Newsletter #1363

Another home win on Sunday as we kept up both our record against Villa and our as yet unbeaten and clean sheet record for this season with a 1-0 win and a fine goal from young Johnson.

We have match views tonight, opinion on the derby, the club’s relationship with the fans, Stephen Ireland in the news again and the usual requests.

MATCH VIEW ‘TV’ I: MCFC 1 AVFC 0

Funny how the old body clock wakes you up just at kick-off time! 2.30am in New Zealand. I said to my wife after our second grandchild that I really didn’t care about City winning anymore; I had something more special! But like I always do, woke up and watched the Villa game.

Played some great footie, some good footie and some awful footie. It’s nice to see us playing football again though. Thought Colin Bell Junior is getting better and better. We’ve got some good kids at this football club, and it’s nice to see them getting a decent run. One thing that really p’d me off was the bl**dy commentators consistently having a go at our Kasper. Gee: the kid has enough to live up to with his dad, but to say that he didn’t do this properly, or that properly all the time is more than a bit much. I played in goal for over 40 years and the main thing on my mind was not conceding a goal. It didn’t matter how they were kept out, and I’m just glad the kid rates his ability. A goalkeeper makes one mistake and causes a goal, a striker misses a hatful, scored in the 89th minute and is a hero. Go figure.

So up to the giddy heights of second, be getting a nosebleed soon. It’s a smashing morning now, the sun’s shining, City won and I have the world’s most beautiful granddaughter as well. Life don’t get much better than this? Maybe, another grandchild is due this week.

MATCH VIEW ‘TV’ II: MCFC 1 AVFC 0

City win the thrilla against Villa, and go back to second from top of the Premier League. A magical goal from Michael Johnson deserved the win for City, in a game that had opportunities for both teams to have scored goals at either end.

The game was played in dare I say it, Manchester weather: rain. That’s unfair because Manchester has its share of sunshine, and if the rays of sunshine do not come out, then the Manchester City stars come out to shine.

I can understand why Darius Vassell played against his old club Villa, he usually does well against them, but in this game I’m afraid he failed to impress and in the second half had to go off injured, to be replaced by Sun. I’m not too sure that I understand why Bianchi never came on until 5 minutes from time, but cannot argue with Sven’s selection that won the game.

Micah was the captain of the team in the absence of Richard Dunne who got a red card (unfairly) in the last game, Micah led the team out with a mascot that must had been the youngest and cutest, who struggled to keep up with Micah.

Just read in the media that Sven has been given a war chest of 150 million pounds to reinforce the team come the January transfer window. If this is true, how about Ricardo Kaka the Brazilian attacking midfield player currently with A C Milan, money can talk any language. Peter Crouch looks like a target, and would play well with Bianchi who had a tall strike partner at his last club.

Come on you Blues!

OPINION: THE FEBRUARY DERBY I

I have to say how much I agree with Joel Malach’s regarding his comments on the next derby game so close to the 50th anniversary of the Munich air disaster, and that’s exactly what it was at the time, a disaster.

On behalf of the Centenary Supporters’ Association (CSA) I was more than happy to support Heidi’s initiative a couple of seasons ago. The idea of reminding all that City legend Frank Swift died on that tragic day seems a worthwhile effort to me. One of the CSA branches (Reddish) has suggested that all City fans entering the game should be given an A3 size picture of Frank Swift which could be held up at the time that the home team choose to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Munich air disaster.

The club are aware of the significance of the timing of the next derby game and are considering ways of diffusing a possibly awkward situation for the club with all the media attention at the game. Hopefully, the club and supporters can come together and avoid a minority from making us all look stupid on this occasion.

OPINION: THE FEBRUARY DERBY II

I agree wholeheartedly with Joel Malach’s comments regarding the regurgitation on the events of 8 February 1958. Let’s hope the mindless idiots at MUFC decide on a minute’s applause rather that a minute’s silence, which is easier to disrupt. While we’re at it, let’s hope the mindless idiots at the FA plan the fixtures a little better in future and keep the WGCTM away from the nasty people who don’t like them very much.

I also hope that Sven does not behave like a mindless idiot and instead offers to wash the feet of SAF during the match while our beloved Blues play in a special kit made of sackcloth (with optional hairshirts) while spurning goalscoring opportunities by distracting themselves with severe bouts of self-flagellation. And please somebody tell that mindless idiot Geovanni not to humiliate van der Saar by flashing one past him via the buttocks of a legendry champion who plays for the world’s greatest team.

OPINION: THE FEBRUARY DERBY III

In reply to Joel, maybe the morons could unveil a large flag at OT saying, Munich 58, RIP Frank Swift.

Actually, I do get a little bit sick of hearing all the sympathy for all the United people who were affected so why don’t we have our own Munich remembrance for one of our own, Frank Swift, who died along with all the others on that plane whilst working for a national newspaper after retiring from football.

OPINION: STEPHEN IRELAND

I thought people may be interested in the following link, as featured in today’s Guardian Fiver newsletter. I don’t know if it’ll be edited before you see it, but under the heading “sports” on the right hand side, it reads “Football Is Sh!T Why Did I get Stuck Doin It”! http://www.bebo.com/Profile.jsp?MID=367137231&MemberId=3874908157

Hopefully, one of his mate’s has edited it, but I fear not. That he calls himself “Daddy Dick” is embarrassing enough, though it possibly could be turned into a classic tongue-in-cheek terrace chant.

[Perhaps some players need to stop and think about the club and fans they’re representing and the rôle model they are perceived as – Ed]

OPINION: PUBLIC RELATIONS

Now that we have a new chairman and manager I hope they reconsider their relationship with supporters’ branches. Over the last couple of years City stopped players and staff attending supporters’ branches; instead, they held a couple of meetings at CoMS and fans had to go there instead. It has never been easy to get players to meetings but the club was more obliging when we were in the old 2nd and 3rd divisions. Over the last couple of years in particular it has been very hard for supporters’ branches and the lack of co-operation has led to a fall in membership in some branches. Some branches have gone to the wall and some are hanging on by the skin of their teeth,

I stood down as chairman of the Prestwich and Whitefield branch a couple of years ago; one of the reasons was that I was disillusioned with the way the branch was being treated by certain people at MCFC. Unfortunately there has been no improvement in the last couple of years and it seems things won’t improve in the near future, I know as a fact that many branch officials had pretty good relations with many people at City but that unfortunately is no longer the case. One disappointing trend is that it seems if anyone dares say anything controversial about City then PR gets on the case, but the national press can write what they want without a dicky bird being said.

I hope the new chairman recognises the value of supporters’ branches and give the branch officers the respect their hard work deserves.

REQUEST: FULHAM TICKET

Desperately seeking ticket for Fulham. If you can help please call 0790 873 8897 or email below

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REQUEST: ITALIAN BLUES

Dear Mancunian friends, a new Italian blog is born to celebrate the glorious MCFC and its heroes of today and yesterday! The URL is http://italianbluemoon.blogspot.com/

It’s written of course in Italian because my purpose is to find a lot of new Italian supporters of our beloved squad.

C’mon City forever! I’ll be at the COMS on 20th October!

RESULTS

16 September 2007

Manchester City       1 - 0  Aston Villa           38,363

15 September 2007

Birmingham City       1 - 0  Bolton Wanderers      28,124
Chelsea               0 - 0  Blackburn Rovers      41,062
Everton               0 - 1  Manchester United     39,364
Portsmouth            0 - 0  Liverpool             20,388
Sunderland            2 - 1  Reading               39,272
Tottenham Hotspur     1 - 3  Arsenal               36,053
West Ham United       3 - 0  Middlesbrough         34,351
Wigan Athletic        1 - 1  Fulham                16,973

League table to 16 September 2007 inclusive

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

MCIVTA FAQ [v0708.01]

[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 Points of Blue (formerly the Fans’ Committee)?

The committee operates as an interface between supporters and the club. Points of Blue appears 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] 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/.

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: