Mancini Trial

Sven Goran Excellent has again used his friendships within the game and as a result Manchester City have handed a two week trial to Filippo Mancini, the son of Inter boss Roberto.City boss Sven Goran Eriksson and Mancini senior are close friends following their time together as player and manager at both Sampdoria and Lazio and arranged for the youngster to move to City.Regarded as one for the future, Mancini will train with the club's Academy stars during his stay in England. This has to be seen as a good thing and an indication that Sven is looking to the future but I myself, and I am sure many other City fans, are more interested in who will come in now who is ready to jump into the first team and can score goals.

Bad Signs Bojinov

Fears have been raised regarding the comeback date of summer signing Valeri Bojinov. The Man City striker could miss the rest of the season even though he has returned to training. The Bulgarian has been out of action since the derby win over Manchester United in August after suffering ligament damage. Bojinov recently started 'light' training but assistant boss Hans Backe has admitted: "Valeri had his first session on Wednesday and I don't know if I am being a little pessimistic or not but with the kind of injury he has had I am inclined to think that he will not be fully fit until the summer." Backe was quoted in the Manchester Evening News as saying: "If we are lucky he may be ready more quickly but we don't want to push it and experience says that with that kind of injury it takes some months to come back to games even after returning to training."This on the back of Bianchi heading to Lazio, the lack of quality firepower in the squad and inactivity (so far) in the transfer market means that once again us City fans are left wondering where the season will go from here.

Samaras Offski...In Comes Podolski!!

After what seems like an age of speculation it now seems like the 'Weak Greek' is off to Brum! Personally I think it is a good step for all parties involved. Samaras came to City with potential but after a good start his performance nose dived. It will be good for us to offload him, it will give him a chance to start over with a clean sheet and gives Brum a potential investment. 2.5 million is a great price for a Premiership striker, if Sam can deliver like he did when he first came to CoMS.
Also after news that Sven invited Podolski's representatives to the game on Sunday it was only going to be a matter of time before this rumor got fresh momentum with a loan deal until the end of the season looking the option to suit both clubs.

West Ham (H) 01/20/08

We were lucky on Sunday as we got a point for playing really quite badly. However West Ham were not that good either. Maybe its just because both managers got the other one worked out? Playing each other three times in two weeks can do that. Also we have injuries and guys playing out of position so it is clear we are still a work in progress. We definatly have to improve if we do not want this season to fizzle into no decent end product. However on the plus side it is always said that the sign of a good team is when they do not perform well they still can pick up points.

Where Do We Go From Here?

I did some research and got some figures from previous seasons. I know that whatever happens in the future cannot be determined by math equations, but for fun (and maybe some reassurance), I decided to post the results. At this point in the calendar in the three seasons we qualified for Europe through the league we had 13, 9 and 14 wins (in 72, 76 and 78 respectively). Keep in mind that 3 games more were played at that in ‘72 and ‘78 so we are pretty much on course to end in Europe places. We currently have 42% of our games left to play this season, a figure we also had left at this point in the 03/04, 04/05 and 05/06 season. After this point in 03/04 we got 44% of our points for that season and 46% in 04/05 (which if put onto this seasons current tally would see us end on 72pts, not to shabby!) However in 05/06 we only got 28% of our total points in the final period, would have us end with 54pts. That would probably give us a 9th position and obviously out of European place. I prefer to for arguments sake to think we will get 42% of our points in the run in. That would give us 67 pts and very much in UEFA cup position and maybe even Champions League. I suddenly feel like John Snow now, but anyway that equates to us getting 28pts in our remaining 16 games. So I did more looking and this is what I can see happening in the run in, WINS (West H (H), Wigan (H), Spurs (H), Brum (A), Sunderland (A), Portsmouth (H), Fulham (H), Boro (A). DRAWS (4) Derby (A), Everton (H), Reading (A) and Chelsea (H). Now this is all for fun and like I said things can happen in football that are unexpected, its why we watch every week but I would be interested in your comments and opinions (other than I need to get out more, I know it and I am trying)

Munich Air Crash.

The 50th anniversary of the Munich plane crash is coming up and both City and United are to mark the incident four days later when they both meet in the league. I am a City fan and my blood runs as blue as any other City fan. I hate United and enjoy the taunting songs we have for both their team and players, but I do not like nor participate in the Munich songs. I'll admit that I didn't know a great deal about the whole night and with this in mind I felt I should do some research into who were involved that night. As many Manchester reporters died that night as United players. I couldn’t find information about all of them but here is what I did find:
Players:
Duncan Edwards (21) 18 England caps, 5 goals. Recommended to Busby by Joe Mercer! Youngest post war England debutant until Owen broke that 43 years later(since broken by Rooney then Walcott). He suffered multiple leg fractures and severely damaged kidneys. Doctors gave him an artificial kidney but this reduced his bloods ability to clot and he began to bleed internally. Inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame in 2002. Died 15 days after the crash
Roger Bryne (28) Captain. Manchester born and won 33 caps for England. Mark Jones (24) England schoolboy international. Tommy Taylor (26) 19 England caps, 16 goals. Also played for Barnsley Eddie Coleman (21) Player. Liam Whelan (22) R.O.I. 4 caps. David Pegg (22) 1 England cap. Geoff Bent (25) Player.
Staff:
Walter Crickmer Club secretary. Bert Whalley Chief coach, youth development Tom Curry Trainer Played for Utd and Newcastle
Media:
Alf Clarke Journalist, Manchester Evening Chronicle. Don Davis Journalist, Manchester Guardian. George Follows Journalist, Daily Herald. Tom Jackson Journalist, Manchester Evening News. Archie Ledbrooke Journalist, Daily Mirror. Henry Rose Journalist Daily Express. Eric Thompson Journalist, Daily Mail
Frank Swift Journalist, News of the World (City player) 376 games for City from 1933-49 and 33 England caps (14 coming during war time). Named in the Football League 100 Legends in 1998 celebrating 100 seasons of league football in England (Alongside Meredith, Bell and Trautmann)
Others:
Cpt Kenneth Rayment, Co-pilot. Survived the crash but suffered multiple injuries and died three weeks later as a result of brain damage.
Bela Miklos, Travel agent. Willie Satinoff, Supporter. Tom Cable, Steward

Survived:
Players:
Bill Foulkes (26) Only played for Utd and only once for England. He has managed Witney Town, Chicago Sting, Tulsa Roughnecks, San Jose Earthquakes, I.L Bryn, Steinkjer FK, Lillestrom S.K, Viking Stavanger and F.C. Mazda.
Harry Gregg (24) went back into wreckage to rescue passengers.
Johnny Berry (31) Never played again. Played for Birmingham and Man Utd. Got four England caps. Suffered a fractured skull. When he woke up he was totally unaware of the plane crash. Died in 1994.
Jackie Blanchflower (24) Never played again. 12 Northern Irish caps. Suffered fractured pelvis and crushed kidneys. Died of cancer aged 65 in 1998.
Bobby Charlton (20) Scored twice the night before.
World Cup winner. Played for Utd, Preston and Waterford. Managed Preston (player manager) and Waterford (caretaker). Knighted in 1994.
Ken Morgans (18) Never recovered his form after Munich Went on to play for Swansea and Newport Co.
Albert Scanlon (22) Suffered terrible head injuries, recovered and played well for several years at Utd, Newcastle, Lincoln and Mansfield. Was about to sign for Arsenal before the crash but that move was cancelled.
Dennis Viollet (24) Striker 59-60 scored 32 goals. Played for Utd and Stoke. Got just the 2 caps for England. Came out of retirement to join NASL team Baltimore Bays. Then he returned to Britain to play for Witton Albion then Linfield. Went on to coach Preston and briefly Crewe in 1971. Moved to Florida to coach Jacksonville University Dolphins, then onto Richmond Kickers in the USISL before returning to Jacksonville to coach A-league side Jacksonville Cyclones. Died in 1999 age 65 from cancer in Florida.
He was inducted into the USL Hall of Fame in 2002 and now the annual University of North Florida/Jacksonville Uni soccer match has been contested for the Viollet cup since 1991.
Ray Wood (26) Suffered terrible head injuries and rarely played again. Played for Darlington, Utd, Huddersfield, Bradford and Barnsley before managing APOEL FC in 1971. Finished his career with 3 England caps. Has managed teams in the following countries: USA, Ireland, Zambia, Canada, Greece, Kenya, Kuwait, UAE. Also coached Cyprus and Kenyan national teams and NASL team LA Wolves. Died in 2002 aged 71.
Utd Staff:
Matt Busby (manager) read his last rites twice
Media and Others:
Frank Taylor Journalist Died in 2002
Peter Howard Photographer Died 1996
Ted Ellyard Photographer
Vera Lukic and baby- passengers rescued by Harry Gregg
Mrs Miklos Wife of travel agent
Mr Tomas Vic - passenger
James Thain - Captain. Blamed by German authorities for crash. Died 1975.
Rosmary Cheverton - Stewardess
Margaret Bellis - Stewardess
George Rodgers - radio officer


An interesting fact is that back in the airport terminal for barely ten minutes then the call to reconvene on the plane came and a number of passengers began to feel nervous. Charlton and team-mate Dennis Viollet swapped places with Tommy Taylor and David Pegg, who had decided they would be safer at the back of the plane. This would prove a fatal decision for Taylor and Pegg.
So with this in mind, City fans remember Frank Swift but also members of the Manchester and national media as well as the people staffing the flight and players that we never got to see fulfill their role for England.