Newsletter #1271

We have Don’s round up of the reaction to the Wigan game, with some good news in the return from injury by Onuoha and bizarre habits from Sinclair.

There’s a mixed bag of opinion to the current form, veering from realism to pessimism. For the latter category I’d try this number: 08457 909090 – but there are always those who love a crisis.

NEWS SUMMARY

General News

City Win! Not all of City’s teams were in an ongoing gloom and doom scenario this week. Take the under-18’s for instance, who managed to beat Liverpool by four goals. A couple of goals by David Ball (didn’t he used to be in Soft Cell?), then strikes by Clayton McDonald and Ched Evans saw the Blues triumph at Platt Lane.

Cheat Cheat Cheat: There’s been some debate in the papers and on the radio this week about the disparity of ticket prices at footie matches. As discussed frequently in MCIVTA, the media have noticed that away fans are often charged more than home fans. Last Saturday for instance, City fans travelling to Wigan had to fork out £35 for the privilege, a 40% increase on last season’s Boxing Day encounter. As if the football wasn’t bad enough… Stuart Pearce has naturally come out on the side of the fans. “Sometimes clubs push up the price of tickets for away fans, which I cannot see the sense in,” mused our Gaffer. “In some ways, it is cheating the public. Visiting supporters should be charged exactly the same price as home fans.”

Transfer News and Gossip

Club Transfer Policy Explained: Mr. Wardle has been quite vocal this week (especially after the Wigan débâcle, but more of that later). He also reassured us that there’ll be money available in the January sales for the manager, whoever that might be come 2007. “We will support the manager in the January transfer window. We have already invested a net £8.5 million in players this year and we will continue to look for opportunities to improve the squad. Our supporters have always been tremendously loyal and I thank them for that. We must now all pull together and get behind the team in the coming weeks and months.”

There’s Posh: How’s this for an ego boost on this grim week? City have a rival bidder for MK Dons’ striker Izale McLeod – Peterborough. Posh have just had an injection of cash from a new owner, and have made an enquiry for the goalscoring forward. Dons’ chairman Pete Winkelman said: “We are very keen to keep Izale McLeod and if he ever does leave it will be to play in a much higher division. It was nothing to do with the terms of the deal. We are absolutely committed to keeping Izale McLeod at this football club for as long as we can. He is a tremendous player for us. What we will not do is stand in the way of a player going on to bigger things. So it’s clear that if he was to leave us, it would be to play in a much higher league. It would never be about values. I had to tell Barry [Fry, Posh’s puce faced touchline cavorting Supremo] we would not be taking it any further, but it was tremendous to have Barry on the phone talking about buying one of our players, rather than, as he has had to cope with over recent years, other clubs, such as ourselves, buying players from Peterborough. It is wonderful to see the boot on the other foot and I wish Barry Fry every success with what he is trying to do.”

Ex-Blues’ News

Because I’m Worth It: Antoine Sibierski’s evil twin, confusingly also called Antoine, was it at again last week, as he scored the winning goal in Newcastle’s 1-0 UEFA Cup victory over Fenerbahce. OK, maybe it is the former City striker, but he’s now scored twice for his new club in their European campaign this season. The Magpies struggled to break down their Turkish opponents, but Sibierski seized on a mistake by goalkeeper Rustu Recber to clinch all three points for his side. He accepts there was an element of fortune about the manner of Newcastle’s victory, but believes the goal was just rewards for all his hard work. “I deserved a bit of luck,” Sibierski said on Channel Five. “The ball came to my feet and the best chance is to kick it first touch, and that is what I did. Fortunately it went in and we won it thanks to that. I am very happy.”

Reactions and Comments

Ever Feel Like You’ve Been Had? Last Saturday was threatening to be a great TV sports day chez Barrie. As I settled down in front of Mr Murdoch’s goggle box at 10am, I was in couch potato heaven. England vs. the Aussies at cricket, then Wigan vs. City on pay per view at 1.00pm. By 12.55, the English were successfully arranging a defeat at the hands of Australia, so it was time to pay Sky £8 for the football to lift my mood of despondency. By 1.04 I wished I hadn’t. Wigan took advantage of a dreadful City performance to secure a first win in seven games. They went ahead after just 67 seconds when Emile Heskey fired home an Emmerson Boyce cross. Less than three minutes later Richard Dunne inexplicably headed into his own net from Josip Skoko’s free-kick. To cries from the City fans of “You’re Not Fit to wear the shirt,” Henri Camara took advantage of hesitancy by City’s defence to score and Antonio Valencia added a fine fourth with a right-foot drive. Congratulations, Wigan, here’s your biggest win in the Premiership on a plate. Athletic’s boss Paul Jewell was quite kind towards his team’s abject opponents. “I don’t think it was a fantastic performance, it was a sound one. We deserved to win but the score wasn’t a true reflection. There are a lot of new players here who are settling in and we will get better as the season goes on. There is room for improvement all over the pitch, but you can’t be unhappy with a four-nil win. The game’s never dead against City and we were bit edgy at times. We knew that if we didn’t get the result we wanted today we would start getting sucked into the relegation battle. We’re not out of the woods yet but any win in the Premiership is a massive result.” Presumably this means that Beanie the cuddly toy will be banished from the touchline, having lost his/her unbeaten record – Sky even gave the thing its own graphic for crying out loud.

Nowhere to Run, Nowhere to Hide: Time for the post mortems to start. What did SP make of such a horror show? “You don’t give yourselves a chance when you go 2-0 down after four minutes,” he said. “When you go away from home you hope to keep it tight and quiet the home crowd down, but we did the opposite. Man-for-man, we didn’t compete well enough and in the second half we lost our shape trying to chase the game.” He was asked how he dealt with team after the game. He said: “I don’t go into the dressing room and pick anyone up when they have played as badly as that. One or two heads went down in the second half and there was a lack of leadership, which is something we will have to address. We can’t hide behind anything – we played badly. We didn’t win enough one-on-one battles. The fans have paid their money. They are passionate people and they are entitled to voice their opinion. But, players, coaches, directors and fans; we are all in the same boat. We are all Manchester City Football Club and now we have to get a bit of confidence in the players before we face Middlesbrough next Monday.” As a former defender, Pearce was asked for his opinion on Dunnie’s comedy o.g. Pearce admitted: “Richard did not take control of the situation. He got a call from the ‘keeper and he should have just left the ball. Instead, it ended up in our net.” Pearce confirmed he intends offering Ben Thatcher an immediate recall against Boro next week now the former Wales full-back has completed his eight-match ban. So, that’s our defensive problems over then.

Goat in the Sun: The Sun had dear old Shaun Goater analysing the ramifications of the defeat. Goater said: “Stuart really has his work cut out now. I feel really sorry for him at the moment because he is under more and more pressure. The result against Wigan was not good at all. City fans are desperate to do well and losing like that is just not good enough for them. But if the board decided to get rid of Stuart they will have to know that there are only a few managers who would satisfy the fans. They would want a really big name with the funds behind him.” He had some interesting views on the Blues’ deficiencies. “They don’t have a player who scores goals in the six-yard box. Andy Cole has scored goals everywhere he has gone and everybody thought he was going to be there for another season. They need to find someone who is going to score the sloppy goals. Georgios Samaras is a scorer of great goals but he doesn’t seem to score the simple ones. They really need to find a striker who will score them 20 or 30 goals a season.”

Curbs Your Enthusiasm: Chairman John Wardle refused to comment on Saturday, leading to some press speculation on Psycho’s future. One journal even threw the name of Alan Curbishley into the ring as the next manager. By Monday, the Chairman put out his views on the game via the club website. “I was at the game and could fully understand the reaction of our supporters who were there. I can also appreciate why some of them left early and I shared their anger. I want the players to take a long look at themselves this week. They must understand that the performance was unacceptable. As Chairman of the football club, I sat with the Board of Directors and man for man we were totally embarrassed by what happened on the pitch. This football club is not used to this type of performance and will not accept it. We are determined to put this right.”

Flops of the Day: I think City created a record with this performance. In the Observer every Sunday, they print a “Team of the Day vs. Flops of the Day”, based on the marks awarded to players by a select group of fans. Eight of this week’s Flops team were City players. Samaras, Corradi, Sinclair, Hamann, Matty Mills, Jordan, Dunne and Weaver were named and shamed. Also spotted on the stats page of the same paper – Corradi has the most headed attempts on goal in the Premiership. He must also be the least effective striker in the Premiership, bearing in mind his goal tally thus far.

Squad News

Sun Hasn’t a Leg to Stand On: Sun Jihai has suffered an injury setback. The Chinese international has not played for the Blues this season due to a hamstring problem, and he has been complaining of more discomfort, which is set to peg him back yet again. “Jihai has had a setback but we are still waiting to find out the precise nature of the problem,” said manager Stuart Pearce. “It is a bit of a blow and it is serious to the extent he has already been out for months with the same injury and is still not right.”

Hello, Hello, It’s Good to be Back: It isn’t all bad news from Crock’s Corner this week – Nedum Onuoha is back in the squad after a nightmare 2006. He was named on the bench at Wigan and the 19-year-old says he is revelling in the chance to showcase his qualities once more and that he feels fresh and ready to help City redress their poor start to the Premiership season. “Now that I am back I am really enjoying my football,” Onuoha told the club’s official website. “That might sound strange, but I am just enjoying being part of it all again. Time out like this makes you realise how much you want to be involved. Coming back into training recently almost feels like starting all over again, so I feel a bit fresher than I might have done normally at this stage of the season.”

And Finally… “I sometimes put on my kids’ Power Rangers outfits to chill out.” Trevor Sinclair admits some interesting habits on Radio One, or so the BBC website’s football pages claimed this week (thanks to Andrew for sending me that snippet, which arrived hot foot from the North East).

OPINION: THE STATE OF THE UNION I

I was speaking to a friend who said he was surprised I hadn’t had a rant in MCIVTA following City’s poor recent form, so here I go… Well, not so much a rant as an airing of views, hopefully leading to interesting debate.

The current situation: no-one is going to kid around and say that the current situation is acceptable. It’s not. We’re not playing well. We don’t look like winning a game. It’s not like we’re even playing attractive football. How much of the blame can be laid at Pearce’s door is a debate in itself, but sure enough some blame does lie with him and his management team.

Tactics: Let’s not try to dodge things, our performance at Wigan was woeful. The tactics aren’t right. Everyone will have their own views, but Samaras is not happy wide left, and far more effective up front. Let’s play him there. Away games: Corradi or Dickov with Vassell or Samaras. Home games: Vassell and Samaras. Playing one up top – either Corradi or Dickov means that when we have the ball, we seriously lack pace. Hopefully this will change when Beasley and Vassell come back, but we can’t always rely on two people. What has happened to Miller? Pace is key in the Premiership and just simply comparing the side two years ago, we had Anelka and SwP with pace to burn, they had better injury records than Vassell and Beasley (who is yet to be tested in the Premier League). Yes, our summer signings are not out of the treatment room, but, Trabelsi aside, they have yet to really show their worth. I don’t think Hamann, Dabo etc. have really set the world alight in their appearances thus far.

Pearce out? I don’t think so. Not so much a question of whether it’s not time, but it may be a question of the “grass is always greener”; there aren’t that many alternatives. Curbishley and? Some mention the likes of Otmar Hitzfeld or Claudio Ranieri. To be honest, are they likely to come to City at the moment? I personally don’t think so. I’ve said before, the time to consider “Pearce Out” was whilst O’Neill was around. He’s not and we have to look at our own situation and consider what we are really going to achieve by getting rid of Pearce.

The Club: I said to my friend that I’m not too sure where the club is going right now, but it’s not looking good. On the field, we’ve already dealt with. Off the field, who knows? Wardle is now publicly seeking investment, which suggests that subtle, behind the scene attempts aren’t going too well. The club’s debt (some rumour around £62 million) seems to be difficult to quantify (and again, is a debate in itself). Obviously that, and the lack of actual assets (the ground as we know is not ours) seem to be putting off investors. There seems to be some unrest amongst the fans with the board – a result of perceived lack of investment since the Keegan era – and some calls for Bernstein back. Well yes, many would like that.

Bernstein is associated with a period of stability and financial sense by many (including myself), but again, is he likely to come back at the moment? Only he knows, it’s not something we can necessarily bank on. At the moment though, the club looks, if we’re not careful, to be heading for a period reflective of the 1990’s – total unrest on and off the pitch. Let’s not forget the revolving door that Maine Road became famed for and the likes of Coppell’s 30-odd day reign, Frank Clark, Alan Ball, Phil Neal, caretaker managers, 50+ strong first team squad. It wasn’t that long ago.

The Future: We all know what we want – a successful team playing attractive football. To be honest though, there are only a few of those. We should, with a club of our size, be challenging for Europe. That’s without doubt.

We’re not going to at the moment though, that’s obvious. The playing squad IMHO is weaker than 3 or 4 years ago, maybe even weaker than 2 years ago.

It is, however, capable of far better than it is currently giving. We lack any element of creativity and invention in midfield and that’s something that needs to be addressed otherwise we will continue to be lacklustre, predictable and reliant on 100% finishing of the 2 or 3 chances we create a game. Not a recipe for success. That requires investment from the club.

Whether we have it, and whether the board will continue to back Pearce, is another matter. It does frustrate me though to see other sides constantly finding money (Villa, Bolton, Fulham, Middlesbrough etc.) and yet we, despite now having been in the Premier League for a few seasons, always seem to be scrambling around for money.

Would I change who I support? No way. My friend and I both agreed that it’s far more entertaining supporting City than supporting a team that year on year you know will finish between 7th and 12th every year. Year on Year.

City, you never know what you’ll get and isn’t that part of the reason we all follow them? The only thing I’d change is not to be taken for a mug and to actually have a team that seem to care. And maybe just a tiny bit of flair.

Rant over.

OPINION: THE STATE OF THE UNION II

MCIVTA 1270 makes grim reading, normally there is a chink of light or a beacon of hope somewhere but, this Monday, nothing.

And what can be expected after such a dire performance at the weekend? All the comments about the Chairman giving Pearce money in January to strengthen the squad will not come to fruition. I cannot see Pearce being there. Once again we are sat on the edge of the abyss, yet not so long ago things were looking fairly rosy. SWP was flying down the wing, a new stadium beckoned, we were once again beating and on occasion battering the Rags… and then once again someone somewhere pushed the City self destruct button.

At the time of SWP’s sale I wrote in MCIVTA two words: “No Ambition”, and that can be seen in the way we have plummeted since. As has been written many times, there is no passion, no pride and yet Stuart Pearce is a proud bloke, a good man, the sort of guy you would want in the trenches, so why isn’t this being transferred onto the pitch? Why does this team resemble in the main a load of schoolboys out of their depth? I cannot recall watching such a woeful performance as the Sheffield game and whilst I agree that the outcome against Wigan was dire, there were moments when we had a chance, we had an opportunity but nowhere near the quality to capitalise. Oh for a Goat, Kinkladze, SWP, Benarbia, anything to prise open the game because at 2-0 we could have got back into it.

I cannot for the life of me understand why the Greek is wide left. I do not understand why the headless chicken Dickov was brought back. I can’t see why we let Andy Cole go. For me this is the worst period for many years and it is all of our club’s making. Since the disaster last season against Wigan, pre-FA Cup, nothing but nothing has gone right. I am normally a positive and enthusiastic person but at the moment Johnny it’s black. Totally black. If you look at our next 5 fixtures, Middlesbrough, Charlton, Newcastle, Fulham, Liverpool, can you honestly see where the points will come from?

I am forced to agree with Steve Hunt’s comment – “CTID or top myself to end this misery”.

Thanks to Colin Savage for his insight into the accounts. As regards the comment “Does everybody else quickly scan through the boring financial reports?” made by J Heavis in a previous issue, only someone of fairly limited intelligence would bother to write such a comment!

OPINION: THE STATE OF THE UNION III

Ramblings from a disappointed man

Current team: Worth their place are Weaver, Richards, Dunne, Distin, Barton, and I’d be happy to see Johnson have another run. Put Samaras and Vassell up front when fit. Liked the look of Trabelsi. Apart from that, they’re a much of a muchness. Drop Hamann.

Our recent signings: Apart from Vassell and David James who have been stand outs, we haven’t bought well have we? I reckon though that Trabelsi will be useful. Thank God for the Academy keeping us stocked with decent youngsters.

Our recent sales: Selling Croft I reckon was a big mistake; simply put, if Sinclair’s fit he has no one to compete with him, hence his lack of form.

Jordan: Read a lot of comments on Jordan after recent games and I for one don’t think he’s a bad defender. Far preferable to his crazy competitor for the position, he just needs a regular partner who’ll give him some decent cover once in a while.

Biggest current problem: Lack of goals, and unless we buy at Xmas the only hope of bagging a few is to play the Greek up front with Vassell putting in the donkey work alongside him. Corradi and Dickov are far too one-dimensional.

Finally, in the recent issue not knowing that we would be seeing him days later in the Wigan game, I requested “What can anybody tell me about the latest of our youngsters to break through, midfielder Michael Johnson, and who would you liken him to?” For me, he was pick of the bunch at Wigan and looks – granted, on one viewing only – to be mature beyond his years and has a fair shout at making it.

OPINION: THE STATE OF THE UNION IV

I was going to write something about the state of our club straight after the Wigan débâcle but decided against it.

And for the first time ever I have found myself unable to read all of the comments in the last issue of MCIVTA, as it was simply too depressing.

It seems that most (if not all) of what I would have said, post Wigan has been said so I will take a different approach.

Now I don’t want this to be seen as a cheap advertising ploy, it really isn’t but I think it will help shed light on a possible problem at COMS.

I am by nature a calm person, a person who measures what I say; I have to be as I run my own businesses; one is a business that turns difficult young people around and gets them re-engaged with education or training. The other utilises a mix of psychology and team challenges to help corporate clients understand the strengths and weaknesses within their ‘team’ of employees and to improve/change the make-up of the team (I am sure you understand what I mean there) to improve it.

I have previously contacted City (once under KK and once under SP) and offered my help in fostering an understanding of the importance of communication and working with others and to encourage a more honest self appraisal amongst staff. The offer I made was to work with any group within the club, and to do so free of charge.

Indeed I even suggested that it may be useful to do an event with the youth players by way of a starting point.

The people I have in my team are expert in what they do and very often make positive changes within hours of working with a group.

Both managers said thanks, but no thanks.

My offer was, and is a genuine one. If a representative of Manchester City were to contact me tomorrow I would move heaven and earth to accommodate them. I will make no profit from any work I do with City (it will in fact cost me money); indeed I wouldn’t even publicise any relationship at all if they so choose, that is the way we work.

The point I am trying to make is that there seems to be a massive hole at the centre of our club that gets in the way of reasonable communication and an appreciation of others. There is no empathy with the fans and it seems that many within the club have visited the school of spin and misdirection and are using the skills they have learnt with increasing regularity.

The worse the problem becomes, the greater the spin will be. And as we all saw on Saturday the problems seem to be getting worse.

I am not suggesting that if KK or SP had said yes to my offer then all in the garden would be rosy. What I can say is that they may well have had a better understanding of the people working within the organisation, both on and off the field, and could have made different choices and possibly been able to change tack more quickly.

If I were the Chairman (a man who I hold in the highest regard and who I would gladly listen to and take advice from in a business sense) I would look at every person on the payroll and ask firstly if they really want to be there and secondly are they in the right job?

What I do for a living is highly valued by those both in education and the corporate world. The methods we utilise are unusual but the basic principle is that we break down barriers and let individuals view themselves and others differently. It is reflective learning.

If ever an organisation were in need of these skills it is City.

(I note with interest the comments made by the Chairman today on MCFC.co.uk, which I read whilst typing this)

So I make two points:

1. To lose one fan to a feeling of disenfranchisement is sad, to losehundreds is worrying, and to seemingly lose thousands in this way is adisaster. If the slide continues and the attitude remains the same within theclub, we may all regret it.
2. When you first weaken your team spirit you risk the bond becomingstrained, when you weaken it further it takes very little pressure applied toa weak spot for the bond to be irrevocably broken.

If City are confident in who they employ and the positions that they hold, wherever they may feature on the payroll, then they need more than an HR Audit from me.

P.S. Ironically I am about to deliver a series of community based activities (lasting almost a year) funded by MUFC and working with young people in and around OT.

OPINION: THE STATE OF THE UNION V

Well, I guess we should all give up then! Let us all just read the financial statements and carp about all the players are interested is the money! We have all (at least those that are old enough) been here before. George Poyser was our manager once and I remember going to Huddersfield to watch City play hoping to get out of the Second Division.

The state of the club is abysmal, Dunney and Micah Richards should be in the middle and as long as we play Samaras alone up front, away from home, there will be no goals. I really don’t have any answers any more than anyone else does but I will be there next Monday no matter what.

We will have more striking power up front without Sinclair but he bleeds blue. He is living the dream but it is becoming a nightmare for him.

P.S. I do appreciate the work being put in to preparing the financial reports I just question if this is the right forum for them to be presented.
P.P.S. For Gods sake! can we just win one?

OPINION: THE STATE OF THE UNION VI

Like most True Blue fans I whinge and complain about the team’s unpredictability but I still remain a staunch supporter, even if I am banished to the wilds of Toronto, Canada.

Like most fans, I was thrilled by Stuart Pearce’s appointment as manager. Finally someone with a bit of passion and desire who will inject his own fiery spirit into the squad. But the sad performance turned in by City on Saturday against Wigan is a sad reflection of Pearce’s tenure with the Blues over the past 12 months. We could kind of turn a blind eye to last season, we did start off decent enough and we did run into a series of bad injuries. But what has happened in the off-season and at the start of the current season is indefensible. Pearce claimed last year’s team was short-staffed yet he lets James, Cole, Sibierski, Danny Mills and Sommeil go along with Academy graduates like Bradley Wright-Phillips, Croft and Flood. And he replaces them with who? Not one single new player has made his mark on the team this year. Samaras and Corradi as a strike partnership? Please, the Premier League trembles. Fortunately there’s five or six teams who are currently just as bad so all is not lost. But somebody, and if it’s not Pearce it’s got to be someone else, has got to pull this team apart, get a couple of quality English players who actually care about this club and turn things around quickly. Otherwise there is only on direction this team is going.

OPINION: KIWI VIEW

High to Low (very low)

Been living in New Zealand now for 24 years (City fan for over 40 years), and I am afraid you get rugby under your skin. So last Saturday evening I went along to the Air New Zealand final for my (now home) town Hamilton team – called Waikato, playing against Wellington. My dear wife got me tickets for the full house game.

Well, I must say it was a great game of rugby. The coach is an ex-Waikato player, Warren Gatland, who spent some time in England and won titles while coaching in the UK. He came back last season and Waikato finished 7th last year.

So a great night and home before 2am, already set the video timer for the 7.30am delayed match on Sky over here. Well, woke up at 7.25 Sunday morning and thought should I get up or stay in bed? Still on a high from the rugby game, got up to watch the Wigan game – bad mistake.

Well as the story says, the rest was history, 2 down before the hot water boiled for first cup of tea!

So from the high of winning the game of rugby to the low of City in 12 hours.

This year Gatland win the title with almost same players but now playing as a team who want to win.

Which brings to my other life – City! Guess we all read what has been said about the players, even the chairman has had enough!

But I believe we have to keep SP, for I guess 2 reasons: keep faith with him, and who else would manage us without any money. It’s going to take longer than 2 years to turn City around, but I hope he does.

What to do this weekend, as rugby union has finished now? I guess I have to wait until November when the All Blacks win all their games on their tour.

OPINION: ALL CHANGE

It’s time the management was changed. The Board has to make a decision: back ’em or sack ’em. I commend you to read the comments in MCIVTA 1209, Thursday 23rd March 2006. After a dreadful run of performances, folk were saying there had to be a clearout of hopeless players. Well seven months on, a lot has changed on the squad list, but the performances are still bad or worse.

OPINION: ADDING UP

I would just like to say a huge thank you to Colin for translating the “art” of accounting into English. Apart from giving us a true insight into the finances of MCFC, it also might help in my job.

Not the greatest start to a season I know, but what’s new?!

Stick with it all and thanks to Heidi and all the team for their hard work.

OPINION: ODE TO CITY

Again the wind is blowing cold
And yet again we’re skint I’m told
The players just don’t seem to care
And another season relegation scare

Out of position, out of pace
And short of a sure fire scoring ace
City fans, of which I’m one, deserve much more
Yet Stuart’s becoming a bit of a bore

We have a ground, but it’s not for sale
We’ve got expectations, but they’re not to scale
We got feelings ’cause we feel pain
And we’ll feel it again and again and again

I know that we can play with style and passion
And show some steel and dish out pain
It’s easy to blame and it’s easy to scoff
But when are we going to shack slackness off?

Wigan gave a proper slapping
And now we’ve all started flapping
Bite the bullet, call a spade a spade
And then we’ll see some football played

We all love City and that’s no lie
We want to win and cheer, not sigh
So come on City, come on you Blues
Let there be some happy news.

BLUE HUMOUR

After the advice to check “youtube” out. I found this, which made me smile a lot! After Wigan I need to smile.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbaQR4q3s6U&NR

REQUEST: CAPE TOWN BLUES VIEWING

A business trip means I’m intending to watch our traditional capitulation to Boro from the stunning waterfront at Cape Town. I’m sure 40,000 others will think they have the better end of the deal watching through the wind and the rain in Beswick.

Are there any Blues out there who can point me to a friendly bar to watch the game?

REQUEST: CITY MAC USERS

As a follow up to Jim Parsons’ item a couple of weeks ago (thanks again Jim for sending the MCFC Widget), I thought I would send out a request to the faithful out there in MCIVTA-land, to see if there are any other Mac users like Jim and I who would be interested in either setting up a an Online Mac User Group or just regular contact on an informal basis?

Those of us who have Macs and buy Mac Format on a regular basis, might have heard of the groups?

However, the motivation for starting an MCFC Group is not only purely for an exchange of Mac ideas and knowledge, but all things MCFC as well. In addition, despite the rise of Apple in the last 5 years in particular, a lot of items are still PC and not designed for Mac.

This is not just for the Manchester area, but on a global basis as well.

Anyway, if there are fellow Mac devotees out there who would be interested in discussing this idea, then I can be contacted on the e-mail address below.

POINTS OF BLUE

Minutes of Points of Blue meeting, 18 October 2006 at COMS

Present: Steve Parish (co-ordinator), Sarah Rooke, Joy Maddock, Phill Gatenby, Dave Wallace, Sue Wallace, Colin Howell, Norbert Hepner, Rob Dunford.

David Miller has relinquished his rôle as co-ordinator for personal reasons. Steve Parish happy to carry on with admin. No immediate successor to Dave.

1. Catering: same old problems (untrained staff or with poor English or justnot up to it). Price increases, especially with some deals no longeravailable and deals not always understood by staff (e.g. pie + pint for£4.50); no black coffee (third tier supervisor expressly said they don’tbring any up). Logistics of staff going for stuff to end of bar and back.Few vegetarian / healthy options.
2. Traffic delays after matches. Steve Parish had made representations tothe City Council for PoB (as had the club) and the arrangements had beenchanged.
3. Rumours: Ticketmaster to sell all tickets. Stadium to be named aftersponsor (ask club for comment).
4. Had anything been done about suggestion of mutual publicity between storeand social club?
5. Selling tickets at £5 to children and students? Loss leader, but noencouragement to renew children’s season tickets.
6. Cost of away games (prior to manager’s statement re poor sales for Wigan)price inelasticity is no more; the elastic’s gone!
7. Question re “gay-friendly” publicity; had this been discussed with fansprior to announcement? No objection to anti-discriminatory stance (homophobiathe last prejudice in football) but sensitivity to the reaction.
8. Supporters’ Trust. What’s the club view on the possibility? Those presentthought it should be explored.
9. Is the policy of players not visiting supporters’ clubs to be reviewed(effect on attendances at previously strong clubs is well documented)?
10. Any progress on seeking investors (what sort of investor do we want?)?
11. Comments on Live4City poster (and hospitality city and comedy city).
12. Any more exciting friendlies for next pre-season? Ballymena a hit, butdid the club try to keep it quiet?
13. Smoking policy for next season.
14. Standing – usual discussion between those who want to carry on raising theissue and those who think it’s a waste of time with present MPs’ mindset.Contrast again made with rugby and rock concerts.
15. Can it be made easier (or just possible) for card holders to buy awaytickets for friends to join them (part of the problems with all-seatedstadia is the difficulty of getting tickets in a group)?
16. Away shirts. Strong feeling that the first change strip should besomething that can actually be worn by the team at most away games.
17. Any chance of East Stand becoming “The New Kippax” (probably if we couldfind a Mr New Kippax to sponsor it).
18. Delegate meeting with club: at least two people could attend on Monday 30October (next home matchday) and this seems favourite.

RESULTS

22 October 2006

Manchester United     2 - 0  Liverpool             75,828
Tottenham Hotspur     1 - 0  West Ham United       36,162
Blackburn Rovers      0 - 1  Bolton Wanderers      27,662
Middlesbrough         1 - 0  Newcastle United      30,060
Reading               0 - 4  Arsenal               24,004

League table to 25 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   9  4  0  1 10  2  3  1  0  9  3  7  1  1  19   5  14  22
 2 Chelsea          9  4  1  0  9  3  3  0  1  6  2  7  1  1  15   5  10  22
 3 Bolton Wndrs     9  3  1  0  5  0  3  1  1  5  4  6  2  1  10   4   6  20
 4 Arsenal          8  2  2  0  8  2  3  0  1  7  2  5  2  1  15   4  11  17
 5 Portsmouth       9  3  0  1  6  1  2  1  2  7  4  5  1  3  13   5   8  16
 6 Everton          9  3  2  0 10  4  1  2  1  5  4  4  4  1  15   8   7  16
 7 Aston Villa      9  3  2  0  8  3  0  4  0  3  3  3  6  0  11   6   5  15
 8 Fulham           9  2  1  1  4  4  1  3  1  7 10  3  4  2  11  14  -3  13
 9 Reading          9  2  1  2  5  8  2  0  2  4  4  4  1  4   9  12  -3  13
10 Blackburn R.     9  2  1  2  7  7  1  2  1  2  4  3  3  3   9  11  -2  12
11 Liverpool        9  3  1  0  8  2  0  1  4  1  9  3  2  4   9  11  -2  11
12 Middlesbrough    9  3  0  2  5  7  0  2  2  4  6  3  2  4   9  13  -4  11
13 Tottenham H.     9  3  1  1  5  3  0  1  3  1  7  3  2  4   6  10  -4  11
14 Manchester City  9  2  2  0  3  0  0  1  4  3 13  2  3  4   6  13  -7   9
15 Wigan Athletic   8  2  1  1  7  4  0  1  3  4  7  2  2  4  11  11   0   8
16 Newcastle Utd    9  1  1  2  5  6  1  0  4  2  7  2  1  6   7  13  -6   7
17 Sheff. United    9  1  2  1  4  4  0  1  4  0  8  1  3  5   4  12  -8   6
18 Watford          9  0  3  1  5  6  0  2  3  2  7  0  5  4   7  13  -6   5
19 West Ham United  9  1  1  2  4  5  0  1  4  2  8  1  2  6   6  13  -7   5
20 Charlton Ath.    9  1  1  3  3  6  0  0  4  3  9  1  1  7   6  15  -9   4

MCIVTA FAQ [v0607.01]

[1] MCIVTA Addresses

Articles (Heidi Pickup)          : editor@mcivta.city-fan.org
News/rumour (Don Barrie)         : news@mcivta.city-fan.org
Subscriptions (Madeleine Hawkins): subscriptions@mcivta.city-fan.org
Technical problems (Paul)        : paul@city-fan.org
FAQ (David Warburton)            : faq@mcivta.city-fan.org

[2] What are MCIVTA’s publishing deadlines?

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

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

http://www.uit.no/mancity/ is the unofficial Manchester City Supporters’ home page. Created in 1994, it is the longest running of the Manchester City related web sites. Back issues of MCIVTA are also hosted on the site.

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

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

[5] What supporters’ clubs are there?

Manchester City FC recognises three supporters’ clubs: The “Official Supporters Club” (http://www.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.

Heidi Pickup, editor@mcivta.city-fan.org

Editor: