Newsletter #1663

Disappointment at the Stadium of Light as we succumbed to a last minute penalty, a game where we rued our missed chances.

We have views on the game tonight, a look at Sore Alex’s latest rant and more on the parking situation at CoMS. The transfer window is shutting and we’ll have an update from our Alex on Thursday.

MATCH VIEW: SAFC 1 MCFC 0

In a preview of this game, Mancini knew that this game was going to be a tough game. Sunderland are a good home team, despite the fact that City held them with a last minute goal last season; this season it was their turn to score the late goal.

The players that were selected by Mancini were the same that beat Liverpool 3-0; after that display who would not have put the same team out? But the City players played just like the Spurs team that got beat at home to Wigan – City never looked like the same team that beat Liverpool.

In the first half Tevez must have missed a goal when it looked easier to score than miss (I forgive Tevez because of his efforts every week). Sunderland were content to just defend, with just Bent the only player up front in the first half.

However, in the second half Sunderland came out a completely changed side, attacking and moving faster on the ball. City certainly did not play anything like as well as against Liverpool. City looked tired at times.

Adebayor came on as a sub, and made a good effort to score but the ball was cleared off the line by a Sunderland defender. The goal that beat City with a last minute penalty was given because of Micah jumping on to the back of Bent; what was he thinking?

At least City deserved a draw because of the first half effort, but to come away with nothing will not help the cause.

Please nobody start saying “typical City”; only three games have been played in the league so far! Besides Sunderland, the only other people happy with this result I think will be the bookies.

Come on you Blues, you have got to play better in every game – home and away!

OPINION: SUNDERLAND GAME

Oh well, some things never change do they?! City losing to teams they should take points off. Okay an injury time penalty, but these games, if we want to be taken seriously this season, need to be won.

So far this season we have ‘flattered to deceive’; should have lost by several against Spurs, and Liverpool were absolutely awful (Dickie’s Oldham could have beaten them).

If we have several more of these results… hmmm, I dread to think. Yeah, I know it’s early season, and don’t give me the well used argument ‘it takes time’. Good players fit in wherever they go.

It seems we are still short of a couple of players, even with the millions we’ve spent.

OPINION: HEY BIG SPENDER

I tell you, the hypocrisy is good for a laugh. We have to listen to the manager of Man. Utd. complaining about kamikaze spending even though he has the record for breaking the Premiership transfer fee record, and then the manager of Real Madrid, that’s Real ’80 million for a show pony’ Madrid ‘agreeing’ with the comments (granted Mourinho wasn’t there when they made that outlay, but let’s not forget which other club he used to manage). I have no idea how they can say this stuff with a straight face, but I’m enjoying it. Eleven years ago it was unthinkable little City would be upsetting Real Madrid.

Also enjoying us buying lots of superstars while watching our neighbours blow all of their budget on some Georgios Samaras the manager hadn’t even seen on tape, only for him to be too rubbish to even make the reserves. Life is like a great big wheel isn’t it?

[True, how quickly they forget and I haven’t come across anybody who has taken Taggart’s double standard rant seriously! – Ed]

OPINION: PARKING WOES I

Although I sympathise with Alastair Hayes for missing the match it is a little unfair to criticise the club when they had put a big article about car parking on the official website:

http://www.mcfc.co.uk/News/Club-news/2010/August/Match-day-car-parking-news

There is plenty of parking to the North of the stadium. I suggest he tries alongBradford Street, where there a couple of authorised car parks still chargingonly £5 and you can get a nice pint of Holts Bitter in the pub there for £1.92!

[To be fair, not everyone would automatically check the website and the Club do need to consider other ways of getting the message out to fans – Ed]

OPINION: PARKING WOES II

Just a quick note for Alastair Hayes (MCIVTA 1662) regarding parking issues; whilst I don’t use a car because I walk to the stadium, I can understand your frustration having to drive round parts of Manchester that you probably didn’t know. However, in defence of the club, they did publish car parking info on mcfc.co.uk prior to the game against the Scousers. They also said that they would publish more info as time goes on.

This was the info:

In advance of Monday night’s game against Liverpool the club would like to take this opportunity to update fans on match day car parking options.

Secure on site car parking is available on the North Car Park, accessible through gate 2 off Alan Turing Way, at a cost of £10 per game.

The East Car Park off Alan Turing Way is now permanently closed due to ongoing site preparation work.

In addition, there are also a number of off-site car parks which operate on match days and which although a short walk away, provide a quick getaway after the match.

* The K2 site, which is operated by the club, located on the corner of Pottery Lane and Ashton Old Road is a 15 minute walk from the stadium and has 700 spaces and offers quick exit east and south.

In addition to K2, the following sites have proved popular with fans:

* The Riverpark Trading Estate site on Riverpark Road is also a 15 minute walk from the stadium and has 750 spaces, offering a quick exit to the North.

* The Vermillion site on Lord North Street is a 15 minute walk from the stadium and has 200 spaces, offering a quick exit to the North.

The club is currently working on an information centre on mcfc.co.uk which will provide full details of all car parking options in the area that meet our strict safety and security guidelines. For each car park we will post the walking time from the stadium, the number of spaces, the price and the exit benefits of parking there.

We appreciate and understand that congestion can be a problem on match-days, especially following the game when fans are trying to exit. We would like to assure fans we are working hard with local authorities to address the situation and we will be updating you on progress soon.

Hope this helps you and other Blues that were in the same position!

Keep the faith.

OPINION: PARKING WOES III

In response to Alastair Hayes and his problem with the car parking, I offer the following (Liverpool game).

Along with many people we arrived at our normal time but struggled to get in to Car Park 2, despite having a season ticket for the Car Park and missed the first 15 minutes of the game. The Car Park attendants were surprise, surprise, clueless. As noted in MCIVTA 1662, there is a new five point promise to fans, so having ascertained the name of the Car Park supremo, I rang and left a message on his answerphone, asking him to return my call.

Did he reply? Of course not and his phone has been on answerphone every time I have tried to contact him since. Finally if any of the board or those with responsibility do read this, please sort out the situation in Car Parks 1 and 2. You have massively upped the fees and in week one generated a mess. Furthermore, the uncontrolled movement of people and vehicles before the game will lead to a serious injury eventually. Somebody needs to spend the hour prior to kick off down there in order to fully comprehend the problems.

REQUEST: POINTS OF BLUE

Further to my previous email, the next Points of Blue meeting will take place on Wednesday 6th October at 6.30pm in the Mancunian Suite.

It’s a while off, so I’m not collecting agenda items just yet.

REQUEST: EUROPEAN BLUES TRAVEL

It is critical that we get feedback on this Salzburg option ASAP.

As a result of night flight restrictions out of Salzburg, the only option presently available to offer fans is as follows:

• Depart Manchester approx. 07:30 hours on the day of the game
• Arrive Salzburg 10:30 hours, transfer to hotel
• Remainder of day in Salzburg is free time and make your own way to stadium
• Friday 17th Depart Salzburg 15:00 hours, arrive back into Manchester 17:00
• Cost per person £349.00 includes flights, taxes, hotel and airport transfers – no match ticket included

Bookings can be made from Manchester office (Spike) on 0161 775 7500 or London office (Miles) on 0844 887 1447.

RESULTS

29 August 2010

Bolton Wanderers     2 - 2  Birmingham City      18,139
Liverpool            1 - 0  West Bromwich Albion 41,194
Sunderland           1 - 0  Manchester City      38,610
Aston Villa          1 - 0  Everton              34,725

28 August 2010

Blackburn Rovers     1 - 2  Arsenal              25,059
Blackpool            2 - 2  Fulham               15,529
Chelsea              2 - 0  Stoke City           40,931
Tottenham Hotspur    0 - 1  Wigan Athletic       35,101
Wolverhampton Wndrs  1 - 1  Newcastle United     27,745
Manchester United    3 - 0  West Ham United      75,061

League table to 29 August 2010 inclusive

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

MCIVTA FAQ [v1011.01]

[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?

The Official Supporters’ Club and the Centenary Supporters’ Association have merged to become the Manchester City Supporters’ Club (http://www.mcfcsupportersclub.com/). The club also recognise the Manchester City Disabled Supporters’ Association (http://www.mcdsa.co.uk/).

[6] Where can I find out about Points of Blue?

The committee operates as an interface between supporters and the club. Points of Blue appears on the club website under the “Fans” heading (http://www.mcfc.co.uk/Fans).

[7] What match day broadcasts are available on the web?

Live match commentary can be found on the club website. The Radio Manchester pre- and post-match phone-in is available on the web at http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/manchester/hi/tv_and_radio/.

[8] Where can I find out if City are live on satellite TV?

http://www.satfootball.com/pl.html provides a listing of Premier League games being shown on UK domestic and foreign satellite channels. Useful sites for North American viewers are http://msn.foxsports.com/, http://www.soccertv.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: