CITY MAGAZINE (Volume 5)

TITLE           CITY Magazine
EDITOR          Mike Barnett
PUBLISHER       The Manchester Evening News
                164 Deansgate
                Manchester M60 2RD
PRICE           £2.00 per issue
PUBLISHED       First Monday of every month

NOTE            A percentage of the revenue generated by CITY Magazine
                goes into the Club's promotion fund...

VOLUME 5 ISSUE 1

MCFC Diary - 29 September to 25 October

Nick Weaver needed for the U21s vs. Denmark; both Whitleys in the Northern Ireland Squad; Riedle signs for Fulham; City beat Port Vale 2-1 with Bish scoring both! Goater's injury could keep him out for a few weeks; Russell extends loan spell at Darlo; Pollock not going to Pompey; Nick Fenton joins Notts County on loan; AGM goes well; Peepo back in training; with a free weekend City stay second; Gio to Sheff U? Joe and Willie go Icelander-spotting in France; Tony Vaughan at Cardiff for another month; the Republic get Turkey and England get Scotland in the Euro 2000 play-offs; no action to be taken against Terry Cooke regarding the anti-doping fiasco! Dibs joins Carlisle from Hartlepool on loan for a month; Joe doesn't pursue his interest in Patrick Suffo; Bradders returns to Pompey for a fraction of what we paid for him; Willie worried about the Scotland/England fixtures; Blues draw at Tranmere; young Kev sent off again; City denied penalty after blatant handling of ball by Clint Hill but not seen by officials; due to the Euro play-offs City's match vs. Stockport could be played earlier or on the Sunday; City beat Birmingham 1-0 and go top; £1.5m agreed with Leeds for Danny Granville; Stockport match at noon on 13/11; yet again we're rumoured to be in for Robert Taylor with Gareth Taylor as bait (would save mucking around with shirts I suppose!); Kavelashvili plays for FC Zurich vs. Newcastle in UEFA Cup; Joe confirms that no player will be used as bait/part exchange for Robert Taylor; City beat Blackburn 2-0 with Edgy and Jeff scoring and poor ol' Kev missing a penalty; Joe feels Craig Brown should take a look at Andy Morrison.

The Skipper Leading the City Ship

A year is a long time in football; this time last year Andy had fallen out with Huddersfield big time. Enter Joe Royle to conclude one of the best transfer deals of all time. It's said Andy is the most effective stopper and leader since Dave Watson. His off-field life has been well documented but if you dig deeper there's a serious thinker behind the granite facade - he offers reasoned arguments re officials, not knee-jerk comments. He regrets trying to inject some levity at Fulham with the Stan Collymore incident even though the ref boobed with the cards, he's pleased he has not been booked for dissent (at the time of the article) which was a goal for him. He admits it's been a rollercoaster year but says it's not all been down to him as has been suggested in some quarters. He expected us to get promoted last year but not the success so far this season. He feels that players should play every game as if it was their last, take each game as it comes. He says that any player who has to drop out of the team should be missed but hopes that his replacement would keep the wheels turning; as long as those who are out for a while work their socks off to get back in the team, then they should get their just rewards. As for Scotland vs. England: "I hope we stuff them. It's as simple as that!"

The Pride of the Peacock

The infamous AWS match last season vs. Mansfield showed Joe what Lee Peacock could do. He kept tabs on him and signed him for £500,000. Lee says he was flabbergasted but delighted. His aim is to get into the team and then become top scorer but he realises he's not going to be automatically selected but says training with better players can only improve his game. His ultimate goal is to get into the Premiership with City and be top scorer but he doesn't really mind in which order this happens!

Left Back in the Dressing Room No More

After limping out of the Wolves opening day match after 15 minutes with a pulled hamstring Danny Granville was wondering if his City career would be the shortest on record. David O'Leary sees Ian Harte as his first choice left back at Elland Road and Danny's injury didn't really help his cause. Joe fortunately knew better and when Harte got injured DG wasn't called back. A sinus op ruined his previous pre-season so he caught up this time round and then got injured. He says he's really hit it off with Mark Kennedy with them working well together down the left. At the time of the article his permanent transfer was still in limbo. Was he surprised that City were doing so well? He said no, the players deserve it but they'd have to keep on going and not sit back. Does he wish he was still involved with Leeds in Europe? Danny replies maybe but you could tell he's pleased to be at Maine Road. His favourite game so far? The Port Vale game because it was on the back of a few dodgy games and we needed to get something out of it. He concludes by saying that Charlton and Huddersfield are the teams to watch but they've got to shift us first!

City's fan on the Board - John Wardle

John Wardle is one half of the successful JD Sports partnership with David Makin. Both he and David dug deep into their own pockets, investing £5m and loaning £4m, owning 20% of the shares. Both men can come to the ground and not be recognised, both avoid sitting in the directors' box with John preferring to watch with his friends and family where he can jump up and down and scream with the rest of us! David sits in the Kippax. JD Sports was started 18 years ago with loans from both men's fathers but the company now has 130 outlets all over the country. John was instrumental in the boardroom changes which saw David Bernstein take over as Chairman and Joe as manager and he does know more about the game than the average director! Once on Bolton's books, injury ended his dreams and he took his coaching badge alongside Ian Storey-Moore, plying his wares at Radcliffe Borough and the North West Counties League before he had to start earning a living! He knows that you have to work hard to succeed both in business and in football. Both men haven't invested in City for personal gain but to see their beloved Blues back at the top - they also don't expect to see their money again! John says if he tried he might ruin the club! He is delighted that David Bernstein is the Chairman, he feels he is a professional in all senses and loves the club as does Joe. Why did he get involved? It was seeing the devastation on the faces of his family and also other fans after relegation from the Premiership. Both felt they had to do more than simply sponsor the Family Stand and their involvement is working; the faces of joy at Wembley made it all worthwhile. They also appreciated being thanked at the AGM. John concludes by saying that he and David both get just as big a kick out of City as when they weren't so personally involved.

AGM - this has been quite extensively covered in MCIVTA so I won't go over it again.

Media Watch - Chris Bailey covers what the papers say about us, good or bad!

Mark His Words - Mike Barnett interviews Mark Hodkinson, author of "Blue Moon - down among the dead men with Manchester City" and also reviews "Manchester City - Cup Kings 1956".

Black and Blue - Chris Bailey interviews boxers Ricky Hatton and Michael Gomez. Ricky at 20 is the WBO Intercontinental light-heavyweight champion and lifelong Blue. Michael, at 22, is a later convert. Both Ricky's dad and grandad were on City's books, as a youngster he made it into the embryonic School of Excellence at City but boxing began to play a bigger part in his life and although he was on the books when Kendall was manager he was eventually released 'cause he never got to training! His most abiding memories so far were the 5-1 and the 10-1 and of course Wembley in May with Paul Stewart, Georgi Kinkladze and Niall Quinn among his list of all time greats. Mark Kennedy is his current favourite and he thinks Dickov could make a "decent fighter"! He wears his colours in the ring, his favourite stadium is Maine Road even though he's appeared in Las Vegas and Madison Square Garden. Michael on the other hand has had a meteoric rise to stardom sadly tinged by the losses of both a sister and his father. He was the British Super-Featherweight Champion in September and aims to win a Lonsdale belt for 3 successful defences of his title before moving up a level. His sombrero-wearing fans are vowing to wear City shirts next time he's in action; he also takes City reminders everywhere he goes. Michael is a member of both the Moston branch and the Prestwich & Whitefield CSA. Both boxers feel that the good times are about to roll. Michael's favourite current players are Weaver, Edghill and Morrison and he wouldn't fancy facing Andy in a scrap! Then again neither would I!

£3K in the Community Chest

A fund-raising dinner was held at UMIST with James H Reeve as the MC and guest speaker was David Johnson. James H was particularly mischievous in announcing one raffle prize which was for the Portsmouth home game! The centrepiece of the evening was Alex Williams presenting Nick Weaver with an engraved lead crystal goblet for passing his own clean sheets record.

Awayday Blues

This was the West Midlands CSA trip to the Tranmere game encompassing a string of accidents, Rag-baiting, naff stewarding (Port Vale was just as bad) and the usual lack of programmes - get there earlier folks!

Blue Notes

This covered Port Vale (h) 2-1, Tranmere (a) 1-1, Birmingham (a) 0-1 and Blackburn Rovers (h) 2-1.

VOLUME 5 ISSUE 2

City Diary - 26 October to 27 November

Lee Peacock signs from Mansfield for £500,000; Murtaz possibly played his last match for City?; Kakhabar however winning his battle against injury; QPR match sold out; Mark Kennedy in Republic squad for play-offs vs. Turkey; Danny Allsopp to be loaned out; City beat Ipswich; Nick Fenton extends his loan at Notts County; Danny Tiatto named in Aussie squad; Tony Vaughan and Alan Reilly made available; Blues beat Port Vale 2-1, Shaun Wright-Phillips débuting and Danny Granville scoring the winner; Danny Granville's loan to be made permanent; Joe gets October Division 1 Manager of the Month Award; Gio joins Derby on loan till end of season;.Chris Greenacre joins Mansfield on loan; Fulham home game to be Sky game on Sunday 16 January kick-off 1pm; no extra security to be laid on for Alan Ball's return to Maine Road with Pompey; Terry Cooke angrily denies any transfer demand rumours; Craig Russell agrees a third month on loan at Darlo; Blues beat Pompey 4-2; Bob Taylor is linked with us again!; Charlton game a sell out; Nick Weaver named in U-21 squad for play-offs vs. Yugoslavia; BSkyB invest £5.5m, acquiring just under 10% of club's shareholding; EGM scheduled for 6 December; Danny A joins Notts County on loan; Blues draw 1-1 with QPR; Kennedy could miss Republic games with pulled hamstring; Danny Allsopp scores after 2 minutes for Notts County; David Bernstein says BSkyB money will help club but knows Joe won't spend rashly; Kennedy won't be risked unless 100% fit; Joe praises the "old men" of the side, Jobbo & Bish; FA Youth Cup pairs young Blues with Bristol City on 30 November; Vaughan extends loan at Cardiff; Greenacre loaned out to Hartlepool; England U-21 game called off; Fenton not for sale; injury problems ease; England beat Scotland 2-0 at Hampden; Republic draw 1-1; Browny for Wigan? Megson sacked by Stoke; Kakhabar to make comeback in reserves match vs. Oldham; Bob rumours still rife; Gio unlikely to make début vs. them due to work permit problems; KT carried off in first half of Oldham game; Browny not for Wigan but Fitzroy possibly! Shaun Holmes given a free transfer; England lose 1-0 at Wembley, the Republic draw 0-0 and are out; Browny to Pompey for a month's loan; Blues beat Charlton 1-0 and are still top due to other results; Blue draw Chester away in the F.A. Cup but venue to be decided; Blues beat Barnsley 3-1 in driving rain (as those of us in the front row of the Kippax will soggily testify!), getting 3,000 more than Chelsea did for their Champions' League match vs. Feyenoord; Chester ask for the FA Cup tie to be played at Maine Road; Bob does finally sign for us! Chester told game will take place on Sunday 12 December at the Deva Stadium, 1pm kick-off; Blues stay top although they lose to Huddersfield with Charlton & Barnsley drawing.

A Close encounter with the Edge - by Mike Barnett

Edgy has been likened to Mount Rushmore in our defence, Mike citing that at the time of writing City had only lost 3 league games and Edgy had missed two of those, so we are more solid with him there. Richard is City's longest serving player at the tender age of 25 although he missed a season and a half through injury after the Premiership win at Leeds, but he's now fully recovered and playing some of the best football of his career. He agrees the first part of last season was one to forget but everything changed after Christmas. On a personal front he could have left the club due to wrangling over his extended deal with Frank Clark and Franny Lee but fortunately after Clark left, Joe sat him down and told him he saw him as an integral part of the team which pleased him greatly. When asked which clubs came in for him, Edgy declines to comment. At Wembley after scoring his penalty he kissed his shirt which endeared him to more fans - he knows he's not the most popular of players but refuses to let the criticism and remarks get to him. He, like all of us, is surprised at City's success this season but feels pressure more due to the standards the team have set themselves. Edgy gets the impression from some fans that they feel a further season in Division 1 would be beneficial but his argument is the team spirit is the strongest it's ever been and that this team spirit and the new confidence with which they approach each game he feels gives them the edge over their rivals - the change of attitude and approach is clearly working. Edgy concludes by saying that we shouldn't get carried away but he can't see why promotion cannot be achieved.

Lights, Sound, Action!

"There's only one Jimmy Grimble" will be released in August and Maine Road features heavily. The film is about the 15 year old Jimmy Grimble who makes his school team but is desperate to play in the Under-15 tournament at Maine Road. The film is marketed as a coming of age comedy drama than a film about football. Football's poor track record in films was one factor for this so Simon Clifford, the first Englishman to hold a prized Brazilian coaching licence was employed to polish up match action and make each game portrayed in the film as different as possible. Why pick City? Well, the recent events have proved that truth is sometimes stranger than fiction and this is what attracted the film makers. They were also interested in the split between United and City and the film is about someone achieving their dreams. As co-producer Sarah Radclyffe put it, "the people who support City are all real supporters who've been following them for years, they're not supporting a team just because they're top of the league and have shed-loads of money. They're supporting them because they love the game and they love the club." One of the film's themes is faith, loyalty and self-belief and the producers felt that was what City represented.. The film crew spent late October / early November filming matches and crowd scenes with City's own film star Mike Summerbee pointing the way! Jimmy Grimble is played by Lewis McKenzie (not an actor) but he impressed the casting director enough with his natural acting talent to make the director say "he IS Jimmy Grimble". Lewis thoroughly enjoyed himself and seems to have been bitten by the acting bug. The main star of the film is Robert Carlyle who relished playing a good guy for a change. The producer hopes that the film's premiere will coincide with City back in the Premiership - nice thought eh?

BSkyBlues

Chris Bailey covered this more thoroughly and expertly than I could ever hope to so...!

Taylor Bobs In

A quick interview with our latest signing who admits that City broke his heart back in May (he thinks he suffered!) but after six weeks of on-off transfer rumours he's delighted to have signed for us and said that, although other clubs were interested, City were the only club he wanted to join. He has soon realised that City is a world apart from Gillingham but hopes that once he has got in the side he can do enough to stay there as he knows places have to be fought for.

Loyal Supporter

John McDermott is 14 years old and lives in Newtonards, County Down. John won the Match magazine "Nationwide Fan of the Year" award. Why? Because he sets off after school on Friday afternoon with his parents catching the 5pm ferry from Larne to Stranraer then a drive down to his grandmother's in Blackley via Carlisle arriving between 10 & 11pm. After the match he has to make the return journey, not arriving home until early Sunday morning (and I thought my old trips from London to games and back was bad enough when I was still darn sarf!). Both John's parents are Blues and mum Liz said that they have to book their ferry tickets at least two weeks' in advance, to take advantage of savings but if games are postponed for internationals or whatever then regretfully they lose their money - Liz says she daren't try and work out how much money they've spent! John says most of his mates are Reds which causes him some grief but he says he will never change! Apart from winning the title, John has had the cost of his season ticket reimbursed, received VIP tickets for the Swindon game and a camera to record the events of the day - well done young man!

Maine Frames

Included: Mark Kennedy modelling his new teeshirt, advert for the City Till I Die Wembley book, Joe with his bubbly, Mark diving and missing Kevin Horlock! Danny G celebrating his first goal for the club and Moonie and Ian Cheeseman posing before abseiling down the Kippax for charity. Special mention if I may be so bold to Joyce Maddocks, wife of our erstwhile and recovering historian John, who also decided to abseil for charity - rather her than me! But well done to all who did "the deed"!

Alex, Head of the Crew

If things had gone better for Alex then we might never have heard of Nick Weaver. Alex played 125 games for City before he got a back injury. He then played a further 40 games for Port Vale before having to retire in 1986. He is now manager of City's Football in the Community scheme but also assists with the coaching of young goalies two nights a week, helps assess potential 'keepers, hospitality work on matchdays and also fits in goalie coaching courses for the PFA.

Alex was born round the corner from Maine Road and attended the same school as Roger Palmer and Clive Wilson (at the same time even) but football wasn't in his original game plan. His parents weren't really into football so he wasn't under any pressure but he says that today's youngsters are under more pressure due to the fact that they are now representing City from such an early age. Boot cleaning and changing room cleaning are no longer on the agenda but the youngsters are given the chance to see how people work in a 9-5 job too. Material rewards are better these days muses Alex ruefully as the 17 & 18 year olds now drive around in new cars where he had to make do with a bit of a rust bucket which caused amusement amongst his team mates!

Alex has an encyclopaedic memory of his own playing career, noting that Bryan Robson scored against him on his début and in his last match for City! To help him recover from his back injury, Billy McNeill sent him to Queen of the South which Alex really enjoyed and he remembers being called an "English bastard" as opposed to a "black bastard" which made a change! Alex joined Port Vale as the Vale physio was a back specialist and he felt that if he was going to make a full recovery then Vale would be the place to do it. Although he did slowly improve, he still felt some discomfort but decided enough was enough after a freezing cold night game. Ironically when he did retire, West Ham were interested in him. He then had to sign on for the first time in his life but soon rejoined Vale to start their Football in the Community scheme before moving to City two years later. He would have liked to try his hand at management feeling that ex-players cope better as they know how players are! He still enjoys watching City but is cautious about our chances of promotion.

Media Watch - Chris Bailey's review of what the November papers said about us.

Awayday Blues - Ian and the Macclesfield branch (along with Cheadle and North Staffs) hit Port Vale... will they ever recover? Port Vale I mean, not Ian and Co! Clothes swapping? Mmmm.

Blue Notes - covered City 1 Ipswich 0; Vale 1 City 2; City 4 Pompey 2 (squeak squeak);QPR 1 City 1; Charlton 0 City 1; City 3 Barnsley 1; City 0 Huddersfield 1 (oops!)

Blue Preview - covered Stockport (h) through Christmas and the New Year to Crewe (a).

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