Newsletter #467

A much more upbeat issue today, and hopefully not the last. Once again the passion returned to Maine Road, both on the pitch and off the pitch, with the Blues out-competing Fulham in all departments. Although Cooke didn’t turn in a classic winger’s performance, his very presence gave much-needed shape to the team, dragging 2 of their players towards him, thus freeing up the midfield and attack. This however, was Michael Brown’s day, despite almost having to walk after 15 minutes, due to a surfeit of commitment on his part and a surfeit of zeal on the referee’s part!

We have a match report and 2 matchviews, and additionally, a report on the latest McVitee FC game, where the Internet Blues emulate the MCFC! There’s more on the Curle/Reid debate and Malaysia Rags, as well as a Why Blue from sunny Morecambe!

This one reaches 2,290.

MATCH REPORT – ‘LIVE’

MANCHESTER CITY vs. FULHAM, Saturday 16th January 1999

Now this was a fine, fighting performance by a team who’d underperformed woefully at Blackpool the week before. The 10-minute delay to kick off meant I could squeeze another beer in from the Kippax bar too. Cooke made his début, and as Michael Brown had recovered from his groin strain it was Dickov who was dropped to the bench. Morrison was missing for the first game of the completely unfair three-match ban that the FA had seen fit to dish out while letting Cort get away with starting the scrap, so Vaughan was moved back to centre half and Edghill was back. The full team lined up as: Weaver, Crooks, Edghill, Vaughan, Wiekens, Horlock, Brown, Pollock, Taylor, Goater and Cooke. Subs were Dickov, Whitley and Bishop. For Fulham, Peschisolido and Horsfield started by warming the bench and Kit Symons, on his return to Maine Road, had the task of marking Shaun Goater. Cooke got a good reception from the City crowd which was nice to see, Symons was completely ignored until the Fulham fans started chanting his name and was then booed every time he got the ball after that.

The referee was awful. After about two minutes Goater was sandwiched in the penalty area by Symons and Coleman and he waved play on. Wiekens – yes, Wiekens, how dirty a player is he? – was then booked for dispossessing dirty diving Dirk Lehmann, who looked lovely with his earrings taped up. Why doesn’t he just take them out? Brown was booked for a late tackle and obviously found the place in referees’ hearts usually reserved for Paul Dickov, as the ref spoke to him time and again for his “over-aggressive tactics” yet let Brevitt, in particular, clatter through the back of him time and time again. Silly me, I thought football was supposed to be a contact sport but that seems to depend on which team you’re playing for. Fulham got countless free kicks given their way in the first 25 minutes and the game seemed to be following an all too familiar pattern. Lehmann kept trying to get Brown sent off by diving theatrically whenever he went anywhere near him.

Suddenly something changed. Crooks was fed the ball on the right and put a pinpoint cross onto the head of Shaun Goater. Goater completely misheaded it, and didn’t get any power on it at all – completely confusing the ‘keeper who dived too early and missed the ball completely. Woohoo! 1-0! The ref seemed to decide at that point that we were the better team and gave us a couple of free kicks, then booked Taylor for an awful challenge through the back of one of the Fulham midfielders. After 30 minutes Taylor was responsible for a glaring miss when he ran onto ball played through the defence by (I think) Brown, who’d decided he wanted to stay on the pitch so had gone back to playing football. The Fulham defence appealed unsuccessfully for offside, but with only the ‘keeper to beat Taylor hit it straight at his legs. Two minutes later the same happened again. Goater was running back from an offside position but Taylor ran through to collect the ball and this time made no mistake with a lovely curling shot into the far side of the net. Woohoo! 2-0! This was a far harder chance that the first one as he had to get the ball past Coleman and Symons as well as the ‘keeper – maybe he just likes going for the spectacular?

Fulham were showing a remarkable amount of gamesmanship, ably abetted by the referee who fell for it all. Pollock nobbled someone in front of the Kippax (incidentally he then turned to the Kippax and clenched his fist in the air, glad the ref didn’t see that) who lay over the touchline onto the pitch. Instead of the ref kicking him off the pitch for the physio to deal with and letting the game continue with our corner he stopped the game while the poor ickle diddums had treatment.

Weaver had one save to make all half that I can remember when he, Wiekens and Vaughan all went for the same ball and all missed it. Hayles almost managed to squeeze the ball in from virtually on the back touchline but Weaver stood up well and cleared it with his feet. Wiekens made one mistake when he gave possession away in the area but Vaughan came back and covered well.

Half time 2-0 and we couldn’t quite believe it. Out came the chocolate biscuits in celebration. The team were cheered off – we decided we couldn’t be doing with that so shouted a few boos instead – got to make the lads feel at home haven’t we?

I honestly thought we’d get walked all over in the second half as Fulham were so disappointing in the first half. Surely Kev would go off on one of his usual I’ve-lost-my-mind rants and scare his team into playing better? Well… no. Brown was fouled from behind right on the edge of the area – it was close as to whether it should have been a penalty as Brown was running along the line at the time but I think on this occasion the ref did actually make the right decision. The ball was placed right on the edge of the area and Fulham lined up level with the penalty spot. Eventually the ref realised how close they were and made them go back, oh, at least another yard. Hmm. While everyone else was still arguing and complaining that two of the defenders were still encroaching (which they were) Kevin Horlock stepped up and smacked the ball in the net. Nice one Kev. Woohoo! 3-0!

At last we could start to relax, although all I could think about was the game a couple of years ago at Southend when we were 3-0 up and nearly managed to lose it in the last 10 minutes. This wasn’t going to happen here though as we restricted Fulham to virtually no chances. Mad Kev in desperation threw all three subs on but they couldn’t turn the game away from the rampant Blues. Hey, I like the sound of that. It would have been nice to score a fourth so we could beat them by more than they beat us but I wasn’t that bothered. Three would do.

I can’t remember who else was booked but it seemed as if it was half of our team, when the only bad tackles all game were Taylor’s and when Brown was fouled just before the third goal. Hayles blatantly elbowed Edghill in the head at one point but we didn’t even get a free kick. Brevett was leading with his elbow every time he jumped for a ball and finally got booked about half way through the second half. I think Pollock and Vaughan were booked too but not for doing much.

This was the best fighting spirit I’ve seen from a City side this year. It wasn’t the best football I’ve seen, in fact with the exception of some nice touches from Cooke (who looks as if he’ll be good) the football was pretty poor but I don’t care. The Fulham defence were well organised – I lost count of the number of times Taylor was caught offside – yet even our goal shy side managed to score three past them. There wasn’t a single weak link in the team. I think Brown was given MOTM by most of the papers but I’d have given it to Crooks, who’s getting better in every game I see him. Cooke may not have done anything to lead directly to a goal but he was always a threat out wide and pulled Fulham defenders out to deal with him, leaving Pollock loads of room to boss the midfield. Our back four mopped up everything that was thrown at them and even Edghill didn’t let himself down, while Vaughan’s improvement had continued. Even Horlock looked more interested in the proceedings than he has for a while.

And it was good to get three goals past Mad Kev’s overpriced, overvalued and overhyped wonder boys…

FULHAM – MATCHVIEW I

A few comments on the Fulham match:

Nice to see a bit of passion in the City side. City outplayed Fulham because they were more committed and wanted the three points more, and it makes a change from a few of the dull draws we’ve seen at Maine Road this season. Perhaps a few were too committed early on – I was surprised Brown wasn’t sent off. The referee wasn’t slow to get his book out, he seemed determined to send someone off. He was also conned into booking players on at least one occasion. In particular, Barry Hayles should have been sent off for a challenge on Edghill (which might just have been a red card in its own right), and for a dive which got Vaughan booked. Both these incidents happened more or less right in front of me. Vaughan’s tackle on the edge of the area was, in my opinion, a good one, but Hayles went down like the proverbial sack of spuds and got Vaughan booked. Shortly afterwards he brought Edghill down with what looked like an elbow (or possibly a push – I admit I didn’t see this perfectly clearly) right in front of the linesman. Now the linesman must have seen this, and it was definitely foul play, so shouldn’t he have flagged? Now I don’t expect match officials to be perfect every time, they can’t see everything, but it’s the inconsistency in this sort of situation that gets to me. Some linesmen would have flagged it, this one didn’t – it’s a lottery. What you can get away with depends entirely on who’s refereeing.

Every City player played well, no exceptions. Weaver didn’t have much to do, I can only remember one save in the second half, but when called on he was as good as we’ve come to expect him to be. Edghill had a pretty sound game, I was impressed with Crooks (sound defensively, got forward and provided a good cross for the first goal), Wiekens was his usual calm, assured self and Vaughan had a good game. I know I’ve criticised Vaughan in the past, but he does look like he could develop into a good central defender if given the chance, at this level at least. The whole defence worked well and Fulham were limited to very few chances.

In midfield Pollock and Brown both played well – Brown was my man of the match, tackling well, passing well and getting forward to threaten the Fulham defence. Horlock had a much better game than he has had lately. Cooke had a pretty quiet début, he didn’t get past Brevett (I think) too often, but showed some good touches and kept hold of the ball when he had it, plus he tracked back well which is more than could be said of our last right-sided winger. In the first half he did manage to get to the by-line once, unfortunately he didn’t manage to cross it but how often have we seen a City player even try to get that far before crossing this season? His presence also made a difference by pulling the defence and midfield out wide to make more space in the middle.

Up front, Goater and Taylor both looked up for it, both scored good goals and Goater at least looked better for having scored. Taylor is starting to impress me with some pretty intelligent play, and a well-taken goal, while Goater will hopefully benefit from renewed confidence. If the midfield can give them some decent service, these two should carry on scoring, so let’s have some more games like this please City.

To sum up: good game, good crowd (fifth highest in England apparently), excellent atmosphere. The sort of game that reminds you why you sit through the usual dross. Blue Moon never sounded sweeter. I just hope City keep it up.

FULHAM – MATCHVIEW II

I have been a bit of a part-timer recently and haven’t bothered going to a match since the Gillingham game. It was getting too depressing and I thought it was better if I stayed away rather than sitting there moaning. However, I went to the Fulham game on Saturday and finally had my faith reaffirmed!

I went with my dad and my grandad, both lifelong Blues (hence my affliction). I have never been to a match with both of them before and my grandad hasn’t been to Maine Road for a few years (well, he is 85!) – he brought out some old season tickets from the early 70’s, and they cost £15 and £17. He said it was worth the price to see Colin Bell play (I nearly cried at this point. I have paid that price for one game to see the likes of Gerry Creaney and Michael Frontzeck). Anyway, I think you get the picture, it was quite an occasion for me.

I don’t think we could have picked a better match to go to – it had everything: goals (ours), passion, commitment, aggression – I don’t think I have ever seen City play so aggressively. Joe had obviously been winding them up and showing them the tape of the thrashing we endured back in August. Michael Brown nearly got sent off after about 20 minutes, but the ref was absolutely awful. Thank God we made our own luck this game, we certainly didn’t get anything off him (I suppose he made sure the Fulham wall was the right distance for our free kick, but that’s about all).

The half-time score could have been 4-1, but I was ecstatic with 2-0. When the players emerged after half-time, the familiar feelings of dread started to resurface, even after the third went in. You know – can we hang on for another 30 minutes? But it became clear, even to pessimistic old me, that it was one of those days when we weren’t going to let anything in.

All of this makes me ask myself why we can’t do this every week. What’s the problem? Joe said in the paper that he’s not particularly worried about playing the top sides, it’s the lower sides we struggle against. But surely we have proved time and time again that we can beat anyone in this division? We have now got 10 points out of 12 in our last 4 games, and this is what we have to build on. If we wouldn’t have lost daft games or drawn 0-0 at home, we would be in a much healthier position. Let’s see how long we can keep it up (but please don’t all start talking about having turned a corner, because we go crap again!).

Finally, nice to see Terry Cooke didn’t get slagged off for being a Red – and that he seemed to play well with Brown. Puzzled by Symons’ reception. I wouldn’t have thought he was that much of an unpopular figure – after all, he was playing for Fulham so that must have increased our chances of winning.

NEWS SUMMARY

Best of the Season

“They set about us – no complaints. They had a bit more commitment than us. We deserved nothing and got nothing. We were second best. You can make all the excuses you want but the result was fair today.” It sounds like a description of an archetypal City performance but in fact those were Fulham manager Kevin Keegan’s thoughts on his team’s 3-0 demise at Maine Road on Saturday. The City display was described by Joe Royle as “… the best we have performed over 90 minutes this season.” According to all reports, including those from Fulham sources, the scoreline didn’t flatter City, who avenged the three-goal reverse at Craven Cottage in the season’s second league game with some aplomb.

Shaun Goater and Gareth Taylor will both have been relieved to get on the scoresheet as before Saturday they had a combined tally of two in their last 23 outings, while given Joe Royle’s comments last week about the lack of goals from midfield it was also timely for Kevin Horlock to find the net. The only black spots for City were five bookings and the injury to Horlock two minutes from time. By all accounts producing his best performance for some time, he took a kick on the shin and sustained severe bruising, though it’s expected he’ll be fit for next Saturday’s trip to second-placed Walsall.

Reserve News

City reserves kept up their run of good form with a 3-2 win in the Pontin’s League Cup away to West Bromwich Albion last Thursday. Craig Russell (who claimed two goals) and Danny Allsopp were the City scorers – maybe this is what spurred the Goater-Taylor tandem to break their barren runs 48 hours later. Murtaz Shelia was booked for kicking the ball away, while Australian trialist Fausto de Amicis gave away a late penalty but was reported to have impressed the watching City management team and done his prospects of a permanent contract no harm.

Shelia Move Denied

Murtaz Shelia, available on a free transfer, has been linked with a loan move to West Ham United. However, Joe Royle stated on Friday that the Hammers have made no enquiry about the player. Shelia is also reportedly on the wanted list of Italian Seria A club Salernitana, who have sold their Cameroon defender Rigobert Song to Liverpool.

Loan Stars Impress

Jeff Whitley, scorer of two goals in forty City appearances, took less than ten minutes to get off the mark for Wrexham in the first match of his loan spell at Colchester on Friday. Wrexham went on to win the match 3-1 to end a run of four straight league defeats. Meanwhile, Scarborough have extended the loan spell of City reserve striker Chris Greenacre by another month. Greenacre has so far managed only one goal and apparently missed an open goal against Southend last week, but I’m assuming from the fact that Scarborough want him to stay that he must have impressed. Either that or, second bottom of the Football League, they’re absolutely desperate!

City Set For Big Name Loan Deal?

Early last week, after City had finally clinched the arrival of Terry Cooke, JR was reported to have met a question on further transfer deals with an enigmatic smile and a refusal to comment. This seemed to be an indication that there could be further developments and on Friday, Royle admitted he’d been in talks with a view to making another loan signing. He refused to reveal the identity of his target as this would embarrass the player and his club, but it’s supposedly someone with a high profile. Word is that the odds are against a deal, but it’s not impossible there could be moves this week.

City Earn Praise in Almond Move

After tabloid allegations of bungs and sleaze over the signing by Arsenal of Notts County schoolboy Jermaine Pennant, it was pleasing to read that City have been praised in the local Scarborough press for their conduct in the signing of James Almond. Details on James are scarce, but what is known is that he’s a midfielder, an England U-15 squad member and has been with Scarborough since he was 11. Scarborough will receive “adequate compensation” for losing their young prospect, though quite how this will be assessed is also unclear. However, one source claims the final amount could rise to £250,000, though presumably this will be dependent on his progress at Maine Road.

Premier Giants Keep Tabs on Weaver

Nicky Weaver, who certainly impressed me when I saw him play a blinder at Wrexham on Boxing Day, has reportedly caught the attention of even more eminent football luminaries. Liverpool and (whisper it) Manchester United are mentioned as the clubs keeping tabs on the player rated by City goalkeeping coach Alex Stepney as one of the best prospects he’s ever seen. Liverpool are said to be particularly keen, with chief scout Ron Yeats apparently a regular visitor to Maine Road to check on Weaver. Reports suggest City may be ready to do business come the summer, looking for a fee in the £3 million range.

This would be a similar price to the young Tranmere goalkeeper Steve Simonsen, bought earlier in the season by Everton for his potential rather than as a first-teamer in the immediate future. And I don’t think Liverpool or United would be looking at Weaver as a first choice at the moment, so his career would probably be better served by being in the first eleven at City. My worry is that City may elect to sell – a big chunk of our rather considerable debt apparently becomes payable next year, a fact which no doubt won’t escape the notice of any interested party. The money has to come from somewhere, so unless it’s from the pockets of an investor, cashing in on one of our saleable assets (Weaver and Gerard Wiekens spring to mind as likely candidates) looks a distinct possibility. Which is a fairly depressing thought.

Share Price Falls

After a 28% rise from 70p to 90p in the space of little more than a fortnight, the share price has dropped slightly to close Friday at 85p. Against this backdrop, for the first time since David Bernstein’s comments on 19 December that he was in talks with potential investors, there’s been press speculation as to who they might be. Unfortunately, it seems little more than a case of rounding up the usual suspects. Three names were mentioned, but each story simply repeats long-standing rumours. For instance, Manchester solicitor Raymond Donn, Vice President of the club, and former Sheffield United chairman Mike MacDonald were both mentioned in connection with bids for the club in the turbulent spring of last year. Even reports that Francis Lee is seeking backers for a return to power echo stories which were circulating both before and after he stepped down as chairman. Looks like this one will continue to run for a while yet.

Kinky Set For Toon?

Of course, there seems to be little chance of Gio Kinkladze returning to Maine Road when he leaves Ajax, and there’s been minimal speculation as to where he might end up. The only rumour I’ve seen is that he may go to Newcastle – though this is based entirely on an elliptical statement by the player, who has claimed that “Ruud Gullit knows what I am all about.” The same report goes on to claim that Ajax are prepared to cut their losses and allow Kinkladze to leave at a loss and that City will be entitled to 25% of the £4 million the Amsterdam club are asking for the player. I don’t know if this is true, but it would be an unexpected windfall which wouldn’t exactly be unwelcome in our current position.

TICKET OFFICE NEWS

Stoke City vs. Manchester City
Friday 29th January, Kick Off 7.45pm

Tickets for this fixture are now on sale to regular season ticket holders on production of voucher ‘Z’ from their season ticket books. Prices are £14 adults, £8 junior/OAP’s. The allocation is 4,000 tickets. Full details are available from our website.

Walsall vs. Manchester City
Saturday 23rd January

Tickets for this fixture are now sold out. Supporters are advised not to travel without a ticket.

MCVITEE FC – VS. HUDDERSFIELD AWAY

Folks,

The McVitee Boys crossed a wintry Pennines to take on the Net Terriers in Huddersfield, on Leeds Road playing field for the 4th match on the PSINet sponsored league. First indications hinted the match would have been postponed, but fortunately the ref saw sense and the game went ahead. Dave Barker had done another sterling job and managed to raise a squad of 14 (excluding himself – out through injury). The team was:

Rich, Martin, Pete, Dan, Gavin, Andy, Spenner, Lee G, Mark, Lee H, John.
Subs: Col, Dave, Steve.

The match was hard fought in difficult conditions (strong breeze, bright sunshine and a wet pitch), with the pitch cutting up (although not as bad as first expected). There were a few chances for the Blues, the most notable, Lee H hitting the woodwork, the Terriers were restricted to long shots. The game looked like heading to half-time as a 0-0, when Lee H got the opener from a long punt downfield by Richard and then Jon waltzed through the defence before slipping home the second (apologies if I’ve got that the wrong way round). So 2-0 at half-time, half-time team talk, keep passing, keep working hard. It didn’t make any difference as the Terriers came out much more fired up and made us work hard to keep them out. The Terriers finally managed to break through with a 25-yard effort into the bottom corner. Would their pressure pay off? The mud was taking its toll, sapping the strength from mind, body and soul. The game became devoid of midfield action as it became attack vs. defence at both ends. McVitee had an almighty scramble in the Terriers’ goalmouth with the ball trying to be forced home until a Huddersfield boot cleared the danger. McVittee managed the 3rd and deciding goal, thanks again to Lee H, who met a left wing cross with a stooping header! That all but sealed the victory and the game, although the last 10-15 minutes was hard work as Mark was sent off (the disgrace of it!! ;-)) ) for swinging a punch at an opponent who’d hacked him down for the 2nd time in the game.

McVittee have now won 4 straight games, are in the top 5 of the league and stand a good chance of staying in the top few!

There are more matches planned, both home and away, so if you’re interested in playing, then contact Dave Barker (dave@moonfish.co.uk). I’m sure you’ll be more than welcome.

After the 3-1 win, it was back over the Pennines to see if the Blues could continue where we’d left on and surprisingly they won 3-0 against the table toppers Fulham.

IT’S MY FAULT

It seems to be time for my regular (every two years) contribution to the ever growing MCIVTA. Being a London Blue, with a one-year-old daughter to entertain, I suppose getting to about six games this season isn’t a bad record – and all of those at Maine Road.

I must also at this stage, take full responsibility for our poor season, as my “lucky” presence in the Main Stand has led us to defeat at all of those six games. Even watching the games on Sky has helped demotivate the lads in every televised match.

So basically I am responsible. It appears that I emit a unique signal to anybody in a City shirt that makes them automatically loft the ball in the air, give away easy balls, make terrible challenges and miss sitters. I also believe that Pollock’s compulsion to take a free kick before the ref is ready, can be traced to me. Even wrapping myself in silver foil and getting my wife to lock me up in the wardrobe (not something we do regularly – I hasten to add!) 200 miles from the match, has failed to diminish this quite terrifying phenomena. So advance apologies to anyone at the Walsall game, as I have been invited by one of the Walsall directors to join them for the game.

For what it’s worth, here is my two pence, or 0.0034 Euro, on what we need to do…

We are a Second Division club, and a rather poor one at that. But we do not have Second Division players. Instead we have some rather talented, if inexperienced, young, creative playmakers. Some of them might have made useful careers in the lower rungs of the Premiership or the First Division, in the company of a good team. At City they are wasted, demotivated and under perform. It is these players that sometimes, for about 3 minutes a game, get it right and we see glimmers of good football.

What we need however, is Second Division players. Experienced senior level veterans of cup struggles, promotion fights and relegation battles. Jamie Pollocks with some skill and intelligence. A rough and tough striker from this mould could turn our season. But, hey – who listens to me?

Well, coincidentally, I hope the Chairman might. This morning I got an invitation from Ivan Lewis MP for Bury South, a friend, and also a life-long Blue, who is launching the Westminster Branch of the Manchester City Supporters’ Club at the House of Commons in February, with Bernstein (who also happens to live a few roads away from me, as we are in the name dropping game), Howard Davis and Colin Shindler. I’ll send a full report to MCIVTA, as it might be interesting to some of you to learn who amongst our policy makers is prepared to risk their political career by identifying with a club remarkable for its complete absence of any success (so, I suppose we might see a lot of Lib Dems!).

As a parting thought for this millennium, I never thought that supporting two clubs, one of then once in the old First Division and the other a struggling Conference team would ever be cause for concern. But as Kettering maintain the top spot in the conference, who knows what emotional agony awaits in a few seasons?

MALAYSIA AND OUR AUSSIE TRIALIST

Having spent some time in Malaysia last year on business I too was surprised and upset by the amount of Rag shirts around Kuala Lumpur. For a couple of days it really annoyed me but then I looked closely and saw that most of these shirts are fake. The counterfeit trade in clothing and watches etc. in SE Asia is massive, but to see Adidas Rag shirts really made me laugh. Take heart in the fact that these Malay supporters are spending their money, but none of it is making its way back to Stretford. It actually made me feel good to see that our Kappa Laser Blue is not being ripped off.

Here is a little bit of information on our latest Australian triallist. I am a bit worried though that this article is from mid last year and he was aged 29 then.

Laker looks to recover lost time

By Patrick Mangan of The Sunday Age

South Melbourne defender Fausto De Amicis thought his luck had finally changed when he was selected in the Australian squad for the recent four-nation series after years kicking his heels on the international sidelines.

The 29-year-old had long been regarded as one of this country’s best uncapped players, so it was no surprise that Terry Venables had finally given him the nod. But the series against Chile, South Korea and Japan proved to be a roller-coaster ride for the former Melbourne Knight. After an unconvincing début against Chile, De Amicis rewarded Venables’ faith with an impressive performance against Korea. The third game of the series, against Japan in Adelaide last Sunday, represented a great opportunity for De Amicis. But, just five minutes into the game, De Amicis was sent off for deliberate handball after flinging himself at a goalbound Japanese header. The undermanned Socceroos went on to lose 3-0.

“Fortunately Terry (Venables) understands the situation. He said `Don’t worry about it – it’s just one of those things’. He was a little bit disappointed, not at me personally but at the situation,” he says.

De Amicis returned to the domestic grind this week, and like everyone else at table-topping South Melbourne he’s driven by the prospect of breaking the club’s seven-year championship drought. “With eight games to go, we’re really focused on holding on to top spot. We have to ask ourselves ‘How far do we want to go this year?’ There’s no second chance as you get towards the finals – if you lose you’ll be watching it on the box.”

MALAYSIA AND RAGS

This fascination with the Rags began only after they started winning the League title during Cantona’s days. Before that it was Liverpool this and Liverpool that. And this year the number of Arsenal car stickers have increased. I suppose it’s the same in Singapore and Brunei as well.

I have been a City fan since 1974 and in those days I had schoolmates who supported Stoke City, Newcastle, Spurs, etc. We knew our teams inside out. Team stats, colours, players’ bio-data and so on. I had all the walls in my room covered with pictures of City players cut out from Shoot!

At my workplace there’s a guy here who is a huge fan of the Rags. And he can name about 5 players in the team and that makes him the ‘Mr-know-all-about-the-Rags’ to his fellow Rags who only know 1 player, Spice boy. Spice boy is ‘God’ here. He appears in countless number of advertisements from hair-cream to football boots to God knows what else.

All this will change when MU stop getting the silverware. Then only the loyal fans (very few here) will remain. And the very same outlets dealing in MU merchandise in all the shopping complexes will close down and re-open in a week.

Only this time it will most probably be called The Arsenal Shop.

MALAYSIA SHIRT INFO & SCORES REQUEST

I too was recently in Kuala Lumpur and was amazed at the large number of United shirts, although I have also read that their Thailand branch of their supporters’ club is the largest so I suppose it’s no surprise that the Red plague has spread across the border. It’s a bit like communism in the 50’s and 60’s! However, I did find a Kappa City shirt for sale in one of KL’s squillion shopping malls and can provide details if any Malaysia-based Blues want one.

On a completely different issue, does anyone know of a service whereby the weekend’s footy results can be emailed to me? I work with several other Poms (good win in the one day cricket last night!) at a mine in PNG and we are always having trouble finding the scores. Any information on an email-based scores service would be appreciated (we don’t have Internet access).

Any Blues in Buenos Aires?

THE TRUTH MAY BE OUT THERE

The question why 28,000 of us keep bothering has long puzzled the outside world – and to a certain extent the 28,000 themselves. Well, thanks to Andy Noise’s recent, excellent Why Blue? I think I’ve found the answer – we’re all part of a sinsister government conspiracy hatched in the 60s, which is only now reaching its final, dastardly outcome.

Let me explain…

Reading Andy’s story an astonishing number of similarities seem to exist between his and my own history of following the super Blues.

For example:

• Early childhood – both in the deep south with London supporting mates – and enemies.
• Initially hooked on City – both = 69 Cup final.
• Fave player – both = Franny Lee.
• 70’s City paraphanelia acquired: both kit, silk scarf, badges, painstakingly adapted Subbuteo (and for me, Striker) team – allacquired with difficulty due to being in the south.
• Rare chances to see the Blues – Andy (London), me Ipswich and er… Ipswich (always lost of course).
• University in early 80s = Andy – Salford (City + Joy Division); me – Salford (City + Buzzcocks). Course, what course…? Instead thejoys of Gow, Francis, Parlane and the Hutch.
• Luton – nuff said.
• Extensive foreign travel on work/studies struggling to get theresults – only with me, this tended to involve spending most ofSaturday mornings constructing a precarious 10 foot tower offurniture, coffee cups and cushions upon which to balance the radio inorder to get decidely flakey world service commentary – hosted byPaddy Feeney (until quite recently, thanks to saidtransmission/interference, I thought City had lost a Division 2 game withNotts County in the 80’s when in fact they had won).
• As we get worse I – like Andy – get more obsessive about ‘this hopeless quest’ (thank you Howard Davies for the quote).

Well the only logical conclusion has to be that we’re actually all the same. All 28,000 of us are part of a fiendish government cloning experiment begun during the sixties, to establish total mind control over a significant proportion of the population. To establish mass crowd reaction to continual reversal, set-back, frustration, torture and self-delusion – and to surpress normal feelings as a result.

This raises, for me, some fundamental questions:

1. Has the government forgotten us and left us – like ghosts – to wander the draughty lower divisions for ever?
2. If the unthinkable happens and we actually win something, will thewhole scheme break down irreparably? Will we all start malfunctioningand shooting people/players, tearing down the stands and being ageneral threat to society – like Yul Brynner and his robot cohorts inWestworld?

I think we should be told.

APOLOGIES TO NEIL AND DAVE

Thank you for putting me firmly in my place in the newsletter. I quite agree with you that my comments were not thought through properly and were particularly unconstructive, except that they gave you the opportunity of making people like me reassess ourselves.

In fact I think I agree with most of your comments, but will always have a soft spot for the Phelan and Curle defence, only because it generally seemed to do well (this comment made exclusive of other potentially better purchases). Also don’t forget that Kanchelskis absolutely roasted Brightwell and the crowd were calling for Phelan (that was Horlock though anyway wasn’t it?).

I did try to contact you direct, rather than bore the other readers with a continued dialogue (especially as I’m the one that looks stupid), but both e-mails bounced.

In the future I will think a little more about what people are really saying. I also apologise for the rash comments that I made about your posting, which I made on a bad day. However, if you do make one about how glorious Alan Ball could have been I may not be so responsible…

I wish we could still stand.

OPINION – RE, WHY DO WE UNDERACHIEVE I

Khalid, I know the feeling… can hardly believe that if someone were to write a book about the demise of a footie team, they’d be slated for making it seem too unreal… too bad, if they wrote about MCFC.

I mean, why on earth does the world’s worst hard-luck story rotate around the Blues… it’s my (our) team for Christ’s sake, why not bloody Charlton or Southampton (sorry)?

Remember a couple of years ago, when Newcastle were on the verge of Division 2 and then the perm-king stepped in? Why oh why did I think that J.R. would do the same? Maybe he still can?

I can’t put my finger on it. I mean even if there is such horrid mis-management of a club, how does that affect the people on the pitch and their results? We’ve seen the matches, watched the players. Individually, they’re not that bad – together they gel to complete s***e some days, close to brilliance on others – but why? even some dodgy tactics shouldn’t make some of our players look like Sunday afternoon’s finest?

What’s going on, maybe we’re just cursed?

OPINION – RE, WHY DO WE UNDERACHIEVE II

I read Khalid Ahmed’s opinion re: City’s continued inconsistencies, and am a firm believer it has to do with that dreaded curse put on the ground by that Gypsy (I forget his name) – during Malcolm Allison’s time at the club.

Khalid stated the following:

> Why when we sign decent players do they not do the business for the Blues?
> Craig Russell, prolific performer for Sunderland, Goater again top man for
> Bristol City, comes to Maine Road and his form goes. There are
> lots more - Alan Kernaghan, Nigel Clough, Ged Brannan (I'm not
> sure if he was any good at Tranmere!), Bradbury, etc.

It’s that curse… it cannot be anything else! The sooner City play at a new venue the better. Well that’s only my opinion and I am sure thousands would agree with me after our continued one-step-forward two-steps-back… season after season. We continue to go backwards and the “Reds” continue to go forward to bigger and better things. Has anyone got any more info on this curse and all the reasons behind it?

OPINION – KEITH CURLE

Just to chip into the Reid, Curle etc. debate. There is no doubt that Reidy made many errors in his time at City, probably the worst of all, in my view, was selling Michael Hughes, the best young player I have seen at City since Paul Lake. Hendry was a good player for us, but he has improved dramatically since his Maine Road days, he wasn’t even near the Scotland team when at City. Keith Curle was a superb siging, providing pace, strength and leadership. He was never a fans’ favourite but under his captaincy we finished 5th in the Premier League in successive seasons, which now would put us in Europe. Many City fans have bad memories of Curle because he captained our ‘Alan Ball relegation team’ and scored an own-goal in the Liverpool game that sent us down, and he was never really a crowd favourite.

I think selling Curle and Quinn in that summer was the worst mistake the club has made (bar Ball appointment and Bradbury) in recent times. One final thing about Curle – remember how good Kit Symons looked in the year when he played alongside our old skipper? And this is the same guy who played consistently badly in his final 2 years. So Curle was well worth the £2.5 million we spent.

OPINION – OOH, TO SEE THE TOWER

It’s been a few years since I’ve contributed to this great publication and because I recently made the trip from San Francisco to see the Blues (vs. Blackpool) I thought I’d cap the delightful trip with a few words.

I hadn’t been to a City away game for about 5 years and so a few things really stuck out for me: The fans: Where have all the fans gone? I know we had more than 1/2 of the stadium but that amounted to about 5,000 each side. The atmosphere was like a rugby league game except quieter.

The game: Alright it was a crap game, but the pitch was really greasy (I guess we can’t afford a spare pair of long-studded boots for the players these days). In the first half the City players were individually more skilful on the ball. In the second half we just played down to Blackpool’s level as well as operating at about 2 miles an hour. When Blackpool brought on Wonder Boy the defence, who up to that point were playing really well, started to fall apart.

The team: The lack of pace hurts us. But it really looked like 7 out of 11 were carrying injuries. It is almost impossible to beat a physical team with 10 men behind the ball if you have a team that is hobbling about at half speed. Harping back to the good old days we should remember that we always relied on someone who would take the ball and run down into the throats of the opponents, like Tueart, Bell, Kidd (even like Wonder Boy did for Blackpool. The City players have zero confidence to do that at the moment.

What to do: It’s up to the supporters to get behind the team. The players have the quality, really they do. After all the team went down by the skin of their teeth twice. Don’t start going on about Summerbee, Quinn etc., after all we moaned them and nearly all the other reasonable players out of the team.

We have got to forget about the past, bite our collective tongue regarding the present, and just get ’em going. We spent more energy taking the p**s out of the linesman at Blackpool than shouting for them. I heard so many moaners at Blackpool that I thought there were a load of b*****d Reds at the game. Incidentally I brought my American girlfriend with me – she was well impressed with the facilities.

One final word… I went to the Bolton vs. Wolves game the week before. Bolton had about 10 times more touches on the ball than Wolves, completely outplayed them technically and still lost. Also, the Bolton fans were totally, utterly silent throughout the game as opposed to the Wolves fans who shouted throughout.

Come on Blues let’s help get em out of that bloody division. We’re starting to show less fight than the team.

OPINION – COOKE ABUSE

Well, Walter Smith’s prediction in MCIVTA 466 that Terry Cooke would come in for a hard time from sections of the crowd was correct. The guy who sits behind me in the Kippax every week started shouting “Munich B******” at Cooke even before the kick-off. The abuse got steadily worse until I decided to turn around and ask him what his problem was. He said “Once a Red always a Red” and carried on with the abuse. This guy generally dishes out abuse to either Edghill or Goater each week, and he’s one of the people Willie Donachie spoke about in his M.E.U.N article. This negativity can only harm the club.

OPINION – FALSE DAWNS?

I peeked behind the curtain this morning, Saturday’s vistory still fresh in my mind, the sun was slowly rising, please not another false dawn! Surely this is it, the turning point? Forget that Fulham were tired, it is all about commitment and desire for the cause. We showed plenty of it, encapsulated in the never say die performance of Michael Brown. I am nervous though, I felt myself getting carried away as I chatted to my dad walking down Wilmslow Road, he a veteran at Maine Road with 55 years of pain and joy under his belt. “This is it dad, this is where the real run starts. If we beat Walsall next week we’ll only be 7 points behind them and they’re in second place!” I do think that this is the start of something, I don’t know why, I just get that feeling or am I being blindlessly optimistic again? For me the report of the weekend was in this morning’s Daily Telegraph, the first paragraph sums it all up.

“There can be few more intoxicating football fixes than Maine Road in full cry. Compared to Old Trafford where even Alex Ferguson has described the recent atmosphere as morgue-like, it resembles a cauldron of uninhibited passion and hostility.”

To all those who advocate barracking the team when performances are poor, you only needed to be there on Saturday. It was all the proof you need that positivity breeds positivity and confidence and passion on the pitch stems from confidence and passion in the crowd. Stick with it, the sun’s starting to rise.

OPINION ON OPINIONS

Couldn’t think of anything original to write this week so I thought I’d respond to a few points from recent issues, maybe keep the healthy debate going.

1. Scum do us favour, not. I agree it is to their benefit to have Cooke onloan to us, and hopefully ours, of course. I hope he’s better than thelast couple of players we signed from them, Peters Bodak and Barnes. Oh andGidman and McIlroy (indirectly). All looked good until they pulled on theblue shirt. Not forgetting that sad t****r Law, who couldn’t even raise asmile, never mind laugh his head off with the rest of us, when he relegatedthe slime.
2. Screensavers. There’s a somewhat basic one on the official club website, or does everyone know that? One picture in the centre of the screenthat changes when a moving club badge passes over it. You get Badbuy,Pollock, Edghill, Moonchester and Royle. They’re the same pictures as onthe wallpaper. Is the one that you get with the club mouse mat anydifferent? Does anyone know how to knock these up?
3. This supporting England thing is a bit of a can of worms, isn’t it? Sojust how many Blues actually did cheer when Spice Boy mis-hit that freekick in against Columbia? And, yeah, just who did City fans want to winwhen Georgia played England? I don’t feel bound to support any team justbecause I was born there. If I did I’d support Borehamwood at football,Hertfordshire at cricket and England for everything else. Where’s the funin that? Should I be resigned to a life of non-league football andcricket? I’m not convinced. The world is too small and surely what countsis commitment. Providing whichever teams you choose to support (and as weknow, it’s never actually a choice, it just envelops you), in differentcountries, different sports etc., you stick with them, then why not? As ithappens, my team got one round further than England in the World Cup,but they were fiddled out by Holland.
4. No, David White was the last City player to play for England (whilstwe’re on the subject). Curle had three games (two starts and oneappearance as sub) before and during Euro 92, but White’s career-turningevening in Seville was the following Autumn. Must have been the shock ofClough’s perfect through ball that irreparably scarred him. I suppose thatthis is a good place to mention Richard Edghill’s England B cap that he wonin the summer of 1994 (in the same team as soon to be City player, NickySummerbee).
5. Neil Lennon was released by Kendall in the summer of 1990, but Reid canlay claim to Chris Coleman, the transfers of whom have realised a fewmillion over the years.
6. On the subject of Reid, I’ll add my views to the current forum on theman. A quick glance through his transfer dealings makes ugly reading.
   1. For what it’s worth, Curle had class (but was still over-priced), but hewas partnered with Redmond (whose promise was fast evaporating) when itshould have been Hendry. The bit about an alleged knowledgeable insiderinformed me that Curle would always disappear when it got cold in winter.If you check his appearances I think you may find this holds up is, alas,total boll**ks. Needless to say, I did check this, as the way Iremember it was, if Curle didn’t play, then neither did City. Luckily Ikeep a complete set of City records in my anorak pocket and sure enoughCurle missed thirty five games in five seasons of which only 9 were inwhat you’d class as winter (mid-Nov to mid-Feb).
   2. Phelan was quick but Pointon was better all round defender. The feewas a farce.
   3. He played Heath instead of Allen (who, somehow, still kept scoring),who like Hendry was shown the door for no apparent reason. Then againAllen’s career was never that much after so maybe Reid knewsomething.
   4. Holden for Michael Hughes. Oh, God. It wasn’t a dream.
   5. Vonk for Redmond. Not a bad deal at the time but he was really stillsearching for a replacement for Hendry.
   6. McMahon for himself. A shrewd move, if it again weren’t for the sheerquantity of money involved.
   7. The rest? Hill was a good squad player, Simpson, Groenendijk andIngebrigtsen were poor buys and I wouldn’t have sold Mark Ward.
   8. That last summer (1993) he had three targets, Sinclair, Townsend andPaul Stewart (!). But none wanted to come. If he’d got the first two thingsmight have been different.

Then again, he gave us our best three finishes in the last twenty years. Admittedly a lot of the credit must go to Judas, but you’ve got to be fair to the bloke and acknowledge Reid’s contribution, especially despite all the poor transfer dealings. Our best three finishes, though. It is worth repeating! Then again, his style of football, even though we were winning was not that popular, although at the time we all blamed Old Pizzaface as I recall.

In hindsight, he should have worked under an experienced General Manager and not been let near the cash (or the transfer market as a whole?). With little cash at Sunderland, he’s had to be (and has been) more resourceful.

My conclusion on his sacking. Swales (and Maddock) replaced him with Brian Who? If that was all that was up their sleeve, then Reid should have stayed.

Finally, I must apologise to Ernie Barrow who finds me always looking for the negative in 464. My ego stopped in its tracks. I’d always regarded myself as a cheerful, easily pleased, contributor. Oh, well.

I DON’T BELIEVE IT!

YEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!

Worth waking up for.

Goater and Taylor… I must be dreaming again.

And Horlock too!

Thought there was more chance of Camilla “horsegums” Parker Bowles becoming Queen than City thrashing Fulham.

Bring on Walsall/Stoke… I have optimism again.

Thank you Joe, thank you Willie, thank you team, thanks to the Academy and my mum, and…

PROGRAMMES OFFER

If anyone is interested, I have supplies of programmes for virtually all of this season’s home games for sale at £1 each plus postage. I also have limited supplies of most away games available but the price for these range from £2 to £2.50 each plus postage.

Being a long-time collector of City programmes and all other City memorabilia I am interested in purchasing any programmes/City related items that other readers may wish to dispose of.

I am especially trying to obtain copies of the following games:

• 8-9-1945 Stoke vs. City
• 22-4-1946 Sunderland vs. City

plus copies of the following postponed games:

• 26-2-1955 City vs. Wolves
• 20-2-1960 City vs. Blackpool
• 23-3-1951 Notts County vs. City

Any help in obtaining the above would be very much appreciated and I am also very interested in any wartime or pre-war items available.

On other matters, I am sure that we all have our own opinions about the state of the club, managerial team, boardroom, and who is responsible for our being in this mess. However, continual abuse and mud-slinging is becoming a touch depressing to read week in, week out. Hopefully we can build on the confidence boost provided by the performance against Fulham and at least put together a serious challenge for promotion.

Meanwhile perhaps we can help by encouraging all at Maine Road because I strongly suspect that if we hound yet another manager and chairman out of the club we will take many years to recover. We got ourselves into this situation and now, at long last, we are showing signs of having strong leadership from David Bernstein at the top/behind the scenes and a team on the pitch that for all its infuriating inconsistency at least has the potential to take us up a division.

The best thing about the Fulham game was the looks of pleasure on the faces of the players and the fans after the game. I feel that City will erupt with just achieving promotion, but it must be fought for and earned; contrary to popular opinion, we do not have a divine right to be a top club.

Best regards to all subscribers.

P.S. If anyone wants programmes, please contact me either through e-mail or at 2 Red Lion Drive, Stokenchurch, Bucks, HP14 3SR.

REQUEST – WALSALL TICKETS

If anybody by any remote chance has 4 spare tickets for the Walsall game please can they contact me on one of the email addresses below and I will gladly buy them off you!

Vaughan for England – what an improvement!

WHY BLUE?

I felt compelled to write a Why Blue after subscribing for about 3 years now in response to the line in last week’s MCIVTA: “The fact is, if you support Manchester City you are either a loser, someone that has a romantic attachment, or someone that supports your local team.” Well there is an alternative.

I was born in Morecambe in 1972 and have lived there most of my life. My parents encouraged me to play football but had no allegiences to any particular team. When I was at primary school I was surrounded by Liverpool and Rag supporters with the odd Burnley or Preston fan thrown in for good measure. Then the fateful day happened. I remember watching Match of the Day one evening and seeing Manchester City play and heard the roar of the crowd and then after my first visit to Maine Road my choice was made (I think City hammered someone about 7-0 but it is all very vague – I told them I had football practice and had saved up for about 1 month to go). At school I became something quite unique (there were no other Blues) and some might say quite mad, but I never shirked and trouble seemed to be avoided (being the tallest in the class helped!).

Now I have no romantic attraction to Manchester (beyond the normal love of the club and all things blue). I would not class myself as a loser, in fact I hate losing more than anything in the world and I have a respectable job. City were not my local team, in fact Morecambe have improved considerably in my lifetime to Conference level. However I am Blue through and through. I have never known the great times (I was 3 when we won the League Cup), and have always assumed that we must take the good (promotion vs. Bradford, the 5-1) with the bad.

I now live in Exeter which makes matches very difficult to get to (the away games are like home ones for me, when I can get tickets!). I do strongly believe that this year is going to be a great one for City and the turning of the tide (and yes I did say we would have a lousy year last time round). I do think that we the fans do make a difference but need encouragement from the team. The last few games (Blackpool excepted) have been very encouraging and I for one will be making the sacrifice of soming 250 miles to watch the Blues. I will not however, just sit there, I will cheer them on (I am quite obsessed with this, if you heard a 70-minute rendition of ‘Blue Army’ at the home game vs. Reading a couple of years back then you’ll get the idea). It is our club, I am proud to be Blue and will shout and scream about it. I know some of you may be thinking he doesn’t see this week in, week out well ok I may not but this season has been a damn sight better than the last 5 or so; let’s get behind the Blues.

Come On! I know I will be and I won’t feel guilt for not trying.

RESULTS

Normal service to be resumed shortly…

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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.

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Editor: