Manchester City

[mrbojangles]

The graet thing about SGE is that he has this network in Europe. He seems to be better informed than most as to who can be made available, and of course he has a huge reputation abroad which means more players want to come and play for him

Absolutely. I had a disagreement with someone the other night when they said Elano is so good we won't be able to keep him. My answer to that was <deleted>. Why would he (or any other player) want to move? He has a first team place, which means better prospects for playing at international level. He is adored by the fans, he can see that the club have ambitions and SGE is an excellent manager.

[mrbojangles]

Been a while since we could say this:-

International round-up of City players

Micah Richards excelled for England as several Blues saw international action over the weekend.

There was a touch of Manchester City in England’s first goal of the 3-0 win over Estonia at Wembley, with Richards setting up Shaun Wright-Phillips from a neat move down the right flank, where the pair are making a telling contribution for Steve McClaren.

Also on England duty were Joe Hart and Nedum Onuoha, who played their parts in the Under 21s’ 1-0 with over Montenegro on Friday. The Blues’ keeper was mostly untroubled, but Onuoha was unlucky not to add to his international goals tally when he crashed a header against the bar just before the hour.

Richard Dunne picked up a booking in Ireland's 0-0 draw with Germany, which means that City's skipper is suspended from Wednesday's game against Cyprus in Dublin.

Vedran Corluka’s Croatia are within touching distance of next summer’s European Championships after beating Israel 1-0, with the versatile City defender playing the entire match in his usual international role of centre back. Croatia are three points ahead of England at the top of Group E with two games to go.

Andreas Isaksson kept a clean sheet as Sweden beat Liechtenstein 3-0, and Gelson Fernandes played in Switzerland’s 3-1 win over next summer’s co-hosts Austria. Elano did not feature on Brazil's 0-0 draw with Colombia in Bogota, and City will be keen to find out the extent of any damage to Martin Petrov's left ankle after the Bulgarian winger was injured in a friendly against Lokomotiv Sofia, just a few days ahead of a Euro 2008 qualifier against Albania.

[mrbojangles]

The Owen-to-City rumour won't go away. From the Daily Telegraph

"Manchester City target £6m Michael Owen deal"

Michael Owen's future looked more uncertain than ever yesterday after it was claimed that the England striker could leave Newcastle United next summer for a knock-down £6 million thanks to a get-out clause in his St James' Park contract.

The Manchester City manager, Sven-Goran Eriksson, is reported to be ready to take advantage of the escape clause that Owen stipulated when he signed for Newcastle from Real Madrid in August 2005 in a £17 million transfer deal that brought him a four-year contract and an estimated wage of £120,000 per week.

There have been suggestions that Eriksson is prepared to wait until next summer, when the get-out clause is reactivated, though £10 million would apparently be enough to secure his services in the January transfer window rather than the £15 million City owner Thaksin Shinawatra was said to have been asked to pay.

Thanks to his get-out clause, Owen, who will be 28 in December, was available for £9 million during the last transfer window but his bad luck with injuries seemingly deterred would-be suitors, despite rumoured interest from Manchester United.

The get-out clause will become effective again on July 1 next year, at which time he will have roughly a year left on his current deal at Newcastle, where manager Sam Allardyce has publicly denied suggestions of a rift with Owen.

A source close to the club said: "The get-out clause that Michael Owen demanded when he signed for Newcastle will become active again next summer. Each year his value on the books is reduced and by next summer it will be in the region of £5 million to £6 million.

"That means that Manchester City or any other club can come in and trigger his release by matching that figure. Newcastle are powerless to stop him moving on.

"Manchester City wouldn't be his ideal choice, but none of the big four was interested in him this year.

"Newcastle would probably be wise to sell him in January if they could because they would obviously land a bigger fee. In any case, they dare not let him get into the final year of his deal without signing a new one because he could then leave for nothing on June 30, 2009."

[chavy]

Why is there always this speculation concerning Owen? I've never read anywhere that he's unhappy etc etc. He's playing for one of the biggest teams around so why would he move? Man City would be a great alternative but still cannot see why he'd do it

[LeungKen]

Here's a new rumour I'm starting

Harry Kewell for City next January ?

It's worth having 100 Baht on (if one was allowed to gamble here that is)

[mrbojangles]

Why is there always this speculation concerning Owen? I've never read anywhere that he's unhappy etc etc. He's playing for one of the biggest teams around so why would he move? Man City would be a great alternative but still cannot see why he'd do it

Apparently he's had a bit of a bust up with Allardyce. Personally i don't care, don't really fancy him at City. We're happy watching Brazilian football at the moment

[mrbojangles]

Here's a new rumour I'm starting

Harry Kewell for City next January ?

It's worth having 100 Baht on (if one was allowed to gamble here that is)

if we could i'd take you up on that Ken

[chavy]

Why is there always this speculation concerning Owen? I've never read anywhere that he's unhappy etc etc. He's playing for one of the biggest teams around so why would he move? Man City would be a great alternative but still cannot see why he'd do it

Apparently he's had a bit of a bust up with Allardyce. Personally i don't care, don't really fancy him at City. We're happy watching Brazilian football at the moment

It seems he can't string a good number of games together before having to have an operation for one thing or another. It's alot of money to splash out for someone so injury prone.

[LeungKen]

Hey you blokes can probably tell me what ever happened to Belle Vue

- I seem to remember going there with my great aunts way back in the 50's

there was a big zoo and funfair, with roller-coaster etc, plus fireworks in the

summer evenings - or did I just dream it all.

Look Out Ken's having one of his "Senior Moments" Again

[mrbojangles]

there was a big zoo

I don't know about the other animals but they relocated all the Monkeys to play at Old Trafford

The Grey Hound course is still there though.

[Bredbury Blue]

Hey you blokes can probably tell me what ever happened to Belle Vue

- I seem to remember going there with my great aunts way back in the 50's

there was a big zoo and funfair, with roller-coaster etc, plus fireworks in the

summer evenings - or did I just dream it all.

Look Out Ken's having one of his "Senior Moments" Again

You definitely didn't dream it all.

The place also holds special memories for me. The Bobs and all. Even watched Status Quo there in the 70's. And of course Belle Vue, used to be where i would get off (BV station used to be huge with roaring coalfires in the waiting rooms in winter) the Marple to M/cr train and catch the 53 bus to Maine Road for years to watch City!

http://manchesterhistory.net/bellevue/history.html

[JacknDanny]

there was a big zoo

I don't know about the other animals but they relocated all the Monkeys to play at Old Trafford

The Grey Hound course is still there though.

The Grey Hound course is actually located further down Hyde Road (or at least it was 10 yrs ago), near to Kirkmanshulme Lane.

Belle Vue was closed yonks ago. I went there as a kid in the 60s and 70s. I think it closed in the late 70s.

Now its huge housing estate.

[chavy]

Hey you blokes can probably tell me what ever happened to Belle Vue

- I seem to remember going there with my great aunts way back in the 50's

there was a big zoo and funfair, with roller-coaster etc, plus fireworks in the

summer evenings - or did I just dream it all.

Look Out Ken's having one of his "Senior Moments" Again

Far far too young to answer that question Ken The only Belle Vue I know was in Doncaster

[mrtoad]

Here's a new rumour I'm starting

Harry Kewell for City next January ?

It's worth having 100 Baht on (if one was allowed to gamble here that is)

if we could i'd take you up on that Ken

Is Kewell the guy that only playys in European Cup Finals?

Can't seem to remember him very clearly. Seems to spend more time on the Physio's couch than Tommy Docherty.

[mrbojangles]

Report from City's web site

International round-up

This week’s swathe of internationals have brought mixed fortunes for City’s players away with their countries.

Micah Richards played in England’s 2-1 defeat in Moscow, with their qualification hopes for next year’s European Championships hanging by a thread. Vedran Corluka will be happier with the evening’s result, with Croatia needing just one point from two games to make it through to Switzerland and Austria from Group E.

Georgios Samaras came on for the last half hour of Greece’s 1-0 win over Turkey, a result which allows them to defend their title next summer as they are now certain to finish in the top two of Group C.

Sweden are almost certain to qualify from Group F despite their 1-1 draw with Northern Ireland, with Andreas Isaksson making some fine saves although he could do nothing about Lafferty’s equaliser.

Martin Petrov’s Bulgaria have an outside chance of qualifying from Group G, with the City winger playing the first half of their 1-1 draw with Albania in Tirana.

Elano made an impact for Brazil, despite only playing in the last 15 minutes of the 5-0 win over Ecuador. The in-form playmaker volleyed home after a wonderful run from Robinho to give Brazil the fourth goal of the rout in Rio.

Kasper Schmeichel featured as the Danish Under 21 side beat Slovakia 3-1, and Gelson Fernandes played the second half of Switzerland’s 1-0 defeat at home to the USA.

[mrbojangles]

From city's web site:-

Sven wary of Birmingham threat

As City go in search of a record-breaking home start to the season tomorrow, Sven-Goran Eriksson has warned his players against complacency in the battle of the Blues.

Speaking at yesterday's Carrington press conference, the Manager told us: "I’ll say something to the players about that when they are all here on Friday, and of course on Saturday as well."

With expectations high ahead of the game, a sixth home win will better the 1974/75 start to the season, Sven warned against an easy ride as he stated: "That’s a dangerous thing in football, if the players think like that we won’t win, that’s for sure.

"If we think it’s going to be easy, we won’t win because there are no easy games in the Premier League, no easy games anywhere at all.

"What we’ve done so far is history, and this is now. Birmingham will be difficult, they played well against Liverpool a couple of weeks ago and defended excellently. I don’t think Liverpool had many shots on goal, so we know what’s expected and they are a good counter-attacking side as well."

And despite the relatively short time together ahead of the game tomorrow, Eriksson insists the City players will be as well-prepared for the arrival of Steve Bruce's men as for any other fixture.

He declared: "Every time we play, whether it’s Birmingham or Liverpool or whoever, we try to know as much as possible, for the players and for the coaches. They will always try to do the same to us, it’s normal, but we have a lot of clips from their game against Liverpool where they did very well.

"To keep everyone fit now is important, and we’ve been rather lucky with injuries so far, but also we want to keep playing good football every weekend."

[mrbojangles]

Well that was another excellent display, even though it wasn't the best or prettiest we have played. Birmingham put up a good fight and we ground out another result. Well done Sven and the boys

[nev]

Hey you blokes can probably tell me what ever happened to Belle Vue

- I seem to remember going there with my great aunts way back in the 50's

there was a big zoo and funfair, with roller-coaster etc, plus fireworks in the

summer evenings - or did I just dream it all.

Look Out Ken's having one of his "Senior Moments" Again

You definitely didn't dream it all.

The place also holds special memories for me. The Bobs and all. Even watched Status Quo there in the 70's. And of course Belle Vue, used to be where i would get off (BV station used to be huge with roaring coalfires in the waiting rooms in winter) the Marple to M/cr train and catch the 53 bus to Maine Road for years to watch City!

http://manchesterhistory.net/bellevue/history.html

ok guys, yes there was a zoo, i remember as a youngster going with my grandpa and he stuck his face to close to the monkeys cage, and the monkey snatched his glasses

also there was a speedway track and i used to go along and watch the belle vue aces, i can still remember the smell of the bikes and all the dirt on the bends being blown all over the spectators.

also there was a german beer keller there was a great night used to go after watching united used to sell holsten larger,very strong,used to pick up a lot of chicks there who where on hen nights,picked up a nice looking older lady there, and had some horizontal tango under the catterpilla ride

[mrbojangles]

Match report from the BBC:-

Man City 1-0 Birmingham

Brazilian Elano guided Man City to a sixth successive home win.

Elano put the hosts ahead in the latter stages of the first half, cleverly slotting home with a left-footed shot.

If Elano provided the attacking threat - the Brazilian also went close with a second-half shot - the home defence had to weather a gritty Blues fightback.

Goalkeeper Joe Hart twice came to his side's rescue, making a one-handed stop to thwart Olivier Kapo as well as a reaction save to deny Fabrice Muamba.

Watching Manchester City it is hard to imagine this was a club which managed just five home wins last season, testament to the change brought about by Sven-Goran Eriksson's arrival.

Elano, who was one of Eriksson's many summer signings, has lit up the Premiership this season with his eye for a pass and sumptuous ball control, not to mention his goalscoring abilities.

This was his fourth goal in three league games for Eriksson's side, while he had also scored in Brazil's 5-0 midweek World Cup qualifying win over Ecuador.

Showing no sign of jet lag, Elano was quick to establish City's tempo, beautifully flighting the ball into the path of Martin Petrov, who was crowded out by the Birmingham defence.

Just before scoring, Elano went on a mesmerising run that brought him to the fringes of the Birmingham penalty area until his progress was ended by Liam Ridgewell's strong tackle.

If there were furious protests from Birmingham that Muamba was fouled by Michael Johnson in the build-up to the goal, there was no argument about the elegance of Elano's finish.

The Manchester City playmaker was quick to gather Vedran Corluka's pass before guiding the ball into the corner of the net past Maik Taylor's outstretched arm.

Midway through the second half Elano came close to scoring a second when his low shot went narrowly wide.

Equally important for the home side was the way they were able to protect their lead.

While Hart, who was impressive for the England Under-21 side in midweek, continued to futher his reputation with those two saves, Corluka got in some crucial blocks.

Prior to the Brazilian's goal, Cameron Jerome proved Birmingham's most potent attacking threat.

The former Cardiff striker might have done better following a free-kick in the City penalty area after Hart had picked up a back pass, but Jerome's effort was deflected to safety.

Soon after the break Birmingham boss Steve Bruce brought on Daniel de Ridder for Gary McSheffrey to try and reinvigorate his attack and the Dutchman began to trouble Javier Garrido.

While De Ridder probed City's left flank, on the other side of the pitch Wilson Palacios and Kapo combined to set up Muamba, whose shot was superbly saved by Hart.

But City have conceded just two goals at home this season and Eriksson's side held on to secure a fourth clean sheet at Eastlands

[totlanh]

Even though as you say Mrbo it was,nt the prettiest display however we still secured the 3 points sometn=hing last season we would not have done.I really am feeling optimistic indeed for the first time for a long time as obviously we are third but there on merit.This has not i repeat not been a fluke.Sven has assembled a squad of quality players who havew gelled amazingly quickly and really i can not think of many teams(if any!!)that are playing as well as we are.Wake me up i must be dreaming actually dont let me sleep

[mrbojangles]

I really am feeling optimistic indeed for the first time for a long time as obviously we are third but there on merit.This has not i repeat not been a fluke.Sven has assembled a squad of quality players who havew gelled amazingly quickly and really i can not think of many teams(if any!!)that are playing as well as we are.

Absolutely Tot

Wake me up i must be dreaming actually dont let me sleep

If Carlsberg made dreams. It would probably be the best dream in the world

[mrbojangles]

Naughty boy From the BBC:-

Footballer Hamann's driving ban

Footballer Dietmar Hamann has been banned from driving and ordered to pay more than £7,000 in fines for a series of motoring offences.

The German Manchester City midfielder crashed his £70,000 Porsche into a fence in Styal, Cheshire, in 2006, but did not report it to the police.

The 34-year-old, of Alderley Edge, was convicted of failing to stop after an accident and other offences last month.

He was sentenced at Macclesfield Magistrates' Court on Monday.

Hamann, who also played for Liverpool and Newcastle United, pleaded guilty to failing to supply information to police in September.

He was also convicted of driving without due care and attention, failing to stop after an accident and failing to report an accident - charges he had denied.

The court heard that a police officer could smell alcohol on the player's breath, but he was not breathalysed.

He was fined £7,750 and ordered to pay £500 costs by magistrates.

[mrbojangles]

From skysports:-

Eriksson awaits Chelsea test

City manager eyes Stamford Bridge examination

Sven Goran Eriksson has set his sights on Chelsea before he begins to make judgements about his Manchester City side.

City manager Eriksson takes his side to Stamford Bridge on Saturday and he believes this will be a true test of their capabilities this year.

Eriksson has steered City to third place in the Premier League - four points above Chelsea - since taking over in the summer, but the former England boss remains characteristically cautious.

The Swede also wants to see out the traditionally testing English Christmas fixture list before he joins the neutrals in praising his side, who maintained their 100 per cent home record with a 1-0 win over Birmingham on Saturday.

"Chelsea next Saturday will be a very good test for us and I'm curious to see what happens over Christmas and the New Year," Eriksson said.

"A lot of our players are not used to playing at that time of year, they have always had a break.

"And then to see how good our squad is because you play every second or third day for some weeks."

Eriksson is also adamant he is not about to join other Premier League bosses in the tendency of regularly rotating his squad.

"When you have a good run, you don't change the team," added Eriksson. "We are not playing in Europe, so we don't have that fatigue."

[mrtoad]

From skysports:-

Eriksson awaits Chelsea test

City manager eyes Stamford Bridge examination

Sven Goran Eriksson has set his sights on Chelsea before he begins to make judgements about his Manchester City side.

City manager Eriksson takes his side to Stamford Bridge on Saturday and he believes this will be a true test of their capabilities this year.

Eriksson has steered City to third place in the Premier League - four points above Chelsea - since taking over in the summer, but the former England boss remains characteristically cautious.

The Swede also wants to see out the traditionally testing English Christmas fixture list before he joins the neutrals in praising his side, who maintained their 100 per cent home record with a 1-0 win over Birmingham on Saturday.

"Chelsea next Saturday will be a very good test for us and I'm curious to see what happens over Christmas and the New Year," Eriksson said.

"A lot of our players are not used to playing at that time of year, they have always had a break.

"And then to see how good our squad is because you play every second or third day for some weeks."

Eriksson is also adamant he is not about to join other Premier League bosses in the tendency of regularly rotating his squad.

"When you have a good run, you don't change the team," added Eriksson. "We are not playing in Europe, so we don't have that fatigue."

This doesn't happen often, but as a Man Utd fan, I hope you kick them in the Urals.

[chavy]

Sven for Spurs anyone ????????

[nev]

as a red i hold my hands up and say city doing so well is very healthy for the league,good to see as the domination by the top 4 does get boring,just wish a few other teams could step up too, like spurs they have spent heaps have some great players but dissapoint.

[mrbojangles]

as a red i hold my hands up and say city doing so well is very healthy for the league,good to see as the domination by the top 4 does get boring,

Cheers for that nev Alot of my mates who are reds, have said the same.

[mrbojangles]

This doesn't happen often, but as a Man Utd fan, I hope you kick them in the Urals.

Cheers Hopper. We'll do our best and apart from the derby game (which i admit to being lucky) this is a big test for us as a new team. We gave the Arse a run for their money at the Emirates, so here's hoping

[mrbojangles]

Sven: Bojinov recovering well

City striker on track to return to training by Christmas

Manchester City boss Sven Goran Eriksson says Valeri Bojinov is recovering well after cruciate knee ligament surgery.

The Bulgaria international striker has been sidelined since picking up the injury in the opening minutes of the Manchester derby in August.

The former Fiorentina striker went under the knife in Italy after suffering the injury and according to experts his rehabilitation is on track and he could return to training by Christmas.

Eriksson told the club's official website: "It's looking good, and I'm told by the medical people that for that kind of injury he is looking in good shape.

"I don't push people, so it's very difficult to say which date he can start training with the others, or when he's ready to play.

"I don't think anyone can say that now, but hopefully around Christmas he might be taking part in training sessions, and then we'll see when he is match fit.

"Everything looks good for Valeri at the moment."

[totlanh]

HUGE GAME tomorrow and the first real test i believe to ascertain how good City are.I must confess that i would be delighted with a draw and realistically thats the best we can expect but who knows KEEP THE FAITH!!!!

I see that PRAT barton has been shooting his mouth of again i really do not understand what his problem is i mean how many chances did City give him before it became impossibile to keep him and look how he repays us,i think and hope his career is going to come to a very unpleasant end,