Newsletter #1091

Apologies for the delay in tonight’s issue, which was due to IT problems.

The Anelka deal is now completed, and in a surprise move given his contract extension, Wattereus is off to Rangers! This means that Weaver, who on Friday had been due to join Brighton & Hove Albion on loan, now steps back onto the reserve ‘keeper position. To paraphrase Harold Wilson, a day is a long time in football.

We have continuing opinion on the striker situation, recent moves and a plea for a missing flag.

OPINION: ANELKA

Well I for one am gutted that Anelka has gone. Obviously I, and pretty much everyone else who reads this I expect, do not know the ins and outs, the ifs and buts and whys and so forth, and maybe it was inevitable. Still, who wasn’t chuffed when we signed him? I couldn’t believe it, a real coup and a sign that we meant business was how I saw it. I don’t really know what selling him means and I certainly hope that the end price is more than £7 million; how can he have halved in value despite an excellent record etc.? Other than that, I hope we have a good replacement lined up, whether it’s BWP or someone new. I also can’t see how a move to Fenerbahce is much in the way of a career move for Anelka himself. All I can say is I agreed with pretty much everything that was written in that “fact” article (I forget who typed it, sorry), and I do wish people would remember that we do not have a team of world beaters, never will, but that we have some fine players, including, until recently, one Nicolas Anelka.

OPINION: REFEREES AND COMMITMENT

Three things to say:

1. Thank God the Sulk has gone. If it wasn’t for the defeat in the EuropeanCup I doubt if anyone would have heard of Fenerbahce?
2. What is the world coming to, Rodney made a stupid comment. We really arelosing control of our emotions when it comes to something going wrong inthe world.
3. I watched an interview on Saturday afternoon in which Mr Poll explainedhis decision to allow the Arsenal goal. He told a lie. On Saturday eveninghe explained why he disallowed the City goal. He told a lie.Mr Poll you are a liar and from an ex-referee instructor it would appearyou do not understand the Laws of Association Football.

Can I make it four?

We as City fans know how easy it is to lose the game from being 2-0 up when the opponents pull it back to 2-1.

Good job our men at Wembley didn’t have that attitude Mr Keegan. Well done Horlock and Dickov.

OPINION: KK’S FINANCES

Anelka cost us £13 million

Sold him for £7 million

Total cost £6 million

Wages say £55,000 per week x 2.5 years (125 weeks) = £6.875 million wages

Total cost £12.875 million

Goals scored in total – 46

Cost per goal = £279,891.13

Average attendance (Maine Road/CoMS ) say 40,000

Therefore every time Anelka has scored a goal – every single one of us has paid him £7.00

How can football fans and clubs accept this stupid, idiotic financing?

Now work out how much Goater cost, how much he was paid, how much we sold him for and how many goals he scored – and remember Keegan sold him!

Keegan with his special buys – Fowler, Macken, McMannanmanmananm, Sinclair, Vuoso has wrecked this club!

He sold or got rid of – Goater, Huckerby, Stephen Elliot, Berkovic, Benarbia, Dickov, Tiatto. All those players were hard working, skilful and better than the cr@p we have now.

He also failed to buy van Buyten because he wasted all our money on Fowler and Macca, replaced Tarnat with Thatcher. Signed Seaman when he was more interested in doing Question of Sport, and why did he get rid of that Ace Icelandic or wherever he was from goalie?

If we lose SWP it will all be down to Keegan’s rape of this Club. Go Keegan now. We should bring in Sam Allardyce or Paul Jewell.

You may not agree with everything I have said, but here is food for thought. Which players’ names do we sing now? We don’t have any songs left because Keegan has sold all our favourites!

Our trouble is that we beat Southampton and Palace and we all forgive Kevin. I don’t care if we beat Chelsea and Man U – it’s not Keegan’s doing – it is just how the un-motivated, un-disciplined players decide to play on the day.

Keep: James, Dunne, Distin, Mills, Jordan, SWP, BWP, Flood.

Discipline: Barton.

Reliable Subs: Sibierski, Bosvelt, Sun Jihai, Thatcher.

Sell: Macken, Fowler, Sinclair, Macmanmamnanman.

Buy: van Buyten, Dickov, Huckerby and a striker or two.

That is a cheap to squad.

OPINION: STRIKERS

I’ve read with great interest the correspondence concerning Anelka in the past weeks and personally I’m glad to see the back of him. I’ve been tired of watching ten men and Anelka for some time now. I also agree that Jonny Macken isn’t going to make it up front for us; he just doesn’t have the pace.

I know we’re only just hearing about the Souness situation with Bellamy but is there any chance of us taking him on loan till the end of the season? It certainly would give us some more options than we currently have in the attack department. As KK says, we can’t keep relaying on SWP to do the business every week.

I know to some of you the idea of grabbing Bellamy sounds premature but I remember some Red opportunists in the past who cr*pped that puddle jumper Cantona from Leeds in a blink and that didn’t do them any harm did it (well, apart from the cretin’s kung-fu kick)! Anyway, think about it.

Lastly, dress sense: will someone please talk to our manager? At recent games he seems to look more like a two toed sloath than a Premiership manager. I’ve heard of thermals but this is ridiculous.

OPINION: TURKISH VIEW

I got this from a friend who is a big Fenerbache supporter. Nothing earth shattering but interesting to see the other side’s point of view, which I thought I’d share:

Fenerbahce is taking a serious gamble here. Per the Turkish press, the next couple of rounds in the UEFA Cup aligns them with what they feel are beatable teams and they can get to the semi-final. They have suffered from their lack of European big game experience (despite ending Man U’s unbeaten home streak several years back) and they think Anelka will provide that. Money also factors into this as there is a decent pay day for getting to the semi-final round.

However, Fenerbahce got burned really bad a couple of years ago when they bought Ariel Ortege (the Argentine national) who walked out on them after like 8 games.

There is also this naïve Turkish thinking that the “problem children” of European soccer will find warmth and comfort with Turkish society and soccer fans. Ortega certainly dispelled that theory.

OPINION: COMPARISON

So Mr Turner I am getting worked up for stating an opinion based on fact.

If you want a good fact how many games have we won in the Premiership since moving?

Ten, that’s right, 10. You wonder why those of us go week in, week out get so bl**dy disaffected with it all.

OPINION: RIP-OFF CITY

I notice from the club website that the (wonderful, height of fashion) adult away shirts are now priced at a whopping £15 each.

At the next Points of Blue could somebody please ask our chairman for his thoughts. Surely the reduction cannot be because it is “an atrocious seller” (MCIVTA 1079)?

When will they learn?

OPINION: MOONIE AND FRIENDS ON TOUR

Good to see Moonchester putting in an appearance at Boundary Park.

Talk about a menagerie of mascots. Who does the green dragon/donkey thing belong to? May have been the way the TV cameras were pointing, but the mascots looked conspicuous by their absence in the second half. Had they found a secret supply of beer and pies, one which the City fans failed to consume on their visit (good effort, lads, by the way!)?

REQUEST: KUALA LUMPUR BLUES VIEWING

KL Blues will be having a get together on the 13th for the derby against United. Blues who are in town or just passing through are most invited to join in the fun.

Contact Shahrin on cellphone: 016 3668798

REQUEST: MISSING FLAG

We lost our St Georges Flag at the WBA game. I wonder if anyone has got hold of it, or knows where we could find it? It is one with the MCFC old style circular badge in the top left hand corner, and the Glasgow Rangers badge in top right, and as you can imagine is quite distinctive.

Please call if you have any information, which would be much appreciated: 07753389651

REQUEST: P&W SPORTSMAN’S DINNER

Prestwich and Whitefield CSA are holding a Sportsman’s/Person’s dinner on 8th April – details below:

Friday 8th April, Sacha’s Hotel in Manchester: Reception 7.00pm, seated 7.30pm.
Compere: James H Reeve
Main speaker: Mike Summerbee
Invited guests include ex-City players (list to be confirmed)
Disco & Comedian
Tickets £30.00 per head (tables of 10 £250.00)
CSA members £25.00

Monies raised go to ex-MCFC players’ association & MCFC Youth academy

Contact Don Price 0161 798 9994 or Paul Kerry 0161 798 0381 for details/tickets.

WHY BLUE? (I THINK)

So here I am once more
In the playground of the broken hearts
One more experience, one more entry in a diary self-penned
Yet another emotional suicide
Overdosed on sentiment and pride
Too late to say I love you
Too late to restage the play
Abandoning the relics in my playground of yesterday…

Hello, good evening and welcome. Those lyrics are Marillion’s, “Script for a Jester’s Tear” as whispering Bob might have said, or not. Why? And why not? Why bother?

Prompted by Mme Editor’s recommendation of “Lows, Highs and Balti Pies… Manchester City Ruined My Diet” I went all Amazon.co.uk and ordered it, ‘cept there was also an autobiography of Tommy Doyle’s, oh and same for Nelly Young. Heidi on commission methinks:-)

Am charging through the Mike Doyle book like a Harry Potter. Can’t believe how much of it mirrors what was being said (mostly by my dad, God rest him) in our ‘ouse at the time. Read it if you’ve not already done so!

So I’ve gone all retro maudlin’ like fer t’old days and summat to biggit up about. Well that and the fact that the tickets for t’derby match is sorted, albeit via a hotel deal which “cannot guarantee tickets together”. WTF sort of club endorses a deal like that? Pays us a sh*tload of dosh for your CityCard International (which still has no secure ticket ordering facility or anyone that replies to your emails when expressing a desire for tickets but insecurity in respect of disclosing payment details via email? Sh*t on us but we’re still CTID). So in fact I’m paying someone endorsed by the Club a reasonable premium for my son’s 16th to see a derby match by dint of which I qualify to proudly present my CityCard International, that I have paid a premium for (sorry again), to not be guaranteed to sit and sweat and curse together. So are the tickets the unsold dregs that no-one can shift?

So we look like we might be safe, at Christmas no less <homer on> Dohhhhh <homer off> doesn’t time fly when you remember when we won something worth a sh*t? Sorry, going all Doyley. Hope Neil Young doesn’t say f@$k much in the next book to be read:-))

Getting butterflies even now thinking about the derby match. Christ. 46 years young and doing the obsessive compulsive things that will help us win hehehe. I wonder if it matters as much to the squad as it used to? Hope so ‘coz it matters more to me now than it ever did. Why do we wallow in the “Hate Man U” bit? Oh I know why I do, but then do I? Media sympathy cuts deep and against all reasonable boundaries. Don’t get me started. But then I’m not alone I’m sure.

Bear with me whilst I wibble Why Blue?

Well I wasn’t to start with. Oh no. Born in 1958 for those of you who couldn’t be arsed enough to do the maths earlier. Oh no. Was Red (blush). Glory hunter is me, well, was me given the last umpteen years of pain and enforced smiles and platitudes passing for understanding the playing assets of the top flighters. I want to be able to tell them all to GTF ‘coz we have swept all before us. I’ve more chance of Britney Spears begging for it. Or maybe not <pinch> Awake now. Nodded off for a bit then.

Yeah, was Rag when at Junior School. Was fat b*****d so would have done owt to fit in, face it, it matters at that age. Mam and dad even bought us red shirts and took the photos to subsequently use against us. Eccles was a bit Rag in them days. Let’s face it, probably still is, that’s why the Metro does a Swamp stop from there.

Anyroad up, in our ‘ouse we used to be regaled with tales of City in the Trautman, Roy Paul and all sorts of non-media generally mentioned type people, yet told with the reverence reserved for deities (like Trautmann and Roy Paul) with no overt criticism for the swampness extant. This was an obvious undercover attempt to convert covertly.

It worked.

Was took to Maine Road with me mam, me gran and our kid. Dad was on the ‘papers (thievingMirrorPensionssurethey’reragsanorl) so he was on mid-week duties. Just to make sure I was hooked, season tickets were us soon after. Graduated to Kippax (corner of Kippax and Platt Lane big wall to sit on).

Used to pray for Colin Bell to be me dad and Mike Doyle to be me big brother only up until about 1999 tho’ 😉

Why Blue. Chest swells, great memories, self-harm, Betty Ford supports City you know, all those meetings and no cheese and wine:-0

Back to the verse up top I’m sure Fish must have been a City fan; at least I can overdose on sentiment and pride. I feel like a relic abandoned now that I’m away and trying to get to a game now and then.

The halcyon days will never be restaged but I’ve been wrong before:-)

Right, back to not stepping on nicks in the path and being considerate to other drivers.

RESULTS

League table to 30 January 2005 inclusive

                             HOME          AWAY        OVERALL
                    P  W  D  L  F  A  W  D  L  F  A  W  D  L  F   A   GD Pts
 1 Chelsea         24 10  2  0 25  3  9  2  1 23  5 19  4  1  48   8  40  61
 2 Arsenal         24  7  5  0 29 12  8  1  3 24 13 15  6  3  53  25  28  51
 3 Manchester Utd  24  8  4  0 22  6  6  4  2 15  8 14  8  2  37  14  23  50
 4 Everton         24  8  1  3 15 12  5  4  3 13 13 13  5  6  28  25   3  44
 5 Liverpool       24  8  1  3 20  9  3  3  6 16 16 11  4  9  36  25  11  37
 6 Middlesbrough   24  6  4  2 19 12  4  3  5 20 21 10  7  7  39  33   6  37
 7 Charlton Ath.   24  7  2  3 20 13  4  2  6  8 20 11  4  9  28  33  -5  37
 8 Tottenham H.    24  4  3  5 22 18  5  3  4  7  8  9  6  9  29  26   3  33
 9 Bolton Wndrs    24  5  3  4 14 11  4  3  5 17 20  9  6  9  31  31   0  33
10 Manchester City 24  5  4  3 16  9  3  3  6 14 17  8  7  9  30  26   4  31
11 Aston Villa     24  7  3  2 19  7  1  4  7  8 22  8  7  9  27  29  -2  31
12 Newcastle Utd   24  5  3  4 20 19  2  5  5 15 22  7  8  9  35  41  -6  29
13 Fulham          24  5  1  6 15 20  3  3  6 16 20  8  4 12  31  40  -9  28
14 Portsmouth      24  5  2  5 16 16  2  4  6 10 18  7  6 11  26  34  -8  27
15 Birmingham City 24  3  4  5 13 11  3  4  5 14 19  6  8 10  27  30  -3  26
16 Blackburn R.    24  2  7  3 13 17  3  3  6  8 17  5 10  9  21  34 -13  25
17 Crystal Palace  24  4  2  6 13 12  1  4  7 14 25  5  6 13  27  37 -10  21
18 Southampton     24  3  7  2 18 16  0  2 10  7 23  3  9 12  25  39 -14  18
19 Norwich City    24  2  5  5 17 23  0  6  6  6 23  2 11 11  23  46 -23  17
20 West Brom A.    24  2  5  5  9 19  0  5  7 10 25  2 10 12  19  44 -25  16

MCIVTA FAQ [v0405.01]

[1] 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

[2] What are MCIVTA’s publishing deadlines?

Deadlines for issues are nominally 6pm, Monday and Thursday evenings bu email. Unfortunately we cannot accept email attachments.

[3] 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.

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

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

[5] 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).

[6] 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.

[7] 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/.

[8] 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/.

[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] Where can I find a list of City-related websites?

Try Wookie’s Lair: http://www.wookieslair.com/modules.php?name=Web_Links

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: