Newsletter #691

| March 12, 2001 | Newsletter | No Comments


Very little of note has happened since Thursday’s issue. However, we do have a match report from the reseves game versus Blackburn Rovers; Ken’s City Diary; an obituary for John Maddocks; the latest on the difficulties for mancity.net; opinion; and some Blue humour.

Next game: Bradford away, Saturday 17th March 2001

NEWS SUMMARY

Honours Even for Reserves

City reserves drew 1-1 with local rivals Blackburn Rovers at Christie Park in Morecambe last Thursday. Paul Dickov gave City a share of the spoils with an equaliser five minutes after the break, cancelling out Marc Richards’ eighteenth minute strike for the First Division outfit. Paulo Wanchope and Kevin Horlock both played the first half and came through with no problems, though both look at least two weeks away from first team contention, while Mark Kennedy seems to have fully recovered form his Achilles injury and should be in the squad for next week’s crucial trip to Bradford. German midfielder Dino Topmöller, making his first appearance for the Blues, was booked and looked somewhat off the pace. Andy Morrison, although playing, did not skipper the side, with Paul Dickov given the honour.

Morrison to Return to Yorkshire?

Andy Morrison’s future at Maine Road remains uncertain after links with Barnsley and Sheffield United at the end of last week. It was reported that Sheffield United boss Neil Warnock had targeted Morrison after a move for Charlton defender Carl Tiler collapsed. It was then disclosed that The Blades had targeted another defender and that Morrison was only in line as back-up should that move fail. Latest reports indicate that the defender could be on the move next week, but whether it’s to Oakwell or Bramall Lane remains to be seen.

Cooke Wants to Stay

Terry Cooke has pleaded with Joe to give him a chance to help City stay in the Premiership this season. Currently recovering from a badly gashed leg and without a first team game since November 27, 1999, Cookie has had two loan spells at Sheffield Wednesday earlier this season but he has stated that he is not interested in another loan move and wants to help The Blues stay in the top flight. “I would rather stay here and do anything I can to help the lads. I want to be ready and in form just in case I am called upon.”

Trial Continues

No, nothing to do with a couple of Leeds players, but Joey Todaro, the Canadian Under-20 international will start his second week on trial, reports the Sunday Pink. The 18 year-old striker has been playing his football for French fourth division side FC Tourcoing, and is reported to be keen to make a career in England. He is not training with the first team squad but based at the Academy at Platt Lane.

Meanwhile. Dino Toppmöller, who joined the Blues on loan at the beginning of last week, had a run out in a strong reserve side in midweek. The team included the likes of Edghill, Morrison and Wright-Phillips along with four players who are returning from various injuries – Dickov, Horlock, Kennedy and Wanchope. Talent spotters were at the 1-1 draw, including scouts from Ipswich, Stoke, Walsall, Sheffield United, Burnley, Preston and Wigan. The next reserve game is against Sheffield Wednesday at Hyde United on Tuesday 13th March, a 7pm kick-off (you going Heidi?).

Under-19’s Lose Derby

City’s Under-19’s Academy team went down 2-1 to Manchester United on Saturday morning, watched by Joe Royle and Alex Ferguson. JR made the short trip to United’s Trafford Training Centre to check on the progress of some of the youngsters coming through the ranks, and saw a promising display from some of the rising stars like Chris Shuker and Terry Dunfield, let down by a couple of pieces of slack defending at the back. Shuker caused the home side problems and wriggled past a couple of defenders to create City’s best early opening but fired into the side netting. United’s Welsh striker Matty Williams then exposed some poor play from City’s back four and swept past the ‘keeper to score from an acute angle. City hit back immediately and were level before United could touch the ball again as Dunfield volleyed in from a deep cross, but Williams sealed the points for United with a breakaway goal in the second half.

Donachie’s Wasted Trip

Willie Donachie and John Hurst wasted a 12,000-mile trip to see Argentinian midfielder Nicolas Medina when he was given a night off. Donachie and Hurst flew out to Buenos Aires to check on the local talent but were disappointed when Argentinos Juniors gave their star man Friday night off. Sunderland’s Peter Reid had also made the long-haul spying mission to see possible targets – including Medina. Reid and board officials arrived at the home game between Argentinos Juniors and Racing Club, to be informed that Medina’s coach Sergio Batista had allowed him a ‘timely’ break. Argentinos Juniors won the game 2-0 with both goals from Federico Insua.

Greatest City Player… Ever

http://www.mcfc.co.uk/ is running a poll to find out “who is the greatest City player of all time?” Who is your choice in this month’s poll? Following on from last month’s poll on the greatest sporting moment in City’s history, which perhaps not surprisingly led to the 1999 play-off final being chosen (though that might say something about the age of the average Blue Net user), this month you can vote for the best player of all time by visiting http://www.mcfc.co.uk/poll.asp

Chicken Balti Pies

Some of you might recall I mentioned in my last match view that I’d finally got around to trying one of the renowned chicken balti pies, so imagine my surprise when I was trundling around my local Morrison’s supermarket and spotted a special offer on said pies. OK so they might not be the exact same pies but nevertheless at £1.49 for 4 (yes that’s right, 4 for less than the price of one at Maine Road) I thought it was worth the risk. I can report that on the basis of this tasting, the pies are of comparable quality, so anyone wanting to recreate the Maine Road experience for their next armchair viewing could do worse than make a trip to their local Morrison’s (with apologies to overseas Blues to whom I realise this news will be as much use as one of David Beckham’s sarongs). Mmmmm.

Geoff Donkin (geoff@donkin.freeserve.co.uk)

MATCH REPORT – ‘LIVE’

BLACKBURN RESERVES vs. MANCHESTER CITY RESERVES, Thursday 8th March, 2001

On Thursday 8th March, City reserves played Blackburn reserves at Christie Park, Morecambe as part of Blackburn’s attempts to:

  1. save their pitch, and
  2. draw some fans from the North Lancashire area.

As chairman of the Morecambe Bay branch of the MCFC CSA it was an opportunity not to be missed to see some of our heroes in action. On a pleasant March evening the City reserves lined up as follows:

1) Carlo Nash, 2) Richard Edghill, 3) Stephen Jordan, 4) Dino Toppmöller, 5) Andy Morrison, 6) Rhys Day, 7) Shaun Wright-Phillips, 8) Kevin Horlock, 9) Paulo Wanchope, 10) Paul Dickov (capt.), 11) Mark Kennedy.

A strong side on paper even though the likes of Horlock, Kennedy and Wanchope were just returning from serious injuries. City started the brighter, having a fair bit of possesion with Mark Kennedy seeing plenty of the ball. Andy Morrison was a commanding figure at the back and Rhys Day alongside him was also looking assured. However, on 18 minutes this counted for nothing when Blackburn scored after Marc Richards was given time and space to control and shoot from a cross. It was harsh luck considering City had had most of the possession even though there wasn’t much to show for it. Half time arrived with City 1-0 down.

At half time City brought off Kevin Horlock and Paulo Wanchope and replaced them with Terry Dunfield and Dickson Etuhu. Five minutes after the break City equalised through Paul Dickov. From my vantage point it looked a little scrambled but Dicky won’t mind that I’m sure. The game then gradually petered out into a pretty nondescript affair and the best thing to say was that it kept up the unbeaten run for the City second string. Joe Royle must have agreed too as he left well before the end! After the game came the best bit as Asa Hartford had agreed for the players to meet members of our branch after the game. Sure enough through they all came along with Asa Hartford and Alex Stepney, Carlo Nash and Paul Dickov being particularly sociable. Paulo was there too and was happy to sign autographs although was non-committal on rumours of his leaving. And then they were gone leaving our members very impressed with their attitude towards their supporters considering they’d just played a game and surely wanted to just go home!

Thanks lads, you did the club proud.

Lance Thomson, Morecambe Bay branch, MCFC CSA (lnt@btinternet.com)

RESERVES ACTION

Our successful second string are in action again at home (Ewen Fields, Hyde) on Tuesday against Wednesday. 7pm k-o. Especially if it rains.

Heidi Pickup (heidi@mancity.net)

OBITUARY – JOHN MADDOCKS, 1938-2001

I have had the pleasure of knowing John and his lovely wife Joyce for the best part of 22 years. I first met them back in 1979 after I met my husband Colin through travelling up to watch City from London. Colin had got to know John & Joyce a couple of years earlier and I soon became part of their pre-match social group, with John’s late father Bert and friends, Derek, Glyn and Walter. We used to have the same table in the old Social club, so woe betide anybody who beat us to it! Mind you when the Toon Army landed, nobody got a seat!

What John didn’t know about City, you could get on a postage stamp. It was a great honour for me, whenever we used to come up and stay with him, to look through the meticulous records he kept and, in later years after moving up to Bramhall, to help him put this information on his computer. John was passionate about the Blues – before illness took over, you could always see him at reserve games either with pen & paper or later a small dictaphone for the line-ups and incidents of note, both at Maine Road and away and also at the A & B teams at Platt Lane. I would hate to think of the amount of youngsters he has seen over the years who, if they didn’t make it here, went on to greater things elsewhere.

John was a lovely man to know and a very, very good friend. Ashley summed him up in MCIVTA 689 to a tee – he will be sorely missed by all who knew him. His funeral yesterday was very well attended with Colin Bell, Tony Book, Johnny Williamson and Bernard Halford representing the club, as well as family, close friends, the nursing staff of Ward B4 at Stepping Hill and ex-pupils. John had a great send off – we’re sure he’s up there now berating St Peter about the way the team are performing and asking if something can be done to help us avoid the drop! We could do with a bit of divine intervention at the moment!

God rest you mate.

Carol Darvill (carold@city-fan.org)

CITY DIARY

This week in City’s history, 12th-18th March: seven débuts, three semi-finals, two superb goals and a bad afternoon in Oldham.

12th March: Mike Doyle made the first of his 558 appearances for City in a 2-2 draw at Cardiff in Division Two on a Friday night in 1965.

13th March was when Dennis Tueart played his first game for City, a goalless draw with United in 1974.

14th March: Alex Williams made his début as City’s goalkeeper, replacing the injured Joe Corrigan in 1981: City beat West Brom 2-1 at Maine Road. Full-back Barrie Betts played his last game for City on this day in 1964, losing 2-1 at Plymouth in the Second Division. And in 1953 Bill Spurdle got his second hat-trick of the year in the 4-1 win over Aston Villa.

15th March: Maurizio Gaudino scored and Terry Phelan was sent off in a Wednesday night draw at Everton in 1995. On the same day Richard Edghill and Carl Griffiths turned out for the reserves in a 0-1 defeat at Oldham Athletic, where it was so cold that hailstones froze to the pitch. 15th March has been a bad day for the Blues: they lost 0-1 to Southampton on this day in 1992, 0-1 to Watford in 1986, 0-3 to Arsenal in 1980, 0-2 to QPR in 1975, 2-4 to Arsenal in 1958, 1-4 to Preston in 1924, 1-2 to Bradford City in 1913 and 0-5 at Notts County in 1894, with only a couple of wins and a few draws scattered in between. Beware the Ides of March!

16th March: City 5 Fulham 1 in Division One in 1968, Bell, Lee, Summerbee, and Young (2) the scorers. Georgi Kinkladze scored twice at home to Southampton in 1996, one of them that remarkable goal when he ran through and around the Southampton defence and chipped the ball past the goalkeeper, although it didn’t stop City being relegated. In 1964 City went out of the FA Cup 1-2 at home to Norwich in the fifth round: Alex Harley’s goals, one in each round, were the only ones City scored in the Cup that season. And this is the birthday in 1929 of Ken Barnes of the 1956 Cup winning side.

17th March: Fulham 5 City 1 in Division Two in 1984, Neil McNab the lone goalscorer in blue, and double that in 1894 when City lost 10-2 away to Small Heath (later Birmingham). There were three débuts on this date: City’s record goalscorer Eric Brook and inside-forward Fred Tilson played together on the left wing against Grimsby in 1928 after their transfer from Barnsley, and full-back Jimmy Meadows had his first game, a 3-3 draw at Hull in 1951 after signing from Southport. 17th March also saw City win two Cup semi-finals, first when Tilson scored four times in the 6-1 win over Aston Villa at Huddersfield in 1934 (a record for a semi-final?) and then when Bobby Johnstone’s header against Tottenham took City to Wembley in 1956. City’s winger that day Roy Clarke described the goal (quoted in John Maddox’s “Cup Kings” book about the 1956 Cup run, vividly capturing the little Scottish forward’s agility and speed of thought: “He picked up the ball on the halfway line and, thinking six moves ahead as usual, played it to me before setting off. I’ve got the ball and I’m going at the full-back who’s a long way from me and Bobby shouts ‘hold it… hold on… hang on to it’. The full-back is getting closer and I’m thinking ‘come on… hurry up… quick’. Then he shouts ‘right’ and I crossed it, out comes the goalkeeper and two full-backs and he scores… unbelievable… he outjumped the lot of them. What impressed me most was that he made the move himself, a wonderful player.” A quality goal from a quality player, as John Motson said a few years later (prizes for remembering who he said it about)! Bobby Johnstone’s goal was the only one of the game, but Bert Trautmann denied Spurs an equalizer late in the second half by bringing down their outside-left in the penalty area, and getting a goal kick out of it instead of the penalty which probably should have been given. There were repurcussions a week later when Trautmann and City played a League match at White Hart Lane.

18th March: City won another semi-final on this day in 1934, taking a three goal lead over Derby and surrendering two late goals to win 3-2. It was 3-2 against Sheffield Wednedsday in 1995 with Uwe Rösler scoring twice as City came back from 0-2 down. And when City beat Chelsea with a goal from Tommy Booth in 1972 the player making his début was Rodney Marsh.

Ken Corfield (kcorfield@berkeley-carroll.org)

A TOUGH PATCH AT MANCITY.NET

We are going through a tough patch at mancity.net at the moment. Everything seems to be running against us producing the top quality service we have done for the last 5 years. The main reason for this is the fans that have freely given their time over the years have found other things to do now, which is quite natural. Every one of them has given so much to the site I couldn’t have expected any more.

We have had offers of help for mancity.net but the only real solution to get it back to where we were 12 months ago is for a “big player” to provide time, material and resources. We have over 4,000 mancity.net email addresses in circulation and I’m sure this would provide a solid platform for anybody that would like to sponsor the site.

Bob Young (bob@mancity.net)

FIGHT FOR SURVIVAL

Last Friday, 2nd March, the MEN carried a ‘fight for survival’ guide assessing our chances vs. the other bottom clubs. Thought I’d wait and see how results last Saturday panned out before commenting. For those who didn’t see it, here are the ‘predictions’:

Team: opposition (points) – (predicted points to end of season) – end of season points total.

Coventry : Chelsea (0), Spurs (0), Derby (3), Leicester (1), Man Utd (0), Sunderland (3), Ipswich (0), Liverpool (0), Villa (0), Bradford (3) – (10) – 33

However, they drew against Chelsea, so I’ll generously revise that to 34.

Bradford : Ipswich (0), Man City (0), Newcastle (1), Spurs (0), Charlton (1), Leeds (0), Derby (3)!, Everton (0), Boro (1), Coventry (0), Liverpool (0) – (6) – 22

Goodbye.

Boro : Charlton (3), Newcastle (1), Chelsea (0), Sunderland (1), Arsenal (0), Ipswich (3), Leicester (1), Man Utd (1), Bradford (1), West Ham (3) – (14) – 41.

Obviously it’ll be 2-2 versus the Rags! However, they only drew against Charlton, so I’ll say 39 points and keep everything crossed.

Derby: Spurs (3), Liverpool (0), Coventry (0), Chelsea (1), West Ham (0), Leicester (3), Bradford (0), Arsenal (1), Man Utd (0), Ipswich (3) – (11) – 42.

They were right with the Spurs result, should survive.

Everton : Newcastle (1), Southampton (0), West Ham (0), Man City (3), Villa (0), Liverpool (1), Arsenal (0), Bradford (3), Cheslea (0), Sunderland (3) – (11) – 42.

Right about Newcastle, think they’ll be safe.

City: Soton (3), Bradford (3), Villa (3), Everton (0), Leicester (1), Arsenal (1), Man Utd (0), West Ham (3), Ipswich (1), Chelsea (1) – (16) – 42.

Wrong about Soton, revise to 39, though I think Arsenal is (0), Chelsea have finally won away from home, West Ham I’d give us a draw so probably 36. Yikes.

‘Outsiders’ were Villa and West Ham, though I think they’ll both be safe.

So where does that leave us? On the slippery slope my friends. It’s going to be very tight and those of a nervous disposition had better book a world cruise between now and 19th May. However, my glass is still half full, let’s hope I can keep it like that until end of season.

Heidi Pickup (heidi@mancity.net)

FEED THE GOAT, FEED THE GOAT, FEED THE GOAT, AT REDDISH…

The next meeting of the Reddish branch of the Centenary Supporters’ Association will be on Wednesday 14th March at The Ash Hotel, Manchester Road, Stockport starting at 8.00pm when our guests will be Chris Bird and Shaun Goater, who will be collecting his branch Player of the Year award for last season. Admission is just £1 for CSA Members (juniors free) and £2 for non-members and for that you get a free raffle and a hot pot supper. As usual all Blues are welcome. Further details from Secretary Howard Burr on 0161 292 2525 or e-mail at the address below.

Howard Burr (Reddishblues@btinternet.com)

NORTH STAFFS OSC BRANCH

The North Staffs branch of the Supporters’ Club will be welcoming ex-City manager Brian Horton as guest at their meeting on Thursday 15th March. The meeting is at Tunstall Community Centre, High Street, Tunstall and starts at 8.00pm. All are welcome to attend Any enquiries to Jim Curtis 01782 845367.

Jim Curtis (jimcurtis@cwcom.net)

COUNTY WICKLOW

The next meeting of the Wicklow Branch will be on Tuesday 13th March at 8pm and as usual will be in Katie Gallagher’s in Bray. Any City fans who find themselves in the Bray area would be more than welcome. I would also like to wish our favourite team good luck wishes for the rest of the season, starting with a win on Saturday, against arguably, the worst team in the Premier League.

Kindest Regards, Paul Fegan (paulfegan@mancity.net)

FOOTBALL AGAINST RACISM

Football Against Racism in Europe Week of Action – your participation needed!

As part of its work with the Football Against Racism in Europe (FARE) network, football’s anti-racist group, Kick It Out, is looking to support activities during a week of action called by FARE at the end of this month. The action week has been called to encourage football fans, community and anti-racist groups, and school and youth groups to undertake activities in-and-around football stadiums at a local level.

Suggested activities could include the production and distribution of leaflets, fanzines, fixture cards and posters, or special football matches, musical performances, displays of banners, either inside or outside of stadiums.

Support for local activities is available from Kick It Out including funding* to produce materials for the week, and assistance in liasing with football clubs, players and managers.

The FARE action week will take place from March 30th to April 8th.

If your group or organisation has an anti-racist intervention that you wish to make in a footballing context during that period, or at a time close to the week, contact us on info@kick-it-out.demon.co.uk or by fax – 020 7288 6042. Telephone for advice on 020 7288 6012. Kick It Out is also able to supply materials for distribution.

Organisations we would like to encourage to take part include:

  • Local community groups
  • Football supporter groups
  • Local anti-racist organisations
  • Refugee support organisations
  • Schools and colleges
  • Youth groups
  • Amateur football clubs

* Please Note. Regrettably, the funds available are limited and will go to ensure an even spread of activities across the country. However, all requests will be carefully considered.

For background information on FARE go to http://www.farenet.org/

Dave Boyle
Research Officer (Caseworker)
Supporters Direct
The Supporters’ Trusts Initiative
Birkbeck College
Malet Street
London
WC1E 7HX
Tel: 0207-631-6873
Fax: 0207-631-6872

FA DEVELOPMENT WORKER

The Football Supporters’ Association
Development Worker (International)

The Football Supporters’ Association has a vacancy for an International Development Worker. Most of the duties of the post relate to the following England International games

  • England vs. Mexico 25/05/01 Friendly
  • Greece vs. England 06/06/01 World Cup
  • England vs. Holland 15/08/01 Friendly
  • Germany vs. England 01/09/01 World Cup
  • England vs. Albania 05/09/01 World Cup
  • England vs. Greece 06/10/01 World Cup

Main duties:

Organisation of Fan Friendly Football Matches (total of 6).

Fan friendlies need to be organised for all home games and for the away match in Germany.

Production of Fanzines (total of 7).

A fanzine, similar to The Lowdown produced for Euro 2000, needs to be produced for each game. It is possible, though not yet certain, that the Sunday Mirror will continue its involvement and contribution through Brian McNally.

Fans’ Embassies (2)

These will need to be organised for the two away games, replicating the format of Euro 2000 with a central vehicle base and a team of volunteers who will require supervising and training.

Media features

The co-ordinator will be required for interviews/articles in advance of and during the build up to matches and be available for media interviews as necessary.

Home Office liaison

Preparation of a case for presentation to the Home Office for support to establish a service for English club fans travelling abroad.

It is difficult to accurately predict the exact amount of time that will be required to undertake this work but we believe that it should not take more than 100 days in total. We are therefore offering a cash sum of £8,000 for completion of the total package.

The post would be suitable for someone with the following skills, knowledge and experience:

  • A proven interest in the welfare of England fans at home and abroad.
  • Familiarity with the issues surrounding the welfare, conduct and treatmentof England fans, and the legislation associated with this.
  • A commitment to the promotion of anti-racist and anti-xenophobic initiatives.
  • Strong organisational skills. Experience of organising teams of volunteerswould be an advantage.
  • Willingness to work long and unsocial hours where necessary to deliver thetask.
  • A good communicator, both orally and in writing.
  • Experience of producing magazines/fanzines.
  • Experience of dealing with the media on sensitive issues.

Please forward letters of application and a C.V. to Malcolm Clarke, Chair, FSA, 20 Woodlands Road, Sale, Cheshire M33 2DW by 31 March. It is proposed to interview on 8 April (an alternative date would be provided for any shortlisted candidate watching his/her team on that date).

The Football Supporters’ Association

IN SUPPORT OF GARY

Just writing in support of Gary James. I too almost fell off my chair when I read the posting from Keith Price.

Residing in Australia I was all set to pull out my copy of Gary’s book and photocopy the requested picture (which is cr.. very poor as Gary mentioned, the picture, not the book, which is excellent, I think I’m No. 300 in the list at the back) and mail it off, until I read the “… buying the book would be extravagant” sentence. Which I thought was incredibly rude. I’m glad Gary has defended himself (and spat the dummy; I’d do (did) exactly the same). Needless to say, I won’t be making the effort to photocopy the picture either.

C’mon Blues, stay up, or it’ll be a nightmare getting footage of the lads in action out here in ‘stralia.

Dave Chambers (d.chambers@securities.edu.au)

OPINION – TICKET PRICES

Re Andrew Dixon’s Season Ticket Whinge.

Cheer up Andrew. If we stay up the increase will be painless and if we go down you’ll get four more matches for your money!

CTID, Graeme Nicholson (graemeandkaty@thenicholsons.freeserve.co.uk)

OPINION – SEASON TICKET PRICE GRIPE

I don’t usually respond to opinions as I believe everyone to their own, but I was driven to respond to Andrew Dixon’s comments about the cost of a season ticket for next season. We down here in the South don’t get to go to as many games as we would like due to the expense. I myself have been to 8 games this year and spent in excess of £500.00 in the process. Half a dozen members of the Essex Branch go to near enough every game home and away and have spent absolute fortunes in the process. The London Branch have members that go to every game at huge expense. Members from the Winchester Branch travel miles for a game as do Cambridge and Kent branch members. I say to you Mr. Andrew Dixon “sit down and shut up” and stop whinging about a few quid for the good of the team. There are hundreds, nay thousands on the waiting list for season tickets. I don’t suppose any one of them would mind about the increase. City’s season ticket prices are still amongst the cheapest if not the cheapest in the country for a Premiership team (which is what they will still be next year!). It is almost a miracle that City are able to keep the increases to a minimum and still maintain the momentum of the last couple of years. If it really does bother you that much, relinquish your ticket and give it to someone who will treat it with the respect that it and the entire club deserves. You should be grateful that you have a ticket at all. I’m going for a lie down, I feel quite flushed.

This has been the personal opinion of Paul Gallagher (paulg@mancity.net)

OPINION – BECKHAM AND THE BATON

I read with disbelief in McVittee that David Beckham might be carrying the baton into the City of Manchester Stadium for the opening of the Commonwealth games. If this goes ahead this will be the biggest insult those buffoons at the City council could dream up. Ok, the stupid one might be a megastar to the fickle, but to blight our stadium in this way would be a disgrace. OK it’s not our stadium till a year later but everyone knows it’s going to be ours. Why not make it a well known City supporter who might be competing like James Hickman or Ricky Hatton or Michael Gomez (do they have boxing at the commonwealth games?)?. Sort it out council!

Lance Thomson (lnt@btinternet.com)

OPINION – SEASON TICKET INCREASES

Andrew Dixon’s piece in MCIVTA 690 is spot on. Though I’d like to know how you got your Kippax lower ticket for £240 last year when mine cost £260 (before D-Day)!

Despite the club cheerily announcing an average 8% increase, maximum of 10%, the Kippax have in fact gone up by 11.5%. Are they perchance using a Sharp calculator (the sort that comes in the gift pack with Taggart’s magic stopwatch)? This hike is ridiculous, especially given the dross we are served up. You may recall Noel’s comments from the AGM though, when the Board voted for salaries of up to £200k per director, then there’s the new multi-million superstore/museum at Eastlands, and we still have numerous players in the squad to pay – these extras need to be financed from somewhere and yes my fellow Blues, it is we who are paying. City are in profit for the first time in years yet, because demand outstrips supply, they can charge what they want to the blind faithful. Don’t tell me we have the lowest price tickets in the Prem, I bl**dy well know that, and am sure that all away supporters this year have thanked us for it.

Should we stay in the Premiership, lower Kippax tickets average out at £15.26 per game – pretty good value to see some of the games I am sure you will agree. However, if we find ourselves back in Division 1 this reduces to £12.60 per game. I am intrigued that some clubs include a few of the earlier cup rounds ‘free’ for the loyal s/t holders – maybe City could look at doing this as a “thank you for your loyal support”.

Equally disturbing is the news I saw in the MEN this week that pensioners are now charged full price up to the age of 65, men and women alike. City had up until now allowed women over the age of 60 at the concessionary rate. However Mr Halford mistakenly claims that “our hands are tied on this, it is the law that senior citizen men and women should be charged the same”. The law states that any organisation offering non-statutory concessions must not be based on pensionable age. It is therefore up to the discretion of that organisation – City could have lowered the age to 60 for men (as has the Government for statutory concessions) but chose instead to go the other way and penalise 50% of those eligble instead of benefitting the other 50%, thus fitting in with the rest of the Prem. Pity, as we usually lead the way on fair treatment for fans.

Rant over.

Heidi Pickup (heidi@mancity.net)

OPINION – STILL SOUTHAMPTON – THE FAT LADY IS WAITING IN THE WINGS

The build up to last Saturday began on the Monday with the potential “Booze Ban”. Come on! Talk about a sledgehammer and a nut! Various chats ensued about pre-match pints. Park the car and walk up Oxford Road? Stop off in Withington or Fallowfield? Thankfully the ban didn’t go through; as usual we ensconced ourselves in the Whitworth where some Saints’ fans were also present – not a glimmer of a riot especially when Wes Brown’s “own goal” was greeted by universal cheering. We did not know at that point that this would be the loudest cheer of the day.

Good atmosphere at the ground. Flags and banners (25 Years and We’re Still Here). After the commendable win at Newcastle, how could we lose this one? Southampton losing Beattie only confirmed my view that the corner was going to be turned. My first doubt came when I thought the Goat should have scored with a header. Kanchelskis seemed over-elaborate, Huckerby not at his best and Paul Jones made some good saves.

The longer the game went on it appeared Southampton got more confident and we got more frustrated. Their goal had a touch of inevitably about it and from the frozen North Stand we seemed to waste what appeared to be more than half chances. OK, we had a goal disallowed and a penalty claim turned down, but you’ve got to take your chances when they come!

I was surprised with Joe’s substitutions. Forget the draw – be bold, throw on Egil and Dickie and let’s go for it, as 1 point won’t be enough to save our season. Still, let’s not get downhearted yet as ‘Boro have what appears a tough “run in”, so roll on Bradford. Surely we can’t…

Richard Cooper, Congleton, via Andy Noise (andrew.noise@cel-international.com)

REQUEST – WALLPAPER

Does anybody know where you can get a decent City wallpaper and/or screen saver as the official website doesn’t seem up to it?

Tim Holgate (Tim_Holgate@yahoo.com)

OFFICIAL MUFC MATHS WORKBOOK

Fans, and perhaps just admirers of the World’s Greatest Club, will doubtless enjoy the release of The Official MUFC Maths Workbook, which covers sums for practising Key Stage Two maths for 7-11 year olds which has been introduced as part of the Government’s maths campaign.

  1. Roy is 78 yards away from the referee at Old Trafford and Jaap is 65yards away. If Roy can run at 21mph and Jaap can run at 16mph, who will besticking their vein-bulging forehead into the hapless whistler’s facefirst, assuming Roy does not stop to stamp on an opponent on his way?
  2. If one minute of time is taken up in a game for substitutions and oneminute for injuries, how much injury time will be added on by the refereeif Man Utd are losing at home?
  3. Ryan is a Welshman. Express, as a percentage, the number ofinternationals he has missed on a Wednesday evening compared to themiraculous recoveries he made for the following Saturday.
  4. Manchester United are one of the giants of world club football. How manymore European Cup Finals have they appeared in than Steaua Bucharest? Forone extra mark; how many more than Reims?
  5. Phil has 30 international caps. If you take away the number ofappearances when he was the only adult male in England who could justabout kick the ball with his left foot, how many are left?
  6. You are the referee at Old Trafford. How near to a visiting defenderdoes a tumbling United forward have to be to earn a penalty if he goesdown in the box? Note: Round your answers down to the nearest 20 metres.
  7. Chris lives in Guildford. How much does it cost for him and his two sonsto travel to the Theatre of Dreams every other weekend, including limitededition matchday programme, a few drinks and prawn sandwiches all round?How much could he save per week if he watched his local team instead?Note: round your answers down to the nearest thousand pounds.
  8. Alex has a hotel room booked in Cardiff for the FA Cup Final weekend.How much money will he lose when cancelling his reservation? How much willhe lose cancelling for the entire team?

Author unknown.

Sent in by Tim Holgate (Tim_Holgate@yahoo.com)

A THANK YOU I

Just a quick note to say a very big thank you to Dave and Vanda Cash for the Blue Moon ringtone. No sooner had I asked for the Blue Moon ringtone than it was on my phone. If only the Boys in Blue were as reliable. Talking of which, despite me scouring the http://www.yourmobile.com/ website I never found it on there. Plenty of other good ones though.

Call me daft but with us not playing this weekend I feel a bit more optimistic about things. I’d rather have our run in than Boro’s. Let’s hope we can string a win or 7 together to stay up.

Look out Bradford, I think we may start to turn the corner! Hope I’ve not put the mockers on things.

Mike Lloyd (wythyblue@aol.com)

A THANK YOU II

I was sadly set upon by two guys on Canal street the other night, and the fight was broken up by a group of four 30-40 year old men. They gave the two lads a bit of a slapping and sent them on their way. They made sure I was alright, and before they sent me on my way one of them said: “we’re City fans, f**king United supporters wouldn’t do that for you”. Excellent! and so true!

Anonymous

REMAINING FIXTURES

The remaining fixtures for bottom 6 teams has been moved to:

http://members.tripod.com/pdsj/fixtures.htm

Paul Faulkner (Paul.Faulkner@Wcom.com)

WWW 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: 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.

[Valid3.2]Ashley Birch, mcivta@tollbar.u-net.com

Newsletter #691

2001/03/12

Editor:


Related Posts

About The Author

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.