Newsletter #1618

A win yesterday sees us back up to fifth in the table, ahead of Liverpool. We have a match view tonight thanks to Phil and more opinion on the FA’s treatment of certain players. We also have more on online viewing and those double entendres with the City number plates.

Plenty of parish notices tonight from meet ups, to far flung Blues and even holiday accommodation for you Blues heading north.

MATCHVIEW: FFC 1 MCFC 2

What a great performance by Manchester City to win at Fulham, a tough place to get anything. Fulham are clearly a good team so Roberto Mancini and his troops can look back on a job well done. He got his tactics spot on i.e. to hit Fulham with blistering counter attacks utilising the pace of Bellamy, Tevez and Johnson to devastating effect. Bellamy and Tevez showed their brilliance yet again and Adam Johnson is also real talent who is going to get better and better. It was a brilliant goal by Carlos Tevez who started and ended the move. He and Bellamy combine so well together. We were desperately unlucky to concede a penalty as the ball hit Barry’s hand that was behind his back: a bad decision by the referee. City, being City, wobbled a bit but even then we should have put the game beyond Fulham’s reach with the chances we had.

The coverage on Match of the Day and BBC Radio Five Live failed to give credit to City yet again. The written press focused too much on Fulham’s ‘tiredness’ (for heaven’s sake, these are young men, not toddlers or pensioners), City’s ‘nervous’ last few minutes, overlooking the fact that we created a host of chances throughout the game (even a gilt-edged one for de Jong at the end), with 9 shots on target in total. The fact is that we fully merited a victory over a Fulham side that had deservedly thrashed the mighty Juventus just a few days before (and yes, best of luck to them – I hope they win the Europa League, or whatever it’s called nowadays). Mancini outwitted the excellent Roy Hodgson, who, as ever, was gracious in defeat. Where is the credit for our team and our clever manager? You can be sure that had Rooney or Gerrard scored a goal like Tevez did, they would have shown it from every angle and eulogised until the sick bucket was needed. I love the BBC and all that it stands for but isn’t it supposed to be even-handed and unbiased? The BBC has no stated vested interest in the so-called ‘big name’ clubs so why don’t they treat us all the same? I think we should be told.

It was an important win after Tottenham’s lucky (yes, lucky) victory at Stoke where the Potters’ Whitehead should not have received a 2nd yellow. We have a very tough game against Everton coming up on Wednesday. They are in great form and will work very hard with their 4-5-1 formation to stifle us and play their own passing game. They say you shouldn’t change a winning team, but surely this is a game for Nigel de Jong to come back? This might mean sacrificing a striker such as Santa Cruz, in order that we are not outnumbered in midfield. Whatever, we have to be competitive, alert and take our chances to win this game in the battle to reclaim that 4th spot.

OPINION: SPECIAL TREATMENT I

Don’t get me wrong, I really like Gerrard, he is a class player, but he was well out of order for elbowing Brown in the face in the game against Portsmouth. It was blatant and obvious. God knows how he got away with it. The referee was within metres of the incident. I know that Brown is no angel but as other contributors have noted, certain players’ misdemeanours don’t get noticed. It was a nasty tackle and could have broken his jaw. Young kids would have seen what Gerrard did and would have been perplexed why no action was taken. What kind of messages are we sending out to young people and to the public at large? Anybody with half a brain will have twigged why Benitez subbed Gerard; he looked very sheepish as he went off the pitch, a sign of a guilty offender. For Benitez to claim he was going to take him off anyway tells us how insincere he is.

OPINION: SPECIAL TREATMENT II

Gary Neville’s studs managed to find their way into a Liverpool player’s head yesterday. Will the FA charge him for dangerous play and/or violent conduct? I’m not holding my breath. We all know the answer if it had been one of our players, or say, a Stoke player.

OPINION: BLUES VIEWING ONLINE

I am so pleased with the help I received. I watched City’s match against Fulham but the computer screen kept going black and I had to keep on pressing the mouse to get it back on screen. Have been told you can connect it to the TV. Have you ever come across this idea before? Will be thanking all concerned once again, to confirm I am watching the matches on the computer and the TV hopefully as I feel that the picture is excellent on the computer screen/monitor.

OPINION: CITY PLATES

Interesting comment from Adam Johnson and the car number plates.

I live in regional Western Australia and carry a sticky poster on the back of my car which states I (heart) man city. In a land where Australian Rules football and cricket are immensely popular and soccer (proper football) comes in as tenth most popular, a colleague thought I was gay when she read it. “Oh, I thought it meant you just like men.” Just goes to show that because you know it as a love of a club it can be severely misinterpreted by someone who is not from your culture!

REQUEST: WIGAN GAME MEET UP

Fellow Blues. I will be arriving in the UK this week on holiday from Adelaide, Australia and after dropping off the family in Birmingham I will be heading up to Manchester on Monday for the Wigan game.

I’ll be on my own so if there is anyone that would like to catch up for a pre and/or post match beer please drop me a line on the address shown below.

This is my first City match since 1993 and my first visit to CoMS so needless to say I can’t wait.

REQUEST: 5-A-SIDE

The annual CSA 5-a-side competition will be held on Saturday 19th June 2010 at the Platt Lane Complex with a start time of 10am and finishing at 2pm.

Paul Lake will be presenting the trophies to the successful teams. The 5-a-side competition is open to any group of Blues who can knock a team together.

Squads of seven is the norm but bigger squads are allowed. However, only 7 trophies will be awarded to successful teams. Entrance fee is £35 per team i.e. £5 per player.

Money raised from this year’s competition will go to the CSA Sierra Leone Appeal. The aim of this Appeal is to raise enough money to purchase a mini-bus for a community of City supporters in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Sierra Leone is officially the poorest country in the world where a group of City inspired people have done a tremendous amount of work to support this community.

With this in mind, teams and individuals are invited to donate more than the £35 per team or £5 per player; Manchester City FC have offered to match all money raised pound for pound.

I’m also looking for qualified referees who are willing to provide their services free of charge so more money goes to the Sierra Leone Appeal. If you are a referee or know a referee who is willing to offer services free of charge, please get in touch with me.

Cheques to be made payable to MCCSA and forwarded to me:
Alex Channon
Penalty Spot
11 Thirlmere Avenue
Swinton
Manchester M27 5XD

All enquiries regarding the 5-a-side competition and the Sierra Leone Appeal should be directed to me at the address below or call 0161 281 7517.

REQUEST: BLUES IN PANTO

The LIVE4CITY panto takes place in Rochdale on Sunday 28th March. Details can be found here: http://www.mcfc.co.uk/News/Club-news/2010/March/Its-panto-time-with-Live4City

A couple of players will be joining in the fun along with Moonbeam, Moonchester and lots of others. £3 for Live4City members, £6 adults. Free for Junior Blues 0-5 club members with a parent. Call 0870 062 1894, option 2 then option 1.

Contrary to rumours, mcfc.co.uk staff will not be appearing as the pantomime horse.

REQUEST: BLUE HOSPITALITY IN THE HIGHLANDS

Three years ago I chucked in my season ticket after 10 years and moved my young family from Altrincham to the Scottish Highlands with the intention of converting a barn into three self-catering holiday cottages. We have very nearly finished but are now in need of customers to fill them!

If there are any Blues out there who fancy a week up in the Highlands in a 5* self-catering cottage, please give us a try. The 3 x cottages sleep 2, 5, and 4-6, and are very highly specced with WiFi, underfloor heating, LCD TVs, exposed beams, wood burning stoves and all have stunning panoramic views.

The website address is http://www.balnedensteading.co.uk/ and for each booking made I’ll make a donation towards the running costs of MCIVTA and if you Blues give me the password ‘why did we buy Michael Frontzeck’ when booking, I’ll shove a few bottles of wine in the fridge before you arrive.

Email address is below or you can call me on 07929 387737.

RESULTS

21 March 2010

Manchester United     2 - 1  Liverpool             75,216
Fulham                1 - 2  Manchester City       25,359
Blackburn Rovers      1 - 1  Chelsea               25,554

20 March 2010

Aston Villa           2 - 2  Wolverhampton Wndrs   37,562
Everton               2 - 0  Bolton Wanderers      36,503
Portsmouth            3 - 2  Hull City             16,513
Stoke City            1 - 2  Tottenham Hotspur     27,575
Sunderland            3 - 1  Birmingham City       37,962
Wigan Athletic        1 - 0  Burnley               18,498
Arsenal               2 - 0  West Ham United       60,077

League table to 21 March 2010 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  31 14  1  1 44  9  8  2  5 28 16 22  3  6  72  25  47  69
 2 Arsenal         31 13  1  2 43 15  8  3  4 30 18 21  4  6  73  33  40  67
 3 Chelsea         30 13  1  1 45 13  7  4  4 25 15 20  5  5  70  28  42  65
 4 Tottenham H.    30 10  2  3 33 10  6  5  4 22 19 16  7  7  55  29  26  55
 5 Manchester City 29  9  4  0 30 14  5  7  4 25 23 14 11  4  55  37  18  53
 6 Liverpool       31 11  2  2 37 13  4  4  8 13 19 15  6 10  50  32  18  51
 7 Aston Villa     29  7  6  2 25 12  6  5  3 16 12 13 11  5  41  24  17  50
 8 Everton         30  9  5  2 30 18  3  4  7 18 24 12  9  9  48  42   6  45
 9 Birmingham City 30  7  6  2 15 10  5  2  8 16 24 12  8 10  31  34  -3  44
10 Fulham          30  9  2  4 22 11  1  6  8 11 23 10  8 12  33  34  -1  38
11 Stoke City      30  6  5  5 21 19  2  7  5  8 16  8 12 10  29  35  -6  36
12 Blackburn R.    30  8  5  2 22 13  1  3 11 10 36  9  8 13  32  49 -17  35
13 Sunderland      30  7  7  2 27 16  1  3 10 13 30  8 10 12  40  46  -6  34
14 Bolton Wndrs    31  5  5  5 22 23  3  3 10 14 33  8  8 15  36  56 -20  32
15 Wigan Athletic  31  5  5  6 14 20  3  2 10 15 39  8  7 16  29  59 -30  31
16 Wolves          30  4  3  8 10 20  3  4  8 15 29  7  7 16  25  49 -24  28
17 West Ham United 30  5  4  5 24 22  1  5 10 13 29  6  9 15  37  51 -14  27
18 Burnley         31  6  5  4 20 17  0  1 15 11 47  6  6 19  31  64 -33  24
19 Hull City       30  5  5  4 19 22  0  4 12 10 42  5  9 16  29  64 -35  24
20 Portsmouth      30  4  2  9 20 24  2  2 11  8 29  6  4 20  28  53 -25  13

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: