Newsletter #40

We have now reached the dizzy heights of 120 subscribers; quite a few new people appeared courtesy of James’ letter to ‘King of the Kippax’ and I have just heard that ‘Electric Blue’ have also done a number on us. We seem to have attained ‘critical mass’ now which means that there are enough people to have some meaningful discussion and exchange of opinion which is good news. The down side is that MCIVTA is bursting at the seams as I attempt to pack it into two issues per week. Alas this one has to go out in two parts as it’s too big for my mail software to load up (this WWW version is a composite of the two). I had to split it into two smaller ones using Word! It looks like three issues a week will become the norm which should at least permit me to do the article on subscriber distribution which has been on the back burner (due to size constraints) since we passed 100.

Try to remember to add your name and email address to any mail you send to me so that I can paste it into MCIVTA without too much trouble.

Martin isn’t going to the game tonight so we need someone to do a Match Report; any offers?

Next game, at home to Notts County, FA Cup 3rd round, 18th January 1995

MATCH REPORT ‘LIVE’

MANCHESTER CITY vs COVENTRY CITY 14th January 1995

For the first time this season City failed to score at home, which was an immense disappointment. This should have been the game to bounce back after the Palarse defeat and inject a bit of life into the season after City’s recent run. Coventry should have been there for the taking, after all they aren’t exactly one of the teams to be frightened of. Alas it wasn’t to be!

So onto the match; with the worries over the midfield somewhat eased with the inclusion of Flipper, it looked almost like the team from earlier in the season with the exception of Buzzer junior, playing a more withdrawn rôle.

City appeared to start the game with a 5 man defence, obviously trying to stem the recent flow of goals which against Coventry seemed to hint at desperation. As it turned out it did work quite well at first with Coventry being somewhat ineffective. City on the other hand were creating some chances but unfortunately most were easily saved by Ogrizovic or just plain missed. Gaudino seemed to settle into this game much easier than his previous efforts and managed to spray a few good balls around (most seemed to go to Uwe; some sort of fellow countryman allegience?;-) Coventry did threaten on a few occasions, especially through Ndlovu, but their finishing was poor.

So, both teams went in all square; surely this would be the time for Horton to inject a bit of life into the team? Both teams came out and created more chances. Rösler was having an off day and missed every single chance that fell his way. None of the other players could provide a breakthrough either. It was so frustrating watching chance after chance go begging; I’m sure any other day City would have easily won. At the other end Coventry were creating several chances and it was left to Dibble to keep City in the game with several crucial saves.

Gaudino could have sealed a win for City after a Rösler effort had been blocked by Ogrizovic; with the goalie floored Gaudino could have shot first time but decided to control the ball and the chance was snuffed out.

Coventry had an appeal for a penalty late on in the second half turned down. Curle appeared to floor a Coventry player in the box but play was waved on. To be honest from where I was sat it looked a blatant penalty but I was relieved it wasn’t given. Dibble still had time to make an outstanding double save to keep City undefeated; the game finished 0-0.

It was just one of those days where nothing would go in; whether it’s down to lack of confidence or just bad luck I don’t know but hopefully the strikers will get back into scoring ways pretty soon.

This was a game where enough City chances were created to have won at a canter, however Coventry created some chances to have won the game themselves, so I suppose we should be happy with the point.

NEWS

According to the Sunday papers, Horton is all but sacked already. They’ve all been speculating that Fat Ron will be manager as soon as Horton loses a Cup game (I’ve already expressed an opinion over this matter, so just to reiterate: I wouldn’t be pleased at the prospect). It seems strange that Ron and Lee were seen exchanging pleasantries in the West Indies; just a coincidence or something more sinister? Anyway, why was our Chairman in the West Indies considering the Palarse game was the biggest we’ve had in a long time? Yes I know everybody deserves a holiday but when the prospect of a cup semi final is looming you stay away?

It reminds me of when he was negoitating to wrestle control off Swales; he did most of the deal while still in the West Indies!!!

NEWS

There is a rumour going round at the moment that Brian Horton was told, either before or just after the Coventry game, that he must win his next two games or he will be sacked. Also Ron Atkinson is said have been on holiday with Franny Lee! It was reported in the News of the World on Sunday (15/1) that Atkinson will take over next week. It looks like a matter of time before he takes over.

NEWS

Alan Kernaghan has picked up a 2 match suspension after reaching 21 disciplinary points with his booking in the Notts County game. Fortunately Ian Brightwell has served his suspension and has also recovered from his injury so he’ll be fit enough to play.

Beagrie has also picked up an injury but should be fit enough for the County replay.

NEWS

MEN – lunch time edition – Wed 18/1/94

Paul Hince reckons Ian Brightwell, back from injury, will play in midfield. I heard Phelan had ‘flu yesterday but he is named in the squad for tonight.

Judas has called Gary Lund (who scored to knock us out 4 years ago) into the Notts County squad. Let’s hope lightning doesn’t strike twice!!!

TEAM NEWS

The major significant change to the squad for the FA Cup replay is the inclusion of both Ian Brightwell and Niall Quinn. However, with the Curle/ Kernaghan partnership playing reasonably well, Brightwell may be played in a different position. It’s been mentioned that Brightwell may be moved into the midfield to lend support to Gaudino and Flipper. The final decision rests with BH; it could be his most important decision yet. If his choice of team loses then he could be on his way out of Maine Road. Whatever happens, there’s nothing the fans can do; it’s upto the board to decide his fate.

The squad for the game is:

Dibble, Summerbee, Curle, Kernaghan, Phelan, D.Brightwell, Gaudino, Flitcroft, I.Brightwell, Beagrie, Rösler, Walsh, Quinn, Simpson, Burridge.

ISA MEETING – CENTRAL (MIDLANDS)

I attended our latest ISA branch meeting last night. Well, “meeting” is a bit of a misnomer, it was more of a chance for a few Blues to sink some beers whilst having a good gossip and moan about City.

Everyone was pretty depressed by recent results, especially the Crystal Palace fiasco. The general consensus was that Brian Horton is on his way out unless something miraculous happens and we’ll be getting Big Fat Ron, probably before the Villa Cup game at the end of January; assuming we win tommorrow, that is!

The anti-Hortonists say he is tactically naïve, a yes-man to Franny Lee and looked on as a joke by the players. You have to agree with at least the first part of that, if not all of it. They also say that we need a big-name manager to attract players of quality to the club, like BFR. And that manager will need 4 or 5 million to spend.

One vicious rumour is that, allegedly, BFR is on a 1,000 pounds a week retainer from City not to join any other club. Quite frankly, I don’t believe that but when BFR just happens to bump into Franny on holiday, you do start to wonder. And why was he on holiday in the first place? The one thing that really sticks in my gullet though, is who BFR used to manage about 10 years ago.

Possibly the most depressing thing last night was the overall feeling that we’ve all been here before, with Swales. Paul, our ISA branch president, was particularly gloomy and he said a lot of Blues returning from Palace were saying “This situation is like a Swales one”. With the team gloriously messing it up and boardroom politics to the fore, I rather sadly have to agree. However, when this Horton issue resolves itself, my one hope is that it is all done above board and there are no bitter feelings afterwards from anyone. Franny has been doing so well up to this point.

More gloom… it seems the row between the two fanzine editors is deepening. Noel at Electric Blue really has it in for Dave at King of the Kippax since Dave’s appointment as “fan on the board”. Apparently, there was almost fisticuffs outside the ground on Saturday when some people (not Noel himself) decided to pick (verbally) on Dave. These were avoided but things have come to a pretty pass, I say.

More gloom… reports say the atmosphere at Maine Road was deathly quiet against Coventry. With the team playing like they were afraid to lose, several of our ISA members present said they thought there was going to be trouble, especially if Coventry scored. With the minor incident at Palace (“borne of pure frustration” speculated someone), that is the last thing we want.

On the sunny side (at last)… Paul Lake is back in full training and should be playing A or reserve matches in the forseeable future.

From what I’ve written above, it sounds like we were crying into our beer. Actually, the meeting was quite jolly as the ale flowed and we continously ripped the p*** out of everything. At the end, someone came over and asked if this was the weekly Man City meeting. Now, we only meet about once a month, but we asked him how he spelt “weekly” :} All the same, there was a sour undertone to the evening, not so much with what is happening at City but with how it’s happening.

For those who may be interested… none of us had received ballot papers for the ISA/OSA merger committee. It seems the OSA are dragging their feet because they don’t want the ISA getting their hands on all the money they have in the bank.

Someone mentioned that there is now a book out called “The Struggle for Man City” all about the Lee takeover and Swales’ departure. Anyone heard of or read this? It would be likely to give a one-sided view as far as Franny is concerned but I definitely want a copy.

The book is called ‘The Battle for Manchester City’ by Alec Johnson. Anyone got it? Can anyone review it for us? [Ashley]

OPINION – SQUAD & MANAGER

Saturday’s game was appalling; “effort” and “pride” are clear omissions from the Maine Road dictionary. City would have had difficulty beating eleven parking cones. On the plus side Gaudino looked very good in patches.

The news that Francis Lee has been away for a month coinciding with a string of awful performances makes me wonder who runs the show at Maine Road. All the weekend tabloids were full of “Atkinson for Maine Road” (my daughter works in a Newsagents on Sundays, so she knows all the rumours). If Horton goes, what are the options? Rioch and Todd won’t leave Bolton at the moment. Francis (G) has moved to Spurs. Baldy has just been appointed to Notts County. Walker and Ardilles couldn’t manage a good sh*t between them! John Toshack seems to be unemployed – there’s a thought.

OPINION – CURLE, SQUAD, MANAGEMENT

I’ve just read what Paul Johnson has to say about the City defence. How anyone can even consider getting rid of Keith Curle is beyond me as he is a class defender with a lot to offer City now and in the future. There have been countless times where he has shown this class against the Shearers, Coles and Collymores (some good tussles with Hughes as well), where lesser players would have crumbled. In addition he is the best choice for Captain of the team, as I do not believe there to be anybody capable of doing a better job.

The problem with the defence this season has been the lack of regular players. First it’s Edghill, Brightwell, Curle and Phelan, then it’s Lomas, Brightwell, Kernaghan and Brightwell etc etc etc. If we had a bit of stability in the defence and therefore a better understanding between the back four, I honestly don’t think we would have conceded half the goals we already have. The question therefore remains as to why BH didn’t get Curle completely fit before playing him this season but it is probably natural for a player of his speed and acceleration to have problems with his hamstrings. One good thing that’s come of this is that Kernaghan has finally been given another chance and now looks worth every single penny of his transfer fee.

Next comes the Pit Bull Phelan!!! One of the best attacking full backs in the league but the problem comes when he gets so far up the field he leaves a gap on the wing which can easily be exploited by a quick counter-attack. However, maybe BH has found the cure for this with the sweeper system he played against Coventry ????? (Buzzer looked a lot more confident playing full back and pushing up).

Finally a plea to Franny Lee and the rest of the board. Either sack BH and get Big Ron or make a statement to the press giving BH your full support (which includes some money to buy players). Maine Road now feels like it did 12 months ago with the fans (and players I suspect) not knowing what’s going to happen next. A bit of stability can’t be a bad thing!!

OPINION – CITY INJURIES

A lot of City’s problems with injury can be blamed on the lack of experience and/or talent in depth in the squad. BH has built up a fairly useful team of 11-14 players but once people are out of the squad (injury/suspension), or even if a couple of players have a bad game, the gaps start to appear and the goals fly in.

A consequence of the lack of depth is possibly that players are being forced back too early into the side; this has a knock-on effect on confidence and fitness. Furthermore returning too early could lead to players further weakening ligaments, hamstrings etc. (this certainly appears to be the case with Curle)

OPINION – CURRENT SITUATION

Certainly all is not well with City at the moment. I don’t know what the odds are on giving up 4 to a club that hadn’t managed a goal aginst a P-League side in 600 or so minutes, but I’ll bet they were fairly high. Even so, we weren’t going to beat Liverpool on current form anyway (only Ipswich are apparently good enough to survive Anfield right now!), so let’s get back to the serious business of staying up. A look at the fixture list tells me that there are not lots of points to be had in the near future and there are virtually none toward the end of the season where City would figure to emerge with three points That being said, they have to get about 80% of what they are going to get point-wise (IMHO) from mid-February through the end of March.

I don’t think that turmoil and change is the ticket. Hell, if Notts County knocks them out tomorrow, that may not be the worst thing, as it will focus attention on the only real goal that MCFC have remaining this year. Are there four worse teams in the P-League than City right now? I’m not sure – only Ipswich and the Filbos would seem to qualify for sure. Are there four clubs, given the current point totals, who are more likely to go down? Sure; but it appears that a couple of them seem to be on up-ticks, while City can’t even help put a nail in pitiful Coventry’s coffin. I’ll say it for the last time: this is not the season to go down. I saw the new stands at St. Andrews on television last night (wow!) and it looks like there is yet another club which is not going to settle for lower Division footy. Toss in Wolves, ‘Boro, Tranmere, Sheff. U., and the faour clubs who go down this year and you see (I hope) the problem. If City get done at WHL on Saturday, that 5-2 day in the rain will seem like a century ago.

OPINION

Remember that young left winger sold to Strasbourg, the one with an unfortunate surname, Michael Hughes? Well, as no doubt everybody’s aware, he’s back playing footie in England. The only problem is that he’s down at West Ham.

From the little I’ve seen on him from MotD highlights he looks like he’s come back a better player. He’s still got the old tricks and can cross a ball with pin-point accuracy. He even looked like he’s filled out and his speed looked better. In the two matches I’ve seen him in, he crossed the ball for all the West Ham goals.

So, here’s a suggestion: why not get him back at the academy (many people still think he should never have left in the first place but that’s another matter!!), play him on the left, move Beagrie onto the right and either stick Buzzer junior at right-back or park his arse on the bench. I’m sure City could get him for a pretty reasonable fee. What do you think of that? I’m losing confidence in Summerbee; he’s just not consistant enough, he seems to be lacking a little.

CITY ‘LIVE’ ON UK TV – I

During our first season back in the top flight we played Aston Villa at Villa Park.

Villa’s team included the current England captain, whereas City’s team was filled with Judas’s acquisitions. Mark Ward, Peter Reid to name but the two I can remember.

It was an exciting game with Villa going in at half time after David Platt had taken the ball round Dibble three times before slotting it home to send the home fans wild.

City came out in the second half and earned the equaliser with Mark Ward hammering home a fearsome shot just as he had done against Millwall a few days previous.

With the game heading for a draw Peter Reid popped up to side foot a rebound into the roof of the open net after a good save from the Villa keeper.

How I nearly died as Reidy’s shot flew up up and away destined for row z of the stand before the goal came out of nowhere and caught the ball.

CITY ‘LIVE’ ON UK TV – II

More for Phil Knight’s list of home games on TV: I seem to remember a tedious 0-0 or 1-1 draw with Oldham on a chilly Monday night, where we were outplayed but hung on well for a point. I think it was the season before last.

Oh yes, Ashley, if ever you get tired of the name MCIVTA, there is an alternative you could consider – TANS. Why so? Not because we regularly get “tanned” by anyone decent. Nor after what Franny does when he’s in the Bahamas. Neither does it stand for “Trafford Are No-good S***heads”. TANS stands for that eternal cry of City fans come mid January – “There’s Always Next Season”!

CITY ‘LIVE’ ON UK TV – III

Here are a few more TV appearances best forgotton. Details are as remembered rather than from the reference books.

Pre 1985

City 0 Chelsea 2

This was a Div 2 game played on a Friday night.

1986

City 1 Rags 1

Mick McCarthy scored a superb header.

Recent years

Rags 2 City 1

Quinn scored for City – Hughes and Ince fluked goals for them.

City 2 Leeds 3

Judas had just departed. I think Tony Book was in charge. I still reckon Leeds’ third was offside!

Rags 2 City 0

Last year’s match with David Brightwell at leftback. Two offside goals to them. Brian Hortonreferred to this at a meeting of the Rochdale branchof the ISA recently. Apparantly he met the refereeat an FA function some months after the match. Thereferee greeted him with “That first goal was offside,wasn’t it?” I could have told him that on the day!

City 0 Chelsea 1

Chelsea scored from a free kick following a nastyrebound off the wall. Chelsea were on a run of about9 consecutive losses and the knives were out forHoddle. If you want to break a depressing run Cityare ideal opponents!.

Everton 0 City 0

Kendall’s first(?) match. Amazingly boring!

Wimbledon 1 City 0

Last season – Richard Edghill’s début

Arsenal 1 City 0

Last year?

City 1 Oldham 1

A last gasp equalizer against an injured goalkeepeer.

On the plus side there is the Boxing Day match from a couple of seasons back when City played Sheffield United. The match was played in the afternoon but shown in the evening as the scheduled match (Blackburn?) was postponed. City won this one.

Mention of Sheffield United reminds me of a game at Bramhall Lane. I think it was a 1-1 draw – Deane scored for them (I bet there aren’t many Leeds fans who’d believe that!!); City’s goal was an own goal. It was a Friday night game billed as a “relegation special”. If it wasn’t last season it must only have been the Blades facing relegation.

1990-91

Everton 2 City 0

Peter Beagrie did untold damage in this one.

1992-93

City 1 QPR 1

First Sky Monday game ever shown.

Villa 3 City 1

The ultimate poser – support Villa in the hopethat they could prevent the Rags winning the title???

1993-94

West Ham 3 City 1

1994-95

Rags 5 City 0

The ultimate under acheivement ever!

Since the new ticket limits, my regular attendance at Old Trafford (1 per season except for cup ties) has come to an end. My last visit will always be memorable for Ian Brightwell’s goal and Andy Diddle’s heroics in the return match after the 5-1. I had the misfortune to be present at the swamp the last time the Rags scored 5 against City – New Years Eve 1960. Colin Barlow scored City’s only goal that day. We couldn’t even use camera-shyness as an excuse then.

CITY ‘LIVE’ ON UK TV – IV

Regarding Phil Knight’s request for into. on City home games that were screened ‘live’ on UK TV, another few matches spring to mind:

Friday 4th May 1984 – City vs. Chelsea
A Canon League 2nd Division game was shown ‘live’ by the BBC (one of the first 2nd Division games ever to be screened ‘live’). When the match was selected in March of that year, it looked possible that the game might decide the outcome of the 2nd Division Championship but City’s form took a downturn after that and we ended up finishing fifth whilst Chelsea went on to take the title. From what I remember it was a rather poor game which Chelsea deservedly won 2-0 with goals by Pat Nevin and Kerry Dixon. I remember there was quite a lot of aggro in the streets around the ground after the game but I was blissfully unaware of it as I walked back into town with a Chelsea fan (living in Sheffield) who wanted to know the way to Piccadilly Station. Incidentally, there was a feature in the programme on one of our “stars of the future”, a certain John Beresford, now a regular at left back with Newcastle. If only…

Mon 17th August 1992 – City vs. QPR
This was the first Premier League game ever to be screened live by Sky on a Monday night. Sky’s first ever game was at Nottingham Forest the day before. There was lots of American-style razzmatazz with cheerleaders and dancing girls before the game, a band on the pitch at half time and fireworks afterwards. About 15 minutes before kick- off there was a skydiving & parachute display by, wait for it… the Red Devils! I wonder which bright spark thought of that? Anyway, none of these things went down very well with football fans that season and they’re nowhere to be seen these days. As for the game, it finished 1-1 with City taking the lead in the first half through David White and QPR equalising after the break when Andy Sinton was given far too much room before he cracked the ball home from just outside the box. Quite a good game actually.

Sun 20th September 1992 – City vs. Chelsea
This must have been a poor match because I can hardly remember anything about it. The only goal came from Mick Harford on 40 minutes whilst Rick Holden was off the field having stitches in a facial wound after a collision with Terry Phelan.

I could have sworn that the match against Sheffield United on Boxing Day 1992 was ‘live’ on Sky, switched from another fixture quite late on but I can’t find any evidence to back this up. Maybe it was one of the games screened ‘live’ in Scandinavia? City won 2-0 with a brace of goals from David White. The return fixture at Bramall Lane later that season was definitely on Sky. In another appalling advert for City, we scraped a 1-1 draw. City took the lead through a glorious own goal by John Pemberton only for Brian Deane to equalise later on with a crisp 20-yarder.

Monday 4th October 1993 – City vs. Oldham
City were lucky to get a point in this dour relegation battle with Mike Sheron’s late equaliser after a fortunate rebound. Graeme Sharp gave Oldham the lead on 57 minutes after a deep cross which looked to be going out of play was recovered by Nick Henry, I think. Can’t remember much else.

All this talk of poor City performances ‘live’ on TV got me thinking: I thought a catalogue all of City’s ‘live’ TV games (along with a brief background to and summary of the match) might make a suitable page for the WWW. The list below is what I think is an exhaustive list of City’s ‘live’ UK TV games. I may be wrong about one or two (it’s difficult to find out whether they were ‘live’ or not except by looking at the day of the week) and I may have missed some but we should get them all eventually.

Date          Opponents           Result Comments
============= =================== ====== ===========================
Sat 26 Apr 69 Leicester City  (W) W 1-0  FA Cup Final - must have
                                         been live? Anybody confirm?
Sat 09 May 81 Tottenham H.    (W) D 1-1  FA Cup Final
Thu 14 May 81 Tottenham H.    (W) L 2-3  FA Cup Final Replay
Fri 04 May 84 Chelsea         (H) L 0-2  2nd Division game
Sun 13 Mar 88 Liverpool       (H) L 0-4  FA Cup Quarter-Final
Sun 22 Oct 89 Aston Villa     (H) L 0-2  Granada & Central only
Sun 17 Dec 89 Everton         (A) D 0-0  Howard Kendall's 1st game
Sun 01 Apr 90 Aston Villa     (A) W 2-1  City end Villa title hopes
Sun 11 Nov 90 Leeds United    (H) L 2-3  3rd goal was offside!
Sun 15 Mar 92 Southampton     (H) L 0-1  Another dreadful showing
Mon 17 Aug 92 QPR             (H) D 1-1  First Sky Monday night game
Sun 20 Sep 92 Chelsea         (H) L 0-1
Mon 28 Sep 92 Arsenal         (A) L 0-1
Sun 06 Dec 92 Manchester Utd. (A) L 1-2
Wed 13 Jan 93 Reading         (A) W 4-0  Late TV fixture change
Sun 07 Mar 93 Tottenham H.    (H) L 2-4  Infamous pitch invasion
Fri 09 Apr 93 Sheffield Utd.  (A) D 1-1  Not-so-Good Friday
Mon 20 Sep 93 Wimbledon       (A) L 0-1  Richard Edghill's début
Mon 04 Oct 93 Oldham Athletic (H) D 1-1  Lucky to get a point
Mon 01 Nov 93 West Ham United (A) L 1-3  Carl Griffiths' début
Sun 07 Nov 93 Manchester Utd. (H) L 2-3  2-0 up at half time!
Mon 22 Nov 93 Chelsea         (A) D 0-0  Chelsea lost 6 in a row
                                         before this game I think
Sat 23 Apr 94 Manchester Utd. (A) L 0-2  5pm K.O. Was this live?
Thu 10 Nov 94 Manchester Utd. (A) L 0-5  Oh dear
Sun 20 Nov 94 Leicester City  (A) W 1-0  About time too
Mon 12 Dec 94 Arsenal         (H) L 1-2  Back to normal
Mon 26 Dec 94 Blackburn Rov.  (H) L 1-3
(H) Home
(A) Away
(W) Wembley

We might also consider matches which should or might have been ‘live’ but weren’t, such as the Cup-Winners’ Cup Final (29/4/70) which would have been live but for the fact that the FA Cup Final Replay between Leeds and Chelsea at Old Trafford was the same night. There was also the League Cup Final (28/2/76 – our last trophy!) which was only shown as highlights the following day.

I’m willing to collate contributions unless somebody else wants to volunteer…

I’ll be glad to hear from anybody who can correct or add anything to the above table and especially from anybody with any memories of the games that they’d like to share.

QUERY

I have a long-standing dispute with a colleague of mine at work regarding a “goal” by Kevin Reeves in a major match in 1981 which was disallowed, though the TV evidence showed that there was nothing wrong with the goal. I’m convinced the “goal” was in either the FA Cup Final or the replay, whereas my colleague is “sure” that it was in one of the legs of the League Cup Semi-Final against Liverpool. Can anybody help us to resolve this dispute?

OH NO C*NTONA!

From the Observer Sports supplement, Sunday Jan 15

Red Eric the arch villain

Eric Cantona is the unacceptable face (and feet, knees and elbows) of football. We know this thanks to television.

Referee Robbie Hart obviously felt he had responded fairly to the incident during the Sheffield United – Manchester United FA Cup tie last Monday when he sent off Sheffield’s Charlie Hartfield after 13 minutes. But the fact is he hadn’t. Cantona should have gone too.

The TV replay of the incident demonstrated that although Hartfield was properly dismissed for taking a swipe at Cantona, the Frenchman’s sly kick at his opponent moments earlier – not the first time he has indulged in such arch villainy – was also a sending-off offence.

Which raises the whole question of the TV replay and whether it should be suppressed because it embarrasses officials, or whether it should be eagerly embraced by sporting bodies as a means of greater fairness.

They should go for the eager embrace and not be timid. It was ludicrous that last Monday the referee quite understandably felt that he had dealt equitably with the incident, while thousands of television viewers knew otherwise.

Cricket has shown that television evidence can be rapidly assessed and acted upon by an off-field official without undermining the authority of those in charge on the field and Cantona’s offence last week was as clear-cut as any run-out or stumping.

The Frenchman may be a misunderstood genius, as some would have us believe. But that’s a matter of opinion. That he’s a dirty player is irrefutable. There are any number of TV replays to prove it.

(End of article – verbatim)

RESULTS FA CUP 3RD ROUND REPLAYS

Middlesbrough   (0) 1 - 2 (1)  Swansea
Leeds           (2) 5 - 2 (1)  Walsall (AET,2-2)
Carlisle        (0) 1 - 3 (2)  Sunderland
Watford         (0) 2 - 0 (0)  Scarborough

WWW MANCHESTER CITY SUPPORTERS’ HOME PAGE:
http://www.uit.no/mancity/

Editor: