Gunners under fire, City bite Tigers and pies devoured in Coatbridge

After the excitement, frustrations and ultimately jubilation concerned with ‘ticketgate’ it is back to the football. Over the weekend the two Wembley bound gladiators both played important Premier League fixtures. Man City played host to the dangerous Hull and Arsenal travelled across London to visit the Palace. Meanwhile, on Saturday, up in Bonny Scotland I gave my beloved Hearts a break from my angst and headed to Coatbridge.

At a sun drenched Etihad Stadium on Saturday a rampant Manchester City team comprehensively outplayed Hull City and ran out comfortable 3-1 winners. One of the main talking points among the City faithful currently is who plays in goal for the team. For the game against Hull, Claudio Bravo was preferred to ‘Calamity Caballero’ and his performance has split opinion. The fact is that it was a relatively weak shot that beat him for the visitor’s only goal but after the match City manager Pep Guardiola hailed the 33 year old from Viluco in Chile as one of the world’s top keepers when it comes to build up play. Some fans are also impressed but my new pal at the Halifax and District Branch of the Manchester City Supporters Club, like many City aficionados, is not a fan of the South American. David Ellis is hoping that Claudio will be left on the bench for the FA Cup semi final against Arsenal in a fortnight. David notes that Caballero is a better penalty stopper and of course the semi final could be decided by kicks from the penalty mark.

David Ellis of the Halifax Blues: prefers Caballero to Bravo

Last night in South London Arsenal were hammered 3-0 by relegation threatened Crystal Palace. The game was shown live on ‘Monday Night Football’ on Sky so I was able to watch the latest episode of the Arsene Wenger soap opera. It was a very poor performance from the Gunners and beleagured manager Wenger must feel very let down by his highly paid players who are not doing it for him at the moment. As is always the case Arsenal dominated the ball. When a team enjoys 72% of the possession it usually means that they win with something to spare. Last night however the direct style from Palace was far more effective that the ‘lets walk the ball into the net’ approach from Arsenal. At least the Gunners fans shared the blame out last night. In addition to the by now inevitable ‘Wenger Out’ banners there were chants of “you’re not fit to wear the shirt” directed at the players. The Professor has signed some of the best players in the world (e.g. Ozil and Sanchez) and he has developed some promising youngsters and turned them into highly sought after internationalists. Collectively, last night they were just not at it. 

No respite for The Professor: Arsenal thrashed and the protests continue

I am beginning to feel that I am very much in a minority of those who feel Arsene should be given an extension to his current contract. Unless Arsenal win 7 of their last 8 league games and sneak into the top four and win the FA Cup I fear that the great man will be hounded out in the summer. If that does happen it will, in my opinion, be a sad day for Arsenal and a sad day for the beautiful game. 

Another team struggling at the moment is my beloved Hearts. On Saturday I unusually missed a game at my spiritual home Tynecastle. Some time ago a group of my pals from Stirling University in the 1970s decided that we would meet up on the 8^th April and go to see Albion Rovers versus Stranraer in downtown Coatbridge. Our party lacked Kevin ‘Big Hig The Slovenly Pig’ Higgins but Duich McKay, Dave Ivens and Stranraer fan Dougie Ritchie all made it.

Music fans heading to the fitba: Dave Ivens, Dougie Ritchie and Duich McKay

With Kev missing we all toasted absent friends at lunchtime – several times. Then headed for Clitonhill which has to be the worst and most uncared for football ‘stadium’ I have been to for many a long year.

The derelict and overgrown grass bank 'terracing' at Cliftonhill Coatbridge

Every cloud has a silver lining however and the pies were pretty decent.

Oh ya beauty! Dave Ivens looks on salivating jealously

Hearts won while I was in the wild west so maybe I should stay away more often.

Neither Man City nor the Gunners have a midweek game. Their next matches are their final games before they clash on the 23^rd April in the next game on the Road to Wembley from Scotland. On Saturday Man City will travel to the south coast to cross swords with Southampton. Next Monday the Arsenal will be on Teesside to play Middlesbrough. Come back here later in the week to find out how the two protagonists are preparing for these two games and for the latest on the 'Wenger Out' soap opera and keep reading.

The Halifax Branch of the Manchester City Supporters Club - just the ticket!!

The Road to Wembley from Scotland will reach the penultimate stop in a fortnight when Manchester City take on Arsenal. Regular readers will know that I have had a devil of a job getting a ticket for this match but thanks to assistance from my good friend John Rees and a load of much appreciated help from the Halifax and District Branch of the Manchester City Supporters Club I am now sorted. Special thanks to David Ellis the Chairman of the Club and also to Martin Duddridge the Club Ticket Secretary who pulled a few strings to sort out these tickets. A great gesture by David and Martin and very much appreciated. Also in midweek the two protagonists were in Premier League action with mixed fortunes.

About twenty years ago when I was working as a senior manager at Boston College I was part of an interview panel that appointed a young ambitious, energetic likeable lad called John Rees as a Sports Science lecturer so that he could take up his first job in further education. Twenty years later I am a clapped out old blogger whose body has been ravaged by years of alcohol and tobacco abuse and he is the Principal of Calderdale College in Halifax.

The Rees-Meister General: All round good guy and ace problem solver

 In addition to being colleagues in the 1990s we became good friends. Despite experiencing very different life and career paths we have kept in touch and when John noted my ticket-less situation he made some enquiries. Working in Halifax he is surrounded by Man City fans and some of his colleagues are members of the Halifax and District Branch of the Manchester City Supporters Club. Step forward my new heros David Ellis and Martin Duddridge. The Club get an allocation of tickets for big matches and after hearing of my plight and my project Martin was able to use his influence to ensure that I would receive a brief for the semi final. The Halifax and District Branch of the Manchester City Supporters Club are now officially the best supporters club in the entire world.

Halifax Blues Committee celebrating: L-R Dave Toal, David Ellis and Martin Duddridge

Readers who followed the post on this blog on Tuesday noted that I had been scammed. The whole episode has still not been resolved. The dodgy on-line touts company Pro Time Tours have taken the debit card sale £159 for a £30 ticket from my account. So at the moment I am £159 out of pocket. The ticket (if indeed it does exist) has unsurprisingly not arrived. My bank has cancelled my debit card so that they can’t get at any further monies. The bank advice is that once I am sure that the ticket is never going to arrive (i.e. when I can prove fraud) get back in touch and they will act. They already have details of the case including references from the scamadviser web site detailing previous similar transactions where individuals paid hundreds of pounds for tickets that did not exist. A very unsavoury incident and four days later I still feel like a complete fool for falling for this. This sale though is part of a wider issue.

As you may have guessed I have been I touch with the FA to (i) try to secure a ticket from them and (ii) to tell them of this on-line ticket touting scandal. With regard to (i) I was unsuccessful and with regard to (ii) they claim to be concerned but as my old Mam used to say ‘judge a person not by what they say but by what they do’. The FA emailed me on Thursday as follows:

Hi Chris,

In regards to allocations for the upcoming FA Cup semi-finals approximately 64,000 tickets go to the two competing teams. There are also a number of seats that are not put on sale which act as appropriate levels of segregation over the weekend. Additionally a certain number of seats are located in the Club Wembley areas of the stadium on Level Two. The remaining tickets are issued to the ‘Football Family’.  The Football Family is made up of all the clubs who participated in this seasons FA Cup, FA Partners, official charities and the local County Football Associations who organise football throughout England. However, anything not taken up by the ‘Football Family’ is made available to the two competing clubs.

We do appreciate the frustrations involved when supporters miss out on obtaining tickets for big matches. However, with matches of this importance involving two such big clubs it is impossible to satisfy the demand for tickets.

I have also attached a link to our FAQ's which may answer any further questions you may have; http://www.thefa.com/news/2017/mar/17/andy-ambler-q-and-a-170317 

If you do click the link then you will find a very complacent statement that states:

It’s a big priority that the tickets get in the hands of the genuine supporters. Tickets are sold directly by the clubs to their fan-base. Clubs supply us with a ticket-selling policy in advance, which is approved by The FA. At the stadium there will be enhanced ticket checks outside, prior to supporters entering the turnstiles. We also operate a very robust system to detect fraudulent tickets. That should act as a big deterrent to anyone considering buying from an illegal source. We strongly advise people not to buy tickets from touts as they are at risk of not getting into the stadium. 

All sounds good in theory but as I found out at about this time last week several thousand tickets for this match are not in the hands of genuine supporters but are in the hands of on-line touts. So how big a priority is it for you Mr FA? Returning to the arithmetic that I described in an earlier post the capacity of Wembley (90,000) minus the club allocations (64,000) equals 26,000 tickets sloshing about in the ether. The FA is simply not doing enough get tickets in to the hands of genuine supporters. Since Thursday I have emailed the FA again to flag that I was disappointed that, despite this project advertising the joys of the FA Cup to hundreds of readers with each post, that they don’t consider me eligible to be classed as part of the ‘football family’. I do feel that some tickets for matches such as this one should be made available to neutral fans who could be asked to pay a higher tarrif, but not the sums requested by the on-line touts, directly from the FA. Then at least the FA would be doing a bit more to get the tickets into the hands of genuine supporters. Rant over … back to football.

There was a full programme of Premier League matches on in midweek and as I was working in the East Midlands I managed to head up to Hull on Wednesday night to see a bit of the action. I was at the Hull City v Middlesbrough game with my old sparring partner Howard ‘Howie Baby’ Nimmo. Hull City are a very good side and will provide a stern test for Man City later today.

Howie Baby: Sporting the colours of his adopted home town

On the same night Arsenal were in fine form demolishing West Ham 3-0 at a packed Emirates Stadium. Mezut Ozil in particular was in great form apparently. Despite all the media ‘Arsenal in Crisis’ and ‘Wenger Must Go’ hysteria Arsenal are now in 5^th position in the Premier League and of course have the FA Cup semi final to look forward to. Also on Wednesday evening, and also in London, Man City were at Stamford Bridge to face Chelsea. Chelsea won 2-1 but reports suggest that Man City were by far the better side. Certainly they enjoyed more possession, had more shots on target and more corners. The first goal that City conceded was a goalkeeping error from Caballero. Man City have such a great team of skilled outfield players it is strange that they have to choose each week which of two mediocre goalkeepers (Caballero or Bravo) they select – especially when they employ Joe Hart the England goalie but have chosen to loan him out for the whole of the 2016-17 season to Torino. I can’t quite work that one out.

Today City take on a resurgent Hull City team while Arsenal have to wait until Monday night to play their weekend Premier League fixture. Will City and the Gunners improve their Premier League positions? Will the City Manager field Caballero or Bravo in goal later today? Will the FA reply to my most recent email? Do Pro Time Tours actually have tickets for the semi finals? Come back here on Tuesday for the answers to these questions and more … and … keep reading.

Further update - I have been scammed (in addition to being an idiot!) Still no ticket for the semi final

How could I be so stupid? After 'buying' the ticket I went on to the 'scamadviser' web site and put in the protimetours.com address and horrible stuff came up including ...

I used this company but then read up about them not good said could have money back waiting to check statement in the mean time credit card has been frauded for £1000 can't prove it's this company but would be very wary about using them

and

Do not use this website it is trying to scam your card details. Your initial payment will "decline" then they will ask you to provide further payment details.

Aaaarrrrgggghhh ! You are an idiot pal!

Your blogger is an idiot. Protimetours do not have tickets but they do (for the moment) have £159 of my money. I have just spent a very embarrassing hour in the bank. Anyone reading the previous post would probably worked out that the whole thing was fraud. Just a pity I can't read my own writing. Back to square one ... no ticket! All suggestions (apart from try protimetours again) welcome. 

Ticket purchased from an on-line tout for thirty pieces of silver! ... and is it real? It is a real scandal!!

The penultimate stop on the Road to Wembley from Scotland is the FA Cup semi final at Wembley on Sunday 23^rd April between Arsenal and Manchester City. I now have a very expensive ticket ordered and I don’t feel too good about it.

About an hour ago I bit the bullet and ordered my ticket for the Arsenal end from a so called ‘ticket exchange’ company called ‘Pro Time Tours’. I chose this company because at a cost of £139 (for a ticket with a face value of £30) they were the cheapest. I had lots of ‘companies’ to choose from all with hundreds of tickets to sell. This really is a scandal. My confirmation is shown in the pic below as you can see the first thing they did was to add on another £20 for shipping. This must be a very heavy ticket.

Thirty pieces of silver this cost me! Betraying the beautiful game

The nearest thing to this dodgy dealing that is  in my own frame of reference was about 10 years ago when me and Mrs Donkin bought two ground tickets for the French Open tennis from touts outside Roland Garros for 130 Euros each (face value 25 Euros). There was a horrible moment lasting about 3 seconds when the 260 Euros were in the hands of the touts and the tickets were also in his hands but it all worked out ok .. sort of. I am now experiencing that same horrible feeling except that it is lasting a lot more that 3 seconds. I have entered my bank details but of course I do not have the tickets yet. After my confirmation came up on the screen (as above) I was advised that I would get a confirmation email. It came half an hour ago as follows:

Dear Chris

Thank you for booking with protimetours.com.
Your tickets have been allocated to you ,and are fully secured.
However at the time of placing your booking, we were unable to gain
authorisation from your card.
This is most probably an error you made when entering your card details,
i.e the digits being entered incorrectly.
To finalise your order, we can send you a payment link via email, of
which you can then re enter the card details at your end.
Please confirm by return, we can then send the payment link over.

Kind Regards
Zach Mider
Accounts Department

--

Pro Time Tours

www.protimetours.com

E: hello@protimetours.com

T: (UK) 0203 868 4373  (US) 407 459 8164

This is now looking highly dodgy so I rang the number and it was answered and the operator assured me that he could see my name ‘Donkin’ on his computer but the payment had definitely not gone through and I must have made an error when entering the card details. This is most unlike me. In fact I don’t think I have ever done that, but I guess there is a first time for everything. He said he was going to send me the payment link. I asked him if I could ask him a few questions first as I was feeling anxious about this transaction. He reluctantly agreed but stated that he was very busy and why did I not check with my bank to see if a payment had gone through because he was not trying to charge me twice. I asked him how long had they been in business? How did the ticket exchange system work? Why do they not (like e-bay) tell me the name of the seller? How long until the tickets arrive? He became a bit impatient and managed to short circuit the conversation inviting me to ‘have a great day’. I got the feeling he is not proud of what he does. Forty minutes later the payment link email has arrived and payment is through paypal, so (rightly or wrongly) I feel slightly more comfortable. I guess if they try to charge me twice or I don’t get the ticket then I get my bank on to this although I am not sure I would have a leg to stand on … and I will continue to be in a state of high anxiety until the ticket arrives.

I only know one person who has bought a ticket in this environment and it is my good friend Jim Mullin. Jim bought a ticket from an on-line touts site to see his favourites Aberdeen FC play Celtic in the Scottish League Cup Final earlier in the season. I phoned Jim on Sunday night and he told me he used www.ticket4football and that his experience was ‘satisfactory’. The trouble is that when I checked their site this morning their cheapest ticket was £215 and that is significantly more than £139 (or £159 as it now transpires).

So, the die is cast. I might get in to see the big match – I might not. If anyone is reading this who knows how I can maybe get a ticket that is more likely to be genuine please do get in touch. The whole thing is very sad. Sad that the FA are not doing more to make sure tickets can go to those who want them and could pay a slightly higher tarrif from their official sources. Sad that dodgy guys are plying a dodgy trade in front of a PC to take advantage of twats like me. Sad (if my ticket is real) that an Arsenal supporter identified by his club as a genuine fan has chosen to sell his ticket to this dodgy site to make a profit of about £90 rather than return it to the club so they can allocate it to the next ‘genuine fan’ on the waiting list. All very very sad and depressing.

Back to football. A very interesting game played in the Premier League on Sunday as Arsenal and Man City went head to head three weeks in advance of their meeting at Wembley in the FA Cup semi final. The match finished 2-2 and with the spoils shared the beleaguered Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger was able to claim that in addition to their usual flair his team showed spirit and fight. Twice they fought back from being a goal behind and although they played with an identifiable nervousness there were also signs that they could be returning to form. I hope so. The Professor deserves a bit of a break.

Mustafi celebrates the Gunners second equaliser and grants Wenger a stay of execution

Both teams are in action again in midweek. Tomorrow Arsenal play host to West Ham and the City Slickers travel to Chelsea for a clash of the titans. I am going to watch a Premier Division match tomorrow when I will be at Hull City v Middlesbrough with my old friend Howard ‘Howie Baby’ Nimmo. Come back here at the weekend to see how it all panned out and a possible update on the ticket situation … but most of all … keep reading.

Still no ticket for the semi but the FA are lining the pockets of the touts! ... also ... Wenger must stay!

The next match on the Road to Wembley from Scotland is the semi final of the FA Cup at Wembley in three weeks time between Arsenal and Manchester City. For the first time on ‘The Road’ I am genuinely struggling to get a ticket for the match. Although it would seem that thousands of tickets have found their way in to the hands of dodgy operators.

The clubs have been given 32000 tickets each. This means that 64000 of the 90000 tickets will hopefully find their way into the hands of genuine supporters. I have no problem with this. Both clubs have more than 32000 season ticket holders so even some of their most committed and devoted fans will miss out on the big match. My big gripe is with what is happening to the other 26000 briefs. Surely, you would think, that someone on a mission such as mine would find it easy to get their hands on one of these tickets. The FA web site says that the other tickets are distributed to Club Wembley and commercial partners. Club Wembley is just too expensive to join for a one-off ticket – packages start at £995. The commercial partners are not unambiguously identified on the FA web site and I find it surprising that so many tickets seem to have headed their way. So, on the face of it, if Club Wembley and the ‘commercial partners’ have acquired for their members and clients the unallocated 26000 tickets then the match is a sell out … or is it?

I am now getting desperate so I am almost certainly going to buy a ticket from one of the dodgy ‘legalised touts’ sites. The prices start at approximately £140 (or about 5 times the face value of the ticket) and I am pasting in three random screen shots from 3 of these many sites. How did so many tickets for this match get into the hands of these rogues?

The thing is dear reader, that if I could be bothered I could have cut and pasted about a dozen such screen shots. I am pretty pissed off because of my own situation but I also feel for the thousands of genuine Arsenal and Man City fans who will not be able to get a ticket at a sensible price because of the FA’s very slack practice and Pontius Pilate approach to this issue. I would like the FA to answer a simple question: ‘How did so many tickets for the Arsenal v Man City FA Cup semi final end up in the hands of the likes of www.ticketbisevents.com   www.hotfootballtickets.com   www.footballticketpad.com and www.protimetours.com ? …. to name but 4 operators. If I don’t get an answer from the FA by the end of play on Monday then I will have to bite the bullet and, with gritted teeth, buy a ticket for the match from one of these sites … and then pray it is a genuine ticket!!

Meanwhile, in the world of football rather than the murky world of toutery, Arsenal and Man City will return to competitive action this weekend after the international break. Tomorrow, at the Emirates Stadium, they will play against each other in a Premier League fixture that will double as a dress rehearsal for their meeting in the semi final of the FA Cup in three weeks time. The globetrotting superstars from both teams have returned to London and Manchester respectively after representing their countries in far flung places around the globe. The match tomorrow will be one for the purists as both teams have a reputation for playing beautiful passing football. The match is on Sky at 4.00 pm and I will be glued to the set.

With almost all of the Arsenal first team squad away the media spotlight has fallen on the beleaguered manager Arsene Wenger over the last two weeks. It would appear that a sizeable minority (it may even be a small majority now) of Arsenal fans want Wenger to go and the media are jumping on the bandwagon.

Wenger must go? Really Arsenal fans? .. be careful what you wish for !

The Professor is batting away questions about his future and as the fortnight wore on he began to feel a bit more confident and latterly has played ‘cat and mouse’ with the sports broadcasters letting them know he has made up his mind about his future but that he won’t tell them! Good on you Prof … I am on your side. Now that the campaign to get him out has gathered momentum then it does seem inevitable that he will leave Arsenal after 20 glorious and successful years. It may happen before the end of the season or it may happen at the end of the season but it appears it will happen. I have a phrase that I use a lot when referring to football supporters – be careful what you wish for. I feel sure that if any Arsenal fan is reading this blog / book in five years time then Arsenal will be a mid table Premier League team in season 2021-22. It has been Wenger’s managerial expertise that has brought you the success and the regular slot in the Champions League that you now undervalue.

Will I get a reply from the FA to my question as to how so many tickets for one of their showcase games have ended up in the hands of touts? Will the Arsenal v Man City league game tomorrow live up to expectations and be the football fest that will have all football fans drooling? Will Arsene Wenger still be manager of Arsenal on Monday? Return here on Tuesday to the answers to these questions and much more … and keep reading …

The Blue Moon is covered with tartan! Famous Scots who have achieved legendary status with Man City

It is still almost 4 weeks until Arsenal take on Manchester City at Wembley in the semi final of the FA Cup. The match will be the 16^th and penultimate stop on The Road to Wembley from Scotland. Regular readers will know that it is usually at about this time in the build to the match that I explore the Scottish connections of my ‘new’ team. I have previously reported on Arsenal’s strong links with Bella Caledonia and I can now also state that Manchester City too have a rich Scots heritage. In their ’50 top City players of all time list’ there are 4 Scots listed – namely Dave Ewing, Willie Donnachie, Denis Law and Asa Hartford. Also worthy of special mention is the journeyman player but cult hero Andy Morrison.

Dave Ewing from Perthshire played for City for a full decade between 1952 and 1962 making 279 appearances and scoring one goal. The uncompromising defender was one Scotsman who did not need to wear a ginger wig as he sported a striking shock of red hair.

No ginger wig needed. FA Cup winner red haired Dave Ewing City stalwart in the 50s

Dave was selected mostly at centre half and is remembered for his vocal encouragement to team mates and was regarded as a tough tackler. He played in two FA Cup finals in the mid fifties and claimed an FA Cup winners medal when City beat Birmingham 3-1 in the final best remembered as the final where City goalkeeper Bert Trautmann broke his neck. With no substitutes allowed in those days Trautmann played on and ended up on the winning team! At the end of this playing days Ewing moved into coaching and after being employed as a coach at Sheffield Wednesday, Bradford City and Crystal Palace he was appointed manager of Hibs for the 1970-71 season. His spell at Easter Road was not successful and he returned to his first love, Manchester City, to manage the reserve team. He is credited with overseeing the development of many promising City youngsters who subsequently progressed to the first team. Dave settled in Lancashire and later the ginger haired Ewing owned a hardware store in the appropriately named town Reddish. Dave Ewing sadly passed away in 1999 at the age of 70.

Glaswegian Willie Donnachie served Man City with great distinction throughout the 1970s. He played for City 351 times and the full back scored two goals. In 1976 he helped Man City win the League Cup and this was his only medal while playing for Man City.

Willie Donnachie: Maine Road hero of the seventies

Donnachie was something of a fitness fanatic and his regime helped him to play professional football until the age of 39. After leaving City in 1980 at the age of 29 he had a spell in US soccer with Portland Timbers and then spells with Norwich City and Burnley. Then in 1984 he signed for Oldham Athletic and went on to play for them for the next six years. Donnachie also played 35 times for Scotland and although he had some great games in famous dark blue jersey he is best remembered for scoring a calamitous own goal in a match against Wales. Donnachie is now 65 years old and having worked as a coach for Newcastle United from 2011-14 he has settled in the north east of England.

When I went through the list of the ’50 greatest ever City players’ I was very surprised to find the name of Denis Law. The Lawman was certainly a Rolls-Royce of a footballer but the Aberdonian is much better known for his playing days at Manchester United where he helped the Red Devils win the European Cup in 1968. Law played for Man City as a youngster in the 1960-61 season and then as a veteran in the 1973-74 season. In total he played 68 times for City and scored 30 goals. In between times he played for the great Manchester United team of the 1960s and was part of the Best, Law and Charlton triumvirate. His most famous goal for City was when he scored a cheeky back heel in the final league game of the 73-74 season – against Manchester United. The goal has achieved notoriety because Law refused to celebrate and because the impudent strike was instrumental in confirming Manchester United’s relegation to Division Two.

Oh no I have scored! Denis Law (no 10) scores 'that goal' for City against United

Denis Law to this day still regrets scoring that goal against Manchester United. When interviewed by the Scotsman two years ago he said “I just felt depressed, and that wasn’t like me. After 19 years of trying my hardest to score goals, here was one that I almost wished hadn’t actually gone in. I was inconsolable. I didn’t want it to happen. How long did the feeling last? How long ago was the game? Thirty-odd years. There is your answer. The subject always crops up. It’s one of those things. It’s always there and I am always remembered for it. That’s a shame.”

A distraught Law is consoled by his City team mates after scoring 'that goal'

As well as representing both Manchester clubs Law also played for Scotland on 55 occasions and scored 30 goals for the national team. Still going strong at the age of 77 the Lawman was awarded the CBE last year and this year is to receive the ‘Freedom of the City of Aberdeen’.

Asa Hartford is a Glaswegian former midfielder who built his reputation as a talented youngster with West Bromwich Albion. After making his debut for the Baggies in 1967 he progressed well and his progress was noted by the all conquering Leeds United who moved to sign him in a high profile transfer in November 1971. The deal was all but done when it was discovered during the medical that he had a heart condition that was described at the time as a ‘hole in the heart’. He returned to West Brom where he continued to play at a high level. One night on Match of the Day commentator David Coleman, noted as the inspiration for Colemanballs, blurted “this lad was diagnosed with a hole in the heart but the way he is playing today you can see he is a whole-hearted player!”. Asa’s dream move to a top team did come along eventually when Manchester City signed him in 1974

Scots City legend Asa Hartford: A whole-hearted player!

In his first spell at Maine Road Asa Hartford played 185 times for City scoring 22 goals. He also helped Man City win the League Cup in 1976. In 1979 he moved on to Nottingham Forest and then on to Everton. He returned to Man City in 1981 and played for City for a further 3 years and added another 75 appearances and 7 goals to his tallies. When in his prime Asa was capped by Scotland on 50 occasions scoring 5 goals for the national team. He continued playing into forties turning out for Norwich City, Bolton Wanderers, Stockport County, Oldham Athletic and Shrewsbury in his dotage. An impressively long career for a man with an alleged heart defect. Asa Hartford is now 66 years old and is still gainfully employed in football as he provides scouting services for Norwich City.

My final homage to famous Scots who have worn the sky blue colours is to Andy Morrison. Andy is a favourite of the Scots Man City twitter feed @thegingerwigmcfc. Unlike the other ‘legends’ quoted in this post, highlander Morrison was not capped by Scotland. In fact the rugged defender spent most of his career in the lower echelons of English football.

Good, Mad, Ugly and Fat! Cult hero Andy Morrison

When Man City were languishing in the third tier of English football, Morrison was the captain who steered them back towards respectability. He was the rock at the heart of the defence when Man City were promoted back to the second tier in 1999. His cult status with the City faithful owes much to his determination, will to win and his eccentric aggressive style of play. My beloved Hearts could do with an Andy Morrison in their team right now! Madman Morrison is now 46 years old and is the manager of Welsh Premier League team Connahs Quay. He combines that role with his duties as an official fan ambassador at Manchester City.

There are no doubt other Scots who are fondly remembered by the City fans and I may well update this ‘City Scots’ post later in the blog. For now I need to turn my attention back to trying to get a ticket for the FA Cup semi final between City and Arsenal. I still don’t have a ticket yet. I have a number of feelers out and a number of pals are making enquiries on my behalf. Hence, at this stage, I am still holding off paying out an inflated price to one of the dodgy ticket web sites.

I note also this week that Arsene Wenger continues to attract negative coverage from the media. Despite this the Professor is hanging on in there as manager of Arsenal. This weekend the Gunners take on City in a Premier League match that will also serve as a dress rehearsal for their meeting in the FA Cup semi final. I will be back later in the week with some of the build up to that match and also with an update on the plight of my old pal Arsene. Who knows, I may also have news on a ticket for the semi final when I post later this week. Come back here for more just before the weekend .. and … keep reading.

Sweet FA! No sign of a ticket for the semi yet ...

It has been a fairly quiet week on the Road to Wembley from Scotland. In four weeks time Arsenal will play Man City at Wembley in the FA Cup semi final but for now the two protagonists are match-free this weekend while their superstar players are away on international duty. While they are on their travels your blogger has been trying to get a ticket for the semi final and the pressure continues to mount on Arsene Wenger.

Getting a ticket for this match is not going to be easy but I do have a fall back position. Both clubs have been given an allocation of 32,000 briefs for the game. Arsenal have declared that you have to be either a ‘Platinum’ or ‘Gold’ category Arsenal Club member to apply for tickets. Manchester City have published their eligibility rules and you have to be at very least a season ticket holder to be declared a ‘qualifier’ and even then it is only one ticket per qualifying member. So there is more chance of Nicola Sturgeon moving to England than me getting a ticket from either of the clubs.

So, next port of call the FA. I used to be a maths teacher so I consider that my arithmetic skills are serviceable. The capacity of Wembley Stadium is 90,000 and if the FA have allocated 32,000 to each club then that still leaves 26,000 tickets floating around. If you are trying to get a ticket for this match as a neutral then the FA web site is about as much use as an ashtray on a motorbike. The site states: “The remainder of the tickets are split between Club Wembley and commercial partners”. Hmm! Very unconvincing. I have been unable to find out how many people are members of Club Wembley but I can’t believe it is more than (say) 6,000. How many commercial partners would be eligible for tickets? Maybe 4,000 at most. So unless my assumptions are way wide of the mark then that means something like 16,000 tickets are floating around. One thing for sure the web based glorified touts have had no trouble at all getting their hands on many of these tickets not given to the clubs. Which brings me on to my fall back position …

With a couple of clicks and a very basic google search I have come across www.ticketbisevents.com Specifically the link https://www.ticketbisevents.com/en/fa-cup-2016-17-arsenal-v-manchester-city-tickets/ev260436 takes you straight there. You will find loads of tickets available for the match starting at round about £160. The face value of this ticket is almost certainly £30. I really don’t want to line the pockets of some pretty dodgy operator but I am not going to fail at the penultimate hurdle on the Road to Wembley from Scotland. So, unless some kind reader sorts me out with a ticket over the next few days then I will be pressing submit and parting with the thick end of 200 quid at some stage next week. Ouch!

The international break is a busman’s holiday for the players of Man City and Arsenal. Almost all of their squads are away from their base playing for their countries. Beleaguered Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger’s future continues to come under scrutiny from the rabid English sports media. Part of the problem for Arsene Wenger has been the spotlight on his relationship with his star striker Alexis Sanchez. Last weekend he substituted Sanchez stating afterwards that his right ankle was in “an absolutely terrible state”.

Sanchez injured for Arsenal and leaves the field on Saturday - out for a few weeks?

It was clear from Wenger’s comments that he would not be happy if an injured Sanchez turned out for Chile in midweek. Not only did Sanchez play he was running around like a 3 year old.

Sanchez on Wednesday - hot stuff for Chile and ankle holding up well !

Questions are now being asked on Arsenal fans social media platforms and in the media more widely as to whether Sanchez will put in a shift for his country but not for Wenger. Footage showing Sanchez getting very worked up after missing a chance for Chile has been doing the rounds with Arsenal fans asking the rhetorical question ‘why does he not show that sort of passion when he plays for us’? After the Germany v England midweek friendly the scorer of the German goal ex Gunner Podolski was asked on his view as to whether Wenger should continue as manager! Even on a week off The Professor can’t seem to get any peace.

My own midweek saw me visiting Easter Road to watch Scotland play Canada and the least said about that the better. I also started my investigations into Man City’s links with Scotland and the Scotland based Man City fan twitter feed @thegingerwigmcfc have pointed me in the direction of City legend Andy Morrison. Highlander Morrison was something of a cult hero with City fans it would seem and anyone who sticks it to Stan Collymore can’t be a bad lad.

Have some of that! Stan Collymore finds that City legend Morrison is in his face.

I am now hooked up to the ‘Ginger Wig MCFC’ twitter feed and they have confirmed that Paul Dickov was the last Scot to play for City. So no jocks donning the famous sky blue jersey for 10 years. In my next post on Tuesday I will be describing Manchester City’s rich Scottish heritage including the contribution of Andy Morrison. Before signing off today I must admit to having withdrawl symptoms after getting off the Lincoln Loco at the Arsenal station two weeks ago. I have noticed that it would seem the wheels have come off the Loco since the Arsenal defeat. In the last fortnight they have lost in the FA Trophy semi final (and hence missed out on a Wembley final) and lost an important league match. Tomorrow they play host to Forest Green Rovers as top plays second in a huge Vanarama National League game. It is live on BT Sport at lunchtime and I will be tuned in. Come on the Imps – get that Loco back on track! The day out at The Emirates Stadium two weeks ago was truly memorable and of all the photos I have seen on Imps social media forums since then the one below is my favourite.

Arsenal v Lincoln City in the FA Cup quarter final: It really did happen!

I have no idea who the lady in the pic is but her scarf marks out the occasion and the photo captures the magic of the day.

Will I bite the bullet and pay over the odds for a semi ticket from a dodgy web site? Is the sky blue in Manchester laced with tartan? Will Arsene Wenger survive another weekend in the hot seat at Arsenal? Come back here on Tuesday for the answers to these questions and much more … and … keep reading.