Newsletter #7

No midweek game this week so it’s just rumours and news about injuries etc. This weekend’s game is Leeds United away. The last time I was at Elland Road was the famous ‘pitch invasion’ match (FA Cup ’77, I think) when hundreds of Leeds thugs went berserk after City’s second goal went in. At the end of the game the authorities locked us (Blues) all in for our own safety whilst the nice Leeds boys went home. Amazing then that they should use these 20 mins to come round to our end and wait for us! This match was packed with incident and I could relate several amusing points, I will try and write them up sometime. If anyone wants to do “Why I became a Blue”, please have a go.

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NEWS

Some latest info I saw last night, or was it Monday, well never mind which day, is it something to show the club’s being more pro-active towards the fans.

I believe City have finally recognised the need to directly communicate with the fans. That’s why Dave Wallace, King of the Kippax fanzine editor, has been elected to the post of Supporters Representative. He won the ballot by claiming 63% of the vote (who’s vote I don’t know), I never actually saw the details of how to vote or even how to propose people.

With the post of supporters rep, he can go to all board meetings except any financial meetings (!) and express his feelings and question the board.

Is this the change we (fans) need, somebody to be able to communicate with the board directly, expressing the wishes of the fans, somebody to make us heard. Well I suppose only time will tell, are City the first team to have a fans rep in the boardroom?

Martin Ford

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RUMOUR

To my sheer horror, I see in the Newcastle United WWW page that Keegan is making enquiries about buying Coton as he desperately needs a good keeper. To my mind, this could be an acid test of whether Lee & Co are serious about building a good side or not. There is absolutely no way the sale of Coton could be justified, he’s got to be worth 15-20 points a season. I remember John Bond (when City manager) saying that he never really thought much about goalkeepers until he came to Maine Road where Corrigan single-handedly kept the club in the 1st division with superlative performances week in week out. There is no doubt whatsoever in my mind that Coton kept us up last year and there is a good argument to be made that he is the best player in the side. He is the latest in a long line of class keepers at Maine Rd, all of whom were kept to the end of their playing days and I see no reason that Coton should get a different deal.

Out of curiosity, would someone who has seen Dibble play regularly care to enlighten us as to his ability/potential?

Ashley

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NEWS

Latest news I have is that Walsh and Rösler expect to recover from their injuries picked up on Monday and Saturday respectively in time for the trip to Leeds.

Paul Howarth

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QUESTION

I’ve gotten the following (very important, of course!) question: Name the 10 (ten) last keepers with league matches for City?

Beats me – I’ve so far come up with the following short-coming list:

1. Tony Coton
2. Andy Dibble
3. Martyn Margetson
4. Eric Nixon
5. Perry/Percy something (?)
6. Paul Cooper (?)
7. Alex Williams
8. Joe Corrigan
9. Keith MacRae
10. Bert Trautmann

(I’m embarrassed and ashamed to reveal my lack of knowledge this way)

Anyone able to help?

Lars Ivar Naess

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WITTY YORKSHIREMAN…NOT

The following is a slightly inflammatory posting to RSS and my reply, I tried not to be too abusive which is almost certainly what the self-appointed ‘Voice of Football’ was aiming for. Several other Blues also replied.

VoiceofFooty@zenecaen.demon.co.uk

Manchester City – the whole world is laughing at you. You are a joke team in a joke stadium supported by joke fans and we’re going to annihilate you on Saturday.

Every time a goal hits the back of your net I won’t be cheering, I’ll be laughing because I’ll be thinking about all those idiots who’ve been wittering on about the great team you’ve got.

Let’s face it Man City, in ten years time you’ll be in the GM Vauxhall conference. All your fans are deserting you and going to the shit-hole down the road, and your ground is falling apart. Even your best player looks like a prop from Jack and the beanstalk.

The nearest you’ve come to winning anything in the last decade was when Keith Curle got to the semi-final of the Rumbelows Sprint Challenge. You’re going to get torn apart, and I don’t need to study tea-leaves to tell me that. I can’t wait.

The Voice of Football

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My Reply:

Great news, it looks like you only need a couple of CSEs to get a job at ICI these days, one being in mindless bigotry and the other in coalfield wit. Naturally, being a Yorkshireman gets you direct entry (apologies to the denizens of Steel City). So, get your CVs off today, with a bit of luck one of us should be MD by next week!

Of course, the other wondrous attraction of working at ICI Pharmaceuticals (Zeneca) appears to be that you can spend the whole day being stultifyingly inane on the Net. Perhaps before you guys mail off your CV for a lucrative position at ICI you should mail the postmaster at zenecaen.demon.co.uk and ask him if it is really true that you will be allowed to spend almost your entire day writing cretinous and inflammatory drivel to RSS and get paid for it.

So, Mr Voice of Footie why don’t you shut up, do some bloody work and support Hunslet Second Eleven in silence.

Ashley Birch

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STOP PRESS

According to the MuEN, Curle and Walsh are definitely out of the Leeds game. Rösler will only make it if he passes a fitness test and there are several players (TC, Dibble, Flipper and Edghill) all suffering from ‘flu. Can it get any worse?!!

Martin Ford

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Thanks to Martin, Paul and Lars Ivar.

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Ashley Birch

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Editor: