City Fans Leaving Early/Empty seats

[mrtwiceaseason]

I'm just at the Football Museum and they've got Sky Sports on the TV's in the bar. Just shown the Fulham game highlights and the South Stand was more than half empty with a few minutes to go. That's supposed to be our most loyal hard-core support and most had gone before the end. Could barely believe it.

No mate must of been watching it in a mirror that would of been the family stand everyone says it on here :+)

 

[Fred_Quimby]

I have been opposed to the notion of refusing season card renewal to people who miss more than a certain number of PL games but I am slowly coming around to this idea. I am one of those who miss games in a season because we visit out daughter and her family in New Zealand but I ensure my seat is not vacant by loaning my card to my brother in law. I just can't get over the fact that some people just can't be bothered going to games considering the style of football we are playing. Miss more than 5 games and you have to join the SC queue again.

 

[Marvin]

I have been opposed to the notion of refusing season card renewal to people who miss more than a certain number of PL games but I am slowly coming around to this idea. I am one of those who miss games in a season because we visit out daughter and her family in New Zealand but I ensure my seat is not vacant by loaning my card to my brother in law. I just can't get over the fact that some people just can't be bothered going to games considering the style of football we are playing. Miss more than 5 games and you have to join the SC queue again.

These numbers are very small as the photos show. What gaps there are tend to be in little groups and are usually in the corporate blocks in the 2nd tier. Every such block at every ground in the country has problems with this audience (think of club Wembley or that block on the half-way line). There are also some small groups allocated to staff and they are not always present.

I think the ticket exchange has largely resolved the none attending seasoncard problem.

The issue is also massively exaggerated as shown by the photos earlier in the thread. In a crowd of 53,000 (1,000 down due to missing Fulham fans in tier 3) there must have been at least 51,000 present.

I am more interested in the numbers that turn up for our Champions League, and Cup games than I am about a few hundred empty seats in ground of 55,000.

 

[dickie davies]

These numbers are very small as the photos show. What gaps there are tend to be in little groups and are usually in the corporate blocks in the 2nd tier. Every such block at every ground in the country has problems with this audience (think of club Wembley or that block on the half-way line). There are also some small groups allocated to staff and they are not always present.

I think the ticket exchange has largely resolved the none attending seasoncard problem.

The issue is also massively exaggerated as shown by the photos earlier in the thread. In a crowd of 53,000 (1,000 down due to missing Fulham fans in tier 3) there must have been at least 51,000 present.

I am more interested in the numbers that turn up for our Champions League, and Cup games than I am about a few hundred empty seats in ground of 55,000.

If you really believe there were 51,000 at the game on Saturday you're in cloud cuckoo land

And not wanting to start an argument but you've said the attendance (I take it you mean official) was 53,000, then you say that there were probably 51,000 there but describe the missing 4,000 as "a few hundred"
Taking into account that 1,000 were Fulham seats that still, by your own estimation, leaves 3,000 missing which is over 5%. I would honestly estimate that is was more than 10%
I posted the highlights video and where it panned into the crowd at 37 minutes (and not the family stand), you could easily see that 1 in 10 seats in that block were empty

 

[Metalartin]

I have been opposed to the notion of refusing season card renewal to people who miss more than a certain number of PL games but I am slowly coming around to this idea. I am one of those who miss games in a season because we visit out daughter and her family in New Zealand but I ensure my seat is not vacant by loaning my card to my brother in law. I just can't get over the fact that some people just can't be bothered going to games considering the style of football we are playing. Miss more than 5 games and you have to join the SC queue again.

I agree with this, if the ticket exchange is too complicated for some of the older fans to grasp then the club can address that as long as fans let them know. For those that don't believe there's that many not attending this shouldn't be met with much opposition as if that is the case it wont affect many people, it would be a measure to prevent it which is no bad thing.

It seems a few fans are happy for nothing to change though(some would say quite forcefully so too with how they speak to those who bring it up) which I don't quite get. Surely everyone prefers a full house? Maybe some are just selfishly thinking about the queues before the game, at half time for beers and pies and for the tram after it?

The sooner fans show willing the sooner they can get on the clubs back about the problems with the tickets they are allegedly giving away for promotions or to ticket touts.

 

[Marvin]

If you really believe there were 51,000 at the game on Saturday you're in cloud cuckoo land

And not wanting to start an argument but you've said the attendance (I take it you mean official) was 53,000, then you say that there were probably 51,000 there but describe the missing 4,000 as "a few hundred"
Taking into account that 1,000 were Fulham seats that still, by your own estimation, leaves 3,000 missing which is over 5%. I would honestly estimate that is was more than 10%
I posted the highlights video and where it panned into the crowd at 37 minutes (and not the family stand), you could easily see that 1 in 10 seats in that block were empty

Repetition does not substitute for an argument. I refer you to JRB's photo. That's a full ground. I am not interested in arguing whether it's 93%, 95% or 97% full.

 

[Thomas Hearns]

If you really believe there were 51,000 at the game on Saturday you're in cloud cuckoo land

There were about 50 or 51. Vast swathes of the ground were full. No way was one in ten seats empty

 

[jrb]

From Today's MEN.

Report asking cjty centre workers to leave early as Lyon fans will be getting an escort from town to tbe Etihad.

According to......

The game is a 55,000 sell-out, according to Transport for Greater Manchester, and roads and public transport are expected to be busier than usual - 'significant delays' are expected.

Oh dear. What a croc of shite. 55,000 sell out my arse.

 

[HelloCity]

From Today's MEN.

Report asking cjty centre workers to leave early as Lyon fans will be getting an escort from town to tbe Etihad.

According to......

The game is a 55,000 sell-out, according to Transport for Greater Manchester, and roads and public transport are expected to be busier than usual - 'significant delays' are expected.

Oh dear. What a croc of shite. 55,000 sell out my arse.

You’ll not be going as usual?

 

[Metalartin]

Making all games available to buy for Cityzens Matchday members before the season has even started is a dream come true for touts (whether individuals or agencies like Viagogo). It turns what would normally be a labourious process spread over 9 months into something that can be done in less than an hour.

It's no surprise that they're all taking advantage of this, and it was noticeable how few seats were left for all games this season even on the first day of sales (2 seats together impossible for most games).

It's a policy I've found useful in the past but I'd rather City drop it if it makes life more difficult for touts/agencies. Go back to putting them on sale a few weeks in advance and there'd be loads more available for supporters that will actually turn up.

How do they not lose money? They must be charging a shit load per ticket.

 

[Bluemoon79]

With the football City are playing they should be selling out every home game and something needs to be done.

Prices don't help as the match day tickets are as high as £60 for some league games which is just too high.

 

[Tim of the Oak]

From Today's MEN.

Report asking cjty centre workers to leave early as Lyon fans will be getting an escort from town to tbe Etihad.

According to......

The game is a 55,000 sell-out, according to Transport for Greater Manchester, and roads and public transport are expected to be busier than usual - 'significant delays' are expected.

Oh dear. What a croc of shite. 55,000 sell out my arse.

It makes a pleasant change for the propaganda to be working in our favour for once.

Anyway, I think if the club is going to step up efforts to get the ground as full as possible (and I see this as more the responsibility of the fans who’ve bought the season cards) then I advocate closer working with main unofficial Face Value Ticket page. Daz & co got momentum going when it looked like our following for the Community Shield was going to be low. I didn’t used to be a fan of the unofficial site but I’ve been won over.

 

[Prestwich_Blue]

There were about 50 or 51. Vast swathes of the ground were full. No way was one in ten seats empty

Well if there were 50k people in a ground that holds 55k, it does rather suggest that close one in ten seats were in fact empty.

 

[Thomas Hearns]

Well if there were 50k people in a ground that holds 55k, it does rather suggest that close one in ten seats were in fact empty.

Touché sir

Lol at my own stupidity.

 

[Metalartin]

Wouldn't the best way to fuck the ticket touts off be to flag these empty seats up and track it back to the cityzens matchday member? How many tickets can you buy at one time anyway? This is why we need a Bayern like system all the more, if they do it at the start of the season for all home games, void their tickets on the seats they don't sell if it happens for more than 5 games.

Fans from all clubs hate ticket touts in general don't they? Even if they complained to the press the club could easily turn that into good press for stamping out ticket touts.

 

[mosssideblue]

I'll Leave when I want
I'll leave when I want
I'm MSB
and I'll leave when I want :)

 

[Dubai Blue]

How do they not lose money? They must be charging a shit load per ticket.

Some of them might end up losing money, as I suspect there's been a surge in touts/agents doing it this season. The way the matchday tickets sold after being released to Cityzens just didn't mirror anything I've seen before.

But as long as they can pull in a min of £200 per "Big 6" game, they're laughing. And there's plenty of tourists willing to pay that kind of money for the "big" games these days. Anything they can then get for the other 14 games is a bonus.

There's also the suspicion pointed out by a few on here that the club itself is working directly with some of these agencies, which reduces their level of risk even further.

 

[blueparrot]

Well if there were 50k people in a ground that holds 55k, it does rather suggest that close one in ten seats were in fact empty.

I don't know what other clubs take up is or our for that matter, but if s/c holders missed on average 2 games a season some games would have more no shows than others but wouldn't that mean we can expect about 4-5000 missing some games, though I'd expect more to miss a midweek than a Saturday 3.00.

 

[M18CTID]

If you really believe there were 51,000 at the game on Saturday you're in cloud cuckoo land

And not wanting to start an argument but you've said the attendance (I take it you mean official) was 53,000, then you say that there were probably 51,000 there but describe the missing 4,000 as "a few hundred"
Taking into account that 1,000 were Fulham seats that still, by your own estimation, leaves 3,000 missing which is over 5%. I would honestly estimate that is was more than 10%
I posted the highlights video and where it panned into the crowd at 37 minutes (and not the family stand), you could easily see that 1 in 10 seats in that block were empty

A close up shot of a single block. Which block was it by the way? What next? Because Block 210 was about half full, do we extrapolate that to conclude only 27,000 were in the stadium?

Personally, I think the pics posted by @jrb and @Pablo ZZZ Peroni tell a far better story as they show a much bigger section of the stadium and for me, I'd say there were something in the region of 2000+ empties in home areas. The pic of the much maligned family stand that Pablo put up where the no-shows tend to be the worst out of all the non-corporate sections show 150-200 empties in a stand that holds over 5000. Look at the pic of the East Stand level 3 - it's rammed with hardly an empty seat to be seen. To take a single block and claim it's 10% across the whole stadium when the stand that is deemed the worst for empties was at around 95% capacity shows that it's you who is living in cloud cuckoo land. And given that a considerable number of fans tend to piss off for a half-time pie or pint from 35 minutes onwards due to the utterly wank service at the kiosks, it renders the 37th minute clip even less worthwhile.

 

[M18CTID]

I don't know what other clubs take up is or our for that matter, but if s/c holders missed on average 2 games a season some games would have more no shows than others but wouldn't that mean we can expect about 4-5000 missing some games, though I'd expect more to miss a midweek than a Saturday 3.00.

That doesn't take into account all the non-attendees who pass their ticket on or stick it back up for resale on the ticket exchange. Speaking of which, it seems clear to me that some fans are doing themselves out of extra cash because they don't put their SC seat back up for sale on the exchange, either because they don't know how to or they simply can't be arsed.