THE OFFICIAL VIDEO REVIEW OF MANCHESTER CITY - THE 1996/97 SEASON

TITLE:          The Official Video Review of Manchester City - The 1996/97 Season
PUBLISHER:      Visionsport International
                96 High Street
                Marlow
                Bucks SL7 1AQ
RUNNING TIME:   Approx 75 minutes
PRICE:          £13.99

This video documents what has been a most eventful season at Maine Road, and has done it quite well. For the first time we have clips from all three competitions and the only game that isn't featured at all is the goalless draw at home to Huddersfield in November. This is a much better effort than last year's review by the same publisher.

Although the season ended with a record low finishing position for the club, there was still much to admire, mostly from Gio Kinkladze who is featured heavily. Once again the Georgian maestro is the cover star and there is a short section at the end devoted to him, composed mainly of clips the 1995/96 season.

The bulk of the programme is made up from all of the goals scored and conceded by City, with the occasional near miss and controversial incident too such as the dubious penalties awarded for us at home to Charlton and against us at Barnsley. However, Festa's assault on Steve Lomas in the Middlesbrough game is notable by its absence. The commentaries are from the TV coverage of the games, not added afterwards, and are thus of a higher standard than some of the previous videos of this type.

There are also brief post-season interviews with Francis Lee and Frank Clark (who says that the club may not deserve Premiership football just yet but the fans certainly do), plus some of the off-the-field events such as the resignations of Alan Ball and Steve Coppell.

Also included are some of the Sky TV interviews with City fans before the Swindon away game, including the ubiquitous Dave Wallace. He sensibly adopted a "wait and see" approach when asked his thoughts on Steve Coppell (who would resign shortly afterwards), though some younger fans were far more optimistic (naïve?), predicting a charge up the table and at least a play-off position. The move upwards would have to wait until the appointment of Frank Clark, and this is one of the main themes of the video.

Overall it's not exactly an "uplifting" video (hardly surprising) but it is a good "warts and all" record of the season (the Lincoln games are included). Maybe there could have been a bit more about the fans, whose support remained constant despite the problems on and off the field, but nevertheless this is worth having if you want a good summary of the 1996/97 campaign.

Finally, on the back cover of the video is a URL for the publishers' Internet site (http://www.visionsport.co.uk) but at the time of writing, it appears not to exist.

I shelled out my £13.99 for the video and rushed home to play it (well, via 2 pubs and the local off licence for some liquid courage!). I settled down in front of the TV with tin in hand. The sleeve notes promised "The exclusive story of the season." I then looked at the running time, 75 mins - well, that would just about cover the comings and goings of the managers; what, I wondered were they going to show of the games? Well, with a full tin, my girlfriend (for moral support and to run for more tins), and a trembling hand (DT's are rough aren't they?), I pressed "Play" and sat back for more ups and downs than "The Big One."

The video starts with an ad for a CD-ROM called "The Ultimate Soccer CD-Rom (TM)." For anyone who is interested, you can get more info from http://www.visionsport.co.uk/ and no I don't work for them! After this it then goes into the intro with a negative (as in black and white) picture of Frank Clark and then Alan Ball with a dance track playing over the top. Then on to clips of the team in action interchanged with the words "Man City because you love IT", finishing with a picture of the "old" City badge - bitter about the change, me? Just because I have the tattoo, moan, moan, moan...

After the intro, there is an interview with FC saying how happy he is that Gio is staying. He feels that Gio has a "special relationship with the supporters" and that "he is very important to the club." He goes on to say that very few players can put a few thousand on the gate, Gio is one of them, the supporters deserve Premiership football, but on the whole teams deserve what they get. Next up is the chairman. Franny is asked wether it is a must that City reclaim their Premiership status next year. His reply is I feel, typical of the man, "Nothing is a must... but it's pretty near a must!"

The video then goes into the games. I won't review each game because

1. MCIVTA has done this far better than I ever could and
2. I'm too lazy!

What I will do is pick out some of the highlights for me; you'll have to buy the video to see all the goals and to tell me what I missed!

My highlights are Stoke vs. City followed by Franny at the press conference when Ball left. City vs. Charlton, Asa's first game in charge; note the "conversation" that Paul Dickov is having while the penalty is being taken. City vs. Barnsley, was that the beginning of the end for Dibbs? Port Vale vs. City, just listen to the noise from our fans! Sheff Utd making it 4 losses out of 5 and heralding the departure of Coppell. Swindon vs. City for a wonderful save by Dibbs from a penalty, which is followed by the Oscar-winning performance by Coppell at the press conference. Wolves vs. City, I had to watch it twice just to confirm that we were that bad and of course that "clearance" by Dibbs! After the Barnsley game we change to Frank Clark. He gives us his side of what happened with Tony Book. City vs. Swindon for Horlock's first goal, Bradford vs. City for that Rösler header, City vs. Stoke for Lomas' last game. Next are City vs. Lincoln, City vs. Oxford, City vs. Bradford, Brentford vs. City, Oxford vs. City and City vs. Watford. However, according to the club crests, we played ourselves several times and didn't do very well...

The video finishes with "that" goal against Southampton, along with other shots of Gio scoring/taking the p**s in a number of games from the Premiership, 1st Division and Cup games.

My verdict, all in all not a bad video, good quality, clear footage of the games and commentary that follows the season comprehensively. I would have liked more background of the "comings and goings" of the season, but overall a fair representation of the season.

Hope I've not bored you all, but I thought I would give it a go!