Match day preview.

Apologies for the short post but running a bit short of time today.
I think we approach tonights game with a definite air of expectation to be honest and the bookies evidently share this feeling with us 8/11 favourites whilst Villa are out at 100/30. Our form has been on the whole consistent this season, and when we have had a setback we have recovered well so it should be an ideal opportunity to put the Arsenal disappointment behind us.
Team wise, Cole and Thatcher are believed to be in the frame to return and I would expect Cole to definitely start alongside Vassell - who of course is facing his old side tonight. Richard Dunne, Nedum Onouha and Claudio Reyna will miss out though.
For Villa, they are hit by injuries to a few key players with Milan Baros, Wilfried Bouma, Lee Hendrie and Aaron Hughes all missing.
Recent history is also generally on our side against Villa, with us doing the double over them last season and winning the last three corresponding fixtures.
A win tonight will take us back into the Champions league positions and I take us to do that with a margin of 2-0.

Wardle 'hits out' at SWP.

A bit of focus in the news regarding the release of City's financial results over this weekend, with for once comment on our financial situiation ignored as most papers and websites seem to be picking up on John Wardle's comments regarding SWP his 'u-turn' when he expressed a desire to speak with Chelsea, which led to the £21 million transfer.
Sky sports amongst others have picked this up, but reading their story there is nothing new in there apart from Wardle's comments in the Chairmans statement.
Wardles comments in the statement ar fairly predictable and seek to absolve the board from any responsibility for the sale, with the reason soely down to SWP and his advisors, however at no time has Wardle (or anyone else at the club) made any kind of attack on SWP and have only spoken highly of him.
Appears to be another case of an over zealous media trying to sensationalise a fairly bland paragraph into a hot 'news' story.
Elsewhere, it appears that Ghana have approached Andrew Cole in the hope of him being involved in some sort of coaching capacity for their World Cup campaign next summer. Although he is yet to speak to them, he said "I'm really interested in what Ghana have to say and I am looking forward to meeting them to talk about the job."

Financial results announced.

City today released their financial results for the year ending 31st May 2005.
A very positive outlook was painted by John Wardle in the chairman's statement, which covered onfield, off-field and financial performance.
So, just how well are we doing then? Looking at the results, Wardle paints a very rosy picture of current proceedings and although the full statement and results are available at the link above, Bitter and Blue casts it's eye over the announcement to see exactly what state the club is in.

Chairman's Statement:
Wardle reflects on the narrow miss of qualifying for the UEFA Cup, which "was beyond our expectations and inconsistent with the indifferent form we displayed over parts of the season". He identifies the reason for this as the appointment of Pearce to replace Kevin Keegan as manager - "His passion and vigour perfectly complements the enthusiasm and ambition of our proud football club", before stating that we are now entering the next phase of our development.
All in all, a fairly standard opening, with the focus on the appointment of Pearce no doubt one designed to earn the board plaudits for the 'brave' decision to give Pearce the job on a full-time basis.

Football:
This section opened with the fact that the board see the "baseline objective remains the retention, consolidation and development of our Premiership status". He thanked Keegan for his role in re-establishing the club in the Premier league whilst many of our "peer group have fallen away". However, he lamented the fact that again early Cup exits cost the club financial opportunities. Again, the appointment of Pearce was applauded and praised him for the style of play, embracing the youth academy, the discipline introduced and his interest in all facets of the club, whilst also commenting on the 'further improvements' to the training facilities (sadly not detailed). The departure of Keegan was somewhat glossed over, the statement explaining that "With the club sat in twelfth place.....the board agreed with Kevin Keegan that his tenure as manager should come to an end".
The SWP issue was raised and here the statement placed the reason for his departure very much at SWP's door - "the transaction was only sanctioned after, to my great surprise, Shaun contradicted personal assurances that he wanted to remain", and that it was "clearly felt by Shaun, and his advisers, that this was too good an oppprtunity to miss".
So where has the money from the sale of SWP gone? Well to clear matters up, it was stated that it has provided funds "to reinvest in the first team squad, academy, to pay off outstanding instalments on players purchased, and monies to reduce borrowings". All very crystal clear then. The club "hoped to add further to the squad....it was pleasing to see our new manager prudent and considered", perhaps a dig at Keegan's performance in the transfer market during his last eighteen months in charge? Wardle did promise we would be well prepared for the January and Summer transfer windows, but generally a very non-committed explanation as to exactly what funds are available or what amount of the SWP money did indeed pay off the clubs debts. I would also have liked to see Keegan perhaps given more praise and recognition for his role in resurrecting the club, as without his appointment and time as manager we surely wouldn't have the platform that Pearce is now building on.
Wardle also highlighted the successes of the reserve and Academy sides over the past season, which only serves to highlight the resources we have coming through the ranks and, according to those more in the know than myself, there could be some production line of talent over the next five years.

Financial Performance:
Perhaps the most important part of the statement, given the usual (tabloid) reports of our 'unserviceable' £60 million debt which is supposed to have forced the sale of SWP to Chelsea, contrary to the fact that the player himself may have wanted to leave.
Total turnover was actually down by £1 million to £60.9 million compared to the previous season - a figure which should see us cement our standing in the top twenty clubs in the world - with Deloitte stating we were "an example of a club capturing, and then capitalising on a new stadiums potential, and transforming its revenue as a result". Growth areas were gate receipts, TV and sponsorship monies but we lost out on our early Cup exits and our non-participation in European competition. The wage bill remained static at a figure of £37.7 million. To break that down though - that is a total of around £750,000 a week. Is it me or does that seem an extremely high figure? Surely we can't still be paying off previous managers going back to Mel Machin can we?
A big positive reported was the reduction in total debt to £57.7 million, down from £62.2 million, with the net external debt down to £38.5 million from £50 million - of which 93% was not repayable within the next five years.
Apart from the wages, when broken down the figures certainly do not paint the doom and gloom that most experts seem to enjoy when focusing on the debt. The debt we have is patently manageable and the utilisation of the stadium to generate finance will surely only help in the future. Another plus point is the fact that the figures do not even take into account the transfer fee received for SWP so unless Wardle has called in his loan to the club, the debt should reduce even further in next years results.

Outlook:
Wardle again re-iterated that the primary objective "must be the retention, consolidation and development of our Premier League status", which translates as the fact that if the unthinkable did happen and we were relegated it would pretty much be financial disaster for the club, given the current debt levels, wage bill etc. He did acknowledge that the "light of ambition shines strongly and we enter a period.....excited, enthused and positive". Again, not rocket science from Wardle and the board obviously realise that we are in a position of stability not seen at the club for some years. There is also a platform in place for the club to kick-on both on and off the pitch and move onto the next level - constant European qualification and regular annual profits with the total debt reducing.
From a fans perspective, perhaps the one thing that people will have an eye is just how much of the SWP transfer fee will Pearce be allowed to plough back into improving the squad.
My guess is not as much as we would hope, and it will be a critical time come January as if we are still hovering around the top six it will be imperative that we strengthen the squad to capitalise on the progress made.
The full statement and balance sheet is at the following link.

All eyes on Vassell.

Monday nights game sees Darius Vassell line-up against his old side Villa for the first time since moving to City in the summer for a fee of £1.5 million. Stuart Pearce has backed him to perform well on Monday, citing how he enjoyed facing his old clubs, whilst David O'Leary has also been talking about the transfer.
Vassell himself also talked about the move and how strange it is to face the club he was at since the age of ten, but admitted it has been the right move at the right time of his career.
Although his City career is less than ten games old, he has fitted in well so far - particularly alongside Andrew Cole, and has shown the form that earnt him a place in Euro 2004 and the last World Cup.


Another bonus has been the fact that at a time when the club is struggling with injuries up front, he has been an ever present following a couple of seasons of injuries.
I know he did receive some stick from Villa fans at the time of the move, but it is one that has probably worked well for all parties, and perhaps O'Leary summed up the situation best of all:
"I think Darius needed a change, the boy knew that himself and it was good business for Villa as well. I think it has worked out well for both of us.
We haven't sold City a bad player, he's a good player but a good player who needed to go somewhere else.''

In the absence of...

...any football for us a for a little while, what with not having Carling Cup action this week (could we have been knocked out by the eventual winners??!!) and then having a Monday night game at home to Villa (surely the worst of all TV scheduled kick-offs?), I thought I would post some comment on some alternative City action today.
Yep, it's true winter hibernation time now thanks to the recent release of Football (nee Championship) Manager - the game that can ruin (social) lives and leave you cut adrift from normality and the real world. But we love it all the same.
Not too far into the game at the moment, but my City side has already shown frustrating signs of mirroring the 'real' City. The fixture list was none too kind in giving me United away on opening day. However, the Blues rose to the task tremendously and a Cole and Vassell double gave us a 2-0 lead before Richardson pulled one back. Still, we hung on and I took great delight in announcing to the media post-game that Fergie had 'lost it'.
In true City fashion, I then posted a five game winless streak including creditable draws against Newcastle and Boro but listless defeats at West Brom and Portsmouth (turning a 2-0 half-time lead into a 3-2 defeat).
Stemmed the slide with a 4-1 destruction of Spurs at home before mirroring City's Doncaster Cup exit by crashing out to Coventry in the Carling Cup.
Not added to the squad so far, but Distin, Cole, Vassell, Barton and Sun Jihai look to be decent players, whilst Croft has impressed in the 'hole' behind the front two. Young Micah Richards looks to be definitely one for the future as well, and is currently loaned out at Tranmere for the season.
The game itself? Not a big overhaul and mainly cosmetic changes, but they have overhauled the in-game tactics facility - one new feature is allowing you to administer half-time bollockings or words of encouragement.
If anyone has any suggestions for signings, tactics etc etc please feel free to post a comment at the bottom.
Anyhow, for want of actually trying to have some sort of life, amongst everything else I seem to have on at the moment, I now am trying hard to resist the temptation to spend the next seventy-six hours solidly playing it.
Currently I'm standing firm but expect regular updates on here every once in a while.
Sod it, where's the disk?

Ad campaign backed.

Advertising watchdogs have backed City's recent billboard and poster campaign which played on the widely held belief that City enjoy a far greater Mancunian based support than United.
It seems that not content with taking the campaign to heart so much that several of the billboards were defaced in what appears to have been a co-ordinated late night campaign of destruction on the adverts, five people were so upset by the 'offending' advertisements that they felt the need to complain to the Advertising Standards Authority. The ASA, after an unknown period of deliberation, decided to dismiss the complaints. Julian Douglas, who was responsible for overseeing the project added: “I’m happy to see the ASA has not upheld the complaints. But to be honest, it was never in doubt. Everyone in the country knows Manchester is blue.”
Elsewhere, the club are hoping to begin talks on a new contract with midfielder Claudio Reyna. After securing new contracts for the younger members of the squad, Stuart Pearce is keen to get some of the more established members tied down for the near future, following Antoine Sibierski getting a one-year extension recently. Since he has shaken off his injury problems that plagued the early part of his City career, Reyna has looked impressive towards the end of last season and continued this form into this campaign, fitting in well alongside Joey Barton in particular.
And I promise this will be the final word on the penalty shambles from Saturday. For those who have still not seen it, check the following link out.

Uwe interview.

Not much floating around at the moment and likely to be a quiet week in view of our non-appearance in the Carling Cup.
MCFC.co.uk caught up with Uwe Rosler for a bit of a 'what are you upto these days' type interview. Good to see he is on the mend following his brush with cancer and is currently coaching with Norwegian outfit Lillestrom. Nice bit of matey-blackslapping between him and Pearce as well.
David Sommeill was also speaking out following the Arsenal game about being back in the line-up, which saw him earn praise from skipper Sylvain Distin.
Distin also continued his attack on Thierry Henry and Robert Pires over the penalty farce from Saturday's game and Antoine Sibierski has now weighed in and criticised the duo.
I've already said plenty on the penalty incident so won't go into it any further suffice to say I'm not of the opinion it was particularly disrespectful towards us, but did sum up the arrogance which is sometimes displayed by Arsenal (and others, naming no names) which certainly does them no favours amongst fans in general.

Arsenal 1 City 0.

A match that will inevitably overshadowed by the penalty-farce between Robert Pires and Thierry Henry which has caused much debate from players, managers and media alike.
Was it disrepectful towards us, a show of arrogance or just something that was a complete and utter balls-up?
Sylvain Distin was certainly unhappy with his post match comments, accusing Arsenal of being 'disrepectful' and 'ungentlemanly'. Pires apologies by stating "I shouldn't have done it.
It was the wrong game in which to try it, and I have apologised to the manager and the other players". But Henry claimed "It was not a lack of respect - maybe we should not have done it, but football is a game and it is entertainment."
Arsene Wenger claimed it was done because Pires was so 'scared' of missing the penalty - if that was the case why didn't Henry take it in the first place? Stuart Pearce was again sitting on the fence with his post match comments - which is becoming an annoying habit in truth, and said Arsenal should not be criticised for their 'innovation'.
Soccernet.com adopted a very strong take on Arsenal's tactics on the penalty, but I wouldn't necessarily agree to that extent. I don't believe it was disrespectful as such (although Danny Mills certainly thought so - clearly seen calling Pires 'a French c*nt' immediately afterwards!), but showed a definite arrogance which backfired tremendously and by doing it at 1-0 could (should?) have cost them dearly later in the game.
One last point on the penatly farce - it would be interesting to see how much the media would have been salivating over Henry and Pires if they had actually scored?
Oh, there was actually a game played around the penalty incident and in truth it was a bit of a messy affair resulting in a 1-0 defeat. Late injury withdrawals from Onouha and Cole led to recalls for Sommeil and Sibierski, and from seeing the highlights on Football First on Sky it looked like Cole's withdrawal definitely altered the mindset of the players and their approach. There was plenty of huff and puff from City but it seemed that we lacked a bit of belief or conviction in our approach, which Pearce alluded to in his post match comments likening the display to that at Newcastle.
The first half was fairly dull and scrappy with Arsenal also looking pedestrian and unable to shake off their recent poor form. At 0-0 though, we always had a chance and a point would have definitely been a good return. On cue though right on the hour mark was Mike Riley with a dubious decision to award Arsenal a penalty following a James challenge on Henry. Taking the blue-tinted specs off for a moment I am inclined to think this was a penalty as James made contact with Henry and got nothing of the ball. However, there is no doubt that James made a genuine attempt for the ball and the Henry's direction was away from goal and arguably the ball was travelling out for a goal kick, so maybe a harsh one although I think we would have disappointed if it hadn't been given at the other end.
This time the penalty was taken properly and slotted home by Pires. Riley, obviously not convinced he may have done enough to make the highlights then awarded Arsenal a second penalty after Bergkamp cleverly collided with two City defenders. Riley - perhaps for the cameras, then displaying a really grating smile as he waved away protests like he was dismissing naughty schoolchildren.
The game threatened to get a little nasty and a few tasty challenges began to fly about but still we pressed on and Pearce introduced Micah Richards for his Premiership debut. And with ten minutes left, Barton sent in a peach of a cross from deep and Vassell rose above the Arsenal defence to head past the static Lehmann to square the game. Or maybe not. Despite not a single protest or arm raised (where are you Adams and Bould?) from the Arsenal defenders, the referees assistant raised his flag for off-side and the goal didn't stand. Replays indicated that Vassell's big toe was in an off-side position when the cross was delivered meaning the goal was harshly ruled out. Compare with United's goal yesterday when the header that Robinson spilled was made. Two players in far more off-side positions than Vassell yet the goal stands. Also, from that game I've yet to see the clamour for Robinson to be hung, drawn and quartered after gifting United the opening goal - wonder if James would have escaped such criticism?
So, disappointing all in all and I definitely feel we were good value for a point although we need to get out of this lack of conviction we have when Cole is missing from the side. Perhaps, the players are under instruction from Pearce just to keep it tight at 0-0 and try and nick the game, but you wouldn't think so from his post-game comments.
Just a couple of final points from the game:
I'd much rather Barton was moved back into the centre along with Ireland with Reyna (or Croft) back out on the right as we certainly lose his presence when he moved out wide. I don't really see what value he brings out wide?
Distin continues to impress more and more as a player and importantly as a captain. He initially struggled in the role, but has grown into it and it was good to see him first around Riley when decisions when against us, and backing team-mates up when they got involved with Arsenal players. Show me a better French centre-half. Boumsoung, Silvestre? Yeah right.
The game featured an old-style drop ball yesterday for the first time in donkeys years (have they been reintroduced?!). Shame it was the biggest mismatch you could have got in Mills v Pires.

Match day preview.

Beset by injuries, in the midst of an Henry contract stalemate and way off Chelsea at this early stage of the season - can we bury the dismal record of not having won at Highbury for donkeys years and extend our best ever Premiership start?
Odds are against you would imagine and Ladbrokes offer 5/1 against on us taking the points back with us. It is now seventeen games without a win against Arsenal, with the Gunners winning fourteen of those games in the process including a few heavy beatings at Maine Road in recent years. After last weeks defeat at West Brom, a win for City would mean that they will suffer back to back defeats for the first time in 111 games.
However, last season saw a slender 1-0 defeat at Eastlands before we took a point from Highbury thanks to a wonder strike from Shaun Wright-Phillips. In truth, Arsenal have not been overly impressive (by recent lofty standards) from what I have seen this season and even in taking away a 100% record in the Champions League they have not entirely convinced.
Team wise, unfortunately Henry is expected to play following his record-breaking return in the week but Reyes, Cole, Campbell, Ljunberg and Hleb all miss out. For City, Thatcher and Dunne are still out so we will likely be unchanged from last weeks win at home to West Ham.
Shackling Henry is a key tomorrow and the responisbility will fall even more so on Sylvain Distin with Dunne being out. Van Persie has looked very dangerous this season with more opportunity as well.
Defensively, they still remain strong with Senderos and Clichey filling in for England duo Campbell and Cole but if we are to take anything from the game it will be the midfield who continue their impressive start by dominating an Arsenal midfield missing key players and with Pires struggling for form. The key will be Joey Barton and if he can win the battle with Gilberto and Fabregas, this will allow Musampa and Ireland in particular to support Cole and Vassell.
I am hopeful we can come away with a point to continue our recent good form, but history is hard to against so predicition wise I'm going for Arsenal 2 City 1. Hopefully, my successes in predicting correct scores will come to an end.

News round-up.

Quite a few bits of news floating around over the last couple of days, starting with both Antoine Sibierski and Stephen Ireland have put pen to paper on news deals - Sibierski a one-year extension and Ireland a new three-year deal.
Good to get Ireland signed up for the next few years to follow the other younger players such as Barton, Onouha and Jordan of those who have cracked the first team. Perhaps not so popular is the decision to offer Sibierski a new deal, with mcfcblog being one. I always think Sibierski has suffered a little for his 'versatility' (ie/ no-one knows his best position so he fills in everywhere we are short). A one-year deal will not hurt the club financially or lumber us with a long contract (a la Danny Mills) so to me it isn't the worst move whilst we build up the squad and let a couple of the younger players develop further.
However, despite his impressive start of the season and ability to win over the fans, it is not certain Andrew Cole will be offered a new deal just yet. Pearce has no argument with his form but is not 100% convinced of his ability to remain injury free to warrant another year on his contract.
“We are both quite honest people and it suited both him and us not to resolve anything on the contract side until the end of the season.
“Performances are not a problem and neither is ability - it is managing the slight niggles.
“We have already lost him for three matches this season and he has only played 10, so I have my fingers crossed we can keep him fit and he can carry on scoring goals and winning games for us.”
Probably suits the club a little more this as I can't see Cole being keen to uproot and move on to another club at this stage of his career, but I would be extremely suprised if he wasn't offered a new deal come the end of the season.
Congratulations to both Colin Bell and Bert Trautman, who have been named as some of the inductees for the 2005 entry to the Football Hall of Fame. A well-deserved honour for both, and just a shame that Joe Mercer and Malcolm Allison didn't join them in the managerial category.
And finally - an interesting piece that I came across regarding Rio Ferdinand. Just proves what a forgetful lad he is after all eh?

Normal service has been resumed.

Apologies for yesterdays (ahem) technical difficulties for any of you who stumbled across the chaos that I managed to inflict upon the site.
Hopefully all is now back to normal and for your trouble you've even got a brand new layout as a bonus.

Is he the One ?

After years of waiting have we finally stumbled on ‘the one’...........
I say stumbled as like many city fans psycho wasn’t my first choice of manager , virtually no experience except for an ill fated spell at Forest as player manger which involved a manager of the month award and a relegation ! So maybe it’s no surprise he ended up at city! O’Neill , Allardyce (god forbid) and Le Guen were all rumoured to be ahead of SP.

The way he actually got the job bares more than a passing resemblance to the way O’Leary took over at Leeds, in that once in possession he threw in the kids he had worked with on a daily basis and the results kept him in possession.
By the end of the season he had become the fans choice and was duly ‘signed up’ and only a penalty miss by Keegans folly , Fowler , prevented us from embarking on a trip into Europe which would have been even more of remarkable turn around given the dirge that had been served up under Keegan before his demise.

During those dark final days under Keegan , when , he appeared to be doing nothing more than going through the motions. I was of the opinion that the club needed shaking up from the top and suggested we needed a Ken Bates type figure. Not that I like Bates but the one thing I don’t think you could ever throw at him was that he didn’t know what was happening in every department of the club and wouldn’t be frightened to rattle cages.

Attention to detail has been the most impressive and in all honesty probably the most unexpected facet of SP reign so far. During the first few weeks he spent time in each department within the club learning how it all worked , spent his summer holidays attending training sessions with European Clubs , has been spotted scouting and checking up on the opposition more times in the last week than I ever remember Keegan doing.

The emails to fans are a nice touch as well , the one from this week praising the atmosphere amongst other things. Wouldn’t surprise me if SP was behind the piped singing from the Bolton game ? a little reverse psychology from psycho ???

The team is looking solid , the debt is reducing , the fans are singing , the league table is looking good and the media are still loving SP……………..

Its only a feeling at the moment , a feeling many of us have never had and ma.y more have forgotten but city fans are starting to believe.......................

New City blog.

A welcome aboard to new City blog mcfcblog which has recently set up. Go check...

How good are we?

Quiet day news wise so just a couple of bits picked up from around the websites.
Seems that Geert de Vlieger may well be on his way in the summer after he confessed to be non too keen to continue with life on the bench, according to Sky Sports.
"I'm too ambitious to be happy sitting on the bench for much longer," said De Vlieger. Let's face it, he isn't going to dislodge David James anytime soon, so an ideal scenario would be for him to share back-up duties with Nicky Weaver before going on his merry way in the summer when hopefully Weaver should be back to full match fitness.
City are apparantly riding high in fourth place in The Times entertainment table. Not come across this before but it apparantly ranks sides on the basis of on goals scored, shots on and off target, the number of times the woodwork has been hit, corners for and fouls against. I'm a bit unsure of the relevance of this to be honest but if things are that entertaining why are there rumblings about the atmosphere?!
Young Jonathan D'Laryea has joined division 2 basement side Mansfield on a months loan, joining the likes of Willo Flood and Karl Bermingham who are currently gaining experience out in the Championship.
Not checked out the Actim index for a while but good to see City players still featuring highly, with David James second in the keepers rankings, Joey Barton and Claudio Reyna in the midfielder chart, with Darius Vassell and Andy Cole likewise in the strikers one. One gripe though - why isn't Sylvain Distin in the top five defenders, let alone not in the top 100 and behind Danny Mills, Ben Thatcher and Trevor Sinclair?

City 2 West Ham 1.

Three more points sees us move back upto fourth in the table and left fans with plenty of positives following yesterdays 2-1 win over West Ham.
In truth, the scoreline somewhat flattered West Ham a little - although credit must be due for the way in which they approached the game which was a contrast to most away teams who visit. However, it was this positive approach from the Hammers which left the play very open and allowed us the opportunity to turn in probably the most impressive attacking performance of the season and on another day could have seen us walk away with a 4-0 win.
Particularly impressive for me was the way we played around the box, adopting a patient and measured approach, allowing the midfield to get up and support both Cole and Vassell.
Out of the midfield, Musampa turned in what was surely his best game for the club - although he should easily have had a hat-trick. Barton again continued his impressive start to the season and Ireland and the returning Reyna combined well.
Cole and Vassell again linked well in attack (pushing Robbie Fowler ever closer to retirement) and they combined for the opening goal, with Vassell backheeling for Cole to hit a superb shot past Carroll, re-adjusting his body well to the former-Red no chance.
It was Cole who added the second, capping his 34th birthday as he struck home from close-range following some committed City tackling on the edge of the box.
Despite this dominance, we somehow let West Ham have a lifeline after Stephen Jordan decided to take an afternoon nap and allowed the lively Bobby Zamora to slot home, but in truth any comeback was more hopeful than threatening.
Again, Sylvain Distin was superb at centre-half (how does Boumsong get in the France side whilst Distin is nowhere near the squad - maybe his zodiac sign is not in line with Raymond Domenech's thinking?) and his presence is even more important now it appears Richard Dunne may be spending a little longer on the sidelines as young Nedum Onouha does appear prone to the odd mistake, which is to be expected for someone of his age and limited experience.
As for West Ham, they look like they are willing to attack and this will pick them points up along the way (especially at home) which should ensure they survive comfortably. Personnel wise, Zamora to me looked more threatening than either Harewood or Sheringham in attack. Bennayoun impressed in midfield but had little support from either of the disappointing Reo-Coker or Mullins, whilst it remains amazing that they spent £4.5 million on Repka, who was hauled off at half-time to be replaced by the equally ineffectual Christian Dailly. Maybe Danny Mills isn't really so bad!
Another three points, another impressive performance. Although Stuart Pearce was trying to play it cool with his post-game comments there is a definite air of confidence around the team at the moment.
Next stop Arsenal then as we attempt to bury our Highbury hoodoo. Arsenal in 'crisis', our final game at Highbury. You never know...

Match day preview.

West Ham visit Eastlands later on this afternoon in what could potentially be a tricky game for us.
They have suprised me a little in how they have started so far this season and look a team who could finish comfortably away from relegation trouble, perhaps even looking at a top half finish.
Looking at their side, their midfield appears to have turned in impressive performances so far - with the likes of Yossi Benayoun and Nigel Reo-Coker grabbing the headlines.
The evergreen Teddy Sheringham continues to toil upfront and Marlon Harewood has notched a few goals so far (much to the bemusement of Forest fans everywhere) whilst their defence has a youthful look to it with Danny Gabbidon and the brother of United's memory loss expert teaming up at centre half.
Between the sticks is former United keeper Roy Carroll who must be due to drop his first clanger of the season.
As for us, it seems that Ben Thatcher will miss the game through injury, allowing Stephen Jordan an opportunity and Robbie Fowler still isn't fully fit although Claudio Reyna returns to the squad. Hopefully it won't be at the expense of Stephen Ireland who could keep his place in the starting line-up instead of Sibierski or Musampa.
On paper it should be an open game with both sides looking to knock it around. The ball will spend plenty of time in the middle of the park and whichever wins this battle should create most of the opportunities and come out winners.
Despite West Ham's recent success away from home I'm going to go for City 2 West Ham 1 as the prediction.

View from the Hammers camp.

Ahead of this weekends game, Bitter and Blue took time out from its hectic schedule to put a few questions to West Ham site Upton lark to gage their view of Sundays clash and also how they think they have fared so far this season.

Both sides have made decent starts. How do you see the game going?

Should be an open game, both teams like to pass the ball. Fancy a score draw myself, maybe 1-1. Definitely goals, we've got 20 between us already.

Any City players you are concerned about? Who should we be looking out for?

All your forward line! Vassell, Cole and Fowler have all scored against us in the past. Wouldn't put it past Sinclair to come back and haunt us, or god forbid it David James from a corner! As for us, I'd say Yossi Benayoun could be the key. Very skillful player who's already weighed in with a couple of goals.

Any memories of games against City in the past?

Yeah, remember a 4-2 at Upton Park a while back. Some crackers scored in that game. Remember sneaking past you in the FA Cup too when City old-boy Steve Lomas got the winner. Usually goals, can't remember many 0-0's.

You've made a decent start. Has that suprised you? What do you think of the standard of the Premiership so far compared to the Championship?

I think we've done a bit better than we'd expected at this stage. I expected to be in the lower third somewhere, so well happy at the moment. The problem with the Championship is it's so scrappy and theres less opportunity to play attractive football (and people moan the Prem is negative). Obviously in the Premiership you get more opportunity to play which is more in keeping with our style. The main difference is you get punished for your errors because of the quality in the Prem, but we're doing ok so far.

Has Pardew won the fans round? From the outside it seems he was not the most popular man last season.

I think people read into this Pardew thing too much, thanks to how the media portray it. The anti-Pardew mob at West Ham have always been in a minority. It's all blown out of proportion. Most people appreciate the job he's doing and did last season too. I'm sure he's shut up most the doubters now anyway.

Realistically, where do you think you will finish come the end of the season?

Would of taken 17th at the start, but mid-table seems achievable on current form. I'd be well happy with say 10th or there-abouts.

Where do you think City will finish come the end of the season?

Europe has to be a target and most likely the UEFA Cup if anything. But I do reckon that 4th 'Champions League' spot is there for the taking if anyone can put a run of consistency together. Might be just beyond you, but certainly Everton have no chance of finishing there again.

Royle Autobiography - part 2.

A lot in the book will be centred around the acrimonious departure of Royle following relegation from the Premiership, which ended a roller-coaster three and half seasons under his stewardship.
The sacking of course led to the Royle taking the club to court on a technicality over his sacking - the dispute being whether we were still regarded as a Premiership club at the time, winning damages before the club had this overturned on appeal.
Royle maintains that despite the relegation, he never envisaged losing his job:
"Bernstein had been nothing but supportive and indeed complimentary to me throughout my roller- coaster three and a fraction seasons at the club and this was still the case as he and I sat for several hours in the restaurant on Rusholme's famous Curry Mile talking over the events of the season, as we parted company late that Thursday night I had no inkling of the fate that would befall me the following Monday morning.
Nothing was said that gave me any reason to feel that I was about to lose my job. "
I don't know of any City fans who have ever argued against the decision to sack Royle. Of course, there is a debt of gratitude to him for the way in which he helped the club recover from the dark days of division 2 back into the Premier league after remarkable back to back promotions.
I believe that Royle may not have been mistaken in feeling a certain amount of job security throughout the season as he had obviously built a strong relationship with the board and perhaps it is likely that it was only because Kevin Keegan became available (after undoubtedly being sounded out by the club) which resulted in Royle being sacked.
I personally believe that Royle had taken City as far as he could, and looking at the position of the club now (to which Keegan deserves a lot of credit, despite the sour final days) I don't think we would be in this position under him.
Royle also largely escaped criticism for the relegation to division 2. Yes, he inherited a shambles of a club on and off the field which had become a laughing stock but he still had a third of the season to get us out of trouble which he couldn't do. It has been easy to pin the relegation as the culmination of the previous couple of seasons freefall under previous managers (with a strong emphasis on the plural).
It is a shame that his time at City ended on a bad note, but in truth most endings do don't they? The board were extremely misguided in the timing of his sacking and didn't cover themselves in any glory with a messy and very public court case to claim back the compensation, but equally in the long run it left a bad memory of Royle's time at the club and took away from a lot of the good times and work that we saw during those eventful three and half seasons.

Royle Autobiography - part 1.

Seemingly, not a week goes by without another football autobiography hitting the shelves and the latest one to do so provides plenty of interest as far as City are concerned.
Joe Royle - The Autobiography is now in the shops and looking at the some of the extracts that have been published it does the lift the lid on plenty behind the scenes at City in what was a turbulent and eventful few years under his stewardship - covering relegation, the Wembley play-off win and successive promotion to the Premiership before it all turned sour with relegation from the Premiership which resulted in his dismissal.
The two main issues of interest to City fans will undoubtedly be the handling of Kinkladze and the issues regarding Royle being sacked.
Today I'll look at the Kinkladze issue and tomorrow the reasons and manner in which he Royle was forced out of City.
In fairness to Royle, he has never done a u-turn on why Kinkladze was sold and has always taken responsibility for the decision when he could have easily pointed the finger at a board who were undoubtedly desperate for money at that time. He never wavered from it being a decision based purely on footballing reasons.
"I had quickly made up my mind that I simply would not be able to lead City out of the wilderness with Kinkladze in the side," he states in the chapter 'Back In Business'.
"When I arrived at the club Georgi was the most popular player in the fans' eyes since City greats like Colin Bell, Francis Lee, and Mike Summerbee 25-years earlier. He had become THE reason the fans still turned up in their tens of thousands and therein lay the root of the problem. I wasn't blind to what lay behind our supporters' worship at the throne of King Kinky - in the long dark days at Maine Road he was a shining beacon who lit up the gloom with his flashes of genius".
Royle then goes onto explain the precise reason Kinkladze was sold:
"The straight answer is for the good of the team because Gio Kinkladze was not a team player. Gio had a disturbing habit of disappearing for long periods during games. That was especially the case when the team was playing away from home."
Apparantly, the defeat away to Port Vale near the end of the season (relegation from division 1) resulted in Royle telling Kinkladze he would never again play for the side.
Kinky though was an icon, a hero and a player who ignited dreams. I have never seen a player like him and neither Bernarbia or SWP (of more recent times) come close in my eyes to what he could achieve. Even now, seeing clips of him playing or remembering a particular move or goal can can still bring shivers down your spine. Royle is right - HE was the reason fans turned up and when he was sold that reason and that hope was taken away. THAT is the reason why I (and many more) can never forget that that was taken away from us.
There are many who feel that Royle was right to get rid of Kinky and that they way in which the club re-bounded with a stronger work and team ethic is testament to that but for me if Royle could have only added the players he did around Kinkladze then we could have become an even better side and it may have ultimately kept himself in a job.

A team for the ages.

Imagine a team that could create dreams, a team that could inspire, a team that could transcend generations - a team for all ages.
A collection of footballers who could light up any stadium at any time, and bring any crowd to their feet in awe and reverence. A football club as storied and rich in history and tradition as Manchester City is capable of producing such a team.
But not today we're not.
No, names such as Bell, Lee, Summerbee, Swift, Trautman, Paul, Tueart, Kinkladze are idolized by all City fans but what of those players who only stoke up emotion such as hatred, frustration and despair? Those players whose only legacy at City will be more akin to the Hall of Shame than Hall of Fame?
Well, courtesy of special guest contributor Simon Weilding is Bitter and Blue's 'Worst ever Manchester City XI' - a true team for the ages.

Simon Tracey - Played all of three games for us on loan back in 1994, but turned in such a desperate performance in the derby defeat that he beats out the likes of Siddall and Margetson for the goalkeepers spot. He will never be forgiven.




Laurent Charvet - A Kevin Keegan signing back in 2000 after playing in the Premiership at Newcastle and Chelsea. A full-back equally inept in the art of defending and in getting forward. Didn't manage one on-target cross throughout his career. And was bald.





Lee Crooks - Once memorably described as a 'cross between Duncan Edwards and Michel Platini', which is apt considering he played like Michel Edwards. The phrase 'couldn't pass water' could have been written specifically for him.
Bounced around the lower leagues since leaving City. Surely the lower leagues of Sunday pub football?




David Brightwell - A player with a lack of talent and footballing nous that made brother Ian appear a world beater. Slow, inelegant and with poor positional sense he still managed to make fifty-three appearances over a four year spell.




Michael Frontzek - Looked solid on his debut, but his performances thereafter ensured that twenty-five appearances later he remained famous only for conceding the 'penalty' in the Cup derby defeat at Old Trafford.




Jeff Whitley - A stalwart of the side, with his City career spanning six seasons and 141 games. Was ever present during the dark days of the club during the mid-late nineties. An astute Kevin Keegan quickly fired him off and was last season attempting a clever chipped penalty in the playoff semi finals for Sunderland - he missed of course.


Jamie Pollock - Words like 'combative' and 'whole-hearted' were often used to describe the 'stocky' midfielder. Two words succinctly sum up his City career - 'own' and 'goal'.




Ged Brannan - A Frank Clark signing who had the temerity to be part of a midfield along with the likes of Neil Heaney which led to a bemused Kinkladze shaking his head constantly during matches. Starred in Scotland after his move from City. Further evidence to never allow Scottish clubs into the Premier League.



Tony Grant - Lightweight, small both in stature and in talent. Twenty-five appearances over three seasons before being despatched to Burnley. Turned in one of the worst performances I have ever seen away at Bradford which deserves inclusion on that basis alone.



Lee Bradbury - Arrived with a big reputation and a big transfer fee, of which it's fair to say he never justified. The ultimate confidence player, who never displayed any and would still not have won the fans over to this day. Looking back at his stats I'm amazed he managed to score eleven goals.




Adie Mike - Two goals in nineteen games for the striker who who couldn't shoot. A special talent is required to beat out the likes of Conlon et al for a striking berth in this side but Adie's name must have been one of the first on the team sheet. Also played for Stockport.




Alan Ball - 'I won the World Cup you know' he was rumoured to have announced on his arrival. Add to that the hatred of the fans, a relegation and the lack of respect of players such as Curle, Quinn and Coton and he is the hands down choice to manage this select band of heroes.

Principles. What principles?

Ever the socialist champion and safeguarder of the rights and views of your average-joe football supporter, good to see Fergie continuing to defend and uphold the principles he believes in.
What next, image rights in his contracts?





So sue me.....

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Defeat for reserves.

Not much in the news today being international week and all so just a quick post with a link to the match report for the reserves 1-0 defeat away at Sunderland last night, with Steve Wigley's comments on the game.
Good to see Nicky Weaver playing the full ninety minutes on his comeback from his latest injury problems. Lee Croft also played a full game after making an impressive cameo on Sunday against Everton and teen prodigy Daniel Sturridge again featured for the last half an hour.

James signs new deal.

Only a day after being linked with Shrewsbury's promising keeper Joe Hart, City have announced that David James has signed a one-year contract extension with the club, meaning his deal will now expire summer 2007.
Stuart Pearce sums it up pretty well by explaining “His form over the last two years has prompted me to sit down and say, ’Where do I get a better goalkeeper than David James?”’.
I can't imagine a City fan who would disagree with those comments and the job he has done since he replaced the mistake signing of David Seaman has been immense. As well as Dunne and Distin have improved the last eighteen months our defensive play over that time has as much to do with the influence and form of James and it wouldn't suprise me to see him extend the deal a year or two further either.

Pearce eyes young keeper.

A little snippet of a transfer rumour around today with news that we are poised to make a bid for Shrewsbury and England under-19 keeper Joe Hart, according to Sky Sports.
He has been tracked of late by the club and we are apparantly hoping to fend off interest from Birmingham by tabling a £1 million bid.
A potentially interesting one as we do need a successor to David James in the long run as Geert deVliiger is only a short term option and probably won't be around next season whilst it looks like Nicky Weaver may never be able to be consistently fit enough to re-ignite his career properly. Young Kaspar Schmeichel has been receiving rave reviews for the reserves this season but as of yet lacks any sort of experience to be able to step up. Not heard much about Hart, but might be worth keeping an eye out for over the next couple of months.
Meanwhile, Kiki Musampa has been waxing lyrical about the club, the fans, the country and seemingly anything else which may earn him a permanent move come the end of the season. He says in the latest edition of the City Magazine - "I must say, I'm very happy here both as a player and living in England. Everything about the club is great and I've had great support from the crowd, which is very important. But as for my future beyond this season, I'm just going to have to wait and see what the club want to do."
He impressed at the latter stages of last season but I don't think he has matched that form so far this campaign, and was particularly disappointing against Everton on Sunday. Still, he has the season to prove himself and if there was ever motivation to turn in a good season then surely this is it.
International week coming up and it seems Ben Thatcher has invoked the wrath of Wales manager John Toshack by declaring himself unavailable through injury for Wales games against Northern Ireland and Poland. Toshack however indicated that Thatcher was 'running scared'of facing Poland due to an incident involving Thatcher and Polish player Karnil Kasowski, which saw Thatcher receive a two-game ban.
Thatcher hit back at Toshack and accused him of breaking a gentlemans agreement by speaking out in public about his non-participation in the squad. Given the way Robbie Savage's international career has gone under Toshack, it seems that Thatcher may be heading for early retirement as far as Wales is concerned after this and the dispute over whether he should travel to see the Welsh doctors before the last international after City had declared him unift.
Yet another example of how playing for City damages your international prospects!

City 2 Everton 0.

Crisis? What crisis?
City now head into the forthcoming international break on the back of a morale-boosting, if still not-quite-right 2-0 victory over Everton, condemning the Merseysiders to another defeat without a goal and leaving them at the foot of the Premiership.
In truth, both sides struggled to create many opportunities, and when chances arose they were generally frittered away by wasteful play.
The first half passed without much incident, ranking as one of the most inept forty-five minutes in recent memory as both sides offered little and created even less, failing to wake the half-asleep crowd from it's slumber. City had the best of the first half opportunites, but Vassell's final touch was again eluding him and Sibierski was wasteful on a couple of occasions.
The second half saw City begin to dominate possession and saw a little of the early season confidence return with Cole and Vassel combining well. It was the introduction of Lee Croft for the sluggish Musampa that added and extra spark to our play and it was Crofts tenacious play which freed up Danny Mills on the right for a marauding run. Mills, deciding against heading David White style to the byline and cut inside before unleashing a viscous shot past Nigel Martyn from thirty yards to stun both the home and travelling support alike.

Now a goal down, Everton had to alter the game plan to try and get back in the game and this served to prove why they have struggled this season, as their attacking options were more desperate and helpful thananything else. Big Dunc was by now on the pitch, but the game passed both him and the clearly unfit James Beattie by with only Kilbane's shot - saved well by James, offering a threat to the City goal.
The last couple of minutes saw City stretching the away defence and in stoppage time, a perfectly weighted through ball from Joey Barton saw Vassell outmuscle Ferrari to poke the ball past Nigel Martyn to seal the win.
So, three points and back up to sixth in the table (and only a point off second). Concerns for me were the off-key performances from both Sibierski and Musampa - one of whom will seemingly be guaranteed a place on the left due to lack of alternatives, but plus points were (again) the partnership between Dunne and Distin (is imperious too strong a word?), the command and assurance in midfield of Barton and the creativity and energy of young Stephen Ireland.
All in all, it could quite easily have been one of the dourest 0-0 draws in my lifetime, but on the basis of the last half an hour at least, a victory and three points that were fully deserved.