10 days of Christmas: TSBV Style

As the team at The Sky Blue View feel bad for leaving readers with nothing to read for so long, we are giving you a Christmas treat, exclusive to this site. Every day from now until Christmas Day we will be counting down the 10 biggest cult heroes at the club, voted for by you! So at Number 10, it is... 

Niall Quinn

Niall joined the club in March 1990 from North London club Arsenal for a fee of just £800,000 and instantly became a fans favourite at the club.

He was the Peter Crouch version of the 90's, and used his 6ft 4ins very well during his stint at the Blues. As expected for a player with such height, he led the line brilliantly and created a hatful of chances for his teammates during his 204 game career for City. 

His most notable game in the Sky Blue shirt was in April 1991 when City beat Derby County 2-1. Quinn went on to score a goal as well as save a penalty in the same game, because original keeper Tony Coton was sent off early in the first half. 

Although he wasn't a prolific scorer for City (66 goals in 204 games) he certainly won the fans' over with his consistent performances, as well as his "disco pants" which are still sung about to this very day in the terraces.

Most of his City career was hampered after he suffered a cruciate ligament injury in the 1993-94 season, and never really recovered from then, eventually leaving the club in the summer of 1996 for Sunderland.

Now Chairman of Sunderland, he will most likely hold a place for City in his heart for the rest of his life. 

Come back tomorrow where we will look at who you voted at Number 9 in our Cult Heroes list!

We are back!

You'll be delighted to know that The Sky Blue View are back! After a large period of not posting (due to university and exams) we will resume. We will follow everything City as we have in the past and we aim to make our site even back. Welcome back.

What the Papers say? Wednesday 14th December

According to The Sun, Harry Redknapp and Tottenham Hotspur are planning a sensational bid for Carlos Tevez, whilst The Mirror have reported that Chelsea left-back Ashley Cole taunted City players by singing: "Thursday Night, Channel Five" in the Stamford Bridge tunnel after beating us on Monday night.

The Daily Star have said that Neil Warnock is tempted to launch a bid for Nigel de Jong on a loan deal.

Many papers including The Guardian have pointed out that Yaya and Kolo Toure have both been given special dispensation to play in the FA Cup tie vs Manchester United and the Carling Cup Semi Final against Liverpool next month after they were supposed to depart for the African Cup of Nations.

City vs Norwich: Match Preview

It's been another great week to be a Manchester City fan. Not only have we secured a place in our third semi final in as many years, but we have also beaten Arsenal away from home for the first time in 27 visits - incredible stuff. 

Sitting at the top of the league, it seems the sky is the limit for us this season - apart from in Europe. However, I will look at the Champions League situation in more depth after Saturday's game. Speaking of tomorrow's encounter, I would like to welcome any Norwich City fans who are taking a look at this match preview and congratulate you on a very good start to the season. 

As every football fan probably knows, Norwich secured their second successive promotion in May and were the first team to do this since, yes, you guessed it, Manchester City. We recognised the difficulty in jumping up two tiers within as many years, and were subsequently relegated. 

However, I see something different with this Norwich side. Personally, I believe Paul Lambert has done a terrific job at Norwich and deserves all the plaudits he is getting as his transfer policy is not only unique, but it seems to be working. Instead of buying "experienced" Premier League players who are past it, he has brought in some of the best of the players from the Football League.

Players like Steve Morison, who was drafted in from Millwall in the close season, has performed magnificently in his first ever Premier League season. In fact, his five goals this season have been keeping captain Grant Holt on the substitutes bench, which is some achievement. 

Trying to remove any sort of bias though, I find it hard to see Norwich getting a positive result tomorrow. We have been nothing short of breathtaking this season and with all respect to the Canaries, greater teams have been annihilated by ourselves this season already. 

Our home form is scintillating, and we have gone almost a whole year unbeaten at home, which is a remarkable achievement. For those who don't know, our last defeat at the Etihad Stadium was against Everton on the 20th December 2010, where we succumbed to a 2-1 defeat. 

Our key player on the day though will be David Silva, and we will once again need him to be in top form if we want to be playing at our best. I am not saying in any way that we are a one-man team, but I have never seen a player like Silva in the flesh in my life - he is absolutely immense and some of the things he can do with a football ceases to amaze me. 

Norwich come into the game on the back of a good result against QPR, and you get the feeling they will give it all they have got come 3pm on Saturday. I wish them all the luck this season, as it is good to see Lambert experimenting with the best of the football league, but I can't see them holding us to a result!

Prediction: 3-0 

Predicted lineup: Hart, Richards, Kompany, Lescott, Clichy, Yaya Toure, Barry, Milner, Silva, Johnson, Balotelli

What do you think of my prediction? Leave your comments below!