Newsletter #1234

Nothing to report on the transfer front, but the MuEN are claiming that we are due to sign both Fortune and Nasri this week. I’m sure they will get it right if they run the story often enough!

Meanwhile, Vassell has had his op, we have opinion on the running of the club, the kit and a few requests.

OPINION: STRIKEFORCE DARIUS

Pleased to read that Vassell is fit to start the season. That got me thinking. At the end of last season we had a spate of injuries.

Can anybody in the know advise us who remains injured, what the injury is and approx how long until recovery?

OPINION: PASSING THE BUCK

Read with interest more comments on the new home kit. The info from the club is a lie. I know for a fact that both David Makin and John Wardle were instrumental in the design of both the new home and new (all black) away kits.

When will someone at the club have the balls to stand up and speak the truth? We had denials about Dickov coming back for months when we knew for months that it was going to happen.

Whilst the new kit design has not gone down well, I think the thing that makes it worse is that we are told we have no control. If that were true then who agreed this contract in the first place? Maybe the Norwich-supporting Marketing Manager, the Liverpool-supporting Head of Communications (or his Liverpool-supporting assistant and his West Ham-supporting friend)? Or if not one of them then maybe the Bournemouth CEO, the Sheffield United head of ticketing, and that’s just the “Heads of Departments”; there are more elsewhere within the club, all on comp tickets that are either not used or sold on.

Let’s face it, we are a club on the slide, we have 26,000 season card holders compared to 36,000 in the first season at COMS. Gates were declared at over 40,000 last season when only 32,000 were turning up.

For God’s sake can’t someone get something started to get this lot sorted?

[Nothing wrong with employees supporting other clubs, so long as they remember who is paying the wages and are competent! – Ed]

OPINION: GET SHIRTY

Get a life, it’s a shirt. Bring back the shirts from the Big Mal days, you know, the ones with diagonal stripes. Blue shirt with red and white stripe and white shirt with blue and red stripe. We have had some brill shirts at times, some I wish I’d bought and those I wish I had not.

Most of the teams in the Premiership could beat us wearing a dress; let’s just get the team right.

REQUEST: WORLD CUP BLUES IN AMSTERDAM

Any Blues in Amsterdam fancy meeting up tonight (Monday) for a few beers and to watch the football?

Also if anyone needs a lift to Cologne on Tuesday morning for the England vs. Sweden game let me know as we have room in the van.

You can contact me on 00 31 641420217.

REQUEST: CITY MINI KITS

Lost my City mini kit out of the car – has anyone got a spare one (for the season just finished – home and/or away)? Also for season 2004/5. Happy to pay.

REQUEST: CITY MAGS TO GOOD HOME

I have 110 City magazines dating back from 1995, which I am happy to give away to any deserving cause, although they’re very heavy so they will need to be picked up from my home in Lancashire.

It’s pretty much most of them from the start, apart from some special editions and some featuring Ged Brannan, which I will be giving to him when I see him next.

If anyone is interested and can pick them up they can email me at the address shown.

MCIVTA FAQ [v0506.02]

[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.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: