Newsletter #1736

A look at the transfer saga and Tévez’s indecision tonight coupled with a great couple of far flung Blue Wembley experiences.

OPINION: RUMOUR BLOOMERS

If there is something that all City supporters would like to hear is that Carlos Tévez is going to stay with Manchester City; if not, come out and say it. Rumours and more rumours only make it all that more frustrating about Tévez’s future; only when we see and hear Tévez say it shall we believe it.

We see a lot of press in who City are going to unload during the summer, but no one yet, though most other clubs are the same, nothing happening. I guess that just after a long and hard season, everyone deserves a break, and yet we think in some cases City must act quickly to get the players they need to help the squad get stronger, or other clubs will move in. So far though that does not seem to be the case, all quiet in the transfer market.

There is also that some clubs up their price when City approach, and the club only want to pay realistic prices for top players, which is very right, unless you also consider the potential of value a player will make in the future, sometimes a gamble.

In truth we City supporters should try to relax after a fantastic season, but now we all have got that fever for more! As City supporters we shall wait anxiously for new players to be signed by Roberto Mancini to fit into his jigsaw puzzle of the team.

We waited 35 years for a trophy, we have the patience to wait – the best is yet to come!

Come on you Blues!

OPINION: FOR EVERYTHING ELSE, THERE’S…

Airline Ticket Los Angeles to Heathrow: $960
Cup Final Ticket from on-line scalpers: $1200
City winning the Cup: Priceless!

I was fortunate enough to go to the old Wembley 35 years ago, as a 15 year-old with my big brother (18) and delight in the Tueart overhead kick League Cup Final win. My dad got the tickets through ICI, they were 6 quid each: pricey really since my Junior Blues season ticket (Kippax) was only 4 pound 50 (50 pence discount for early sign-up).

In ’81, as a 20 year old I was skint and could barely afford to watch the game on TV. We was robbed. Mind you, if there’s one thing Argentinians are good at, it’s football. Wars, not so much.

Thirty-five years later, here we are in Southern California, where there are more United fans than I ever met in Manchester.

I first discovered MCIVTA right after Al Gore invented the Internet. I’m not as frequent a visitor as I used to be, since the introduction of free porn, but I just thought I should share my ecstasy with y’all though not my actual ecstasy, as that’s expensive.

By the way anyone going to the LA Galaxy game on July 24th is welcome to buy me a cold beer, because, as you know, English people only drink warm beer.

OPINION: HALF A WORLD AWAY

This is a little late, but I thought I would share my impressions of 14 May 2011. I have just returned to Australia after experiencing something I was beginning to doubt I would ever see again. I was coming back for my father’s 90th birthday and looking at the date of the final I optimistically thought I should make sure that I arrived back in time to see the Cup Final, if we got there. I arrived at 6:40 am on 14 May, having managed to get hold of a ticket and met up with my cousin and various friends at Marylebone Station. After a few beers (at the Allsopp Arms, no sign of Danny) we then hopped on the train to Wembley. By this time I was feeling pretty weary but got my second wind from somewhere when we got into the ground.

I won’t describe the game, as you all know what happened (apart from the fact that we were by far the better team on the day and should have put the game out of reach by half time), but here are some of my general impressions of the occasion.

1. The fans. Both sets of fans were incredibly noisy and helped make it afantastic atmosphere. The Stoke fans were great. I was told by several peoplethat at the end of the semi final the United end was empty, but the Stoke fansstayed on in large numbers. After the game we saw plenty of them on their wayback into central London and I was amazed to see groups of rival fans singingtogether at Euston. This definitely wouldn’t have happened in 1969.
2. The stadium. I’ve been to the old Wembley a few times and the facilities forfans were pretty basic. The new stadium is a vast improvement and while it’s abit of a generic new stadium, the sight lines are great and the atmosphere wasbrilliant. Around the ground was pretty average though, little room to move atour end and seemingly surrounded by building sites and waste land. I think itsuffers by comparison with Eastlands and certainly doesn’t compare with theMelbourne Cricket Ground. The home of English football deserves a bettersetting, maybe they should move it to the real home of English football 😉
3. The journey. Queuing for ages to get on a train at Wembley Central, standingup all the way back to Manchester from Euston. Enough said. However, there wereplenty of Stoke fans on the train and there wasn’t a hint of trouble. I evensaid to one of the policemen on the train that there had been no trouble and hesaid, with a grin, ‘Don’t mention the T word’, but this was as good-natured ajourney as you could wish to see. One of the Stoke boys said we all seem subduedand if they’d won they’d have been bouncing off the ceiling, but we told him wewere all too drained after finally breaking the drought.

There were a couple of historical coincidences that struck me about our cup run this year, some personal, some not. My father and his late brother went to the FA Cup tie in 1934 where the ground record of 84,569 was set against Stoke City, and here were their sons following in their footsteps. My father took me to my first game against Aston Villa in 1962 (lost 1-2), which I believe was Neil Young’s début, and this was the year in which he sadly passed away. Finally, when I got out my 1969 Cup Final programme to compare it with this year’s version the first thing that struck me was the price 2/- (10 pence) versus 10 pounds. The second was the list of tunes played by the combined bands of the Irish and Welsh Guards (this being the pre-match entertainment in those days) and noticed the name of the third tune on the list ‘Mancini Magic’. You couldn’t make it up.

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
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[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: