MAN CITY INFO VIA THE ALPS "McVittee!" #247

DATE Monday 18th November 1996

The rumour mill is grinding again; firstly we are being linked with both Paul Kitson (NUFC) and with Steve McMahon (Swindon). Another rumour surrounds Coppell's resignation - this is far too libellous to print but we'll know if it's true in 2 weeks or so! Let us just say that it all adds to the curiosity shop that is MCFC!

I can't make the home game tomorrow due to work commitments, so I'll be dependent on match reports sent to me.

This one reaches 1,156.

MATCH REPORT 'LIVE'

PORTSMOUTH vs. MANCHESTER CITY, Saturday 16th November 1996

For those of you who were there on Saturday, you will know how difficult this report is to write. The doom and gloom continue. The only bright spot during the whole embarassing spectacle of Division One Football was that it didn't rain. You can tell I'm clutching at straws! As for the match, I thought I'd paid a tenner to watch a game of football - wrong. It was a Sunday morning car boot sale - lots of people turn up, not much on offer, so you go home again.

Portsmouth fielded an ex-MCFC player in the shape of Fitzroy Simpson - if we offered him enough money, would he come back, along with every other player we've got rid of and who now play well for their current clubs? Anyway, on to the game. City played badly, scored a bad goal, Rösler fell down a lot, Summerbee just looked crap, Symons did a bit, Brightwell did even less, McGoldrick I didn't see, Wassall was poor, Rodger scored the goal which even I could have scored, Margetson had been taking lessons from Dibble in the art of non-moving goalkeeping. Whitley and Kave came on for a bit and did a bit of running. Dickov was OK (well, he's my favourite player, which is saying something, as he's only just joined the club!).

Meanwhile Portsmouth scored two good goals and hung on to the lead despite their captain being sent off (something I missed - There was so much coming and going in the last 20 minutes). Although with hindsight, it did explain why Gio started to play. The Pompey captain had been marking him like a hawk. The twenty minutes of injury time could have been the saving grace for City, if only we'd scored.

I did find it more interesting watching our subs warm up, as I was right behind them and got a good view of Whitley's bum!

Only fourth from bottom now - not bad. Two games in hand - play off position all to play for. Realistically, on this form and the form at Reading and Swindon, it's minor league oblivion for us now. I refuse to give up though - one day, my prince will come and haul MCFC out of the mire of despair!

Funny moment - a few lads were singing 'we're s**t and we know we are, we're s**t and we know we are' etc. A copper came over and asked them to stop. So they sang again, inserting the word "poo" where "s**t" had been. A few minutes later the same copper came over again and said 'you are s**t, aren't you!"

FHL was outside the ground asking old ladies carrying heavy bags of shopping, if they could manage. Old ladies said no, so FHL says, 'oh well, I'll try to find someone who can."

I can't get to a game now until Birmingham on New Year's Day. Maybe that's a good thing, as I'm beginning to think that I'm the reason that City are playing so badly. Every time I've gone to a game this season, they've lost!

Final score: Portsmouth 2 City 1

MATCH REPORT 'LIVE'

PORTSMOUTH vs. MANCHESTER CITY, Saturday 16th November 1996

This is becoming a depressingly familiar story. We go to another struggling first division club, attract a crowd nearly double their average (12,841 this time compared with an average of around 7,000) and lose to them. To rub salt into the wound, our opponents' star player was a City cast-off, Fitzroy Simpson.

At least we didn't get wet this time. The rather cramped seats were uncovered but the weather was bright and sunny, albeit cold. Gio looked cheerful as he got off the coach, no sign that he was "not at all happy" to be there as his Swiss agent had reported.

Phil Neal made a few changes to the side that capitulated to Oxford on Wednesday, sensibly replacing Dibble with Margetson, playing a flat back four of McGoldrick, Wassall, Symons (who was warmly welcomed back to Fratton Park by the locals) and Brightwell, recalling Lomas to the midfield after his suspension and playing just Rösler up front.

It took a while for the team to get used to their more cautious formation, and with Andy Awford closely following Gio wherever he went, our options going forward were very limited. Portsmouth started the better side and had the majority of possession but didn't trouble Margetson for quite a while. After about 10 minutes City started to get some decent balls into the box but there weren't enough bodies in there to make anything of them. City's best move of the game came in the 16th minute and it led to us taking the lead. There was good work by Lomas, Kinkladze and Summerbee down the right flank, Kinkladze chipped in a ball to the far post which led to a goalmouth scramble and a goal for Jolly. A couple of minutes later we should have been two up but Rösler headed Summerbee's cross over the bar.

After that Portsmouth managed to retake control of the game and City's main tactic for getting forward became a punt upfield to Rösler. We had a five man midfield and bypassed it. I sincerely hope that this is not a sign of things to come. The equaliser came in the 24th minute when Simpson got to a loose ball and hit a defence-splitting pass first time to the on-form striker Lee Bradbury. Andy Turner dummied one of our centre backs and the other was too far away from Bradbury to prevent him winning his one-on-one battle with Margetson.

A few niggly fouls started to appear and I thought that the referee was unduly influenced by the crowd's reactions to some of these. However, he was consistent with his bookings and this led to Andy Awford's dismissal for his second bookable offence with 14 minutes to go.

Portsmouth scored a second goal a few minutes before the break, this time a really well-struck free kick from 25 yards by Fitzroy Simpson. He smacked it in off the far post and once again Margetson had no chance. City's 'keeper had a reasonable game, with only one Dibble-esque moment when he lost the ball but wasn't punished for it.

The start of the second half saw City's substitutes (Kave, Whitley and Dickov) warming up on the touchline just in front of where we were sat; after a bit of good-natured banter from the fans, a new candidate for the manager's post appeared from the ranks of the City fans. "Kave, Kave, tell Phil that Rob says to get Clough off and bring you on," he yelled. Kave turned round with a knowing smile and continued to warm up. Ten minutes into the half City made a double substitution: Dickov and Kave on for Clough and McGoldrick (despite the chants of "Seven" from the fans to indicate our choice of who should go off, namely Summerbee). Summerbee dropped back to right back and Kave played wide on the right, with Dickov playing up front with Rösler.

The changes didn't really make any difference to the game; City seemed to lack urgency (a criminal failing in our current predicament) and still looked clueless about creating openings. What did make a difference was the dismissal of Awford after a late challenge on Kinkladze. With his man-marker off the field, he found the time and space to make his runs and cause panic in the home defence. The numbers were evened up when Lomas had to leave the field after taking a heavy blow to the face (third substitute Whitley had already replaced the limping Rösler) but City maintained the upper hand. Dickov had an effort cleared off the line but once again it was too little, too late. With the talent at our disposal, we should be beating teams like Portsmouth comfortably. As it stands, the only place we're going is division two.

Final score: Pompey 2 City 1

MATCH VIEW I

Portsmouth vs. Man. City. 16th November 1996. A date and occasion that I will never forget. My first City game in over four years... the excitement, the anticipation, the complete let-down.

For weeks I have been reading the opinions of the doom-mongerers in MCIVTA. References to Division 2, how Rösler and Summerbee are Sunday league standard, etc. Now I've seen it for myself. My criticism of the team comes in three categories:

Tactics

Even when they were down to 10 men, we just hoofed the ball up in the air. The passing was poor, the running non-existent, and we had no shape at the back whatsoever. Surely even Phil Neal can start putting this right?

Attitude

When Pompey equalised, you could see the spirit drift from the City players. When we went 2-1 down, it just got worse. For me, it all stemmed from the pre-match warm-up. City stood around in little groups and knocked the ball about, hardly talking to each other. Pompey came on and had a group warm-up, laughing and chatting to each other as they ran back and forth across the pitch. I know that confidence is low and there have been troubles at managerial and board level, but these guys are supposed to be professionals. And even if they truly don't care, they should remember that we do, and we'll be here long after they're gone.

Skill

Just pitiful. The only player who showed us he could play was Gio... and that just for the final 5 minutes. We couldn't even see him weave his magic from the away end of the ground... disappointing for my two mates who only really came to see him play. People say that clubs get bigger gates when they play City because the locals want to see the skills of Gio and his teammates. Bollocks, they just know there's a good chance of their local team bagging a few goals.

For me Rösler summed the evening up when he put in a vicious tackle and complained about his yellow card by showing the referee the thigh scratch his victim had inflicted minutes earlier. At the time of his "injury", he even pulled up his shorts to show the "wound" to the Pompey fans. What a flipping idiot! Send him back to Dresden, drop him from a Lancaster... Uwe's garndad may have bombed Old Trafford, but Uwe's just bombed.

Sickened but still Blue.

P.S. Does anyone have a list of second division clubs in the South of England... I want to start planning my trips in advance :-(

MATCH VIEW II

I managed to get out to see City play for the first time in years, while visiting my brother in Portsmouth. To tell the truth, I wasn't expecting too much from them after recent events. We were rather sadly at the wrong end, with the Portsmouth fans, behind the goal. What can you say about fans whose key chant is the 'pompey chimes' ('play up pompey, pompey play up' - to the tune of big ben chiming)? City were defending this end in the first half. Martyn Margetson was playing instead of Dibble and City had a very nervous start, before they began to get most of the play, going ahead after 15 minutes. They had a chance to make it two, but Portsmouth began to trouble the rather fragile-looking City back four (Brightwell, Wassall, Symons, McGoldrick). They equalised and took the lead before half time when City were unfortunate to concede a free kick on the right hand corner of the area, which Fitzroy Simpson clinically despatched to the top right corner of the City goal with his left foot. He nearly did exactly the same thing a few minutes later when Portsmouth were awarded a free kick from a similar position but was denied by a fine save from Margetson.

In the second half City piled on the pressure. Kav and Dickov were brought on for Clough and McGoldrick with 25 minutes to go and Rösler was taken off for Jeff Whitley 10 minutes later. However, despite a few promising attacks and several clear cut opportunities (most notably a sitter hit over by Kav) City couldn't pull a goal back. With a quarter of an hour to go Portsmouth had their captain sent off for one rash challenge too many on Gio, who suddenly began to emerge from what had been a very quiet game for him with one or two nice little runs. However, the advantage was lost five minutes later when arguably City's best looking player, Lomas, had to leave the field with a head wound. In the last few minutes Portsmouth looked shaky (à la City), but they held on.

Overall, I think the main problem for City is their chronic lack of confidence. They could do with a bit of help in defence but most of their problems stem from lack of self belief. Division one football is not attractive to watch, with too much hoofing of the ball upfield and aerial challenging for almost every ball. Whatever you say, City have got some good players who are capable of playing good football but their chronic lack of confidence hampers this. If any individual or team is subjected to a constant diet of criticism it is going to erode their self-belief and thus their performance. More than anything else City need a manager with good man-managment skills and the full support of the fans. Individuals like Rösler, Clough and Summerbee need a bit of a break. The sort of skill these players have demonstrated in the past is still there; the right environment (encouragement etc.) will see it expressed. Put people under pressure and feed them criticism, and they'll crack.

There is abundant evidence that good managers can take mediocre teams and overachieve. City have never been a team given to overachieving, as far as I can remember. Expensive squad building (à la Allison) can go horribly wrong. This is all pure opinion but I think it is a little more constructive than the negative rubbish posted on the Blue View discussion pages.

NEWS - GIO TO BARCELONA

Teletext this evening (Thursday) reports that Barcelona are interested in signing Gio Kinkladze and Middlesbrough's unsettled Brazilian ace Emerson. Gio's agent confirmed that the Georgian was "not at all happy with things at City" and if he got a decent offer he'd go tomorrow. We know from the interview in MCIVTA 239 that Gio would love a move to Barca at some time in the future - is that time now? Can Francis Lee afford to sell Gio with the fans already on his back? Can he afford not to?

NEWS - GIO ON HIS WAY

Today GMR was saying that Gio wants out and that Bobby Robson was interested. We both know that Barca is his favourite club and at least he wouldn't go to the Rags or the Gooners. That would be a sickener to see him playing so near and not see him in our beloved blue shirt.

I don't think that we could get more than £5 million for him now which is a shame. I really don't know who would come to Maine Road now. At the moment nobody apart from Wilko seems available and I don't know if a thick self opinionated Yorkshire git will be palatable. I wish we had the money to tempt El Tel but this won't happen. I hope to go to the AGM if possible but I'll see.

NEWS - ARABS...

ITV's Teletext service in the North West had the following (15/11/96)

Kinkladze wants out

Manchester City's Georgian international midfielder Georgi Kinkladze wants to quit the crisis-hit club, according to his agent. Wolfgang Voege, who is based in Zürich, told the Sun: (English gutter press for those living abroad ... JM) "if we had a good offer for Georgi he would go. He is not at all happy with things at City" Voege claimed that there was interest from all over Europe for Kinkladze.

I'm staying - Lee

Under-fire Manchester City chairman Francis Lee has told his critics: "You won't force me out." Lee also dismissed rumours that Georgi Kinkladze will be leaving. Lee said: "When you hear the things that were said it hurts but I have made a large investment in this club and I will not be walking away. If I walk away from it now, I would be admitting defeat and missing out on what could be a much better period and brighter future for the club."

Arab consortium still interested

On GMR this evening (15/11/96) it was reported that the Arab consortium, recently reported to be prepared to invest heavily in City, were still interested in the deal. A spokesman for the consortium - Stuart Berkley - said that if representavies from City were to get in touch with the consortium's accountants Coopers and Lybrands then the deal could be resurrected. He went on to say that the consortium knew of City's reported debts of £26 million!

Come on Franny, get in touch with these people ... we need the money.

NEWS - ARAB DEAL NOT BEYOND RECALL

In an interview with James H Reeve on GMR last week, Stuart Barclay, the financial advisor to the Arab consortium said that the deal was "not beyond recall." He said that he had a mandate from the consortium to find a Premiership club to invest in and that 6 months ago Jim Melrose had suggested that City would be ideal. The major backer behind the consortium was involved in Saudi football but was a very conservative and publicity-shy person. They had provided evidence to lawyers that there was sufficient funding behind their bid and had met with Francis Lee in June but had then hit a deadlock. Lee didn't like the laws of takeover in Bahrain.

The proposed investment would have "strings attached" in that the board's business plan for the next five or ten years would have to be approved. The consortium's representatives in Bahrain are the accountants Coopers and Lybrand; they would be able to confirm that the bid was genuine. Barclay said that Lee had put "obstacle after obstacle" in the way of their bid but that it was not beyond recall, even though City had been relegated to the First Division. News of the relegation apparently sent "shockwaves" through to the Arabs but on reflection they accepted that it could have happened to any of the lower clubs in the Premiership and as their plan was for the medium to long term, it didn't really matter.

Barclay then reiterated that the backers wanted to see a business plan for how their investment would be handled, e.g. would it be loan stock. They had looked at how Everton had handled their financial investments and looked on that as a possible rôle model. He finished by saying that if City wanted talks about talks, they should get in touch with Coopers and Lybrand in Bahrain.

NEWS - GIO TO STAY?

On Saturday afternoon, Gio's British agent Jerome Anderson issued a press statement which said "Georgi fully supports the club and chairman and he wants to stay at Maine Road for the time being. City are not enjoying the best of luck at the moment and Georgi is a major international player but he does not want to go anywhere else."

Gio looked happy enough when he got off the coach at Portsmouth on Saturday but I really don't know what to believe when it comes to his feelings about staying at Maine Road. I certainly can't see him being here next season, regardless of what division we are in.

NEWS - KITSON?

The MEN reports that out-of-favour Newcastle striker Paul Kitson heads Phil Neal's wanted list. Newcastle paid £2 million for the 26-year-old Kitson when they bought him from Derby County two years ago; he hasn't been able to get into the side much recently with Shearer, Asprilla, Ferdinand etc. all competing for the same places, but Newcastle have injury problems at the moment which may make them reluctant to sell for a few weeks.

Steve Lomas looks likely to miss the game against Huddersfield due to a nasty facial injury he picked up in the last few minutes of the game at Fratton Park on Saturday, an injury serious enough to keep him in hospital on Saturday night. His jaw and teeth took a heavy knock and on top of that he picked up a thigh strain. Michael Brown could be the man to deputise for him.

MCIVTA FOOTIE and COACH?

Ta, to all those who turned up for the MCVITee kick about. Unfortunately the Alty team didn't turn up, so it was a 9 against 9 match, which City duly won, the final score escapes me but it was something more akin to a rugby game!

So onto matters more jovial, the pub afterwards. Paul, Colin, Tony (and misses) and me all had a couple of drinks and discussed what's happening at the Academy. We all had our thoughts as to ways to get out of the mess, who to blame, the team, the list goes on...

One interesting idea did crop up; no it wasn't how to save the club (heaven knows how that's supposed to be done), it was more of the travel variety. The suggestion was put forward, why not run a MCVITee mini-bus to a game? So, who'd wanna go to an away game with a coachful of fellow MCVITAer's?

MUEN - UNITED FANS ARE FROM MANCHESTER

I'm not normally "bitter" enough to go in for United-bashing but I felt compelled to write after seeing the back page of Wednesday's MUEN and similar reports on TV.

The big headline was "B-RED IN HEAVEN!", which led into an article claiming that there was now proof that United fans come from Manchester. It proved to be a fine example of how statistics can be manipulated to draw totally inappropriate conclusions. It turns out that 81% of United fans in the survey were born within 20 miles of Old Trafford, and that less than 5% travel more than 50 miles to watch the Reds play at home. This, according to the MUEN, proves that "Manchester United fans are home grown - whatever their rivals from Maine Road may chant to the contrary - and that's official."

The survey on which the article was based was the 1995-96 FA Premier League Fan Survey, which was a joint venture between the League and the Sir Norman Chester Centre for Football Research, based at Leicester University. This is a well-respected organisation which has been gathering fans' views of the game for many years. The survey involved sending out questionnaires to 50,000 fans of Premier League clubs; around 20,000 were returned. The thing to bear in mind is that well over 95% of these questionnaires were sent to season ticket holders of the various clubs. This was because season ticket holders would be likely to have attended a high number of matches and therefore be able to give informed opinions, and also because the list of season ticket holders would be the only database many clubs have which includes the fans' addresses.

I was one of the people that received (and returned) a questionnaire from City. In case anybody's wondering, yes I'm a season ticket holder and I live within walking distance of Maine Road.

I think it is hardly surprising that 81% of United's season ticket holders were born within 20 miles of Old Trafford. What the survey doesn't take into account is those "fans" who profess to support the Reds but were born hundreds of miles away or even in a different country, have never been to a match and probably don't even know where Manchester is! Not only that, but a circle of radius 20 miles around Old Trafford encompasses far, far more than the city of Manchester and the centre of that circle isn't even in Manchester either. Thus, to draw the conclusion that United fans come from Manchester based on this survey is plainly ridiculous.

I guess it must have been a slack day for news. We gave them something to write about later though, didn't we? :-(

HELL ON EARTH

Have I died and gone to hell? Every night I go to bed thinking that this is just a nightmare and everything will be fine when I wake up. But no, when I wake up it just gets worse!

We are £26 million in the red, with a £3 million deficit last year alone. These accounts must be fictional because we didn't spend anywhere near the stated amount of money on incoming transfers. I thought Chairman Lee was turning the financial position around - well that's what he keeps telling us anyway.

Just think, if we had our very own Jack Walker, his millions would only get us back to a break even position without spending a cent on any players. To picture the club's debt, £26 million pounds is about 1,000 pounds for each regular punter at Maine Road - a colossal sum.

The club will go bust at this rate. Flitcroft was sold to pay the bills last year, and as a result we went down. Who will the club sell this year? We only have two players other teams would buy: Lomas and Kinkladze. According to the press Lomas will be sold to Wimbeldon and Gio will be allowed to leave before the transfer deadline (if we haven't got a chance of going up - that's a good joke isn't it). May as well sell now, because on current form we will be relegated.

On Wednesday, Phil 'Great Idea Boss' Neal showed us what an amazing manager he is - what brilliant team preparation and tactical awareness. He was crap for Bolton, Coventry and England, and he's started off in the same vein for us. For God's sake Mr. Lee do something right and get rid of the Turnip you were left with.

On the playing front, why is Kavelashvili not being given a chance to play up front? Give the guy a chance, anyone can play better than Rösler?

Please Lord, stop the torture - I don't think I can take much more.

THE VORLON SPEAKS...

In desperation, I searched the Net for psychiatric help on the plight of Manchester City. I found the home page of Kosh, the resident Babylon 5 (channel 4 Sci-Fi TV show) mystic, philosopher and fortune teller [http://www.nicom.com/~vorlon/kosh]. The following is a transcript of our conversation:

Q:

Will City ever win another trophy?

Kosh:

Never ask that question.

Q:

Will Gio be sold?

Kosh:

...Yes.

Q:

Will City be relegated?

Kosh:

Listen to the music, not the song.

Q:

Will Phil Neal be sacked?

Kosh:

No. You do not understand. Go.

At this point he started to laugh and refused to answer any more questions.

OPINION - CAN THINGS ONLY GET BETTER?

Right then, as most of you will have read the reports of the Oxford game I will not dwell on that, suffice to say that those of you not there were in the best place. Teletext this morning (Friday) says that Kinky's agent has been saying that Gio is unhappy an Maine Road and wants to move. Now I have mixed opinions on this, if Kinkladze leaves and the rest of those idiots on the field turn out more performances like I witnessed against Swindon and Oxford (and Bolton and Lincoln etc.) then we are in real danger of leaving division one the wrong way. You may think this is a bit alarmist, but when we defend like we do then we need to score three goals a game to win.

However, if the great one does go I am sure we can get a fair bit of money for him, perhaps more now than at the end of the season. This cash would help with the dire financial situation (as reported on Tuesday) in a way that the sale of Paul Stewart did when we were last down. Following the sale of Stewart we came up a stronger team and enjoyed a few years of relative success (5th two years on the trot and finishing above the Rags).

We need some sort of solution. I cannot blame Kinky for going if he does. Would anyone reading this stay with a company that was obviously going downhill when you could go to any company in the world? I would have liked to have seen a bit more effort from Kinky this season though. I still worship him, but at times it seems he couldn't be bothered trying.

Onto Coppell now, and I have heard the same rumour about his departure from three different people, which I presume means that this rumour is pretty strong - at least round the Salford area. It concerns a certain disease! I personally think that this is some idiotic Rag (commonplace in Salford) making up crap stories as their beloved team are in a bit of a rut at the moment, after all (as with most dodgy stories) it always begins with "Well someone told me..." Let me just say here (in case anyone legally minded is reading this) that this story mentioned to me and I am just relaying information, and not doing any accusing myself.

And finally, aren't we missing Keith Curle - Symons looks lost without him.

OPINION - TV PROGRAMME

I was a little upset that this BBC NW Programme was taken so lightly by the BBC itself, not so much the panel as they answered the questions asked but by the dire s***e questions asked by the presenter. I would like to acknowledge the BBC for putting this episode on T.V. and trying to highlight the sorry plight at Maine Road but the final straw for me was "If you could have fantasy football type money give me four players you would buy?" I don't think this is an issue; I currently have £35 million quids worth of talent in the Daily Telegraph fantasy football league, I too claim to know a little about football yet my team is absolutely dire which goes to show it's not all the players fault but the manager who selects them, builds moralE and general tactics who has the biggest influance. What City need is :-

• Players who are fit
• Players who want to play for Man City
• A leader of men who will bring belief, morale (again) and the will to win etc. i.e. a bloody good manager!

From the programme last night it seems that speculation of the amount of debt we are in ranges from £12? million (Mr Rose) to £26? million (everyone else). I can't believe that the accounts would state the higher figure if the lower figure were nearer the truth, especially when we hear so much about 'creative accounting' - it seems that any kind of creativity is unheard of at Maine Road these days.

Mr Rose was under the impression that the £12.? figure is average for a club of our size so if there is no money we have to sell something or get investors. But there are not many people who will say "Here you go Mr Lee, have £5 million, bye for now" so the question answers itself.

To sum up we need leadership, guidance and a firm hand not from the director level as I honestly believe FHL does everything he can for us, but from team management side where we lack considerably. If City i.e. the players were putting in the performances and winning, positioned in the top five in the table, there would be no mention of 'Lee out', How much debt?, City on the slide! ... At the end of the day it's no one but the players who go out on the pitch. I feel that (not from the last performance) but the majority of our team if sold within the Premiership could hold their own and establish a regular first team place in other teams. So the question is why not at City, and the answer is no leadership.

Whinge over and stay Blue.

OPINION - DARK DAYS INDEED!

This is perhaps one of the darkest moments the club has faced. I was one of the first to publicly back Coppell as did the vast majority of fans who wrote in MCIVTA. Isn't hindsight an exact science! If only we knew. We seem to stumble from crisis to crisis. Not a day goes past without me hearing someone making a wisecrack about our beloved team.

I can remember standing on the terraces, waving my white handkerchief, chanting "Swales Out" and cheering Franny Lee when he appeared in the directors' box. The optimism, the new wave of excitement that swept around the ground. At last we were going to be great again. What's gone wrong? Where are the promised funds to buy players? There are many Premier League clubs with gates half City's size and they still manage to buy players, improve facilities and stay in the top flight. Maine Road is a stadium fit for any top class European side. What it appears to have is second rate management from the top down. Perhaps the time is right for the fans to say enough is enough and vote with their feet. This farce should not be allowed to continue. I recon if Manchester required an enema, they should insert it in Maine Road. The whole place needs a good clean out.

OPINION - CAUGHT OUT

A number of times I have mused on being 8,000 miles away from Maine Road - but always with a certain amount of tongue in cheek. Now I am not so sure. For forty years I have always waited for the weekend to come to catch what happened to City - whether in person or on the radio or through the ethernet. I always felt, even in the early 60s, that next week would be better.

I am slowly losing this feeling (it's not optimism..that's too grand a term for it!) and, knowing that the San Jose paper carries all the Premier and First Division results, makes things very difficult indeed.

Why has it all happened? Are we all in love with a club that is just plain mismanaged and has been for two decades (you could even say that the Allison-Mercer years merely covered some cracks) and that we are finally being caught out as the new era of football arrives. That this is it: no hope for Premier status but ending up a club like Stoke (sorry Stoke). I think that what is getting to me is that I have spent years disavowing this argument but, just lately, I am beginning to feel that this is what is going to happen.

I just can't excited about the players that come and go to Maine Road; when did we last buy a really good player - or rather a series of good players - we buy good players in total isolation it seems. We seem to have a real problem with who we bring to Maine Road - even reading the team sheet gives me shudders.

Any hope? I am not sure whether I am asking this as a question or in expectation that someone will tell me "Yes, don't worry, soon turn the corner." This has been a horrible eighteen months. I am even moving on from my original view that Ball was a horrendous mistake to thinking that there is something deep in the club that causes everyone to flop. Coppell's leaving was sad but after a week I look on it as business as normal!

It is Friday evening..tonight we are off to a dinner hosted by George Schultz and in attendance are a rather large group of has beens including Geoffrey Howe, Helmut Schmidt, Gerald Ford etc. I am tempted to rush the podium and tell them to stop chattering on about war, famine and the UN and get to grips with something really important... Manchester City F.C.! Send in the UN, divert World Bank Funds - anything to stop what is happening.

which of course brings me full circle... what the hell is happening?

I am 47 years old and my entire thoughts are centered on the importance of City winning this weekend.

Best wishes - look at it this way. If there is a heaven surely we'll get in. St Peter (Doherty?) will check our file and say "let this sod in, he's experienced much worse than hell can offer already."

OPINION - CURRENT HAPPENINGS

I have sat here and watched the MCIVTA people speak and heard many on the terraces speak their mind over many years and I have enjoyed the spiel but have kept quiet for my own reasons. I need to point out some ideas thrown to me about City's situation. I may not think these ideas are true and am accepting them as mere hearsay and conjecture and I would like to talk about them as that.

1. Steve Coppell resigned over a sexuality issue.
2. Good excuse.
3. The 'Book's at City are analogous to Maxwellian theories on Accountancy.

OPINION - THOUGHT FOR A MISERABLE WEEK

If supporting City were easy then we would be just like United "fans".

Postscript to 'Why Blue'

I mentioned that my sister married a City reserve player; he later left her and she re-married to a great bloke called Brian Robinson. He was a true football fan and a long time City season ticket holder with (it goes with ticket) a tremendous, dry sense of humour. Sadly he died from cancer earlier this year but his mates took him to City up to a few weeks before he died (it's all right, he was on painkillers). When it was obvious that he only had a few days to live and as City were struggling to stay in the Premier League he was heard to joke "...and if they go down I don't think I'll renew my ticket for next season."

What was it Bill Shankley said about football being more important than life and death? That was true - Blue.

OPINION - BURNLEY PARALLELS

Isn't our old song somehow now more appropriate than ever?

Anyway, fellow sufferers, I just felt like writing (as the tears wet my keyboard) to say that for me the real problems seemed to start at the beginning of last season. Although born in Crumpsall (where my Blue tint originated from) I now live in Burnley, close to Turf Moor. So it was nice to go to last season's pre-season friendly and cheer the Blues on. Oh what high hopes we had, I wound up my neighbours for weeks before about seeing a "quality team" stuff the Clarets... well, for those with short memories, we were trounced! The worst moment was when Ball took off our best player - Paul Walsh. I've never lived it down, and since then it has got worse and worse.

I can't go out any more without being told that I'll be visiting Turf Moor at least once next season. As it is, Burnley fans are very sympathetic to our situation, and they are only too keen to remind me that they were one of the top clubs around before Bob "the Butcher" Lord screwed up and had to sell all the best players to pay for the new stand. Some things seem familiar don't they, except our stand is called the Kippax and not the FHL stand.

Final thought we need our defence tightened up, and some real spirit and commitment from our "stars", well, perhaps we could do worse than a certain Mr J Charlton (am I going mad or what!) to do what he's done before... at least he won't put up with our German prima donna and he surely will see that Dibble shouldn't play in goal for the Pig and Whistle third team (women's division) let alone us!

Keep the Faith, it will work out... eventually!

OPINION - RADIO KILLED THE VIDEO STAR

I am sure that for many people like myself who can't get to many of City's away matches. GMR talk and subsequently the MCIVTA match reports provide the closest experience we can get short of physical presence (Trevor Brooking is already talking as if we don't exist, so you can forget the telly).

Saturday's match at Portsmouth provided a good example of this facility. Not only are we treated to an excellent pre-match service by Jimmy Wagg, Andy Buckley and others, but also this week's guest summariser was none other than Walshie himself.

After telling us that reports of his retirement were somewhat premature due to better than expected results from his treatment, he went on to give an excellent insight into City's problems. He frequently noted that Portsmouth were the more committed team and due to Kinkladze's man marker, noted that our favourite Georgian was more of a liability in defensive situations.

The reason I am mentioning all this is due to the refusal of Francis Lee to give an interview to GMR because of 'inaccuracies of reporting in relation to the recent publication of the report and accounts.' Being an avid listener to GMR, I do not recall any misrepresented reports other than the widely quoted £26 million debt story covered by all the national press.

Is this not a gross misjudgment by Franny? Surely he is at risk of alienating a lot of genuine City fans who have hitherto supported him? As a replacement for Franny, Colin Barlow was interviewed about the club's finances and gave little away, other than to say 'You'll have to ask Francis about that.' Apart from not realising that the reason he was being interviewed was due to FL's refusal, should we not expect a bit more transparency from someone reportedly on £85,000 a year? Whilst, in my opinion, this is not an over inflated figure for a chief exec., it would make eminent good sense for him to give the fans a more convincing answer i.e. Where has all the money gone?

I am starting to believe that we fans are starting to become taken for granted. Yes, we do have an irrational love of City, but a slice of improved PR wouldn't go amiss now and again.

REQUEST HELP FOR BRIGHTON

Would anyone who is interested in helping the campaign to save Brighton and Hove Albion please e-mail me at 100773.1451@compuserve.com for information. We are most grateful for any help from City fans who we believe can greatly assist us in our cause. Thank you. Tim Carder, Brighton.

WHY BLUE?

Years ago growing up in Manchester I cannot remember making a conscious decision to become a City fan, although my bike was blue, and my sisters had red bikes, so it seemed natural to join the faith, although at that age I had no idea what effect this would have on my life. I always thought of red as a girl's colour and the Rags as girl's blouses.

I can remember being depressed for weeks after the defeat at Wembley by Wolves in the League Cup in the early 70's. I remember though going to Maine Road through the mid / late 70's and becoming totally transfixed by the teams, the 76 final against Newcastle, the "almost" league titles, Mick Channon for some reason always used to fall over; £300,000 transfer fee seems nothing now but his signing was to have brought the title to Maine Road. I remember whenever Channon was interviewed on Granada Reports or Kick Off having to ask my mum to interpret. Later in life I moved to Hampshire and it then all became crystal clear. I seem to remember though horses always came into the conversation, perhaps Channon secretly eloped with Shergar and they are living happily together in Newmarket.

My brother then came into the act and started following City with me; we were on the train coming back from Nottingham in the early 80's when several windows were shot out. To this day my brother Chris swears John Wayne rode by on horseback with a Notts. County scarf in one hand and an air gun in the other followed by Channon riding Shergar, which he promptly fell off.

There are far too many memories to put into words, some good, others bad, but every Saturday whereever or whatever I am doing I think of City.

No other team in English football over the years. has promised so much and delivered so little. S**t team, Great fans sums up the whole story, and perhaps explains the kinship which still after all these years burns so strongly in City fans. Once a year. I get to a City game (this season it was the first home game) and for all of you that despair at times because of the team's performances think of life without City. Next time you are at Maine Road look around not at the ground, players or the pitch but at the fans, that's what being a Blue is all about.

BLUE HUMOUR

Franny Lee was spotted in a Supermarket yesterday. On noticing an old woman struggling with five bags of shopping, Franny asked her "Can you manage dear?" The old woman replied "Get lost!, you got yourself into this mess, don't ask me to sort it out! Anyway," she continued, "what are you doing in here?" "I'm getting some booze, oh and also a new pair of gloves for Andy Dibble." "Sounds like a good swap to me," she said.

RED HUMOUR

What's the difference between Schmeichel and Cinderella?
Cinderella made it to the ball.

What time are United kicking off Sunday?
Every 15 minutes.

When Peter Schmeichel's wife asked him when he would be home he said after 5 (or 6)

Have you heard about the new Roy Keane alarm clock... it goes off every 20 minutes.

Why did Schmeichel go to the laundrette?
To see what a clean sheet looks like.

Alex Ferguson and Gerry Adams are having talks...
To see if they can stop the beatings.

What's the difference between cattle, sheep and United?
Cattle and Sheep have to go to Europe to get slaughtered.

RESULTS

Full-time score for Sunday, November 17 1996

WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS 1-2    BIRMINGHAM CITY

Full-time scores for Saturday, November 16 1996

BOLTON WANDERERS        2-2    CRYSTAL PALACE
BRADFORD CITY           2-1    IPSWICH TOWN
GRIMSBY TOWN            1-1    STOKE CITY
NORWICH CITY            1-1    READING
OXFORD UNITED           1-0    HUDDERSFIELD TOWN
PORT VALE               0-0    SHEFFIELD UNITED
PORTSMOUTH              2-1    MANCHESTER CITY
QUEENS PARK RANGERS     1-2    CHARLTON ATHLETIC
SOUTHEND UNITED         2-3    WEST BROMWICH ALBION
SWINDON TOWN            3-0    BARNSLEY

Full-time score for Friday, November 15 1996

TRANMERE ROVERS         1-1    OLDHAM ATHLETIC

Up to and including Sunday, November 17 1996

Team                  Played   Won  Drawn Lost     For Against   Points
Bolton Wanderers        18     11     5     2      40    25        38
Crystal Palace          18      9     7     2      41    15        34
Norwich City            18      9     5     4      27    18        32
Barnsley                17      8     6     3      30    22        30
Sheffield United        16      8     5     3      31    17        29
Oxford United           18      8     4     6      24    15        28
Swindon Town            17      8     2     7      27    19        26
Tranmere Rovers         18      7     5     6      26    21        26
Wolverhampton Wanderers 18      7     5     6      23    19        26
Stoke City              16      6     6     4      23    27        24
Port Vale               19      5     9     5      17    20        24
West Bromwich Albion    18      5     8     5      23    27        23
Portsmouth              19      6     5     8      22    25        23
Birmingham City         16      6     5     5      20    19        23
Queens Park Rangers     19      5     7     7      21    26        22
Huddersfield Town       17      5     5     7      20    25        20
Southend United         19      4     8     7      20    31        20
Charlton Athletic       15      6     2     7      16    22        20
Ipswich Town            18      4     7     7      22    26        19
Reading                 17      5     4     8      20    28        19
MANCHESTER CITY         17      6     1    10      19    26        19
Bradford City           19      4     5    10      16    33        17
Oldham Athletic         19      3     7     9      20    24        16
Grimsby Town            18      3     5    10      19    37        14