Newsletter #1828

Tonight’s edition is a glorious collection of links to post-game celebrations and thoughts of the impact of the result on us, United and the wider footballing world.

No doubt minds will soon turn to next season, but for now let’s enjoy the sheer indulgence of victory.

ARTICLE: DELUDED, BITTER LOSERS

The Rag reaction to City being champions has been trademark bitterness: “You bought the title” they whine. Like United didn’t buy the title! It is fair to say that every club that has won it since the Premier League began in 1992 (Arsenal, Blackburn, United, Chelsea and City) has invested heavily in the transfer market. Spending is one thing (as City found out to our cost in the late 70s), but spending well is another and there is a lot of skill in knitting that team together and using the right tactics. Such a remark also fails to recognise the skill and dedication of the players.

Ferguson congratulated us through gritted teeth on the day that we won the title but a day later he couldn’t resist a snide little dig that he wouldn’t be spending “stupid money” unlike certain other clubs.

“We know that City are going to spend a fortune, pay stupid money, pay silly salaries and all that. We know that happens. We can’t do anything about that.”

So £30 million for Rio Ferdinand when other clubs could not afford that money and £32 million for Berbatov aren’t “stupid money”, then! What a hypocrite. Then we always knew that. Hypocrisy and “Manchester” United go hand in hand.

Ferguson’s outlay in the transfer market from when took over in 1986 to build his first title winning team (1993) exceeded the spending of the rest of “The Big Five” (remember them?) i.e. Arsenal, Everton, Liverpool and Tottenham, put together.

Also displaying his customary arrogance was Sir Bobby Ticket Tout with his “I don’t think for a moment that we have anything to worry about with regard to City. City don’t interest me very much.”

Well they should interest Mr Charlton. City just took the title! He should worry about City because we are only going to get stronger, and United are getting weaker, as Ferguson’s squad gets older, while The Glazers siphon off most of the cash. How deluded is he?

Bobby Charlton’s dismissive, graceless remarks are quintessential “Manchester” United. It is not within their DNA to be sporting or have any grace in defeat, or in victory, for that matter. That’s why everybody hates ’em, and that’s why so many fans, despite City’s wealth, are happy that we won the League rather than they did. Sunderland’s Poznan, and QPR fans cheering our third goal being prime examples of that. There have also been so many congratulatory messages for City.

It is United’s way to sneer at us clubs. It’s classic United to put other people down. They go around showing a total lack of respect to everyone else, and the moment someone stands up to them or in Mario Balotelli’s case at Wembley last year, gave them a little “wink”, they blub about us not showing them “respect”. If they won’t show anyone else any respect, then why should they get any in return? The fact is that United don’t deserve any respect. In contrast, Liverpool were classy, respectful, modest winners in the 1970s and 1980s. Granted people got fed up of them winning after a while, but they didn’t face the universal hatred from fans of other clubs that United do. They were respected, and rightly so.

I don’t particularly like Chelsea, but I admire the way they won the Champions’ League. They showed immense character and organisation to defeat the great Barcelona and a very good Bayern side. Would United ever give any credit to anyone else without sniping? Never.

United have sneered at us for years but we can look back and laugh at them again now. They have tried to knock us off our stride and they have failed. The most famous London Rag of all time, David Beckham, claimed we had “no chance” of winning the title earlier in the season. Wrong! Let’s face it, the preening clothes horse ain’t the brightest. Chris Smalling (who he?) blabbed in the press that City would crumble. The only team crumbling was United at home to Everton, at Wigan and in a Manchester derby where they were too scared to attack us. The highest profile bit of crumbling in the match was… Chris Smalling, who lost his marker, one Sir Vincent Kompany, who powered home a glorious winner. It was sweet seeing City score, win and witness further crumbling of the Evil Empire.

I am so happy for us that we are Champions, and it is all the sweeter that we beat the World’s Most Hated Club to it.

I look forward to rubbing their ugly noses in the dirt again next season.

ARTICLE: DOWNLOAD

Hi everyone,

You may have heard me singing “Live” on BBC Radio Manchester, one hour before the QPR game. To hear and download, please go to http://www.parrothouse.co.uk/ and follow the link on the first page.

It comprises four verses. First two are about the current team and the current situation. The last two are about the 1968 Championship winning team and their situation back then.

Enjoy and have a nice close season.

Come On You Blues.

ARTICLE: CELEBRATIONS

After the match we ended up in The Slug and Lettuce on Deansgate. The atmosphere seemed pretty special in there at the time but I now think we missed a trick. I’m sure many of you are not strangers to this video but were any of you there?

If so, I’m jealous. This simply encapsulates what it all meant to us (and how the male of the species never really grows up :-))

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BH0tK5t_hSA

ARTICLE: FINDING THE WORDS

It has taken a long time for me to be able to find anything near the right words to describe the events of Sunday 13th May. I probably never would get it down fully if I took the rest of my life, so I have opted for a breathless approximation of my thoughts and emotions. Hopefully this will relay the way my whole essence was shredded and then put back together on that day, although not quite in the same order I think!

Before “Seminal” Sunday, days crawled by. Work got shelved. Sleep was fitful. Nerves built to a crescendo. Saturday took forever and a day.

On Sunday, partial confidence ebbed back. Cold logic forecasted glory. Heart nodded nervous assent. Mouth refused to agree.

Early train up from Euston, grasping ticket like a bar of gold – something of great value and great weight.

Dutch courage required at hostelry. Drank beer, ate food, drank beer, ordered taxi, ground entered. Mumbling something about only a freak result stopping us now.

Game on, at last! Half time – one up. This must be it. The golden age is dawning. Come on City!

Ninety minutes – one down. How did this happen? The freak result is on.

Anguish. Despair. Shock. Disbelief. Horror.

Grim acceptance.

Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow.

One goal back – too little too late? Argh! Stupid Nasri letting the ball run for a throw-in!

Seconds left. Is there a hole large enough for all of us to crawl into and die? Balotelli falls, nudges ball through throng of players. Ball rolls in slow motion to Agüero; he skips past challenge, shoots and…

Time stands still for one perfect, heart-stopping moment…

… the net bulges. Heaven from hell. Pandemonium.

Ecstasy. Disbelief. Belief. Love. Pride. A union of joy. Pure magic.

Oh Mother, I can feel the years of hurt fading from my head.

Breathe. Not over yet. It is now. Some people are on the pitch.

Tears now, or had they always been there? Our tears of regret turned once more to tears of happiness.

From the depths of despair to the pinnacle of paradise in the blink of an eye.

Never, ever do that to us again City. Well, not until the next time anyway.

After presentations, took taxi back to town for celebrations. 24 hour party people all over town with non-stop singing, including special guests such as Uwe Rösler, Gary Owen, Tommy Booth and others! Avoided a fight with a Rag in the Hilton. More taxis. Other Bacchanalian stuff into the wee hours. A tale for another day.

More joy the next day in the parade. Got a good view in Deansgate then rushed back home to that there London, ready for a mighty hangover from two days of excess. Grinning like a loon, not much concentration was possible over next few days but finally it starts to sink in and there is time to reflect.

Whilst I admire Mr. Kipling and his conditional poem, in this instance I prefer the Bard’s take on the subject. To quote the Player King:

“The violence of either grief or joy
Their own enactures with themselves destroy.
Where joy most revels, grief doth most lament;
Grief joys, joy grieves, on slender accident.”

When all is said and done, chance can be left forgotten, blowing in the wind, and one word remains, resonating above all others – Champions.

ARTICLE: REFLECTIONS

No point in reviewing everybody’s emotions on those last three minutes of the QPR game. Enough said already but trust our City to put us through the wringer. Being a gentleman, with cries of ‘Rooney – Rooney’ echoing around the main bar in the Pwllheli hostelry, with less than two minutes to go in our game – and us 2-1 down, and the Manure ‘faithful’ all chanting ‘City sh*t’ etc. and those ‘die-hards’ opening the door to acclaim their 20th title and pour scorn on us poor City losers, I thought the only honourable thing to do, wearing my scarf and shirt was to go out there and in my studied way, shake hands with them all and congratulate them on their win over Sunderland and their title. This I did and returned to my sanctuary inhabited not only by City supporters but by those of Everton, Liverpool, Arsenal, West Brom, Villa, Norwich etc. They were united in one desire – that, somehow against all odds – we would pull the fat from the fryer – in some three minutes! This we did – quite unbelievably – and, amid the rejoicing – being a Welsh Methodist – my thoughts went out to the (previously triumphant) S*um Bags who infested the main bar and the screen by their numbers and whom, I reiterate, I had moments earlier congratulated on their ‘trophy’. Imagine my ‘surprise’ when I opened that same door to that same vast bar-room area to shake those same hands and mutter words of commiseration – and found it empty! This was an exodus of Biblical proportions. Moses would have clapped his hands. Not one had the guts to stay and congratulate us. But that’s the way they are.

Which brings me to my second reflection – at the risk of boring your erudite readers and contributors.

The question of animus between supporters of various teams. Time was when the basic visceral nastiness and violence between supporters was ‘kettled’ between Un*ted and Liverpool and the more parochial – and rather pathetic – rivalry between Spurs and Arsenal. I don’t actually believe that same distaste exists between Liverpool and Everton supporters. They co-exist within the same families. They go to their derby matches in a spirit of familiar rivalry – I’ve been there and witnessed it – as I have at Goodison when City and Everton fans, all wearing their colours mixed freely, and friendly, before the match – and whatever the outcome, shook hands, exchanged names and telephone numbers. What has changed is that we – City – are dominant in the Premier League – and in City’s heartland – their birthplace, the City of Manchester. What I fear is a revival of viral animosity – where the Reds, accustomed to local, national and international supremacy, find themselves beaten by their ‘noisy’ companions in arms, re-address their vitriol towards us – City. The Game is essentially no more and no less than a tableau of competitive entertainment. We should all bear that in mind.

Which brings me to my final reflective, point…

Every team has its complement of yobs supporters. City has its own battalion – each individual by the brandishing of his ASBO and his ankle band – as if it were a proof of virility (sic) – and the other shaven – headed thugs proclaiming their love for our club. Well, I’m with your (regrettably infrequent) contributor, Martin Hunt who, with his son, had his day in the sun to watch City marred by the moronic chants of two cell-brained ‘Blues’ singing that Munich song. Surely, these retards can be identified and banned from buying tickets and attending any of our home games. This is not NIMBY reaction. Would you, really, want them next door? Would you really want them drag your love of our club into the dirt? Would you wish to be tarnished by that brush?

I say No!

City – identify and get rid!

ARTICLE: TWO WEEKS ON

Two weeks on and it’s still not properly sunk in yet – but hey I’m really enjoying trying to get my head around the feeling… City, Premier League Champions! I used to contribute quite regularly in MCIVTA’s early days and really must get round to that ‘Why Blue’ article I promised Ashley many blue moons ago!

For now, just in case any subscriber has not seen the greatest video ever posted on YouTube, make sure you watch the link below. It’s simply awesome and brilliantly captures those unbelievable last 5 minutes that will stay with all us City fans as long as we live.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9JyCzbBACw

ARTICLE: CAN YOU HEAR US?

I don’t know why but some alternative lyrics for David Bowie’s Space Oddity sprang to mind after our success the other week. For those of you who can’t quite remember the song it started with “Ground control to Major Tom” and had a countdown in the background at the start. The lyrics that sprang to mind are for the end of the song (I’ll work on a full version and send it to KotK if it’s any good!).

The lyrics made me smile so hopefully they appeal to some of you out there, especially as they work well with the noisy neighbour tag. So, think David Bowie and think of the end of the song where it’s “Ground control to Major Tom, your circuit’s dead…” except make it Ferguson rather than Major Tom, giving us…

“Ground control to Ferguson
Your watch has stopped, there’s something wrong
Can you hear us Ferguson
Can you hear us Ferguson
Can you…”

“Here are you standing on the touchline
Agüero scores our 3rd
Planet earth is Blue and there’s nothing you can do”

Ok, so maybe the planet isn’t all Blue yet but we’re working on it.

AND FINALLY… SRI LANKAN BLUES

Having recently gained some coverage for Sri Lankan Blues on BBC’s world service I wonder if any other MCIVTA readers are from here?

Do let me know as it would be good to meet up with fellow Blues.

RESULTS AND TABLE

2011-12 Final League table

                    P  GD Pts
 1 Manchester City 38  64  89 *CHAMPIONS*
 2 Manchester Utd  38  56  89
 3 Arsenal         38  25  70
 4 Tottenham H     38  25  69
 5 Newcastle Utd   38   5  65
 6 Chelsea         38  19  64
 7 Everton         38  10  56
 8 Liverpool       38   7  52
 9 Fulham          38  -3  52
10 West Brom A     38  -7  47
11 Swansea City    38  -7  47
12 Norwich City    38 -14  47
13 Sunderland      38  -1  45
14 Stoke City      38 -17  45
15 Wigan Athletic  38 -20  43
16 Aston Villa     38 -16  38
17 QPR             38 -23  37
-----------------------------
18 Bolton Wndrs    38 -31  36
19 Blackburn R     38 -30  31
20 Wolves          38 -42  25

MCIVTA FAQ [v1112.01]

[1] MCIVTA Addresses

Articles (Philip Alcock)         : editor@mcivta.city-fan.org
News/rumour                      : 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/Twitter

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://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: