first team football, especially considering that he feels “35 going on 21”. He feels that he has plenty more years left in him at the top level and his age is not a concern at all. Although he feels an affinity with City and has just bought a new house he feels that for purely footballing reasons he must move on. This is not a final big payday for him.

The thing that is most telling is that City have told him he can go for £500,000 yet are expected to accept a cut price of £400,000. Sunderland’s initial offer of £250,000 was rejected simply because City have to give Coton £300,000 compensation in settling up on the rest of his contract. We might be financially naïve but even Bally knows that we would be paying to get rid of Tony then.

You then get all the usual balony about wanting to win things and under Reidy he feels they can, blah blah blah…

What I want to know is are things really this bad? If this deal goes through we have effectively sold him for £100,000 which seems so ludicrous to me. All the crap about getting rid of a high wage earner seems irrelevant if they get it paid to them anyway. Did the deal with Powell really fall through because we couldn’t raise £500,000? If Southend won’t take instalments, who will?

On a brighter note, who is this Rustler fellow that the commentator kept referring to on Match of the Day?

If anyone is sitting in EE section of the lower tier Kippax, do you fancy singing on Saturday?

STEVE COOGAN CONTINUED…!

I recently talked to Steve Coogan’s brother, and asked him about Steve’s football views, and he informed me that he has no real interest in football but if you twisted his arm he would say he was a Rag. Never mind, keep up the work at Platt Lane. I also heard that both Garry Flitcroft and Quinnino were spotted alongside Cathy Lloyd at J.W.Johnston’s last Wednesday night.

NEW INTERNET FOOTIE SITE

I would be very grateful if you could let your fellow fans know about the McEwans “In the back of the Net” service which can be found at http://www.mcewans.co.uk/football/.

Thanks for your help,

IMMEL QUESTION

I have recently had a discussion with a German colleague, who seems to think Immel is partially sighted in one eye; is this true?

ALBANIAN QUESTION

Does anybody know why we haven’t played our Albanian? I thought that he was a full back? If he is so crap that we can’t risk him playing for the first team then why is he on our books!

I hope City can win the next four games which will not only give us six points and a run in the cup but hopefully increase our confidence.

RESULTS

Saturday, January 13 1996

BOLTON WANDERERS      1-0    WIMBLEDON              16,216
EVERTON               1-1    CHELSEA                34,968
LEEDS UNITED          2-0    WEST HAM UNITED        30,658
MANCHESTER UNITED     0-0    ASTON VILLA            42,667
MIDDLESBROUGH         2-3    ARSENAL                29,359
NOTTINGHAM FOREST     1-0    SOUTHAMPTON            23,321
QUEENS PARK RANGERS   0-1    BLACKBURN ROVERS       13,957
SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY   1-1    LIVERPOOL              32,747
TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR     1-0    MANCHESTER CITY        31,438

Sunday, January 14 1996

COVENTRY CITY         0-1    NEWCASTLE UNITED       20,547

Sun 14 Jan

Team                Played   Won Drawn Lost  For  Against   Points
Newcastle United      22     16    3    3     43    18        51
Manchester United     23     12    6    5     41    27        42
Tottenham Hotspur     23     11    8    4     32    22        41
Liverpool             22     11    6    5     41    21        39
Arsenal               23     10    7    6     31    22        37
Nottingham Forest     22      9   10    3     33    31        37
Aston Villa           21     10    6    5     27    15        36
Blackburn Rovers      23     10    5    8     34    26        35
Leeds United          22     10    5    7     30    27        35
Everton               23      9    6    8     33    25        33
Middlesbrough         23      9    6    8     25    24        33
Chelsea               23      8    9    6     24    25        33
Sheffield Wednesday   22      6    8    8     33    33        26
West Ham United       21      6    5   10     22    32        23
Wimbledon             23      5    6   12     31    45        21
Southampton           22      4    8   10     20    32        20
Coventry City         22      4    7   11     28    44        19
Manchester City       22      5    4   13     12    32        19
Queens Park Rangers   23      5    3   15     17    34        18
Bolton Wanderers      23      3    4   16     22    44        13

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

MCIVTA ADDRESSES:
Contributions: mcivta@tollbar.u-net.com
Subscriptions: Adam.Houghton@sheffield.ac.uk

Thanks to J.T., The Mole, Tor-Kristian, Geoff, Edward, Ken, Paul (x2), Michael, Tony & Svenn.

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: