Newsletter #42

This one will again be going out on a Monday and partly due to the early arrival of 2 match reports despite the game being postponed!!!! At least this allows for some much-needed extra few days of recovery, especially on the goalkeeper front.

I contacted an Eintracht Frankfurt fan (Michael Brehl) about Gaudino as we have had precious little news on his background other than the usual tabloid scandal sheets trying to get a story on the car theft ring. I translated it from the German so any inaccuracies are almost certainly down to me. Thanks to Michael for agreeing to do this and within a day as well.

Next game Leicester City at home, Wednesday 25th January 1995

MATCH REPORT ‘LIVE’

TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR vs. MANCHESTER CITY, 21st January 1995

It was a chilly, cloudy day in Manchester as we left in the morning for the long haul down to London for what promised to be an entertaining though probably unsuccessful visit to White Hart Lane. The papers were full of articles about the German connection, many comparing Rösler with Klinsmann. As we reached Northampton at around 11:30am it began to rain and we looked forward to a soaking in the under-construction and still uncovered South Stand. Never mind, we’d get some of those lovely FA Carling Premiership plastic macs to keep us dry, like the Spurs fans had at Maine Road for that unforgettable match back in October.

We arrived at White Hart Lane at about 1:00pm with the rain still teeming down and very blustery winds making use of an umbrella very difficult. The pubs around the ground only admit Spurs fans; not wanting to get soaked before we even got into the ground, we decided to shelter in a doorway rather than look around for a pub that would admit us. I got talking to a Spurs fan doing the same thing who told me that there was going to be a pitch inspection at 2:00pm. The thought that the match might be postponed hadn’t even crossed my mind up until this point; in the six or seven years I’ve been following City regularly away from home, I’ve never got to a ground only for the game to be postponed before. Lucky, I suppose but this was to be the first time. Just before 2:00pm we saw hordes of people heading back down Seven Sisters Road; the game had indeed been postponed. I wasn’t too upset really, since at least we’d not had to sit for 90 minutes in the pouring rain, or worse still, been involved in a game that was abandoned and therefore have to fork out for another ticket when the game was replayed. Just after 2:00pm, the rain stopped.

We reckoned that a lot of fans would still be in various pubs, unaware of the postponement, so the coaches wouldn’t be leaving until after 3:00pm and there was time for a pint or two on the way back to where the coaches were. We found a pub that was open to anybody and found inside a roughly 50-50 mix of City and Spurs fans watching the Rugby Union international between England and Ireland. The Spurs fans were a decent bunch, expressing sympathy for our wasted journey and regret that their chance of revenge for the 5-2 thrashing in October would be delayed. We got back to the coaches after a 5-minute walk in what was now a pleasant, sunny afternoon and were told that an arrangement had been made for us to visit the Tottenham Hotspur Supporters’ Club for half an hour “whilst the traffic died down a bit” if we liked. After a quick show of hands it was unanimously agreed to take up this kind offer. The club was considerably bigger than the City Social Club, with hot and cold food, a bar and a snooker room with about 10 tables. We were made very welcome and I’m sure that relationships between the two sets of fans (which have been rather strained in recent years, particularly after the two cup ties a couple of seasons ago) will be at least a little better from now on.

After about an hour in the club, we made our way home. Many other games had fallen victim to the weather, particularly in the south so we weren’t the only set of fans heading home without seeing any football. When I got home, I was told by The Mole that John Burridge would have been playing had the game gone ahead; Andy Dibble had gone down with an intestinal problem en route to the game and TC, travelling down with the team but on personal business in Watford had agreed to be the substitute goalkeeper. Ian Brightwell had a swollen foot and would also have been unable to play. Apparently everybody agreed with the referee’s decision to postpone the game, except that is for Budgie (Burridge) who, having been denied the chance to play Premier League football at 43, said that “today’s players are a bunch of puffs. Twenty years ago we played in two inches of mud at the Baseball Ground every week”.

MATCH REPORT ‘LIVE’

TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR vs. MANCHESTER CITY, 21st January 1995

What a day!

You may be wondering why I am writing anything about the Spurs encounter; well, there are two reasons why I am putting fingers to keyboard.

The first is I would like to express my displeasure about the timing of the abandonment of yesterday’s game. I myself was lucky enough to have only travelled a few miles from my London home to White Hart Lane to arrive at 2pm only to find out that at 1.55pm the referee had decided to abandon the match. As a football supporter and of course a ‘Blues’ fan I was unhappy at this decision although I would not want any player of either team being injured due to the state of the pitch. However, why couldn’t the decision to abandon the game have been made earlier in the day, so that the fans travelling down from Manchester and elsewhere could have been informed before completing the long and I expect expensive journey down to North London? I would presume that most of the coaches had reached WHL before the decision was made and therefore all that these loyal fans had to look forward to was a 4 hour journey back up to Manchester without even seeing a ball kicked. Surely the FA has guidelines about when a decision to play or not play a game has to be made, so that long distance travelling fans such as in the case of City on Saturday can at least be saved the expense both in time and money of completing a 400 mile round trip for nothing?

The second reason why I am reporting on Saturday’s event is due to a meeting I had after I had heard the announcement. I had met 3 mates over in Wood Green at 1.30pm; we traveled over to WHL by taxi only to be stuck in a traffic jam which was equal on both sides of the road. I could understand why our side was jammed (traffic going to the game) but I couldn’t understand what the jam on the other side was for, that is until someone wound down there window and informed us that the game was off due to a waterlogged pitch. Well, that really screwed up the plans for the day and a quick decision was made to continue on to the pub (the Railway Tavern – where were you John?) and watch the Rugby. However, once we reached the pub we found that it only had 1 small telly and that was situated behind the bar, so a swift pint went down and we moved on to the next nearest pub with a decent TV. This was located just round the corner on the other side of the railway line and was called the ‘British Queen’. Got in there and there was an excellent large screen TV for the rugby, so we decided to settle in for the rest of the afternoon. As we were watching the first half of the game there seemed to be a bit of a mass exodus to the rear of the bar; this was due to the fact that City hero and goal-scorer extraordinaire Uwe Rösler was sat in the corner with a few German friends drinking a pint of Guinness. The cries of ‘Uwe , Uwe Rösler’ sprang up and the autograph hunting started. I myself was only lucky enough to get Uwe to sign a bank statement which I had just got through the post but my mate had put a bet on Uwe to score the first goal at 8-1 and so got the great man to sign the betting slip; when Uwe saw this he asked ‘what odds was Jürgen?’ – ‘who cares?’ was the reply. Anyway after having another 1 or 2 drinks, Uwe and his contingent departed but not without another chorus of ‘Uwe, Uwe Rösler’ from both City and Spurs fans and the shaking of at least every City fans’ hand who was there. Uwe has been a hero for City but after meeting him on Saturday and finding out just what MCFC means to him, he is even more than that.

So, after the disappointment of the abandonment came the joy of meeting one of my Blues heroes. As the saying goes, ‘it’s a funny old game’.

NEWS!

Something interesting from todays Independent.

Quote of the Weekend:

‘That pitch was playable.I’ve been in football over 25 years and it’s become a game for poofters.’

John Burridge, the Manchester City goalkeeper, after his side’s game at Spurs was called off. He had been due to play in place of the flu-stricken Andy Dibble.

Phil Knight (p.a.knight@strath.ac.uk)

BITS & BOBS

Tried to meet Russ Jenk before the Spurs game but failed again. My friend had left the match tickets at work so we had to go back to Liverpool Street on the train, taxi back to his work (kept the meter running) and back to Liverpool Street and then the game was called off. ‘Twas my only consolation that said friend spent 5 pounds for a taxi to get tickets that we didn’t need. At Euston, met the man himself, Francis Lee, in the loos. What a friendly and approachable man he is (even while having a leak). He said City wanted the game called off as Dibble had gastro-enteritis and he hopes they replay it at the end of the season after Klinsmann has gone home. Heard on the train that BFR was sacked by Villa for collecting a brown envelope as his part of the Fashanu transfer. No way of knowing how true that is of course.

WHY BLUE – JOHN PEARSON

My first inclination is to suggest that some mean-spirited deity has had it in for me!

I was born in 1948 and grew up in Broadheath, near Altrincham. This is largely a red zone! My dad actually spent his time watching Altrincham and I have memories of going with him to see the Robins in the Old Cheshire League. I do remember him taking me to Maine Road once, probably around 1955. My first impressions of the Blues came through watching, on some very small TV, the 1955 and ’56 Cup Finals. I think that these games hooked me on City more than anything else.

My dad died in 1956 and the few live games I saw for the next few years were when cousins, who were red fans, took me to Old Trafford. So I did manage to see the Babes play, though my memories are decidedly hazy. Although there was a certain amount of pressure to turn into a reds fan I mananged to avoid such behaviour and the City score was always the first one I looked for in those cliff-hanger seasons of 59-63. I went to a few games here and there but there aren’t many clear memories. I do remember Bobby Charlton scoring against Trautmann in a derby at Old Trafford. He seemed to have shot from the far touch line but the ball crept in at the far post.

Once I started grammar school a number of things happened which limited my appearances at Maine Road over the next few years. I played for the school team or one of the school teams in the morning and then in 1964 started playing for a local youth team in the afternoons. No great standard (as an aside, one of the many instances when I realized that I was not going to be anything other than one of the millions of enthusiastic but limited players happened when I had to mark Alan Gowling in a school game. He went on to play for the rags and Newcastle. I remember we lost 5-0 and I have a suspicion that Alan scored four of them!!!). The other thing that happened was that I got a Saturday job delivering groceries. This came about due to my early and continued passion of buying hillbilly, blues and old rock & roll music. Other cousins sent me down this road, the reason why I first came to the US and why I lived from 1971-85 in Tennessee.

Through the sixties then I had these two passions, football (especially City) and music. I bought most of my first records from White and Swales’ Music shop in Altrincham. I still have 45s with their shop name stamped on the cover. There was a red-headed shop assistant who worked there in the mid-60s. I wonder what ever happened to her? However, that’s another story. Anyway, you can blame me for partially setting Swales on the road to ownership of City. If I had just bought my 78s, 45s, EPs and LPs down the street at Shortlands, maybe I would have saved us all a great deal of worry?!

I did get to see games at Maine Road. I saw the game when they lost at home to Burnley, when the latter won the League. Law was playing. He was also playing in the game at the end of the 1962/63 season but this time for the rags. City tied 1-1, Law won a very dubious penalty and City went down. A win there and it may well have been United who went down. I seem to have picked some very odd and interesting games to go to. Losing at home to West Ham with Bert sent off; then his testimonial, then the game against Swindon with 8,000 odd in the ground; you had to shout at your neighbour on the Kippax to be heard. I went to games dependent on not having to work or play.

From the time City were promoted I started going to more games. I usually stood at the old scoreboard end. I went to college in 1967, down at Swansea, and saw games during vacation. I met a lad from Denton at college and we have remained good friends ever since. He is still a ticket holder at Maine Road. He hitchhiked home during the championship season to see home games and even made it to the 4-3 win at Newcastle. Me… well that is where with hindsight I perhaps erred. You see in May 1968 Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins were touring the U.K. and the day that City beat Newcastle I was making my way to London to see them in Walthamstow. It seemed the easier and right thing to do at the time. I remember walking past a TV shop near the theatre and seeing Joe Mercer’s face. I knew then that the League was won but music had won out again over footy. A few years earlier I had asked to be left out of one of the school teams so I could hitchhike down to Coventry to see Jerry Lee Lewis. Oh well, you live and learn – then you die and forget it all.

However, I have some very vivid memories of games in the late sixties. Old Trafford in March ’68 – the 3-1 win and the glowing article by Michael Parkinson in the Sunday Times the weekend after; the humourous game at home against West Ham when Jimmy Greaves made his début and City lost 5-1 including the goal where Joe Corrigan punted the ball out, didn’t look where it went, turned to walk back to his goal and saw a return volley from Ron Boyle(?) flash past him into the net. The game against Schalke 04, still standing in the scoreboard end. I don’t think I have ever heard a City crowd so loud as that night. I still have the press cutting from the next morning “City’s 5 goal waltz to Vienna” complete with a picture of Lee in the dressing room, socks rolled down and a ciggie in his mouth! I didn’t get to Vienna though another friend, Ron, did. I did not get to the ’69 final. I was at college and both my pal and I thought we were getting tickets through an acquaintance. It all fell through at the last minute and we ended up watching the game on the college TV.

I moved to London in 1970 for a year and saw the blues play a few times. Bell played superbly against Chelsea in one game.

Then it was on to the US in 1971. From then until 1985 I came home every Xmas and sometimes during the summer. I joined up with my mates to go to away games and I have some very fond memories of journeys to Leeds, Leicester, Middlesbrough, Liverpool and Everton over the holiday period. City were still a good team until the late 70s; they beat a very strong Leeds team on Boxing Day 1976. I even made the game against Liverpool in late winter of 80/81 when they won at Anfield for the first time in ages and Reeves scored a delightful goal. A highlight has to have been the game where Bell made his comeback… I think it was 0-0 against Newcastle at half time and Bell came on. City won 4-0 but although the response was wonderful it was clear he was not the player he used to be; for those who didn’t see him, Colin Bell was a truly remarkable player.

City actually toured the US in 1980 and I saw them play in Memphis. I came home for the FA Cup in 1981 but typical City – they tied and I had a non-refundable ticket that left for the states on the Monday before the replay. I heard this game on a short wave radio, though the game was shown on cable TV a day or two later. To this day I do not know why Dennis Tueart was not played from the beginning of that second game. That was, in some ways, the start of the current silly season at Maine Road. Allison comes back and clears out solid players and brings in players who just were not good enough for that level. None of them, not just Daley (poor lad) but McKenzie, Robinson, Silkman and even poor old Tommy Caton. Strange times.

My trips back became a little less frequent after 1985 when my mom died but I did get to see City tie San Jose Earthquakes in 1986, thanks to a last minute own goal. It was sad to see them play in the old second division, especially as they bounced around during the mid-80s. My last visits were the summer of 1992 when, to Cindy’s amazement, our holiday to the U.K. underwent last minute changes thanks to Sky TV’s schedule changes.

TV has helped me keep in touch better these days. Since coming to the U.S. and playing and coaching football teams, I have come to appreciate the styles and skills shown by South Americans and other Europeans. Watching games from all over the world does, I think, give you cause to think. However, nothing matches the thrill of seeing Maine Road on the box (well, other than walking into the ground itself; how will I ever get over the experience of walking through those old tunnels onto the Kippax?), even when it is a dire game (where, at Maine Road?). I still get the Pink ‘Un now and again from my pal; he defaces the United news!!

Like all fans I have my favourite players: Bell, Lee, Tueart, Booth, Summerbee, Doyle, Joe Hayes, Bert but there were also others, unsung perhaps who I always felt were good players; some of whom perhaps were at the club at the wrong time; Dave Connor, Bobby McDonald, Brian Kidd, Freddie Hill, Pardoe. Law is a strange one; he played for a City side early on that depended on him, his final season was a grand experience… a forward line of Law, Marsh, Bell, Summerbee and Lee is quite appealing but perhaps only in theory. Marsh was an odd one. I am glad he came to City but I think that a crucial turning point in City’s history was Allison’s gamble on playing Marsh as soon as he was bought. It probably resulted in a lost championship in 1971/72. I realize that I have missed many, many players out of this list. Looking at the statistics book leaves me surprised at all the players who have played for City and who I have seen playing for City who I just cannot recollect in any way.

I think Tueart in some ways was the most inspired buy of the 70s (I was never that big a fan of Hartford). He didn’t play for England much but that might be because of the way he nutted a Hartlepool player in a 3rd Round FA Cup game. The lad was poleaxed, Tueart went off and only then did people realize he had nutted an innocent player – not the one who kicked him. The latter was also sent off, alongside Tueart and the guy being carried off on a stretcher.

It has almost been 40 years now since my first visit to Maine Road. Strange really; through all the ups and downs of these years, City have remained one of the very, very few constants in my life… I will leave it up to you to decide what that says about my life.

Come On You Blues

GAUDINO

Gaudino was born in Germany of Italian parents and grew up in Rheinau which is near Frankfurt. He thus learnt his trade in Germany, playing for Waldhof together with Jürgen Kohler and Guido Buchwald. He then moved on to Stuttgart, winning a league title in 1992. During these years he got himself a reputation as a bit of a rich brat, running around at the age of 21 in his Ferrari and generally getting up the noses of the rather austere local Swabians.

He moved to Eintracht Frankfurt in 1993 and had great success as part of a midfield/striker combination called the ‘magic triangle’ whose other two members were Uwe Bein and Yeboah, the latter now of course with Leeds United. Eintracht were top of the league for 12 weeks, all of which eventually resulted in Gaudino playing several games for Germany and coming on as a substitute in the ’94 World Cup. Luckily his on-field development was also paralleled by off-field development!

Bad times arrived in April ’94 when Eintracht sacked their captain and goalie Uli Stein. In a team talk, Gaudino was the only one to speak up for Stein and from then on felt at odds with the management; it then seemed he would move to Kaiserslautern but Eintracht blocked the move. There is something of the martyr in him and this situation affected his post World Cup form and was further compounded by his failure to hit it off with Eintracht’s new manager, Jupp Heynckes. Things boiled over in December when Gaudino and Yeboah refused to play against Hamburg. This led to his suspension from the club and eventually to his loan to Manchester City.

Gaudino is an excellent footballer, technically brilliant but lacking a little in the running/fighting department. When he’s in the mood however, the opposition had better watch out!

HELP – T SHIRT

I am wondering if it is possible for anyone to buy me that ‘famous’ “Uwe’s Grandad Bombed OT” T-shirt? I can’t resist the temptation to irritate my friends who are supporting the rags. I’m sure it will be fun. I am willing to pay for the T-shirt, postage and any other expenses incurred. Please help ‘cos I need it so badly’, especially after last night’s rags vs. B’burn match. I’m sure you don’t have to hate ManU to claim that Sherwood’s goal was good. By the way, I watched the match as it was aired live in Singapore from 0000hrs to 0200hrs this morning! I wasn’t supporting any team but more like praying that the Rags would lose or at least a draw would do.

ANSWER – HAT-TRICKS

In response to Martin’s query about hat-tricks in recent years, here’s the ones I remember since promotion to the top flight:

Mon 1st Apr 1991 Niall Quinn vs. Crystal Palace (A) Won 3-1
Quinn hit the perfect hat-trick, right-foot, left-foot, header in what was an excellent all-round performance by City, playing in all- white. Quinn’s performance impressed the home fans so much that in their look ahead to the following season, Palace fanzine Eagle Eye said “City look a decent side and… yes, yes, yes, we were wrong about Niall Quinn too! (quote courtesy of everybody with a passing interest in football).”

Tue 23rd Apr 1991 David White vs. Aston Villa (A) Won 5-1
White hit four goals and made the other one for Mark Brennan in what was arguably City’s best performance of the season (white shirts again, BTW). The first came early on when White latched onto a good through ball by Brennan and beat Spink with a low, diagonal drive from ten yards. The second came after a clearance by Coton was headed on by Quinn to White, who out-sprinted the Villa defence and lobbed Spink from 18 yards. There was a hint of offside about the third but the finishing was exemplary as White cracked Quinn’s pass into the top right hand corner from 25 yards. White’s fourth and City’s 5th came in the dying minutes when he cut inside from the left wing and hit a shot in at the near post from 18 yards, a very similar position to where his shot the previous season had hit the post only for Reid to score from the rebound.

Sat 2nd May 1992 David White vs. Oldham Athletic (A) Won 5-2
A far less impressive hat-trick, this one. It was the last game of the season and the Boundary Park pitch looked more like a beach. Oldham took the lead early on before Adie Mike equalised with a deflected shot. White’s first goal was a mis-hit shot in a goalmouth scramble which went in despite an attempted goal-line clearance by one of the Oldham defenders. His second goal in the second half came from a knock-down by Quinn. White swivelled and completely missed his shot but it turned out to be a great dummy which left him with plenty of time to flick the ball over the stranded keeper at the second attempt. Mike Sheron then scored the game’s best goal before White completed his hat-trick with a well-placed shot from a narrow angle after a run from just inside his own half.

Sat 8th Jan 1994 Kåre Ingebrigtsen vs. Leicester City (H) Won 4-1
Having seen his first goal for City wiped out due to the abandonment of the Ipswich league game 5 days earlier, Ingebrigtsen made up for it with a vengeance with a second half hat-trick against a Leicester side that were comfortably holding their own in this 3rd Round FA Cup tie. Two of the goals were headers at the far post, the other a well- placed drive from the edge of the penalty area. City’s other scorer was Alan Kernaghan with an exquisite 35-yard lob that went just under the bar. Both players attained temporary popularity for their efforts but the crowd were soon back on Kernaghan’s back and Ingebrigtsen was never forgiven for a poor showing against Cardiff City in the next round.

ANSWER – GARY SLINEY

Gary appears to have been released during the 1993 close season. He was a regular in the reserves up until then but never AFAIK played for the first team.

RESULTS & LEAGUE TABLE

Jan 21, 1995   Coventry        - Arsenal          0 - 1
               Everton         - Crystal_Palace   3 - 1
               Ipswich         - Chelsea          2 - 2
               Nottingham      - Aston_Villa      1 - 2
               Sheffield_W     - Newcastle        0 - 0
Jan 22, 1995   Manchester_U    - Blackburn        1 - 0

Total: Jan 22, 1995

Blackburn       24    17   4   3    52  -  19    55
Manchester_U    25    16   5   4    46  -  20    53
Liverpool       24    13   6   5    44  -  20    45
Newcastle       24    11   9   4    41  -  25    42
Nottingham      25    12   6   7    37  -  28    42
Tottenham       24    11   6   7    41  -  35    39
Wimbledon       24    10   5   9    30  -  38    35
Leeds           23     9   7   7    29  -  27    34
Sheffield_W     25     8   9   8    31  -  32    33
Norwich         24     9   6   9    22  -  25    33
Arsenal         25     8   8   9    28  -  27    32
Chelsea         24     8   7   9    32  -  33    31
Manchester_C    24     8   7   9    33  -  38    31
Aston_Villa     25     6  10   9    31  -  35    28
Southampton     24     6  10   8    34  -  39    28
Queen's_PR      23     7   6  10    35  -  40    27
Crystal_Palace  25     6   8  11    18  -  25    26
Everton         24     6   8  10    25  -  33    26
---------------------------------------------------
Coventry        25     6   8  11    21  -  41    26
West_Ham        24     7   4  13    22  -  30    25
Ipswich         25     5   5  15    28  -  49    20
Leicester       24     3   6  15    22  -  43    15

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

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