MAN CITY INFO VIA THE ALPS #18

DATE Friday 4th November '94

The main news is that we have released the address of the WWW Home Page, it should appear soon as a link in some football home pages and is already on the Pure Web page. Svenn has sent us a wish-list of articles, photos etc. which he envisages eventually incorporating into the page. To these I would also add 'Player profiles' as some are missing altogether and some are rather cursory. It's important that the WWW doesn't just stagnate and that it acts as a showcase for Manchester City which people will be keen to read. If you can find the time, I would urge you to contribute. Everything, however small, will be welcome. This is your chance to have your say and help the Blues (and Svenn!!). Finally, I would like to thank Svenn for all his efforts in providing and putting together (with help from Paul Howarth) an excellent home page.

We have now reached a half century of subscribers!

Next game Southampton at home 5th November '94

WWW WISH LIST!

I've put down a list of info that would be nice to have around :-)

• History: The birth of the blues.
• History: Swales & Lee. The history behind the takeover (lots of gruffy stuff to look into).
• History: Maine Road - the story of the kippax :-(
• Pictures of the ground from various angles. I'll put it together as a clickable map of the ground, with close-up views of the ground (perhaps coupled with the below entry).
• Sounds of supporters singing and cheering goals...
• More book and video reviews. I'm working on a review of the "Complete Record" book.
• More pictures of players. I don't subscribe to the Match-programmes :-(

Perhaps someone from the mcivta-list can provide?

MORE ON COVENTRY

My thoughts on the Coventry game (14 quid down the drain):

• The ground: We gave Coventry their highest crowd of the season so far. A combination of City fans eager to see another high score tally and maybe some intrigued Cov fans expecting a good game explains this. We certainly out-sang the home fans but that's no real surprise for a Cov game. And yes, it was nice to have a performance to cheer and not players to boo. I missed the Sky Blue Belles, I'm afraid. :}
• The toilets: Disgraceful but at least the police were there to prevent any crushing. If anyone wants to write a letter of complaint to Coventry City FC, I'd be more than willing to sign it. I work just down the road from the ground so I could pop it in by hand.
• The Umbro stand: yes, it really does look worse than ours!
• The game: we didn't convert our chances and Coventry did. Coventry defended well when it mattered and we didn't. Full stop.
• The keeper: I was pleased with Tracey's performance; he was better at dealing with crosses than I gave him credit for before the game. He looked none too comfortable with backpasses, though. With the Derby looming, and Vonk a possible starter, we have to watch out. :)
• Niall: did his "goal" cross the line? It was too far away for me to tell and Match of the Day only showed their goal. Niall could well have been suffering from his recurrent back problem. Notice the way he walks back upfield with his hands stretched out resting on his back?
• Walsh: superb as ever.
• The injustice: tough. If you don't score, you deserve to lose. Now we know how QPR felt when we outrageously beat them 2-1.
• Phelan/Beagrie: I'd rather Phelan didn't spend so much time trying to do Beagrie's job and leaving his own area unattended. I've noticed that Phelan has started cutting inside more when he's on the attack and he always looks like a threat when he does it (remember that goal?). But he refuses to have a go at goal or play a good pass to someone else. Sigh.
• Has the bubble burst?: no, I don't think so. We still put in a very good performance. I back us to beat the Saints on Saturday but the derby will be the real test. One (or please dear God, three) points from that game would be superb.
• Coventry will struggle?: they'll stay up, as always. There are too many bad teams in the Premiership who think they are better than Cov and aren't.

Other things:

• Why are we (reputedly) selling Vonk and Griffiths? Vonk is a useful defender, maybe not Premier standard but useful all the same. And I'd far rather get rid of Adie Mike (waste of space) than Carl Griffiths (promising talent).

NEWS

Here's the latest news of who City have agreed to sign as goalkeeping cover for TC, Dibble and Margetson. Besides signing Simon Tracey for the number one spot (or whichever squad number they get), City have also signed John Burridge from Dumbarton (although he is Newcassel's specialist goalkeeper coach). Budgie has been signed on a game by game basis. City now ranks as one of the 25 league teams he's played for in 23 years; talk about journeymen players!!!

Dibble is still left with another two games to go on his ban. Margetson has a one match ban for his sending off, but with his back injury City aren't prepared to risk him yet.

TC is slowly recovering from his shoulder injury and has set his sights on a return for the 'derby'.

Curle is out of the Soton game with the thigh injury, but he's also set himself the target of returning for the 'derby'.

Kernaghan has returned after his 2 month loan at Bolton after they decided not to follow up with a permanent deal. However SB (Schoolboy) feels his game has improved through being at Burnden Park. Let's hope he's now given a fair crack if he gets back in the team. His failings and shortcomings were last season, this season should start afresh. I'm willing to give him a go, after all I was one of his biggest critics last season

NEWS

It appears that we've acquired the services of John Burridge (43 next month), the experienced(!) ex-Sheffield United 'keeper, on a non-contract basis. He's been playing for Scottish club Dumbarton and acting as goalkeeping coach for Newcastle United recently. I expect he'll be sitting on the bench for the next couple of games.

Speaking of Newcastle, tickets for the Coca-Cola Cup game went on sale on Wednesday morning (2nd November).

Alan Kernaghan has returned from his loan period at Bolton, claiming to have improved steadily during his time there. Having seen him in a live TV game against Oldham (he came on as sub., albeit in a midfield rôle), I'm not convinced this is true.

Brian Horton has stated that nobody will be going out on loan to any other clubs until the present injury & suspension situation clears up.

TICKET INFO

Tickets for the Newcastle Cup game went on sale Tuesday. Nn the Manchester Pink Final last weekend it mentioned that most of the Kippax is to be allocated to the Newcastle fans so it may be advisable to get tickets pronto.

TEAM NEWS

The team for the Southampton game is (nearly) the same one that played at Coventry.

The team is:

                        Tracey

        Hill    Brightwell  Vonk    Phelan

        Summerbee   Flitcroft   Lomas   Beagrie

                    Walsh   Quinn

Subs (from) Burridge, Mike, Griffiths, Edghill

Paul Walsh has been named the Manchester Evening News Sports Personality of the Month for October. He couldn't really be ingnored after his sparkling spell.

HELP!

As I suspected, my proposed trip to Manchester (from London) seems to be in great peril. There are no trains running on either the 25th or 26th. How do people get from place to place? I am not too keen on renting a car, as the small trip around Heathrow scared me to death with that other side of the road stuff. If anyone has any suggestions, I would appreciate it. Thanks. Bob "I'll never see Maine Road" Kelley

P.S. Saw the Spurs game on American TV last night, and I'm still smiling. Give me 11 Paul Walsh's and I'll go invade Canada!

PERSONAL VIEW

MCIVTA is a much valued source of info on how the Blues are faring. It would be nice if it could be put in perspective. e.g a list (no match reports) of other Premiership results and the latest table showing how close City are to the top.

If you have Web access (Paul doesn't) then there is a Hypertext link directly to a league table from the Man City Home Page. What's not clear is how many people do not have Web access (in progress!) and who would therefore be keen on doing this. At the moment I'm not sure whether time is too limiting but I can give it a try.

Total      Nov  2, 1994

Newcastle       12     9   2   1    29  -  12    29
Blackburn       13     8   3   2    26  -  12    27
Nottingham      12     8   3   1    25  -  13    27
Manchester_U    12     8   1   3    21  -   9    25
Liverpool       12     7   2   3    28  -  13    23
Leeds           13     6   3   4    18  -  15    21
Norwich         13     5   5   3    13  -  12    20
Chelsea         11     6   1   4    21  -  14    19
Manchester_C    12     5   3   4    21  -  17    18
Arsenal         12     5   3   4    17  -  13    18
Crystal_Palace  13     4   4   5    12  -  15    16
Southampton     13     4   4   5    19  -  23    16
Coventry        13     4   3   6    15  -  24    15
West_Ham        13     4   2   7     8  -  15    14
Queen's_PR      13     3   4   6    19  -  23    13
Sheffield_W     13     3   4   6    15  -  22    13
Wimbledon       12     3   3   6     9  -  18    12
Tottenham       12     5   2   5    21  -  24    11
---------------------------------------------------
Aston_Villa     12     2   4   6    11  -  18    10
Ipswich         13     3   1   9    13  -  24    10
Leicester       12     2   3   7    14  -  24     9
Everton         13     1   4   8     9  -  24     7

This weeks results:

Oct 29, 1994   Coventry        - Manchester_C     1 - 0
               Everton         - Arsenal          1 - 1
               Ipswich         - Liverpool        1 - 3
               Leicester       - Crystal_Palace   0 - 1
               Manchester_U    - Newcastle        2 - 0
               Nottingham      - Blackburn        0 - 2
               Queen's_PR      - Aston_Villa      2 - 0
               Sheffield_W     - Chelsea          1 - 1
               Southampton     - Leeds            1 - 3
               Tottenham       - West_Ham         3 - 1
Oct 30, 1994   Wimbledon       - Norwich          1 - 0


Oct 31, 1994   Queen's_PR      - Liverpool        2 - 1

Nov  1, 1994   Everton         - West_Ham         1 - 0
               Ipswich         - Leeds            2 - 0

Nov  2, 1994   Coventry        - Crystal_Palace   1 - 4
               Sheffield_W     - Blackburn        0 - 1
               Southampton     - Norwich          1 - 1

SOME THOUGHTS

I realize that if everyone who said they were at Colin Bell's return game on Boxing Day 1977 actually were, then there would have been 80,000 packed in Maine Rd... but I was there, honestly. I used to come home to Manchester every Xmas and take in as many City games as I could. If memory serves me right (and I could easily check in the City stats book at home) there were 47,000 there that day. I was stood on the Kippax almost opposite the players entrance and could feel the buzz echoing around the ground. I still have the Pink 'Un from that evening carefully packed away in the shed.

Didn't City play Leicester away next game? Bell shivered the cross bar with a shot?

47,000 - those were the days of the mid-70s when City were so close to permanently rivalling United for fans, attendance and press coverage. Then it all went so wrong.

Saw the City-Spurs game on tele the other week. Liked much of what I saw but there still seems to be a need for an on field leader. The example I would always use would be Mike Doyle. Can we trace City's problems in the 70s to the end of his stay at Maine Rd? That's what I would be looking for if I was Horton but then again there are probably lots of good footballing reasons why I do what I do and others manage footy clubs.

QUESTION

When did the nickname change from Citizen's, which I prefer to, The Blues?

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