Newsletter #1738

To quote the famous author Erich Maria Remarque “Im Westen nichts Neues” – yes it is indeed very quiet on the transfer front; even a quick trawl of NewsNow before writing this editorial revealed only rumours of us signing Feyenoord’s starlet Karim Rekik, who is 16 and was part of the Dutch European U-17 tournament winning team and Jose ‘the special one’ was interested in one of our strikers for £27 million – that wasn’t Tévez on the cheap or Adebayor for a more inflated amount, no it was allegedly Edin Dzeko – we shall see, maybe after 1 July when the European window opens?

In case you didn’t get the memo, Heidi isn’t here for three issues so apologies in advance for having to put up with my ramblings for a few issues; let’s see if this time I manage not to lose contributions between now and Heidi’s safe return.

Thank you to our valued contributors for this issue; please feel free to keep them coming, whether you want to reminisce about the season past, the season to come or just see if fellow McVittees will club together and buy Stuart Pearce another Beanie the Horse as he looks like he needs it at the moment.

OPINION: GOLD / PLATINUM MEMBERSHIPS

I may be a bit slow on the uptake for this one, with many Blues having already renewed their seasoncards for next season. But after looking at the gold / platinum packages available, it seems unfair to ask fans to pay an extra £50 to become platinum members.

I have no interest in an ‘online’ subscription to either the MANC magazine or matchday programme, but if I don’t comply and pay the extra £50 then I’ll get left behind in terms of loyalty points (380 instead of 190 upon joining, double points for away games / cup games).

Does having an ‘online’ subscription to the mag/programme make a fan more loyal than one who does not? I don’t think so. Loyalty points should be awarded for attendance of games only, and the club essentially charging £50 for a few hundred loyalty points makes a mockery of the whole system.

Apologies if I’m being dense and have completely misunderstood the membership packages, but it feels like I’m being ripped off. I don’t like the thought of being leapfrogged by fans who currently have fewer loyalty points than me if I don’t pay this £50.

Does anyone think this system is fair?

REQUEST: LA GALAXY BLUES

I am wondering how many City fans will be attending the Galaxy game? Several of us from San Diego will be making the trip north and wondered who we might meet up with.

REQUEST: SAN FRANCISCO BLUES

Hello to everyone who is travelling to San Francisco for the Club America game.

We have recently formed an official supporters’ club out of San Francisco. Our venue is a pub is called Maggie McGarry’s in the heart of San Francisco’s tourist area, North Beach. It’s about 10 minutes by taxi from the ballpark where the game will be played.

http://www.maggiemcgarrys.com/ 1353 Grant Avenue, San Francisco, California.

We will be there before the game (and after the game for live music).

MCIVTA FAQ [v1011.01]

[1] MCIVTA Addresses

Articles (Jim Walsh)             : 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.

Jim Walsh, editor@mcivta.city-fan.org

Editor: