Newsletter #1568

Controversy again for the Blues this weekend, this time caused by the officials as the referee worked to Taggart’s stopwatch and awarded an incredible 7 minutes injury time. Either that or he’d borrowed Mark Halsey’s timepiece from 10 years ago. This lead to an injury time goal and a 4-3 defeat for City in the first derby of the season.

We have plenty of opinion on the derby game, the City performance and the extra time incidents.

There’s also a look at double standards, more fallout from the Arsenal game, the usual requests and our 15th anniversary quiz winner is unveiled.

MATCH VIEW I: MUFC 4 MCFC 3

Defeat is something that we have become used to since the days of the late Peter Swales. Dusting yourself down after a gut-wrenching derby defeat is something that we have had experienced far too often, but it doesn’t make it any easier to take. To be robbed by the referee playing time that should not have been played makes this all the more difficult, and the feeling that we were playing until United scored is not one that can easily dismissed.

Hughes was clearly disappointed at this defeat and justifiably furious, demanding an explanation from the referee Martin Atkinson for the time that he added on. Various Rags in the media have said that when the board is put up it is a ‘minimum’ amount of time. Whilst that is true, that does not justify the amount of time played, taking into account various stoppages. There were three second half substitutions and no injury stoppages in that half, which, using the guidelines of 30 seconds per stoppage, amounts to one and a half minutes, so where the other two and a half came from is a source of mystery. Even if those 4 minutes were correctly added on, plus the goal celebrations and United’s substitution in injury time, the game should have been blown before United scored, and on Match of the Day it showed that Owen’s goal was scored one second after when the whistle should have been blown. A mere second it was, but a crucial second, and the referee has left us all with a nasty taste in the mouth.

Whatever happened with unwarranted time being played, we cannot get away from the fact that, at times, our defending was shocking. I say ‘at times’, because we did well to keep the enemy out for long periods with Shay Given having a faultless game, yet again. What a good signing he is. Unfortunately our defence switched off at crucial times, and this cost us dearly. How can we possibly allow Darren Fletcher to score not one, but two headers, not to mention the free headers that Berbatov had. Joleon Lescott summed it up perfectly: “We are professionals, and have to look at ourselves individually and collectively – and it just wasn’t good enough.”

Unbelievably a corner flashed across our box and no one jumped to head clear, as everybody stood around waiting for something to happen. If that happened against the likes of Everton, Villa, Bolton or Stoke, for sure, we’d be conceding. Thankfully two free headers feel to the powder-puff Berbaflop, otherwise the scoreline would have been worse.

You just cannot afford to allow players of the quality of Ryan Giggs and Michael Owen time because they hurt you, but we left them with far too much room. I don’t want to scapegoat or single out any one player, because all the back four made mistakes at times, but the unavoidable truth is that Micah Richards continually leaves gaps on our right hand side of defence, and has done for a long time now. For Rooney’s opener, he was too busy arguing with his captain and consequently the Rags found room to break down the left and he was forever playing catch-up. That was very poor discipline as well as very poor defending. For their winner, he was ball watching and Michael Owen was given the freedom of the penalty box for do what he does best. Again, Micah was in absentia. That is not good enough if we are to progress, and Micah has to do better: much, much better, if he is to be part of this Blue Revolution. Pablo Zabaleta may not be as fast as Micah, but his positional play is far superior and at the very least, I expect Zaba to get a run out on Wednesday, and possibly a chance against West Ham. Meanwhile, the coaching staff need to work with Micah on his positioning and concentration.

On the plus sides, Bellamy, who took his goals brilliantly, Given, Barry and de Jong were excellent and Tevez did pretty well too, especially in setting up our first goal. I just wish he’d got hold of that ball right at the end before Owen scored their ‘winner’ in the gazzilionth minute of stoppage time. We need these players to be firing on all cylinders on Wednesday, because we must beat Fulham.

I hope that United are going to issue lifetime bans to the idiot who threw an object at Tevez, which hit Javier Garrido, and he/she should of course be prosecuted. The same goes for the idiot who ran onto the pitch. What were his intentions? Surprise, surprise, the media and authorities have focused on Craig Bellamy’s needless involvement, the Guardian even peddling the untruth that he let his ‘fists do the talking’. It is sad that a newspaper like the Guardian has been reduced to that. As well as checking their facts, they need to look into how a thug like the Rags’ so-called ‘fan’ got so far on the pitch. United’s security arrangements need to be reviewed and they should be accountable for this lapse. There’s about as much chance of that happening as Gary Neville being charged for ‘improper conduct’ for his celebrations in front of the City fans, and Hughesie getting an explanation from Martin Atkinson for his dubious timekeeping.

This has been a most gut-wrenching defeat, but we have an important game on Wednesday, followed by other important games. There can be no excuses for not being the best we can be in those games.

MATCH VIEW II: MUFC 4 MCFC 3

The game was on live at 5.30 a.m. here (our local cable system now has Setanta so no more computer screens for me) so I have the entire day to break and kick things.

I have very mixed feelings. I hope the manager can have a good heart to heart with them about putting this game behind them and looking ahead. It should have been a draw but it wasn’t and it really doesn’t do much good blaming the strange time zone that is Old Trafford. I was always taught and always taught anyone I coached that you always play to the whistle, whatever the circumstance. We had a number of players who switched off in the last minute and surely we know enough about Owen by now to know how deadly he can be.

I thought we were very good in the first half and came back wonderfully, and twice, in the second half. But our defending in the second half was quite poor at times and we did little to counter a very impressive Giggs in the second half. I kept waiting for Zabaleta to come on. Tevez was tired, Ireland faded, Wright-Phillips and Richards struggled a lot but there were no changes until a very good de Jong was subbed. I remain very perplexed by this and if I was Zabaleta I would be starting to wonder how I’ll ever get on the field. Not to dwell on the Red side of the game but Ferguson has no hesitation of making changes and I think this is something Hughes can learn from.

But, overall, not that down. Bellamy has sent a message that he can’t be left out so heavens knows what the line up will be for Aston Villa in two weeks when Adebayor, Kompany, Santa Cruz and maybe even Robinho are all fit (and Johnson?). First we have the Carling Cup and then West Ham.

Please don’t read into this that I don’t care about losing to United. I hate it but I think we have to be honest about the performance in the second half and learn from it and move on. It is hard to imagine any recent City team coming back three times against United at Old Trafford so I do believe we are moving in the right direction. The season is very young.

MATCH VIEW III: MUFC 4 MCFC 3

First of all: any team that comes to OT and scores 3 goals has done a good job and it doesn’t really matter which way the goals are scored. I heard that Fergie claimed the City goals came because of mistakes made by the Reds, but I guess Bellamy will be within his rights to claim that he had his share in both of his goals.

Next I’ll try to focus on what went well for us today: the formation we started with; 4-5-1 cum 4-3-3 was extremely effective in the first half. With Ireland and Barry chasing in midfield and de Jong picking up the leftovers we completely dominated the central midfield. Bellamy and SWeeP did ever so well on the wings, and it was satisfying to see Bellamy surging back to help out defensively. This changed to the worse in the second half when we switched to 4-4-2. Mostly because both Bellamy and Tevez became spectators as United put up the pressure and City was unable to put together enough passes to set up chances for the strikers.

But well before that Rooney managed to smack in the first goal of the day after only 90 seconds. Both SWeeP and then Richards were playing dummies on the right allowing Evra to cross to Rooney who turned away de Jong and Toure before slotting home from close range. After that City took over completely and managed to level the score after Tevez plucked the ball from Ben Foster before setting up Barry for the equalizer. A gigantic error by the goalkeeper, but he had been warned a few minutes earlier when Tevez blocked his clearance only to see the ball float out of play. Tevez almost gave City the lead seconds before the half time whistle with the best chance of the first half. Toure charged forward, played the ball to Ireland who sat up Tevez, but the ball hit the outside of the post with Foster beaten.

Why did we switch to 4-4-2 in the second half? I guess Hughes estimated that United would come out charging and by positioning Bellamy up front City could play the long ball to him behind the United defence or the short ball to Tevez on the counter-attack. A decent plan, but with one big fault. City’s midfield was now overrun and especially on our right we were abysmal. Ireland had helped SWeeP in the first half but he had now moved over to the extreme left, and Richards was time and again turned inside out by the everlasting Ryan Giggs. Giggsy of course had 3 assists tonight, all from the left. The first came when Giggs crossed the ball for Fletcher a couple of minutes into the second half. Fletcher beat Barry at the far post and the ball sneaked in behind Given.

Another slow start by City and we did not look anything like the first half. Still we managed to pull back only a couple of minutes later when Bellamy decided to smack the ball into the top corner from just outside the area. An awesome goal from the hard working striker. After Bellamy’s equalizer, City got pushed back while United produced chance after chance. Only the splendid work by Shay Given kept the goals from leaking in. The Irish international had to produce a couple of outstanding close range blocks from headers by Berbatov as well as a one-on-one with Giggs. United created almost every chance from their left hand side and I wonder why Hughes didn’t address this? It would have been much better if City closed down United on our right and forced them to play against Bridge on the left as he had Park under complete control. At the other end of the pitch City had nothing to show, and the script was completely reversed from the first half.

It had to materialize in one way or the other and with 10 minutes to go Giggs played a free-kick into the path of Fletcher who won the header easily in front of the City goal. This time the strike left Given with no chance. Interestingly enough both goals by Fletcher came from the area where Lescott is supposed to be our main defender. On this particular goal his feet did not leave the ground. Sorry to say it but in my book Dunne would have intercepted both of Fletcher’s headers. Just to remind you: Dunnie has started this season with 5 clean sheets in a row (3 with City and now 2 with Villa).

It looked like set and match to United. But they gave the play to City and withdraw to their own half, using loads of time whenever they had a set piece to take. Then all of a sudden Rio Ferdinand decided to play above his abilities, arrogantly trying to chip the ball over our substitute Martin Petrov. Petrov claimed the ball and played it straight to Bellamy. The lethal striker sprinted towards the United goal and ran past everyone and everything. Not even Foster managed to keep up with him. Then from an almost dead angle Bellamy managed to squeeze the ball into the net. 3-3 and 10 seconds to go.

The game should have ended with that. The referee had awarded 4 minutes of extra time to be played, and suddenly United were in a hurry. City cleared ball after ball, and when United got a free kick 5 minutes into extra time everyone thought this was the last chance. The ball was again cleared to the midfield line, but instead of blowing his whistle the referee decided to give United another go. Giggs collected the ball and played a long ball to the unmarked Michael Owen inside the box, behind Micah Richards who had drifted into the middle for some reason only he knows. Owen made no mistake and almost 6 minutes after the initial 90 minutes had been played, and 2 minutes after the added extra time was passed, United and the referee got what they wanted. A 4-3 derby win.

It was a phenomenal game. Both teams were attacking minded and went for the show and not for safety first. It was the clash of the titans and easily the most entertaining game in the Premier League so far this season. Still, I feel that Hughes lost the plot when the formation was changed before the second half. We owned the game completely in the first half and gave it away completely in the second. But the important thing is for everyone to forget about this particular game as quickly as possible. It’s the next batch of games that will decide if City are a top 4 contender. Judging by this derby game we were so for 45 minutes!

Performances:

Given, 6: Some outstanding saves that kept us in the game. Still he had to pick 4 balls out of the net.
Richards, 3: Poor display against old-timer Giggs. At sleep for the opening goal, gave away an easy free kick before the third, and was completely misplaced for the winner.
Toure, 5: Confident with the ball but didn’t get his troops on alert in time for the early goals.
Lescott, 4: Should have done better on both goals by Fletcher. Made a few errors that we hoped not to see from his game play…
Bridge, 7: Very good first half, and kept both Park and Valencia quiet in the second.
SWeeP, 5: A few attempts in the first half but was put under serious pressure in the second.
Ireland, 5: Not his best form this is. A bit dodgy on the defence. Set up Tevez and SWeeP for decent chances and that was it.
De Jong, 7: Very good first half, in the second he was overrun. Subbed by Petrov.
Barry, 6: Some awful passing at the start of the game. Took his goal well. Lost the battle with Fletcher on 1-2. Far from his best game.
Bellamy, 9: A one man attack and defence as well. Brilliant work-rate, and two fantastic goals!
Tevez, 8: Ran all day and almost produced a goal to put us in front. Two assists in a decent comeback.
Subs:
Petrov, 6: Stole the ball and gave it to Bellamy before 3-3, after that it was all hard work and no fun.

I expect to see Zabaleta and Petrov from start in the Carling Cup game on Wednesday. Micah needs to take a good, long look at his game play, and Ireland looks like he really could do with a break and maybe practice his sliding tackles. Tevez only managed to get fit right before kick-off, and it could be risky to put him in the line of fire against Fulham. SWeeP, Bellamy and Petrov could make a quick and fearsome smallsome threesome. Maybe Sylvinho could get his first game as well? Suggested line-up: Given, Onuoha, Toure, Lescott, Sylvinho, Zab, de Jong, Barry, Sweep, Bellamy, Petrov.

MATCH VIEW IV: MUFC 4 MCFC 3

It’s an hour after the match finished, and I still cannot believe we did not get a point.

I can only assume that the referee must have thought the “board” signalled 6 minutes of injury time instead of 4; what other excuse is there? Is it incompetence or biased refereeing? Fergie must have been smiling like a Cheshire Cat. God only knows what he would have said about the referee, if City had scored so late on!

We are still poor in defence; nearly every free kick or corner gave us a problem – we are just not tall enough. In all honesty, Man U dominated the game for all bar 15 minutes. We just could not keep hold of the ball for long enough. Look how many times Shay Given came to the rescue.

These are my player ratings:
Shay Given (8) Had no chance with the 4 goals, made some great saves.
Kolo Toure (5) Had his moments, but where was he for 3 of the goals conceded?
Joleon Lescott (5) Should have imposed himself much more.
Wayne Bridge (5) Very shaky start, but improved as the game went on.
Micah Richards (4) Giggs made him look like a novice, he does not mark or read the game at all; for the last 10 minutes we played with 3 centre halves, as Richards went AWOL. Where was he in the last minute? How come Owen was totally un-marked? Richards is a “reactive” defender and not a pro-active one, and that is why he will always be a poor defender.
Nigel de Jong (6) Worked hard, without being dominant.
Gareth Barry (6) Took his goal well but too often was on the back foot.
Steven Ireland (5) Has been poor for the last 2 matches, never dictated the game.
Carlos Tevez (6) For sheer work rate, and creating our first goal out of nothing; did not have great service.
SWP (6) One good run but was defending more than attacking.
Bellamy (8) 2 cracking goals should have earned us a point; did not get much service but his pace and willingness is there for all to see.

Referee: (4) Where did he get the “extra” 2 minutes from?

United really bossed things, with their superior height advantage. We really missed Adebayor as a pivot man, and why didn’t Hughes bring on Petrov for Ireland a lot earlier on? We needed men to run at the Man U defence.

How long is it before Santa Cruz is fit again? He is sorely needed. When is young Weiss going to be given a chance to show what he can do? Look at the way Giggs troubled our defence all match long. When is Onuoha going to be given an opportunity?

Come on City, get things back on track.

MATCH VIEW V: MUFC 4 MCFC 3

What great character by Tevez never to give up as he stole the ball away from Ben Foster in United’s goal, and then coolly passed it to Gareth Barry who coolly scored a goal, great stuff!

The man of the match without question has got to be Bellamy. Brilliant, just brilliant! Fast becoming a City legend.

There was a period in the second half for about 20/30 minutes when City just kept giving the ball back to United, until they finally scored from a corner. Something was just not right about City’s game during this period.

There was four minutes injury time; where it came from was a puzzle, but to carry on playing for six minutes injury time?

Fergie was not looking at his watch; did he know what the script was for this game to carry on until United scored in injury time? With six minutes injury time Fergie should be arrested for robbery. The ref should go and buy a decent watch.

We shall meet again at CoMS and City will be ready!

For seventy minutes City looked a very good team, but for that 20/30 minutes in the second half why did we change tactics? Disappointed in the result; I truly thought that we were going to get a draw 3-3.

To all the City players, thanks for your effort, and thanks to Mark Hughes who despite some key players missing put up a brave fight.

Superman failed to show up in this all-important game; he did have an excuse during that bad 20/30 minutes as he was put out of position to help cover the left back position. Since Dunne left, Ireland just has not been the same player: coincidence?

The City defence needs to gel together a lot better than it is doing; so far Lescott is not showing why City paid all that money for him but he has time to shine, and I have confidence that he will shine.

Overall I was pleased with City’s effort.

Come on you Blues!

MATCH VIEW VI: MUFC 4 MCFC 3

My brief view on the derby:

Sadly, the Maine Road 3-1 remains the best derby that I have witnessed. Sunday was simply my most bitter moment in football, especially when I live in Hong Kong, a Rags-plagued city. Pretty psyched up alright for the return leg.

Given 9 Proved once again he is a natural born shot stopper, and the best in the land.
Lescott 6 Yet to settle in? Losing the aerial battles.
Toure 7 Loving his strong runs down the centre. A great skipper.
Bridge 7 Fair game. His form is picking up, I was too rash to write him off last season.
Richards 6 Completely losing it to Giggs. Rash at certain decisive moments.
Barry 6 Apart from pulling one back for us, not really contributing a lot to the game. Not very good at defending set pieces.
De Jong 6 Does not look like the strongest, not up to par against big four’s.
Wright-Phillips 7 Worked his socks off, things just don’t break rightly for him on the day, and lacks the final touch.
Ireland 6 Not his best game on show here, went nowhere in the 2nd period.
Bellamy 8 Paul Dickov work ethic (and stature) but with the ability to score awesome goals. Almost won all 50-50 balls.
Tevez 6 Game of 2 halves for him, could not deliver the job on his own in the 2nd half.

OPINION: REASONS TO BE CHEERFUL

I’ve been reading MCIVTA for many years and today’s derby has finally compelled me to contribute to this excellent resource. At 3.30pm on Sunday afternoon, like all City fans around the world, I was extremely frustrated and more than a little bit angry. However, having had a few hours to think things through I’m actually feeling really positive. And anyone who’s supported City for more than 30 years like me will know what a rare feeling that is! So why the sudden burst of hope? Here’s 3 reasons:

1. It’s clear to everyone that we have a team of quality, Premier League-provenplayers but I was delighted to find out this afternoon how much fire these guyshave in their bellies. The passion and commitment they showed in the face ofstrong, sustained attacking football from one of the best teams in Europe reallyimpressed me. This was exemplified best by the performance of Craig Bellamy,who could easily have gone into sulk mode after his manager spent the summerbuying most of the strikers who were available and a few who weren’t. Instead hehas taken on the challenge of playing for his place and has been a revelationso far. This afternoon, there seemed to me to be many others like him. Yes, wemade some defensive mistakes but in my opinion they were about a new defencetrying to gel together rather than about any lack of desire and this willobviously improve with each game. In addition, the way the boys never letUnited’s pressure drain their energy and were able to fight back again and againand again is a clear sign of their resilience and determination. And don’tforget, all of this was achieved with a number of our important playersmissing.
2. As each day goes by I become more and more convinced that in Mark Hughes wedo have the right man for the job. There were times last season when I was veryuncertain about him, but he’s undoubtedly learning and growing, and thisafternoon I saw the same focus and fire that he always showed as a player. Ithink he’s dealing with the press and the pressure superbly, particularly in hisrecent exchanges with Mr Moyes and especially with Sore Alex this week. Seldomhave I seen anyone come off better in a battle of minds against the masterwind-up merchant but Hughesy was calm and clever, and was clearly loving seeinghis old boss getting distinctly disturbed about his normally inconsequentialBlue neighbours.
3. I believe that what happened today could be just the thing to propel thisteam onwards and upwards. If they weren’t determined enough before about makinga serious impact on this league, they will be now.

So while I’ve always been realistic about City (30 years of suffering does that to you!), I’m also genuinely excited about the whole club these days and am daring myself to believe that they might just surprise me.

OPINION: TIME AFTER TIME I

The only way I can account for the seven minutes extra time allowed was the ref took into account the time I took going to the fridge for a beer but even 30 seconds per beer does not get close.

OPINION: TIME AFTER TIME II

In the 30 years I’ve followed City I’ve come to accept them losing. I’ve come to accept them losing because they don’t play well, I’ve come to accept them losing because they find themselves in with a chance of getting something from a game and try and hold out for the result, and fail, but to lose because a ref adds 4 minutes of extra time to a game that deserves all of 2, and then to add an additional 2 minutes on top of that is beyond belief. I am fuming over this; I know the result can’t be changed but City should be demanding the FA look into this, either them or a parapsychology department somewhere because far too often does time seem to slow down and stand still in Salford.

OPINION: TIME AFTER TIME III

City were robbed of a point Sunday because referee Martin Atkinson didn’t have the guts to blow his whistle.

When Craig Bellamy tied the score at 3-3 right on 90 minutes, the board showed an additional 4 minutes of extra time. Don’t know where that came from? There was no injuries or time stoppages other than the substitutions.

But still, City played out the additional four minutes and the only extra delay was Carrick’s substitution. When Rooney shot wide at 94:25 the game should have been over.

Yet Atkinson allowed the goal kick, awarded United a free kick and then allowed Giggs to pass the ball to Owen who ran about 15 yards before scoring. The time on the clock was 96 minutes when Owen scored.

There is no justification for the extra time. I watched the Chelsea-Tottenham match with two major time delays and they added a total of eight minutes and the game ended spot on the eight minutes.

Yes, City should have been able to hold out those final minutes and our defence was horribly exposed on the two centres that gave Fletcher his two goals, but I along with the other City fans watching felt cheated by Atkinson.

But we did give the Rags one helluva match, old Bacon Face knew he was in a game and City will only improve from yet another FA slap in the face.

Can’t wait for the rematch.

OPINION: ADEBAYOR

Thanks Gareth Hardman and Dan Bowen for reading my match report. It’s good to know people actually do read them! I don’t happen to take as negative view of Emmanuel Adebayor as Gareth or Dan do, though. I am less inclined to accept the media’s kangaroo court verdict, and indeed the FA’s punishments, without question. If a City player made a nasty tackle – and I can think of two incidents in the last ten years when this was the case (Thatcher on Mendes and Tiatto on Thompson) I’d say so and I wouldn’t be happy about the challenges. In the case of Adebayor last Saturday, the video footage is not conclusive in mine and many others’ opinions and only Emmanuel Adebayor himself really knows if he meant to hurt van Persie. It therefore remains a ‘big if’, in my opinion. That doesn’t make my account of what happened ‘blinkered’ or ‘utterly biased’! Manchester City Football Club accept Ade’s position that he didn’t mean to hurt van Persie, and I am inclined to accept that, which is clearly different to Gareth’s and Dan’s views. I don’t think Adebayor was petulant either. He’d done pretty well to keep a lid on it in the face of the most terrible abuse and appalling tackles, which have gone unpunished by the referee and subsequent authorities and the only self-indulgent thing that Adebayor definitely did do, was to celebrate in the way he did, and I pointed out that it was not the right decision. Time will tell whether Ade proves to be a problem, and I’d rather see as I find rather than pre-judge him. I prefer to lend him my support, especially at a difficult time when he is more victim than aggressor.

Gareth and Dan might be better turning their attentions more to the actions of van Persie, Bendtner and Eboue rather than allowing their clearly dangerous tackles go unchecked. That way, they can give us all a more rounded view of events.

OPINION: DOUBLE STANDARDS

Am I wrong in assuming that the bacon-faced one’s gestures in the sixth of the four minutes (work that one out if you can?) of injury time was directed at the only group of City supporters begrudgingly allowed into the Swamp yesterday?

If so, were the gestures, ‘up yours’, not even more provocative than those of Adebayor a week earlier?

Is there a hint here of bringing the game into disrepute, or must we be thankful to bacon chops for laughing in the face of the F.A., and demonstrating to us all that the Rags are a law unto themselves, once again?

Shame also on the ‘Match of the Day’ people for refusing to even mention his behaviour, while pillorying Adebayor last week!

The infamous Ferguson watch donated pre-match to s#%&less referee’s, is alive and well at the Swamp. It’s never gone away.

OPINION: VAN PERSIE

I sent the following message to the FA:

“Please can someone enlighten me as to why Robin van Persie has not been charged with improper conduct after mouthing obscenities at Manchester City fans, when Adebayor was charged with improper conduct for celebrating in front of the Arsenal fans (after suffering terrible abuse) without mouthing any obscenities? The impression is that the Football Association is either incapable of meting justice out even handedly or is not capable of doing so.”

and received the following response:

“Dear Phil Thank you for contacting The Football Association. Having reviewed the incident and spoken with Greater Manchester Police and the Match Official, The FA have contacted Robin van Persie to remind the player of his responsibilities as a professional with regards to his future conduct. No further action will be taken. We do appreciate all of the feedback we receive from supporters. This feedback is collated and used to build a picture of public opinion and is subsequently fed back internally within the organisation. Please rest assured your suggestions will form part of this feedback process. Thank you again for taking the time to write.
Kind regards
Customer Relations Team”

MCIVTA 15TH ANNIVERSARY QUIZ 2009

So the derby day also marks the end of the MCIVTA 15th Anniversary Quiz.

First let’s round-up the correct answers to part two of the quiz:

Correct answers (part 2):
Question 4: The former City goalkeeper that was capped by Germany is Eike Immel. Many well wishes to Bert Trautmann but because of politics the former POW was never capped by his native Germany.
Question 5: Another former United player to manage City besides Mark Hughes is of course none other than Steve Coppell, although he lasted only 33 days in the ejecting seat. As Roger Haigh rightfully pointed out, Ernest Mangnall managed City after managing United but didn’t play for either club.
Question 6: The 1972-73 fourth kit was the unique dark blue shirt with red and white diagonal stripe and dark blue shorts, which City have never worn since ;D

So to the winner (drum roll): Paul Hughes

Paul was the only participant who got all 6 answers correct. Big congratulations to you and please provide us with your postal address so we can send you the fabulous first price poster of Paul Dickov’s celebration at Wembley.

REQUEST: NEW YORK BLUES

We would like visitors to know that MCFCNYSC has a new ‘home’ for games:

The Mad Hatter
East 26’th and 3’rd Avenue
New York

Regards and thanks for all the work that goes into the newsletter.

REQUEST: BLUES VIEWING IN LONDON

Please could any Blues who live in London and are interested in watching games with City fans get in touch via our website or by e-mail to me? Back in the days of Division 2, City fans used to congregate in large numbers at Terry Neill’s Sports Bar near St. Paul’s. Where is everyone now?!

Let’s get a big crowd to watch games back on the go…

Here is the link: http://www.mcfcfans.co.uk/message_board/ or just e-mail me.

RESULTS

20 September 2009

Manchester United     4 - 3  Manchester City       75,066
Wolverhampton Wndrs   2 - 1  Fulham                27,670
Everton               3 - 0  Blackburn Rovers      35,546
Chelsea               3 - 0  Tottenham Hotspur     41,623

19 September 2009

Burnley               3 - 1  Sunderland            20,196
Arsenal               4 - 0  Wigan Athletic        59,103
Aston Villa           2 - 0  Portsmouth            35,979
Bolton Wanderers      1 - 1  Stoke City            20,265
Hull City             0 - 1  Birmingham City       23,759
West Ham United       2 - 3  Liverpool             34,658

League table to 20 September 2009 inclusive

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

MCIVTA FAQ [v0910.01]

[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 by 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. You can also follow on www.twitter.com/mcivta to get the latest updates.

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

The official club web site can be found at http://www.mcfc.co.uk/ and the official club Twitter page at www.twitter.com/mcfc. The club also has a facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/mcfcofficial

[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.mancitycsa.com/) 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.mcivta.com/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: