Newsletter #1331

Thanks to Mads for ensuring the last few issues went out, it’s never dull at City is it?

Then again, would it be City if we just get on with things professionally like so many other clubs? Manager supposedly dumped by phone, which is a disgrace in anyone’s book; potential takeover from somebody facing corruption charges and arrest; takeover without substantial management and board changes (something of an oxymoron?); one of our best defenders leaving on a free and yet again we are left now facing weeks of uncertainty. Of course we have either Ranieri, or possibly Eriksson, coming in as manager of the rudderless ship according to whichever media source you choose to believe.

Meanwhile, plenty of opinion tonight on the way forward, what needs to be done to sort out MCFC and success in the fantasy league.

OPINION: NEXT MANAGER

Where is the strength in depth in the European leagues right now? The Premiership top four made a good showing in Europe but looking at the next level down, the performance of English teams was ordinary at best. Teams from Spain’s La Liga dominated the UEFA cup and it’s there, I believe, we should be looking for our next manager.

With a couple of games still to go in La Liga, none of the possibles are likely to break cover while the title is still in the balance. All quiet on the City manager front could be waiting for Spain’s season to finish as well as Thaksin’s takeover.

I’m rooting for Juande Ramos, currently at Sevilla. We would have to cross his palm with lots of silver to get him but getting a successful team starts with getting the best in at the top. And he’s the best.

OPINION: IT’S A FOOL’S GAME

Firstly I want to say that SP was one of the most honest managers in his post-match media interviews, and that was something I was proud of, especially as you so often see managers bleating on about how they were robbed by poor refereeing decisions. SP unfortunately had to go, his inability to get consistent results from a very average team is what eventually cost him his job, allied to the fact that most of his buys have not proved to be any good.

I am sure I am not alone in wanting a quick end to the speculation of our Club’s takeover, and unlike some people, I don’t care too much who comes in, as long as we have sufficient funds to enable us to firstly survive in the Premiership and secondly to move onwards and upwards. With our fan base this should be a realistic option. The likelihood is that we will be bought by the Thais and the sooner the better, especially when you see the transfer talk going around in the media and City are not one of those contenders.

Hopefully we will get a good manager; Claudio Ranieri would be fine, or the Dutch chap Co Adrianse, as I am sure they would be able to attract some good players without breaking the bank. I must admit I was horrified to read that Sven (that cretin) was interested in the City job. I do hope he never gets a look in.

With the transfer merry go round hotting up, there seem to be the main 6 clubs going in for the “big name” players, and Portsmouth, Spurs and West Ham seem to be in for most of the players likely to be on their way from their current clubs. I know they have money to spend, but hopefully some of these players wise up to the fact that they won’t necessarily get a regular game in these large squads.

How come we never saw the likes of Darren Bent when he was at Ipswich and Charlton then snapped him up for peanuts? I do wonder how good our scouting system really is, or maybe our board can never act quickly enough financially to snap up the promising talent before they have made a name for themselves [Apparently we were in for Bent a few seasons back for a steal but the Board said “no” – Ed]

Look how we bought the young defender from Southampton because of Wigley’s connections, he never really gets a look in, yet there was an outstanding talent in Gareth Bale who seems to be wanted by most of the big teams, and we never went for him, especially with our left back position being a problem one. We need to take a look at Arsenal’s scouting system, great contacts in France where most of the African players start their careers, and inevitably make it big. There are some really talented Ghanaian players that we should look at, that we could get without breaking the bank, but we must act fast. Harry Redknapp was spotted at the last match in London between Ghana and Nigeria.

Players I think City should offload are: Trevor Sinclair, Ousmane Dabo, Paul Dickov, Corradi, Ishmael Miller, Sun Jihai.

Possible imports: some will unfortunately have to be 2nd best from other teams: Matthieu Flamini, Hameur Bouazza, Michael Kightley, Hossam Ghaly, Nico Kranjkar, Kieran Richardson, Bolo Zenden, Stephen Appiah, Eric Addo, John Utaka, Asamoah Gyan.

I will end by saying we should keep Joey Barton regardless of his “bad boy behavour”, hope the board make the right decisions in the takeover war, and we end up building a much stronger team than last season.

OPINION: THE TIMES THEY ARE A CHANGING I

Exiting times, or worrying times?

I hope the first but with all the false dawns we have had, who knows? Will we start getting Thai food at the ground (that would be nice)? I wish Stuart Pearce all the best and look forward to seeing him in the opposition dug out for a bit of friendly banter.

I hope that the new owners and manager (not Sam thank God), whoever they may be, have the best interests of the club at heart and continue to bring the youngsters on so we can watch a team of home grow talent with a few quality imports.

I don’t know if a I am alone but I don’t see winning trophies to be the be all and end all of watching football (now and again would be nice).I suppose that I am not alone in this as if this were the case we would all be Rags! Maybe that it is years of not winning anything that makes me think this.

OPINION: MCIVTA FANTASY LEAGUE RESULTS

   Team                  Manager              Gameweek  Total
 1 Krutego FC            Svenn A. Hanssen     49         1997
 2 Alessandros           Alexander Hanssen    48         1993
 3 ABU All Stars         David Kilroy         58         1982
 4 Biffo City            Chris Hand           54         1971
 5 Blunatics             Brad Olds            49         1971
 6 Moonchester City      Jim Perkinz          62         1923
 7 Beecroft Blues        David Chambers       43         1915
 8 New York City Blues   Paul Babych          47         1909
 9 Murrie's Marvels      Wayne Murrie         38         1905
10 MeekysMagicMushrooms  Aaron McMeekin       40         1900

For the last couple of years it has fallen to me to set up a (the) fantasy football league for readers of MCIVTA. The league was called MCIVTA CITY FANS (not original, but to the point).

This year the number participating almost doubled, to 78 players. I finished 13th with 1860 points, but above are the top ten. Maybe next year more can join in; it would be nice if we could get 100 players this time.

You can see the winner was someone called Svenn Hanssen. Can’t think who that is! Next year Svenn, you are mine! [And I wonder if second is any relation? The Norwegian duo need to get City sorted out! – Ed]

Here is the URL for the table if people want to look: http://fantasy.premierleague.com/M/table.mc?id=24452 and the main URL if you want to take a look: http://fantasy.premierleague.com/

OPINION: THE NEW KIT

Spotted this on the net via the BBC, this link takes you to the page, and wondered if anyone else had seen this?

http://www.soccergaming.tv/showthread.php?t=141481&page=45

Any thoughts?

[Like the adidas ones! – Ed]

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: