Worst City/United Chants of all Time

I have been racking my brain trying to decide on what is the worst City/United football chant at least since 1964, when I attended my first match. I have come up with two contenders, for City, it has to be - Oh Asa Hartford, Asa Hartford, La la la la la laaaa, from the '70's. For United - Lou, Lou, skip to my Lou, Lou, Lou, skip to my Lou, Lou, Lou, skip to my Lou, skip to my Lou Macari.

For those who are unfamiliar with them, try singing both in your strongest Mancunian accent. I have to say that they both sound dreadful and I used to wince when the Kippax chanted ours in the '70's. Both sounded daft, however I give my vote to the Macari song if only for the visual sight in my minds eye of two hundred scruffy Stretford Enders, with red and white scarves attached to their belts, delightfully singing it whilst skipping down Warwick Road prior to another derby defeat.

It's A fix

It’s A Fix
I’ve only just gotten over it! Of all the English clubs in Europe we were the only ones not to get a bye in the second round of the League Cup, and what happens? The inevitable I’m afraid. Welcome to the Manchester City Benevolent Society Mark, let’s hope you’ve seen, observed and can conquer it.
Otherwise it was a good trip. Good journey using the new Sat Nav thing, pleasant digs, (I did tell them before the game that anything can happen with City). Interesting visit to the Pavilion, museum, art gallery, shops, and then the usual thing that spoils it all, the bloody match.
Parked up OK near the ground and flogged the remaining few zines left of this issue (working hard on KK 163 at this very mo). Some young Halifax Blues were accused of first being drunk and then of homophobic chanting. Both denied but the steward decided to take their tickets off them and refuse entry (stoppit). Easy targets, daft lads who just needed a little talking to, if indeed they'd done anything theyt were accused of at all.
As for the match we didn’t do that badly, the team put out should have done it apart from poor finishing and some poor defending, but Hughes should have had Shaunny up his sleeve to come on and punish them. As for the penalties, Kasper, who’d kept us in the game, couldn’t get near them and Bally couldn’t even blame his miss on balloons.
Now last time we played Brighton it was at the Goldstone Ground in 1989. They were winning 2-1 with time ticking away and the ball went out of play but the ball boy (who was about forty) didn’t catch it but back headed it into the crowd to waste time. He was later sacked by the club.
A similar incident occurred tonight when the ball went behind the goal and despite multi balls being in operation, but missing at this point, a member of the backroom staff caught the ball and set off to the dressing room with it, I kid you not. Kasper leapt over the hoardings and chased him to snatch the ball and take the goal kick. Now I accept that clubs like Brighton have to do all they can to win games like these but without sounding churlish, that was way out of order and I hope the culprit is punished accordingly.
So that’s that. We do have a lot of games coming up so it’s important we progress at League and UEFA Cup level otherwise we’re going to regret this loss even more.
Next up is Wigan tomorrow, always a tough one for us, and they had a confidence raising win in mid week at Ipswich. I believe it’s a sell out, so let’s bring the noise and show the lnew bouys especially, what our away support can sound like. See you there, c’mon you Blues.
Dave

In future, it is highly possible that in the seat next to you at the match you may find yourself sitting next to a member of the UAE royal family. It is important therefore that we give a good account of ourselves. I have taken the liberty of noting a few typical Arab greetings, so that when the King of UAE and his entourage approach you in the Colin Bell stand, block 10 row 5, seat 54, you will know the correct way to address his greetings.

Welcome - Ahlan wa-Sahlan Your Response - Ahlan Bik

Hello (Formal) - Aasalaamu Aleikum Your Response - Wa-Aleikum Aassalaam

Hi - Marhaba Your Response - Marhabtein

Greetings - Sa'eeda

Nice To Meet You - Fursa Sa'eeda

Good Morning - Sabah il Kheer Your Response - Sabah il Noor

Good Evening - Masa il Kheer Your Response - Masa il Noor

How Are You - Kayf Halak (M) or Kayf Halick (F)

I Am Well - Qwayyis (M) or Qwayysa (F)

Thank be to God - IL-Hamdu-Allah

Good Night - Tisbah ala Kheer (M) or Tisbahi ala Kheer (F)

Good Bye - Ma'a Salaama

What do you call players who miss penalties?
Your Response - Tossers!

It's a fix

It’s a a Fix ?
What about Saturday then? Down at the Bridge Chelsea were denied a win over the rags when Riley bottled out, blowing for time early at the end saving Ferdinand a sending off and giving Chelsea a free kick from which they’d surely have scored. Still 7 cards meant a massive £25K fine for the cheats. That’ll teach them. No wonder everyone hates them.
The sun shone down on Eastlands. Not as much Arab headgear as last week to be seen, as we took our seats in the New Kippax (You’d better believe it) spotting the new owner opposite in the Colin Bell stand. I did suggest we might knock one or two in, but six? Wow. Brilliant performance even if James did have a ‘mare’ Difficult to single any one player out but collectively a fabulous show, breathtaking. Stunning, and there’s more to come.

Tomorrow we’re off to Brighton, for the game on Wednesday night, where it looks like the photo I based the ground diagram on was a bit misleading. We’re in the West Stand which is inevitably open and a bit Gene Kellyish, with a 900 seat capacity. We’re told that the locals, police and stewards are a friendly bunch. Also that Brighton should be moving to a new ground in the next few years at Farmer on the outskirts of Brighton.
There are drinking facilities at the Sportsman behind the North Stand, and there are plenty of pubs in and around Brighton.
Parking restrictions have now been lifted around the stadium so you should be able to park if you get there early, but there’s also a park and ride scheme.
Programme is £3 probably and there is a fanzine at a quid – One F in Farmer – a rip off of the Fulham zine’s title.
So after the 6-0 over Pompey can we dish it out to another south coast team They lost 1-0 at home to Walsall on Saturday, in front of 5,679) ? Of course. Maybe Mark will rest a few players and give the likes of Kasper, Ben Haim, Bally, Johno, Didi, Ched and Danny S. a run out. Always a gamble I feel. We need a strong squad to make sure we reach the next round with Chesterfield and Donny still fresh in our minds, but those I’ve listed should still give us the edge. C’mon City, Wembley beckons, we have a real chance this season. See you there.
(Incidentally we’re also putting KK 163 together this week, 32 pages so far so get them articles in please)
Dave

It's A fix

It’s a Fix
All week we’ve been told that money doesn’t buy success and Ferguson, the man who’s spent more than most, quoted the team who spent – and went down – erm Sunderland 50 years ago, very relevant to 2008 !! Bitter? You bet!
We had an entertaining game in Cyprus, eventually winning 2-1 with a couple from Jo after a little bit of a scare. Job half done says Tony P. but we should be able to finish them off at COMS in a couple of weeks. Other topic of the week was the ludicrous rescinding of the Terry red card, and the temporary demotion of Mark Halsey. Still, now we’re rich we should start getting all the decisions going our way too!
Tomorrow we take on Portsmouth, who had European success also in the week beating Guimaraes at Fratton Park 2-0. We have a good record at home to Pompey so it looks like being a good one with one or two goals going in. We also welcome back old boys James, and Distin, who should’ve been City’s player of the year a couple of years back instead of Dunney, which might have prompted him to stay. Portsmouth, are the F.A. Cup holders and they did, of course, ruin football with foreign investment allowing them to compete in the Prem on gates of around 20,000, and offer our players more money than we could. Oh you hadn’t noticed? Neither did the press! Both clubs are on 6 points and we’ll have to watch out for Defoe and Crouch.
Hopefully the day will start well with Chelsea beating the rags to set us on our way for a nice sunny day at Eastlands, never feeling more like singing the Blues, whilst we await official confirmation that the takeover has finally gone through. Enjoy.
Dave

Brighton bound

Just managed to get some time off to go to Brighton next week, my Birthday week. So went on the internet to find somewhere to stay. Chose a place which looked good and was offering a late booking reduction. Applied for a booking and was surprised to receive an e-mail saying that in fact the place was due to close for a short break next week, but they'd 'googled' us (oo-er!), realised we were City fans coming down for the match and offered to stay open to accommodate us - and a free upgrade! We've accepted their generous offer and feel that this sort of service deserves a mention. So, if you're thinking of staying down there for the match, why not try 'The Avalon' e-mail info@avalonbrighton.co.uk.
Sue

Job Half Done

Well done Blues in coming back to win last nights game, but as anyone who saw the highlights will testify, the job is only half done. City created the best chances and should have scored at least another two, but Omonia are far from dead and buried and created some good chances of their own. Every Cypriot in Manchester and its surrounding district will be at our place, supporting Omonia. City will need to score early and more importantly avoid giving away an early goal to make sure they keep the Cypriot support quiet otherwise it could become a difficult tie. What impressed me about Omonia was that they , like the Cypriot national side has come on a long way in the last few years. Whilst English football continues to go backwards or at best stand still, even small nations like Cyprus are beginning to look like they could beat us within ten years.

Support a Fellow City Fan

Hi,
I have recently started an online petition calling for the support of fellow City fans.
The support is for a Fellow City fan & his Charity & i was wondering if you could help us out by advertising on your King of the Kippax blog.

My main aim is to reach out to all City fans for support, i am currently doing my best by contacting all Supporters Clubs & City forums, Official & Unofficial for support though i am only 1 person with limited power/connections. Any help would be greatly appreciated so i leave you with a link to the petition, the petition will give you more information to better understand & if you have any more questions please do not hesitate to contact me at this same email address. http://www.petitiononline.com/ctid2008/petition.html

Thankyou for your time

Mr J L Halfpenny.
CTID

Kinky - or what?

Just been watching some of the featured videos on the video bar, featuring Kinkladze. What a genius, hard to imagine it has been 10 years since we last watched him mesmerise us (and the opposition). What a shame he arrived ten years too early. I showed some of the many clips of him on YouTube to my son, Charlie who was only six when Kinky was at his best. He couldn't believe that a player like that could have played for City. I know many of the clips of him are against 2nd division opposition, but many are also against Southampton, West Ham, Newcastle etc. Watching him again, I feel he was better than Ronaldo (the over hyped one) who tends to score his most spectacular goals against the poorer teams anyway.

this week

This week Well Saturday started well with the sun shining down on the silver machine of Eastlands. Popped up to do an interview with 5 Live along with Gary James and one or two other Blues plus Big Bill Leivers, the Beast of Bolsover. I had a nice chat with Bill and I’ve put him a copy of Century City, in which he features quite heavily, in the post to Bill’s address at St Austell in Cornwall.
Latest development is the banner/wrap arounds on the spirals with ‘Pride Of Battle’ and season ticket holders names. Great idea at last, but have they spelt yours correctly, and why have they missed off club employees who are also loyal fans?
I was also informed that Former Players have been booted out of the club lounge into the Social? What’s going on City? What happened tp tradition, and respect?
Amazingly the sun kept shining for the 5.30 pm kick off and beyond with the buzz of anticipation around COMS with sales of KK going very well, so this issue’s heading for a sell out.
“Does it contain anti-united stuff like their zines do about City”, one fan asked. So if you’ve got any anti-rag stuff be our guest.
We had our moment in the game with Robinho’s free kick but Chelsea were very good and deserved their win (spit) but early days for the new look Blues and plenty of good times ahead.
Entries for the KK Komp have flooded in so thanks for those, which we’ll feature in the next KK which is coming along nicely and looks like being another bumper edition with the anti-City media stuff firing up Burfield for starters.
We’ve got Omonia coming up on Thursday, Sky One I believe if you’re not jetting over there so a good lead is hoped for of 2 or 3 nil. Why not?
So there we go, Portsmouth on Sunday too, so all to look forward to, have a good one, especially you European travellers, no trawlers this time!
Dave

It's A Fix - Chelsea (Home)

It’s A Fix
After the euphoria of the Sunderland win, the triumphant return of SWP, the Arab takeover and the signings of Robinho, Zabaleta and Berti it’s back to league action.
Our South American boys have been flown back by private jet and here’s hoping that they, and the rest of our Internationals are fully fit, over their jet lag and raring to go.
As for Chelsea, we hope that their returning Internationals are all knackered! Some big names in their squad, but Essien’s missing and Drogba and Ballack could be struggling.
It’ll be a full house at Middle Eastlands, so wear the Arab headgear and wave the monopoly money at the Chelsea paupers!
We’ve not had much success against Chelsea in recent years in Manchester, but we’ve had good results against big teams early on in the season recently – Chelsea themselves in 04/05, Arsenal in 06/07 and the rags last year, all 1-0, so you never know. Whatever, it’ll be a great day with a great atmosphere. C’mon you (sky) blues, as the new era kicks in, and don’t forget to look out for the twentieth anniversary KK (162) .
Dave

new issue

We are pleased to announce that KK 162, our twentieth anniversary special, A4, £2.50 for 52 pages, is now out and in the post to subscribers, contributors etc., plus the outlets at Urbis and Needbest, corner of Cross Street and Market Street, and will be first sold at the Chelsea game on Saturday. Hopefully it won’t rain!
City fan Peter Rigg (monkeyman111uk@yahoo.co.uk) has regurgitated e-mails from last year for some reason (maybe we’ll print them in KK163) and refers to KK on the Blue Moon message boards as “The country’s worst football fanzine” (thanks to all who annihilated him!) and then it’s a “crappy fanzine” Funny man. Don’t let him put you off. It’s the longest serving Manchester fanzine. It’s the ONLY City zine that’s left, at the moment, and has always been the most prolific. It‘s probably sold more copies than any other (all good and done by genuine Blues) City zine. It’s had the most contributors, of all age ranges, colours, creeds, and sexes. It’s inspired other zines to start up. It’s been there when we were shite, and it’s all yours for just £2.50. Wow. So what do you get?
The front cover welcomes the Arab takeover, and we’ve got most of the regulars plus a couple of new contributors. All the recent games and asides are covered plus the previews of the future matches, as we progress in Europe. Summertime Blues includes summer events until the start of the season. Concerns are expressed at the state of the club prior to the takeover, and there’s the usual humour with cartoons and funnies plus a review of the last twenty seasons of KK.
Betcha can’t wait!?

The Day City Killed Football. Or Not.

So, Manchester City get a billionaire owner and now they’re ruining football. It’s true. It has to be. The media told me so. Oh, no… Hang on…

Let me start at the beginning. Round about transfer deadline day, a billionaire Arabian company bought into Manchester City and took control from Thaksin Shinawatra, there followed a day of furious blue-bidding, Robinho signed for the club and then everyone was explaining why it was, in fact, City that destroyed football.

Well, just hold your horses, will you? Calm down and take an objective look at the entire situation and soon you will see how that is such a ludicrous claim, it’s unreal. Manchester City have not destroyed football – football is still as strong as ever and, even if it were on its last legs because of money, to place the blame solely at City’s door is nothing short of ignorance.

Let’s start with Chelsea. A few seasons back, the lovely London club were bought by Roman Abramovic and they then set about buying as much talent from around the world as they could. Silly money was splashed in close seasons and suddenly a team that wasn’t regularly finishing in the top four was suddenly a league winner two seasons running.

Did they ruin football? Of course not; not if you ask their fans. Not if you asked much of the media, even. It was, apparently, refreshing to see that there were more than two horses that were going to finish the Premiership race. Yet, I don’t remember there being the sorts of criticism City are getting when Chelsea were buying players to win things, as well as buying players their competitors wanted.

Going back a bit further – Manchester United. I guarantee that their fans will refute this completely, but I don’t think it can be denied that they were immensely lucky to have the youth squad they did when Beckham, Scholes et al arrived ready for first team action. They won the league at just the right time, and are now reaping the rewards of earning millions and millions of pounds for it.

The second a club outside of the top four breaks the English transfer record, we’re told that it’s getting silly. Isn’t smashing that record in 1995 (£7m for Andy Cole), then again in 2001 (£28.1m for Juan Sebastian Veron) and 2002 (£29.1m for Rio Ferdinand) just as silly? Apparently not.

Incidentally, since that youth team that produced a lot of first team stars, I don’t recall United’s youth policy churning out youngsters that were capable of playing in their first team on a regular basis. Current City manager, Mark Hughes doesn’t appear to have any problems throwing in the youngsters if they’re ready for first team football and with the likes of Richards, Onuoha, Ireland, Johnson, Sturridge, Evans, Schmeichel, Wright-Phillips and Etuhu all being in and around the first team, the future’s certainly bright (and the third kit’s orange) for the youth policy.

Now, Arsenal fans. Don’t think you’re getting off lightly. Ok, so you haven’t spent a great deal of cash on players recently because of your new stadium, but let’s not forget that your youth policy is to buy the best from other teams and train them in the Arsenal style. Add to that the likes of £13m for Wiltord in 2002, and you’re not doing yourselves many favours.

How did Blackburn win the Premiership? It was their wonderful youth policy, wasn’t it? Or was it Jack Walker’s chequebook that did the damage? Yes, they also bought the Premiership trophy.

I’m starting to see something of a pattern here…

Add to all of this escalation in transfer fees the fact that all this has seen a sudden upsurge since the Premiership’s inception, then don’t we think Sky have to take some of the blame? Sky have pumped money into football. The new TV deal (admittedly not solely Sky but I can’t remember who the other parties were) ensures that any Premiership club who gets relegated should have enough money to buy themselves back in, like some poker player who’s not yet ready to give up.

A quick look over to Italy tells us that Milan have smashed the world record transfer fee more than any other club. Has anyone been bothered about that? It seems not. Now Milan are a club that must have made their money honestly? Or they could have been propped up Abramovic-style all along? I think you already know which is the correct answer.

If money really is the death of football, then football died many moons before Manchester City were taken over. It’s just convenient to blame them, since they’ve been starved of success recently. However, I think you’ll see that football will continue to thrive and be as strong as ever, especially if we can have five clubs fighting it out for four spots.

David Mooney

Book signings

Waterstones on Merseyway, Stockport announce a couple of book launches :
Mike Summerbee on Wednesday September 10th at 4 to 5.30pm, and Joe Corrigan on Friday October 17th from 4 to 5.30 pm
Copies can be reserved contact 0161 474 1455
Reviews gratefully accepted by KotK

KK Kompetition

KK COMPETITION - no doubt everyone wants to revise their predictions. No space in KK 162 for the Komp so we reprint it here, you've still got until September 15th to get your entries in, so get cracking and you've got a point already for question 21. We forgot to include which round of UEFA we'll reach so you can add that in as a tie breaker/ bonus point if you like!

Your Predictions for 2008/2009

1) Final League Position ……………………………………
2) No. of Points ………………………………………………
3) No. of League Wins………………………………………
4) No. of League Draws …...................................................
5) No. of League Losses …………………………………….
6) League Goals For ……………………………………………
7) League goals Against ……………………………………
8) Goal Difference ……………………………………………
9) C.C. Cup Round Reached …………………………………
10) FA Cup Round Reached …............................................
11) Top scorer (1 point) ………………………………………
12) His total scored in all competitions ……………………
13) Average league home attendance ………………………
14) Average league away attendance ……………………….
15) After how many games will we reach 40 points? ………
16) After how many games will we reach 50 points………
17) First City player to be sent off after Sept 15th …………
18) First rag player to go after Sept 15th …………………
19) Will M.H. still be manager? ………………………………
20) Will M.B. still be assistant manager? …………………….
21) Will TS still be Chairman? ………………………………..
22) City player with most appearances……………………..
23) FA Cup winners …………………………………………….
24) CC Cup winners. ……………………………………………
25) Premier Champions ………………………………………..
26) UEFA Champions ………………………………………….
27) Champions League winners …………………………….
28) Relegated teams from the Premiership (3 @ 1 point each) ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
29) Promoted from CC Champs (Div 1) (3 teams @ 1 point each) ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
30) Anything else?.......................................................................
..................................................................................................... ………………………………........................................................
……………………………………………………………………….
NAME……………………………………………………………………
ADDRESS:………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Complete this form, or copy, and return to us by SEPTEMBER 15th ……… prizes around £100 – again!

This week

This week :
What an amazing week or so in the history of Manchester City. Here at KK Towers it was back to business working on the next zine. First though we made it through to the first round of the UEFA Cup after a massive result in Denmark, and we’re now set for a decent run in this competition, long though it is. Sunderland wasn’t at all bad , and fantastic to see Shaunny back in the old sky blue and turning it on like he’d never been away. 5th place was our prediction on the way home. On Monday City’s football world went mad with the Arab takeover and bids for players. The whole of football will be happy for us and you can’t say that with what we’ve had to put up with over the past twenty five years we don’t deserve it. “Even City can’t cock this one up” a well known Blue said to me!
So it’s been a busy week fielding phone calls, turning down interviews, and getting our twentieth anniversary zine to the printers. It’s a bumper edition again and should be out early next week. Thanks to Tony, Chris and all, for keeping the blog going in our recent absence, but make no mistake, we’re back with a bang cos the future’s bright, the future’s orange/sky blue!
Cheers
Dave

Barry Conlon

From Rob Dunford : I have just seen the scorer listed for Bradford City in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy – Barry Conlon! Let no-one say we don’t deserve what’s just come our way!

Ronaldo - Buy one get one free

It has been noted that City are now in the market for the worlds best players. Names of the ilk of Messi, Kaka and the two Ronaldos have been linked with possible moves to Middle Eastlands.

Whilst the real Ronaldo is available on a free, albeit with a huge wage packet for sure, Portuguese winker Cristiano (who would also demand a massive pay rise), is reported to be valued at a staggering £135 million !!

Firstly, you have to ask the question.. "Is Ronaldo, or any player for that matter, worth paying £135 million for? Is he really THE worlds best player? or is he an overrated show pony?" I find it odd that just because he plays in a red shirt, same as Van Nostrilboy before him and Eric Cant n half before him, he all of a sudden becomes the worlds best. Don't they also lay claim to a world class centre half and a world class goalkeeper?

True - Ronaldo is an outstanding player. He has probably been their best player for some time now. This is, of course, when he cuts out the silly step overs, the cheating and the diving and concentrates on playing football. It is still open for debate whether he fits into the category of true world class. City could afford to pay 200 million for him if they so chose to do. But is he really worth it.

Secondly, and, for me this is more important than paying over the odds for somebody.....
Why would any City fan in their right mind want Cristiano Ronaldo to play for their team if it meant that we would have to pay a massive 135 million pounds to Manchester United?

City have hit the jackpot this week. Our owner is worth a staggering 50 times more than Roman Abramovich. My view is that we deserve a bit of luck. The club was on the verge of a meltdown according to the popular press and yet another disaster was about to hit the club, and the supporters who have stuck with City through "thin and thin". We have got lucky and it feels bloody good. Real Madrid have already benefitted from our good fortune to the tune of 32 million. Spurs almost got a similar slice of our luck too.

Why should the rags, who have had nothing but good fortune, be allowed to benefit from our windfall?

Comments appreciated

Manchester City Supporters World Famous Gentleman's Morning

City Takeover

This from the Sports news, a few minutes ago...... Sounds too good to be true

Manchester City agree takeover deal with Abu Dhabi group

Manchester City have agreed a takeover deal with the Abu Dhabi United Group for Development and Investment (Adug), the club has confirmed.
"Manchester City can confirm that a Memorandum of Understanding has been signed between the Abu Dhabi United Group (Adug) and Manchester City Football Club Limited," a club statement read. "A period of due diligence for all parties, including the FA Premier League, has now been entered."
Thaksin Shinawatra, who will remain at the club as honorary president without any administrative responsibilities, agreed the deal last night to sell the club to Adug, who will be represented on the new City board by Dr Sulaiman Al-Fahim. "We will release details later, but this is a great event for both the club and Abu Dhabi," said Al-Fahim, the chief executive of Hydra Properties. "Our goal is very simple: to make Manchester City the biggest club in the Premier League, and to begin with to finish in the top four this season."
According to Arabian Business, negotiations between City and Adug began three weeks ago and were completed last night at the Emirates Palace Hotel in Dubai. Al-Fahim said that Adug will clear any club debts and pending payments, and provide money to bring in some of the world's best players. He also hopes that in turn the deal will make Abu Dhabi more prominent in the world of sport and economics.
"We in Abu Dhabi United Company for Development and Investment are keen to develop ways to provide support and care for various sports activities to help build and develop a new generation of young State, which represents the real wealth and the future of this nation and the cornerstone for building the future of our civilisation," he said.
"As embodied in our mission to open new horizons in all kinds of sports, it will enable them to enjoy healthy body and mind, thanks to the lessons we have learned from the wise leadership in Abu Dhabi.
"We will adopt marketing plans that reflect positively on the club and the company from investments in all sectors of television marketing and purchasing of the stars players, as well as development of infrastructure facilities at the club."