Untitled Document

With the Eastlands pitch having to be relaid following the recent pop concert the return game in the UEFA cup against EB Streymur had to be played at the Oakwell ground in Barnsley so the 'home' supporters were given a free coach ride from COMS to Barnsley. I cannot remember another occasion when City have had to play a home game away and so with the attendance of 7304 being below the original low 'home 'attendance of 8015 at the Swindon home defeat in January 1965 at Maine Road it now looks like a trick question has come up.
I was at the original game against Swindon Town so I have had the 'pleasure' of seeing City play in front of their two lowest attendances. Actually that's a hat trick as I also saw their third lowest the season before - 8053 against Middlesbrough (1-0). Harry Dowd was off injured for the last 30 minutes in that game. Can't remember who replaced him in goal though.
Back to the present and after a two hour drive through the mist and successful negotiation of the Yorkshire customs we arrived at the Barnsley home ground. I had not intended to take many pics for once but as this was a special occasion there are a few below taken with my reserve camera. Good view from the upper tier but really sad to see all the empty seats behind the goal.

Our escort to the ground was ready and waiting

There were a few dedicated supporters ( in dark blue) from the Faroe islands

A cross from Petrov ended with a clever flick from Vassell but the ball was saved by the keeper

From the resultant corner taken by Elano, Corluka headed over from a good position

Djurhuus goes down injured and the stretcher bearers appeared - but were not needed

During an injury break Manager Hughes dishes out some instructions with Elano in close proximity

After keeper Torgard had kept City at bay in the first half with a series of saves the second half began with a goal - thank goodness!
I am afraid a latecomer blocked my view of the actual goal but yes it was City Man-of-the-Match Petrov who scored it following a cross from Vassell. and good work by Sturridge. Phew! At last the deadlock had been broken.

....... and when the ball was returned by Elano Sturridge's effort was cleared off the line!
So half time came with no score but many chances

Yet another corner and yet another chance missed when Richards heads over!

After an Elano shot had been deflected for a corner just before half time the ball was headed clear by a defender .........

......the ball ran to Petrov who shot through a bunch of players and rebounded off the post.......

Torgard was soon back in action pushing aside a shot from Sturridge

Torgard again saving - this time from Elano who really should have scored.

Corluka spent more time in the opposition half and had plenty of practice crossing the ball

Daniel Sturridge did not out of place in the City side and as soon as he starts to find the net he will be in contention for a regular place

A great through ball by Johnson inside the defender gave Petrov a chance as the keeper came dashing out but the Bulgarian's shot just skidded over the bar

Torgard punches clear a Petrov corner

Another cross from the right wing is cleared by the visitors defence

Kelvin Etuhu ( on for Petrov) crosses Ched Evans -another very promising youngster was on for Sturridge.

We had to wait for the final moments of the game for City's second goal. A flick from Evans put Vassell in the clear and his pace took him beyond the keeper and he was able to slot the ball home to make it 2-0 on the night and 4-0 on aggregate.

This was in essence an attack versus defence exercise and if it had been a boxing match the referee would have deemed it no contest. The visitors just packed their penalty area from the first whistle and Joe Hart must have had the easiest game of his life. City will now play Danish side Midjylland in the next round
City passed the ball around Ok but it's in the last third - in and about the opposition penalty area that things need to speed up. We also need to be more dangerous at corners too .

Earlier on the page I wrote that the game at Barnsley was probably the lowest 'home' attendance and I suppose it was for Premiership, Football first division league, Cup and European games but back in 1998 in the Auto Windscreens Shield competition a mere three thousand and seven turned up to see City lose 2-1 to Mansfield. However it was not considered a priority by both clubs and supporters.
It was not a match I watched - thank goodness!
Thanks to Garry James for the info.

Further to City having to play a home game away from home in a European game back in 1977 -78 season United had to play their 'home' game with St Etienne in Plymouth! This was due to crowd trouble in the first leg in France!
So is Manchester the first city where both teams have had to play their home ties away in European competitions. Replies from Milan on a postcard !

The absence of Corluka at the Milan game was not good news for City supporters as it looked like we would be llosing him to Spurs but now City have officially announced that he is NOT leaving. Hurrah! He is too good a player and he will get better under Mark Hughes. Whether we will have enough money for another striker etc is another matter but the form of Bojinov since his return from injury is good news. Bad news is that 110% Vassell suffered an injury at the Milan game so we have to hope he is Ok for the Villa game as he always scores against them!

Sad to learn of the death of Ken Branagan who mainly played at right full back for City from 1948-60. First saw him play on Christmas Day 1950 in a 3- 1 win over Birmingham City - his third game (Roy Paul scored two penalties that day) .
Also saw his final game at the end of the 1959-60 season. It was a 2-1 defeat against Burnley who won Division One that season. There were nearly 66,000 packed into Maine Road for the game. The City side that day was Trautmann, Branagan., Sear, Barnes,Ewing, Oakes, Barlow, Hannah, Hayes, Law and Colbridge.

At last some movement on the transfer market with the signing of Vincent Kompany from Hamburg . He is a Belgium International defender with 23 caps. This 22 year old 6ft 3in versatile defender played 73 times for Anderlecht coring 5 goals before moving to Hamburger SV. Although he has a reputation as a very good defender he has tended to be injury prone so I hope we don't get a repeat of the Bojinov bad luck .He was also sent off for Belgium against Brazil in the recent Olympic game.

No news yet of a replacement striker. I cannot remember when City had such bad luck to have so many injured strikers at one time. Brazilian Jo will need some time to settle in after his almost non event Olympic excursion and the injury to Bojinov was almost the last straw after Benjani and Vassell had already joined the injured list.

Remember the start of the 2005-2006 season and City were playing Macclesfield in a pre-season friendly. This image taken at the game at Macclesfield marked an important moment in the history of Manchester City. It shows Stuart Pearce alone on the bench deep in conversation having heard that Shaun Wright-Phillips had asked to speak to Chelsea regarding his transfer. Having arrived with the rest of the players for this pre-season friendly SWP went out onto the pitch with his colleagues so it was noticeable that he did not reappear for the warming -up session. Having gone to Chelsea for a record fee he now makes a welcome return to City for a fee considerably less than before.

After 26 goals in 153 games for City he scored just 4 in only 82 appearances for Chelsea.. So with his chances limited in the Chelsea team he will improve his England chances with City. So far he has played 19 games for his country scoring 4 times. With Petrov and the left and SWP on the right at last we shall have a couple of wingers able to run at opponents and put them under pressure. A good buy at the last minute. I think there may be others shortly too. Watch this space!

On the same day SWP was signing City scraped through their UEFA return cup tie in Denmark by the skin of their teeth. City won on penalties after extra time after scoring the all important goal in the last minute of normal time. I must admit watching the game on the box City were rarely on top and I thought they would never score. Fortunately an own goal meant the game went to extra time and two saves by Hart in the final penalty shoot out saved the day. Both Johnson and Ireland missed good chances during the game and Johnson had a penalty saved. Phew City will have to improve to make more progress in this European adventure!

As the hours tick away before the end of the transfer window it looks like the next addition to the squad will be Argentinean Pablo Javier Zabaleta Girod ( his full name ) from Espanyol in La Liga. He is a right sided defender who can play at right back or right midfield . 23 years old he played in all six of Argentina's Olympic Gold games. He played 79 times for Espanyol scoring three times and previously 66 times ( 8 goals) for San Lorenzo.. He is not tall - only 5 ft 81/2in . but makes up for this with his powerful bursts down the wing and strength. He did accumulate 14 yellow cards last season however! . He has good leadership qualities too so all in all will be an asset to the club. Whether this will trigger a move for Corluka to Spurs and then a further deal for another striker remains to be seen.

The Pablo Zabaleta transfer has now been confirmed by the club and in addition there is yet another defensive signing .
Known as Glauber, his full name is Glauber Leandro Honorato Berti . He has come from Nuremberg. and is a 25 year old Brazilian central defender. This 6ft 3 " centre back played 51 times for the Bundesliga club in three seasons with one red and 8 yellow cards. I understand he has an Italian passport so won't require a permit and he has one Brazilian cap. He was a German Cup winner with FC Nuremberg in 2007
It looks as though Johnson will be signing a new deal so that's good news as well. However still no news on the future of Corluka.

The debut of SWP at Sunderland could not have been better . Two goals in the three nil win at Sunderland for the 26 year old will have have widened SWP's smile even more than usual. City played really well with an interesting team selection having both Kompany and Hamann playing in front of the back four. The missing Elano now knows he has competition for his place as do the other players. With good movement and passing City controlled the game in the second half and all that without the injured Petrov.

City have made the headlines once more with news of the takeover by the Abu Dhabi United Group for Development and Investment (ADUG) . Apparently the deal is almost done with Dr Khalid Kadfour Al-Muhairy and Dr Sulaiman Al-Fahim being involved with the negotiations. If this goes through and it is most likely it will, then City will be in very a sound financial condition and with only hours to go before the transfer window finishes it would not surprise me if there is a late big deal. Rumors abound and to quote a certain KK 'I would love it' if City get Berbatov from Spurs.

Latest departure from the club is Vedran Corluka to Spurs. Sad really - he was a nice lad and very skilful. I would have liked him to stay. He always had an air of calmness while all aroung him was panic.
Caicedo is off too - to Hertha Berlin . He played only 11 games for City and looks like going on a one year loan.

It's gone midnight - well past my bedtime but well worth staying up for the confirmation that City have signed Robinho from Real Madrid for UK record fee of 32 and a half million pounds in a four year deal. We missed out on other targets but this is another big boost for City. Now they join Chelsea and Manchester United as power brokers in the transfer market. They have gazumpted Chelsea for the player and his likely first game will be against Chelsea! The 24 year old Brazilian scored 25 goals for Real Madrid in 101 games .Previously he played 104 games for Santos scoring 44 times. He has played for Brazil 42 times scoring 11. He can play as winger or striker and has a career total of 93 goals in 266 games. So he will scoring his 100th goal for City in a few weeks time!!

This must have been one of the most astonishing days I can remember as a City supporter. The move to buy the club to relieve Thaksin Shinawatra of a difficult position by the Abu Dhabi Group enabled City to offer considerable amounts of money for Berbatov, Gomes , Villa and Robinho.
No doubt Kaka will be a target in January!

Well Kevin Keegan has resigned from Newcastle United after a dispute regarding the role of the manager in transfers. As soon as Denis Wise was appointed 'director of football' this was a disaster waiting to happen.
KK was with them for only 8 months in this second spell as manager. I feel sorry for the Newcastle fans who have given their club massive support over the years despite their lack of progress. They will always be a welcome at Middle Eastlands !
I would be amazed if Kevin takes another managerial position in soccer.

November Notes

Having been out of the country for four weeks doing photography in Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Arizona I still managed to keep in touch with City's fortunes missing only the Omonia and Liverpool home games. I was able to listen to the GMR commentary game and see some of the other away games on the llaptop through the wonders of the internet.

Whilst in Roswell in New Mexico I thought it would be useful to spread the support for City so this fellow promised to drop into Coms some time this season! So keep yur eyes open !