FIFA To Toughen Agent Guidelines

Shortly after declaring that FIFA needed to deal with four evils being doping, cheating, corruption and racism, Sepp Blatter was re-elected as president for a further four years.

Also, at FIFA's annual congress it was announced that player's agents would have to adhere to tougher guidelines. FIFA's Jeu Sprengers told delegates that FIFA wanted to define the role of agents more clearly, restrict the activities of unlicensed agents and limit all agents fees for any deals to three per cent.

FIFA currently issues licenses to agents which last indefinitely, but Sprengers said that in future licenses would only be issued for a limited period, with agents having to re-apply after a number of years which have not yet been finalised. "We will also do more to protect under-age players and the role that agents play in their transfers," Sprengers said.

Sepp Blatter added "It is not good when agents take so much money out of football, or are able to take money from both clubs when negotiating a deal. A players's agent should be paid by the player -- but taking over 10 per cent from a deal is immoral in my opinion."

Uwe Rosler Cult Hero - Your Views Are Required

We were recently contacted by Robin a post-graduate student at the University of Brighton. He's doing his dissertation on German players in English professional football. He's looking for views on Uwe Rosler and his e-mail explains it all:-

"Dear ManCity fans

I am a postgraduate student at the University of Brighton and my MA-dissertation is concerned with fan views on German players in English professional football. At the centre of my research are five players including ManCity's Uwe Rösler (1994-1998) and, of course, Bert Trautmann.

It is vital for my thesis to know especially fom the fan's perspective how and why Rösler became a cult figure in Manchester. I found some stuff about Trautmann, but I could not figure out why, when and how Rösler became a City hero.

As you maybe remember, he came to the club in March 1994 on loan from Dynamo Dresden. At the beginning of the next season he got a proper contract and was already very popular. Fans created an own song for him which ended at the end of the year in the creation of a special t-shirt saying "Uwe's granddad bombed Old Trafford".

I really need to find out how his relationship with ManCity fans started, whether you loved him straight away (maybe because of your positive experience with Trautmann) or because of any special thing that happened. Would be great if you could help in any way (fan contacts, your own experience).

If you know people who might be able to tell me their view, please ask them to write to germanfootballer@googlemail.com. Anyone who answers should, if possible, tell his name, his age, for how long he has been a City supporter and how he follows the team (TV, internet, newspaper, stadium) so that I get an idea of his involvement with the club. I am really desperate and I would appreciate it very much if you could assist me with this problem.

Thank you in advance and best regards

Robin"

A Look At City's Shareholders

Last week we touched on the amount of shares (in percentage terms) a potential bidder for Manchester City Plc would require to gain control of the company all the way to gaining total ownership. The full article can be read here

Since then many readers have asked us about the shareholdings in Manchester City Plc. We looked at this all the way back in December.

The first four shareholders are well known to most Manchester City supporters and they own (together) 65.71% of the shares. Those four are John Wardle & David Makin who own 29.95%, the Trustees of the S E Boler Settlement (a trust set up by Stephen Boler) who own 18.75%, BSkyB which owns 9.88% and Francis Lee who owns 7.13%.

The next ten shareholders (held in individual and nominee names) own 13.38%. In that list includes the late Peter Swales' wife Brenda together with ex-directors David Holt, John Dunkerley and David Bernstein.

The remaining shareholders number over 5,000 (we are lead to believe that this figure may be over 6,000 now) and they hold the remaining 20.9% of the issued shares.

In summary, only 48.7% of the shareholders are represented on the board of Manchester City Plc with the majority of shareholders not represented.

When we looked at the shareholdings six months ago, we did not include Alistair Mackintosh, Dennis Tueart or Bryan Bodek’s shareholdings as being represented on the board and their total shareholding of 55,358 shares represents only 0.1% of the issued shares.

During our research we did come across some interesting information taken from the accounts. As at 31 May 1998 Dennis Tueart owned 9,800 shares and as at 31 May 2006 he owned 36,258 shares. As at 31 May 2000 Alistair Mackintosh owned 9,100 shares and as at 31 May 2006 he still owned 9,100 shares. As at 31 May 2002 Bryan Bodek owned 10,000 shares and as at 31 May 2006 he still owned 10,000 shares.

As mentioned in our article last week, any potential bidder will need to purchase 75% of the issued shares to be able to de-list the company from Plus Markets, change the memorandum and articles of association and add debt onto the Company a la "Glazer". Loading additional debt onto the Company may also require approval from the secured creditors (the loans secured against future ticket income).

If a potential bidder was able to acquire the four biggest shareholders' stakes they will still require just over an additional 9% from the remaining shareholders (the majority of which we can only presume are City supporters) to reach the 75% mark.

City Share Price Movements (Week Ending 25.5.07)

This is the weekly article charting Manchester City Plc's share price movements during the last week. The price doesn't usually move very much and not many shares are usually traded, so you can pick up here at the end of each week our summary of the week gone by.

Last week saw no share activity and consequently no change in share price. Media speculation about the takeover seems to be easing off.

Thaksin Shinawatra's Thailand based lawyer claimed several times that a formal bid had been made for Manchester City Plc however, this turned out to be untrue. Plus Markets (the stock exchange) will be informed of all formal takeover bids which they will then confirm via Plus Markets. At the time of writing, no such announcement has been made and until such time bid speculation is just that, speculation.

Thaksin Shinawatra's Thailand based lawyer's continued comments to the media could be a breach of the Takeover Code (the rules that apply to takeovers). Whether the Takeover Panel are looking at his announcements remains to be seen.

Last week:-
Finishing price (mid): 45p
Bid price: 40p
Offer price: 50p

Share price movement for the week:-
Nil

Volume:-
21/5 0
22/5 0
23/5 0
24/5 0
25/5 0

Total volume for the week: 0

All information taken from Plus Markets Group

City Takeover Could Take Months Not Days

There are various rules to observe in a takeover of a quoted company and these set out various steps to be followed and the possible timelines associated with each step.

The first stage will be the formal offer to the board of the offeree company (the one being taken over) by the offeror (the one doing the takeover). This will be publicised via an announcement to the relevant stock exchange.

The next stage involves the production and sending out of the formal offer document to all shareholders. This is a comprehensive document covering all aspects of the offer for the target company. The requirement is that this must be sent out within 28 days of the formal offer.

The offer document will set out various things but these will usually include two key things;

1) The length of time that the shareholders have to respond. This has to be a minimum of 21 days.

2) The criteria for the bid to succeed. Generally this will be conditional on acceptance by either 50.1% or 75% of shareholders. If this level isn’t met then the offeror can walk away from the deal.

So after the minimum 21 days, the offeror will know what proportion of the shareholding they have received acceptances for. If they haven’t reached their target then they can extend the offer period by making an improved offer. They are allowed to extend the original offer period up to 60 (or possibly 70) days but can extend it further with Takeover Panel approval.

At the end of the period, they will count up the acceptances and, if they’ve reached their target, will declare the offer “unconditional”. Any remaining undecided shareholders will then have 14 days to accept or reject the offer. If they haven’t reached the required threshold then the deal is off.

So it’s entirely possible that the whole proceedings could take two months or even longer, from offer to finalisation. If all timescales run to the maximum allowable then it could be close to four months.

However, someone else could also bid and, in this case, the timeline is set back to day 1. So the rival bidder then has to make an announcement and the same considerations apply. So the whole thing could actually drag on for quite some time.

If the deal is for the 29.95% held by John Wardle & David Makin, then this can be done quickly as it is a simple sale of shares and doesn’t trigger a mandatory offer, although there is nothing to stop a bidder from making a wider offer, as described above. However only buying this shareholding will not make anyone owner of the club, merely the largest shareholder.

So the idea that a deal to buy the club could be done quickly is unfortunately somewhat wide of the mark.

City Pull Plug On Inside MCFC

It was very disappointing to find out this week that Manchester City Football Club had decided not to continue with Channel M’s Inside MCFC TV programme. We understand that whilst Channel M were very keen to continue the weekly show and covering all costs associated with its production, our Club decided to pull the plug after one season.

Inside MCFC provided a great mix of interviews with the manager, coaches, players and former players, previews and reviews of first team matches, highlights of reserve matches and much much more. For those supporters that didn’t see the programmes first time around there was and still is the ability to download episodes to watch again via their website http://www.channelm.co.uk/programmes/index/0/27/inside_mcfc.html

Our Club is not awash with cash for expensive ventures and it is a real shame that Inside MCFC has finished. The programme played its part in providing our Club with increased TV exposure and accessibility to its supporters wherever they are based in the world. Next time you want to watch a reserve match again or catch an interview with a former player on the TV, you might think back to when we had Inside MCFC.

David Johnson, General Manager of Channel M spoke to the Manchester City Supporters Trust "'Inside MCFC was a flagship show for Channel M and understandably the production team are disappointed not to be involved with a second series. However, Channel M and City are parting very amicably so we will still be featuring all the main Man City stories on the live news and breakfast shows. Manchester City will also have a large slice of airtime in our new football documentary programme - The History of Football in Manchester, available towards the end of June on Channel M and www.channelm.co.uk".

Takeover News & Bid Information

Last Saturday, 19 May 2007, Thakin Shinawatra's lawyer Noppadon Pattama said "What I can say now is we have tendered a bid for the team. We had to be silent because we had to follow the stock regulations as we are trying to buy a listed company" he added "The deal is not formally or legally concluded yet". Pattama also gave quotes to other Far East media saying "Thaksin has officially submitted his bid to buy the football club. There is no any official conclusion yet at this moment, but everything is proceeding well, by the end of this month, everything will be clear."

A matter of hours after Pattama's comments, the English media reported that Manchester City officials had confirmed that they remained in talks with several parties with reference to a potential takeover bid and suggested that City were unaware of a formal bid being made.

Two days later, on 21 May 2007, Noppadon Pattama confirmed that a formal bid had not been made but did say "The formal bid will be made in the next few days and we hope to get a decision by the end of the month". As of today, 24 May 2007, there have been no announcements by the Plus Markets (stock exchange) that a formal bid has been made for Manchester City Plc. Perhaps we can take what Noppadon Pattama says with a pinch of salt?

Since Noppadon Pattama's claims to the media, Wolverhampton Wanderers have been taken over by multi-millionaire Steve Morgan and reclusive billionaire Mike Ashley has acquired 41.6% of Newcastle United, launching a bid in the process.

The takeover bid for Newcastle United serves as a reminder to us all that if or when a formal bid is made for Manchester City Plc certain amounts of shares are required to achieve various milestones, for example:-

1) If an investor acquires 30% or more of a company then they must make a formal bid for the rest of the shares at the price they paid for them
2) If an investor acquires 50.1% then they will effectively have control of the company
3) If an investor acquires 75% they will be able to de-list the company from whichever stock exchange it is registered on
4) If an investor acquires 90% they will be able to forcibly acquire the remaining shares, thereby gain full ownership of the company

There is something else to consider and that is for the majority of companies when you acquire 75% of the shares you will not require the approval of shareholders to undertake transactions. In practice that would mean that, like the Glazers' takeover of the Club down the road, when 75% of the shares are owned debt could be transferred to the company. Also, with 75% of the shares owned changes could be made to the memorandum and articles of association.

Going back to Newcastle United, it is clear that Mike Ashley's bid has taken Freddy Shepherd by surprise. Freddy Shepherd owns 29.8% so without acquiring these shares Mike Ashley will not get to the 75% milestone. It will be interesting to see how the takeover bid for Newcastle United pans out.

Falling Attendances – A Post-Season Update

In February, we wrote an article in response to a comment by Alistair Mackintosh in a Guardian article. He said that falling attendances was clearly a challenge for the whole of football and that fans have been turned off by inconvenient kick-off times, poor-quality football and the fact that matches can be watched live, for free, in pubs.

The article went on to say “They (the club) accept, though, that outside the top few and the excited newly promoted sides, the remaining Premier League clubs are struggling to maintain crowds paying high prices for the commercialised football experience”.

Having examined the figures, it was clear that some teams outside the top four had actually increased their attendances although, barring Arsenal & Manchester United (who had both increased their ground capacity) there was a small decrease overall. Four teams had suffered significant decreases though and we were the worst affected, with an average attendance down nearly 4,000.

Now we’ve reached the end of the season, we’ve looked at the final figures. These exclude the promoted teams (as there is no proper comparison) and Manchester United and Arsenal, in order to aid like-for-like analysis. The figures are taken from ESPN Soccernet again.

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/stats/attendance?league=eng.1&year=2006&cc=5739

Surprisingly, out of the 15 teams analysed, Aston Villa, Fulham, West Ham, Blackburn & Portsmouth all showed an increase in their average attendance compared to 2005/06. Charlton stayed level while Spurs, Chelsea & Everton showed a fall of less than 500. Liverpool lost 675 and Boro 734. As in the last article, four teams showed significant falls. These were Newcastle, Bolton, Wigan and Manchester City. However, Newcastle was a small percentage compared to their overall attendance level so it’s really only the last three teams that showed significant percentage falls.

Once again, we had the biggest numerical fall although home games against Liverpool, Chelsea and the Salford Buccaneers helped to offset the figure of nearly 4,000 in February down to 2,859. Wigan showed a numerical fall of 2,452, which translated to 11.9% in percentage terms and Bolton’s fall was 1,849 (7.3%). All three clubs took some sort of action for next season. Bolton and Wigan reduced ticket prices across the board and of course Manchester City introduced the £95 Junior season card. By all accounts this has sold phenomenally well, as you would hope, but how many of these were new sales as opposed to renewals at the lower price?

If we look at the number of empty seats then Blackburn top the list, with over 10,000 empty seats per game on average; a truly shocking figure. As a consequence, Rovers made swingeing cuts in the price of season tickets. Boro were next, with 7,320 empty seats per game on average and we were just behind with 7,200. Bolton and Aston Villa both had over 6,000 empty seats per game.

As at the April deadline, it is believed that season ticket sales were down by about 25% at around 20,000. But we don’t know how accurate that figure is as the club hasn’t actually told us.

Since the move we had been able to boast the third highest average attendances in the Premiership but this season finds us in sixth place overall. Arsenal have moved to the Emirates so that was an unavoidable occurrence but we now find ourselves behind Liverpool & Chelsea. Next season, if the trend continues, we may fall even further, with Everton, Villa and Spurs overtaking us, as well as possibly newly-promoted Sunderland. Of course, since the end of the season, Stuart Pearce has left and we may be taken over so what impact that may have remains to be seen. We would all obviously love to watch City in a full and noisy stadium.

City Share Price Movements (Week Ending 18.5.07)

This is the weekly article charting Manchester City Plc's share price movements during the last week. The price doesn't usually move very much and not many shares are usually traded, so you can pick up here at the end of each week our summary of the week gone by.

The week just gone, saw Stuart Pearce and other backroom staff fired plus plenty of speculation with reference to a potential bid being made. Thaksin Shinawatra's Thailand based lawyer claimed that a formal bid had been made for Manchester City Plc however, some hours later it would appear that Manchester City Plc denied this claiming that they were still in talks with several parties. When Plus Markets opens for tomorrow we will know if a bid has been lodged or not and Manchester City Plc may be forced to make an announcement themselves following Thaksin's lawyer's claims. This week could be a busy one, on many fronts.

Last week:-
Finishing price (mid): 45p
Bid price: 40p
Offer price: 50p

Share price movement for the week:-
+3p

Volume:-
14/5 0
15/5 1,000
16/5 384
17/5 0
18/5 2,909

Total volume for the week: 4,293

All information taken from Plus Markets Group

Shinawatra Makes Bid - Reports From The Far East

About half an hour ago, Reuters in Bangkok reported that Thaksin Shinawatra had made a formal bid for Manchester City Plc. Thaksin's lawyer commented "What I can say now is we have tendered a bid for the team.". Reuters also reported that the takeover plan involved putting four Thai businessmen on the board of our Club and using our Club's reserve team for Thai national players.

Questions over who the four Thai businessmen are, how plans for using Thai players may affect our pipeline of young talent and what Thaksin Shinawatra's plans are for our Club cannot be answered until full details of the bid are known.

Shinawatra is facing corruption charges in Thailand and reports today suggest that his assets are in danger of being frozen. How this may affect a bid for our Club or his future plans remains to be seen.

Shinwatra has in the past attempted to purchase or invest in Liverpool and Fulham. After Liverpool turned his offer down he was reported to have entered into discussions with Everton.

It is vitally important that the shareholders and supporters of Manchester City hear from Shinawatra why he wants to buy our Club, what his plans are and how the current action being taken against him may have an impact on his plans for our Club both now and in the future.

Takeover Due Diligence Being Undertaken

We keep hearing and reading that the parties interested in lodging a formal bid for Manchester City Plc are undertaking due diligence and many supporters have contacted us asking us what it actually is. Due diligence can mean different things to different companies; however, for the purpose of this article we will be looking at due diligence in terms of acquiring a business. This article by no means attempts to be comprehensive, it is simply meant to give an overview.

Before making an offer for any business, a process of evaluation should be undertaken on the business being considered for purchase. This evaluation process is called due diligence and once completed should give the prospective buyer sufficient information to enable them to make an offer for the business or decide not to proceed.

Reports indicate that Thaksin Shinawatra’s advisors are undertaking due diligence on Manchester City Plc but it is unclear whether Ray Ranson has been given permission to do this; although he may have been provided with basic information. The “mystery Americans” do not appear to have undertaken any due diligence but could also have been provided with basic information.

Some of the areas due diligence might cover are-

1) A review of the industry (football) and the company’s place in it – is the market growing or shrinking? In respect of the target company, what are its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats? What is the company’s general standing and reputation? What is the nature and extent of competition

2) Ownership – capital structure and voting rights; disposition of shares.

3) Directors – names, ages, length of service.

4) Management and employees – quality of management; ages qualifications and contractual terms of key managers and employees; staff turnover etc.

5) Financial performance (over the last few years) – turnover and profit trends; liquidity / cash flow trends; capital expenditure (player purchases); accounting policies and any audit recommendations; level’s of debt. The latest management accounts and budgets , forecasts and business plans are likely to be reviewed and an audit of the accounting records may also be undertaken.

6) Revenue – a review of the main income streams and distribution channels and any associated contracts, future projections, overseas expansion, research and development.

7) Assets – a comprehensive review of all assets (possibly including independent valuations of property), depreciation costs.

8) Liabilities – all loans, credit agreements, leases and their terms, expenditure commitments.

9) Treasury – review of all cash assets, banking relationships, credit lines.

10) Culture – review of the company’s style of management, business practices, decision-making processes, command structure etc

11) Risk management – review strategies to mitigate risk, insurance policies, contingent liabilities (litigation threats).

The process of buying a company often involves numerous professional advisers, such as: merchant bankers, clearing banks, stockbrokers, accountants, surveyors, insurance brokers, lawyers and tax consultants

This article is far from comprehensive but is meant to give you a brief flavour of the areas that would be reviewed which might go some way to explain how the due diligence process could take some time to complete. Of course there is no guarantee that at the end of it the bidder will make an offer for the company but they should have a very good idea about the company, its financial standing and future prospects.

Official Supporters Club New & Improved Website

The MCFC Official Supporters Club was formed in 1949 and has over 70 Branches with a total membership of just under 6,000 based in the UK and Overseas.

We've had a link to their website on the blog for some time and recently noticed that it was in the process of being updated. The new and improved website is up and running, if you haven't visited recently or want to find out more, a link is here and a permanent link is on the right hand side of the blog.

Supporters' Trust Has Future Whatever Happens

A number of supporters have asked us if the Manchester City Supporters' Trust will continue in the event of a takeover. Our answer is that chairmen, directors, managers and players come and go but the supporters will always be there. Therefore, the Manchester City Supporters’ Trust will continue no matter what may or may not happen.

Five of our fellow clubs in the Deloitte “Rich List” are supporter owned and another five have supporters’ trusts. So nothing has changed and we are still working towards establishing a successful supporters’ trust at Manchester City.

Keep watching this space for further news.

City's Big Success Story

Following Manchester City is a rollercoaster ride full of ups, downs, twists and turns. Coaching team departures, new manager speculation, player departures, players coming in, a player arrest, agent talk, transfer kitty promises, takeover speculation, corruption charges and much "smoke and mirrors" (which we have now come to expect with City) have littered the last few weeks or so. No wonder a media frenzy surrounds City and it will probably continue like that for some time.

Away from the current media circus there is something to be very proud of, something that has underpinned a large part of City for some time now, something that is the envy of many, something that is a big success story; that something is the Manchester City Football Club Academy.

In previous articles we commented that "Our Club’s academy is one of the success stories producing more quality players than most academies in the land and that is a credit to our Club, Jim Cassell and his team." Where our Club would be without the academy no one knows but we could all have a good guess.

It is no secret that when our Club slipped into football's third tier Jim Cassell presented a fifty one page dosier outlining the faults of City's existing set-up and proposed a way forward with a new academy. David Bernstein backed Cassell's vision to the tune of £500,000 and almost nine years on, many feel that it was our Club's best investment.

It's always great to see positive stories about our Club none so then over the last few days. The Times started the week with a good story on Daniel Sturridge and today BBC Online ran a story on the academy whilst interviewing Ismael Miller in the process.

And finally, our Club confirmed that six youngsters had stepped off the Academy production line and signed professional contracts.

Le Coq Sportif Confirmed As New Kit Supplier

As had been reported for quite some time in the media, on the messageboards and by sportswear chains, our Club today announced that Le Coq Sportif would be the new official kit supplier, after entering into a four year agreement worth a reported £10m.

The new agreement appears to be a good deal at double the value of the current agreement with the outgoing Reebok.

In addition, it was also confirmed that, as part of the agreement fashion brands Sergio Tacchini and Ecko would be supplied to the Club's players and available to supporters. It was also confirmed that Reebok City would be renamed Citystore.

In a good move for supporters, it was announced that the new kit would be competitively priced, so much so that it would be the best priced in the Premiership with adult shirts on sale for £30 and junior shirts on sale for £19.

What do you think?

Schalke - Supporter Owned Club Close To German Title

Prior to the Manchester City Supporters Trust being formed we published an article about some of the top clubs in the world either being supporter owned or having an active supporters' trust. At that time ten of the world's top twenty clubs fell into that category including Barcelona, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Arsenal. You can read again the full article here

The popular German football Club Schalke are currently the 14th largest club in the world and is also supporter owned. They are tantalisingly close to winning the Bundesliga for the first time in 49 years however, their loss this weekend could be the proverbial "spanner in the works". Anna Kessel from the Guardian wrote an excellent article on them and how they run their club, please take the time to read it here

Charity Race Night For Injured Supporter

Manchester City fan, Chris Faulkner, suffered a fractured skull on Derby Day and his life was saved by a police officer. Chris lost much blood and underwent brain surgery during which he had part of his skull removed. He has to have another operation to have a steel plate fitted and will be off work for a long time.

Chris and his family have understandably gone through a torrid time and the injury will have lasting effects for Chris who will no longer be able to play sport or fly. Chris is a huge character at his local Prestwich & Whitefield Supporters Branch and Prestwich & Whitefield's very own Don Price is organising a race night for Chris' benefit this Saturday 19 May.

It is hoped that Chris will be attending this event. All City supporters and their families are welcome at the event, the full details of which are below:-

Date: Saturday 19 May 2007

Venue: Our Ladies Of Grace Social Club
Fairfax Road
Prestwich
Manchester

Time Of First Race: 6:30pm

For further details on this very worthy event please contact Don on cathdon.price@virgin.net If you are unable to attend but want to make a donation please e-mail Don for details.

We hope this event is a great success and wish Chris and his family well for the future.

City Share Price Movements (Week Ending 11.5.07)

This is the weekly article charting Manchester City Plc's share price movements during the last week. The price doesn't usually move very much and not many shares are usually traded, so you can pick up here at the end of each week our summary of the week gone by.

In the absence of any real news concerning potential bids there was no real interest/ activity in the shares last week.

Last week:-
Finishing price (mid): 42p
Bid price: 37p
Offer price: 47p

Share price movement for the week:-
Nil

Volume:-
07/5 Market closed
08/5 0
09/5 221
10/5 484
11/5 416

Total volume for the week: 1,121

All information taken from Plus Markets Group

Links Being Updated

We continually review and update our links to City websites/ forums/ blogs etc. We also have links to sites with reference to wider football issues. If we have ommitted a City link or an interesting football link please send us an e-mail to mcfcsupporters@hotmail.co.uk your input and feedback is always welcomed.

If you haven't done so already, please take the time to look at our links to City sites, you might find something new and interesting.

Take Part In A Football Survey

MCFC Stats are carrying out a poll on the Premiership, the match day experience, live football on TV and football in general, and would like to canvass the opinion of those who really own football… the fans. To take part please click here

MCFC Stats have also started their own blog which can be read here

For those of you who didn't know MCFC Stats is the unofficial Manchester City FC statistics website, their site can be accessed here

Is CoMS Best Modern Building In North West?

BBC North West Tonight in conjunction with North West Business Insider are running a competition to find the best modern building in the North West. The winner will be presented with the prize at the forthcoming North West Property Awards.

The City of Manchester Stadium has been nominated along with a few other landmark buildings. If you want to take a look at the nominations or vote you can find out more here

Passing Being A Blue Down The Line

I was born a blue, brought up as a blue and never wanted to be anything else.

At primary school I was surrounded by Arsenal, Liverpool and United supporters but even under much peer pressure never once felt like swapping sides. I was proud of my Manchester heritage and immensly proud to be a blue. Every time I had a chance to stand up and say I supported City I would do. It didn't matter if my football allegiance was laughed at or ridiculed, I knew I was a blue and would be for the rest of my life.

Every time I played football in the playground or for the school team in my mind I was Peter Barnes skipping down the wing, getting the crosses in and scoring the odd goal. It was great being a blue.

My oldest daughter is two and a half and I have already passed on to her what was passed on to me. She has her own City kit and wants to wear the shirt far too much for her mum's liking. For the last six months or so she will shout "CITY" loudly to anyone who asks her who she supports. Despite an element of pressure from her Hammer supporting mum and her Spurs supporting grandad she hasn't wavered. My youngest daughter is six months old and I'm waiting for the time to introduce her to City!

Simon Hattenstone writes in the Guardian today about his daughter who he has passed on his support for the blues to, have a read here

Ollie

Football's Movers And Shakers Meeting In London

Tomorrow Soccerex holds it's third London Forum at Wembley Stadium. Soccerex is the premier organiser of football "business to business" forums and this forum follows the annual Soccerex conference held in Dubai six months ago.

Soccerex have confirmed that 800 "senior decision makers" will be attending representing 250 football clubs, 100 media agencies, 75 sponsors and 50 leagues/ federations. This year though there appears to be a high level of interest from America with 50 delegates from "across the pond" attending. For example, representatives of the Kraft family, who were bidding for Liverpool before Messrs Hicks & Gillett entered the fray, are rumoured to be attending.

Last year our Club was represented by Alistair Mackintosh and Steve Sayer, Head of Sponsorship and Partnership. If they are attending tomorrow, they will have the following talks/ presentations to look forward to:-

1) Next generation football stadiums - lessons learned and future expectations
2) The big gamble! - the future relationship between football and betting
3) From sponsorship to partnership - how the landscape is changing
4) The future of football - an exclusive "one on one" session with the CEO of the Premier League

City Share Price Movements (Week Ending 4.5.07)

This is the weekly article charting Manchester City Plc's share price movements during the last week. The price doesn't usually move very much and not many shares are usually traded, so you can pick up here at the end of each week our summary of the week gone by.

Before the market opened at the start of the week, it was rumoured that the ex-Thai Prime Minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, had approached Manchester City Plc with an indicative offer. Thaksin Shinawatra's people confirmed this on Tuesday afternoon (1 May) by which time the majority of last week's share activity had taken place. Reports suggest that Thaksin Shinawatra is fronting a consortium of investors and that the board of Manchester City Plc have give them permission to look at the books. This will enable the consortium to complete their due diligence and assess whether they will follow up their indicative offer with a formal bid.

Until a formal bid is made it is unlikely that the full details of Thaksin Shinawatra's bid or consortium will be known.

Last week:-
Finishing price (mid): 42p
Bid price: 37p
Offer price: 47p

Share price movement for the week:-
+2p

Volume:-
30/4 11,235
01/5 12,500
02/5 500
03/5 0
04/5 50

Total volume for the week: 24,285

All information taken from Plus Markets Group

New Kit/ Supplier Unveiled Next Week

Next week, on 14 May 2007, our Club will be unveiling the new kit supplier and the 2007/08 home kit. Supporters will also have the chance to pre-order the new kit at "special supporter prices".

As previously reported, some time ago JJB Sports confirmed that the new kit supplier will be Le Coq Sportif. We look forward, like the majority of supporters, to seeing the new kit and the accompanying range of leisurewear.

Championship Teams Toil For Premiership Spoils

There is absolutely no doubt that being a Premiership side means so much from a financial point of view. In a few weeks time both Champions League finalists will collect a large amount of additional revenue however, they will probably not collect as much as the teams stepping up from the Championship to next season's Premiership.

There were a few good articles on this topic in the papers today none more so than in the Times. Read the article here

City Stand Firm Over Derby Request

The Derby is less than two days away and, if Manchester United had their way, it could be three days away. Our Club’s decision not to accede to their request to delay the kick off by 24 hours should be praised.

Stuart Pearce summed the situation up nicely when saying "We've not made this decision to spite Manchester United, we made this decision because this game has been pencilled in on that date all season. It was brought forward for television, the game has sold-out and could have been sold out many times over so people have made their arrangements. The decision was made on the back of the Everton game last year, where we had letters from City and Everton fans who had already made their arrangements when the date and kick off were moved." The Everton game of course took place at the unprecedented time of 11.15 on a Sunday morning.

Pearce did allude to the fact that actually playing on the Saturday probably benefits Manchester United "Also, it might work in United's favour because it gives them a day extra to prepare for Chelsea next week."

Well done City for thinking of all those supporters who not only have to arrange travel but also those supporters that have to arrange time off from work etc.

Reaction To Reported Thaksin Shinawatra Interest In MCFC

The Manchester City Supporters' Trust notes with interest the news today that Thaksin Shinawatra has confirmed via his representatives that he has made an indicative offer for Manchester City.

We are not aware of any of Thaksin Shinawatra's proposals or his vision for the future of Manchester City. Until details of his proposals are made public or a formal offer made, we cannot make any substantive comments.

If or when a formal takeover bid is made for Manchester City, shareholders and supporters alike will want to know what the implications are and whether it is in our Club's best interests. We are confident that the team of professionals we have assembled to advise us will be able to scrutinise any offers in detail, raise areas of concern and answer many of the questions that arise.

The Manchester City Supporters' Trust has made it clear, and will continue to make it clear, that it believes the supporters are the real custodians of our Club's best long-term interests and that the best way forward for Manchester City is for the owners and supporters to work in partnership.

We welcome any investment that is genuinely in the long-term interest of our Club and supporters but re-iterate that a substantial shareholding under the umbrella of the Supporters' Trust, held both directly and indirectly, and working with the club management is the best solution.

Manchester City Supporters' Trust

Club Response To Our 10 Questions

Following the 10 questions posed to the MCFC board last week, we are able to confirm that the Club are aware of the supporters' questions and interest around the takeover situation.

However, due to the City Code governing listing companies and confidentiality agreements in place, the MCFC board cannot obviously respond at present. Preliminary discussions with interested parties are underway and the Club will make further announcements as appropriate.

We would like to thank Mr Mackintosh for taking the time to acknowledge our questions and respond at this busy time.