Newsletter #1475

With City travelling to struggling Newcastle tonight, we have the opportunity to move back up into the top ten.

Opinion tonight on the Schalke game announced in the UEFA draw, the players linked for the January transfer window, a play about Bert and plenty of requests for Schalke tickets (I know of one Blue who’s going to find that game a difficult call!) and travelling Blues.

The eagle-eyed amongst you will notice in the FAQ that after 14 years of MCIVTA and the original Supporters’ Home page being hosted on the original uit.no server we are now moving to a new domain of http://www.mcivta.com/ so many thanks to Svenn for keeping the pages running all this time and securing the new move!

Finally, many thanks to Don and Mads for stepping in during my international break!

OPINION: SCHALKE WARNING

We got the information that a lot of Man City supporters bought tickets for the match via the Internet (ebay).

Please tell them to be careful! If they bought tickets for the northern stand, they will get problems with the security!

The northern stand is only for Schalke supporters. No entry for Man City fans!

Greetings from Gelsenkirchen.

OPINION: OWEN

The latest news in my Sunday paper is that Michael Owen is on his way to the ComStad.

If this is true, then it a massive step backwards.

The poison dwarf has been a has-been ever since leaving Liverpool and why would we want an injury prone prima donna sitting in the stands injured most of the time on £5 million a year?

I would happily do that for half the money.

It would appear that we are also entering talks for Zaki, the Egyptian wonder boy currently annoying defences (Including ours) at Wigan.

Seems a good player but how will he fare long term? Would love to see Bruce’s already bent bugle put even further out of place by nicking him from Wigan since he’s only on loan there.

Talking of loan deals, the ugliest footballer ever to grace a Greater Manchester football pitch, Teves, still has his case unresolved and, it seems, City are still interested. I hope that doesn’t come off. Don’t want any tarnished merchandise.

Did anyone see Robhino’s howitzer of a goal for Brazil? F*$ks sake.

For those who didn’t, he was wandering down the left wing with the ball and cut in about 25 yards out. There seemed nothing on so he just let fly. Top corner. Goalkeeper waving at it. What a goal. Beats the one against Chelsea.

He got another in the second half taking a defence splitting lob over the back 4, on the penalty spot all alone, and coolly rolled it home beneath the ‘keeper.

And did you see his showboating lifting the ball over an opponent in midfield and collecting it the other side? Brilliant. Hope he can re-produce this in a blue shirt.

P.S. Going to my first away game tomorrow (Newcastle) since Ian Brightwell ‘Wellied’ that 25 yarder at Old Nafford in the early nineties (fFree ticket, of course).

OPINION: NOT TO BE MISSED

If any MCIVTA readers get the chance to see the play “I’ll be Bert”, don’t miss it. This is a one-man play that looks at the impact Bert Trautmann had on an impressionable schoolboy.

There will be many of a certain age, like me, who followed the Blue path because of Bert. He was the finest goalkeeper ever, even Gordon Banks was never as good.

“I’ll be Bert” is an extremely enjoyable play, and I would recommend any City fan, young or old, to look out for it when it comes to your town.

REQUEST: SCHALKE TICKETS I

Could do with two tickets for the Schalke game, have booked the flights and the hotel but don’t think I’m going to have enough loyalty points to get the tickets through the club.

If you hear of anything, let me know, thanks. Please call 07778 269395 or email.

REQUEST: SCHALKE TICKETS II

Myself, brother, dad and cousin have all booked flights, hotels for Schalke thinking we’d get a decent allocation. Well annoyed.

Anyway, does anyone have any spares or season tickets (with enough points on) I could book through? Otherwise we’ve lost a lot of money!

Call 07717 683651 or email.

Thanks for reading.

REQUEST: GLASGOW BLUES TRAVEL

I am a City supporter (Urmston born and bred) living in East Renfrewshire, 8 miles south of Glasgow. I have season tickets but work backshift and every other weekend so I cannot get to many games.

I am looking for some advice or contacts where I can go down with like minded Blues, maybe by coach or car share?

Many thanks.

REQUEST: STIRLING BLUES TRAVEL

I live in central Scotland, Stirling to be precise, and have been to a few City games over the years and I would like to get to lots more.

Does anyone know of any City supporters’ buses or fans doing car share that come down for games leaving from my area?

Thanks in advance.

REQUEST: WELSH BLUES TRAVEL

I have supported Man City for 39 years. I live in Wales and wondered if you knew of any trips that travel to Eastlands from Wales please?

RESULTS

19 October 2008

Hull City             1 - 0  West Ham United       24,896
Stoke City            2 - 1  Tottenham Hotspur     27,500

18 October 2008

Middlesbrough         0 - 5  Chelsea               29,221
Arsenal               3 - 1  Everton               60,064
Aston Villa           0 - 0  Portsmouth            37,660
Bolton Wanderers      0 - 0  Blackburn Rovers      24,778
Fulham                0 - 0  Sunderland            25,116
Liverpool             3 - 2  Wigan Athletic        43,868
Manchester United     4 - 0  West Bromwich Albion  75,451

League table to 19 October 2008 inclusive

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

MCIVTA FAQ [v0708.01]

[1] MCIVTA Addresses

Articles (Heidi Pickup)          : editor@mcivta.city-fan.org
News/rumour (Alex Rowen)         : 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.mcivta.com/ 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: