Newsletter #1208

Well, Pearce’s gamble on playing Samaras against the mighty Wigan on Saturday backfired big-time. The striker was already carrying a knock, got crocked and as a consequence the only forward currently capable of scoring goals missed tonight’s FA Cup game. We have a match report from Colin on the Wigan shambles.

Tonight’s FA Cup game was pathetic. West Ham are a poor team, we were worse. If Numbers 8 and 17 ever wear a blue shirt again it will be too soon. The majority of players tonight should donate this week’s pay packet to the fans who are being asked to fork out their two weeks’ hard earned wages for next year’s season ticket.

Finally, the youth team are in action this Thursday in the second leg of their FA Youth Cup semi final against Newcastle where we lead 3-2. Get down there and support them if you’re in the Manchester area.

MATCH VIEW: MCFC 1 WHUFC 2

I don’t like expressing an opinion when I’m fuming but tonight, I’ll make an exception.

Pearce: Up to now, I’ve virtually refused to criticise. Up and coming manager, refreshing approach to the job, and made some very astute decisions. But tonight, I am appalled at something that went on regarding Stephen Jordan. Credit to Stephen Jordan for wanting to carry on, but he was clearly unfit to continue following an unfortunate fall. It was clearly visible that West Ham had noticed what trouble he was having just walking, let alone running and challenging, that they couldn’t wait to try to get the ball over there before we made our substitution. I couldn’t believe my eyes. It was obvious to put Riera or Musampa or anybody at left back until the substitution took place. For heaven’s sake, how obvious was it? I nearly put my foot through the screen.

I feel that tonight is a turning point in many City players’ careers as we saw tonight who we can really rely on. Let’s see.

James: Despite his occasional infraction, he still remains a superb stopper. Definitely keep.

It may be unfair to start assessing our new, young bloods but they’re in the first team so, if they are in the team, they are open to criticism.

Richards: I can only assess Micah on the handful of games that he has played. He may turn out to be a waste of time but on the games that he has played so far, a definite keep. Superb effort at all times and shows leadership qualities, even at his raw age. If he continues at this rate, he will be much in demand. Well satisfied.

Distin: Just above the ‘Keep’ line. Growing more and more concerned at the number of ‘incidents’ that Sylvain gets involved in, e.g. Tottenham at home. Needs to prove himself again.

Dunne: Seemed to have established a great relationship with Distin last season but this year, if Distin has an off day, becomes a liability. Have a think how many goals we concede from free kicks given away by Dunney outside the box. And how many howlers will he continue to perform? Not good enough. Get rid.

Jordan: Still comes under the young player banner so a little less harsh on him. So far, so good. Making good progress but, as yet, nothing fantastic. Still has chance to make it. If anyone thinks that is harsh as he seems to have done OK, OK doesn’t win cups. I hope he makes it but as with other players, will need to get better. Keep.

Sinclair: I always thought that clever Trevor was a class act but in his first season with City, he disappointed. However, some of that was down to injuries. This season, he is back to his very best and a tremendous asset to the club. Scares the hell out of defenders. Shame he wasn’t fit tonight because I believe that West Ham would have had trouble controlling him. Definitely keep.

Barton: Tonight we needed a leader. Barton was prime contender for that role. Where was he? Apart from a good, hard tackle early on, Joey does what Joey does. Believes his own hype but when the chips are down, he’s absent. If any mugs out there are willing to pay anything for him, take it. Waste of a shirt. He reminds me of Webb who used to play for Forest and later on, United. Brilliant when the sun is shining and things are going well but when it comes to standing up and being counted, ‘Not me, don’t want to know’. Sell him ASAP.

Musampa: Kiki made an almighty cock-up tonight, actually it was two. The second cost us a goal. That said, where we were hoping that Joey Barton would be the ‘Big Man’ and stand out from the rest, it was left to Kiki to create something in midfield. He continues to impress me, tackling back, difficult to take the ball off, and generally, puts the lot in. Keep.

Reyna: Simple, get rid. Plays well 1 game in 8 and that’s when he’s fit. A needless drain on the wage bill and offers little even when fit.

Vassell: This lad really can play but, at times, looks bored. I really am unsure about Darius. Causes so many problems for defences yet seems to lacks self belief. Keep, but must improve.

Samaras: Well, it’s easy to see why SP paid so much for him. Boy, could we have used him tonight. Er, yes, keep.

Cole: Could have used him tonight also. The team seemed visibly affected by senior players’ absence. Worth another year. Keep.

Croft: I think that Lee Croft will need to improve to get an extension to his new contract in two years but he does have a little time on his hands. How awful to be assessing a brilliant young prospect so soon but it’s getting to the stage where this club needs people to stand up and become men. Keep.

BWP: Brad is starting to worry me. He is definitely getting chances in the team now but is starting to look out of his depth. It’s possible that he’s not quite ready. I think he is another very promising youngster but it’s getting to the stage where he really needs to be nailing a place. Needs to make that shirt his own. Keep.

Sibierski: Not good enough. Sell.

Bischoff: Not good enough. Sell.

Mills: Sell, a liability (Danny Mills).

Onuoha: Super prospect and I believe will make it. Not quite ready yet but good for the future. Keep.

Sommeil: Not good enough. Sell.

Sun: Not good enough, even as a utility player. Get rid.

Thatcher: Not good enough. Get rid.

Ireland: Brilliant prospect already impressed but needs support from a strong midfield colleague, which he doesn’t currently get (it ought to be Barton but it’s not happening). Keep.

Riera: Not impressed. Too many fancy touches but doesn’t seem to fit into the team. Don’t make permanent. Possibly take on loan for another year but nothing permanent.

Any players that are considered to be first team squad but are not in my assessment are either too new, or too young.

Stuart Pearce: Showed tonight some shortcomings. At the end of last season, he managed to motivate an ordinary (at best) team to go eight games unbeaten. And the main reason why they were unbeaten in those games were their work rate and determination to win every tackle. That ‘motivation’ and drive is now missing so the reality of the squad’s actual ability is now exposed. Brian Clough made a bunch of ordinary players becomes European Champions. It can be done. I believe that our manager is like a number of our up and coming youth players. Great prospect but the honeymoon is over. Time to start delivering.

John Wardle: The list of injuries to key players was really unfortunate tonight as we missed a golden opportunity to progress to the semi-final of the FA Cup against a very ordinary West Ham team. We didn’t cause them enough problems and there was a definite lack of quality, causing a visible lack of confidence throughout the team. Time to re-invest. I understand that there is a need to balance the books but the club will, yet again, achieve nothing this season. Good as out manager may be, exciting as some of our youth players coming through may look, our core root of quality is paper thin and it’s now time to take a little gamble and put some money into the first team. Was it not John Wardle who rubber stamped the gamble of the last decade in bringing Fowler to the club against the advice of David Bernstein?

MATCH REPORT: MCFC 0 WAFC 1

Weird game this – despite SP saying that the League was just as important than the cup, if not more so, there was a feeling of “Let’s get this out of the way as quickly as possible” about this match. Like the old B feature before the main film, or the unknown support act before the main band, there was little doubt that people’s thoughts were on Monday. This included SP, who despite promising not to play a weakened team, left out Dunne, Jordan, Barton, Musampa, Riera, and Vassell completely, with Samaras and Richards on the bench. BWP got his first Premiership start, alongside Sibierski with Reyna and Ireland in central midfield, Sun and Sinclair on the flanks. Sommeil was in for Dunne, with Mills and Thatcher at full back. Although this wouldn’t have been anyone’s first choice team, there was more than enough experience to have given Wigan a game. The atmosphere was subdued although there was a decent crowd – presumably like the team, the fans were saving their voices for Monday. About 1,200 Wigan fans, which is pretty pathetic when they really don’t have very far to come and it’s a 3pm Saturday kick-off.

The game soon settled into a fairly scrappy and shapeless encounter, with neither side able to string much together. Wigan looked slightly the sharper but Camara and Roberts didn’t give the defence as hard a time as the Boxing Day game. A couple of early Wigan attempts were well off target but nothing from City. Then, on 20 minutes a bizarre incident. Filan had the ball in his hands and went to throw it out. However, it hit a City player (Distin I think) on the head and flew back past Filan, hitting the bar. The ref blew up though no offence had been committed. Any referee making decisions as bad as this should not be refereeing at the top level.

Once again, Sibierski ended up injured (how many times is that now?) and there was an early substitution with Samaras coming on. While he was preferable to the dreadful Sibierski, it was a bit worrying to see him risked when he was supposed to be injured. A dreary first half seemed to drag on for ever but the second was little better. The defence were making mistakes, the midfield weren’t really contributing and BWP and Samaras got little change out of the Wigan defence. It was doubly worrying as failure to win would mean our eggs were firmly in one basket (although we plainly aren’t good enough for the top six) plus there were players who had a chance to impress the management team but were showing no commitment or ability. I had already said to my son that it looked like a 1-0 to Wigan when a long ball from the Wigan half fell to James. He had plenty of time to clear it but proved he could also do comedy goalkeeping and sliced it horribly to a shocked Sommeill. Under pressure, he played it back to James who, unbelievably, mis-kicked again, slicing the ball for a corner. The resulting corner was inch perfect and fell to McCulloch who headed it past James, seemingly untroubled by the City defence. The TV showed Samaras should have been marking him and this is the second time he has done this now, having lost Breen in the Sunderland game.

City sparked into a bit of life, but nowehere near enough. However, we nearly scored in bizarre circumstances when an Ireland corner was misjudged by Filan, who let it float under the bar, where it was hooked out of the goalmouth by a Wigan defender. Samaras hurt himself and was replaced by Miller, for his first team début. Reyna fell badly and was replaced by Croft. We were then in a strange formation, with Sun on the left and Sinclair and Croft on the right. Miller was also playing out wide but we did eventualy get a decent shot from Croft, which went just wide, with Miller failing to get a touch. Late on Sinclair was put through but put a tame shot too close to Filan. Wigan nearly got a second, after Distin made a mistake but James saved Roberts’ shot.

So no chance now of a top six finish (if there ever was) but very disappointed in the attitude and commitment of the players, all of who had something to play for. However, you have to question SP’s team selection when there was a fair bit at stake. Lots of callers on the after-match phone-in saying we don’t have the depth of squad but I dispute this. We had an England goalkeeper, four experienced defenders, an experienced midfield (apart from Ireland, who is still an international player) plus the experience of Sibierski up front. The only ones who had any excuse were Bradley Wright- Phillips and Ishmael Miller. All the others are supposed to be good squad players but, Sun and Sommeil excluded, they just didn’t seem to know what they were supposed to be doing. To me, this was further evidence that things are still nowhere near right at this club. We have to do better on Monday.

Marks:
James 5. The good, the bad and the downright laughable. Remind us, why did you lose the England jersey, David?
Mills 4. Awful. Hard to imagine he was a reliable international defender not too long ago.
Distin 5. Some good stuff but a lot of howlers. If Marseille want him, let them have him.
Sommeil 6. Thought he was reasonably solid.
Thatcher 5. Much better than his last appearance. Finally remembered what a tackle is.
Sinclair 4. Gone off the boil recently. His crossing is awful.
Reyna 5. Not yet fully effective again but a few nice touches.
Ireland 5. Started off well but just watching the game for the last half hour. A few nice touches.
Sun 6. At least showed some commitment and can cross a decent ball.
Wright-Phillips 3. I thought he was ready for a start – I was wrong. Never in the game and looked lazy and disinterested.
Sibierski 2. Why do we bother – no contribution and had to go off injured yet again. Would have been more use manning the phones in the ticket office.
Subs:
Samaras 4. Never got into the game and shouldn’t have been risked.
Miller 5. Tried hard but no fairytale début.
Croft 5. Tried hard again but little impact.

MATCH VIEW: MCFC 0 WAFC 1

So did we learn anything from the non performance against Wigan? Well, quite a lot actually; we learned that Stuart Pearce has got a blind spot where Sibierski and Jihai are concerned. just what does SP see in Sibierski? He adds nothing to the team, he’s slow, got no bottle and is useless in the air! As for Sun, just because he will play anywhere it doesn’t mean he’s any good there, left wing I ask you! No left foot and doesn’t beat a man, two essentials for a left winger in my book. Danny Mills showed why two teenage centre backs (Onuoha and Richards) have been preferred to him at right back. Thatcher also confirmed why Jordan is now the number 1 left back. Reyna seems to be getting slower by the game and was injured yet again! Why have we extended his contract when he is only fit for half a season? I felt sorry for BWP making his full début up front virtually on his own, and for Miller making his début in a totally inept team performance. Surely he should have played up front instead of Sinclair, who missed another 1-on-1 for the second time in a week. Sommeil at least gave 100% and Ireland showed touches of class on the ball but that was it. It was asking a lot of the youngsters to play with the fringe players and perform to their best, they need helping along and didn’t get it from the so called experienced players.

OPINION: PRIORITIES

After suffering through another 1-0 loss, that’s eight this season, it’s pretty obvious to see where Stuart Pearce needs to be spending money in the off-season.

He’s got to get some goal scoring from the midfield. So far Musampa, Reyna, Croft, Ireland and Sibierski have collectively scored 4 goals. Throw in the one netted by Wright-Philips and there’s your problem.

It’s almost become a cliché that we go 1-0 down in a match, we’re finished. If we’d only got one point from five of those games we’d be challenging for at least a UEFA position.

Yes I know it’s great that the likes of Ireland, Croft, Wright-Philips and (on Saturday) Miller are getting exposure but it doesn’t help the immediate future when they’re not scoring.

If Pearce is grooming them for the future and the scoring potential is there eventually, then fine. But in the meantime City continue to p**s away points.

I believe that the club is turning around and that we are far better off than we were even a year ago. But the truth is we never replaced Shaun Wright Philips, Anelka on his day could win a match for us himself (Chelsea, Everton, Liverpool) and even the Goat and Dickov were consistent strikers.

The guts of the team is fine but we need some firepower in the new season if we are to move forward.

Don’t know how we made out against West Ham at the time of writing but a positive result here is all we have left to hope for in 2006.

OPINION: ROY CLARKE

I felt I had to pay my tribute to Roy Clarke, whom I got to know very well in the 60s.

My lasting memory of Roy Clarke was back in the 60s at Maine Road when he started the Development Association in that pokey little office between the Platt Lane and Main stands. We worked with Roy there by selling lottery tickets before the home games for a few seasons. Our reward was free entrance to all the home games anywhere in the ground. It was a good time and what a nice man Roy was.

We were also among the first members of the Social Club and had many enjoyable nights in there. That was where we got to know Kath very well also. They were always together supporting each other. Do you remember Stan Gibson doing the bingo on Saturday nights? I think the best night of them all was probably the time we won the Second Division title and the players (led by Johnny Crossan) brought the cup into the Club.

All the tributes that have been made on the radio were spot on. He truly was a gent.

Our condolences to Kath.

OPINION: TICKETING FARCE

When we talk about turning CoMS into a fortress, someone at the club obviously got hold of the wrong end of the stick and thought that meant keeping people out. That’s one of the conclusions that could be drawn from the ticketing fiasco for the FA Cup Quarter Final. While I will happily grant that we didn’t have a great deal of time to sell the tickets, we knew that we had a good chance of having to do so since the draw for the sixth round.

On Wednesday, I found out that the phone lines were staying open until 11pm and that Season Card holders had until this time to claim their seats. No problem – I’ll go on line and order them. I went on-line to find the ticket website was “undergoing maintenance”. It seemed a strange time to do it, just when it’s likely to be at its busiest, so my suspicions were instantly aroused. I started ringing at 9:30pm and failed to get through after trying a number of times. I had to travel south for work the next day but was on the phone soon after 8am. The same pattern was repeated on numerous occasions – the phone would ring for about 10 minutes then cut off. There was no indication that my call had been queued. By 10:15 I was starting to lose my rag so I went to a website called “Say No To 0870” and got an 0161 number, which I rang. I complained about the situation to the girl who answered and her snotty retort was “There’s no problem – we just tried and got through in 6 minutes”. “Rubbish” was my reply (or words to that effect) at which she went all sniffy on me. I explained that I had been trying since last night and early this morning and that the calls weren’t even being queued, which was symptomatic of a major failure. She tried to put me through but naturally failed.

However, I did find out that we now had until 2pm to claim our seats so at least I had a chance. After more fruitless calls I found an e-mail address for the ticket office and, to their credit, they responded pretty quickly saying that I could e-mail my details in (including card number) and they would deal with it. I know, as an IT consultant, that this is not secure but took a chance anyway. I received a confirmation e-mail the next day and my receipt arrived on Saturday morning. So I got there in the end but I know there were many similar stories plus people had to queue for a couple of hours at the ticket office. Now before people retort about the Cup Direct scheme, my reason for not going on that scheme is that I often work a long way from home and can’t guarantee getting to midweek games – I only knew for sure on Wednesday afternoon that I could make it on Monday night and that was through a large slice of luck. So why should I pay for something I can’t use? I’ve been to every cup game this season so far so can hardly be described as a glory hunter!

Leaving aside the whole farcical situation over TV and how we had to wait three weeks to actually replay the game plus the FA yet again devaluing the FA Cup by playing ties midweek (surely more to do with TV than the World Cup – what’s the betting they will do this again?) there are some serious points about the way this was handled:

1. Since the 6th round draw, the club knew this situation was likely tooccur. What contingency plans were in place?
2. The club have now admitted that the online facility was deliberatelywithdrawn rather than undergoing “routine maintenance”. Why, when we neededas many channels as possible?
3. There are 32,000 Season Card holders and we have just over 40,000 ticketsto sell. Why then were we only originally given a few hours to claim ourseats? Simple arithmetic would suggest that we should be given until Saturdaynight. This would have eased the pressure on the ticket office systemssignificantly.
4. Why do we have to use an 0870 number? I can just about stomach this for afive minute call (though the booking fee on top of this cheeses me off) butmust have spent over 2 hours calling the ticket line. How much have the clubmade from this little farce? I’m seriously thinking about suing them for themoney back.
5. Why on earth don’t the clubs stand up to the FA? We should have put ourfoot down and told them that it was ludicrous to organise one of the footballworld’s most prestigious competitions in this way.

There are two possible conclusions to be drawn from this. The first is that the people who run our club are totally inept. This has the benefit of being supported by past experience.

The second is that the club saw this as a cynical attempt to make some more money by ensuring that people had to spend a long time on the phone using an 0870 number.

However, so as not to finish on a sour note, well done to the ticket office people on the front line for a phenomenal effort under very difficult circumstances. They’d sold nearly 35,000 tickets by Saturday night but it’s a shame that the powers that be at our club couldn’t have made it easier for them. The quote about First World War soldiers comes to mind – “Lions led by donkeys”.

OPINION: NAÏVE OR TIME WASTING? I

In response to Keith Sharp and his Naïve Blues article.

If ever a City player runs the ball into the corner while the score is 1-1 in the last minute, at a place like Pompey, i would seriously question the ambitions of the club. Keith, i would guess that your view would have been somewhat different if Croft had scored a screamer and won the game for us.

Last minute winners are one of the best things in football, sometimes you’re on the wrong end of one.

Stay Positive. Stay Blue.

OPINION: NAÏVE OR TIME WASTING? II

Have to disagree with Keith Sharp. If we want to get anywhere – certainly if we want to get into Europe – we have to win away games against struggling opposition. If we are in possession 50 seconds of the match to go against Chelsea and we are 1-1, then yeah, let’s find ways to waste time. But in the same position against a Pompey side that’s stuck in a relegation dogfight, we ought to be pushing for a win. That’s what we did and it backfired. But any poker player knows that sometimes the most rational move doesn’t pay off. Doesn’t mean it isn’t the most rational move.

OPINION: NAÏVE OR TIME WASTING? III

Keith Sharp, you can not be serious, man. You wanted City to piddle aroundin the corner to hang onto a miserable point rather than go balls to the wallafter all three? The mind boggles. Did you perhaps forget that Crofty’s sameballs-to-the-wall spirit is what kept us in the FA Cup? Did you forget that,positive thinking aside, one point was little better than zero, given thatEurope is all that’s left to play for?

If that’s the flavour of suffocating pusillanimous “football” you want to support, you can turn to one of any number of Mickey Mouse teams out there who share your aspirations. Forever Blue? I wonder.

OPINION: NAÏVE OR TIME WASTING? IV

Personally I hate to see a City player taking the ball down to the corner flag to try to ‘sit on it’ in the final minutes of a match – it’s something I cannot remember viewing too often in the past, if at all during my days at Maine Road or when travelling away. It just seems ugly to my eye, and smacks of weakness. It also leaves one or more players out of the game (defensively) when we do give up the ball in the end and the other team pumps it back up the field quickly.

Surely the best way to avoid conceding a goal is to keep possession anywhere on the pitch, and sometimes trying to retain the ball in the opponents’ corner flag area doesn’t always achieve this. Would it not be better to simply play a passing game of safe possession football, rather than to try @r$ing around with it near the corner flag?

I don’t blame Lee Croft for having a go, as after all the marginal utility of an extra 2 points in the above situation is probably worth the risk. I think we would prefer to win games, not draw them, to most improve our league position. However, if for example we were leading 2-1 or 1-0, then please, can City players simply ‘knock it around’ safely and comfortably for the final few seconds of the game? It’s a lot classier, and I would contend an overall safer strategy than simply aiming for the corner flag – if executed well. We can play the ball around to each other with a little movement can’t we?

REQUEST: SUNDERLAND PROGRAMME

Do you know where I can buy programmes of recent games? I have all the home programmes for years, but I was ill for the home game against Sunderland and my friend forgot to get buy me the programme. If anyone has a spare could they please get in contact!

Does anyone know if it’s possible to get the programmes delivered to your home, I think they used to do this but can’t see anything on the club website?

REQUEST: UWE RÖSLER

A correspondent in a recent MCIVTA queried the whereabouts of Uwe Rösler. Well, check out:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/europe/4562198.stm

He’s fine, recovered from his cancer, and coaching Lillestrom in Norway with some success.

REQUEST: WAYNE’S WORLD

You’ve probably all received this via email over the last few days, but if not, click on our site to see the first chapter of Wayne Rooney’s new autobiography on the front page. Classic! Thanks to Sean Riley amongst others for sending it. http://www.mcfcstats.com/

By the way, we have now had over half a million(!) hits on the site. Thanks to all who have visited, and to our recent first time visitors from Jamaica, Chile, Columbia and the Ivory Coast. This takes the number of known countries hitting the site to 88.

RESULTS

19 March 2006

Newcastle United      1 - 3  Liverpool             52,302
Fulham                1 - 0  Chelsea               22,486

18 March 2006

Everton               4 - 1  Aston Villa           36,507
Arsenal               3 - 0  Charlton Athletic     38,223
Blackburn Rovers      3 - 2  Middlesbrough         18,681
Bolton Wanderers      2 - 0  Sunderland            23,568
Manchester City       0 - 1  Wigan Athletic        42,444
West Bromwich Albion  1 - 2  Manchester United     27,623
West Ham United       2 - 4  Portsmouth            34,837
Birmingham City       0 - 2  Tottenham Hotspur     26,398

League table to 19 March 2006 inclusive

                             HOME          AWAY        OVERALL
                    P  W  D  L  F  A  W  D  L  F  A  W  D  L  F   A   GD Pts
 1 Chelsea         30 14  1  0 35  8 10  2  3 23 11 24  3  3  58  19  39  75
 2 Manchester Utd  29  9  3  1 27  8 10  3  3 31 21 19  6  4  58  29  29  63
 3 Liverpool       31 12  3  1 25  6  6  4  5 17 15 18  7  6  42  21  21  61
 4 Tottenham H.    30  9  5  1 25 12  5  5  5 18 16 14 10  6  43  28  15  52
 5 Arsenal         30 11  2  2 35  9  4  3  8 13 14 15  5 10  48  23  25  50
 6 Blackburn R.    30 11  2  2 27 15  4  2  9 14 21 15  4 11  41  36   5  49
 7 Bolton Wndrs    28  9  4  1 22  7  4  5  5 17 21 13  9  6  39  28  11  48
 8 Wigan Athletic  30  6  2  7 18 19  8  2  5 17 17 14  4 12  35  36  -1  46
 9 Everton         30  8  1  6 18 17  5  3  7 10 21 13  4 13  28  38 -10  43
10 West Ham United 29  7  2  6 26 22  5  4  5 18 22 12  6 11  44  44   0  42
11 Manchester City 30  9  2  5 24 14  3  2  9 15 21 12  4 14  39  35   4  40
12 Newcastle Utd   30  7  5  3 18 13  4  1 10 12 22 11  6 13  30  35  -5  39
13 Charlton Ath.   30  6  3  6 17 17  5  3  7 17 24 11  6 13  34  41  -7  39
14 Fulham          31 10  2  3 26 17  0  3 13 14 34 10  5 16  40  51 -11  35
15 Aston Villa     30  4  4  6 15 17  4  6  6 19 24  8 10 12  34  41  -7  34
16 Middlesbrough   29  5  5  5 21 24  4  2  8 18 25  9  7 13  39  49 -10  34
17 West Brom A.    30  6  1  9 21 21  1  5  8  6 24  7  6 17  27  45 -18  27
18 Birmingham City 29  4  3  8 16 19  2  3  9  7 22  6  6 17  23  41 -18  24
19 Portsmouth      30  3  5  6 10 17  3  1 12 14 34  6  6 18  24  51 -27  24
20 Sunderland      30  0  4 11  9 28  2  0 13 10 26  2  4 24  19  54 -35  10

MCIVTA FAQ [v0506.02]

[1] MCIVTA Addresses

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[2] What are MCIVTA’s publishing deadlines?

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

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[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.mcfcosc.com/); the “Centenary Supporters’ Association” (http://www.reddishblues.com/CSAWebsite/CSA.htm) and “The International Supporters’ Club”.

[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://mcfc.videoloungetv.com/do/preLogin?clubSiteCode=MCFC&CMP=AFC-003.

[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://www.foxsportsworld.com/named/FSW/Index/Soccer, http://www.soccertv.com/, and http://www.livesoccertv.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: