Fill In The Missing Name

"Of course, I would like to play at Barcelona. Who wouldn't? We would have a lot of fun," __________ was quoted as saying in Thursday's El Mundo Deportivo newspaper. "They're an incredible team. I've played against them and I know their quality. But for now I can only play against them in Playstation.

Ok, we all know who said these words, but can anyone think of a Premiership player who would have replied differently if asked the same question?

October 16th. 2009 - a new low for British 'journalism'

Choose Your Club

Choose not knowing the history of your club. Choose Busby the Blue. Choose Dennis Law’s backheel. Choose Sir Bobby Ticket Tout. Choose staging the World Cup in '66 and being handed a huge sum from the FA to develop your stadium but continue to bang on about City’s ground. Choose opening the gates at Old Trafford in the 60s after kick off to let people in for free. Choose forgetting you went 41 years without winning a trophy. Choose your highest ever attendance being at Maine Road. Choose that attendance still being lower than City's. Choose United’s globalism and domination since the late '90s whilst forgetting the past. Choose an air disaster as a marketing tool. Choose forgetting about the survivors of Munich and kicking them out of their houses (which you owned) because they could no longer play football. Choose waiting 22 years to set up a charity match for the families of Munich. Choose milking Munich for 50 years and then getting beat by ickle ciddy on your own soil. Choose asking AIG to sponsor the Munich memorial.
Choose having statues of two City players outside your ground. Choose being so obsessed with City that you have a permanent banner dedicated to us on the Stretford End. Choose paying £28 million for Veron. Choose 19,000 fans at Old Trafford to watch you play Middlesbrough when you were in Division One but pretend you have loyal support. Choose the have-to-go-to-all-cup-games-because-you're-forced-to ticket policy. Choose the USA. Choose debt. Choose pricing out your own fans in favour of corporate Londoners. Choose having your own manager and players criticise your fans. Choose prawn sandwiches. Choose not being able to stand. Choose being outsung by 3,000 travelling away fans each game. Choose a referee that will let the game continue until your score. Choose Terry Christian as your spokesman. Choose having Mick Hucknall and Eamon Holmes as your celebrity fans. Choose FC United…if they become successful. Choose Trafford. Choose United.

The Premier League Has A New Team

Emmanual Adebayour has been found guilty of expressing his joy at scoring a goal in the worlds' most toughest and most competetive league. His sentance has probably come as some relief to Manchester City and their fans. A £25,000 fine and a 2 match ban, suspended.

The fact that the FA tribunal convened in an undisclosed venue at an undisclosed time was more synonymous with Red Square rather than Soho Square. The verdict of this 'Temple of Vengence' was released at 5.00 PM, conveniently timed for the evening news. The size of the fine was irrelevant in an age of hyper-salaries - 25 grand would just about buy you a share on a 12 month lease on a corperate box at Wembley. Where the money will actually go is a mystery - probably on designer blazers for officals travelling to South Africa, certainly not on clubs at the bottom of the football food chain who are struggling for survival.

A suspended 2 match ban has brought relief to City fans and probable mild(ish) despair to supporters of Aston Villa and Wigan Athletic. But why was there any threat of a ban in the first place, where is the precedent? Gary Nevilles' infamous celebration in front of travelling Liverpool fans at Old Trafford included a routine of shirt clenching and badge kissing, all performed with an aggressive snarl - he hadn't even scored the goal, he wasn't an ex-Liverpool player who had left Merseyside in acrimonious circumstances. Thierry Henry sprinted up to the Tottenham fans after scoring and did his trademark 'hush' sign - that hardly got a mention. The only rules governing a goal celebration state that a player must not leave the field of play or gesticulate to opposing fans, Adebayour did neither.

Although the Premier League is offically comprised of 20 teams, it seems that the FA are themselves becoming an important player in influencing the outcome of games. If there really is a new 'Big 5' then the men in grey suits are surely the fifth member. Let's look at how the FA have infuenced City's season so far.


Scheduled our midweek, second game of the season against Everton - a team involved in the Europa League. The game has been postponed, possibly until April. Surely all 4 teams involved in the EL could have been paired off with each other.

Charged Adebayour retrospectively for the Van Persie challenge, claiming that the referee had missed the incident, which he most certainly hadn't.

Banned Adebayour, this seasons most consistent goal scorer, after being influenced by a statement on the Arsenal website and comments from a leading FA member who was present at the game in his capacity as an Arsenal supporter.

Failed to charge Robin Van Persie for his cynical challenge on Adebayour or his provocative goal celebration, when he quite clearly swore and gesticulated at City fans. Van Persie has since gone on to score prolificaly for Arsenal, one of City's main rivals.

Failed to censure the referee after the Manchester United game when the official had proved himself totally inept in his interpretation of added time.

The fact that neither the Arsenal fans who serenaded Emmanual Adebayour with racist chants nor the United fans who threw coins at City players are not being investigated was probably down to the FA wishing to avoid unfavourable PR ahead of England's World cup bid. The safety and comfort of fans and players alike obviously being of secondary importance.

General Franco first coined the term 'Fifth Column' during the Spanish Civil War. He cited that his enemies were lying in columns to the North, South, East and West of Madrid but the most dangerous element were the fifth column who were already inside the city, the enemy within. I would never want to liken our club to a fascist dictatorship but there are similarities - the Sky 4 are our most obvious enemies - at least on the field of play, but the FA may prove to be our biggest obstacle on the road to success.

WHY I'M GLAD I'M NOT A RED

Clutching their precious eight packs of Stella Artois, the belching Stone Island clad overweight monstrosities lurch around the corner of Chester Road and Sir Matt Busby Way. They stuff themselves with congealed gristle posing as burgers, with chips of no more nutritious content than the polystyrene tray they sit in. A clutch of agitated youths pass around a Lambert and Butler cigarette, watching and waiting, on the periphery of the mob, currently numbering three hundred who after guzzling cheap lager since 11am are now entertaining the masses by torching an Argentina shirt. Cheers go up as anonymous heroes in the eye of the storm hurl bottles towards the traffic on Chester Road, the whooping almost drowning out the consequent shattering of glass across the bonnet of a passing Range Rover.

Stood on a wall just above this mass of writhing, spitting lizards is a scrawny, spotty, angry man, no more than 20, frantically waving a cardboard cut out red shirt crudely daubed with "TRAITOR 32" on the back in Tippex. A Blue Peter badge surely looms for this talented artist. The irony of how Tevez came to be at Old Trafford today in a blue jersey would be forever lost on this sorry figure.

Welcome to Old Trafford, everyone.

It's difficult for me to compile anything but a heavily subjective piece on this utterly unloveable club and its fans. After twenty five years watching football, my caustic views on United are scarcely likely to change any time soon. That, however, isn't a good enough reason to keep them to myself. Stray reds who have made it this far will already be putting their crayons down to tap out "34 YEARS" and other sleights of wit, no doubt other slurs on the sanity of Mark Hughes, City, their fans in general and the quality of the team.

Whatever they say, and they can even throw in their 18 leagues, 3 European Cups and so on, I couldn't spare the merest shred of love for Manchester United if my life depended on it. Some days I get out of bed an hour earlier just to detest them a little longer. And if United were playing an alien XI with the future of planet Earth depending on a reds victory, I'd still be in the away wearing a green scarf cheering for the martians.

The question is, do we really hate them, or do we pity them? Taking a saunter down Matt Busby Way, your gaze is met by the vacant eyes of tragic lost souls who have had their brains slowly sucked away through a red and white Nike straw. The one dimensionality embraces all age groups, genders and classes. The Doc's Red Army veterans still dreaming of clashes with the ICF in the 1970's, now approaching retirement age yet compelled to gather with purpose on street corners with their cans of Carling, dressed in their grandson's Lacoste and Rockport cast-offs. The head to toe Nike and AIG human billboards. The angry young men and women who actually invest considerable sums to have their red shirts printed with "18 TIMES AND THAT'S A FACT!" on the back.

Where do these people come from? It's staring me in the face - these basket cases actually DO exist.

These people can't choose their level of intellect or appearance in most cases. But they can choose their football club. So what kind of fayre do these unfortunates choose to entertain themselves with?

Sunday gave us the opportunity to examine the phenomenon at close quarters.

Let's assess the difference between United and City. United have won over twenty major trophies since the beginning of the Premier League, in the most successful spell in their history. Built on solid foundations of continuity with both management and playing personnel, as well as substantial funds when necessary, their rise to to the top has been a swift and prolonged one. This has resulted in the swelling of their support from gates well under 30,000 twenty years ago to 75,000+ today. City on the other hand, have lurched from crisis to disaster under a string of failed managerial appointments, instability at boardroom level and ineptitude on the field in that time.

Until now. The average tattooed knuckled red is still crowing at the events of Sunday. But find me a United fan of reasonable intellect (a tricky assignment, I know) and ask them are they genuinely happy with their teams performance at weekend? Alex Ferguson, who would have nimbly dodged the post match TV interview had Owen not scored, claims it could have been six or seven "zero". Pardon, Alex?


Aside of the two gifts (thanks Ben, thanks Rio) presented, did he miss Bellamy's first goal and the near misses by Wright Phillips and Tevez? Or is that just the kind of media that the non-thinking United fan demands and thrives on, and which the likes of Ferguson are only too happy to feed them on an intravenous drip?

We'll say no more about Owen's goal - whether the whistle should have gone before or not, City should have marked up, or better still, been at the other end to try and bag a winner themselves. United will claim the bragging rights and history reads that City lost but this was a warning shot across the United bow. Take away that injury time goal and United will look back on a very hollow error-strewn performance against a side missing Robinho and Adebayor, which would be heavily punished against the established sides, both at home and in Europe.

City, still a work in progress, will continue the upward spiral. The whiff of progress hangs in the air around the blues like the scent of a freshly mown lawn. It's the aroma of something far less savoury that pollutes the atmosphere at Old Trafford. Meanwhile, as we leave Planet Glazer behind once more, you realise why you'd just never be a Red. Picking our way through the ankle deep chip wrapper and trampled beer cans back to civilisation, you leave behind the tragic fashion victims as they lurch back to their supporters club coaches, struggling along with their Megastore bags brim full of overpriced tat. They head back home to provincial towns around the country, many of which have perfectly good football league clubs crying out for a little more local support. It sickens me that so many of these people are unable to resist their urge to attach themselves limpet-like to United and let their local club struggle.

However great their team may be, however all conquering and rich, United can't buy your affection or mine. Love of a good football club can't be bought at any price - and my soul isn't up for sale like the 73,000 rather sorry individuals who've committed themselves to worshipping at this unholy altar.

46,000 like minded fans supporting a club that's won nothing in over a generation, with such illustrious neighbours on the other side of the fence, can't all be wrong.



This article was written by Davejp1973 and was originally posted on BBC 6-0-6. It was removed without explanation in accordance with the BBC's policy of stifling independant opinion.

Just What We Needed

Sometimes help comes in the most unexpected ways and the last two games may prove a blessing to Manchester City.

After last seasons takeover, the media went into hyper-drive with their condemnation of City's new found wealth. The tabloids invented rumours and printed such blatent lies that the club had to threaten legal action against the Sun on two seperate occasions. The Mirror gleefully printed a story about the firm that supplied the club's in-house TV service having financial problems under the headline "Just when things couldn't get any worse for City". The serious papers were more subtle and tried, with partial success, to lead City fans to expect a trophy in Year One. When that didn't materialise, they came down on Mark Hughes like a ton of bricks.

The effect on the fans was explosive. Gentle Saturday night debate in City pubs turned to fist-fights. The fans started to split into Hughes In and Hughes out camps, inter-fan squabbling on comment pages turned into vitriol, members on one forum were trying to organise an anti-Hughes demonstration to coincide with the visit of Khaldoon Mubarak. The City Of Manchester Stadium had an unpleasant, dark atmosphere during the cold months of January and February.

Summer came and sanity returned. Players were moved on and a large amount of money was spent on their replacements. The season got off to a tremendous start, then came the Arsenal game. The events of that match have been well, if not over-documented. Adebayor was banned and the media assumed the morality of Quakers. Britain may be a member of the G8 but the mind-set of the football watching public seems to be trapped in revolutionary France. If a guillotine had been available, Emmanual Adebayour's head would probably be lying in a basket at this moment.

The events of the Manchester Derby have now been entered into the annals of history. The FA rule book was specially re-written for the occasion with a new chapter on time keeping procedure. Players were pelted with coins, Gary Neville danced in front of the City fans after taunting them all game and a fan ran on the pitch to insult Craig Bellemy who replied with little more than a love-tap. As it stands, Craig Bellemy has now been made the villain of the piece, nicely deflecting attention away from provocative celebrations, coin throwing fans and totally inept refereeing.

The effect on Manchester City Football Club - and by that I mean the whole entity, from boardroom through staff to supporters has been electric. Never in my time as a fan has everyone been galvanised into such a state of siege mentality. We stuck together when we were in the 3rd tier of English football but this is different. Despite an onslaught from the media, the FA and fans of just about every other club in the country, we are still in the top 4 with a game in hand and we're not going to give that up lightly. The divisions of last season have hopefully disappeared and there is a new level of assertiveness from the management, the players and judging by their reactions at the last two matches, the fans.

Throw what you want at us. Not only can we take it, we will thrive on it.

It's All gone Quiet

It's been a reasonably pleasant day in Manchester, most people would have gone about their normal daily business and Greater Manchester Police have another reported crime on their casebooks.

Whilst the print media, the bookmakers and most other people not connected with Manchester City have been holding a kangaroo court to try Emmanual Adebayour in his absence, the local constabulary are dealing with a complaint about Robin Van Persie's post goal celebration. The eyes of the footballing world are on Adebayour for running past 16,000 of his own fans, arms aloft before sinking to his knees in front of a collection of London based racists. A smile had spread across his face the moment the ball hit the net and it was still there 20 seconds and 100 yards later as the Arsenal fans pelted him with bottles and seats. The smile was sadly missing from Gary Neville's face a couple of years earlier when he confronted the Liverpool fans with a display of badge kissing and air punching to celebrate somebody else's goal.

Van Persie 'celebrated' in a somewhat different way. After scoring an important equaliser, he ran towards the City fans and delivered an assortment of gestures and profanities so obvious and foul that most media clips have had to be edited. Despite the fact the goal was scored at the South Stand where the Arsenal fans were contained, he chose to confront City supporters in a section of the stadium often reserved for families. The FA have said nothing, the referee has not reported the incident and the 4th official was a matter of yards from the outrage. It's a sad state of affairs when a fan has to report the matter to the police before any action is taken.

It's now dark in both Manchester and London and the FA still remain tight-lipped. Maybe there is a procession of grey suited men, marching slowly from Soho Square with burning crosses aloft ready to announce the fate of Adebayour at an hour designed not to inconvenience the headline writers of tomorrow mornings papers. It was them after all that have acted as judge, jury and executioner is the whole one-sided affair.

Trial By Media

As a City fan, to me Saturdays game against Arsenal will go down as a sound victory against one of the title contenders/pretenders. The media have different ideas and two other incidents are taking centre-stage. The mob is being fired up into a frenzy akin to a Hammer Horror film of the 1970's. Burning torches are being distributed ready for the indignant towns-people to march on East Manchester. Graham Poll has been declared "Witchfinder General".

Let's just concentrate on one incident here, Adebayour's celebration. By now most people will have seen the Togolise striker score City's third goal with an awesome header following some nifty play on the counter-attack. Ade (sorry, I cant get my head round 'Manu' as a nickname) set off on a run of Usain Bolt proportions coupled with Jessie Owens poignancy and headed straight for the Arsenal contigent, a riot ensued.

"Adebayor, Adebayor, "his dad washes elephants, his mother's a whore." Sung to the tune of Sloop John B are the lyrics that the Arsenal fans had been singing for much of the game. They rendered it with such gusto that I, and the several families that sit near me could hear it in Block 201. For those unfamiliar with the layout of the City Of Manchester Stadium, that's just about in line to where Adebayour started his dash. Safe to say that if we could hear it, sure as hell the player himself could.

The explosion of anger from the Arsenal faithful would have been laughable if it wasn't for the fact that several stewards were attacked. In fact the vision of middle aged men who are no strangers to McDonald's Happy Meals and don't overspend at the barbers was actually quite disturbing. 'Gooners' like to think they're the gentry of football support, these scenes showed that they are anything but.

At the time of writing, Emmanual Adebayor has not been charged with any breach of FA rules. Despite this, The Mirror are asking readers on an online poll to vote on how many games he should be banned for. The Times usually runs a daily article on City because everyday they think of something negative to write. They are telling us with authority that Adebayour will receive a 4 match ban. They are even suggesting that it should be fast-tracked so Ade will miss the Derby. The Daily Mail, the 3rd member of the Unholy Trinity of newspapers that are openly anti - City are running no less than 5 seperate articles on the club today, Graham Poll, who would have probably given Ade 5 yellow cards is in full cry and deems it as serious as the Van Persie incident. I won't comment on any of the incidents that involve the Dutchman until charges are made.

I don't remember any of this furore when Gary Neville made his vastly more inciteful approach to the Liverpool fans at Old Trafford, whatsmore he hadn't even scored the goal. So Manu should get a Man U style fine for this particular incident. The offending Arsenal fans should be identified and prosecuted.

Emmanual Adebayor may have upset 3,000 racist Arsenal fans with his joyous run but he delighted 44,000 City fans. It's our stadium and that should have some bearing on whatever punishment the FA feel is appropriate.

French Go Claim Crazy

Few of us would turn down the chance to make some easy money and French football clubs are no exception. After FIFA decided that Chelsea acted wrongly in their aquisition of Kakuta, it seems everyone wants a piece of the pie.

Although it's hard to hear yourself think above the din made by fans of other clubs (and their chairmen) as a wave of new found morality sweeps the football world, let's take a moment to study the facts.

Jérémy Hélan is a young Frenchman recruited to City's academy in February this year. He had just graduated from the Clairefontaine academy, which is a French version of Lilleshall, a kind of super academy designed to nuture young French talent. Hélan was basically a free agent as he wasn't contracted to any club. City approached the lad, received an International Transfer Certificate (ITC) from the French Football Federation and Jérémy became a City player.

Pierre Dreossi, the Rennes technical director then decided that things had gone horribly wrong for his club and lodged a complaint to FIFA. The grounds for this complaint was that Hélan had signed a pre-contract agreement with Rennes at the age of 13 and that agreement had been broken. The affair took on an Inspector Clouseauish mantel when no trace could be found of this agreement but the club are prepared to swear on the Eifel Tower that it existed.

The crux of the matter is that Jérémy Hélan is a very talented player and the real gripe for Rennes is not the fact they've been deprived of a useful defender but the idea that they've not been able to cash in on him on the international transfer market.

Although this is a FIFA matter, Michel Platini and his UEFA cohorts have been very vocal recently on the movement of young footballers across international boundries, Arsene Wenger was even accused of 'Trafficking Young People' - Sacre Bleu, there's an awful lot of Frenchmen involved in this saga.

So, in essence it boils down to City signing an out of contract player and Rennes screaming 'faux' because an agreement, not a contract, signed by a 13 year old child has not been honoured. We'll see how this one pans out but I can't see the Blues having too much to worry about. There are dark forces at work when it comes to English clubs at the moment but I can't see Rennes having a leg to stand on in this case.

Dunne and Cook

A nasty little PR battle is simmering at the moment between Richard Dunne and Garry Cook and it's not progressing in a way that will please City chairman, Khaldoon Al Mubarak.

Richard Dunne's career with City probably came to an end on a blustery Sunday last November. City were entertaining Spurs and after an entertaining start in which Robinho had given us the lead, Dunne horribly misjudged the ball letting in Darren Bent to equalise. Bad marking by the captain allowed Bent to score again and the afternoon turned into nightmare when the inept Mike Dean produced his second red card of the proceedings to dismiss Dunne after he had once again tangled with his nemesis - Darren Bent. A bad day for City and a horrorshow for Dunne.

Garry Cook informs us that he reads fan-forums and has even named his particular favourite. It's probable that he had read that particular forum during the following days and he would have witnessed an outpouring of rage and bile usually reserved for the most odious of sex offenders. Other fansites contained similar outbursts of disgruntlement though probably in a more constrained manner. This was probably the moment that Garry Cook decided that Manchester City and Richard Dunne should part company. Any lingering doubts would have been cast aside on a passionate evening in April when Dunne was dismissed during the UEFA Cup quarter-final against Hamburg. The presence of Khaldoon that evening would have done nothing to help his cause.

Dunne's career with City has already been well documented, four times Player Of The Year that includes a season when Nicolas Anelka was on City's books. Red cards and own goals are often subjects, accompanied by inaccurate statistics, that are part of any discussion concerning the amiable Irishman but o.g's are open to conjecture. To me, the epitome of an own goal was Diaby's classic for United against Arsenal, not instances when the ball skims the shin of a lunging defender who is making a last ditch attempt to prevent a goal. Dunney's inglorious record is written in stone - a couple were pearlers but the others were mainly down to freakish misfortune and will be accredited to a player desperately trying to avert danger when his co-defenders were nowhere to be seen.

Red cards should be treated as statistics and nothing else in most cases. The inconsistency of refereeing means dreadful challenges can go unpunished whilst an innocuous trip can result in a player seeing red, instances involving Shaun Wright-Philips and Paul Scholes last season spring to mind. Vinny Jones and Roy Keane got a plethora of red cards in their time, usually for actions bordering on thuggery - Richard Dunne could never be accused of that.

As Dunnes move to Aston Villa was approaching the moment of consummation, the deal hit an unexpected impasse with rumours coming out of City that the captain was holding out for a huge loyalty payment. Initially, I was disgusted at the thought of a Premier League footballer demanding money he wasn't entitled to off a club that had resurrected his career and employed him for 9 years. Two days after the transfer, I am beginning to see things in a different light. The fact that Richard Dunne has spoken out rather than just issue statements has added credence to his cause. The Dubliner, by all accounts is a likeable person, his post match interviews - even after memorable victories have been unassuming and bordering on shy. So when he speaks to the media about the secret phone calls to other clubs and broken promises about testimonials I, for one, will take notice and listen.

Anyway Richard Dunne is now an Aston Villa player and I will always hold him in high esteem. Although his departure was more or less inevitable, I wish it had been done in a more honourable way. If Garry Cook does 'listen to the fans' there's a good possibility that Micah Richards will follow and that would be pure folly. By all means listen to the fans Garry but leave footballing decisions to football people.

Why Harry Missed The Boat

The transfer deadline came and went and the excitement was minimal for most clubs. Despite the best attempts of Sky Sports News to whip the nation into a frenzy of expectation, one of the more interesting story's were the non-transfers of Martin Petrov and David Bentley.

When news broke on Monday night that the two players were in the process of exchanging clubs, most people assumed that someone had cranked up the City Transfer Bulldozer and the transfers were nothing more than a formality.

As it stood, Harry Redknapp looked certain to offload Bentley, a player that he had earlier informed us had no future at Spurs and had recently criticised on Match Of The Day for his drink-driving conviction.

Martin Petrov was less than happy with his current situation at the Blues. Injured whilst on international duty, Petrov missed the bulk of last season and his role had changed from nail-on starter to squad player. Petrov took this badly, a bit like someone awaking from a coma to find their partner had remarried and started a new family. Martin Petrov had been doubly unlucky, firstly to get injured and then to find out his replacement was Robinho, Britains most expensive footballer. Further evidence of the Bulgarians discontent was evident when he scored at the Nou Camp. As his team-mates attempted to kiss, hug and generally show their delight, the speedy wingman was intent on pointing to the name on his shirt. Maybe he was trying to announce his return, more likely he was advertising the fact he wanted out.

So in the land of theory, this should have been the most straight forward deal of the window. Tottenham had a player with no future at the club and City had a man who was, according to his agent "desperate to join Spurs".Surely everyone could meet at the Watford Gap service station, shake hands, exchange contracts, say hello, wave goodbye. No, Harry had to get clever.

City have been making headlines for their extravagent transfer activity for exactly one year and one day. This has deflected a lot of media attention away from Spurs who have spent something in the region of £180,000,000 over the last 2 years - if we're to believe the papers. Harry Redknapp thought he would try and recoup some of this by asking City for an extra £12 Million to smooth the deal through. It's rumoured that City offered a maximum of £8 Million. A stalemate was reached and the deal collapsed.

So as it stands City have retained a talented player who might yet have a future at the club if he sorts his attitude out. We also have Craig Bellemy who can play on the left should Robinho be rested/dropped/on holiday. On the right we have Shaun Wright-Phillips, wonderkid - Vladi Weiss and Craig Bellemy (again).

Spurs, on the other hand, have a player they don't want and an injured Luka Modric. City could never lose out on this deal but Harry was given a golden oppurtunity to resolve several problems for the Londoners. He tried to be smart and ended up being greedy. Not everything 'arry touches turns to gold.

Busk Your Heart Out For The Lads

Manchester City are inviting buskers to showcase their talents before the Arsenal game on September 12th - and why not? When it comes to music, Manchester is the cradle of civilisation and there should be several talented minstrels out there who are willing to serenade the arriving hordes.

Busking in England normally conjures up an image of a badly groomed desperado singing 'Streets of London', whilst plucking the basic chords on a worn out guitar and those who give money do so out of sympathy for the accompanying dog, rather than in recognition of musical talent. This may seem a bit harsh coming from someone who regards the triangle as a challenging piece of musical apparatus, but at least I know my limitations.

If you say the words 'busking' and 'Man City' in the same sentence or even the same room, the first name that would spring to mind would be Damon Gough, aka Badly Drawn Boy, vocal City fan and all-round good sort. This gig has his name written all over it. On a more wishful note, the vision of Johnny Marr strumming 'How Soon Is Now' on an acoustic guitar somewhere near the hot-dog stands would mean I would be a happy and fulfilled man when I go to heaven, or wherever else us ageing Smiths fans are destined.

Whilst Johnny Marr has been defending City's transfer policy on obscure Radio 4 programmes, the Gallagher Brothers have decided that City are worth watching again. In their current thirst for publicity, a few favourites from the Burnage mopheads is a possibility. A duet seems out of the question but maybe a couple of solo stanzas from opposite ends of the stadium might get them on our screens again.

So, if you’re an acoustic act, guitarist, singer, violinist... anything musical, get in touch by emailing an mp3 of you playing or a link to a MySpace page etc to mcfc@mcfc.co.uk with ‘MCFC Buskers’ as the subject.


Any money collected through busking will be given to one of the clubs’ associated charities.

Sparky Goes To Hollinwood

City are inviting fans to be part of a new film about the club. Should be good...

The MCFC Film

We are looking for a number of fans to take part in a film about City. We want to hear from all kinds of fans, old and young, male and female.

If you want to take part, can spare some time during the ups and downs of this big year and are willing to be open, passionate and interesting, we like to hear from you with details of:

Your interest and love of the club.
The great City stories you can tell.
What you do outside your City life.
What are your rituals on match day?
Is anything big happening to you this year?

If you fancy getting involved, email Mcfc@endemoluk.com with your details.

Let The Party Begin

The invitations were sent out some time ago, most guests were quick to RVSP, a couple of others decided they had other engagements, but finally after 12 months of planning, the party is about to begin.

When Joleon Lescott is presented to the worlds media, Mark Hughes will have completed a somewhat unique spending extravaganza, to call it a spree would actually undermine what our owners and manager have actually achieved. We now have a squad with 2 good players competing for every place and a group of promising youngsters only too willing to grab their chance.

In the space of 12 months the squad has been totally rebuilt. The pick of our existing players have been nurtured and their game has improved dramatically. Players who have no future with the club have been released and the disruptive elements have been shipped out. Richard Dunne and Martin Petrov may still leave but there have been no indications that they have been frozen out.

It would be fairly safe to say that the cheque book has been put back in the drawer for now, maybe there might be some fine tuning in January or maybe we'll all be glued to the TV next Monday evening speechless again, as some unexpected superstar joins the revolution.

Anyway, the party's started and I doubt if any unexpected guests are going to be fashionably late, but in the true traditions of 'Typical City' anything can happen and it probably will.

City Fans Know The Meaning of History

When I was at school, history was a far from popular subject - the only students that seemed to make any headway were those with a photographic memory or a freakish love of numbers and statistics. Only after Year 8 (or the 3rd year, in old money) were you were actually taught the significance behind the lists of dates and figures, that's when it became more interesting.

At present, City and Everton fans seem to be at odds over several issues, ranging from the Merseysiders treatment of Robinho in last years league clash, to the Joleon Lescott transfer. The somewhat riled Evertonians keep quoting the word 'History' as if it should be the ultimate argument stopper.

A quick look at the stats will confirm that The Toffees have indeed won the league on 7 more occasions than City and have 5 FA Cup triumphs to our 4. Both clubs have had equal success in Europe with one trophy each and City have won the League Cup twice with Evertons tally standing at never. It would be fair to say that Everton have a more impressive list of achievments than City, but do they have more history?

On March 3rd, 1934 a crowd of 84,569 watched City play Stoke in an FA Cup match at Maine Road. The fact that it is still a record crowd for an English game played outside of Wembley makes it a point of historical significance, winning the league in 1906 is nothing more than a worthwhile statistic. Everton's cup victory in 1966 will best be remembered for an errant fan being chased across Wembley's hallowed turf by less energetic members of the Metropolitan Police. A decade earlier City legend, Bert Trautmann had helped the Citizens secure the FA Cup in one of the most historic finals ever, when he played on with a broken neck. Eddie Kavanagh's antics might have raised a smile in '66 but Trautmann's bravery will be as synonimous with Wembley history as Bobby Moore lifting the Jules Rimet Trophy or the White Horse Final of 1923.

Everton haven't won a trophy since 1995, City have been bereft of success since 1976, records that neither club will take comfort from. In the last 15 years, Everton have had a brief flirtation with the threat of relegation and an even briefer fling with Champions League football. During the same period, City have been relegated 3 times and promoted 3 times, 7 consecutive seasons of never playing a game that wasn't crucial in deciding in which division the club would ply it's trade the following season.

Off the field events were equally momentous, or historic if you will. Since 1995, Everton have had their share of boardroom wranglings along with most other clubs. City, on the other hand have endured boardroom coups, a move to a new stadium, resignations of key administrive figures and takeovers involving an international fugitive and an oil trillionaire.

The shennanagins at City have not lead to the immediate appointment of a sign-writer to update the honours board, but 50 years from now, 'The History Of Football' could well be a valid academic subject. The course reading on Manchester City F.C. will run into several volumes, studying the subject will be time consumming, but never boring.

Moyes Loses More Than Lescott.

Everton fans like to tell everyone about their history, not the details, just the fact they have 'History'. When Evertonians wake up on Monday morning, they should jot down August 23rd, 2009 in their journals with an entry proclaiming that the club has hit an all time low.

Having just been defeated by Premier League newcomers Burnley, they find themselves bottom of the table with no points from a possible 6. A goal difference of -6, after just two games doesn't sweeten the pill either. This is hardly a reason for mass panic, Tottenham Hotspur showed us that a team can go several months without a win, yet still obtain a respectable league position. What should be of genuine concern to the Everton faithful is the deteriorating behaviour of their manager.

If you read articles about David Moyes, the words 'bright' and 'young' are never far away. This earnest young Scotsman (who's actually older than Mark Hughes) commanded a great deal of respect for his stewardship of Everton with a limited budget, but lost a great deal of credibility once Manchester City decided that Joleon Lescott would be better suited to life in East Manchester.

City made a formal bid of £15 Million for Lescott, purely an opening gambit that was rejected out of hand. By the time a second bid of £18 Million was lodged, City fans realised that the best place to track the progress of their clubs pursuit of Lescott was the official Everton website. Moyes wasn't happy and began a series of diatribes against City that bordered on the fanatical. He started with the standard "He's not for sale" tag, just as he had with Wayne Rooney. He then accused City of being disrespectful and demanded an inquiry into alleged tapping-up. He might be 'bright' and 'young' but even the most casual of fans know that you can't 'tap-up' a player who has handed in a written transfer request.

Everton were thumped 1-6 by Arsenal because of City, The Toffees beat Czech village team, Sigma Olomouc despite of City and the latest humiliation at Burnley was because City 'Haggled' over the price of Lescott. The man who said Joleon Lescott wasn't for sale at any price was now saying City were at fault for not making a ridiculous bid in June. The confirmation of David Moyes's failing grip on reality was confirmed when he added that Ronaldo's move from United to Real Madrid was transfer business as it should be. Sorry Davy boy, but the world and his wife knows that, that particular deal was sorted out 12 months earlier.

Everton promote themselves as 'The Peoples Club' despite the fact that one man, Bill Kenwright, is very much in charge. He has left his manager out to dry on this occasion but will doubtless be pleased with the £17 Million profit his club have made on the deal. People will scoff at the price City paid for Lescott - let them. We have secured the youngest of England's 4 recognised centre backs, playing as a competant stand-in left back for both club and country is not a bad attribute either. The World Cup is only 10 months away and Lescott not only wants to be on that plane, he wants to be in that starting line up. He needs City, City need him, Everton need the money - everyone should be happy. Evertonians should hope David Moyes now concentrates on managing his players rather than entering into PR wars he is never going to win.

We've Come A Long Way Baby

Cast your mind back 12 months and you'll remember that being a City fan mean't you were living in a very difficult place. Our chairman, Thaskin Shinawtra was using his financial resources to side-step extradition procedures, Vedran Corluka was in the process of being sold to Spurs so there would be some cash in the biscuit tin and someone was having a quiet word with John Wardle about a £3 Million sub to pay the workers. On the pitch, a sparse crowd left the City of Manchester Stadium shell-shocked after we had gone down 1-0 to FC Midtjylland.

As intrepid fans consulted their AA Roadmaps, Google Earth and various other geographical tools to find out exactly where Midtjylland was, few - if any of us were trying to locate the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. This pleasant, if somewhat hot Middle Eastern trading post was just about to catapult itself into the media spotlight with the most talked about takeover in football history and none of us knew a thing.

A year later, City are bereft of meaningful European competition. With no midweek fixture they accept the invitation to compete in the prestigious Juan Gamper Tournament. A few eyebrows are raised and questions are murmured about the advantages of travelling to Spain for a mid-week kickabout with the season already underway. Most eyebrows were probably lowered and the critics were hushed when City walked on to the pitch in front of 95,000 people to face the European Champions.

The game was entertaining, both teams held some of their better players back. Martin Petrov scored and the travelling City fans sang "were not really here" with the same sense of irony they had sung it at Lincoln, a decade earlier. As the game went on it took on a surreal quality, was that really 19 year old Vladi Weiss skipping past Barca legend Puyol, the man who had neutralised Christiano Ronaldo barely 3 months ago. As the Catalans brought on Messi and Ibrahimovic, Hughes introduced Trippier and Etuhu. Sepp Blatter would be horrified at the thought of 'classless City' blooding a young lad from Bury against Europe's elite - what happened to the 'Respect' campaign?

A thoroughly enjoyable evening all round, no injuries and City were introduced to the posh people without disgracing themselves or nicking the cutlery. We've come a long way since that night against Midtjylland and the journeys only just started.

Are Manchester City 'Right To Buy'

There have been whispers for a while now that City's owners are considering a bid for The City of Manchester Stadium and today's Guardian has given us a hint of what plans may be afoot.

Apparently ADUG, the company that owns City are going to have a dabble in what they do best, property development. There is talk of a 60,000+ capacity redevelopment of the stadium, the relocation of the training complex and a general makeover for that corner of M11. The idea of luxury hotels and health spas is sure to draw a smirk from polite quarters and a torrent of derision from others, but is the idea so ludicrous?

Real Madrids' Bernabau Stadium was built on a inexpensive piece of land, in a dreary part of the city just after the second world war. Real estate was cheap in Francos' post-war capital and there was enough space to build a training ground more or less next door. As Real Madrid rose to be the biggest club on the planet, real estate around the stadium became highly desirable and today the whole district is a forest of high rise office blocks and luxury apartments, with views of the Estadio Santiago Bernabéu commanding a high premium. The nearby training ground was sold off some years ago for a reputed £80 Million - not bad for what was once a piece of unwanted wasteland.

Nearer to home, the area around Old Trafford has been transformed from an industrial estate to an upmarket area catering to young singles and childless couples, it's no coincidence that all the towering apartment blocks on the other side of the water are designed so their balconies are pointed firmly at the 'Theatre of Debt'.

So Khaldoon and his associates have a couple of models to work with. If people are willing to pay £1 Million for a penthouse facing the swamp, which is really an old terrace with a loft conversion, conservatory and a lean-to shed tagged on. Then imagine what a similar property facing what could be one of the worlds most striking sports arenas could command.

Mark Hughes Right To Chase Lescott

Just over 35 years ago, Everton broke the English transfer record when they secured the services of Bob Latchford from Birmingham City. The fee was the princely sum of £350,000 and it set a record that was to stand for the next 5 years. Was this a solid investment that would catapult the Toffees on to a successful run to rival Liverpool, Manchester City or Nottingham Forest? No, that period produced a solitary League Cup final appearence against Aston Villa in a 0-0 game deemed so boring that ITV declined to show highlights the day after.

Fast forward to 2009 and City covet a player on the books of another club, a player the management feel could be key to advancement in their quest for success. Bids have been lodged and turned down and the actual player has publicly stated that he would like to move on, much as Bob Latchford did more than 3 decades ago. David Moyes has criticised this perfectly legal approach for a member of his staff but let himself down badly by claiming that Everton did business in a more honourable Fashion.

Let's go back to 1990. Howard Kendall had just taken over the reins at City. One of his first managerial decisions was to sell England U21 full back Andy Hinchcliffe for a less than flattering fee to Everton. Kendall implied that Hinchcliffe wasn't good enough for City but the fans were dismayed. A few months later Everton poached Mr Kendall off City in mid-season, a move that left the club in some disarray. One of the few glimmers of hope was the thought that Kendall might sell Hinchcliffe back to City, where he was still highly thought of.

Of course, he didn't. Andy Hinchcliffe became a mainstay of Kendall's Everton as well as becoming an England regular before being sold on to Sheffield Wednesday for a huge profit. Conspiracy theorists of the day claimed that Kendall sold Hinchcliffe to Everton knowing full well that he would be shortly following him and saw the player as key player in his future Everton defence. I'm not one to comment on conspiracies but please don't try and tell me that Everton are an honourable club when it comes to doing business.

If Mark Hughes wishes to continue his dogged pursuit of Joleon Lescott, then he should do so with the full backing of our fans and without the pious protests of a club with a less than perfect past.


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