THE 93:20 NEWSLETTER:- EPISODE 40

Author

Howard Hockin
May 16, 2025

Hello, and welcome to Issue 40 of the 93:20 Newsletter, the one where the nerves are kicking in. As always, a lot to discuss, though am still annoyed about the Southampton match, so will swerve that, thank you very much. A shorter edition than normal, as my mind is elsewhere.

Come on City!

We start once more with the club for whom it always means more. There have been lots of opinions put forward on the imminent exit of Trent Alexander Arnold, and the booing that accompanied his appearance at Anfield at the weekend, all of which will have no doubt infuriated Jamie Carragher.

The acid test for City fans is to wonder what the reaction would be if Phil Foden left City on a free transfer to join Real Madrid. He may have to up his performances, to be honest. Anyway, I can only answer on a personal level, not for anyone else. Whatever thoughts may swirl through my head, I would not call him a traitor or a rat on social media, nor boo him at a match. I’ve booed one person ever – step forward Gary Neville. Still, good to see the true colours of a certain fanbase be displayed once more, and the desperate justifications put forward for their actions. Death threats are as integral as big flags and YNWA hashtags. Raheem Sterling is the case study that proves the arguments over Alexander-Arnold don't quite stand up to scrutiny. Sterling hadn't been at the club for 20 years, and Liverpool got a good fee (considering Jordan Ibe was the TRUE talent). Liverpool fans still made his life hell. Let's cut to the chase - it is not allowable for a first team player to leave Liverpool, and you will pay a high price if you try – unless they don’t rate you, in which case it’s fine. But hey, that probably applies to most football fans. But ultimately the justification is weird – he is one of ours, so it hurts more, so that’s why we’re abusing him so much.

It was a weird decision for Arne Slot to being him on against Arsenal. What was he hoping to achieve? Did he expect rapturous applause? He must have been taken in by the club’s PR machine, as Trent Alexander Arnold is very much walking alone, without much hope in his heart. With nothing to play for, Slot would be better advised to leave him on the bench and let him leave out the back door come season-end. He hung him out to dry.

Back to my true obsession – Manchester United. A random thought popped into my head this week, as random thoughts often do. We have seen, with ample evidence across a decade and more, that much of United’s decisions are made as a direct response to City – be it to make a point, assert their pull, or out of blind panic at the thought of being left behind by their noisy neighbours. This old tweet of mine shows how the media have played their part in linking United to every player City want.

And we all know that United have done City many a favour by actually buying many players City have been linked with, most of which flopped instantly – bought because they wanted to remind City how big they still were, rather than as a part of a sensible squad-building exercise, part of a distinct philosophy. I am convinced Jose Mourinho was hired solely as a reaction to Pep coming to City, their desperate last act to take him on. Jose is now reduced to his tired, outdated mind games being played out in Turkey. And so to this week’s random thought. Amorim was hired due to City too. It’s obvious really. He had been linked to City for a while, the general feeling was that Pep’s time at City was close to an end, so they nabbed him before City could, despite him being utterly unsuited to the squad he inherited, or the prevalent tactical methods in the Premier League. So thanks United, for doing City another favour. It would take a Premier League tribunal to see City that low down in the table United do their talking on the pitch.

As a side note, as I write this section on a warm Tuesday morning in Manchester (it was ever thus), I wish you happy 93:20 and Centurions Day. We may never see the like again. But there has been another important anniversary this week. It’s twenty years since the Glazers took over Manchester United, so let’s take a moment out to salute their two decades of shrewd, sensible management. Long may they reign over United, leeching every penny they can out of the Cayman Islands-registered business.

In your week's edition of "it could be worse"., and no I don't mean United. 

But instead, Coventry City. 

2023: penalty defeat in the play-off final.
2024: penalty defeat in the FA Cup semi-final.
2025: last second defeat in the play-off semi-final.

I’m still baffled as to how they lost that semi-final to United, once they had drawn level. Baffled at the final too, let’s be honest.

Coventry fans (I know you all subscribe) – I find that it helps, briefly, to compartmentalize heartache like this. Yes, you lost to a last-minute goal, but you may have lost on penalties anyway, and you would still have a final to win, and losing that would hurt just as much. That’s what I tried to do with the Wigan FA Cup Final – if the winning goal had never happened, we would probably have lost anyway, playing badly with ten men as we were. It didn’t really work to be honest, but I tried.

A Classic Of The Genre

Thanks to Nottingham Forest and their insane owner (ex) for cheering me up this week – the above message could have been written by North Korea’s glorious leader himself. How stupid would you have to be to believe this nonsense version of events? Though having said that, many Forest fans used it as a defence. But to back them up, we don’t know what was said between owner and manager on the pitch, so I do think some of the reaction has been rather over the top. But this is from a club that has had a chip on its shoulder for a couple of years now, which naturally stems from the owner, and who even hired Mark Clattenburg to attempt to combat the agenda. They deserve the ridicule they occasionally attract.

All this rather distracted from what was a horrific injury, and all the best to Taiwo, who thankfully seems to have completed successful surgery. The medical staff did not cover themselves in glory, but hanging them out to dry seems harsh. It has reignited the debate over officials not putting up a flag instantly, but how many injuries are really caused because of a few seconds extra football each match? Very few I imagine. There would be outcry if flags went up earlier and mistakes were made, so damned if you do, damned if you don’t…..

And so to the weekend. This is a shorter newsletter this week, as I am rather distracted. Can’t think why. It would be remiss of me not to mention City’s 31st visit to Wembley since 2011 this week. Don’t forget, two Community Shields involving City have been played away from Wembley, at Villa Park and the King Power Stadium, so it could have been more.

Your bums squeaking yet?

To everyone heading down to the big smoke, have a great weekend, whatever the result. I will naturally be gutted if City lose, but if there’s one club I can begrudgingly accept beating us to win a trophy, it is Palace this weekend. We’re all fans at the end of the day, and all fans deserve at least one day in the sun, even Liverpool and United fans.

Speaking of which, no big coat dilemma this time around, and this will be my first Wembley visit in T-shirt and shorts. I will probably regret this come 9pm.

Bring it home. City.

And don’t do anything stupid, Pep.

WHAT WE HAVE BEEN UP TO THIS WEEK

THE 93:20 REVIEW:- BORED MEETING

Ste is joined by Ahsan and Lloyd to discuss the pathetic display against Southampton.

THE MARKET:- EPISODE 36

Ahsan and Lloyd discuss the ever-evolving Wirtz transfer story, the Reijnders links, plus loads more. The only transfer podcast you need in your #mcfc life.

THIRTY TIMES

Howard, Ste and Tom take a whistle-stop tour of City’s 30 Wembley visits since 2011, and attempt to rank them too. An obvious winner (and loser)?

OPPOSITION FAN – CRYSTAL PALACE

Howard chatted to Dan (a.k.a. HLTCO) about all things Palace, from Glasner, to fandom, vultures, and a lot more besides. A must-listen.

THE WEEKEND SHOW

A bumper show as always, as Howard, Lloyd and Joe look ahead to a huge Wembley showdown, but talks transfers and more along the way.

If you are not a subscriber to our player shows, then enjoy some free samples of what we are about. Every show we do will have a 15 minutes sample on Soundcloud, along with a full, free weekly Friday show, jam- packed with content. Give it a try!