NEWSLETTER #1970
MAN CITY INFO VIA THE ALPS “McVittee!” (1970)
Created in 1994, MCIVTA is the longest running unofficial Manchester City related web site and e-newsletter in existence.
ISSUE DATE: Saturday 24 January 2015
NEXT GAME: Middlesbrough, Etihad Stadium, Saturday 24 January (15:00 GMT)
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BRING BACK THAT WINNING FEELING…
City’s fourteen game unbeaten run had to end sometime, and to be fair, it was to a fine performance from Arsenal. We shouldn’t be overly concerned. City underperformed for a variety of reasons, which is the subject of a little discussion in this issue, but there is no problem that cannot be resolved. For instance, City’s back four has the wherewithal to organise itself to defend better at set pieces.
Five points behind Chelsea at this stage of the season is not a decisive lead, but we don’t need that lead to grow any more. Even though City have famously clawed eight and nine point leads back before, there is a steely resilience about Chelsea that Liverpool and United didn’t quite possess.
This weekend it’s back to the FA Cup. I don’t know about you, but I’d love to feel that Wembley winning feeling again, and there’s unfinished business where the FA Cup is concerned. Losing that final to Wigan with a whimper two seasons ago should fire most of these players to go back and reclaim the trophy that broke our 35 year trophy drought in 2011. Last season both the manager and players showed complacency in allowing both Watford and Wigan two goal starts, and the latter tie saw us come unstuck. Hopefully we will get as strong City side as possible, which does not take Middlesbrough lightly, and gets the job done. Aitor Karanka has done a brilliant job with his promotion dark horses, and they are capable of beating us if we are below our best. There has been plenty of talk in the press about City’s late arrival back from Abu Dhabi. A quick mid-season trip over to Abu Dhabi is a small price to pay, considering the wonderful transformation of Manchester City by Sheikh Mansour. Hopefully, despite cutting it fine, Manuel Pellegrini has planned the trip well enough so that we can do ourselves justice this afternoon. We’ll report on that on the website, social media and, of course, in the next issue of the MCIVTA newsletter.
Today’s edition contains comment and a match report from the Arsenal game, continues the theme of City in the 60s and 70s with some lovely pieces. There is also publicity of an appeal to restore the Ancoats Dispensary Trust Fundraising at today’s game, a lovely Why Blue from Robin Culpin and some pertinent comment from Derek about the media coverage that City receive. Thank you all. Special thanks to Martin Hunt, for his ever-engaging contributions, especially at a time when he has not been feeling very well. Get well soon, Martin.
As we move into the 1970s (issue-wise), it would be interesting to read about the League Cup win over the Baggies and especially anyone who went to Vienna for the Cup Winners’ Cup Final win over Gornik. Please keep your memories coming from the 60s and 70s. It would also be good to read some more views of the state of play now.
Here’s to at least another fourteen game unbeaten run for City. If City manage it we will possibly be fighting for three trophies.
Come on City.
Kind regards,
Phil Banerjee
Editor.
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MATCH REPORT: MANCHESTER CITY 0 ARSENAL 2 (HT 0-1)
City’s title hopes froze in the cold, Wintry air with this defeat to a vibrant Arsenal side, who thoroughly deserved this win. The Gunners not only played good football but they were quick to close us down from the off and worked hard to disrupt City attacks all afternoon.
City didn’t move the ball quickly enough or find any rhythm in the first half and really missed the poise and class of Yaya and the injured Nasri. Despite an improvement after the break, City couldn’t break down an uncharacteristically stubborn Arsenal defence. It isn’t feasible or reasonable to expect David Silva to do it all on his own, even though he tried as hard as ever, but often found he hadn’t got options to hit that would stretch Arsenal. Indeed, City lacked the partnerships that have made us such a force in recent years. When Aguero gets a couple of games under his belt we should see more of such slick touch play in tight spaces.
City trailed to Cazorla’s penalty at the break which was controversially given after a theatrical Monreal swallow dive. Kompany had stood his ground but leaned out slightly which probably made up the officials’ mind, There was enough doubt, though, not to award a spot kick, and several officials wouldn’t have given it. Arsenal had been the better side before the break with the powerful, mazy running of Sanchez, supported by Ramsay and the sublime Cazorla. They were elusive as they skipped through challenges and it took top draw defending by Zabaleta, Fernando and Fernandinho to stop them in at least three separate instances.
City gave Arsenal a thorough examination for the first twenty minutes after the break as substitute Jovetic (on for Milner) brought verve and fresh ideas to the attack: Fernandinho’s powerful run saw Aguero force a fine save from Espina; then the Arsenal goalkeeper did well to thwart Navas’s angled shot; and Fernandinho fired over as City laid siege for those first twenty minutes of the 2nd half. It was more like the City that we have enjoyed over the last few years.
This was abruptly curtailed when after a Arsenal break, Cazorla floated over a cross and Giroud was at the head of a queue of unmarked Arsenal players, to head in unchallenged to double Arsenal’s lead. It was shockingly bad defending and it is becoming a habit at set pieces. The second goal seemed to knock the stuffing out of us and a Dzeko shot from the angle aside, the Arsenal keeper remained untested.
Arsenal were always a danger on the counter with pace and the fear was they’d score again but 0-2 was the correct scoreline, sadly.
Arsenal had players out too so we cannot use injuries as an excuse. Navas worked hard but, yet again, he hit the first man with nearly every cross and was lucky that he didn’t get the hook at half time. Milner is not a quick but is far better crosser. He could have been competitive and creative in central midfield but he is hardly ever used there. It was strange decision making from Pellegrini, though, that neither Navas nor Milner were on the pitch to give Dzeko the sort of wide service that he thrives on. In fact our attack became narrower as our forwards concertinad into the middle, and this played into Arsenal’s hands.
Arsenal deserved their win: they defended very well when they had to, and were quick, mobile and fast with the powerful running of Ramsay, the trickery, speed and skill of Sanchez and in particular man of the match Cazorla. City, though, must do better. We have not won a Premier League game this season without Yaya Toure and we have to find a way to cope like we did in Rome. Maybe we must be a little more direct in the absence of Nasri and Yaya. We must defend set pieces much better than we are doing, and be better organised. Why was Kompany detailed to defend so wide and follow Mertesacker when regular set piece scorers like Giroud were left unattended? Illogical, Captain.
Also, we have to move the ball quicker, and more consistently retain possession. Instead of resting key players for next Saturday’s Cup game we should take the opportunity to regain some rhythm to our play, iron out faults and progress.
Ratings:
Hart: Had no chance with the penalty. With no defender challenging for Arsenal’s second goal, maybe he could have come for the cross, but it was just outside the 6 yard box. His distribution was poor: 6
Zabaleta: The pick of City’s players, he put in some meaty challenges to win the ball and he did well enough against the slippery Sanchez despite being beaten by him a couple if times: 7
Kompany: Looked rusty with a couple of challenges including the one which conceded the penalty. Still dug us out of a few holes though: 6
Demichelis: Gave the ball away a few times and his lack of pace was exposed a few times. His poorest game by far since last spring: 4
Clichy: Had some issues stopping Oxlade-Chamberlain in the first half but rallied. He helped build play down the left but crosses weren’t potent and lacked quality: 6
Navas: He got beyond Monreal several times but his crossing was poor all afternoon, hitting the first man every time bar once when Koscielny deflected the ball away from Aguero. Navas’s set piece delivery was dire as well. He works hard and his attitude is good but he is consistently failing to get his crosses past the first man which is nowhere near good enough at this level. Even wingers from struggling sides like Jason Puncheon and Adam Johnson are getting their crosses in. He also spurned a good chance to score: 5
Fernando: Helped keep Arsenal’s quick-passing attack at bay with some important challenges but lost Giroud for their 2nd goal. Distribution variable: 6
Fernandinho: Like his compatriot he made some timely challenges but he also gave the ball away at times, sometimes in dangerous areas. Set up Aguero for a chance and fired one over himself: 6
Milner: Put in the best cross of the match but struggled to get into the game out wide, owing to a lack of City possession and service, but would have been better employed tucked in. Was still unlucky to be subbed, when Navas’s performance is taken into account: 5
Silva: Tried to create but often found a lack of movement in front and around him: 6
Aguero: Like the City Captain, he was rusty. Still forced a save out of Espina: 6
Subs:
Jovetic (for Milner 46): Full of iideas and running but couldn’t find the target when it mattered: 6
Dzeko (for Navas 77): Did well to fashion a chance for himself but not enough time to make an impact: n/a
Lampard (for Fernandinho) n/a
Man of the Match: Cazorla: Absolutely brilliant with his tight control, strength, intelligence passing and movement. One bit of persistence when he jinked and powered (yes, powered) through City tackles drew applause from several City fans). Scored the perfect penalty and his delivery for the visitors’ 2nd goal was perfect, and was the best player on the pitch: 9
M Dean: Seemed to fall for a few theatrics which didn’t endear himself to us, but no one can really blame him for this defeat: 5
Phil Banerjee
phil.banerjee AT orange.net
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CITY HAVE MANY MORE GAMES TO GO!
We have got to hand it to the Gooners they out gunned us, on the day.
I was disappointed in our sixteen corners , all just kicked into the mix , where the Gooners have tall central defenders , I would have liked to have seen at least one sent low to the edge of the box to surprise the Gooners !
Navas is fast going down the wing, then slows everything down, with a decision as what to do , he must do better .
ZabaZabaDoo had a good game marking Sanchez.
I fear that Kompany was a bit rusty, first game back after injury.
Being CITY Fans we have got used to winning, lose a game, and some go nuts !
We still have a great Manager/Coach in Manuel Pellegrini, who won Manager of the month, without any strikers… Congratulations!
I would like to see CITY beat Chelsea with Lampard getting the winner!
Many more games to go this season, CITY will be back… stay strong.
CTWD
In Pellegrini I trust……….. Come on you Blues!
Ernie Barrow.
Britcityblue AT aol.com
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CITY AND THE MEDIA
It is strange that the PL Champions get so few positive mentions in the media. The outlets, and more so the reporters, have their own favourites and this is the case with the Daily Telegraph, a publication which has a daily sports pull-out. Take Saturday the 17 Jan for example. The front cover did not have a picture of Manuel Pellegrini, the newly declared Barclays Manager of the Month, holding his trophy (there was also no mention of this
award inside the publication) but one of Mourino with news that he had broken his much-publicised silence to resume his usual grumblings and rantings. The paper has a Mark Ogden who is accredited to be the Northern Football Correspondent. This is a bit of a joke as he only wants to write page after page of mainly rubbish about United. At one time the publication
was akin to a United fanzine, day after day complete with a sprinkling of nasty stuff about City. We even had a full column about Van Gaal loving being in England for the food – his favourite being his local Chinese! He did manage three pages about City recently concerning the Lampard mixup and
how it reflected badly on the club. Going further back, we got one sentence saying our new Academy had opened (we would have had a full issue had United done anything similar) and just one line saying Mike Doyle had died. This was terrible when we got a full page when one of the Greenhoffs (who were they?) had passed on [Ed: with all due respect to the late Brian Greenhoff, the imbalance in coverage is very apparent and is a recurring theme].
We lost to Arsenal on Sat 17 Jan and Henry Winter did the report. It wasn’t too bad but somewhat pro-Arsenal and how Wenger had outwitted Pellegrini but the man marking was by Ogden. I saw the match on TV and I thought it was pretty even all round so it was amazing, if not unexpected, to see ten
Arsenal players given a higher mark than their City Counterparts, the only exception being Martin Demichelis who tied with Koscielny on 7/10. Arsenal’s total was 81 against City’s 63, which ridiculous as City won the corner count 16-3, posession 65-35 and shots 12-9 so we were in the game.
Anyway, best not to worry about these things and hope that these people can adopt a neutral approach so we can believe what they write.
Derek Styles
deranne10 AT gmail.com
[Ed: Of course, Derek is right. City don’t get the media coverage that is merited. Unfortunately the print and spoken media is awash with writing that is downright unprofessional and biased. Henry Winter and a few other are normally fair about City and give us credit when it is due. Sadly, it looked like Pellegrini got certain tactics and decisions wrong last Sunday, but outwitted by Wenger? That would be stretching a point. As for Mark Ogden, it is well-known that he is a United supporter, so draw whatever conclusions you will. Is it worth wasting our time reading anything he writes? Can can we believe what he and many others write? Ogden’s writing actually does have its uses for us. More on that later.
There is a lot of anti-City material out there in so-called quality newspapers and the tabloids, not to mention on TV and radio. Sometimes there is a lack of coverage, which is odd considering that City have been title contenders for four seasons running. For example, Radio Five Live’s Monday Night Club can go and whole 90 minutes without mentioning City if we have won and are top of the title.
Often the bias is less subtle. The BBC has become much more United-centric since moving to Salford, and the hiring of Philip Neville is symptomatic of this. We UK residents are literally paying for him to watch his own team and spout less than objective comments about City and his own team. Just a few short weeks ago, with United trailing 9 points, we were invited in a BBC Radio Five Live trailer to go to the Five Live website to hear “why Philip Neville thinks Manchester United can win the title”. Why would anyone other than a United supporter want to hear such deluded drivel? Punches are not pulled where City are concerned, and opportunities to stick the boot in are not missed, in charmless, and uninformed fashion. The TV remote comes in very handy in this household when the younger Chuckle Brother’s fizzog is present!
The Unitedisation of the media is nothing new, but isn’t it wrong how a Manchester United player commit an act of pure thuggery and have it celebrated like BBC Radio Five Live did on Thursday might with a 90 minute programme on Cantona’s stamping incident which occurred 20 years ago?. Can you imagine a player from another club being lionised like that? This programme was shameful and typical of how the BBC fawns undeniably all over Manchester United. Shameful. Shame on Mike Ingham, Jon Champion and that media-rag Jim White.
The Independent have hired Paul Scholes this season, and he didn’t miss any opportunity to take a pot shot at City in his Friday column. There is no real point for us to read it, because there are better examples of comic bitterness.
Take a look at this little gem entitled “Manchester City: Six reasons for their collapse”, which was published on the Telegraph website on Sunday 20th April 2014 (four days after 2-2 draw with Sunderland, and the day before City went on a five match winning run with a 3-1 win over West Brom), in which “Mark Ogden considers the reasons for City’s demise”
What “collapse”? Stop laughing at the back. A bit premature, n’est pas?
Ogden’s comedy started off with a couple of rib-ticklers:
“Injuries have tied Pellegrini’s hands at times, but his failure to rotate his squad sufficiently has left some players on the brink of exhaustion as they approach the final month of the campaign.”
and
“Pellegrini and Begiristain clearly failed to spot the warning signs of injury and fatigue and City are counting the cost”
The Ogden stand-up act was in full flow:
“…And with the finishing line looming in the Premier League, Pellegrini has failed to motivate his players and drive them on at the crucial time.”
And le coup de grace:
“The key to any title success is rarely about the results against fellow title contenders -Manchester United lost at home to Chelsea and City last season but won the league – it is about beating the also-rans.
City have failed spectacularly in this department. ”
The bitterness is legendary.
When MCIVTA last checked, the key to title success is being as consistent as possible and getting the most points in 38 league games, by beating as many teams as possible, wherever they are in the league.
I’ll confess to writing to Ogden at the end of last season to give us 7 reasons why United collapsed from 1st place in 2013 to 7th in 2014. There may or may not have been a mention of City’s title in my message (which I must stress, was polite), I cannot remember for sure. Thus far there has been no such piece published by Ogden and I am yet to receive a reply. Not that I’m holding my breath. Anyway, if you didn’t know already, you know where to go for a little, er, alternative comedy.
Quite, Derek, best not to worry. If you can be bothered, just enjoy their bitterness as City march on.
Phil Banerjee, Editor]
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CITY IN THE EARLY 60’s
As any true blue veteran City fan knows, supporting the Blues in the early 60’s was a painful experience.
Like most City fans, I was turned on to supporting the Blues by my dad, who grew up worshipping Frank Swift, and being a goalie for his school team also became a fan of Bert Trautmann. Yes we had won the Cup in 1956 but the following years saw City struggling at the foot of the first division. I remember City teams that featured Barry Betts and Cliff Sear as our perennial fullbacks, Joe Hayes was still with the team, Jackie Plenderleith, David Shawcross and Clive Colbridge in midfield, David Wagstaffe and Neil Young on the wings, and a rotating cast of forwards including Derek Kevan, Matt Gray, Peter Dobing and who can forget Alec Harley.
Living in Bury, my dad used to take me and a bunch of his workmates to Maine Road just to watch Trautmann play goal. He really was magic and he had to be to play goal for that mob! As bad as they were, City could pull off the odd surprise and I remember watching City beat Tottenham 6-2, I believe it was in early 1962 when Tottenham were heading for the double. Having raced to the ground without having lunch, dad sent me to line up for a couple of pies and cups of tea. It was a long lineup and every so often I would hear a huge cheer coming from the crowd, my first thought was that Bert must be playing a blinder to keep Greaves and Co at bay. Imagine my shock to get back to our seats with the pies and cups of tea to find out that City were up 3-0! Dobing was amazing that day, scoring a hat trick and even though Greaves eventually scored twice, the result was typical of what City could pull off when you least expected it. I also vividly remember Alec Harley scoring all three goals in a 3-2 win over Sheffield Wednesday – but he didn’t stick around long.
Living in Bury, It was a thrill to witness Colin Bell’s evolution, captaining Bury in a 3-0 win over Charlton at the age of 19. It was when he joined City that the 67/68 championship team started take shape. I can still remember their 1-0 win at Rotherham to clinch the 1966 Second Division championship (Bell got the winner) and being in the crowd when they picked up the trophy with their final 0-0 draw at home against Southampton (who I believe also went up) which protected their season-long unbeaten home record.
Interesting days, and those not lost on the diehards who, admittedly are getting a little spoiled by the current team’s run of success!
Keith Sharp
Toronto Canada
keith.sharp AT hotmail.com
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TEAM OF THE SIXTIES
Having confessed to being an outsider, my sense of not belonging was all the greater due to a combination of age and media. In those days, therewere only 3 channels on TV! However, I was luckier than most Blues because MOTD was originally on BBC2 (training cameramen for the 66 world cup!), butfrom the last half of 65 was spread to the Midlands from starting in London only. So I saw a few more matches on TV than most City fans.
In 65-66, it made no difference. My access to City was the results, augmented by occasional match reports. We won the 2nd Division (for another record time) and I saw none of it. At 11/12, there was no way I was allowed to go alone and there was no one to take me.
Same applied in 66-68, so I missed the amazing Champions except for away at Forest (which, of course we lost!). However, I made a packet. I went to a school of over 2000 lads and believe that I was the only Blue there. Despite making page 1 of the Daily Express for rioting and having a reputation locally that we were so violent that those nearby should live rate-free, I never had any bother at school. Not one fight and no one gave me a hard time. Plenty of lads however were keen to see me humbled and were eager to bet on City’s results. Even some teachers were prone to this trapand I seemed to have a knack of knowing when not to bet. Consequently, I had a brilliant, if somewhat high-profile season!
The ballet on ice was truly a match to remember. City were fast, incisive, elegant and awesome, whilst Spurs players seemed incapable of standing up. That team would have given a really good game to our latter days champs, it was an absolutely awesome performance and it was on the telly!
Another game I saw on the box has always puzzled me. Whilst there was 1 school for lads, our massive housing estate had 3 girls schools. By far the most prestigious was the Grammar school, where girls were cleverer, prettier, fitter and more desirable by far. On one particular night, the soon to become head-girl of said school invited me to her house. I still cannot fathom why. She was going out with a really good mate of mine (and was therefore out of bounds for that alone). Both were also a couple of years older than me which again proved that there was no romantic interest. Regardless, I went (even her house was a private home in the village, a social class far removed from my council house on a sink-hole estate).
Soon after arriving, it transpired that her dad was a WHAM fan and guess where City were playing that evening (and on the box, of course). I remember him being utterly polite and calm as City demolished then 4-1. Naturally, I was less polite in covering my sheer enjoyment at how thoroughly we outclassed them. There weren’t enough chances to see the Blues play to waste on politeness or sensitivity. I remember him being utterly graceful in abject defeat and that makes it hard for me to believe that I was invited simply to humiliate him. It remains a mystery, but a great performance that was all too rare for me to forget.
The day we won the Championship, I was at Notts Cricket Club (again, too young to travel to Newcastle alone and not a vague hope of a ticket anyway). My brother (older by far) had gone to the swamp for the formality of seeing Sunderland give a simple title win away. Newcastle was deemed an impenetrable fortress and the formality at the swamp was surely easier than out prospects. I remember buying a paper for the results and went utterlyballistic. Not only had we won (against most predictions), but Sunderland had done their civic duty just to add salt to the wounds.
I don’t remember too much else of the day, except being forbidden to celebrate once I arrived home, because my brother would be upset! Story of my life, until I finally moved to Manchester in 1972.
Of the 69 season, my most memorable live game was the semi Final at Villa Park. A player on Villa’s books had previously played for my Dad’s club side (of course, I was deemed “too young” even though I could more than hold my own on any pitch, even against grown men). Anyway, his dad, my dad and I found ourselves surrounded by Evertonians in the far end behind the goal. I was unabashed (to the concern of both adults who were somewhat intimidated). When Tommy stuck his leg out at the far end, I was six feet off the floor declaring unimaginable wealth and saying nothing of my sheer delight. I swear there were 10 minutes of play following that 89th minute goal. At the end, Evertonians patted my head and, despite their tears saidthat we deserved it!
I watched the final on TV, at home, on my own and suffered hell as we struggled to dominate a mere Leicester side. Neil’s thunderbolt in the 20th minute was about the only bit of true class in the whole game. For the record, it was Princess Anne’s first solo public performance. She has never managed to come close to equalling it! Tony Coleman’s telegram after the game stands testament to that!
Martin Hunt
martinhuntctid AT gmail.com
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DOYLE’S WAR…
I enjoyed the 1968 Newcastle 3 – City 4 reminiscences and, in particular, thanks to Tony Reilly for the YouTube link.
I too was at that match but my memories of it, other than it being a great occasion and running on to the pitch at the end to celebrate, are very hazy.
I do recall being absolutely knackered when I got back to Leeds Uni afterwards.
As a kid, I played with Mike Doyle in our Wolf Cubs team. The team strategy was “give the ball to Doyley” which we did. He would shoot from a long way out and we would win by double figure margins. Sadly he was unable to playin the final and inevitably we got beat.
I saw Mike Summerbee at a dinner not long ago when he was the guest speaker. He was quite moved to discover that a member of the audience remembered his father who I think played for Barrow.
I had dug out my old black and red striped shirt and asked him to sign it- strange behaviour for an old age pensioner!
Don Shore
deranne10 AT gmail.com
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WHY BLUE? – A TALE OF THREE CITIES
Born in Norwich, my Dad worked for Colman’s Mustard on Carrow Road so the Canaries were the team for us – great cup run in the 50s and still my third team.
1954 we moved to Hull, but watched Hull RLFC rather than the Tigers – the Boulevard, creosoted timber stands and everyone smoking, trawlermen in their flash home suits [!], Jonny Whiteley and the Hull team wearing white but both teams were black after 5 minutes. And then.. ..
August 1960, a friendly at Boothferry Park against the Champions Burnley – at the age of 11 my first live professional football match and I was completely gobsmacked. I began to go regularly especially when I was allowed to go on my own, stood with singers, learnt the songs and just loved everything that goes with being a ‘fan’. My parents let me go all over Third Division North with City in the 1965 – 66 season – they were either naive or didn’t like me, but they were tough times, police escorts from stations a few ugly scenes, but a glorious year when we were champions. I have a small pill box filled with dust which was a lump of turf from the centre spot the day we won promotion. Ken Wagstaff and Chris Chilton – the Aguero and Dzeko of the team – are still heroes. And so to.. ..
Manchester University, 1968. You who have lived around Manchester all your lives, maybe don’t understand the pull of United in the rest of the country – the Busby Babes, European Champions, the perfect gentleman Bobby Charlton – the media haven’t changed much. So who to watch? The league champions or the European Champions? Being an awkward cuss I had watched glimpses of the superb football City had played and was annoyed with worship of United, so it was to Maine Road that I gave my 3 shillings to watch my first First Division game. Evening game, open North Stand covered in freezing slush, mudbath of a pitch but something in the air got hold of me and I never gave United another thought. And so, highly edited, to.. ..
The glory days of being a Blue – gradually going backwards, expect the worst and hope for the best, trudging the alleys full of horse shit, hanging around the Kippax steps before the game, staggering down 10 steps in a tight crowd, feet hardly touching the ground, grown men crying when Colin returned against Newcastle at half time [crying to see him back or crying at the gross difference in his legs and the knowledge he would never be the same?], Boxing Day at Stoke sitting next to three nuns, the invisible man and Adolph Hitler, taking my son to his first game at the age of 8 – 3 nil up at half time a win to get promotion, drew 3-3 – “Dad? why is that man crying?”. At the age of 34 he is a long term Blue and a singer East Stand Lower. And so to.. ..
‘Save the Maine Road 30,000’ banner; and we were saved, eventually. Saved by a huge amount of money and by people I was sure would corporatise us, abandon the Community links, it would no longer be my club. How wrong can you be? Of all the mega owners around, the Sheikh, and particularly, I think, the Chairman actually do ‘get it’. It is still my club and we sit there watching Silva and Yaya and Sergio and Vinnie and pinch ourselves.
I love football and watch whenever I can – Juventus, Barcelona, Altrincham, park football – but City isn’t just football, it is part of your soul, it is part of the Manchester character, it’s not the arrogance and ignorance of United fans, its self-deprecatory, it is not describable unless you are a Blue, and then you know what it is..
Robin Culpin
Robinculpin AT btinternet.com
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APPEAL: ANCOATS DISPENSARY TRUST FUNDRAISING AT TOMORROWS GAME
Dear Sir or Madam
My name is Amy-Grace and I’m one of the Directors of Ancoats Dispensary Trust. We’re a grass roots community group dedicated to restoring the Grade 2 Listed Ancoats and Ardwick Dispensary, and transforming it into a sustainable community hub.
We’ve recently been awarded a Stage 1 Heritage Lottery grant of £7771,000 under the Heritage and Enterprise scheme. However in order to fully safeguard the building’s future, we must raise a further £45,000 in match funding by the 28th of February.
We’ve been fundraising since November on
https://spacehive.com/thebeatingheartofancoats, and we’ve recently been
endorsed and supported by the MEN
http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/ancoats-dispensary-campaigners-funding-bid-8463306
Manchester City FC have kindly granted us permission to fundraise and do a bucket collection at tomorrow’s game against Middlesbrough. I was wondering whether you could put a small announcement on your site to let your fans know that we’re fundraising to help save the Dispensary?
We’ll be outside the turnstiles at 1 until the kick off at 3pm.
I apologize for the short notice, but we only got our license for collections approved by the City Council yesterday evening.
If you could do this, that would be fantastic as we only have 37 days in which to raise the money, so any publicity you could give would be a huge help.
Best wishes
Amy-Grace Whillans-Welldrake
amygrace24@gmail.com
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