Newsletter #1831

Some thoughtful pieces in tonight’s edition with Ernie leading a shift of focus to next season. We’ll be defending Champions of course (he he)!

It’s been a bit of a Blue bonanza at the Euro’s too. Young Joleon scored the first ever goal by a City player at the Championships with a well-timed header and, like buses, the second came shortly after when Nasri cleverly deceived Joe Hart to grab a French equaliser.

De Jong has been putting in some hard yards for the Dutch but they suffered a second defeat to the impressive (as ever) Germans who feature ex-Blue Jerome Boateng at right back. Other ex-Blues, Shay Given and Richard Dunne, have it all to do against Spain in the second round of games and don’t hold your breath for Samaras bagging one for Greece!

An entertaining tournament so far though.

NEWS FLASH – Looks like Redknapp has resigned at Spurs!

ARTICLE: CONTRACTS END JUNE 30 AND START JULY 1

Until June 30 all players will still be on contract to their clubs, be it that their contract runs out or instead of three years it becomes two years etc. July 1 is the day when the new season starts, players will leave for other clubs and new players will be signed for the coming season. Friendly games will be arranged to get players match fit for Premier League games.

Many City supporters will still have last season on their minds and have not stopped celebrating but it is almost time to move on and start thinking about what is ahead for the new season. First, let me congratulate every player who played his part in helping City win the title, but who should leave now and who should we bring in to strengthen the squad?

All other clubs will put City under the microscope before a game and find out if there any weaknesses to be played against (at least that’s the way it should be).

I am 50/50 about Mario Balotelli. He can have a great game but he is always liable to get a red card in an important game and the team will be down to ten men. He had too many red cards last season. What he does off the field is his own thing; if he wants to act like a fool, that part does not bother me – it is what happens on the field.

I have always shown my trust in manager Roberto Mancini and it does appear that he has shown trust in Mario Balotelli.

Today I watched Balotelli playing for Italy. It looked like the ref. was keeping a sharp eye on him, and finally he got a yellow card. He has got himself a reputation for committing fouls. If he left City I would not be upset, and if he stays, then Mancini has to control him!

Edin Dzeko scored some very good goals during last season but to me he was not consistent and now rumours are circulating about a move back to the German League with Munich; if this happens, again I will not be upset about it.

MCFC have on their books a young player who has been with City for five years and was loaned out last season to Feyenoord where he scored many goals, which brought his attention to other clubs who want to sign him. I think that the young player has Blue blood and wants to stay and play for City; I say give him the chance, at first perhaps off the bench.

Through this posting I hope that I have created some talking points and some will write in with their views.

Come on you Blues! In Mancini I trust!

ARTICLE: SKY BLUE REUNION

I’d like to share with you a little anecdote that puts our success into a little bit of perspective, if it were needed.

We were parked up the other day trying to fix a bike rack to our car. It was a warm day and we bought ice creams for the kids (and us!) from a nearby ice cream van and the man who was serving said to me “I bet you’re glad that you won the title” (I was wearing that navy blue City away/3rd shirt from last year).

“I am, but it nearly gave me a heart attack” I offered.

“I’m glad they didn’t win it. United fans think they have a divine right to win. I can’t stand ’em”, he said.

I asked the ice cream man who he supported and he told me he is a Coventry season ticket holder.

“I’ve renewed for next season”, he said, adding “You’ve got to, haven’t you”, but there was hurt in his voice.

“Absolutely”, I agreed.

I empathised with his club’s plight. The Sky blues have been relegated to the third tier for the first time in over 40 years. It brought back memories of trips to Chesterfield and York (congratulations to them being back in the League by the way). Memories of struggling to beat teams in the 3rd Tier. Awful memories of Tony Vaughan crossing the ball into the stand behind the goal rather than onto Shaun Goater’s head. “We’ve been there (the third division) but we were lucky to have good owners”, I said.

If you think we had it bad being relegated to the third division, at least we had John Wardle, David Makin and David Bernstein keeping us afloat. Coventry fans are not so lucky and their club has not paid its tax for 3 months. They cannot sign players at the moment and their prospects of returning back to the Championship aren’t exactly great. I don’t have a lot of sympathy for clubs who don’t pay their tax. After all if you or I did that we’d be in big trouble, but I do however sympathise with the fans. They don’t mismanage their clubs. Some owners do.

Even after we came back from the 3rd tier, we could have become another Coventry City not so long back, but we have been lucky. Thank God that John Wardle loaned the club £2 million at the end of the Thaksin era. Thank God that Sheikh Mansour came in.

Anyway, the ice cream man wished us well next season and I wished him and his team better luck next term too.

It’s no accident that MCFC and our fans are not loathed, despite our owner’s wealth and yet United are. There might come a day when fans of other clubs are fed up with us winning trophies, rather like some people did with Liverpool back in the 1980s. That would be good! I doubt, though, that they will hate us for being arrogant or behaving like we have a divine right to anything.

I still can’t believe what has happened to us, particularly the events of May 13th 2012.

Here’s to many more years of MCFC success.

LINK: UNIQUE CELEBRATION

Check out this video on YouTube.

It is my nephew in Ipswich celebrating City winning the title. I think he may have been a little drunk. There are two vids of him on YouTube. The teddy is the one I got him when he was born.

Job done I think!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtTQv4_cNOs

ARTICLE: SHE BANGS THE DRUM

On the back of what Phil B. had to say in the next-to-last issue about our narky neighbours, I thought I’d add my bit.

Truth be told, for the most part I personally have had about a 50% magnanimous and congratulatory reaction but I’ve certainly had no shortage of the other side of it also. Several times it has got to the point where I have actually noted that I don’t know how they have the sheer temerity to call us bitter.

Best ones I’ve heard are the previously mentioned (seemingly obligatory) “You bought it”. Phil covered the angles well enough on that issue but I’d add that, in today’s reality, it’s Hobson’s Choice. You either spend big or you don’t get. Simple – even to the simple, despite a wilful, self-serving refusal to appear to understand.

Another I heard was a straight-faced “Congratulations on being the joint Champions” before being informed that we had won it “on a technicality”. This one just made me laugh. I didn’t even respond other than giving him an ear-to-ear smile, thus letting him know that in no way did our manner of victory deflect from my joy one iota.

I’ve also had plenty in the way of reminders about the 19 titles they’ve claimed. Can’t argue with any of that, obviously, but I have taken to quoting an ironically (deliciously so) pro-ManU band, the otherwise mighty Stone Roses:

“Kiss me Where the Sun Don’t Shine,
The Past is Yours but the Future’s Mine,
You’re all out of Time…”

– ‘She Bangs the Drum’.

But the best one I’ve personally heard was down the gym this week: a Red was telling me that in his daughter’s class, they all seem to be City fans suddenly. He added that one in particular was telling him he’s just bought a City top, indeed without a drop of irony he straight-facedly put it thus, “He’s never been to the Etihad but he’s got a shirt”. Now coming from a ManUre fan, that is simply jaw-dropping in its lack of self-awareness.

We might be the richest team in the world but when it comes to brass-faced whingers, they still beat us hands-down.

CITY RINGTONE

I am still feeling Champion and every day I watch the 5 added minutes.

Every day I still fill up as the ball hits the net, it’s a goal, you can bet, it’s Agüero. As I said to my son (31 and only ever really suffered!), “Now you know how we felt in ’68”. I so wanted this to happen for my lad’s sake and I am sure I am not the only father thinking like this.

Anyway, to get to the point I have made this ringtone, which I am very very chuffed with and wondered if any of my fellow MCIVTA family would like it?

Briefly what I have done is spliced ten seconds of the Sky commentary when Dickov gets the equaliser with ten seconds of the MotD commentary when Agüero scores the winner. Anyway I think it sounds awesome even if I do say so myself.

If you would like to hear it then e-mail me and I will send it to you, I have called it ‘CityHistory.mp3’.

(ED – I can vouch for its quality!)

AND FINALLY… GERRY GOW

Stumbled across this by accident.

Blues of a certain age will be interested to know that Bristol City are playing a MCFC XI on Saturday 28 July at 3pm as a testimonial for the great (some may say infamous!) Gerry Gow.

Heaven knows what sort of team we’ll be putting out seeing as the first team, minus any players in Olympic squads, will be in China at the time, but it could be a fun day out.

According to the Bristol City website (which is, it has to be said, fairly rubbish), they are only opening the main stand, so not clear what the situation is regarding away fans and there’s nothing on the MCFC website yet.

https://www.eticketing.co.uk/bristolcityfc/details/event.aspx?itemref=2772

RESULTS AND TABLE

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
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/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: