Blackburn next in the Cup

With just four minutes remaining in tonights 5th round replay, a goal from Beni McCarthy (check how he left Senderos for dead) sent Blackburn through to set up a quarter-final clash with ourselves at Ewood Park.

I know most City fans were looking for Blackburn to come through (and they were fortuitous with a couple of plenty claims) but it will be a hard encounter against a tough side, who have a bit of quality up front - not to mention a good record against us in recent times.

It really is a big, big game ahead of us now, with a fantastic opportunity to progress through.

Bunn joins Flowers at Coventry

Hot on the heels of Tim Flowers joining Iain Dowie at Coventry, Stuart Pearce sees his backroom staff depleted further as the highly-rated Frankie Bunn has also head to Coventry as first-team coach.

It is a blow at a critical time of the season, and hopefully Pearce will be able to add to his staff sooner rather than later.

More on fan disenchantment

Guardian columnist (and City fan) David Conn had a piece today under the headline 'City blues show bankruptcy of the Premiership boom', which focused on City but was more of a look at fan apathy in general, but linked back to the current takeover news which is grabbing the headlines.

It's worth taking a look, and Conn makes a good argument suggesting the emergence of sides in the locality (primarily Bolton and Wigan) has cut off previous catchment areas where we may have attracted support (albeit casual) from, and it has at least generated quite a thread on the post.

City announce £7million loss

The club today announced to the stock exchange today that we had a posted a £7million loss for the six month period upto the end of November 2006.

Below is the statement that appeared on mcfc.co.uk, and I have added some brief comments where applicable - apologies for the briefness but a lack of time permits anything too in depth at the moment:

For the six months ended 30 November 2006 turnover decreased by 9% to GBP25.7million (2005: GBP28.2million). This fall was predominantly due to fewer concert nights being hosted at the Stadium with Take That and Bon Jovi performing for a total of 3 nights, compared with 5 nights being held in the six months ended 30 November 2005.

Not entirely unsurprising and it will be likely that there will be another loss the next time figures are announced - unless we really go deep in the FA Cup and have a late season boost to our current league position.
The interesting point is that the loss was generally explained away by having less concerts held at the stadium!
The increase in TV revenue next season though should see income increase tremendously and as mentioned over at the Supporters Trust, which actually provide an opportunity for the club to finally beginning operating at a profit.

Matchday ticketing sales also fell by GBP1.5million, largely as a result of 1 less home game being played in the comparable period. Conversely the conference and banqueting business continued to grow with a 21% increase in revenue period on period.

A mentioned above, I don't expect the next set of financial results will see a healthy increase in this particular category, but maybe the club will focus even more on the commercial activities which seems to be becoming more of a lucrative area.

Operating costs have increased by 4%, mainly as a result of expenditure on player wages that increased by GBP1.8 million over the same period last year. It is the Board’s strategy to run a higher wage bill in this very important year for the Club.

The club have alluded to this previously how important avoiding relegation is, and it follows a pattern of recent years where they believe paying upper level wages to attract players is a key strategy in maintaing Premiership status.

The sale of former Academy players including Lee Croft, Bradley Wright-Phillips and Willo Flood, as well as the sale of David James helped the Club to generate a net profit of GBP2.0million on disposal of players. The comparative figure for the prior year included the proceeds for the sale of Shaun Wright-Phillips.

This illustrates the benefit of the Academy, not just in terms of players coming through into the first team but in terms of generating revenue for the club when they are deemed to not make the grade.

Net interest payable, before stadium finance lease charges, remained static at GBP2.0 million. Stadium finance lease charges fell by GBP0.8 million as reduced income from concerts and Premier League matches led to lower resultant rental charges.
The retained loss in the period amounted to GBP7.1 million (2005: GBP13.2 million profit).

Would this affect the potential takeover? Probably not, but another loss probably illustrates that there does need to be a change in direction/ownership of the club to be able to re-structure the current financial set-up. It does, however still remain unclear at this stage as to exactly what shape a takeover bid would form and an obvious concern is that any bid could land us in even more debt depending on how it is structured.

Takeover speculation grows

Apologies for being a little late on this one, as I have been planning to post up on it for the past few days or so. There has been more talk of takeovers over the last week, resulting in the share price seeing a steep increase and news that the board were meeting yesterday to discuss the potential of a takeover and the groups believed to be in the running.

The Times ran a good piece today which suggested that there were two front-runners to take control of the club - an unknown American consortium, and a British-based one headed by former-City player Ray Ranson.

Interestingly, the article suggested that the American bid holds the upper hand but there are believed to be concerns over how their bid will be structured (with it being leveraged) and this could 'let the Ranson consortium' in:

Highly regarded by many supporters, Wardle and Makin
risk being cast as villains if they fail to strike a deal financially workable
for an incoming investor. Of greatest concern to the club’s fans, however, are
the intentions of the American investors who are thought to be leading the race,
the identity of whom the club has kept a closely guarded secret.

The Times understands that the American bid is
leveraged and could result in the club, who have existing debts in excess of £50
million, falling deeper into the red, a nightmare scenario for supporters who
fear that the club could be saddled with a debt in much the same way Manchester
United were when the Glazer family took over at Old Trafford.

Although this is something that the MEN does not subscribe to, offering an alternate view on proceedings:

Ranson, who unsuccessfully tried to buy Aston Villa
before American Randy Lerner took over, has, it is understood, had a lukewarm
response at the City of Manchester Stadium.
More talks are planned with the
mystery Americans later this week, after today's board meeting at City has been
given an update on the takeover saga.

The Americans have been checked out
- along with all four would-be investors - and would not saddle City with debt
and the hush-hush talks with them are now set to move from the "preliminary
stage'' to more advanced discussions.

It is an interesting angle that The Times approach, and there is the suggestion that Wardle and Makin may have a decision to make which - in blunt terms, would either be in the best interests of the club or themselves.

No one doubts that the pair have the best interests of the
club at heart, but there is a belief in some quarters that they may have to
accept a loss on their loans in the long-term interest of the club.

It seems that takeover talk is beginning to gather momentum, and is now a case of 'when' rather than 'if' the club will see new ownership, and one thing that all reports I have seen suggest is that Makin and Wardle do have the best long-term interests of the club at heart and are keen to secure the best deal possible.

With the Supporters Trust announcing on Five Live last night that they have the potential backing to secure upto 15% of the clubs shares - although I know for sure they are not part of any of the groups looking to bid for the club, this could be perfect timing for the Trust to be up and running and be able to come on board and work with new owners - wouldn't it be perfect PR at least for any incoming group to be seen to engaging the fans as a whole as one of their first moves?

MCFC Supporters Trust - A view from the outside

Following the post below about The supporters trust boys appearing on Radio 5 tonight, and with the impending meeting on Sunday March the 4Th at the University of Manchester’s Renold Building, Sackville Street Campus, Altrincham Street, Manchester, M1 3BB, I would like to give my views on the trust.

Firstly I have had no direct contact with them , I have deliberately kept my distance but will be attending on Sunday and listening tonight. Initially I was very sceptical about three points but have pretty much been won over and look forward top doing my part. I have listed the three points below.

Power Trip : In all honesty probably my biggest initial concern was that the working party were in this for some kind of power trip/ego massage. The cynic in me screamed that they were just attention seekers ! And early doors when they lost control over some of the press stories seemed to confirm this. Interestingly it only took one action to remove this objection - a simple post on there site stating that none of the working party would be standing to be the trusts spokesman on the board

A Fan On The Board : Covered in some aspects by the above post but I was worried that (if it was an ego trip) the representative on the board could make the trust look stupid if they were forever banging on about buying players, certain players are rubbish change the tactics that kind of stuff. Obviously they are looking for somebody with boardroom experience a wise move that should suit both parties.

Conflict With The Board : Probably not resolved in reality !! The trust have stated they want to work with the board, have no intentions of challenging John Wardle and are not a stalking horse. They have made their position quite clear. The board meanwhile have gone coy pretty much refusing to discuss the trust which as I have stated on here before I find bizarre. There can be no greater endorsement than people wishing to put their money into what you are doing ! The boards reluctance is probably down to not wanting too upset potential investors ?

Im sure people have different concerns and hopes about the trust. I implore anybody who says they care about Manchester City to attend the meeting

You have an opportunity to shape the future of your club. Its not everyday you can say that.

Supporters Trust to appear on Five Live

News reaches that Colin Savage from the Supporters Trust is due to appear on Five Live this evening sometime between 8-9pm ahead of their impending open meeting this Sunday.

I'll be tuning in and will post up later regarding it.

The real reason behind ticket reductions

Maybe I've got a bit of a cynical head on at the moment, but I do find myself reacting to the news that several Premiership clubs have cut ticket prices for next season with a healthy dose of scepticism.

I'm sure fans of Blackburn, Bolton and Wigan (amongst others) won't be averse to paying around 10% or so less to get into games next season, and the decision to reduce prices for juniors has certainly been a success at City, but let's not kid ourselves that the prime reason behind all of this is to 'give something back to the fans' as Bolton chairman Phil Gartside suggests:

'It is a serious issue that has reached saturation
point across the country, we feel duty bound to make a stance by reducing the
cost for our season ticket holders, and I'm sure other clubs will follow suit
next season and listen to public opinion.'

The reason behind the move is surely and solely because the three teams (although they are not exclusive) I have mentioned are struggling badly in terms of attendance this season and are having to resort to these measures to ensure that not only do fans renew for next season, but also in an attempt to encourage new fans to the club, reversing a downward trend of the past few years.

Look at those teams at the top end of the attendance table, those clubs that are generally filling and stadiums week in week out, are they slashing prices next season? No, of course they're not. They don't need to. Providing they are selling out week after week and fans are seeing success on the pitch, then they virtually have carte blanche to charge what they like. If a fan decides not to renew, then there are two, three, maybe four others ready to step into their place.

Remember when we moved to theCoMS - there was a waiting list for season tickets and you knew you had to have a season ticket to guarantee you getting into the game. That is clearly no longer the case - not just at City, but for the majority of clubs in the Premiership who are seeing large sections of stadiums empty for games.

There are several campaigns in the public eye now that are gathering momentum - The MEN, Sun and Football federation to namecheck but a few, and the growing groundswell of opinion has become such that it is forcing clubs to rethink their pricing strategy as fans are now longer willing to pay the amounts that clubs are charging - given the fact that an increasing amount of TV games means it is far easier (and convenient) to give games a miss.

The overall current campaigns for fair ticket prices is an admirable one - one that will be succesful, and will serve to give fans a better deal in the long run, but I fear that at present certain clubs are now using this issue to generate some favourable PR (at a time when season ticket renewals is coming round again) rather than holding their hands up and admitting the reason they are reducing prices is because they cannot fill their stadiums.

Not for one second am I suggesting that I am against any of the campaigns or decisions of clubs to cut ticket prices - far from it, but I wished that there was a more honest assessment from the clubs as to why the moves are being done, as opposed to hiding behind a cause such as having the fans' best interests at heart.

From Manchester City to Croke Park

The Daily Mail ran a feature yesterday on David Strettle, who made his England rugby union yesterday's against Ireland.

Strettle - if you didn't know (as I didn't) was at one time on City's books as a kid:

Like the rest of the team, the new boy on the left wing was
far too excited about his sudden rise to international status to notice.
It
was not quite how he envisaged making it as a 14-year-old member of the
Manchester City academy. "Like every other kid on City’s books at the time, it
was my dream to be a professional footballer," said Strettle, no giant at a
fraction under 6ft and not much more than 13st.
"It wasn’t until later that
rugby union began to take over".

Strettle scored England's sole try, but to little avail as they went down to a heavy defeat yesterday afternoon.

On the march with Psychos army?

This post originally appeared back in December 2005, and now we have reached the quarter-final stage for the second season running I thought it worth re-posting to illustrate our record since 1981, and that back to back last eight appearances is certainly bucking the trend.


Although Scunthorpe United at home should not present too much of a challenge in the 3rd round of the FA Cup, there always seems to be some trepidation with City and cup matches due to some in-glorious cup exists over the years.
So, with help from MCFC stats I've traced back the last twenty-five years of FA Cup performances since the 1981 final to see how likely it may be that Sylvain Distin could be lifting the cup come next May.

1982 - 4th round. Coventry (h) 1-3
1983 - 4th round. Brighton (a) 0-4
1984 - 3rd round. Blackpool (a) 1-2
1985 - 3rd round. Coventry (a) 1-2
1986 - 4th round*. Watford (h) 1-3
1987 - 3rd round. United (a) 0-1
1988 - Q/Final. Liverpool (h) 0-4
1989 - 4th round. Brentford (a) 1-3
1990 - 3rd round*. Millwall (a) 1-3
1991 - 5th round. Notts County (a) 0-1
1992 - 3rd round. Middlesbrough (a) 1-2
1993 - Q/Final. Tottenham (h) 2-4
1994 - 4th round. Cardiff (a) 0-1
1995 - 5th round. Newcastle (a) 1-3
1996 - 5th round. United (a) 1-2
1997 - 5th round. Middlesbrough (a) 0-1
1998 - 4th round. West Ham (h) 1-2
1999 - 3rd round. Wimbledon (a) 0-1
2000 - 4th round. Leeds (h) 2-5
2001- 5th round. Liverpool (a) 2-4
2002 - 5th round. Newcastle (a) 0-1
2003 - 3rd round. Liverpool (h) 0-1
2004 - 5th round. United (a) 2-4
2005 - 3rd round. Oldham (a) 0-1
* denotes replay.

Looking back over history, it does seem that we should be safe with Scunthorpe at home bearing in mind when we have been dumped out of the 3rd round by a lower league side it has generally been away from home.
There has been the occasional foray into the quarter-finals which have resulted in a huge anti-climax, and a few 5th round appearances which began to get everyone a thinking of a decent run 'if we get the right draw'.
However, the majority of FA Cup exits appear to be at the 4th round stage with defeats both home and away and to both higher and lower league opposition.
Perhaps May 13th 2006 is a date which need not be kept free?

Shocked...

...by this news?

I didn't think so.

New look Soccer Shout

The guys over at Soccer Shout have had a bit of a revamp, and have now added a blog (amongst other things) to the site in addition to their daily podcasts.

It's definitely something worth checking out as although the number of football blogs seems to be increasing, independent podcasts are still a bit of a rarity out there and this is certainly the best one I have come across.

The end for Isaksson?

The decision to restore Nicky Weaver to the starting line up following an impressive showing from Andreas Isaksson in the defeat of Portsmouth was described as the 'hardest of my career' by Stuart Pearce, but in doing so may well have pushed Isaksson towards the exit door in what would be a City career very much cut short.

I expected (and hoped) that Isaksson would get an extended run in the side to prove his worth, but Pearce can feel somewhat vindicated in his decision to select Weaver following his impressive showing against Preston on Sunday - particularly his crucial save to deny Michael Ricketts when the score was 1-0.

For me - and I know I have harped on about this before, whilst Weaver has played above expectations this season, he is not a genuine game winner and whilst he has been more than solid this season he has not 'won' us any points single handedly in the manner that Schmeichel or James have done in recent seasons.

It seems inconceivable that unless he suffers a long-term injury, he will lose his place in the side at this stage of the season and I would be surprised if Isaksson would be willing to stay on the sidelines next season unless there was some guarantee that he would feature regularly.

As well as Weaver has played - and at this stage he must be in the running for player of the season, I do feel that long term Isaksson is the better choice as the number one 'keeper, but unless there is a shift in fortunes between now and the end of the season it is looking more and more likely that Isaksson will be on the move.

Flowers off to Coventry

From mcfc.co.uk:

After playing his part in helping successfully guide
Manchester City into the last eight of the FA Cup, Tim Flowers has left the Club
to assist the newly-appointed Coventry City manager, Iain
Dowie.

Stuart Pearce paid tribute to the work done by the man known
as 'Cat', saying: "As far as I’m concerned, in the past and now, Tim Flowers is
the best goalkeeping coach in the country.
"We’re very, very disappointed to
lose him, but he’s had the opportunity to join Coventry as assistant manager.
It’s a step up from a scenario where he was purely a goalkeeping coach at our
place and a very good one. He was a good member of staff and an absolute credit
to the Football Club.
"I’m desperately sad to lose him, but I’ve got to
respect his wishes and realise that it’s an opportunity for him. It’s the club
he supported as a kid and is nearer his home having commuted everyday from down
there.
"He just felt having spoken to him over a few days that it was an
opportunity that he couldn’t turn down, even though we tried our best to keep
him with us."

FA Cup quarter-final draw

Well, that dampened a little of the Wembley dreams didn't it?

Handed an away draw at either Arsenal or Blackburn is not the easiest of tasks now facing us, and I'm sure we weren't the only team out there rueing the pairing of Plymouth and Watford.

Still - and trying to take a positive spin here, it could have been a whole lot worse. Either of the teams we face will likely be bang in the middle of European action and if it is Arsenal they are likely to play several members of their 'shadow' side.

Personally, I think drawing either of Chelsea, United or Tottenham away would have been a far tougher prospect than the one we have been handed, but wouldn't it have been a whole lot nicer to be playing at home?

Full draw:

Middlesbrough or West Bromwich Albion v Manchester United or Reading
Arsenal or Blackburn Rovers v Manchester City
Chelsea v Tottenham Hotspur
Plymouth Argyle v Watford

Preston 1 City 3

The road to Wembley just got that little bit shorter.

For the third consecutive time in the seasons FA Cup, we have navigated a potentially tricky tie by edging Preston earlier today at Deepdale.

Ultimately I think we were good value for the win - despite the 'plucky' plaudits being dished out to Preston and a particularly positive factor in our run this season has seen us come from behind on a couple of occasions, something which we haven't been renowned for previously.

Team wise, Isaksson must have been disappointed to have been replaced by Nicky Weaver, and speculation that Sturridge may start was unfounded as Pearce went with the Samaras-Corradi partnersip.

We came out of the blocks quickly in the game with Barton immediately getting into the game but it was Preston who scored first with dangerman David Nugent opening the scoring from a corner which saw a lack of concentration and slow response from the defence following an good save from Weaver.

It could, and should have been 2-0 not too long after as Rickett's was sent through by an excellent ball from McKenna and having held off Distin well hit his shot too close to Weaver.

After this, we took a hold of the game and dominated proceedings at times and enjoyed success down each flank - with Trabelsi seeing much of the ball. Barton and Dabo continued to combine well in midfield but a lack of quality and sharpness up front cost us. Preston saw plenty of the ball too, but like ourselves failed to carve out too many clear chances.

Not too far from the end of the first half we drew level, and it was a good goal to bring us back into the game. A good ball into Corradi saw him hold the ball well, and hit a great shot on the turn which came back off the post - only to fall to Michael Ball, who in an advanced position smashed the ball home off Loneghan's right post.

I thought we took command in the second half, and in the key areas won the vital battles. One thing I have noticed more this season, and credit to Pearce here, is that we are taking a far more patient approach in games and are willing to build an attack as opposed to 'lumping' the ball to the target men.

Stephen Ireland saw more of the ball and his distribution was good, linking with Ball well, whilst Trabelsi continued to attack with purpose, but it still looked as though we would head back to th City of Manchester Stadium but with little over five minutes remaining Samaras hit home to put us in the lead. He didn't get much on the shot, and in doing so probably ensured it went over the 'keeper and in the back of the net over a despairing defender.

And in injury team, the improving Stephen Ireland capped the game off well with a superb volleyed strike from around twenty-five yards out to ice the game and put is into the hat for tomorrow's quarter-final draw.

As for potential opponents? Still a lot up in the air due to a few replays but whoever we draw, I think we go into it in better shape and perhaps more tellingly, a lot more wise and savvy than this time last season when we took on West Ham.

The potential list of quarter-final opponents:

Manchester United/Reading
Arsenal/Blackburn
Middlesbrough/West Brom
Chelsea
Plymouth
Watford
Tottenham

Reports:
The Times
SI.com
MEN
Sky Sports
PNE.com

Preston North End - Preview

Deepdale , 18/02/2007 - 1.10pm - live on the bbc

Just over 5 years and a week to the day since our last meeting we renew hostilities with PNE in tomorrows 5th Round FA Cup tie , due to be played in front of a capacity Deepdale crowd.

Despite a 4 game run between 1998-2002 the clubs have rarely crossed paths. in fact you have to go back to 1965-66 season to begin to see any history between the teams, the same year incidentally that Preston last made the FA Cup quarter finals ! And just to add salt to the wound they have failed to knock out top flight opposition since 1979.

To the present day however and Preston currently lie around 8 places behind City, sitting 4th in the Championship and with many pundits backing them for an FA Cup 'shock'.
On the injury front both Teams are missing Strikers, Samaras is likely to come in for Darius Vassell, whilst Preston must choose between Dichio and Mellor to replace Brett Ormerod.

I remember, too well for something the happened the best part of a decade ago, City been given a real chasing in our dark division two days by a Preston Team with Gregan, Eyres, and Basham giving us a bit of a football lesson that day.

I have a feeling we may be handing out the lessons this time.

Predicition - 0-2

Pearce strikes with Mpenza

In what could either be described as an inspired move, or a desperate act today saw the club sign Emile Mpenza on trial.

Seeing him play previously, Mpenza was a quick, direct striker who had the ability to score goals. Quite what wrong to see him starring at Schalke 04 to ending up in Qatar I don't know, but he could provide Pearce with another (or make that 'an') option in attack and perhaps lessens the need to put quite so much burden on Daniel Sturridge.

Fitness wise he is supposed to be upto the job following an appearance in a 3-0 victory over Blackpool so I guess he now has an opportunity to make Pearce offer an extended deal come the summer should he suitably impress.

Redknapp keen to add fuel to the fire

Harry Redknapp has been all over the press today in his condemnation of Joey Barton, saying much along the lines of "'ere, he meant to do him you know", even managing to link the incident in the same breath as Ben Thatchers elbow on him:

"Barton deliberately did Pedro. He deserved a red card and
anyone who says it's an accident needs their heads looking at. Pedro was running
the game before he got hurt and I'm annoyed because Pedro is a good player and a
good professional who doesn't go around kicking anyone. But now he's copped it
twice against City. He's the one suffering here."

Redknapp for me is pretty much a rent-a-quote type of guy, more than happy to play things out in the press (note his 'interest' in Distin after the game, an argument that it is tapping up?) and seems to have an opinion on anything and everything - much the opposite of son Jamie, who has yet to offer anything remotely insightful on Sky.

Stuart Pearce, quite rightly, has come out strongly in support of Barton today and talk of a 'witch-hunt' is not far wrong when excerpts such as this in The Mirror are being published:

"It's odd he should drag his heels when somebody else's are
available.
There are those who believe the tackle was accidental. They also
believe in fairies, Father Christmas and the cheque's in the post".

Chris Bailey wrote a good piece in todays MEN which echoed a litle of what I was suggesting yesterday in that Barton has become the latest 'pantomime villain' for the press, and The Guardian also back this up, touching on the issue of the disappointment the City board feel over this.

The disappointing thing about Redknapp's comments are that he is accusing a player of doing something when he has no knowledge of whether he intended to hurt Mendes or not. To suggest a player deliberately set out to 'do' another player are comments are of an inciting and inflammatory nature, and imagine his reaction if Stuart Pearce had come out after the game and accused Mendes of acting up? Incidentally, Mendes is unlikely to miss any further action.

Stuart Pearce has provided a measured, eloquent response on the subject, saying:

“I think reputations are created around people, sometimes
justly and sometimes unjustly.
“I have to stand in front of the Press after
every single match and answer questions on all kinds of scenarios and quite
often it is clear that some of them have got together to explore an angle of
attack whether that be about a bit of talent, a diving incident, a foul or a
great save.
“There is normally one thing. At Portsmouth it was Joey, but
after reviewing the incident, the semi-nastiness and people trying to put words
into my mouth was unfounded. That disappointed me a great deal.”

Yet the press are only to happy to jump all over 'Arry's opinion and run along with it, regardless of the consequences it causes.

p.s. Still no footage of Barton's offensive gesture to be found.

What is offensive?

Another day and another angle on the Joey Barton situation.

Stuart Pearce has hit out at the 'witch hunt' surrounding Barton, and believes that he is being unfairly targeted following his debut for England last week, which has put him even further in the public eye.

"At the moment, for whatever reason, perhaps because
Joey has made his debut for England last week, there seems to be a bit of a
witch hunt and people are telling me there is a big crime
involved".

I do agree with Pearce's comments and think it indicative of the press in this country that looks to 'go after' a target with gusto. And Barton could well be the next figure for them to get after.

Yes, we all know Barton isn't a saint and his off-field antics have been well documented and continue to get dragged up without me needing to go over them once again. On the pitch, Barton is an aggressive player who plays close to the line but I don't think he gets given credit for the changes he has made in his life which (and I don't know him to quantify this) appear to have matured him as a person, and have certainly made him a better, more complete footballer.

As I said in my review of the game, Barton did catch Mendes and I believe it was intentional, but it was no more than a clip of his heel to cause a foul - certainly not a malicious rake or stamp as has been bandied around. The press are seemingly happy to whip up a storm over this given Mendes's history with ourselves and are keen to portray Barton as the villain of the piece.

I don't know if Barton has gestured to Portsmouth fans after the game, but if he did why has there been no video footage showing what he has done? Sky covered the game so dozens of cameras would have been present, and given his involvement with Mendes at least one camera would have been trained on him at the final whistle but no footage has appeared. Remember after the Everton game when Barton dominated Sky's coverage with his mooning antics.

The police of course are duty bound to follow up and investigate a complaint that is made but it seems that people are quick to make complaints, seemingly oblivious to the 'offensive gestures' doled out to opposing players. Watching the game on TV, Barton was subject to a number of offensive gestures when he went over to take a corner - are we now to expect a game to be halted whilst players make a formal complaint to the police regarding fans behaviour?

It is becoming more and more apparant that things are constantly being taken to further extremes, and with football becoming more and more of a high profile sport and with media coverage continuing to grow, they are only to happy to sate the appetite of fans who demand and lap up the drama and controversy that is being provided.

Portsmouth 2 City 1

How Pedro Mendes must look forward to the next time he faces Manchester City.

Not one to endure half-measures against us, he encapsulated his career so far against City in yesterday's game, reprising his collection of long range strikes to put Pompey ahead before again being stretchered off, following a challenge from Joey Barton.

Stuart Pearce has come out to defend Barton, whilst opposite number Harry Redknapp (typically) clearly disagreed and saw himself sent to the stands for the second-half following a half-time 'discussion' with referee Mike Dean.

Ultimately, it is difficult to know what (if any) intent there was from Barton, and whether he sought to injure Mendes or not but TV replays appear to suggest that Barton did intend to catch Mendes rather than make an attempt for the ball. Having said that, I don't think it was in any way apparant that Barton sought or meant any harm to Mendes.

Barton could face further reprisals though as it appears that the FA are set to be informed by the local constabulary of complaints made against him for making obscene or offensive gestures. City have come out early against this, with Paul Tyrell denying Barton is guilty and that the club would 'robustly' challenge any action.

As for the game itself, I don't think we deserved to get anything from it given the fact that the majority of the game saw us uninspiring in attack and overrun at the back when Portsmouth went on the attack.

We were particularly inept during the first-half, creating little and could have already been behind when Mendes struck the first goal, with only a smart save by David James from Corradi our only real chance. We were constantly under pressure and Isaksson made a couple of smart saves to display his quality and press claims for a prolonged run in the side.

The second-half fared little better, but Vassell's good work down the right saw him get a cross in and Corradi headed well past James to put us on level terms. From that moment - deserved or not, we should have been in a position to kick-on and if either of the sides looked likely to grab a winner it was us.

But, with just under ten minutes remaining a lapse in concentration at the back allowed a neat ball to be played through and Kanu struck past Isaksson to seal the points and Portsmouth's first win in some seven games.

There weren't many positives to take from the game, with the midfield trio that has played well in recent weeks struggling to gel as a unit, and the defence looking far from solid - although Ball had an encouraging debut at left-back but perhaps could have anticipated the second goal more quickly. In attack we struggled with Vassell too wide for the majority of the game leaving Corradi isolated and left to to try and win the many long balls delivered his way.

With other results at the weekend we have dropped to sixteenth position, and according to Sky are now in 'freefall'. A ten point gap between ourselves and the relegation positions should be sufficient to avoid the drop but if any of the bottom three get their act together over the final quarter of the season we could be in for a nervy time between now and the end of the season.

Reaction:

“We didn’t come out and compete in the first half. They were
told that at half time and we’ve got ourselves back in the game.
“It’s just a
pity that I can’t be standing here now having got a point from Portsmouth
because we might have deserved it if we’d have had a bit more about us.”- Stuart Pearce.

"I like Sylvain. He's got great pace, is good in the
air, has a good left foot and is a quality player," said Redknapp.
"He will
go somewhere else when he's out of contract in the summer." - Harry Redknapp

"Joey is 100 per cent player, but you've got to learn you
can't be 100 per cent all the time".

- David James

St. Pedro of Mendes - We pray for you

We are sad to announce that just 1 week after the tragedy in Italy, football faces it darkest day yet, Pedro Mendes who announced that he had considered quitting the game after the Ben Thatcher incident earlier in the year he himself of course has never even contemplated a foul let alone made contact with someone in a contact sport, has what his own doctors described as a
'Bad Cut' he was said to be in 'some agony' .

All football in England has been cancelled and there are serious doubts whether it can recover from this horrific 'sporting collision' .
Joey Barton will be summarily executed at dawn for failing to spot that Pedro Mendes had stopped in full flight and whilst watching the game completely ignored the fact that he was about to stand on the stretcher fetish Portsmouth Midfielder. Harry Redknapp may or may not have commented to several media sources (does he ever keep a thought to himself) that shooting was too good for Barton and they should follow pol pots example and use a hammer and nail.

February 10th has been renamed Mendes day and all football fans are been encouraged to buy a stretcher pin badge in aid of the fallen hero, Bob Geldof may or may not be holding a mega concert as wembleys first ever gig.

On the positive side the best doctors money can buy are currently jetting in from the USA to apply a revolutionary technique called 'applying an elastoplast' .

The nation crosses it fingers.

Portsmouth Preview

Fratton Park 5.15pm Saturday - live on one of Sky's rip-off packages.

The first meeting of the two clubs since the infamous 'Pedro Mendes' incident which lifted the art of dirty cheating foreigners too a new high. Not only did poor Ben Thatcher get booked for the incident , Mendes even took up a hospital bed in a vain attempt to disguise his play acting.

Portsmouth will go into the game odds on favourites despite there recent poor form, in fact a quick look at the form guide combined with City been priced as high as 3-1 to the win the game , would have anybody who hasn't seen city in the last couple of games scratching there heads.

On the injury front it looks like Nicky Weaver will not shake off his hip injury, allowing Andreas Issakson to start and do his talking on the pitch in his bid to become city's number one. Dabo also looks unlikely to figure which may give Hamman a chance, to be fair to Didi he did show some flashes against Reading of the player we knew he could be. A big game for him if he starts.

The big question is who will Pearce go with upfront in a bid to end a scoring drought that is nearly at FIVE HOURS.

Talking of goals a chance for city to meet up with 'old friend' Andy Cole if he figures, from the stuff that I have seen written about him , he hasn't carried his excellent form from City to Portsmouth.

Match Prediction

0-1 , The pressure will mount on Pearce.

City remain in the top 20 rich list

The annual Deloitte football money league report was released earlier this week and we have remained unchanged on last year in seventeenth position.

The background behind our appearance is as follows:

This is Manchester City's third consecutive year in the
Football Money League and the club maintain their 17th position despite a slight
fall in revenue to £61.8 million.

City's debut in the Money League resulted from their
move to the City of Manchester Stadium, which delivered a step change in
attendances and matchday revenues. Despite falling slightly in 2005/06 average
Premier League attendances were almost 43,000, the fourth highest in England.
Matchday revenue stands at £15.7 million, 25% of total revenue.

Commercial revenues in 15th place in the Premier
League, and this generated £20.6m in broadcasting revenue. A run to the 6th
round of the FA Cup helped total broadcasting revenue reach £24.2million, and
City can look forward to a significant increase in broadcasting revenue from the
Premier League's broadcast deal from 2007/08. This may see City climb further up
the Money League in coming seasons.

Looking at the breakdown of how the revenue is generated - commercial 36%, broadcasting 35% and matchday 25%, it serves to illustrate the importance of the forthcoming TV deal increase on overall revenues - and perhaps that despite falling attendances this season, it should not see too great a dent on next seasons revenue figures and lends credence to the suggestion that fans are becoming less and less of a consideration to the clubs hierarchy.

The full top twenty is as follows:

1 (1) Real Madrid
2 (6) Barcelona
3 (4) Juventus
4 (2) Man United
5 (3) Milan
6 (5) Chelsea
7 (9) Inter
8 (7) Bayern Munich
9 (10) Arsenal
10 (8) Liverpool
11 (15) Lyon
12 (11) Roma
13 (12) Newcastle
14 (14) Schalke 04
15 (13) Tottenham
16 (n/a) Hamburg
17 (17) Man City
18 (n/a) Rangers
19 (n/a) West Ham
20 (n/a) Benfica

Etuhu likely ruled out for remainder of season

Sad news for Kelvin Etuhu as he has been ruled out for the remainder of the season due to medial ligament damage suffered whilst on loan at League 2 side Rochdale.

Etuhu had enjoyed success at Spotland, scoring twice during his loan spell and it was likely that the initial month would have been extended further with the hope he would have gained further experience in the hope of challenging for a first team position next season.

The benefits of scouting and the academy

Thanks to reader R. Sommerfeld for forwarding on the following link to the story that the club have signed up to a deal with Scout 7 - a Birmingham based international player database. This will allow the club to access the secure ProScout7 system to input and archive all individual player reports.

From what I can gather the system appears to work as a sort of agreement where clubs who are signed up will post match and player information onto a central system as a way of enhancing and simplifying the scouting network, allowing them access to individual and match data from thousands of players and tournaments around the world - sounding not unlike a real-life version of Championship Manager.

Stuart Pearce was quoted as saying:

"The system has a large amount of information on
football throughout the world, covering both domestic and international
football, including all the major confederation and friendly tournaments at
senior and youth levels. As well as having access to this information, our staff
can put all of their work into the same system, which means that all the
information is available in one place and can be accessed anywhere by us on the
internet, at the training ground, at home or if we are on a trip abroad. With
this information we can use the system proactively and as a good objective point
of reference for a player."

The issue of scouting is something I have posted on a few times previously - whilst praising the superb work the Academy is doing in developing and promoting local talent which we are now beginning to reap the rewards of, I have been critical that we are perhaps operating on to narrow a playing field in not having a European or even world wide scouting network to try and pick up some of the players that the likes of Arsenal are having.

Obviously this will take time to develop and to promote/establish the name of City around the football word, but by signing up to this system it is a good step in this direction as one of the main 'selling points' of this system appears to be in the data held on youth players.

Probably in the wake of the England game this week which featured two City players for the first time in some years, the BBC ran an article today that focused on the work that Jim Casell and the Academy have been doing - at a time when academies and centres of excellence are very much in the spotlight in terms of their relevance.

Cassell pays much credit to the stability of the Academy set-up in terms of the structure and praises former Chairman David Bernstein in backing his business plan that he propsed when the club dropped into Division 2. Almost ten years on from the time the rewards are beginning to bear fruit - not just with the number of academy players in the first team and reserves, but also the success of the youth teams who are doing well in their respective leagues.

One thing that Cassell didn't expect is to actually make money from the academy set up - and whilst most of the 'profit' has come from the sale of Shaun Wright-Phillips, money has also come in from players such as Willo Flood, Lee Croft and Bradley Wright-Phillips.

Unless one of the mystery takeovers actually turns into a reality it is unrealistic that we are going to be in the market to be able to bid for players in the £10 million plus price range that is needed to make a go for the top six (or even higher) but, perhaps we are sitting on a once in a generation crop of players coming through that can form the backbone and nucleus of a side that can generate some success over the next decade.

Wright-Phillips going nowhere fast

Ian Ladyman has an excellent piece in the Daily Mail about the decline in fortunes of Shaun Wright-Phillips, focusing on the impact that Joey Barton and Micah Richards have made in forcing their way into the squad.

Lifting a section from the piece, it is hard to disagree with Ladyman and he sums up nicely the current fortunes of Wright-Phillips and the direction his career has gone since leaving the club.

"While Micah Richards and Joey Barton will take
something from last night’s debacle at Old Trafford, Shaun Wright-Phillips
surely will not. A failure for Chelsea this season, now he can be dumped in to
the same category for England, too.
On a night of opportunity for some of
England’s fringe players, Wright-Phillips failed to take his so spectacularly
that coach Steve McClaren must wonder whether it is worth giving him another. At
least for the foreseeable future anyway.
The 25-year-old is currently a
picture of misplaced confidence. At his best — during his City years —
Wright-Phillips was a wonderfully instinctive and impulsive winger, a player
whose dexterity, pace and unpredictability made him such a devilish opponent.
Now he looks like a confused, daunted footballer. A man who has forgotten
what it was that once made him so valuable and so dangerous. Fear can do
dreadful things to sportsmen and with Wright-Phillips it is almost possible to
detect it in his eyes".

I didn't catch any of the game last night, but another interesting point that he makes is in taking the BBC panel to task for failing to discuss his performance (or lack of it).

I'm guessing Ian Wright was on the panel then?

The invisible man

How many of you out there wished this would have happened whilst he was at City?

Club versus Country

As Mr Banks noted in a post last week, it seems that the club were far from happy at allowing Pearce to take the job - but having reluctantly done so, they at least imposed some strict conditions on Pearce. Namely that he will not be involved in any other Football Association duties, including scouting, and any prospective friendly match in March prior to him taking charge for the summer European Championships.

This will now though see the near farcical situation of Pearce being the manager of the side or the friendly against Italy but merely allowed to sit in the stands for the game with no contact with the players. This is something Pearce will possibly be hoping to change, although Trevor Brooking has moved quickly to dispel that suggestion.

Although Pearce gave his word to Wardle that he would not apply for the job should it be available on a full-time basis, he did leave the door slightly ajar with his following comments:

"Part of taking the job now was giving my word to the
chairman that I'll be the Manchester City manager now, at the end of the summer,
and hopefully into next season – simple as that."
"The England Under-21s need a full-time manager – full
stop, without a doubt. I don't think it will be me in the summer, as I've given
my word, and very rarely in my life have I gone back on my word."

Given the fact this is after just one game, given Pearce will lead the side headlong into a full tournament in the summer, could this be one of those rare occasions he referred to?

International City

England 0 - Spain 1
Some poor results for the city players involved in last nights Internationals though as individuals most have come out with credit. Both Micah Richards and Joey Barton made substitute appearance's in England's poor display against Spain, and were both praised for there enthusiasm and willingness to received the ball, in a result sure to increase pressure on Steve McLaren.

San Marino 1-2 Rep of Ireland
Richard Dunne & Steven Ireland both started and finished the game for Ireland in whet nearly became San Marino's first ever result of any significance. Steven Ireland sparing Irelands blushes with a goal deep into injury time to give them a 2-1 win.

In other news Kelvin Etuhu has had his loan with Rochdale terminated after tearing medial ligaments , the same injury suffered by Danny Mills during his loan spell with Hull City. While there is a lot to be said for players going out on loan to gain experience or match fitness this is proof of a serious downside.

The Prodigy

Good interview from the official site with Daniel Sturridge.

Be interesting too see what happens with him for the rest of the season, I must admit to not seeing too much of him, but the hype surrounding him has been there for some team and just this week reports of Barcelona looking at him.

Could be tough on the kid if we throw him in when the wheels are coming off the season, but the other strikers have already had there chance to nail down a spot already.

Do we risk damaging him by bringing him into a struggling team ? or can he provide the much needed goal threat ?

Allay your fears - Apollo smiles on us

For the doom and gloom merchants, a little ray of sunshine, the sun god himself Sun Jihai is about to return from his nine months of injury hell and save our season with his versatility (he's crap in several positions )

Whilst you wish every player not to be afflicted by injuries, City should have cut there losses two years ago on this excuse of a footballer , he never has or will be a premiership footballer.
His new contract of course came courtesy of Kevin Keegan publicly blackmailing the board with his 'deeper hearts and pockets' speech to anybody in the media who would listen, not long after he of course decided his pockets were deep enough and did one.

Apparently he sells some shirts in China.

Cheers Kev

Now it makes sense !

Following on from transfer deadline striker debate, a possible explanation for Martin Jol 11.30 change of heart was revealed in yesterdays Mail on Sunday.

Jol apparently locked out the Manchester City club doctor to tell Mido he wasn't going anywhere after his goal Vs. Arsenal, but more importantly Jol revealed that Spurs were going to take Bernado Corradi as part of the deal.

Maybe we have been a bit harsh on Pearce and the board if they came within 15 minutes of pulling that one off.

Just Enough Rope

Now I have already gone on record as saying I don't think The England U21 job should interfere too much with Stuart Pearce's ability too manage Manchester City. If a recent M.E.N. poll is anything to go by I am in a very small minority. The vast majority of message boards and phone ins have actually seen calls for him to go and do the job full time , and they are the kinder one's !!

So this doesn't really help his cause :

Not very cute stu ?


A time and a place eh Stu ?

Shooting Stars

'Its just not good enough' as the bloke about ten rows behind me has taken to near constantly singing. He has a point if he is referring to the 'strikers' currently plying there trade for city.
The worst thing about today is probably the fact that it wasn't too bad a performance shooting aside and Reading for 60mins were there for the taking , but too there credit showed why they are knocking on the door of a Uefa cup place by not been at there best and managing to pick up three points. Credit to those who travelled as well , thats one of the biggest away turnouts and city in a long time.

City started pretty brightly and did manage to dictate most of the early play with Ireland and Barton managing to gain the upper hand in the midfield and Vassell looked lively upfront. Not too sure why we are playing the 3-5-2 at home though , maybe Pearce thinks it cute. Barton failed to the lift the ball over the keeper in the best chance of the first half , and the weight that is been put on his shoulders too produce goals seems a bit too heavy for the lad.
Reading did however fire more than some warning shots and had a Lita goal turned in dubious circumstances.

City also managed too have a great chance though Vassell just after the break but he contrived too miss from all of 6 yards and that little voice in your head goes oh-ho.

And so it proved to be as Leroy Lita , who Richards had managed to out muscle for much of the game and keep quiet, popped up on the end of two precision balls (though I will be have a long hard look at richard dunnes positioning when I see them again) to nail shut the game for Reading.

So lets have an in-depth look at our strikers for the remainder of the season :

Bernado Corradi - Not good enough
Georgious Samaras - Not good enough
Darius Vassell - Not good enough
Paul Dickov - Wasnt good enough 3 yrs ago
Ishmael Miller - Unproven
Danny Sturridge - Unproven

Hmmmmmmmmm.
When 36000 people can see week in week out what the problem is why the hell did we end up going to within 30 minutes of the close of the transfer window to be turned down for a striker ??

Reading Preview

Staurday 3pm , Eastlands.

The rarity of a 3pm on Saturday !! kick off time for the visit of this years Wigan , Reading.

Both clubs come into the fixture in decent form , for what is only the 13th league meeting between the two clubs. Reading are in fact unbeaten in 2007 and very much the suprise package of the season.

On the injury front city will be without both Nedem Onohua & Trevor Sinclair.

Reading meanwhile have concerns over Sonko , giving a possible debut to Michael Duberry, and Kevin Doyle the clubs leading scorer in the league.

Also in contention for Reading is there other transfer window signing Greg Halford , who has reported 50m throw. Should be an interesting day for Dunne & Distin !

Prediction 1-1

Pearce To Groom Kids

Stuart Pearce has been allowed by Manchester City to take up the coaching of England U21's on a short term temporary contract. The club has issued a curt statement which I presume they are not too happy with it ! Be interesting to see what happens particulary if we have a good tournament.

I dont really see much harm in Pearce doing this the time restraints are minimal , on the flipside I dont see any positives !! Some have said he can spot trhe up and coming talent , thats great but we have no money to sign them !!

Job Sharing has not been particularly sucessful in football , I wonder if outsourcing could work and we could get somebody in to do his job cheaper (or better) .....................

One more in the name of love.

Well a good and bad day news wise for the club , the bad news first as correctly predicted on these pages yesterday only Michael Ball was added to the playing staff despite reported late attempts at Mido and Andy O'Brien. The O'Brien attempt as a direct result of Nedem Onohua's latest injury, which is a crying shame for him.

On the good news front may I be the first, and possibly only blue, to stand up and applaud the club following yesterdays season ticket announcement.

The decision to set U16's season ticket prices at £95 for any part of the ground is a bold initiative that could reap dividends for years to come. My 4 year old will be certainly getting one now for next year, a quick flick though other sites shows United's lowest price (and only) at £190 and Oldham who themselves having been pushing ticket prices at £115. With a bit of luck City could corner the market.

Meanwhile Adult prices have been frozen, leading too many fans moaning on the M.E.N site claiming that prices should have been slashed mainly due to skys bumper TV deal.
Perversely some are even claiming the non-reduction is the last straw and that they are not renewing. Instead they will watch it at home or in the pub, thus lining sky's pockets further and detaching football clubs further from the fans that once kept them going.

Will be interesting too see what happens with season ticket sales for next year with many predicting a huge drop, I don't think it will be that big.

One thing is for certain Me and the Boy will be there !

Oh and Im aware of others not renewing for reasons other than finance all I can say is at the side of this page are links to bluewatch & mcfc supporters trust. Put up or shut up.