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		<title>ESPNFC.com - manchestercity</title>
		<link>http://espnfc.com/blog/_/name/manchestercity</link>
		<description>ESPNFC.com presents manchestercity</description>
		<language>en-us</language>
		<copyright><![CDATA[Copyright &copy; ESPN Internet Ventures]]></copyright>
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			<title><![CDATA[The rain falls down on a humdrum town]]></title>
			<pubDate><![CDATA[Tue, 14 May 2013 16:19:34 PDT]]></pubDate>
			<author><![CDATA[Simon Curtis]]></author>
			<link><![CDATA[http://espnfc.com/blog/_/name/manchestercity/id/1005]]></link>
			<description><![CDATA[As the rains came tumbling down Tuesday on this neat little patch of green in Berkshire, it was difficult not to think the Football Gods had sent at least some of the downpour to wash away the grief of another Manchester City managerial tragi-theatre piece. Others might have seen it as a chance to swill away any signs of the Roberto Mancini regime, already disintegrating at pace, as David Platt declined an offer to come to the show and instead headed for the dry hills to find his friend. Yet others might have linked the gushing water everywhere to metaphorical tears for yet another self-made implosion in the grand old custard-pie littered history of Manchester City football club.]]></description>
			<guid isPermalink="false"><![CDATA[1005]]></guid>
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			<title><![CDATA[Grazie Mille, Roberto]]></title>
			<pubDate><![CDATA[Mon, 13 May 2013 16:37:47 PDT]]></pubDate>
			<author><![CDATA[Simon Curtis]]></author>
			<link><![CDATA[http://espnfc.com/blog/_/name/manchestercity/id/995]]></link>
			<description><![CDATA[It is not exactly anything new for football clubs -- any football club, and especially our own spotlessly shiny Manchester City -- to be accused of shabby manoeuvring and low-hand skullduggery with its managers, so FA Cup final weekend's inglorious tribute to Roberto Mancini and the many thousands of hours he has put in toward the Good Cause should not really have come as much of a shock.  Exactly a year on -- to the very day, let it be said -- from the greatest moment in any City supporter's lifetime, the air is full of the sound of tutting and expletives being offloaded into the night sky left, right and centre.]]></description>
			<guid isPermalink="false"><![CDATA[995]]></guid>
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			<title><![CDATA[Off the end of the pier]]></title>
			<pubDate><![CDATA[Sun, 12 May 2013 12:20:24 PDT]]></pubDate>
			<author><![CDATA[Simon Curtis]]></author>
			<link><![CDATA[http://espnfc.com/blog/_/name/manchestercity/id/990]]></link>
			<description><![CDATA[The near horizontal wind-driven rain stinging the faces of the faithful as we escaped as swiftly as was humanly possible from Wembley's suffocating embrace, acted as the final indignity to those who had arrived in good voice and light heart in this desolate part of north London, presuming that City's sixth FA Cup triumph would shortly be with us. Simply by turning up, the glistening booty would be ours. We had of course committed one deathly sin: that of forgetting our heritage as the Kings of the Cock Up.]]></description>
			<guid isPermalink="false"><![CDATA[990]]></guid>
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			<title><![CDATA[Two times eleven:  Comparing '81 and '13 ]]></title>
			<pubDate><![CDATA[Thu, 09 May 2013 18:27:57 PDT]]></pubDate>
			<author><![CDATA[Simon Curtis]]></author>
			<link><![CDATA[http://espnfc.com/blog/_/name/manchestercity/id/977]]></link>
			<description><![CDATA[It gives me some pleasure to announce that my 100th article of the season should be a preparation piece for the grand old Football Association Cup Final featuring Manchester City, and that it should refer us back to the 100th FA Cup Final, which Manchester City also took part in back in 1981.  This is the kind of symmetry, the kind of tidy coincidence that can only lead to one conclusion surely? And, no, it has nothing whatsoever to do with Old Father Time, who decided Wednesday abruptly to clock off after 26 years and, in so doing, attempted one last time to steal City's thunder.]]></description>
			<guid isPermalink="false"><![CDATA[977]]></guid>
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			<title><![CDATA[Grin and tonic]]></title>
			<pubDate><![CDATA[Tue, 07 May 2013 15:27:12 PDT]]></pubDate>
			<author><![CDATA[Simon Curtis]]></author>
			<link><![CDATA[http://espnfc.com/blog/_/name/manchestercity/id/966]]></link>
			<description><![CDATA[Beauty, it is said, is in the eye of the beholder, and there was something for every artistic bent during the 1-0 win at the Etihad on Tuesday.  Like a ripe apple, this was a match that could be divided into three distinct parts: 20 minutes of slumber, followed by 25 of electric attacking, followed by 45 of stumbling around. Much has been said of City's advantage over United in terms of squad depth and Tuesday that was at least half proved by the sight of a practically all-new 11 out on the pristine Etihad turf, compared to the Sleepwalk in the Valleys last weekend.]]></description>
			<guid isPermalink="false"><![CDATA[966]]></guid>
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			<title><![CDATA[Making sure the Emperor's clothes fit]]></title>
			<pubDate><![CDATA[Mon, 06 May 2013 16:15:53 PDT]]></pubDate>
			<author><![CDATA[Simon Curtis]]></author>
			<link><![CDATA[http://espnfc.com/blog/_/name/manchestercity/id/951]]></link>
			<description><![CDATA[Roberto Mancini rides uncomfortably on the horns of a dilemma that may well prick a decent-sized hole in his Giorgio Armani suit if he doesn't get his decisions just right for the suddenly vital match with West Brom on Tuesday.  Without warning, from a position of deflated resignation that the league title had gone, City must prepare for an FA Cup final knowing that they have to press the accelerator in a bread-and-butter game once more before they can concentrate on the caviar and champagne at the weekend.]]></description>
			<guid isPermalink="false"><![CDATA[951]]></guid>
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			<title><![CDATA[Dreaming of Wembley]]></title>
			<pubDate><![CDATA[Sat, 04 May 2013 14:04:39 PDT]]></pubDate>
			<author><![CDATA[Simon Curtis]]></author>
			<link><![CDATA[http://espnfc.com/blog/_/name/manchestercity/id/942]]></link>
			<description><![CDATA[With one side basking in that Wembley afterglow of success that sometimes strikes League Cup winners down with a rare sort of paralysis more often accredited to striped Australian bugs, and the other in a typically pre-Wembley Cup final tip-toe of self-preservation, Swansea and Manchester City served up a game that seemed to last even longer than the 102 minute marathon in October between the two sides.  That was one of the Premier League's longest ever games. This one seemed to be trying to drag itself grimly on well beyond that remarkable barrier, despite referee Mike Jones's mercy killing occurring as early as the 93rd minute.]]></description>
			<guid isPermalink="false"><![CDATA[942]]></guid>
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			<title><![CDATA[From windswept Vetch Field to European glory]]></title>
			<pubDate><![CDATA[Thu, 02 May 2013 08:54:44 PDT]]></pubDate>
			<author><![CDATA[Simon Curtis]]></author>
			<link><![CDATA[http://espnfc.com/blog/_/name/manchestercity/id/937]]></link>
			<description><![CDATA[Those happy folk busy eulogising about the Neue Welle of German power football flattening all before it this spring, have helped put another power surge firmly in the dark; that of South Wales. With the arrival of Cardiff City in the top flight next season, there will be two Welsh representatives in the Premier League for the first time ever and, in some small way, this resurgence mirrors the return to good health of modern football since the bleak grime and decadence of the 80s.  This dramatic Welsh achievement can be put down to a variety of factors, included amongst them good financial husbandry and impressive spending, depending which of the two clubs you start your analysis with.]]></description>
			<guid isPermalink="false"><![CDATA[937]]></guid>
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			<title><![CDATA[An afternoon stroll for City]]></title>
			<pubDate><![CDATA[Sat, 27 Apr 2013 08:23:59 PDT]]></pubDate>
			<author><![CDATA[Simon Curtis]]></author>
			<link><![CDATA[http://espnfc.com/blog/_/name/manchestercity/id/929]]></link>
			<description><![CDATA[It wasn't clear whether it was the bright spring sunshine or the discomfort at watching his midfield constantly give the ball away, but Sam Allardyce spent much of Saturday's game slumped in his expensively molded touchline seat, grimacing and wincing for all he was worth.   Maybe the seat was too tight a fit for his burgeoning girth. Big Sam has never been the prettiest man in England, it has to be said, with a face that, over time, has grown to look like something constructed from the old wooden beams salvaged from the roof of Burnden Park before they turned it into a supermarket car park.]]></description>
			<guid isPermalink="false"><![CDATA[929]]></guid>
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			<title><![CDATA[Paying our respects to Foe, 10 years on]]></title>
			<pubDate><![CDATA[Fri, 26 Apr 2013 09:56:26 PDT]]></pubDate>
			<author><![CDATA[Simon Curtis]]></author>
			<link><![CDATA[http://espnfc.com/blog/_/name/manchestercity/id/917]]></link>
			<description><![CDATA[When the ball hit the back of the net after 80 minutes of the Premier League match between Manchester City and Sunderland at Maine Road April 21, 2003, few of us applauding the piece of skill that delivered it there could have imagined that it would be the very last time we saw City score at the famous old stadium.   There were still three games to play until the end of the season that would see City move from their ancestral pile in Moss Side across the city to Eastlands and the newly vacated Commonwealth Games Stadium.]]></description>
			<guid isPermalink="false"><![CDATA[917]]></guid>
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			<title><![CDATA[Remember who City are]]></title>
			<pubDate><![CDATA[Wed, 24 Apr 2013 08:04:34 PDT]]></pubDate>
			<author><![CDATA[Simon Curtis]]></author>
			<link><![CDATA[http://espnfc.com/blog/_/name/manchestercity/id/910]]></link>
			<description><![CDATA[It is said that divorce and moving to a new house are two of the most distressing processes for the human species to go through. They both cause a combination of the following feelings in many of us: Despair. Relief. Disorientation Frustration. Elation. Bewilderment. Disbelief.  Elation?!  - Kompany: City will lift UCL trophy  On Monday some of those marked indelibly with the colour sky blue might have been preparing to go through something similar when we were formally and forcefully separated from the Premier League trophy.]]></description>
			<guid isPermalink="false"><![CDATA[910]]></guid>
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			<title><![CDATA[That End of Term Feeling]]></title>
			<pubDate><![CDATA[Sun, 21 Apr 2013 12:18:55 PDT]]></pubDate>
			<author><![CDATA[Simon Curtis]]></author>
			<link><![CDATA[http://espnfc.com/blog/_/name/manchestercity/id/906]]></link>
			<description><![CDATA[School's about to break up for the summer. To be frank, lessons have become a bit of a drag. You're not going to finish top of the class but you have secured your place in the high grade for next term. You will once again be spouting poetry and firing pellets amongst the clever fellows with the slick partings and the shiny shoes. The sun is shining down on you and your attention is beginning to wander to those lazy days of July chasing girls across flower-adorned meadows and watching seagulls circle over the local rubbish dump.]]></description>
			<guid isPermalink="false"><![CDATA[906]]></guid>
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