Newsletter #1821

Well it may have been billed as the ‘Mother of All Derbies’ but already it has lost its billing as the most important game of the season. That title now befalls Sunday’s game on Tyneside!

That said, Monday night’s game was of seismic significance, if not a classic of a match. The appropriateness of the night’s goalscorer had a beautiful symmetry to it and I simply cannot recall an atmosphere as intense in my time watching City, which goes back to 1974. Do let me know if you disagree!

So, whilst savouring the result of Monday’s battle we now look to the next stage of the war – St James’ Park, Sunday 6th May, 1.30 – will it become a date we all remember for the rest of our lives?

Let’s hope so (especially as it’s my mum’s birthday… happy birthday Mum!)

MATCHVIEW I: CITY 1 THAT LOT 0

City took the leadership of the table with this thoroughly deserved victory over United in a white hot (nay, blue and white hot!) atmosphere in the Etihad Stadium. It had been a beautiful sunny, spring day in the North of England (an oasis in a month of April showers), and the day was that much better for this crucial win over our odious rivals.

City were unchanged, and a clearly worried United had come for a draw with Ferguson leaving Valencia on the bench and leaving Rooney isolated as a lone striker.

Nevertheless, City started off nervously as United denied us the space to play our sublime passing game. Indeed, in those first fifteen minutes we struggled to get out of our defensive third of the field, but gradually, class told.

Once City found our rhythm there was no looking back. Barry and Yaya wrested control of midfield whilst Nasri and Silva prompted and probed as City wove intricate patterns on the lush green turf.

It was to be 25 minutes though before we had a shot, and Sergio Agüero volleyed well over and wide from the inside right position in the box. Then Tévez and Yaya combined in a thrilling break to release Agüero but his shot was deflected wide for a corner. City were warming to the task.

Space was tight, though, as United got nine outfield players behind the ball, and enjoyed an overall height advantage.

Just when it seemed futile to be playing any high crosses from set pieces into the box, City struck. A previous corner had been headed out back to us by a United defender and after a clever reversed pass by Silva, Nasri forced another flag kick. Silva played a perfect corner back in from the right; Kompany lost his marker and rose majestically to bullet a header into the net. The net billowed, Vinny peeled away in delight and leapt again into the air by the Kippax/Singing Corner as an ecstatic Etihad Stadium exploded! Oh, ye-e-e-e-e-s!

Advantage City! It was a well-deserved goal for Kompany who had been unfairly booked after a quarter of an hour for a blocking challenge on the cheating Rooney, who typically made a meal of it. Let us not forget that Kompany was also the victim of grossly unfair red card in the FA Cup.

The visitors from Trafford, London, Essex and other parts of Gloryhuntia and Arrogantshire stayed silent. Like their manager and their team they were clearly spooked by that 6-1 thrashing and their team’s vulnerability, making precious little noise all night, prompting the well merited chant from the City fans: “Worst support we’ve ever seen”.

Scoring an important goal on the stroke of half time is always a good thing. Managers on the end of the goal have to hastily rethink their plans.

City assumed control after the break and never relinquished it. Indeed it is testament to City’s endeavour, organisation and skill that United did not manage a shot on target all night.

City tried to add to the lead. Barry, who was having an absolute stormer in central midfield, played in Nasri but the Frenchman shot wide after a clever turn.

Ferguson flailed around for answers to his problems, and on came Welbeck for Park Ji Sung. One average mid-table/2nd Division player for another average player!

Roberto Mancini substituted de Jong for Tévez, allowing Yaya Touré the freedom to run at United’s creaking rear-guard. Relishing this, Yaya fired a right foot shot just wide at the end of an exciting run in the 72nd minute.

Yet again the referee applied double standards. He was quick to book Kompany for nothing after 15 minutes in the first half and de Jong for a fair challenge (Welbeck actually fouled de Jong) and yet the likes of Carrick, Giggs, Scholes and Phil Jones were allowed to get away with their sneaky skulduggery and more obvious dirty fouls. It was a long time before the limited Carrick (a.k.a. Knightrider) and the limited Jones were booked. True to form, United targeted lynch-pin Barry with some disgraceful challenges. Jones was first to hack Barry down and should have seen red: Marriner let him off with a yellow. The plodding Carrick was next to see yellow with a knee high challenge on the City and England powerhouse. Typical, trademark Rag dirtiness. Thankfully, Gareth Barry got up.

Ashley Young was repeatedly reminded of his cheating antics as he warmed up by us in the Colin Bell Stand/North Stand corner: “You’re a cheat and you know you are!” He joined the action (on for Nani – one cheat for another) to “He’s gonna dive in a minute” from the City faithful. One young fan in the Family Stand had one of those “no diving” signs that can be found in some swimming pools! What is the point of winning when you have to cheat? Is it all about money? The trouble for United was that they weren’t winning. City were, and Ferguson didn’t like it, objecting to Mancini’s outrage at de Jong’s unfair booking. Mancini stood his ground, mocking Ferguson’s yapping (as we did too!). At one point only fourth official Mike Jones separated Mancini and Ferguson. David Platt and his counterpart Mike Phelan got their bodies in the way too, and with a clearly rattled Ferguson banished to the far end of his technical area, it all blew over. All in all, it was good to see Mancini standing up to the bully.

Ferguson later whined that Mancini had been badgering the referee. What a hypocrite. The point is that Mancini had grounds for complaint about the way the game was refereed, given the drip, drip, drip of decisions that went United’s way, which left City playing against 12 men. It is important to distinguish between Mancini’s valid complaints and the character assassination of referees that Ferguson has done over the years. No one has intimidated referees in the history of football than this horrible man, who really is unworthy of a knighthood. Roberto Mancini coolly made no further of Ferguson’s gripes, putting it all down to the heat of battle! Class act.

City were playing some delightful stuff in a thrilling, if still tense game. Yaya Touré’s clever footwork saw him engineer a chance on the edge of the box and his curling left foot shot was less than a foot wide of the left hand post. Barry was dominating the midfield engine room in a supreme performance. Nasri was leading his team mates in keeping the ball cannily. Everyone played their part from 1 to 11 (or is it from 2 to 42?!). The full backs Clichy and Zabaleta were truly excellent in both defence and attack. Kompany and Lescott were really assertive in the middle and used the ball well too. It was highly intelligent possession football that drained an uninspired United team of crucial energy.

United couldn’t hurt us without the ball. Come to think of it, they couldn’t hurt us when they did have the ball, so well organised were our boys in blue! United created nothing of note and Rooney, who was forever in the referee’s ear and who had repeatedly tried to get Kompany sent off with his cheating theatrics, was totally ineffective. The horrible little oik harrumphed and berated his team mates as well as the referee, and was well shackled by the City skipper, who was class personified.

Mancini, the master tactician, then stiffened our right hand side, replacing Silva before he tired, with Richards. This allowed Pablo Zabaleta to move forward to right midfield to staunch whatever flow United could muster. Clever man that Mancini.

Clichy then nearly capped off another classy display with a goal but De Gea stretched to beat out his goal-bound shot. Yaya then stupendously chased after a long ball out to the left that looked like it was going out. His sheer determination and athleticism got him there and he advanced, crossed from the by-line for Nasri who tried to wriggle clear of defenders and almost walk the ball into the net (old Arsenal habits die hard!). Unfortunately he was robbed, much to his (and our!) frustration as he beat the turf.

Indeed, it looked like only one team was going to score, but you can never be sure until the final whistle is blown, especially with United who got, as we predicted, five minutes’ stoppage time. Hearts fluttered when they got a corner in the final minute of the five but Hart was fouled and the pressure was eased. Hopefully Hart will be ready for Sunday, as he was unable to take the resulting free kick, which was the final action of the match.

The Etihad was a very happy place to be on Monday night! We celebrated our win that completed a double over United (the second in 4 years), and put us back at the top of the table as Blue Moon, then Oasis’s Wonderwall was played:

“Today is gonna be the day
That they’re gonna throw it back to you”

Which was so fitting on more than one level. Then a chorus of “Hey Jude” was played over the tannoy to the strains of “Na-na nah-nah City” from joyous Blues. It had been the best atmosphere that I have experienced in 32 years of supporting Manchester City.

City had out-fought, out-thought and out-played United (when did they last come here for a draw?). Indeed, Roberto Mancini had given Alex Ferguson a tactical lesson. The standard of our play was far superior and it is no exaggeration that we should have won by a wider margin.

We haven’t won anything yet. We have to beat Newcastle and QPR: two tough games against teams who are fighting for different reasons. We will take each game as it comes, which is how it should be. The squad are showing great togetherness that is bonding the team’s skill and work ethic beautifully. The level-headedness of manager Roberto Mancini, his staff and this squad is truly commendable and there will be no over celebration of completing the double and going back to the top of the table.

We have to keep our nerve, believe in ourselves and show the bottle and quality to win the next two games.

Come on City!

Goal: Kompany (45+1)

Att: 47,259

Ratings:
Hart: Kicking not always accurate and dropped one shot that was going wide, but other than that did what little he had to do pretty well: 7
Zabaleta: He has very good positional sense and passes the ball very well indeed. He was a regular attacking marauder here: 9
Kompany: The best centre half in the Premier League was class personified and his magnificent headed goal was a fitting winner of this momentous game. And yes, he rendered Rooney totally ineffective. Vincent Kompany is a highly impressive young man and it is an honour to have him as our captain: 10 (Man of the match with Barry and Yaya)
Lescott: Great reading of the game, powerful and assertive: 9
Clichy: Was immaculate yet again and used the ball intelligently. What a super signing he is proving to be too: 9
Silva: Great to see him in form again, he constantly tormented United’s defence: 8
Yaya Touré: Covered every blades of grass in an awesome performance. Already a City legend, he is truly the complete footballer and a sheer pleasure to watch: 10 (Man of the match with Barry and Kompany)
Barry: Another great performance, he surpassed himself again. Such great industry, tenacity and incisive, common sense passing all night. He finds angles to find the wide players that is truly commendable: 10 (Man of the match with Yaya and Kompany)
Nasri: Delightful to watch and so intelligent all night. His influence is growing and he will be even better next season: 9
Tévez: Strove manfully despite being fouled several times by Ferdinand, without a free kick being awarded: 7
Agüero: It may not have been an easy game to play in with space at a premium, but he worked very hard and can be proud of his contribution which grew when he became the lone striker: 8
Subs:
de Jong (for Tévez 68): Stiffened midfield. Did not deserve booking: 7
Richards (for Silva 82): too late to mark
Milner (for Nasri 90+1): too late to mark

Refwatch: Andre Marriner: A disgraceful performance. A referee is supposed to be even handed. So why did so many United nudges, pushes in the back and foul go unpunished, and yet City were pulled up for absolutely everything, including tackles that weren’t even fouls? Why was Scholes not booked for a handball that stopped City breakaway in the first half? Why was Scholes not booked for a clear tug on Yaya? He was very quick to book City players, yet United players like Carrick and Jones put in worse challenges and got more leniency before finally being booked later. Yaya Touré was booked for slamming the ball down (technically dissent) after a perfectly good challenge but Rooney was allowed to call Marriner a “f*****g tw**” without punishment. Phil Jones also went unpunished for dissent when he was already on a yellow. Double standards yet again. Marriner is one of several refs who give United preferential treatment. To compound this, at one point, he even took his eye off the ball and missed a United handball. Not worthy of a point: ZERO

Best oppo: Andre Marriner: disgraceful.

Footnote

My friend Steve and I went to City Square and enjoyed a memorable moment on the big screen: Vincent Kompany scoring with that header and his joyous celebratory leap towards the Kippax will live long in the memory.

Come on City!

MATCHVIEW II: CITY 1 THAT LOT 0

Manchester City 1 Manchester United 0

Attendance 47,259

You know you must be attending a big game when even the queue for the chippy is being controlled by four fat bouncers dressed in police uniform. They tried to look as threatening as possible and when someone attempted to put a bottle in a bin it was instantly confiscated and the remaining half a fluid ounce of ale ceremoniously poured onto the grass nearby. Lucky not to be arrested there son.

No programmes on sale at the booths outside the stadium so I had to go in much earlier than I wanted to get one. I hate just waiting for an hour before kick off listening to the mindless ramblings of whichever idiot has grabbed the mike. Eventually the team news came on the screens and Fergie seemed to have picked a side to play for a draw. Only Rooney up front. No Welbeck, no Valencia, no Young and their really big threat is usually fast wing play. In addition, he put two geriatrics in midfield which is possible as long as you don’t go behind and have to chase the game.

United started by far the better of the two sides, chasing and harrying City back to the ‘keeper. They’d done their homework on our weakness: Silva, Nasri, Tévez and Agüero are short and never any match for a reasonably competent centre back when the goal kicks are punted up to them. Joe Hart tries occasionally to place his kicks to the full backs who are a bit taller but he usually finds touch. Occasionally, City broke through the massed ranks of United midfield and defence but without any real threat. United also looked good in midfield but became less and less sharp as they approached the City goal. It had all the look of a no score draw and was not particularly good game to watch either.

Then, virtually on half time, Kompany out-jumped his marker, Smalling, and headed home a corner to give City a 1-0 lead at half time. At half time we reflected on the comments Fergie had made not so long ago about Jonny Evans being one of the best centre backs in the Premier League and wondered where he was. Injured I assume because good as he is, Smalling is still relatively inexperienced in big occasions like this.

In the second half both teams started with the same players – again a surprise as United now needed some younger legs chasing the game. City gained more and more of the possession and at last United brought on Welbeck for Park Ji Sung but it has little effect because both he and Rooney need good service, which they didn’t get.

Meanwhile, Yaya Touré dominated, Nasri dribbled, Agüero made a thorough nuisance of himself and more and more chances went to City. With only ten minutes to go Fergie brought on his wingers. Too late though and the game was lost even though 5 minutes of Fergie-time was conjured from somewhere. Gareth Barry was made man of the match and for me he was man of the Wolves and Norwich away matches too.

I put this down as an unconvincing City win caused as much by selection and tactical failure by United as anything brilliant by City. Perhaps in his heart of hearts Fergie believes this side of his just isn’t a patch on others from the past who would surely have given a much better account of themselves in the last half hour than his selection today.

So with an eight goal goal-difference advantage, City go to Newcastle just as they did in 1968 needing to win against a side who were pretty good at home.

The parallels are uncanny – then City beat United 3-1 at Old Trafford on exactly this sort of sunny Spring evening but the advantage was eventually with United who needed to beat Sunderland on the last day of the season at home while City had a much, much tougher fixture at St James’ Park. I doubt anyone will be paying only 25p to get in against Newcastle next Sunday but more to the point there will only be 3,000 City fans instead of the 20,000 who made the trip in 1968.

In 1968 I went to Newcastle in my three gear Ford Popular – the longest trip I’d ever dared to do in that lemon yellow rust bucket with synchromesh only between second and third gears (it only had three gears).

Next Sunday I shall retrace the route taken on that day (M6, A69) and hope for a similar result but I doubt anyone will invade the pitch if we win. Not only because there would still be one match to play but also because away fans are in the John Hall stand at the top of 14 flights of stairs.

MATCHVIEW III: FROM THE UNITED END!

Watched the game in the United end with a fellow Blue Tony. Here’s my take and that of a ‘nice’ Rag stood just behind us, on what I think we all hope will prove a seminal moment for City…

There’ll be 2 minutes of injury time. This f**kin’ ref’s giving us nothin’, it’s a corner to City… f**k. Silva floats the ball towards the 6 yard line: No… no, no, oh, Kompany soars majestically and hangs in the air, Smalling’s too late, no, f**k no…h , thud! The ball cannons goalward, no no no…h, a strange demented little yellow frog frantically flails the air, No, no…h, the back of the net billows… no, f**k no, please, f**king no…h. The King of the Jungle wheels ecstatically away. No, f**k no, no…h The Etihad erupts, oh f**k, f**k no, no…h. The lions and tigers join him for the kill. No, please f**k no. Tony winks and I shoot him a grin. No, f**k no, no…h. All around is a panorama of Blue and white. No, f**k no, f**k no, all joyously writhing, hugging and jumping, a cacophony of ‘noise’, an enormous roar… and No f**k no, no… oh f**k no. Manchester City 1 Manchester United 0, scorer… and captain… Vincent Kompany. Oh yes, oh yes, oh yes!

C’mon You Blues!

P.S. if anyone has a ticket to spare for the Newcastle game… preferably in the City end, please get in touch.

ARTICLE: CITY CHAMPS? IT’S CHAMPAGNE ON ICE

After beating “our quiet neighbours” for the second time in the Premier League this season, it is without doubt that City deserve to be crowned Champions 2011/2012.

After seeing the United line-up, it showed that the Rags had come to the Etihad Stadium with a draw in mind, playing only Shrek up front on his own. City had the tactics spot-on for this game, although it was just that one great goal from Kompany that sent the world and blue moon spinning, it was all that was needed to win!

Two more games to go, the champagne is on ice!

I say give Roberto Mancini an extended contract!

In Mancini I trust! In Mancini we trust! Come on you Blues!

ARTICLE: FROM 1968 TO THE CANARIES

Dear City fans under 42 years old,

The first game I remember Dad taking me to was at Maine Road in 1960, City vs. Blackpool. Trautmann was in goal for us and Stanley Matthews on the wing for them. I was 9 so I reckon any Blue under 42 won’t remember that oh so brief period of ecstasy that we thought would never end. For me it started at Newcastle 1968. What a game, what a feeling and now we could be there again. I’m planning a 24-hour trip from Tenerife with or without a ticket. If I don’t get one I’ll watch in a pub near the Gallowgate Man Hinny!

Anyway, the main reason for this is to impart a bit of local information from these Canary Islands. Our local hero David Silva comes from Argineguin on the south coast of Gran Canaria, not far from the holiday area Playa del Ingles (English Beach). Well, the island’s main team, Las Palmas, now in the Spanish 2nd Division, has a spine-chilling war cry that plants fear in the heart of all their opponents and it will encourage our mercurial QuickSilva to recover his blistering best form… PIO PIO. It is pronounced Pee Oh Pee Oh. Always chanted quickly one Pio after the other Pio and it means literally Tweet Tweet! Naturally this has something to do with David’s island home being translated as Big Canary!

So come on City fans let’s be’avin’ you PIO PIO.

Hasta la Vista, Harvey Marcus <harvey(at)infonegocio.com>

ARTICLE: IT’S ALL SOOOOO CLOSE

Let me tell you about my day yesterday.

I awoke at 5am and was instantly wide-eyed and unable to get back to sleep; just couldn’t get my mind to quieten down. After an hour so of various futile attempts I both gave and got up, forced down some brekky and set off to start my day far earlier than usual, unable to think of anything else.

All day long my stomach was churning away and knotted up, every hour feeling like a dozen as time dragged endlessly. I had initially intended, it being just after the weekend, not to have anything alcoholic to drink but as the final approach got ever nearer I knew that whatever the result I would again be unable to sleep unless I got a drink… or three… or four… etc. inside me.

I watched the pre-match on Sky but then made the conscious decision to turn the telly over and ignore the match until after the final whistle. I tried watching Corrie but gave up on that too as I couldn’t concentrate (not that a great deal of concentration is necessarily required to keep up with the goings-on in Weatherfield) and ended up on the computer listening to YouTube videos from some of my old favourite musical acts of the 70s and 80s – pure “comfort food” viewing, you understand?

Anyhow, the red wine and Boddingtons one-two punch seemed to do the trick as at some point around half-ninish I fell fast asleep on the couch, not waking up until 10:10pm.

In my now rather disorientated panic-state I fumbled around blindly for the flicker. WHERE’S THE FLICKER, WHERE’S THE FLICKER, WHERE’S THE FFFFFFFLICKER? No prizes for guessing which word I forcibly refrained myself from using there!

I tuned in just in time to see the City goal being replayed, at which point the wife shouted in her congratulations from the back room, where she had been avoiding me all night, as she often does when we are playing. WHAT DO YOU MEAN, CONGRATULATIONS? I yelled at her. I mean did she know the score or was she just congratulating me over one goal? Panic moment, panic, panic, panic… Thankfully, it was the former – she had checked.

Vrooom! That was it, my adrenaline level shot through the roof and, that combined with the fact that my nap had taken the edge off my tiredness meant that despite my attempts at self-anaesthesia I couldn’t possibly get to sleep yet again and, after I finally did around 1-1:30am, I did so until just after 4am at which point I was back to wide-eyed and worried – this time about next Sunday.

So now I’m absolutely shattered and rather hoping that my detoxifying herbal tea will help settle me for a catch up night. Still, today has been a very good day indeed!

I did catch the Sky extended highlights this afternoon, and clearly we were the only team prepared to be positive. Daft thing, mind, is that towards the end I still felt myself getting mildly nervous; I couldn’t have stood that live.

Does Ferguson possess so much as a single shred of shame or even self-awareness? Simply unbelievable! Terms such as pot, kettle and black leap immediately to mind.

And the lengthy post-match celebrations in the crowd were a joy to behold: the singing of our version of ‘Hey Jude’ had the hairs on the back of my neck standing up (metaphorically) and goose-pimples all down my arms (literally).

Let’s just hope that all that emotion is not for nought, it’s soooo close…

ARTICLE: IT WAS A NIGHT, OOH WHAT A NIGHT IT WAS

The night Bacon Chops lost his rag(s)

Look, boys and girls, I know it’s difficult in our hour of ecstasy, but let’s stay focussed for another couple of weeks! If we’d have drawn, or lost this battle, we’d have lost the war. Now we have won a battle to ensure we’re still in there fighting with a chance of ultimate success.

Mancini is a shrewd campaigner and he’ll do all he can to prepare the boys for the visit to Newcastle! Let’s not forget that Newcastle will be a much stiffer opponent on their own patch and they have all to play for.

We’ll talk about QPR, after the visit to Newcastle, one step at a time please?

Let’s not get carried away, we’ve won the right to give it away, it’s now down to us.

Blue Moon over Holland too.

ARTICLE: MANCINI’S MASTERSTROKE

Many of Mancini’s tactical decisions have been questioned throughout this season, yet one decision he has made in the past three matches, I believe could lay the foundation for our championship win. By starting Yaya Touré with Gareth Barry in central midfield and then bringing in Nigel de Jong and pushing Yaya forward in the second half, Mancini has strengthened our defence in the second half while providing the attack with additional energy. I got a kick out of Steve McManaman’s colour commentary when he decided that bringing de Jong on was a defensive tactic that could open the door for United. What he didn’t point out that Mancini’s switch unleashed Yaya as an attacking force and United just couldn’t deal with him.

Question then. Why has Mancini dithered in offering de Jong a new contract? Sign this man up now! If City keep the same formation for the final two games, I am confident we will claim our first title in 34 years. Obviously a great performance by City and you wonder what sort of message we sent out to the 600 million people watching the match on TV? Surely, our global esteem must have risen and all those players who thought that Real Madrid, Barcelona, the two Milan teams, United and Chelsea are their preferred playing destinations, must now realize Manchester City is the new global power. Having said this, we still need to keep our quota of domestic talent.

To this end, I feel sorry for Adam Johnson and James Milner who aren’t getting much of a look in. Say what you want about Johnson but I thought he played much better than Sturridge and Walcott against Holland. He’s one player who needs to be given a chance to shine. And now the tough game… away against Newcastle! Not going to be easy but if Mancini keeps to the same formation, we should sneak by with a couple of goals to spare. Almost there.

AND FINALLY… THE DERBY FROM BRISBANE

http://blogs.abc.net.au/queensland/2012/05/city-defeats-united-in-the-manchester-derby.html

RESULTS AND TABLE

1 May 2012

Manchester City       1 - 0  Manchester United     47,259

29 April 2012

Chelsea               6 - 1  Queens Park Rangers   41,675
Tottenham Hotspur     2 - 0  Blackburn Rovers      35,798

28 April 2012

Everton               4 - 0  Fulham                31,885
Stoke City            1 - 1  Arsenal               27,502
Sunderland            2 - 2  Bolton Wanderers      40,768
Swansea City          4 - 4  Wolverhampton Wndrs   19,408
West Bromwich Albion  0 - 0  Aston Villa           25,984
Wigan Athletic        4 - 0  Newcastle United      22,187
Norwich City          0 - 3  Liverpool             26,819

League table to 1 May 2012 inclusive

                             HOME          AWAY        OVERALL
                    P  W  D  L  F  A  W  D  L  F  A  W  D  L  F   A   GD Pts
 1 Manchester City 36 17  1  0 52 10  9  4  5 36 17 26  5  5  88  27  61  83
 2 Manchester Utd  36 14  2  2 50 19 12  3  3 36 14 26  5  5  86  33  53  83
 3 Arsenal         36 12  3  3 36 14  8  3  7 32 30 20  6 10  68  44  24  66
 4 Tottenham H.    35 12  3  3 37 17  6  5  6 22 22 18  8  9  59  39  20  62
 5 Newcastle Utd   35 11  5  2 29 15  7  3  7 24 31 18  8  9  53  46   7  62
 6 Chelsea         35 11  3  3 39 21  6  7  5 23 18 17 10  8  62  39  23  61
 7 Everton         35  9  3  6 25 14  5  6  6 21 24 14  9 12  46  38   8  51
 8 Liverpool       35  5  9  3 20 14  8  1  9 23 23 13 10 12  43  37   6  49
 9 Fulham          35  9  5  4 34 25  3  5  9 11 23 12 10 13  45  48  -3  46
10 West Brom A.    36  6  3  9 19 19  7  4  7 22 28 13  7 16  41  47  -6  46
11 Sunderland      36  7  7  4 26 16  4  5  9 18 27 11 12 13  44  43   1  45
12 Swansea City    36  7  7  4 26 18  4  4 10 17 31 11 11 14  43  49  -6  44
13 Norwich City    36  6  6  6 26 30  5  4  9 21 33 11 10 15  47  63 -16  43
14 Stoke City      35  7  6  4 22 17  4  4 10 11 32 11 10 14  33  49 -16  43
15 Aston Villa     36  4  6  8 19 24  3 10  5 17 26  7 16 13  36  50 -14  37
16 Wigan Athletic  36  4  7  7 19 25  5  3 10 19 35  9 10 17  38  60 -22  37
17 QPR             36  6  5  7 23 25  3  2 13 17 38  9  7 20  40  63 -23  34
18 Bolton Wndrs    35  4  3 10 20 33  6  1 11 21 36 10  4 21  41  69 -28  34
19 Blackburn R.    36  6  1 11 26 32  2  6 10 21 43  8  7 21  47  75 -28  31
20 Wolves          36  3  2 13 19 43  2  7  9 19 36  5  9 22  38  79 -41  24

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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://www.bbc.co.uk/news/england/manchester/.

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

http://www.satfootball.com/ provides a listing of Premier League games being shown on UK domestic and foreign satellite channels. A useful site for North American viewers is http://msn.foxsports.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://searchnetworking.techtarget.com/definition/Usenet

[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] Do any squad members have their own Twitter accounts?

A list of genuine player accounts is maintained at http://twitter.com/#!/MCFC/players

[12] Where can I find match statistics?

Statistics for the current season are available from the club site, but for a more in-depth historical 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.

Philip Alcock, editor@mcivta.city-fan.org

Editor: