Newsletter #514
There’s plenty in this issue, despite the lack of footy at the moment. You can read a list of City games to be televised by Sky TV in the forthcoming season, a nice Why Blue, some very funny ‘Colemanballs’ in Blue Humour and useful instructions as to how Blues may chat over the Internet during matches.
All of this, at least two invitations to join Blues for beer in pubs and even an amazing Free Gift City Desktop, designed and kindly donated by Paul Odusanya!
Which means that I can go out with at least a little bit of a bang before handing the reins back to Ashley.
Thanks to the MCIVTA team for their support and to all of you who contributed articles during the last fortnight.
Finally, don’t forget to send any further contributions to Ashley at mcivta@tollbar.u-net.com
Next game: Bury away, Saturday, 17th July 1999NEWS SUMMARY
Royle Cautious on Transfers
Joe Royle has played down reports that he’ll embark on frenetic transfer activity in a bid to prepare the Blues for the coming season. Promising that the players who won promotion will be given a chance to establish City in the higher grade, Royle said, “If I start with the same side that finished last season I won’t be too disappointed. I will be looking for them to take up this new challenge.” While the City manager admitted that he does hope to bring in “one, maybe two players, preferably left-sided,” he said he won’t be bothered if it takes until a few months into the season to land the right men. This is because he believes that the nucleus of last season’s side will be good enough to make an impression at Division One level. “We will not be as much of a scalp for teams this season and Grimsby and Watford have shown that teams going between the First and Second Divisions do not have to worry unduly,” he explained.
Rumour Round-Up
Possibly as a result of Joe Royle’s comments (and maybe it’s how he intended it), the rumour mill seems to have stopped grinding a little over the last few days. Preston’s Dominic Ludden had emerged as a favourite for the left-back position, but North End deputy chairman Derek Shaw denied that the Lancashire club has had approaches for any of its first-team players. City, of course, have also been linked with the Preston central defender and captain Michael Jackson, and the rumours seem to be reviving with the player stalling over an extension to his contract at Deepdale.
The rumours of possible City interest in West Ham winger Stan Lazaridis and Ipswich forward David Johnson are still persisting, though there’s no concrete news as yet. It’s thought Lazaridis would be prepared to join City, reversing the judgement he made in March, as long as the Blues meet the Australian’s wage demands. Wolves are also thought to be interested though their having the cash to meet the £1 million fee depends on the sale of Robbie Keane.
A less likely target is the Oxford striker Nicky Banger, who’s refused a new contract at the Manor Ground. Banger is looking for a new club and could be training at Maine Road while he finds a new employer. Meanwhile, Scott Sellars, linked with City after being released by Bolton, has not yet made his expected move to Steve Bruce’s Huddersfield. The delay has prompted one or two whispers he may wish to find an alternative destination.
For many clubs, Scandinavia is a potential source of new players should prices prove excessive in the domestic market. City are rated to be one of several clubs scouring Norway in particular in the search for reinforcements. The names being mentioned so far are Røsenborg striker Totto Dallum, Lasse Olsen, the Stromsgodset trio of Ousman Nyan and Kent Bergersen and Bodo Glimt’s Lee Robertson.
The only talk of outgoing transfers is that Neil Heaney is rumoured to be in talks with Darlington. Heaney, who has the distinction (?) of being Phil Neal’s only signing for Manchester City, is said to be prepared to drop down into the basement division to rebuild his career. With the north east club having recently benefited from a cash injection, they may also be in a better position than other clubs at their level to meet the former Arsenal and Southampton man’s wage demands.
Gigg Lane Friendly Date
City have moved quickly to find replacement opponents for July 17 after electing not to face Worthington Cup opponents Burnley. The Blues will now open their pre-season campaign with a short trip to Bury on the date originally scheduled for the match at Turf Moor. Ticket details for the Gigg Lane engagement have yet to be announced. Anyone who hopes to attend may be advised to keep an eye open for this information, since only three sides of the ground will be used – a new stand is under construction at the Cemetery End. There’s no word as yet on the possible match at Macclesfield at the beginning of August.
New Safety Officer
Jack Richards has retired as City’s safety officer. He’s been replaced by life-long fan Peter Fletcher, who will leave a senior rôle with Wigan police to take up his appointment by the start of the season.
Peter Brophy (brophy_peter@hotmail.com)MCIVTA 500 – THE PRESENTATION
Most of you will remember that a month or so back I started a collection for Ashley to commemorate the occasion of the 500th edition of MCIVTA.
The grand total of £1,137 was spent on an engraved tankard (presented to Ash on the pitch before the Wigan game by Dennis Tueart), a laser blue iMac and an Epson printer. We were arranging to have a presentation of the computer and printer somewhere but decided that lugging the lot round Manchester especially if we all wanted to have a few sherberts to celebrate would be a little stupid. So here’s the alternative plan…
The official drinking session will take place this Sunday from 2pm at The Moon Under The Water pub on Deansgate in Manchester. This is just an informal get together of some of the MCIVTA crew and anyone else who fancies meeting the man behind it all or the alcoholics anonymous who just fancy an extra weekend beer or two amongst friends. When Ashley decides he’s too drunk to stand up anymore we’ll call the good lady wife in to prop him up and they can collect the goods on their way home after I’ve taken suitably daft photo’s to put up on the Wookie site of him trying to lift an iMac half cut ;o)
Please make an effort to pay a visit sometime that afternoon if you are in the area. The money did come from you after all and I/we would like to take to opportunity to thank you in person for the wonderful gesture. I’ve always been proud to be a Blue and this incident just heightens my belief that we are the best fans in the world.
See you all Sunday then…
The Wookie (wookie@wookie.u-net.com)OPINION – THE GREATEST CITY GOAL…
As things are a bit slow at the moment… You know: in-between seasons; no transfer activity due to Joe being on holiday; still being on cloud 29 after Wembley… I thought I’d ask everyone to write in to MCIVTA about his or her favourite goals of all time – it will give us all something to argue about. So to kick the ball off, so to speak, here are the most memorable goals since I started watching City in 1967 at the tender age of 6…
5th Best: Kinkladze vs. Southampton (H) April 1996.
A great dribble finished off by a great goal – Kinky at his best.
4th Best: (Channon, Royle or Kidd) vs. Liverpool (H) Oct 1977.
This goal is memorable not for the scorer (`cause I can’t remember) but for the mesmerising run of Mike Doyle from his own penalty area right to the edge of the Liverpool box, with a couple of wall passes along the way. He eventually drew the last two Liverpool defenders and slipped the ball between them for ????? to score (anybody remember who?). In those days it was unheard of to score goals like this against Liverpool.
3rd Best: Paul Dickov vs. Gillingham (Wembley).
You’ve all seen it. Not a superb goal but… the emotion it released was the most unbelievable experience.
2nd Best: Dennis Tueart vs. Newcastle United (League Cup Final at Wembley 1976).
An incredible overhead kick that won us our last major trophy. Unbelievable.
The Best: Jim? Tolmie vs. Sheffield Utd (or was it Jim? Melrose vs. Notts County?) a team in stripes anyway – (H) 1984-85 season.
This goal is memorable because it seemed an age before we started celebrating that a goal had actually been scored – it was just so incredible. Our chap got the ball on the right wing, saw the goalie off his line and chipped him from 40 yards (or mis-hit a cross – the effect was the same). An absolutely unbelievable goal!
Now all these years I thought it was scored by Jim Tolmie vs. Notts County towards the end of the season – but this just can’t be. According to the records the Notts County game was in December (when Melrose scored) and the only time Tolmie scored against a team in stripes was on the 20th April against Sheffield United. Can anybody help me out with this one? – the old memory seems to be playing tricks.
Memory is a funny old thing. Opinions?
CTID, Richard Mottershead (richardjohnm@hotmail.com)MATCHTIME CHAT USING ICQ
Try ICQ (www.icq.com). It is a downloadable program (for free). Basically, it is a chat program, but the chat-rooms are private, so only City fans can get inside. Here, on matchdays, everyone joins on and someone usually, who has access to commentary some way or another, types it out for the benefit of everyone else. Everyone can chat and exchange views. Once you have downloaded it, go to the ICQ List on Blueview (www.blueview.co.uk) and add a few of the contacts to your list and on matchdays they will invite you into the chatroom.
Sam (sam@mancity.net)FOOTBALL 365 REPORTS THAT…
Sky Sports have announced their live Nationwide League games up until the end of 1999. As was the case last season, games will be on Friday nights (7.45pm kick-off) and Sunday lunchtimes (1pm kick-off). All games are in Division One unless stated.
August
Sunday 8, Manchester City vs. Wolves
September
Sunday 26, Ipswich vs. Manchester City
October
Tuesday 19, Birmingham vs. Manchester City (8pm kick-off)
December
Friday 3, Wolves vs. Manchester City
Sunday 26, West Brom vs. Manchester City (noon)
DILLON FROM DALLAS WRITES…
My name is Dillon Allie and I’m a 20 year old from Dallas, TX USA (I don’t wear cowboy boots and/or hat, nor do I ride a horse everywhere by the way). I will be a Junior at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana in the fall.
I have become a huge supporter over the past few years, and have been recently turned on to MCIVTA. I go to the web site every day (along with several other City sites), but only recently had the time to join the mailing list. I was wondering if there was anybody in the Dallas area (or even in this region of the country) that is a supporter. I would like to have someone to chat to about the team and the goings on at Maine Road as I can’t get enough info on the squad.
I became a Blues fan a few years ago. I love, and have played all sports competitively including American football, basketball, baseball, ice-hockey, golf, and of course, my recent obsession… soccer. Football has always fascinated me, and in the last few years, I’ve become rather obsessed with it (it started with the USA qualifying for Italia ’90). I didn’t really have a club team to root for early on (there was no pro league in the US at that time), but settled on the Blues quickly. I love rivalries, especially where there is usually an underdog, and a power involved, and there is none better than the one in Manchester.
Anyway, living in America I’ve come to loath the sports super power and the Rags seemed to epitomise this. City on the other hand seemed more my kind of team. Hard working, not as high profile, never picked by the “experts” to win.
As the days went by my obsession grew but not just for the Blues. I was also hooked on Oasis and they changed my life. Once I learned of their allegiance to the Blues (three of the five anyway) I was even more excited to be a supporter. Early on, I figured they were United supporters which disappointed me as every person I knew in America who claimed to like soccer always had United as their favourites only because that’s all they had ever heard of.
My knowledge of the Club and of the game grew day by day and my love for the team seemed to grow with every loss last season. It only hardened my spirit as a fan. My friends tease me for supporting Man City which only spurs me on to wear my jersey more often, and to sing Blue Moon that much louder. I have grown to love the club so much even though I’ve never seen a game at Maine Road, or seen the team live. I’ve followed every move the last three years and am so excited for next season. My friends may tease me, but one thing I can never be called is a bandwagoner like most United fans. Ironically enough, my City shirt was purchased when City was on their way to relegation last year. I’ve become synonymous with City with my friends due to my allegiance and my MCFC posters, fashion, screensaver, knowledge, and video games.
I hope to make my first visit to Maine Road next spring while visiting my friends who are studying abroad in London. A trip to the Northwest is definitely in order. If anybody has any suggestions on how in the world a guy like me can get one ticket for one game, I would be eternally grateful. This will be my pilgrimage to greatness and probably one of the rare chances to see the Blues live in my life.
Sorry for this being so long, and if it’s trashed it’s no big deal. I just wanted to tell my story, and to see if anyone in the southern US wanted to talk some City football, or could help me with tickets for one game next year. Thanks for your time.
CTID, Dillon Allie (Dillon.M.Allie.1@nd.edu) or (liamg19@hotmail.com)FREE GIFT!
I have designed a P.C. desktop theme for Manchester City. Anyone who has Microsoft or other desktop editing tool can have a copy of this theme simply by emailing me at the address below.
The file comes as a Winzip 7.0 file and has pretty cool collection of desktop wallpapers, start up and shutdown screens and sounds provided by none other than one Chief Clancy Wiggum from the Simpsons.
Check it out.
Paul Odusanya – Planning BSkyB (Paul.Odusanya@BskyB.Com)OSC LONDON BRANCH AGM
The London Branch of the Supporters’ Club will be holding their AGM this Saturday, 3 July at the Sekforde Arms, Sekforde Street, London EC2. The pub is just off Clerkenwell Green and the nearest station is Farringdon. The AGM will be an opportunity to discuss issues affecting the Branch and City in general. The meeting starts at 12 noon and usually lasts for about 2 hours. A free buffet lunch will be provided. All current Branch members and any non-members are welcome to attend. Anyone wanting further information can contact me at acleaver@casio.co.uk.
Andrew Cleaver, Secretary, MCSC London Branch (acleaver@casio.co.uk)SHARES
Are any shares for Man City generally available? If so what are they called? I’m not thinking of buying the Boler lot, but it would seem a good way for us distant Blues, who can’t invest in the form of season tickets, to add some finance to the club. If anyone knows please E-mail me.
Stuart Wells (bluestu@city.freeserve.co.uk)COALITION OF FOOTBALL SUPPORTERS
Can you please distribute the following far and wide.
John BoocockThe FSA conference on Saturday passed a motion to join the newly formed Coalition of Football Supporters, which had its first meeting on Sunday 27 June.
The Coalition meeting was attended by representatives of 26 different clubs’ organisations as well as the FSA and the National Federation of Football Supporters’ Clubs.
We agreed to campaign around the following Fans’ Charter.
If you agree with the Charter, please sign up or better still get your supporters’ club / fanzine / ISA / email list to sign up, by emailing me on AliPilling@compuserve.com.
The Coalition is currently setting up its own website – watch this space!
CoFS Fans’ Charter
This conference agrees to adopt the following Fans’ Charter as a preliminary policy for CoFS and as the basis for campaigning activity:
For the establishment of Independent Regulation of Football, to ensure the implementation of the following:
- the redistribution of wealth, including TV income, within football.
- controls over the type of people who are allowed to own football clubs.
- controls over the activities of PLCs running football clubs.
- ticket prices to be pegged at levels which keep the game accessible to all fans.
- the democratisation of football to give supporters a voice.
HUMOUR
Top Colemanballs of the Season
- Sky commentator Alan BRAZIL (all after Gillingham’s second goal in theplay-off final versus Manchester City) – a) “Open the door to Division 1 forGillingham”, b) “It’s party time in Kent tonight!” c) “Game over!”
- ITV expert Terry VENABLES (audible off-screen after the European CupFinal between Manchester U****d and Bayern Munich) – ‘Lucky c***s.’
- Sky analyst Alan MCINALLY – “Werder Bremen have had an absoluteHolocaust of a season.”
- ITV co-commentator Ron ATKINSON – “Giggs went for a Buddy Holly at theback-post” and, after the same player fires over against Inter – “He’sgone for a tic-tac-toe there.” Anyone?
- Radio 5 Live’s Mike INGHAM – “Neil Sullivan has stopped absolutelyeverything have thrown at him… Wimbledon 1, Manchester U****d 1.”
- Bolton manager Colin Todd last December – “We are going to finish higherthan Sunderland this season. This is a fact.”
- Players’ Union chief GORDON TAYLOR – “We have more non-English players inour league than any other country in the world.”
- Radio 5 Live ‘expert’ Mark LAWRENSON – “That was a Kate Moss of a cross.”Co-commentator Alan Green – “A what?”LAWRENSON – “A little behind.”
- Leeds defender Jonathon WOODGATE (on local radio before UEFA cup tieversus Roma) – “I don’t know what my girlfriend would say if she knew I wasgoing to Rome to be all over Totti.”
- Manchester United legend Denis LAW – “There’s no way Ryan Giggs isanother George Best. He’s another Ryan Giggs.”
WHY BLUE?
In 1967 we moved from Whitehaven, then in Cumberland, to Manchester. As an impressionable ten year old I was taken along to Old Trafford, not the theatre of anything in those days, to see the “fabulous Busby Babes”. They lost 2-1 to Aston Villa and despite all you hear about how good it was in the old days, my memory of a miserable day in the Stretford End remains as vivid as ever; in short;
- I couldn’t see and nobody gave a stuff about the fact a ten year old boywho was at his first ever game couldn’t see.
- Someone behind me couldn’t be bothered to go to the toilet and p*ss*d allover me so I stank of urine.
- I got crushed every time the Rags attacked.
- I got spat on as they tried to spit on the Villa centre forward (I thinkit was Andy Lockhead).
- I couldn’t help thinking that they were sore losers as Villa were milesthe better team on the day.
In August of that year I went to see the “other” team play Borussia Dortmund in a pre-season friendly at Maine Road. City won 4-0.
We won the League, beating the other team 3-1 at their ground on the way.
We won the Cup, beating them 1-0 at their ground just before.
We won the League Cup and the European Cup Winners’ Cup beating them 4-0 at home, 2-1 and 2-1 and 3-0 in a testimonial, all at their ground.
Summerbee, Bell, Lee, Young, Coleman
Tueart, Bell, Royle, Hartford, Barnes
The ultimate CTID…..Mike Doyle
Despite what the statistics and history show, if you were there on April 27th 1974, we relegated them and for a time at least removed the tag of poor relations.
Tony Book’s fantastic team of the mid 70’s and the tragedy of Malcolm’s return.
Luton, 14th May 1983 the ultimate low (I was a relegation virgin at the time).
Teamwise, downhill from there on in really, I have two sons who come to the games with me now and my seven year old is hooked after the trip to Wembley taught him exactly what it means to be CTID, the three year old will have to wait a couple of years to understand what I have inflicted on him. No other team could take you so high or so low. I believe that we are the best supporters in the world, we stand undeterred in face scorn, ridicule and derision from people who do not have the strength of character to swim against the tide and who disappear after a couple of dodgy results.
City have been part of my life for thirty two years and I wouldn’t change places with any supporter of any other team in the world, without City my life would be as ordinary and emotionally dull as theirs. That’s why I’m Blue and not a sheep (despite having moved back to Cumbria).
Ged WilsonWWW MANCHESTER CITY SUPPORTERS’ HOME PAGE:
http://www.uit.no/mancity/
MCIVTA ADDRESSES:
Contributions: Ashley – mcivta@tollbar.u-net.com
News & Rumours: Peter – brophy_peter@hotmail.com
Subscriptions & Club Questions: Steve – sbolton@buxtonrd.u-net.com
Technical Problems: Paul – paul@city-fan.org
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.
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Steve Biddick, sbiddick@cybercomm.nl
Editor:
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editor
The Editorial team of mcivta.com consist of several people. Typically news and information that is provided by a third part will be distributed by the "Editor". Phil Alcock is the current Editor in Chief of the MCIVTA newsletter.