[Archived] Manchester City v Rovers Preview 25/2/2012

[colin]

A bit early, but as we don't have a game this weekend.....

We don't seem to have had a Q & A with the opposition fans for a while. So here we go. I've asked Marc Riley http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00c72y1 City fan,

Radio 6 presenter and one-time member of "The Fall" to give us some chat. The all-round good egg that he is, he said he would. Off we go then. Eleven questions: it seems an appropriate number.

Marc,

(1) Can you give us some history about your support for City, how you became a City fan; all the usual stuff that all us football fans drag around like a breeze-block chained to their legs? Is it likely to involve your Dad?

My Dad is a City supporter but of the old fashioned variety. He would want United to do well but not better than MCFC. These days he's not quite so well rounded. The endless years of smug baiting has seen his opinion of United tempered a bit. He used to go and see City one week and United the next. Seems bizarre eh?

(2) Any tales from your time supporting City? One of my colleagues at work recounts a tale of someone ordering six pints from the bar at The Ethiad and then saying "sorry, can you make that seven" Once the bar-persons back is turned, then the six pints disappear into the crowd.

Any tales?? ! That'd probably be called a BOOK! After all these years of ups and downs there's an almost endless amount of 'em. I once threatened to throw a bloke off the top tier of the Kippax if he didn't stop racially abusing players. A few months later I found out he was a highly respected figure in industry! There was the time I 'played' at Maine Rd in a 'celeb' game before Paul Lake's testimonial. I was 'marking' Les Battersby from Corry. We struck a deal - I'd let him do a decent run down the wing and he'd reciprocate. If only all games could be played in such a civilised manner eh?

(3) There have been some transfers between Rovers and City. I can think of Paul Dickov and Gary Flitcroft (who, BTW, is currently manger of Chorley.) You borrowed the magnificent Colin Hendry from us for a couple of seasons and Mark Hughes took Roque Santa Cruz. Can you think of any more?

Santa Cruz….Santa Cruz… WHATS GOING ON BETWEEN MARK HUGHES AND SANTA CRUZ!??? CAN SOMEONE PLEASE TELL ME!?? Coz I'm personally mystified.I have to say - and no offence meant - but he was the biggest waste of space at our place… he showed no qualifies AT ALL. Even his headers didn't materialise….then I believe Hughes wanted to take him to Fulham!!! I bet he looks good on the Club Xmas Calendar but that aside….

(4) City fans must be as happy as a dog with two dicks at the moment. We envy you. You've basically got a sovereign nation backing you (Abu Dhabi). We've got an idiot manager; a set of owners who know less about football than I know about water-proof makeup for synchronised swimming; & less than competant directors. As a fan of another club do you have any view on our plight? (You may wish to answer in the light that you once had Peter Swales as the owner, & Alan Ball as your manager.) Basically we're sh1t from top to bottom. Any observations on our plight from a non-Rovers fan?

If I had any sense I'd keep out of this one mate… ha! I certainly don't want you lot to go down. I enjoy coming to Ewood and I'm not going to make a joke about "3 easy points" coz they aren't....as we know. Man City were of course the archetypal yoyo club. These days tensions arise from the possibility of winning something but not so long ago our most exciting matches were the ones relegation hinged on, and we lost far too many of em!It sounds glib to say it - but some of my best away trips have taken place whilst we were in the (old) 2nd and 3rd division.No comfort to you guys down the rough end of the premiership but…... what can I say? Someone has to go down and life goes on.

I see Mick McCarthy has just been binned. A good manager - a good man….(crap tv pundit). No doubt they hire some other bloke who not so long ago was fired for exactly the same reason. Idiotic. Steve Bruce the current favourite.

(5) What are the best games you've seen as a City fan? I don't want to tell you what to say but that win against Spurs from 3-0 down with 10 men; the 1999 play-off against Gillingham; and the recent 1-6 against the "Dark Side" must be up there.

The first real derby drubbing I saw was the 1989 5-1 game. When we were 1-5 up and at OT earlier this season I was shouting at the TV "WE WANT 6"… that wasn't me being greedy....I just wanted to better what was a long-standing personal derby record. So the 5-1 was a long-standing favourite but yeah - the Gillingham play-off was the most exciting and exhausting game I've ever been to.

(6) I was talking to a United fan the other night and she reckoned Mario Balotelli has to be "nothing less than interesting:" All football fans have got to beinterested in him. What's your opinion?

Mario is an interesting character and no mistake. Tho I'm not sure ALL the legion of stories about him are true. Giving money away..…paying for petrol for everybody......bringing an end to school bullying.... buying EVERYONE in a Wythenshawe pub a pint. Bringing about an end to world poverty…blah blah blah. I'm more interested in Mario not getting sent off and scoring lots of great goals for us. He needs to not let the likes of Skrtel, Adam and 'little Scottie Parker" (aww bless) get the better of his temper.

(7)Likewise Carlos Tevez: he seems to be a bit of a rum cove.

AND HE LOOKS LIKE COMING BACK!! !!! Very poor behaviour. It'll be interesting to see what kind of a reception he gets if he puts a City shirt on again.

(note by Colin: Marc wrote this on Monday 13th February, just before Tevez described his treatment by Mancini at Munich as being "worse than a dog")

(8) On 1st October 2011 your lot came to Ewood and beat us 0-4. Most of us on here think that we'll be lucky to remain "goals against" under double figures (mind you, we thought that for the game at The Theatre Of Merchandising and, by some miracle, we won that one.) What do you think the outcome will be?

Sunderland and West Brom did us...its not inconceivable that you could do us too. Keep the faith!

(9) Who is your favourite player at City. Apologies if this seems like a bit of a "What's your favourite colour" type of question.

Is David Silva is possibly the best player City have ever had? I know its impossible to compare the likes of Silva to Colin Bell…..so I won't try. Vinny Kompany is my favourite player probably. He's a great player, a great Captain, he's loyal. He's a hugely important figure at the club…as his recent 4 game ban after a non-foul proved.

(10)We here at www.brfcs.com are extremely cultured. Inbetween bouts of hollering "Kean out", & "kindly go away Venkys" we have a film & book thread. What are your favourite book(s) & film(s)?

Favourite books? "The Dice Man" by Luke Rhineheart is a great book. Dunno why its never been made into a film. "The Wasp Factory" by Iain Banks - again no film! Favourite film? That's tough. I was talking to Joe Mount (leader of my favourite band Metronomy) a couple of nights ago about films. "Night Of The Hunter"starring Robert Mitchum is brilliant. About a twisted preacher chasing 2 kids across the American swamplands. Fantastic. Mitchum's Cape Fear is ace…...tho the DeNiro remake is laughable.

(11) Anything you want to have a ramble about? Football in general? Anything really?

I could go off on one about weak referees, but whats the point. I am thinking about starting a campaign to make it compulsory for Referees to publicly state their allegiances. I have it on good authority that a referee who shall remain nameless is a Manchester United supporter. In a recent game featuring MUFC he was the match ref...and his bias was shocking. I could have kicked the TV in. But then I'd only have to go out and buy another one.

cheers Colin!

Marc

And thank you Marc.

You can hear Marc's BBC 6 Music show at 19:00 on Monday to Thursday. Do it if for no other reason that he usually starts off with a couple of absolute storming tunes.

[bob fleming]

Brilliant work Colin! How do you know him then? Great interview.

Cheers

[ultrablue]

I used to love this guy when he was on radio 1 - Fat Harry White was comic gold (for a 16 year old)

[Mattyblue]

Mushnt grumble about this preview.

[ABBEY]

At least 6-0 poss as many as 15

[SharrockDownSouth]

Top preview!

I foresee an absolute spanking, possession-wise, but I reckon City will get nervous and nearly bottle it... still 2-1 to the irritating city louts though..

[LeChuck]

Cheers Colin, that was great. I'm a big fan of Marc's radio show, plus he can often be seen at gigs around Manchester's smaller venues. All round top guy it seems, if you ignore the City thing.

That might be the only enjoyment I get from us playing City...

[DazRover]

Great preview

[joey_big_nose]

I guess we will just sit deep adn try to soak up the pressure, and then look to hit them with Hoilett's pace or a set piece.

Similar sort of game to Arsenal. If they score early it could be a thrashing. Key is making it to half time without conceding.

[DaFrame2r]

I don't want us to lose but I am also realistic I expect a thrashing.

[sharpysharps]

9-0 to City, and then Kean will talk of the positives of how Rovers got into City's half on a number of occasions.

[K-Hod]

I guess we will just sit deep adn try to soak up the pressure, and then look to hit them with Hoilett's pace or a set piece.

Similar sort of game to Arsenal. If they score early it could be a thrashing. Key is making it to half time without conceding.

We managed to do that at home though, and we still lost 0-4...

[DaFrame2r]

I still can't believe a 18 year old kid scored 2 goals against us

[broadsword]

I used to love this guy when he was on radio 1 - Fat Harry White was comic gold (for a 16 year old)

Her beef pie was lovely, her game pie was immense, but her hare pie really took some licking.

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

It's going to be a not so good day again for our goal difference folks!

[Amo]

4-1 City

[Stuart]

3-3

Yak, Yak and Peds free kick.

Elvis to make the half time draw in a City shirt.

[cravenblue]

Big weekend, notlob away to chelsea wloves away to barcodes, if we can keep goals conceded down we may stay out of bottom 3

[Beta Ray Bill]

0-0 with Rovers breaking both of their sequences this season. Or so my wishful thinking father speculates.

[LeChuck]

Big weekend, notlob away to chelsea wloves away to barcodes, if we can keep goals conceded down we may stay out of bottom 3

That makes it the opposite of a big weekend really, all 3 teams are likely to lose. It's when teams in the mix are playing each other that you get those defining weekends.

[Audax]

With the right manager, I think Wolves might be able to pull something at Newcastle but Wolves need to make their decision soon, not a few days before the match and if they selected Bruce, not sure if they'd get the new-manager bounce with a Geordie in Newcastle.

I don't see the Citizens losing this one to Rovers though I think the Rovers will be mildly competitive, 3-1.

[Waggy76]

With the right manager, I think Wolves might be able to pull something at Newcastle but Wolves need to make their decision soon, not a few days before the match and if they selected Bruce, not sure if they'd get the new-manager bounce with a Geordie in Newcastle.

I don't see the Citizens losing this one to Rovers though I think the Rovers will be mildly competitive, 3-1.

We have only been mildly competitive all season ...As for the score it could be 10 ..Without Givet ,Samba and Keans teams lack of ability to defend (we have conceded more than anyone else)it could easily be double figures at City....

[D-side17]

I still can't believe a 18 year old kid scored 2 goals against us

What a bizarre complaint. Pele scored two goals in a World Cup final aged 17 - do you think Sweden are still kicking themselves about the fact they let some young kid score a brace against them?

I was more concerned that we conceded seven goals, irrespective of the ages of their goalscorers.

[FFP83]

Call me MENTAL but for some reason I keep seeing this as a nil nil. (Probably cos we havent kicked off yet)

I just think with all the publicity we have had recently about us never keeping clean sheets and going against free scoring City away we are MEANT to get battered.

BUT we all expected a hammering at OT and pulled off a shock result.We certainly seem to perform better as the underdogs.

I think if Kean plays his 10 men behind the ball tactic AND we have the game of our lives defensively AND City are below par AND we have a bit of luck (Like City have penalty appeals turned down and they hit the woodwork etc) AND City get tired/injuries from the Porto match

we might get that nil nil.

If City are on song however, 4, 5, 6 - 0 basically as many as they feel like scoring.

[The_Expert]

Can't see us ending our miserable record breaking run at the Council House..

If I was Mancini, I'd be starting with the battering ram (Dzeko) and treat it like a training game, scoring for fun.

The manner of our defeat will, I fear, set the tone for the remainder of the season - a full on battering will cause many to lose hope and complete despondency amongst the (deluded but) faithful.

Best case - 3-1

Worst case - 8-0

Most likely case 4-2

Having said that, the coconut does seem to have a very different approach to his predecessor, who would openly write off games like this. So, if we go to the shed with the attitude that we can compete and overcome, then who knows what might happen..

COYB