Newsletter #819

First of all, many thanks to Paul for stepping in last week and providing both news summary and newsletter.

A fairly lightweight issue tonight sees opinion on World Cup action, a few requests and another good Why Blue.

And as Justin Arthur commented last week on the dilemma of willing a Red to score, so long as Mr Beckham and Co. are wearing the England shirt, they can have my full support 🙂 Roll on Wednesday!

Next game: to be announced

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OPINION: WORLD CUP ACTION – FOE

Having watched Foe play for Cameroon I think he would be a good asset to the team; our current midfield looks a little lightweight and Foe would definitely add some size. He’s 6’2 and built like a brick $#$$ house.

Although I was impressed by Holland in the game against Cameroon, I think Foe would be a better asset to the current team.

Paul Faulkner, Colorado Blue (paul.faulkner@wcom.com)

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OPINION: WORLD CUP ACTION – BAGGIO

I agree with the article about Baggio. It would be tremendous to have him alongside Berkovic and Benarbia. Not only that, but it would extend our midfield religious capabilities; we could boast about having a Buddhist as well.

Joe O’Brien (joe_ob@hotmail.com)

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OPINION: BLUES ON BBC?

Having seen Friday night’s ‘Have I Got News For you?’ we were most impressed by Paul Merton’s knowledge of Bert Trautmann’s famous 1956 FA Cup Final injury. Is Paul a Blue? Is this the BBC’s attempt to balance out the support for the ‘other side’ by Angus Deayton?

It was also interesting to see Peter Bonetti (and others) on the Footballers’ Weakest link – look what I’ve had to resort to watching with no midweek commentaries to listen to on my PC!

CTID, Sarah Longshaw (sarah@longshaw.demon.co.uk)

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OPINION: WORTH THE WAIT

Hello everyone. This will be a very special season for lots of “lasers”. This will be a season for the fans around the world, with the only possibility to watch the loved ones on TV! As I said before last season, “I’d rather be in Division 1 with KK than in the Premiership with JR”.

With all due respect to Mr Royle, I have to quote Mr Steve Roughsedge: “We may not make it, but it sure will be fun!”

With love to y’all – F in Sweden (a special hello goes out to all my Wolves friends in Stockholm).

Fredrik Teurnell (fredrik.teurnell@swipnet.se)

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REQUEST: DVD FORMAT

Can anyone tell me if DVD’s are like video and I need a NTFS version for the USA?

Paul Faulkner – Colorado Blue (paul.faulkner@wcom.com)

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REQUEST: SUFFOLK TO HAMBURG

I was just wondering if there are any Blues exiled in the Suffolk area planning on making the trek to see City take on Hamburg? Is there a consensus of what the best route is from sunny Suffolk?

Dave Robinson (david.26.robinson@bt.com)

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WHY BLUE?

It all began around 1977. Being a young kid in Ireland, the only English teams I was really aware of were the reds of Liverpool and Manchester, which the whole world seemed to support. There were a few notable exceptions, my cousin (Leeds) and his mates. One Halloween staying with said cousin, I was dressing up as a burglar – mother’s tights over my head, big sack with “SWAG” written on it, and not being able to find a top with arrows we plumped for a red and black striped football top owned by the boy next door. I asked him what team this was and he told me Manchester City and of course being very young and naïve I replied “Don’t you mean United?”. This was my first introduction and certainly raised my awareness of the side, looking out for results on the videprinter from then on.

By 1986 I was in love with all things Manchester, The Smiths, The Fall, James, and my sister was already there at University. I visited her a number of times although still never got to a match. Her boyfriend at the time was a Trotters fan so I ended up in Burnden Park once or twice, but it was enough to give me the bug for English football. My local team Derry City were getting phenomenal crowds of 11,000 at the time when the usual attendance in the league of Ireland was 2,000.

Two years later I was in Manchester myself living beside Whitworth Park. Me and my house mates headed off to Maine Road at the earliest opportunity to watch City get thumped by Chelsea and it was love at first sight. I spent the next 6 happy years of my life living in rented hovels in Rusholme and Moss Side just so I could be near the altar I worshipped at. I worked in a city pub up beside the MRI which, although owned and run by Reds, was overrun with Blues daily and the self-effacing humour was something that struck a chord and has stuck with me since.

The Reidy years were great, finishing above United in 1991 and who can forget the 5-1? I moved back to Ireland in 1994 but still make a few games a year. Last year was tough with all the television time and quality football but only on ITV Digital, which wasn’t available here. Now we’ve been promoted to Sky, City owe me a few spectacular games on the box, particularly as they cancelled the Irish tour.

Sean Cassidy (sean_cassidy@iol.ie)

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MCIVTA FAQ [v0203.02]

[0] How do I contact MCIVTA?

 Articles (Heidi Pickup)        : editor@mcivta.city-fan.org

 News/rumour (Don Barrie)       : djb1305@yahoo.co.uk

 Subscriptions (Geoff Donkin)   : subscriptions@mcivta.city-fan.org

 Technical problems (Paul)      : paul@city-fan.org

Comments concerning this FAQ should be sent to David Warburton using the address: mcivtafaq@warburton.org

[1] What are MCIVTA’s publishing deadlines?

Deadlines for issues are nominally Monday and Thursday evenings.

[2] MCIVTA Back Issues and Manchester City Supporters’ home page

http://www.uit.no/mancity/ is the unofficial Manchester City Supporters’ home page. Created in 1994, it is the longest running of the Manchester City related web sites. Back issues of MCIVTA are also hosted on the site.

[3] What is the club’s official web site?

The official club web site can be found at http://www.mcfc.co.uk/

[4] What supporters’ clubs are there?

Manchester City FC recognises three supporters’ clubs: The “Official Supporters Club” (http://www.mancity.net/osc/index.html); the “Centenary Supporters’ Association” (http://www.callnetuk.com/home/sef/) and “The International Supporters’ Club” (http://www.mcfc.co.uk/extra/fanzone/isc.asp)

[5] Where can I find out about the fans’ committee?

The Fans’ Committee operates as an interface between supporters and the club. It has its own website, http://www.mcfc-fans.com/ containing info about forthcoming meetings as well as minutes from previous gatherings.

[6] Where can I find information about our new stadium?

The latest information regarding the progress of our new home can be found at http://www.commonwealthgames.com/

[7] What match day broadcasts are available on the web?

Live match commentaries and archives of games, reports and interviews can be found here: http://www.mcfc.co.uk/comment.asp. An alternate live commentary service, hosted by Yahoo, is located at: http://uk.sports.yahoo.com/foot/audio/live/schedule/index.html. GMR Saturday Sport is also available live online between 1-3pm, and 4.45-6pm at http://www.bbc.co.uk/manchester/sport/index.shtml

[8] Are City’s goals available on the net?

http://www.citygoals.com/ has available for download, usually within 24-48 hours of a game being played, all the goals from City’s matches.

[9] What’s the music the teams run out to?

The music we ran out to at Maine Road during the 01/02 season was “Nightmare” by Brainbug and is available on the Positiva label.

[10] Acknowledgements

Thanks go to John Arnold for providing the information regarding match day music and to Ian Bell for pointing out the alternate live match commentary service.

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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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Heidi Pickup, heidi@mcivta.freeserve.co.uk

Editor: