City Fans Leaving Early/Empty seats

worsleyweb said:
Our lads deserve everyone to stay to the end and clap them off.
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100% agree. My concern is that okay the players are all millionaires and it shouldn't matter that the games are ending in an empty stadium, but like Yaya's cake, it probably does. This is the best football we have ever seen played at our club, and yet people around the world are watching our matches end in front of empty stands and thinking WTF. For me we should all (where we can of course) stay behind to applaud them off as a note of thanks, because it must take the shine off a great result and/or an Aquero smasher in off the bar to see rows of empty seats!. Likely, there are countless supporters at clubs in the country who would happily swap places with us even if it meant being locked in the ground for 30 minutes at the end of the game. Sidebar: Millwall away in the 1980s - the only time I actually wanted to be locked in for at least an hour and a half after the final whistle..... anyone remember that...)

I cannot see how we the fans can fix it - it might be part of the mancunian "...I can't be mithered with it..." attitude to life in general that means we tend not to go to extremes in our reactions (usually a good thing IMHO). However, if only we could have a culture of 'we stay to the end' that people understood and bought into; however it would have to come from us, the fans, spreading the word, and definitely not from the club. I don't know how we do it but it has to come collectively from us - at least this thread represents that we care about it.

For sure, the club could do a few things: in the upper stands around the ground there are not enough mass exits at the upper rear of the stands which means a long queue down each stairwell unless you are gone by the 86th minute. It is now recognised that in today's society people no longer accept queuing for 'anything' and will vote with their feet at the soonest instance rather than hang around, but is it worth the club building more spirals (eg south stand) so solve this problem - probably not: they'd best conduct a survey first to see what percentage would stay if they did etc. From my perspective, once I'm outside at ground level I'm happy and I can see why many want to 'nip out' whilst they can rather than stand on the stairs for 10 minutes.

As we know the exit for vehicles around the ground is notoriously poor - with nothing on the west side of the ground at all. But I'm fairly sure its always been bad like this at most grounds around the country - so I'm stumped as to what the club could do, which is a pity given how much space they had to build into.

Note in terms of rewarding the 'stayers', from a technological perspective, using today's camera / imaging technology its really easy to keep track of where people are in the ground at all times. It might sound weird, but this is already happening in retail where 'movement of heads' around a store or a mall is tracked and logged 24/7 for minimal extra cost: its a massive 'game' in retail lighting at the moment (and BTW there's no need for face recognition).

So If you got rewarded significant loyalty points for being in your seat at 90 minutes - would you accept it? Note its only accepted in retail because no face recognition is used and besides people don't know its actually going on! So just consider, if you spend 20 minutes choosing a toothbrush in a store, or avoid walking down the fruit and veg aisle to get to the beer - they know all about stuff like this!
All said and done though, its down to us fans to create the culture or propose the solution.
 
I usually stay to the end; but I have to admit, getting home by public transport, especially at night, is an absolute pain in the butt. Basically I have to walk a mile or wait for an hourly bus. It's not like I live in somewhere obscure, like Hulme End or Bamfurlong. Only just outside the M60. At my age walking a mile in the dark, or hanging about bus stops for ages are equally unattractive. Sorry, but there it is.

I don't think there's any practical way of making people stay to the end. The more you penalise them, the more they are going to say "stuff it!" and not go at all.

I seriously believe that a lot of problems are down to a) diabolical public transport and b) the relatively high average age of our fans.
 
This is clearly an issue, but an angry topic on Bluemoon forum isn't going to change anything.

There are two ways we can improve the situation. Firstly, reward people who do stay until the end. I've always said there should be little scanners on the concourse that come online 2 mins after the final whistle. If you scan your ticket you get an extra 15/20 ticket points. They've already proved they can do this concept with cityzens points in city square. The extra points mean fans who routinely stay until the end become more likely to get tickets for bigger games - in my opinion fans who stay to the end would be more likely to create a better atmosphere which will help the club long term.

The second is to identify why people leave early. It's clearly because getting away from the ground is a nightmare. My solution would be to give EVERYONE with a match ticket free use of public transport within Greater Manchester. For me, getting public transport is more expensive when compared to driving and paying for parking. It's significantly less convenient as well. If there were a financial incentive, myself and others would get public transport, meaning less cars on the road, meaning people who need to rush off can drive to the games and get away quicker.
 
BrianW said:
I usually stay to the end; but I have to admit, getting home by public transport, especially at night, is an absolute pain in the butt. Basically I have to walk a mile or wait for an hourly bus. It's not like I live in somewhere obscure, like Hulme End or Bamfurlong. Only just outside the M60. At my age walking a mile in the dark, or hanging about bus stops for ages are equally unattractive. Sorry, but there it is.

I don't think there's any practical way of making people stay to the end. The more you penalise them, the more they are going to say "stuff it!" and not go at all.

I seriously believe that a lot of problems are down to a) diabolical public transport and b) the relatively high average age of our fans.
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In relation to (a) Not helped by the fact that all forms of transport away from the ground towards town use the same road - who designed it so that the busses, the trams, cars and people walking to town all use the same ffin road - its no good giving people 4 ways of getting from the ground to town if all of those 4 methods use the same stretch of road. Which plant pot came up with that idea?

(b) the way some people crucify the family stand on this thread , its only going to get older.
 
We need an underground...always have. The tram idea wasnt good enough.

New York and Chicago, I think, have overhead railways too....maybe that idea.

Plus a flyover extension to the Manc way

I like spending money
 
I have been a staunch defender of the folks who leave early for all the reasons mentioned with the issues with exit from the ground (especially SSL3) and surrounds... I left at around '87 mins last game and did kick myself for missing the Aguero screamer... BUT it's my loss

I got home handy but missed a peach....
 
Manchester33 said:
This is clearly an issue, but an angry topic on Bluemoon forum isn't going to change anything.

There are two ways we can improve the situation. Firstly, reward people who do stay until the end. I've always said there should be little scanners on the concourse that come online 2 mins after the final whistle. If you scan your ticket you get an extra 15/20 ticket points. They've already proved they can do this concept with cityzens points in city square. The extra points mean fans who routinely stay until the end become more likely to get tickets for bigger games - in my opinion fans who stay to the end would be more likely to create a better atmosphere which will help the club long term.

The second is to identify why people leave early. It's clearly because getting away from the ground is a nightmare. My solution would be to give EVERYONE with a match ticket free use of public transport within Greater Manchester. For me, getting public transport is more expensive when compared to driving and paying for parking. It's significantly less convenient as well. If there were a financial incentive, myself and others would get public transport, meaning less cars on the road, meaning people who need to rush off can drive to the games and get away quicker.[/QQ
Mmm, people leaving their seats early to get in the final whistle ticket scan queue.
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