Newsletter #1268

City were back in action this weekend after the international break, and provided a no-score-bore for the fans against a Sheffield United side who haven’t yet won or scored away from home. The result means that we and Bolton are the only two Premiership clubs yet to concede a goal at home this season, which is balanced in our case by the fact that we have also only scored 3 times in 4 home games.

From what I saw of the game on the TV, the culprits in front of goal were Corradi and Samaras, although Ishmael Miller had an opportunity with his head but he ended up in the net while the ball went over the bar. Still, we may have been saved from defeat by a well timed Micah Richards challenge. We may be saying that a lot this season!

Most of you, it seems, were left speechless by the performance as we have only one match review tonight. Any others want to send a view of the game? Also I’d like to know if anyone tried the liveonlinefooty.com site and what they saw? The only online sports video I’ve used has been the BBC’s own RealPlayer one and that’s not very good. I prefer the radio. My mood was not helped by an England cricketing collapse, the likes of which we hoped we had left behind. Still, our own Jimmy Anderson got in amongst the wickets, so perhaps there’s something to give us hope… How long have we got till we face the Aussies?

Tonight we have the penultimate installment of Colin Savage’s analysis of City’s finances, more on the getting away from the game debate, Roy Waddington writes with a view becoming ever more widespread about the club, a final call for items for Points of Blue before the meeting on Wednesday, a soundbite on the subject of Joey’s rear end, and news of Billy Watkinson’s wedding table names.

I think I’ve got one last shot at getting the results and table to stay in position and not get jumbled. If it doesn’t work this time, I’m going to give up and leave it to Heidi when she returns!

MATCH VIEW (LIVE)

MCFC 0-0 SUFC (Live)

I could do this match report in four words – a load of dross. I could stretch it out and add utter. However, MCIVTA readers deserve better so I suppose I’d better try to make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear. This should have been the main course to what had been an excellent starter. I’m one of the people involved in setting up a Manchester City Supporters’ Trust and we had met up for lunch with some of the people who have been most helpful to us so far. Things are moving really well on that front (keep an eye on http://mcfcsupporterstrust.blogspot.com/) and we were all hoping for an emphatic victory to put the seal on what had been a really exciting day up to then.

There was a pretty decent crowd in the stadium, probably thanks to the grandstand finish at Everton two weeks ago as well as the very good offer of £5 entry for Live4City members. This must have added a few thousand to the gate and goes to prove that people will come if the price is right, rather than it costing a family over £100 for a normal fixture. I also watched the match from the (for me) unusual setting of the third tier so had a much better view of the overall movement of both teams.

In the absence of the two other ‘keepers, Hart got his first Premiership start, behind Richards, Dunne, Distin and Jordan. Barton and Hamman were in central midfield, flanked by Sinclair on the left and Trabelsi on the right, with Corradi and Samaras up front. The first forty minutes served up some pretty turgid fare, with City showing nothing like the application they showed against Everton. Corradi had a couple of half chances but both sides generally seemed to be intent on gifting possession to the other. This was mid-table Championship stuff on the whole but Jordan couldn’t even reach that level. He seemed to be asleep and completely unaware that there was an opposition player he needed to be marking. Sheffield’s plan was clearly to target the City left and it seemed to work well enough.

There was a flurry of activity in the last few minutes with Hamman making an all-too-rare contribution when he set up Samaras with a slide-rule pass. Kenny did well to close the gap and deflected the shot for a corner. A couple of minutes later it was Sheffield United’s turn to have a go. A set piece into the box wasn’t attacked by any of the defenders and the ball came back to be met with the same apathy. Hulse put in a superb overhead kick that hit the top of the crossbar with Hart stranded.

There were changes at half time with the awful Jordan put out of his misery to be replaced by Miller. This involved a switch, with Trabelsi going to left back and Sinclair moving onto the right. There was a bit more urgency but it all seemed so “can’t be bothered”. There was no great drive or guile but both sides realised the game was there for the taking and started to carve out chances. The largely ineffective Hamman was replaced by Reyna. Say what you like about Reyna but at least he started moving the ball to feet, rather than hoofing and hoping.

Samaras had a couple of efforts; one resulted in a woeful shot and the second, after Kenny had saved well from a Corradi header, was a carbon copy of Gary Neville’s miss for England. Sheffield also went close on a couple of occasions, one where poor defending from Distin allowed them to get a good ball low into the area. A great tackle by Dunne saved us as the attacker screamed for an unlikely penalty. Hart hadn’t really been tested at all but still managed to make a bit of a mess of a couple of balls into the box. One of these, where he let a high ball go through his arms could have been a disaster if a defender (Trabelsi, I think it was) hadn’t been on hand to clear. Also he failed to take advantage of a few opportunities to get quick clearances away when Sheffield could have been a bit stretched.

Dickov came on for Corradi and there were ironic cheers when Corradi’s departure was announced. I think this was grossly unfair as although he didn’t have a great game there was still more quality on show from him than from a number of others. A bit more luck and slightly better finishing might have seen him grab a couple of goals. Dickov did what he does best and wriggled and squirmed to carve out chances but there was rarely anyone on, or even near, the end of them. The wee man got upset when a linesman didn’t give what looked like an obvious corner. This was a strange one as the linesman seemed to wait for the referee to make the decision when he must have seen the ball deflect off a defender. Instead of getting on with the game Dickov berated the linesman for a few minutes and this seemed to affect his game. A short time later he saw Sinclair in a good position but put the ball behind him.

Miller powered a header wide from a well delivered Barton free kick and Richards then had to get his body in the way of a chance that fell to Tonge. By the time of the final whistle the stadium was half empty and there was a chorus of boos as the teams left the pitch. Sheffield United looked what they were, a “Championship side that got lucky last season”. but we didn’t look much different. It was the age-old City question again. Why can’t we play against teams like this with the same passion and intensity as we do against the big teams?

Performances:
Hart – 5. Looked good pre-season but a seemed a bit overwhelmed today.
Richards – 7. One of the few that seems to give his all every game.
Dunne – 7. Did well as ever and rarely put a foot wrong.
Distin – 6. Couple of bad mistakes and sometimes caught well out of position.
Jordan – 4. Even that might be too generous for his lamentable performance.
Sinclair – 5. Just not contributing enough at the moment.
Hamman – 6. One pass of real quality but that’s not enough.
Barton – 7. He cantt be faulted for effort. Set pieces better today as well.
Trabelsi – 6. Occasionally looked dangerous. Needs a run of games.
Corradi – 6. Puts in the effort but needs to see a few hit the back of the net.
Samaras – 6. Still an enigma. Clearly has ability but needs to add some application.
Subs:
Miller – 6. Well shackled by the Blades’ defence.
Reyna – 6. Busy and kept the ball moving to feet, which was an improvement.
Dickov – 6. All his effort was largely wasted with no one on the end of it.

Overall Out-Of-The-Seat Factor: 4. Plenty of chances but Kenny had it far too easy.

OPINION: MCFC FINANCES PART 6

MCFC Finances Part 6 – Cash Flow

This was going to be the last in the series but my original draft, including a summary, proved too long. Also it was suggested that I did a separate article giving some pointers as to what to look for in the 2006 accounts. So I’m going to combine that with a summary of the finances in one final article. In this one, I’ll talk about the last of the three financial statements and what it says about our ability to finance major player purchases. I’m also going to summarise the overall cash flow situation as I see it, as this seems to me to be the most illuminating evidence about our real financial state.

The Cash Flow Statement

The Cash Flow statement seems the most obscure of the financial statements. The P&L Account shows our income and expenses, the Balance Sheet shows our assets and liabilities. But what does this show?

In Article 4 (the P&L Account) I said that this was a mixture of cash items and non-cash, accounting transactions (such as amortisation of players). The resulting profit or loss is meaningless to a large degree in a football club as the most important element is actually pure cash. The Cash Flow statement removes those non-cash items so we can see how much actual cash we have either generated or spent overall. So we need the cash flow statement to show us whether we have surplus funds available for transfers or whether we can only finance incoming transfers by selling or borrowing.

Any business (or individual) that consistently spends more cash than they earn will eventually end up in deep trouble. They will need to borrow more and more money just to keep going day-to-day, which becomes more difficult to repay. So, as I said, profits alone are meaningless unless they generate cash as well. Football clubs tend to operate to different rules, with chairmen and directors expected to pump funds in to keep them going.

The first figure in the statement shows something called Net Cash Inflow from Operating Activities. That is the amount of cash left over after we’ve paid all our operating costs from the income we’ve received. This is calculated in Note 25 and starts with the Operating Loss after player amortisation of £8,060 (£8 million). The non cash items, such as amortisation and depreciation are added back and some other figures are added or subtracted relating to the overall change in stock, debtors (money we are owed) and creditors (money we owe). This gives us a cash inflow of just over £6.6 million.

So can we spend this on players? Unfortunately not as it didn’t include interest paid so we have to knock off this. The P&L will show what we should have paid but you already know that we don’t actually pay the interest on the Wardle and Makin loans. So only the actual interest paid is taken into account, less any interest received. In total this comes to just under £6.7 million and this wipes out the surplus from operating activities. So here’s conclusive proof that there’s no money for new players unless we sell first. It’s not the board being skinflints and holding onto a big pile of cash to reduce the debts, it’s not lack of ambition, it’s simply lack of cash.

The next section shows this, with the cash element of the purchase and sale of assets (players and fixed assets). You will see from the Cash Flow that we received just over £8 million for players and paid out £6.2 million, with just under £1 million paid for other fixed assets. This gives us a small overall surplus of £899,000, so you might think that there’s nothing too wrong with the finances overall, except that we’ve still got more cash to pay out. We’ve taken into account the interest paid on loans but not the capital element and this comes to just over £4 million. So the overall position is that we are over £3 million short of the cash we need to get by, even when we’ve balanced our player sales and purchases. New debt issued of £10.7 million, includes two things. The first is certainly the extra £7 million lent by Wardle while the second, as far as I understand it, has to do with the increase in the value of the stadium lease in our accounts, due to a recalculation of the overall liability. But it could be something else entirely.

So, overall, the cash position has increased by £7.6 million over the year but pretty well all of this has been introduced by the chairman, via his additional £7 million loan. This means that we have actually generated no cash by our own efforts. This is a pretty similar story to the last couple of seasons. The outcome in all this is that we need to increase income and/or reduce costs. Increasing income involves consistently high league finishes, cup success and European football. Reducing costs means reducing wages and that’s certainly one part of the board’s current strategy but there’s always the risk that they get reduced to the point where we find it difficult to continue to compete at the top level. And if we lose the level of income that comes with our Premiership status then we really are in a downward spiral. So who would swap places with Wardle and Mackintosh knowing this?

Our General Cash Flow

The Cash Flow statement summarises the movement of cash over the whole year but in doing these articles I became interested in the month-by-month cash flow. Saying we have come out even over the year is one thing but what happens during the course of that year? There were a number of things that puzzled me such as why do we have to renew our season tickets in February and March, well before the current season has even finished? Why did John Wardle have to introduce a further £7 million when, according to the Alistair Mackintosh interview in Accountancy Age “the business generates significant amounts of cash”?

Apply this to your personal finances. If you earn £2,000 a month on the 1st and spend £2,000 over the same month then your cash flow looks OK, if not particularly inspiring. However, if you’re £2,000 in the red at the start of the month and your £2,000 just puts you level before you even spend a penny then you could be on thin ice if you have an unexpected bill or the income stops for some reason. So which one is City?

It’s a trick question actually as the answer is neither of these. We appear to be like the person who starts with nothing in the bank, gets £2,000 in every month and spends £3,000. However, we also know we’ll get commission but that is paid annually, in arrears, based on what we’ve sold. So at the end of the year we’ve built up a £12,000 overdraft but we get a £12,000 bonus to clear it. And so we start again, relying on the fact that we’re going to get another £12,000 in a year’s time so, instead of cutting our spending to £2,000 a month and putting the bonus in the bank, carry on regardless. Clearly there are even more dangers in this scenario.

Our bonus is called Sky’s money. I’m indebted to the poster on one of the City forums who gave me the information I needed, relating to Sky payments. As far as Sky is concerned, we get the bulk of the income in a lump sum in August, as the season starts. There is an equal payment to all clubs then totalling around £15 million, with the so-called merit money being paid in May, depending on league position at the end of that season. Other payments are made per game televised.

Then there is ticket income and commercial income. Much of the ticket income (an estimated £12 million) is in season ticket renewals and therefore will mostly come in February, March, and April. The rest of the ticket income is spread over the season. The commercial income will probably be higher in the season but we will still get some in the close season as well.

As far as expenses were concerned, these will probably be higher per month in the season than the close season, as we employ more staff as well as paying appearance and (occasionally) win bonuses.

Putting all this together showed that, starting from June, we were at our worst position by April and significantly in the red. My figures, I have to stress, are intelligent guesswork without access to the books but would indicate that we would be overdrawn by possibly well over £10 million, ignoring any season ticket income. This would therefore explain why we were so desperate for fans to renew season tickets then, when most clubs ask for renewal in July. It also explains why John Wardle had to pump in more money, after we had to keep secured assets separate (see last article). Quite simply, if I’m anywhere near right we desperately needed that additional £7 million at that time.

This begs one intriguing question: suppose in February and March we are in, or close to, the bottom three places. Would you renew your season ticket at Premiership prices if you thought there was a reasonable chance of watching Championship football? I’m not sure I would and if most people thought the same way then the impact could be potentially disastrous, with little cash coming in at the time we needed it most. Let’s face it, there were a few thousand who didn’t renew at Premiership prices to watch Premiership football this season.

While I was looking at my crude cash flow forecast, I looked at what the impact would be if we renewed in June and July. This was a bit of a “Eureka” moment as the impact of the merit money in May, added to season ticket income in June and July, with the main Sky payment coming in August, transformed the picture and produced a substantial cash pot that lasted throughout the financial year, going just overdrawn in April. It was the equivalent of getting your bonus at the beginning of the year and gradually spending it throughout the year. But at the moment it looks like we’ve effectively run out of cash by Easter. So to ensure we were on a sound financial footing, any investor would probably have to provide something like an extra £15 million in working capital, on top of any funding for new players, any debt repayment and purchase of shares.

At the beginning of this series I said I had no smoking gun or insider knowledge about City’s finances. However, when I started them I firmly believed that the board were actively managing City’s finances over the next few years so that we could be in a position to compete, after a few seasons where we had to settle for mid-table mediocrity. However, if the above is anywhere near correct, then I have to conclude that we’re merely running to stand still and hoping, like Dickens’ Mr Micawber, that something turns up. The new Sky.

In the positively final article in this series, I’ll summarise everything and try to give you some pointers to what to look out for in the 2006 Annual Report.

OPINION: THE STATE OF THE GAME

I have been a City supporter for over 45 years and have held a season ticket for long periods over that time. Up until this season I had held a season ticket continuously for the last ten years. However, I decided this year to give it up due to reasons already voiced many times on these pages but mainly being ripped off at COMS, messed around due to the stupid kick off times, the promise of a successful season that always ends in misery and the depressing journeys home after yet another passionless defeat to an inferior side at home. Even just a couple of years back I had the same happy enthusiasm about going to the match that I had all those years ago – but no more. I went to a school across the road from Maine Road on a Saturday morning and I was invariably one of the first ones into the ground and couldn’t have cared less that there was a two hour wait until kick off. But that enthusiasm started to seriously wane when we moved to COMS.

So I decided to enquire about a satellite system that could get the Arabian sports channels with the hope that I might catch one or two of City’s matches during the season and listen to the rest on the radio. For £100 less than the cost of my season ticket, I now have, fully installed, a motorised satellite dish that can pick up hundreds of English-speaking and foreign channels and a receiver and a legitimate card for the Arabian sports channels – and I have watched every City game, home and away, so far this season – apart from the Chesterfield game. Besides that, City are on Sky TV ten times out of the first eighteen games this season.

I must admit I miss the atmosphere of Maine Road and I miss the craic of the away games – I even look back with fondness to the times we were in the old Division 2 but even after 3 years of being in COMS there is still no atmosphere and, unless it has changed this season, supporters are still being ripped off for food and drink, kick off times and football-wise.

Maybe it’s an age thing, pushing 55 now – still like a few pints with the lads and wouldn’t mind an away game or two (without a season ticket that’s a bit more difficult) but I don’t like being ripped off and that’s exactly how I felt last year. There probably are a lot of younger supporters who look forward to the matches as much as I did when I was a young lad and good luck to them but it’s not for me any more.

I am and always will be CTID but I won’t be giving any more of my hard earned cash to the club (unless it’s a few things from the club shop for my first grandchild who is a couple of months old and has to be brought up the right way!).

P.S. Talking about reduced prices for students, my niece’s boyfriend wrote to MCFC saying that he was not renewing his season ticket this year and they sent him a new one free!

OPINION: POINTS OF BLUE

Nice to see we could get a player for 75p!

“The News of the World claim that the Dons have told City that they value McLeod at £1.5, while City have been offering only half that sum.”

Points of Blue is on Wednesday next, 18 October at the stadium, 6.30p.m.

Any more items for the agenda?

OPINION: TICKET SALES TO STUDENTS

Further to Andy Chard’s comments on students – I have lived and worked in London for over 20 years and have met a surprising (to me) number of people who follow City solely based on their experiences from living as a student in Manchester. I’m not disagreeing with his fundamental point about the level of discount available, but I don’t agree with his point that the primary objective of the discount initiative is entirely pointless. I’ve never met Red with a similar claim.

OPINION: DRIVING AWAY FROM THE GROUND

In response to those who are happy to wait til after the 3 minute board and even walk into town to add an hour onto their journey. Great if it works for you, cycle in or get the tram if you want even if you have the time (you might as well say why don’t you bake your own bread rather than save time and buy it). I have other priorities to do with that hour than spend 25 minutes whistling and strolling to town sometimes in the rain with kids and people to drop off. If I pick up at 1.30pm and drop off at 6pm then I think that 4.5 hours is long enough for a 90 minute game. It doesnt make me a less loyal fan ’cause I miss the last two minutes. In fact I managed 12 away games last season (Birmingham policing is similarly awful when leaving the ground, make you walk all the way round it while home fans just leave). I have a life outside football unlike Shankly and I’m not happy to allocate 2 hours post game to getting home unless it’s an away game. I enjoy the PMT (pre match tension) and Jimmy Wagg on the way in but I expect prompt egress where there is no good reason at all to prevent it. By the way why does Jimmy ask for phone calls and texts with ten minutes to go of his show when he has no intention of using them?

Why can some fans get home earlier than others? Well it depends on which car park you are in, which route you take back, and your destination. I’m south of the city and my route is chocca all the way back. Having bought a car park ticket I’m certainly not going to park somewhere else and also I don’t want it vandalised.

Joe Mercer way is pedestrianised so I can’t see how the traffic affects things there safety-wise.

A staggered leave time avoids congestion. The police have completely cocked up and it needs sorting out.

BILLY WATKINSON’S FINAL 12

This is the final 12 I have plumped for for my 12 wedding tables. In no particular order or formation.

Joe Corrigan
Tommy Booth
Andy Morrison
Tony Book
Colin Bell
Georgi Kinkladze
Naill Quinn
Mike Doyle
Shaun Goater
Uwe Rösler
Mark Lillis
and a player I always copied when I was a kid, Mick Channon.

[Enjoy married life Billy – I have been married for just over 3 months and really love it even though I don’t think I have a snowball in hell’s chance of converting my wife to the City cause… Euan]

OPINION: JOEY’S A**E

How about a(!)e, for Joey’s other face? Kind of resembles the one in flesh!

RESULTS

15 October 2006

Newcastle United      1 - 2  Bolton Wanderers      48,145

14 October 2006

Wigan Athletic        1 - 3  Manchester United     20,631
Arsenal               3 - 0  Watford               60,018
Aston Villa           1 - 1  Tottenham Hotspur     42,551
Liverpool             1 - 1  Blackburn Rovers      44,206
Manchester City       0 - 0  Sheffield United      42,192
Middlesbrough         2 - 1  Everton               27,156
Portsmouth            2 - 0  West Ham United       20,142
Reading               0 - 1  Chelsea               24,025

League table to 15 October 2006 inclusive

                             HOME          AWAY        OVERALL
                    P  W  D  L  F  A  W  D  L  F  A  W  D  L  F   A   GD  Pts
 1 Manchester Utd   8  3  0  1  8  2  3  1  0  9  3  6  1  1  17   5  12   19
 2 Chelsea          8  3  1  0  7  2  3  0  1  6  2  6  1  1  13   4   9   19
 3 Bolton Wndrs     8  3  1  0  5  0  2  1  1  4  4  5  2  1   9   4   5   17
 4 Portsmouth       8  3  0  1  6  1  2  1  1  6  2  5  1  2  12   3   9   16
 5 Arsenal          7  2  2  0  8  2  2  0  1  3  2  4  2  1  11   4   7   14
 6 Aston Villa      8  3  1  0  7  2  0  4  0  3  3  3  5  0  10   5   5   14
 7 Everton          8  2  2  0  8  4  1  2  1  5  4  3  4  1  13   8   5   13
 8 Reading          8  2  1  1  5  4  2  0  2  4  4  4  1  3   9   8   1   13
 9 Blackburn R.     8  2  1  1  7  6  1  2  1  2  4  3  3  2   9  10  -1   12
10 Liverpool        8  3  1  0  8  2  0  1  3  1  7  3  2  3   9   9   0   11
11 Manchester City  8  2  2  0  3  0  0  1  3  3  9  2  3  3   6   9  -3    9
12 Fulham           7  1  1  1  2  3  1  2  1  6  9  2  3  2   8  12  -4    9
13 Middlesbrough    8  2  0  2  4  7  0  2  2  4  6  2  2  4   8  13  -5    8
14 Tottenham H.     8  2  1  1  4  3  0  1  3  1  7  2  2  4   5  10  -5    8
15 Newcastle Utd    8  1  1  2  5  6  1  0  3  2  6  2  1  5   7  12  -5    7
16 Sheff. United    8  1  2  1  4  4  0  1  3  0  6  1  3  4   4  10  -6    6
17 Wigan Athletic   7  1  1  1  3  4  0  1  3  4  7  1  2  4   7  11  -4    5
18 West Ham United  8  1  1  2  4  5  0  1  3  2  7  1  2  5   6  12  -6    5
19 Watford          8  0  3  1  5  6  0  1  3  2  7  0  4  4   7  13  -6    4
20 Charlton Ath.    7  1  0  3  3  6  0  0  3  2  7  1  0  6   5  13  -8    3

MCIVTA FAQ [v0607.01]

[1] MCIVTA Addresses

Articles (Euan Bayliss)          : 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 Radio Manchester (née GMR) pre and post match phone-in is available on the web at http://www.bbc.co.uk/manchester/sport/manchester_city/index.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://msn.foxsports.com/foxsoccer, 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 Plus Markets Group web site http://www.plusmarketsgroup.com/ 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] I hear there is a TV programme specifically about City?

InsideMCFC is broadcasted by ChannelM. It is available on the SkyDigital (ch.203) and NTL (ch.26) platforms as well as being transmittedtraditionally within the Manchester area (ch.39). In addition, theprogramme is available to watch via the web. More details and schedule:http://www.channelm.co.uk/features/city.html

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.

Euan Bayliss, editor@mcivta.city-fan.org

Editor: