Newsletter #1012

A point from Leicester on Saturday, in a game that will be noted for the controversy caused by D’Urso masquerading as a referee; match views and opinions are here tonight together with the latest permutations on Premiership survival.

Plenty of other opinion and the usual requests. The reserves could only manage a point tonight away to WBA as they conceded a late goal to draw 2-2.

Greetings to Tor and the other Norwegian Blues who made the Leicester game; shame the lads couldn’t give you a win.

MATCH VIEW I: LCFC 1 MCFC 1

History Suggests City Will Go Down

City’s Premiership destiny is still in their own hands, but only just. The team’s inability to win games is becoming a worrying trend, and with only seven league wins so far this season, if City fail to win another this term, it will go down as the least number of league wins ever! City have finished four seasons with eight league wins.

These were in 1894, when there were only 28 matches and City finished safely in 13th place. But it is the three latter occasions that cause worry, because City were relegated on each occasion with eight victories. These came in 1950 (29 points from 42 games when it was 2 points for a victory), 1987 (39 points from 42 games), and our last relegation in 2001 (34 points from 38 games). So Kev, the target has to be nine points from the last three games.

The weather was warm and sunny; a lovely day for it (whatever “it” is). Kevin Keegan proved he is willing to listen to others, so the flaccid Robbie Fowler and injured(?) Steve McManaman were left to go househunting (you need to watch Soccer AM to get this one), with the battling Joey Barton and enigmatic Paulo Wanchope starting, in what seemed a well-balanced team. My only change to that line-up would have been Macken holding the ball up front with Anelka. The fans around us were lifted by the appearance of Noel Gallagher. The first twenty minutes saw scrappy play with Leicester pushing City back into their own half, and going close on a couple of occasions. City’s first attempt on goal was midway through the half when Walker’s clearance fell to Anelka, who failed to control the ball properly as he advanced on goal, and Walker saved his blushes as he smothered the ball. City took the lead in the second minute of added on time, when a Tarnat 40-yard free-kick took a deflection past Walker.

Leicester pushed forward at the start of the second half, and sadly City failed to capitalise on a number of chances, with Nicolas Anelka being guilty on almost every occasion. However, rather than criticising, the City faithful chanted his name to encourage him the next time. There was always going to be another goal in the game, but it was Leicester who got it in the 66th minute, when Scowcroft got to a header before Tarnat, and the ball looped over David James into an unguarded net. Just as it looked as though both teams had settled for a point, Izzet appeared to handle (he later confirmed he had) as he burst into the area, where a Tarnat leg brought him down. Referee D’Urso blindly pointed to the spot, and the rightly incensed City players surrounded the referee and his assistant, pleading for justice. What ensued can only be described as a 5-minute push and shove melee – nothing more, though the FA may ask for a video of the game. The protests were quite understandable from a City point of view. Three City players were hand-picked to be booked, whilst Paul Dickov prepared to take the penalty which could help his new team, but condemn his old team. When the moment of truth came, justice was seen to be done, as Dickov’s poor kick failed, with hero James saving consecutive penalties. D’Urso’s mind was obviously still in turmoil, as he gave City a free-kick rather than the advantage, which would have left Sinclair with a free run on goal. Sinclair had a largely ineffective impact on the match, and he missed the opportunity to become a hero in added on time as he blasted a shot straight at Walker.

Other results didn’t help as Blackburn recorded their third consecutive win to reach the “safety” of 40 points, and with Portsmouth winning at Leeds, it all means it will be City or Leeds who join Leicester and Wolves in Division One next season. Leeds’ run-in includes Bolton away followed by a home game against Charlton, then Chelsea away. Realistically, if City “can” win next week at home to Newcastle, Leeds would have to win two and draw one to pass City, assuming City are pointless against ‘Boro and Everton.

Line-up: James, Sun, Dunne, Distin, Tarnat, Wright-Phillips, Bosvelt, Barton, Sinclair, Anelka (Sibierski, 90+1), Wanchope.
Subs not used: Arason, Jordan, Reyna, Macken. Booked: Tarnat, Wanchope and Barton (all 86th minute).
Goal times: 1-0 (Tarnat, 45+2) – 1-1 (Scowcroft, 66).
Crowd: 31,457.
Referee: Dithering D’Urso.

For all the first team stats and match reports of the first team and reserves, visit http://www.mcfcstats.com/

MATCH VIEW II: LCFC 1 MCFC 1

At last a City performance to feel proud of… almost. They battled and fought and at least looked as if they cared today. Only poor thing was the finishing, which has cost us dear; this is a game we should have won by half time. Still, the point seems valuable now.

Just a few comments about the players.

James Outstanding. Could be him that keeps us up. Apart from the penalty save, he commands the box in a way that Seaman never did. He gave Distin a real rollicking in the first half, to which Distin argued back; I don’t know who was right, but at least it looked as though they cared. I reckon the players’ revolt or whatever you want to call it was centred around these two. James clearly doesn’t rate Distin’s performances of late, and has told him (and Keegan) so this at least has brought some life into Distin (see below).

Sun
Excellent. Whatever you may think about him, he gives his all and has always been involved in our best attacking play down the right. I don’t think he put a foot wrong today, and linked up with SWP really well. Despite his limitations with defensive positioning at times, I really like him ’cause he always plays as if his life depends on it.

Tarnat
Scored the goal and usually excellent delivery from dead balls, but for me he was the only one of the back 4 who looked as if he’d give a goal away. And he did. Two or three times he let them in, and I think it was him who misread the punt forward that led to their goal.

Distin
I’ve really slagged him for most of this season, but today he was immense. He won everything in the air; sometimes all you could see from the far end in the second half was Distin rising above everyone else to win the header. James managed to get him rattled early on (see above) and this seemed to get the best out of him. For once felt as if his heart was really in it.

Dunne
As above, outstanding. Defended brilliantly, not just in the air, but his footwork was brilliant too. He really cares, as seen in the fight after the penalty decision as he pushed Izzet (I think) about. Still think he’s the wrong shape for the Premiership, but his commitment to the cause is undoubted.

Sinclair
His best game for City since Barcelona, but he should have won the game for us in injury time. At least he battled; in defensive terms he does OK for us, but he should have scored at the end. Still, I’d keep him in the team now, he’s earned it after today’s performance.

Bosvelt
Can’t remember if he did anything positive, but he seems to be the best stable counterfoil we’ve got (at present) to Barton (see below). He seems quite calm when all around lose it, which may or may not be a good thing. Just waiting for him to have a shot or make an incisive pass or do something that remains in the memory.

Barton
Despite his shortcomings in terms of misdirected passes and stupid giveaway fouls on the edge of the box and clear overestimate of his own ability at present, I felt he really made a difference today. He buzzed around midfield, created lots of hassle, put in lots of tackles and surprisingly made some good, positive passes, which cut through their defence. He clearly believes in his own ability, as demonstrated when he b*ll*cked Sinclair, the senior pro, in the first half. I thought he was a prat when he stormed off last week, but today I thought he was good. The arrogance and confidence he clearly has seem to be what is needed to really make it big, so I think we should try to hang on to him in the summer. He could be captain in two years’ time.

SWP
Just amazing ball skills as usual. If Anelka had half the control and first touch that Shaun has he’d score twice as many goals. He gave his all as usual, in every part of the pitch. It can never have been so easy at City to name the player of the season. I hope we keep him.

Anelka
He looked as if he was up for it in terms of aggression and desire, but his finishing was woeful. He should have had a hat-trick. I know he’s quality, but I think we’ll be a better team when he goes in the summer.

Wanchope
Anelka’s only saving grace was that Wanchope was even worse. At least Anelka was in the positions to score. Every time the ball went near Wanchope, it rebounded off his legs. His first touch was dreadful. He cannot seem to control or trap the ball, whatever pace it comes to him at. More often than not he gave the ball away and put us under pressure. He was a liabilty. My only criticism of Keegan today was that he didn’t take him off at half time for Macken, who would have held the ball up better.

Keegan
Best bit of the game was when we sang Keegan wonderland; who else would get that king of adulation when 4th bottom? I still think he’s fantastic, he cares and he brings the big times to the club. Whether we stay up or go down, I hope he’s still with us.

OPINION: PREMIERSHIP STATS

The lowest number of Premiership wins to stay in the league is 9 with 9 draws by Bradford City, 99/00 season, giving 36 points. Here is the list of the surviving last placed teams since the Premiership began.

92/93  Leeds       12 wins 15 draws 51 pts
93/94  Everton     12 wins  8 draws 44 pts
94/95  Man City    12 wins 13 draws 49 pts
95/96  Southampton  9 wins 11 draws 38 pts
96/97  Coventry     9 wins 14 draws 41 pts
97/98  Everton      9 wins 13 draws 40 pts
98/99  Southampton 11 wins  8 draws 41 pts
99/00  Bradford C   9 wins  9 draws 36 pts
00/01  Derby C     10 wins 12 draws 42 pts
01/02  Sunderland  10 wins 10 draws 40 pts
02/03  Bolton      10 wins 14 draws 44 pts

Current table

03/04  Man City     7 wins 14 draws 35 pts
03/04  Leeds        8 wins  8 draws 32 pts
03/04  Leicester    5 wins 14 draws 29 pts
03/04  Wolves       6 wins 11 draws 29 pts

Providing Leeds lose one of their last remaining 3 games and we win 1 or draw 3 we will be safe on what could be the lowest surviving number of wins in the league’s history as our goal diffierence is far superior.

Come on Bolton!

OPINION: STAYING UP

Now I know that it is foolish to write such a piece on a Friday, especially as it’s before the Leicester City game, but I think that we are going to give them a good ol’ fashioned tonking!

I find the news of a bust up incredible encouraging, and if David James instigated it, then he could become the best buy at this club for many a year. A few egos will have been deflated in a frank exchange. If Distin got told to cut out the ‘fancy’ stuff at the back, good. If Dunne was told to concentrate, good. James has been through this last year, he knows what it feels like, and doesn’t want to go through it again.

Sure, the senior players maybe doing it, for their own interests (£), but with 4 games to go “so what”, at the moment I couldn’t care less. I was frustrated for the first time, leaving the ground against Southampton, the team played appallingly, they seemed to have given up. We can’t afford to carry any passengers; if we do, we will go down. But with these clear the air talks I’m hoping the realisation of what is facing them is now sinking in.

We the fans can/should get behind the players like never before this season. People only seem to get ‘Up’ for the big games, which is a bit of a disgrace, it’s like the players this season. I should also add that getting ‘Up’ for it, in my mind doesn’t mean shouting abuse at our players. Who was the last player to improve his form after been called a ‘lazy twit’ or words to that effect?

Now I know that I’m very vocal at games, but will never subscribe to this pack mentality of having a go at our own players; the opposition must grow in stature at every piece of abuse. Can you imagine, we are playing at OT, and their fans start having a go at Keane, the Chuckle brothers etc.? It would be very funny indeed, we’d love it, just love it (no pun intended).

It’s very short-sighted to believe that the players will play better with someone calling them a ‘trucking nonce’ or ‘please, leave for Liverpool’, words to that effect. Yes, the players haven’t responded as I’d hoped either, but you have to trust in them for 90 minutes while they are on the pitch; places like this and other boards, fanzines, letters in the pink, fans’ forums, for me are the places to have a pop.

Manchester City’s biggest asset is the fans, but they can often be their biggest hinderance.

OPINION: SING YOUR HEARTS OUT FOR THE LADS

I think my profound statement never made it on my last piece. But I have to say that the Southampton fans at the COM sung till their hearts content and also during the 2-0 defeat at St Mary’s they continued to sing and back the team no matter how badly they played.

What I am trying to say is that City have one of the best group of supporters but not necessarily the best team supporters. Let’s get behind the team and show them why we love this club so much.

OPINION: RATIONALISING

I remember reading an article about a downturn in performance of clubs that have moved grounds, which may give some rationale for the lack of performance this season.

The article at: http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99993296 reports on a scientific study performed mainly on US sports, but the findings be valid in the Premiership.

It cites lack of familiarity of surroundings as one of the distractions for players that leads to lower performance. I can believe in a skilled team sport like football this will be amplified, as the cohesion of the team will further reduce the performance on top of reduced performance for individual players. I am sure everyone can remember Soton’s poor run of form after they moved to St. Mary’s.

The study suggests the effect is short-lived so hopefully there will be a mysterious boost in performance next season. I only hope that this happens in the Premiership, not Division 1.

OPINION: GLASS HALF FULL?

After reading MCIVTA 1011 I’m struck yet again by the fact that there are, as there have been all my life, two views about the Blues’ prospects. Namely, blind optimism in the face of all the available evidence or total 100% pessimism. ‘Twas ever thus but in the interests of all our sanity, sleep patterns etc., I thought I’d try to attempt a balanced analysis of the current situation.

The fact is this that we’ve had what at best will be a deeply disappointing season and at worst could still be a season that sets us back ten years.

This is partly down to bad luck, I agree with Keegan up to a point on this, but let’s be honest, we’re the authors of much of our own misfortune.

I also don’t buy the more lurid stories about disharmony in the camp. If team spirit was as bad as some say, how did we come back against Spurs in the Cup?

What we’ve got to do is retain several contradictory concepts in our mind at the same time – because it seems to me that all of the following statements are undeniably true. I’d love to hear from anyone who disagreed with any of the following:

1. If we need ten easy chances to score one goal, we’re going to haveproblems. Our conversion rate is appalling (apart from against the Rags,when it was sensationally good). Just about every player in the squad hasbeen guilty of at least one missed sitter this season – and all thestrikers are culpable for many more.
2. We’ve been gubbed by referees in crucial matches against Portsmouth,Leeds and Leicester since the New Year. It’s thanks to Messias, Wiley andD’Urso that we’re not safe now. I hope they’re happy.
3. Keegan’s defensive tactics have often been patently wrong. Distin likesto bring the ball out from the back – which is great. But if he plays likethis, then we must have two defensive-minded central midfielders for everymatch home and away against all opposition or play a back three. Notice howwe were more secure when we played van Buyten in a 3-5-2 or when we’ve hadBarton and Bosvelt playing alongside each other. If we don’t do one ofthose things, the result is that whoever plays alongside Distin is putunder unreasonable amounts of pressure – and every other team in thePremiership knows this. Dunne and Sommeil have both copped a lot of flackthis year – some of it justified – but they deserve more protection fromthe rest of the team.
4. Why didn’t we sign David James in the summer? I know it’s easy to bewise after the event and all that, but really!
5. Eastlands seems to inspire visiting goalkeepers.
6. We haven’t won a game by a single goal in the league since August – buthave lost nine times by one goal. Reverse this statistic and we’d be fourthtop and not fourth bottom. My pet theory about this is that Ali B and MVFwere very important for us last year in turning draws into wins and we’vemissed both badly.
7. No-one knows the best position for Sibierski (least of all, I think attimes, the player himself).
8. Claudio Reyna has not performed substantially better this season thanKevin Horlock did in the same rôle last season.
9. Both Anelka and Fowler look better playing alongside Macken or Sibierski(see point seven above).
10. Steve McManaman can be effective when the side is built around him (aswas Berkovic). But as we sold Berkovic because we wanted to play adifferent way, there was no logic in buying McManaman.
11. We should have taken the money for Paulo Wanchope last summer (lessobvious at the time than point four above, but still true).

OPINION: GARRY’S WORLD

Friday night… comes before Saturday when footy matches used to be played, if you were any good. Otherwise it were Sunday mornin’ wi’ a bangin’ ‘ed. I was sh*te so it were Sunday for me, blaggin’ fags for warmin’ up an’ at ‘arftime coz I’d left ’em in the taxi when me mate had bin sick (sic) an’ t’money’d all gone so we pre-match trained on an aerobified mix of Boddiesssssss and curry.

Thing was, if City had won on Sat’di, we were well up for it. If an unexpected reverse <ahem> had occurred, kick ’em all and you could tell who were the City fans on the opposing side ‘coz they were givin’ it Bruce Lee anorl. Must be a bit tight for room in A&E on Sunday dinner these days. I know I need a few doors replacing since we came up:-))

Thing is, whereas, as it were, when we did the Prem/1/2/1/Prem thing we didn’t believe we had the talent to do it, and we were sh*te (often), we kinda got downtrodden and picked up whatever crumbs were thrown. That City/Gillingham play-off still had me smiling a week later ‘coz it were proper City. I want to cry tears of success again and want my son to remember those shared tears of joy, in the same way that I did when Mr Tueart overheaded at Wembley an’ me an’ me dad did the moist eyes thing together and never spoke about it again.

We have a long history of Diamonds and Rust performances. Corrosion features large in recent memory. My imagination embraces scenes of European Cup medal winers (sic) nurturing immense young talent to international perfection. Hope springs eternal from the fount of real estate:-))

SWP has blossomed in spite of the corporate efforts inflicted upon him. My despondent state wishes him well wherever he is next season. I think Joey Barton is the most exciting player we have seen in a Blue shirt for a long time. Let’s not forget that a lot of the Mercer/Allison team were “bought-in” as needing a final polish but were nearly the finished article anyroad. Barton is by no means the finished article but perhaps he can find a club that will give him the opportunities he deserves to translate the raw data into the international pantheon that he will be. The parallels with Liverpool’s Gerrard are scary. Go forward 4 or 5 years and see them both in the same team and weep for they will be immense.

So it’s still Friday and I hope that Monday will see me bursting with the reflected pride that comes from bringing home of 3 points from Leicester, having dug out the gutsy performance that engenders a side that gives a sh*t for the shirt and fighting for survival.

Imagine: last day of the season and final whistle has just gone. Sky Rags already have the piano lament in the can in anticipation. The City haters that they employ will have sympathetic smirks barely hidden, masking their joy at young (and young at heart) City fans breaking their hearts ‘coz they know how much it hurts us that they can smirk at us. The tide of Blue hurt will linger long after they have left the catchment area for their flights home.

The image burned into our brains will be that of our young fans’ openly tear stained as-yet-unlined faces who have followed the searing, blind fanaticism that we have inflicted upon them.

My shame deepens and I bleed inside. I have wished in the latter half of this season to be no longer able to support City. This season hurts more than much that has gone before.

I’ll get me coat. <sniff> <holds cuff of sleeve and drags across sniffing nose, hand pinching eyes on way through masking despairing tears>

REQUEST: MILTON KEYNES OSC MEETING

The April meeting for the Milton Keynes OSC branch is this coming Thursday, April 29th, starting at 8pm at Great Brickhill Cricket Club. If you would like directions to the venue, or any other information about the branch, please give me a call – or you could look at http://www.stm1.freeserve.co.uk

REQUEST: ‘BORO TICKETS

Hi, has anyone got 2 spare tickets for the Boro game? Perhaps you would like to offload them due to health reasons in following City (?). Please email me or call 07745343968.

REQUEST: SEASON TICKETS

Due to relocation abroad I will not be able to use my season tickets for the next 2-3 years. I have already bought my tickets for next year. If anyone is interested in buying them off me for my duration abroad then please contact me. The tickets are in the upper east stand (G section) in line with penalty spot, they are good seats at the end of the row and by the exit so you can nip out for a beer quickly!

REQUEST: CITY FANS WANTED

Hello,

I am from Germany and I like to start some contact to Man City fans. I support Bayern Munich and vfl Bochum. If you able to give me some information, please help me.

REQUEST: TICKET COLLECTIONS

Here’s an odd request – from someone I met at Spurs who collects tickets from Premier League matches (and will pay for them).

As we don’t have paper tickets at COMS, that’s stumped him a bit. He’s ok with away fans’ one-off tickets, but there aren’t many one-off card tickets (e.g. comps) for the home end that specify the particular match.

Please contact me for his details.

REQUEST: MAINE ROAD SCENES

If anybody is interested in seeing pictures of the demolition of Maine Road they can view them at http://www.maineroad.tk

REQUEST: FANS’ COMMITTEE

We would like your thoughts on the following topics. These topics will be discussed in the summer.

Loyalty Point Scheme:

• Does it work?
• Does it reward the most loyal fans?
• Is there any other scheme that is better?
• Any other ways to sell limited match tickets to large number of fans?

Stadium Smoking Policy:

• Does it work?
• Is there a better way of implementing the policy?
• Leave it as it is or change it?

Please let me know if you have any thoughts on these topics. Don’t just say you don’t agree with Club policy, if it doesn’t work what is the solution.

REQUEST: ENGLAND FOR EURO 2004

Dear England Supporter,

Last week, I met with 50 England fans in a specially-arranged forum at The FA. It was the first time I have had the chance to talk face to face with the fans, listen to their concerns and even to talk about my team selection! For me, it was a really fantastic experience, I could feel the passion in that room and I would like to do it again. It was also an opportunity to kick off the England Team’s Campaign for EURO 2004, which we are calling “Alltogethernow” because we think the fans and the team need to work together to give England the best chance of success this summer. And make no mistake, England can win the European Championship.

At the forum, I described the England fans as our twelfth man on the field and I really meant it. Before I came to England, I was the Coach at Lazio and I thought Italy was the most passionate football country in the world. But since becoming England Coach, I realised that nothing compares to the English people’s love for the game.

I’m sure that people will behave well in Portugal and we can recreate the atmosphere at the World Cup in Japan, where the English fans created headlines for all the right reasons. I have managed in Portugal and I know the country very well. They are very friendly people and very kind and if you know just one word in Portuguese they are even nicer.

As I said at the forum, it would be a small disaster if we leave the tournament early for football reasons but an even bigger one if we had to leave for non-footballing reasons.

As an England supporter, you’ll automatically receive the Alltogethernow newsletter, which will include regular updates from me and reports from inside the England camp. You’ll also receive information about a whole range of events, run by The FA, supporters and a whole range of other organisations, both at home and in Portugal, if you plan on travelling to the tournament.

To find out more and to register visit http://www.TheFA.com/Alltogethernow. Please feel free to forward this email to friends and fellow England Supporters.

Thanks for all your support,

Sven

RESULTS

25 April 2004

Leeds United          1 - 2  Portsmouth            39,273
Birmingham City       2 - 2  Wolverhampton Wndrs   29,494
Newcastle United      2 - 1  Chelsea               52,016
Tottenham Hotspur     2 - 2  Arsenal               36,097

24 April 2004

Everton               0 - 1  Blackburn Rovers      38,884
Fulham                2 - 0  Charlton Athletic     16,585
Leicester City        1 - 1  Manchester City       31,457
Manchester United     0 - 1  Liverpool             67,647
Middlesbrough         1 - 2  Aston Villa           31,712
Southampton           1 - 2  Bolton Wanderers      31,712

League table to 25 April 2004 inclusive

                             HOME          AWAY        OVERALL
                    P  W  D  L  F  A  W  D  L  F  A  W  D  L  F   A   GD Pts
 1 Arsenal         34 14  3  0 38 13 10  7  0 31 11 24 10  0  69  24  45  82
 2 Chelsea         35 10  4  3 29 13 12  2  4 32 16 22  6  7  61  29  32  72
 3 Manchester Utd  35 12  3  3 36 14 10  2  5 25 19 22  5  8  61  33  28  71
 4 Liverpool       35  9  3  5 26 14  5  8  5 23 22 14 11 10  49  36  13  53
 5 Newcastle Utd   34 11  4  3 32 13  2 10  4 15 21 13 14  7  47  34  13  53
 6 Aston Villa     35  8  6  3 23 17  6  4  8 23 24 14 10 11  46  41   5  52
 7 Fulham          35  9  4  5 29 20  4  5  8 20 24 13  9 13  49  44   5  48
 8 Charlton Ath.   35  6  5  6 25 26  7  4  7 19 19 13  9 13  44  45  -1  48
 9 Birmingham City 35  8  5  5 26 21  4  7  6 16 23 12 12 11  42  44  -2  48
10 Bolton Wndrs    35  5  8  4 20 18  7  3  8 22 34 12 11 12  42  52 -10  47
11 Southampton     34  8  4  5 20 13  4  5  8 19 22 12  9 13  39  35   4  45
12 Middlesbrough   35  7  4  7 23 22  5  5  7 18 22 12  9 14  41  44  -3  45
13 Blackburn R.    35  4  3 10 23 30  7  4  7 26 27 11  7 17  49  57  -8  40
14 Portsmouth      34  9  2  5 28 16  2  5 11 11 32 11  7 16  39  48  -9  40
15 Everton         35  8  5  5 26 18  1  7  9 16 30  9 12 14  42  48  -6  39
16 Tottenham H.    35  8  4  6 32 27  3  2 12 12 29 11  6 18  44  56 -12  39
17 Manchester City 35  3  9  5 25 23  4  5  9 23 28  7 14 14  48  51  -3  35
18 Leeds United    35  5  6  7 22 28  3  2 12 14 43  8  8 19  36  71 -35  32
19 Leicester City  35  2 10  6 16 27  3  4 10 26 33  5 14 16  42  60 -18  29
20 Wolves          35  6  5  6 21 32  0  6 12 14 41  6 11 18  35  73 -38  29

MCIVTA FAQ [v0304.07]

[0] MCIVTA Addresses

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

 News/rumour (Don Barrie)         : news@mcivta.city-fan.org

 Subscriptions (Madeleine Hawkins): subscriptions@mcivta.city-fan.org

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

 FAQ (David Warburton)            : faq@mcivta.city-fan.org

[1] What are MCIVTA’s publishing deadlines?

Deadlines for issues are nominally 6pm, 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/); the “Centenary Supporters’ Association” (http://www.reddishblues.com/CSAWebsite/CSA.htm) and “The International Supporters’ Club” (http://www.mcfc.co.uk/article.asp?article=111845&Title=International+Supporters+Club&lid=Membership).

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

The GMR pre and post match phone-in is available on the web at http://www.bbc.co.uk/england/gmr/sport_intro.shtml.

Live match commentaries and archives of games, reports and interviews can be found at http://www.mcfctv.com/, whilst an alternate live commentary service, hosted by Yahoo, is located at http://uk.sports.yahoo.com/foot/englandprem/cal/index.html.

[7] Where can I find out if City are live on satellite TV?

http://www.satfootball.com/pl.html provides a listing of Premiership games being shown on UK domestic and foreign satellite channels. Useful sites for North American viewers are http://canadatvsoccer.tripod.com/Fixtures.htm, http://www.foxsportsworld.com/named/FSW/Index/Soccer, and http://www.soccertv.com/.

http://www.foxsportsworld.com/content/view?contentId=1288602 also provides a guide to pubs in the USA showing football.

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

At the start of the 03/04 season it was actually a mix of two tracks: Starting with “O Verona” (from the film “William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet”) leading in to “Barber’s Adagio for Strings (Ferry Corsten remix)” by William Orbit. The first part is available on the movie soundtrack (volume 2) and the second is included on a variety of CDs such as Kiss House Nation 2000, Galaxy Hit Mix, Cream Live, Ibiza Chill and Dance Nation 4.

Currently we use a selection of different music, which seems to change each game.

[9] Do we have a Usenet newsgroup?

Yes we do: uk.sport.football.clubs.man-city is our home on usenet. If you are not familiar with usenet, a basic explanation is available here: http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,289893,sid9_gci213262,00.html

[10] Do any squad members have their own web pages?

There are a number available and direct links can be found at http://www.uit.no/mancity/players/

[11] Can I buy shares in the club?

Yes you can: Shares in Manchester City PLC are traded on OFEX. The latest prices can be on found the OFEX web site http://www.ofex.com/ (registration required) or in the business section of the Manchester Evening News.

[12] Where can I find match statistics?

Statistics for the current season are available from the club site, but for a more in-depth analysis try http://www.mcfcstats.com/.

[13] Acknowledgements

Thanks go to Damian Quinn, Stephen Webb, Roger Haigh, Martin Price, and Adrian Howarth for the Satellite TV info.

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.

Heidi Pickup, editor@mcivta.city-fan.org

Editor: