Newsletter #43

Just what was it about the Tottenham match? We have yet another match report which, at a total of three, probably equals the ‘live’ record for MCIVTA. Furthermore, Russ got to meet Uwe and John got to meet Frannie though I guess a BR urinal wouldn’t have been his first choice. To top it all, Rob also managed to meet Frannie but in more congenial surroundings, read on!

I’ve included my subscriber distribution list. It’s not really an article as I haven’t attempted to glean anything from it; I’ve merely presented it as a table. Apart from showing you how widespread subscribers are, it also tells you how many Blues are in your town! If you want to get in touch with others (as the London Blues have done) then mail me and I can give you the addresses.

Jon Hurst mailed me about discussion, more precisely, whether any discussion group exists. The answer to this is no, really. Any discussion would have to take place outside MCIVTA as the volume of mail would overload yours truly and lead to a personal system crash, most likely induced by a blunt object being brought down on my head, courtesy of my Boss! My suggestion would be either to mail people directly who send in articles or if anyone wants to be part of such a group or (shock, horror!) would like to act as moderator then write a piece for MCIVTA.

Can anybody do match reports for the Leicester and Villa games as Martin is on holiday? Let me know.

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

MATCH REPORT ‘LIVE’

TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR vs. MANCHESTER CITY, 21st January 1995

Well then – this should be a good day out I thought after being invited to view Tottenham Hotspur versus Manchester City from the comfort of an executive box, courtesy of Grant Thornton (via a friend of a friend).

Off to Stockport station for the 9:38 to Euston, meet up with Bill and Steve, upgrade to a ‘Weekend First Class’ for extra comfort, cloudy but bright cold morning – no problems.

Arriving in first class, had a little difficulty spotting 3 seats sort of next to each other but two kindly gents moved over so I sat with them on a table for 4 and Steve and Bill sat just across the aisle on a table for two. Pulling into Macclesfield, I had a vision of Francis Lee stood on the platform. However, this was no vision; the bloke I was sat next to was Colin Barlow and Franny jumped on the train and sat opposite me!

He is a very congenial bloke even when he wasn’t having a leak (see John Shearer’s report). We all chatted amiably about a variety of subjects including referees, the redevelopment of the Kippax, various English players, various foreign players, the dirtiest sides in the Premier (rags and Blackburn) and all very interesting it was too. Franny decided to travel by train as he wasn’t keen on flying in a small private plane with the impending weather forecast. Colin bought the beers and crisps and was bemoaning the injury list at Maine Road which, as far as I remember was: Phelan, Coton, Dibble, Hill, Edghill, Lomas, Flitcroft, Brightwell, Foster, Quinn and someone else I can’t think of. Various other supporters came for brief chats with Franny and he made time for all of them and talked tactics with a young girl called Sophie about midfield ball winners.

Got in a taxi at Euston to WHL in pouring rain; heavy traffic but not too bad. Into the executive bar for the Holsten Pils (being the only beer on the ground for obvious reasons), then up to the box. The pitch looked in perfect nick. They had the roller and aerator moving up and down but there really was no water on it and none coming up from the grass, even with the roller on it. I thought they were taking the mickey when they said there was a pitch inspection at 2 O’clock. Not so – they took the nets down at 13:55 and I never even saw the ref come out at 2!! We had all just sat down and were finishing our paté and toast when the incredible news came over the tannoy. None of us had even dreamed the match might be off.

So, I had to spend the rest of the glorious sunny afternoon watching England stuff the Irish while consuming chicken, fruit, Pils, cheese, biscuits, port and various wines. The journey back was uneventful apart from the British Rail police who kept telling us to remove our cans and bottles from the table as the train was supposedly ‘dry’ and all the scousers up front coming back from Wimbledon might get upset if they knew we had alcohol and they didn’t. They obviously hadn’t got the brains to conceal some about their persons.

Big laugh from Franny and Colin when we asked them what Manchester City and Camilla Parker-Bowles had in common?

Answer: Both had been f****d at the Palace.

PS. On Ladbrokes’ betting list for the scorer of the first goal, the name Quinn wasn’t even printed!! Why was that? Adie Mike was in there but no Niall!

NEWS

Most of this weekend’s papers say that Alan Ball will push to sign Carl Griffiths for Southampton during this week. Rumoured price is around