Newsletter #1136

Today is overshadowed by the atrocities in London, making sport and football so trivial. Our sincere condolences to families and friends of those killed, and thoughts with those injured.

Meanwhile, City continues with news and views on player changes, ex-chairman, just why Hince is so controversial and the usual requests.

Finally, some useful information for those planning to go to the Thailand tournament.

NEWS SUMMARY

General News

Former Director Dies: The club announced the death this week of Honorary Club President Brian Turnbull. Mr. Turnbull passed away, aged 64, after a long illness. He had been a director of the club for thirteen years from 1982 to 1995. Club Secretary Bernard Halford paid tribute to Mr. Turnbull. “Brian was a wonderful character, full of life and energy,” said Halford. “He put his heart and soul into Manchester City and indeed everything that came his way. He will be sadly missed by all at the Club. On a personal note, I have lost a very good friend of 25 years. I have had some great times with him and his wife and I know he will be missed by all who knew him.”

At The Courts (1): There have been a couple of City-related court cases going on this week. On Friday, the Guardian brought news of a failed libel action involving Kevin Keegan and Proactive Sports Management. The action was brought in Denmark, where the claimants believed that they had been libelled by the newspaper Ekstra Bladet. The case revolved around an article in the paper in July 2003, which alleged that Proactive had acted for both player and club in City’s signing of Mikkel Bischoff. The article quoted a Proactive memo, which stated that “City had paid AB Copenhagen £750,000 to sign Bischoff but had also made a further payment of 4.2 million Danish Kroner (£350,000) to Proactive to secure the player,” according to the Guardian. The suggestion was that KK and Bischoff’s agents, as shareholders in Proactive, might make personal financial gain from the transaction. The Guardian was keen to point out that, “The former England manager … has always denied – and there is no evidence to suggest – that he personally benefited from the Bischoff transfer other than as a minority shareholder in Proactive.” The court, however, found that the newspaper had not committed libel, and ordered the claimants to pay £2,500 towards the costs of each defendant.

At The Courts (2): Joe Royle has been refused permission by the House of Lords to appeal against the ruling that he should return a £420,000 pay-off from City. The House of Lords turned down Royle’s approach for a counter-appeal to be heard. JR was axed by the club four years ago, after relegation from the Premiership, but at the time he took City to the High Court and was successful in applying for a ‘golden handshake’ payment. His compensation for breach of contract was awarded at the High Court in Liverpool 12 months ago when it was held that, on a strict interpretation of his contract, City were still in the Premier League at the time of his dismissal, having not reached the point when the three relegated clubs handed over their Premiership company shares to the three promoted teams. A statement by the club declared: “It is hoped that this latest ruling will finally bring to an end the long running dispute.”

Fixture Changes: Sky TV have announced the first tranche of live games to be shown on their channels in the new season; this time the matches available on the pay-per-view subscription channel have been revealed. City now have four games on all the Sky Sports channels. They are:
Sat 20 Aug Birmingham vs. City (k/o 5.15pm pay per view)
Sat 1 Oct City vs. Everton (k/o 12.45pm pay per view)
Sun 16 Oct City vs. West Ham Utd (k/o 4pm)
Mon 31 Oct City vs. Aston Villa (k/o 8pm)
The bad news for armchair fans is that the OT derby does not feature in these early season games.

Target Practice: In direct contrast to his predecessor, SP has stated that he is setting targets for his players – but he won’t reveal what those targets are. “I have not been at a football club that directly set targets for the players or coaches,” mused Psycho. “But I am seriously thinking about that at the moment. I want to sit down with our squad of players and work out targets between us. It will not be a case of me saying what I want but sitting down and asking them what they want. We can look at a list of objectives that we want to achieve and that is on my mind at the moment. All players are responsible for their own actions so why not all move forward together. I am seriously contemplating that and saying to the players, ‘this is what we want to achieve, these are the results we need to get to do that and with that in mind it will be done.’ It will be done in house and within the training ground and will not be let out beyond the squad.”

City Defend Trophy in the Greek Fashion: City will put that mighty glass plate of a prize, the Thomas Cook Trophy, on the line again this summer. Last season City won the bauble after defeating Lazio at the CoMS. This year, Greek champions Olympiakos will visit the Blues on Saturday August 6, kick off 3pm. The visitors have four of Greece’s winning Euro 2004 team in their squad, as well as Brazilian star Rivaldo.

Transfer News and Gossip

Pearce Promise: Pre-season training began today at Carrington, and SP has vowed to wait until the end of August if necessary to reinforce his threadbare squad. After offloading Paul Bosvelt, Steve McManaman, Jon Macken and Kevin Stuhr Ellegaard at the end of last season, he has spent much of the summer trawling Europe on a fruitless search for new signings. “We have a great nucleus here but we need to add to that and we will keep trying until the last day of August if necessary,” Pearce said. “There is a concern we need to bring in fresh faces but the financial situation at the club demands that we look all over the place for players and the job is more difficult than if I was able to splash the cash. Working in football management and with the Bosman ruling, you have to be working 12 months in advance but I don’t have that luxury at the moment.” Your News Editor humbly apologises for suggesting last time that Pearce had been away on his hols – the Gaffer made it clear this week that he hasn’t been lazing by the pool this summer. In fact, he’s been scouring the world for new player talent. “I felt it was important I spent the first summer working at the club,” he said. “The last few weeks I’ve been into Germany four times for the Confederations Cup and made four trips to France, and I may be going further afield shortly. The trips have given me a better insight into the standard of play abroad and what’s needed to step into The Premiership.”

Ones That Got Away: For all the signals last week of his arrival at the CoMS, Oman goalkeeper Ali Al-Habsi has signed for Bolton Wanderers. The goalkeeper will join Bolton in January from Norwegian club Lyn. “My dream has finally come true,” Al-Habsi announced. “It is an achievement I have always dreamt of and I am ready to join Bolton. I promised my fans that I would move to the English Premier League and now it has come true. My ambition is to be Bolton’s first choice,” he added “This move will give my career a big push forward. It is a great thing because the Premier League is the best in the world.” Further up the park, SP missed out on striker Jeremie Aliadiere after the Arsenal forward opted to join Celtic on loan.

Strike Power Sought: Speaking of strikers, here’s a quick run down on this week’s forward rumours. City have been linked with a move for Nathan Ellington. The Wigan Athletic striker has so far failed to agree a new contract with the Latics, and with just a year remaining on his existing deal, he could be sold this summer. “I think they (Ellington and midfielder Jimmy Bullard) will sign, but one thing is sure if they don’t – they will be sold,” said Wigan chairman Dave Whelan. Elsewhere, Southampton boss Harry Redknapp has revealed that West Ham have made a bid for striker Peter Crouch. “West Ham did make a cash bid, but we turned it down,” Redknapp told the BBC. “But let’s not kid ourselves, Peter wants to go and play for Liverpool, where he can play in the Champions’ League and get eight times the pay.” You never know, Harry, he might want to push for a UEFA Cup spot on the same pay (OK, maybe not…)! The Mirror claims that Pearce has changed targets after giving up on Crouch, and now he wants Spurs striker Freddie Kanoute.

It’s Shaun’s Show: Liverpool’s skipper Stevie Gerrard has flip flopped over a move to Chelsea this week, and has finally agreed to stay on Merseyside. So where will Chelski splash their Roubles on a midfielder? Have a guess. Here’s the BBC’s website write up. “Chelsea are poised to move in with a firm bid for Manchester City’s Shaun Wright-Phillips after missing out on Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard. BBC Sport understands City have yet to receive an official offer from Chelsea, but an approach may now be imminent. Manager Jose Mourinho is back from a break and wants the deal done quickly for the 23-year-old England star. Chelsea are likely to bid around £18 million, but that will not be enough and City will demand at least £22 million.” Like last week, there are signs that we are being prepared for SWP leaving. David James, for instance, insists that the club could cope without Shaun. “Shaun had a great influence on how last season turned out, with some of his goals being the obvious highlights,” said Jamo. “But it’s a team game. The way the manager has done his stuff since he took over, it’s clear that the team will be constructed around a group of players rather than one individual.”

Bluebird Bischoff: New Cardiff City boss Dave Jones is reported to have signed City’s Mikkel Bischoff to plug the gap left by the recent sale of Danny Gabbidon. It’s said that the Blues have accepted an undisclosed figure for the 22-year-old to take him to Ninian Park. Jones had Bischoff on loan at Molineux when he was Wolves’ manager and is hoping that the young Dane will again fill the breach. SP said, “Mikkel did well at Wolves and that has obviously alerted sides in the Championship.”

No No Skoko: City are said to have pulled out of a deal for Australian international Josip Skoko. The 29-year-old is reportedly keen to move on from his Turkish club, Genclerbirligi, despite having two years left on his contract with the Ankara-based outfit. According to reports in Australia, the midfielder seemed set for a move to the Premiership with Stuart Pearce’s side, but that City pulled out of the deal at the last minute. In 2003, Skoko was linked with several English clubs including Aston Villa, Leeds United, Leicester City, Middlesbrough and Southampton before opting to sign a four-year deal with Genclerbirligi following his move from Belgian club Genk.

Standard Beg-otiate for Christian: Today Christian Negouai left the club to join Belgian side Standard Liege for an undisclosed fee. Negouai was in the final year of his contract at City and SP didn’t regard him as part of his first team plans this season. He has played only four games in three and a half years since joining from Charleroi for £1.5 million during KK’s reign.

Ex-Blues’ News

Hopeful Jeff: Jeff Whitley’s an optimistic boy – within hours of his arrival at Cardiff City, he was talking about a third promotion to the Premiership, having been involved in similar feats with City and Sunderland. “It’s a big opportunity and a new challenge for me,” he told the club’s website. “Every club that I have been to, it’s been tough to get promoted. I spoke to Dave Jones on how he wants the club to move forward and get to the Premiership. That’s why I’ve come here. I’ve come to Cardiff and to what I see as a big opportunity – for myself and whoever else comes into our club. We’ll all be working to get Cardiff promoted.”

DVB Stays at HSV: Daniel van Buyten has ruled out a possible move to Newcastle United Football Club. The Magpies had identified the giant Belgian for a move to St James’ Park, yet the former City loan star is happy to stay with Hamburg despite rumours to the contrary. “I will be staying,” said Danny Boy this week. “My head and my heart belong to Hamburg and I’m very happy to be here.” Which might not be good news for the Blues, as Toon boss Graeme Souness may now refocus his attention on Sylvain Distin.

Edgy Ramming it Home? Richard Edghill is on his travels again, looking for a new club after being released by QPR. Edgy is currently training with Derby County, and hopes to impress the Rams’ hierarchy. The Oldham-born defender came through the ranks with City where he made over 200 appearances before a loan spell at Birmingham City. He had brief spells at Wigan Athletic and Sheffield United before moving to Queens Park Rangers in the summer of 2003. He made 40 appearances for Ian Holloway’s side before his release in the summer of 2005.

Nico News – No Surprise… The Mirror reports that Nicolas Anelka wants to return to the Premiership after less than six months with Turkish champions Fenerbahce. His agents have been circulating the Frenchman’s name around the Premiership. The Frenchman quit City in January to join the Turkish champions in a £7 million deal. But his advisers have sounded out several Premiership teams, although there has been no firm interest yet.

Squad News

Be Afraid. Be Very Afraid: Gaffer Psycho has warned his players he will not tolerate ill discipline. Pearce is keen to have his squad in tip-top shape for the start of the new season and he wants the players to act responsibly. “I want things to be organised the way I want them to be organised come day one,” said Pearce. “The players have to know in my profession what is expected of them as individuals and professionals, so I think it is very important to know what their leaders stand for and the moral code he likes to live his life by and obviously, they’ll find that out from me.” John Wardle backed his manager’s stance on discipline. “It’s good to see that, there won’t be any complacency under this guy and the players know that,” said Wardle.

Keep(er)ing Count: Goalie Geert De Vlieger is keen to put his injury problems behind him, having been unavailable for first team duty at all last season. The injury was a major blow for De Vlieger: “I hope to do much different than last season, that’s for sure,” De Vlieger said on Sky Sports News. “After three-and-a-half weeks, my season ended already, so I hope to do much better this season. That’s how it goes, one has bad luck then the other one has. It’s a pity for Nicky Weaver, but I will be fit and ready for the first training sessions. We are here to challenge each other as the goalkeepers do and the defenders, midfielders and strikers are all here to challenge each other and to make each other better. That will be my job and I’ll do it without injuries this season, so I can be a good challenge to David James, I think.” And speaking of Nicky, City’s other injury-prone shot stopper has admitted this week that he is facing a new fight to save his City career. The former England Under-21 international is determined to shrug off his latest setback, a wrist fracture. “This is the last season of my contract and I want to make sure I get another one,” he said. “The club has backed me all the way over my knee transplant and given me time to recover and now I want to show them that faith was not misplaced. I want to put pressure on David James for that number one slot. I am gutted about the injury because I felt as if I was coming into form and I was feeling like my old self again. I don’t know whether that is good or bad and was expecting this to be a really big year for me.”

OPINION: HINCE’S HIDDEN AGENDA?

I have over the past month or so, read articles on the web-site of the Manchester Evening News, written by Paul Hince, almost urging City to sell SWP to Chelsea and Sylvain Distin to Aston Villa. I have to ask myself why somebody who would have us believe that he is a Blue would write such articles. I know that football news is rather slow and hard to come by during the close season, but most hacks have imagination enough to provide their readers with some material to keep them going. Most of MEN’s City material is, anyway, a re-hash of that shown on the Club’s website. In addition to making, in his past articles, “creepy” comments about Stretford Red Sox, we now have articles that are so against the Club’s best interests.

I am beginning to wonder whether Paul Hince is a wolf in sheep’s clothing; in fact, a “fifth columnist” rather than the MEN’s City columnist. He should know that no club with any ambition should sell its best players and provocative articles like those he has recently written will only do City damage. Of course, his excuse will be that he is being “realistic”.

Could it be City’s debt that prompts such disloyal articles? The debt of £62 million at the beginning of last season is now considerably less and Paul Hince should be intelligent enough to know this. I calculate that it might even be less than £40 million at the present time, on the following basis:

Sale of Players:
£250,000 Elliott
£500,000 Wanchope
£7,000,000 Anelka
£100,000 Waterreus
£100,000 McCarthy
£1,000,000 Macken

A total of almost £9 million (not including the fee received for Vuoso, which I think might also be in the accounts for the present financial year).

Other Debt Reductions:
To be added to the above figure is the £6 million “prize money” gained from our final league position. There were also savings on players’ salaries, which were budgeted in the present financial year, in respect of those who have departed (Wanchope and Anelka would have been amongst the Club’s highest earners), let us say £2.0 million during last season, which might well be an under-estimate. The money that Joe Royle had to return to the Club was £450,000, another “saving”. Then, there is profit from gate receipts, sales on match days and merchandising: let us say conservatively £4.5 million. Of course, interest payments will also have been lower on the debt as it was reduced throughout the season. Even without counting this into the calculation, I reckon that the debt has been reduced by more than £21 million, and should now stand at approximately £40 million. At this moment, with the advanced “take” on season ticket sales, it will be significantly lower. I am also not counting any salary saving on the retirement of the Assistant Manager, before the start of last season (there could be a “downside” if KK was given a “pay-off” on departure). Next season, there is already a saving of £2.0 million on the salary of Steve McManaman, not to mention lower salaries to be paid to any incoming players than those received by Anelka, Wanchope, Bosvelt and Macken. There is also income from using the stadium for a variety of events, e.g. England vs. Finland women’s soccer international and “pop” concerts.

The last few months have seen excellent progress by City. The appointment of SP has been like a breath of fresh air through the Club. I think that the arrival of Steve Wigley will mark another step forward and I agree with the departure of Jon Macken (whilst hoping that he scores a bagful for Palace). City’s very loyal supporters have a great deal to look forward to, particularly if we hold on to our best players. We could do without disloyal articles like those written in the past six weeks by Paul Hince. At the very least, it will cause SWP, who has repeatedly announced his intention of staying with City, to become unsettled. If our debt at the beginning of last season was “structured and manageable”, how much more so must it be now? That on the stadium (£25 million) is like a mortgage and apparently £15 million of the rest is owed to the Chairman and is therefore very secure.

Premiership clubs that are forced to sell their best players end up like Leeds United and West Ham United. Surely Paul Hince has enough intelligence to know this and, if he is a true Blue, write articles that are helpful rather than a hindrance to the Club’s progress?

OPINION: BERNSTEIN, MESSIAH OR CHARLATAN?

In recent weeks I have read with interest the emails praising Bernstein and begging for him to come back. On this I have a slightly different opinion and whilst I think Bernie was great for the club and good for the time, I think he is clearly not quite the Messiah people think.

There are a few myths that need to be cleared up:

1. He negotiated brilliantly for the COMS deal -Yes, we got a good deal but we got a good dealbecause we had a Royal Flush in our negotiationsfor COMS: without the stadium and a long termtenant there would have been no CommonwealthGames. We were the only viable candidate so wecould push pretty hard and as long as Manchesterwanted the games we were going to get a great deal.
2. That he came up with a master plan withsecuritised debt – Yes, a master plan that manyPremier League clubs had already thought of and amaster plan used in many businesses and sportsclubs around the world. OK, we got a good deal butanyone in his rôle should have been aware of suchdeals and able to negotiate them; some would havegot better terms and some worse.
3. That he was shrewd in our dealings – He wascareful on occasion as chairman but he was ascomplicit as Keegan and Wardle in our greatpurchases of Negouai, Vuoso, Macken, Fowler,Sommeil and as the Chairman it was ultimately hisresponsibility, So I find it a bit rich to hearabout his prudence when under him Kev spent nighon £40 million net and under Wardle he has made a net profit on transfer fees.
4. Finally on a few occasions since Bernie leftthe club he has briefed the press against thecurrent regime and made ridiculous offers ofcoming back to help. These were designed todestabilise the board and further his own agendaahead of the club’s. To me this is the act of aman who put himself first at the end of the dayand not City. This is very much in line with therumours of his last days where he made decisionsin the club to strengthen his rôle withoutconsulting anyone on the board. It was this thatled to a breakdown in relationship between himand everyone on the board but Macintosh.

So all in all he did a great job but he was no saint and he burned a lot of bridges, meaning we will only get Bernie back if someone very big gives him the money to buy the club and the whole rest of the board goes.

I actually reckon the club has done a good job since Bernie left, we have cut back on costs and purchases to make up for the heavy spending Bernie/Kev days, we have got ourselves higher in the league and we are well placed. So let’s stop looking back and harking to the great Bernie days and get on with what is a bright, new future for the club. Harking for Bernie back is like harking to bring back Mrs T. This is now the past, let’s get on and support the bright, new future our current regime will bring us and let’s stop harking back to the days of big spending, which our now more prudent board is trying to atone for.

Bernie was the man to save us when we went down to Division 2 and he did a fantastic job that I for one will always be grateful for, but to me he showed in the period under Royle and then Keegan in the Premiership that he wasn’t necessarily the man to take us on to Premiership glory. Let’s hope that Wardle is!

OPINION: SOMMEIL, JOUER OR JOKER?

The 5th of July found me queuing for the Uffizi gallery in Florence, where I got chatting to a French guy about football. The subject of French players at City came up and after telling him that I thought Monsieur Anelka was a little “mal à la tête”, we moved onto David Sommeil.

The French guy was amazed to learn that Sommeil generally resides on our bench/in our reserves, as he was thought of as a great player at Bordeaux – so much so that many people in France couldn’t understand why he wasn’t getting into the French national team! With some good man-management, could Sommeil’s form at City be improved? If so, this would surely be preferable to selling our £3.5 million defender to Wigan (or similar) for peanuts.

OPINION: A MAN THING I

In response to Nic Ranson’s bewilderment that I could ever be embarrassed about being a City fan – I’m not. As anyone who has ever met me will tell you, I have never hidden the fact that I am a City fan or been embarrassed about it. Quite the opposite in fact, I tell everyone.

The initial thread of the emails was about the use of the word “man” in Man City over here in the States and the fact that the uninformed would equate the phrase “Man City” with admitting to “It’s Raining Men” by the Pointer Sisters as being your favourite song of all time, not that there is anything wrong with that. Just to make certain though, for my next car, I will get a Man City license plate – I don’t care if people think I prefer men, in fact with an English accent most people probably do already.

Americans do not know about City and whenever you say you are from Manchester the immediate response is about how brilliant G**gs, R**ney and K**ne are as they assume you support Un**ed as they have never even heard of City. It is as this point I have to put them right and extol the virtues of being a Blue and try to educate as many people as possible, especially now the Glazer machine is about to swing in to action – it’s already bad enough that my local in suburban Philadelphia has Un**ed beer mats!

I’m not sure if this has helped or if I have just dug myself into a bigger hole!

OPINION: A MAN THING II

Nic Ranson must obviously have missed something. I wrote in about my “MAN CITY” licence plate here in the U.S. We also mentioned shirts saying Man City instead of Manchester City. The whole point of the letters were to explain what it was like having Man instead of Manchester on the merchandise. My experiences were that people thought I was gay (not that there’s anything wrong with that!); it just kind of got awkward when people were laughing/staring at my car! Well, the wife thought it was funny anyway!

We were just making the point that we would like Manchester City on the merchandise instead of Man, ’cause here in the States they don’t really know of City. That’s all really, nothing really to actually do with being embarrassed about being a City fan at all.

Here’s looking forward to a great season,

[I can’t understand why the misinterpretation either, but the vision of you US Blues driving round with “Man” on your license plates has had me laughing – Ed]

OPINION: THIS, THAT AND T’OTHER

Want to reply to a few points over the last few MCIVTAs…

First, to Stephen Phillips. My little boy is now 5 and I have done my level best to keep him on the straight and narrow, so to speak. This generally has gone well and he likes wearing his City kits and singing songs and going to the occasional match etc. Do I think my work is done? Not yet mate! Since starting at school he has become frightfully aware of the Dark Side and even is able to recite one of their more annoying songs (referring to glory etc. – How I wish I could teach him our version!). Thankfully he has no real concept of who they are and doesn’t really understand football enough to be as fanatical as me. I’ll simply just take him to the matches like I have been doing and I think I’ll be fine (fingers crossed) – just don’t take anything for granted!

On a separate note, I have to disagree with Mike Bains about the Intertoto Cup. I hope City never become so desperate that they enter this competition. Newcastle are desperate, and name me a side that has prospered in the league by playing a host of games just for the promised land of the UEFA Cup? The financial rewards of the UEFA Cup are tiny until the latter stages of that competition and with City’s track record, need we say more! Do we really want our squad risking injury playing in the backyard of Europe hoping we get into Europe?

In a final note, Murray Withers (MCIVTA 1133) asked about the Council’s cut of gate receipts. My understanding was that City only paid rent on gates of above 35,000, representing the previous capacity of Maine Road. We still make money from those receipts but the council get a percentage of our gate receipts on gates above that level.

OPINION: BRINGING UP BABY BLUE (WITHOUT THE HELP OF JAMES)

Singing the blues to your child will work, as will overwhelming him or her with kit, flags, JB stuff and stickers. When a big match is on the telly or the radio we make a big deal of it. Best of all go to a match. My daughter is 3 and a half now. My wife despairs of the indoctrination. But it’s easy. Florence has been to 3 games. To this day she endlessly pesters me as to when we are going next.

At the game she stands on my knees and jumps wildly when everyone starts singing. Several times she asks me what the ‘Blue Moon’ song is. When we were in the family stand the last time she asked about the numbers on the players’ backs and on hearing the ‘Shaunie Wright, Wright, Wright’ song she asked who’s Shaunie? Thereafter she constantly tracked the player with the number 2 and 9 on his back. I suppose the chocolate and chips helps a bit too.

Another day we visited the City Social. Florence had a cold and couldn’t go to nursery. We were practically alone there around April but I remember a member of staff to whom I am eternally grateful making a big fuss over Florence. Got her the colouring things and chose the best ice cream. I thought the choice of children’s food ran a bit ahead of the usual rubbish you find in cafes.

After that we went on the City of Manchester Stadium tour. There was only Florence and I plus 2 bored Dutch Ajax supporters having a look round. The tour is a bit dull for very young kids but for me it livened up when Florence wanted to play in the underground training pitch plus flying though the players’ tunnel arms up in the air singing goooaaaaallll! Straight past the ‘Keep off the pitch’ sign and off to the centre circle. The guide pleaded for me to return her but she came back anyway. That’s my girl.

Outside the changing rooms our guide mentioned that David James will be out shortly and we could have the opportunity to meet him. When he did join us the Dutch boys got all the attention. Meanwhile, harassed father of 3-year-old and potential major cash flow for next 110 years was wearily humoured by DJ and largely ignored. I asked for a shot with Florence but David James, I felt, was a little impatient. ‘You better be quick’. Florence didn’t want to be quick and fair enough she’s 3. However, Rachel Brown, our England number 1 who was joining in for a pre-Womens Euro 2005 promotion was only too happy to try for the joint shot. She made a genuine attempt to engage with us.

On holiday in Scotland, Florence, Julian (aged 15 months) and I went out to roll a ball around the garden. After a few kicks Florence began falling on the ball saying, ‘look at me I’m Rachel Brown at City’. Wrong team I know, but Rachel was a true rôle model and inspiration to my daughter that day.

My friend Simon will attest to Florence being a confirmed fan. He had to listen to Floss repeating around a thousand times ‘can we go to City again’ on our return from COMS recently. In addition, Moonchester and Moonbeam have been a regular source of fascination and useful storytelling material. Florence has City is in her blood and now its Julian’s turn to join in. It just gets better.

A very big and special hello to Junior Blue Sam Gibson age 4 days!

REQUEST: THAI TOURNAMENT INFORMATION

Details of the tickets have been posted today (7 July) through the agent on http://www.thaiticketmaster.com/sport/faleague_eng.php

Tickets are one day tickets for 2 games. City first play Bolton in the 2nd game of the Wednesday night at 20.45. The winner plays the winner of the Everton vs. Thailand game, runners-up of each game play each other, in the Saturday 23rd games at 17.45 and 20.45. Thaiticketmaster have outlets in ‘Central’ department stores http://www.thaiticketmaster.com/outlets_eng.php.

Tickets are on sale from Saturday 9th July 2005 and I think on the day at the ground. One day pass ticket costs 2,000 Baht, 1,500 Baht, 800 Baht & 600 Baht – it’s about 74 baht to the pound here. Seems that there’s a discount for presenting 3 bottle tops from Beer chang bottles – not a bad deal eh!

It’s the height of the rainy season (and I don’t mean Manchester drizzle ok) so I’d recommend that you get the best tickets in the one covered stand. http://www.thaifootball.com/t-stadium-raj.html

REQUEST: LONDON BLUES AGM

The London Branch AGM is being held on Saturday 9 July at the Sekforde Arms Public House, Sekforde Street, London EC1 (nearest tube Farringdon) at 1 pm. Members and potential members are more than welcome to come along and meet us all!

REQUEST: HONG KONG BLUES

My lad Rob, who is a season ticket holder with me in the East Stand, is going to Hong Kong at the end of August, for 9 months as part of his degree course and will be studying at the University there.

He was wondering if there are any Hong Kong Blues subscribing who could point him in the right direction for watering holes where he can watch the televised games with fellow Blues?

He goes after the WBA game, is coming home for Christmas to take in Wigan away and the Chelsea and Spurs games, but doesn’t come back again until the season ends, although if we get to the FA Cup final he will be back for that (ever the optimist)!

Thanks.

REQUEST: FOREST GAME WAY BACK

Like most people I have no recollection of my first City game, only the atmosphere (the smell of pipe smoke, the massive amount of people milling around, coming out of a ginnel and seeing the immense size of the back of the Kippax, etc.).

I have a vague recollection of one early game when I’m convinced Ian Story Moore of Forest broke his leg. Anybody know when that game was and what the score was – or is my memory on the blink?

REQUEST: CITY LIFE BLUES

Manchester Blues,

There’s a little piece going into City Life this week (Thursday) about our re-recording of ‘Boys In Blue’, which we’re attempting to recreate in a totally new ‘good’ way in the studio at the moment. It’s in the news section…

MCIVTA FAQ [v0405.02]

[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. The Fans’ Committee has been relaunched as “Points of Blue”. It has appeared on the club website as a minor entry under “Fans Zone”.

[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: