Etihad Atmosphere - 2021/22

[StrutterBlue]

Talking about the atmosphere feels like Groundhog Day for me.

It’s not acoustics.
It’s not position of singers.
It’s not the type of song.
It’s not the style of play.
It’s not the KO time.
It’s not the opposition.
It’s not nerves.
It’s not overconfidence.

These are all variables that affect every stadium whether it’s La Bombanera or Craven Cottage.

The difference between our atmosphere being brilliant and awful is down to the monetisation of us fans by the club.

We have had a decade of price rises.
Our match day tickets are extortionate.
We have vast, vast amounts of rarely occupied corporate seats. We have LED advertising boards. Adverts blaring at 150 decibels. The club don’t give a shit about the atmosphere as long as the money keeps flooding in and it shows. Fuck getting a bunch of 17/18/19 year old lads in when you can charge a family £200 + whatever they spend in the club shop and on food/drink.

The issue we have is that the club have rid our stands of the type of person who’s likely to create an atmosphere and replaced them with families/tourists/corporates. In a 55k stadium, we have around 5k fan(atic)s who will sing. The rest are purely spectators.

It’s so short sighted and as you said, it will cost us fans (and subsequently money) in the long run.

Simply put, we can organise singing sections and all sorts of incentives, but there will always be a limit on what we achieve when we’re treated as cash cows rather than supporters.

This right here, is why I'm not renewing next season. We have billions at our disposal but rinse the fans and force out the diehards for tourists and family's. At the derby there was an Asian lad wearing a united shirt (under his jacket) in 109 and was waving at the rags while they were warming up, it took a steward removing him to avoid him getting his head caved in. A proper city fan would have killed for that ticket, but no doubt he got through one of the clubs sponsored packages. As much as I laughed it of on weds against Brighton I do feel the club I supported all my life isn't there anymore. I really feel were becoming g everything we mocked the rags for a couple of decades ago.

 

[Originals]

The two most iconic goals in our modern history, Sergio and Vinnie, were scored deep in the second half attacking the North stand. It is worth something psychologically I think. Your away fans point is valid and that could be helped by moving them up to level 3 in its entirety, like Newcastle, away from the pitch.

Premier league rules state you have to have away fans on the bottom tier. Think only Newcastle and United get around the rules for h&s reasons or something

 

[Gingers Dad]

Our song list that regularly gets sung at games is absolutely shit! It’s the shittest song list in the league. It’s no wonder nobody ever joins in with the the dross we try and get going.

We have better songs than the songs we sing that we never sing. And we hardly ever sing about City. We must sing about City less than any club sings about their club.

Sing these songs regularly and with gusto and the atmosphere will improve:
Blue Moon
City City, The Best Team In The Land And All The World
City, We’re From Manchester (Go West)
We Love You City
We’re The Pride Of Manchester
Oh Man City, The Only Football Team To Come From Manchester
Na na na na na na na na City
City ’Til I Die
We All Follow Man City, Over Land And Sea
Oh When The Blues Go Marching In
We are City from Maine Road
… among many others we no longer sing

The shit we sing at the moment, nobody outside two small bits of two blocks in SSL1 are interested in joining in with it. Whenever we do give any of the above an airing, the rest of the ground does join in a hell of a lot more than with any other chants.

You could hear the players talking and the seven Watford fans that sang half a dozen times more than I could hear our fans singing in the second half today.
“is there a fire drill” by the Watford fans was the loudest chant of the last 10 minutes in a 5-1 win as all the Cinderellas did one out the ground.

I'm in 115 and can assure you that we will join in with whatever song you lot start. Unfortunately it seems that you all just want to sit on your hands and moan about the atmosphere

 

[Gingers Dad]

completely agree and have done for a while. The song choice in particular from block 114/115 makes no sense a lot of the time. They should be leading the ground, but rarely ever sing city chants

Strange to start having a go at the the only fans that make any noise in an atmosphere thread?

 

[Gingers Dad]

I went a couple of minutes early today which is rare for me but I was dying for a slash and it took me 50 mins to get home instead of the usual 90+ so I can maybe see the appeal in leaving early if the game is dead.

Just wondering what you did with those extra 40 minutes you gained?

 

[richards30]

I thought the atmosphere was pretty good yesterday and the south stand done their best to get things going? We were in 232 and got involved and early goals in both halves always help. Just loved being back at the etihad though, get the north stand done in a single tier blue Dortmund wall type stand, cover in the hideous corners where the extensions are done and all stadium is stunning! Oh and a full LED wrap on it would be nice though ;-)

 

[blue44]

read it, your Top Blue Badge is in the post

cheers

I'll wear it with pride.

 

[Scott mcfc]

I thought the atmosphere was pretty good yesterday and the south stand done their best to get things going? We were in 232 and got involved and early goals in both halves always help. Just loved being back at the etihad though, get the north stand done in a single tier blue Dortmund wall type stand, cover in the hideous corners where the extensions are done and all stadium is stunning! Oh and a full LED wrap on it would be nice though ;-)

The big stand behind goal will sort everything out atmosphere wise,but am just not sure we will fill stadium if its 60k ,big games yess deffinetly,it is what it is,few more years and yess we probably will,but thats how clubs on rise generate fans with success,it takes time,but we certainly are gettin more an more fans its fuckin good too see if am bein honest,gone of the days seein all the kids in utd shirts ,alot of them are city nowadays,its nice too see ,

 

[richards30]

The big stand behind goal will sort everything out atmosphere wise,but am just not sure we will fill stadium if its 60k ,big games yess deffinetly,it is what it is,few more years and yess we probably will,but thats how clubs on rise generate fans with success,it takes time,but we certainly are gettin more an more fans its fuckin good too see if am bein honest,gone of the days seein all the kids in utd shirts ,alot of them are city nowadays,its nice too see ,

Just about ticket pricing then mate? With the new arena right on our doorstep and sounds like there are plans for a hotel, retail area, restaurants, bars etc then we would certainly have more chance of filling a 60,000-65,000 seater stadium? Need less corporate areas imo as level two half line seats are always half empty and thus making the stadium look more empty than it should be? I get city is a business but if the owner is in it for the long long term then lowering prices short term could benefit hugely to them long term?

 

[Eric Hitchmough]

I believe the problem is multi-faceted. However, as others have said, one of the main issues is that the ‘legacy fans’ have been priced out. Many of whom were the lads and lasses who followed us through thick and thin and sang their hearts out.

 

[Tim of the Oak]

I’m all for cheaper ticket prices. The Club will probably have all the ticket sales and non attendance data they need. The information shows that there are 3,500 fans who miss at least 10 games per season and don’t attempt to resell their tickets. That’s the biggest factor behind empty seats rather than lack of demand.

I’m not sure that Blues in the cheaper seats stay longer at the match or do more singing. Maybe they do or a couple of hundred Tunnel Club / Directors Box tickets might be the outlier here. We certainly need to do more to encourage a more vocal following at home games but the only simple solution is for more people to sing loud and proud.

 

[Pubteam Lomas]

I’m all for cheaper ticket prices. The Club will probably have all the ticket sales and non attendance data they need. The information shows that there are 3,500 fans who miss at least 10 games per season and don’t attempt to resell their tickets. That’s the biggest factor behind empty seats rather than lack of demand.

I’m not sure that Blues in the cheaper seats stay longer at the match or do more singing. Maybe they do or a couple of hundred Tunnel Club / Directors Box tickets might be the outlier here. We certainly need to do more to encourage a more vocal following at home games but the only simple solution is for more people to sing loud and proud.

There are plenty of ST holders who play cricket who won't sell their match tickets because there's always a chance of their games being called off.
However, with seasoncards I know quite a few would pass them on to friends/family when it became clear they were going to miss the matches.
The 'new' system doesn't lend itself to that. Not saying it's 3,500 people but there's a good few.

 

[Tim of the Oak]

There are plenty of ST holders who play cricket who won't sell their match tickets because there's always a chance of their games being called off.
However, with seasoncards I know quite a few would pass them on to friends/family when it became clear they were going to miss the matches.
The 'new' system doesn't lend itself to that. Not saying it's 3,500 people but there's a good few.

Thanks for the info about cricketers they I wasn’t aware of. I aalsongree that there are plenty of people who preferred season cards. I also think some of the people who would take a spare ticket are reluctant to spend the few minutes to generate a Cityzens number. I’ve taken to not inviting them if I have a spare, rather than going through the hassle to sort a print at home ticket and then print it for them.

 

[give it to gordon]

Sat in 313 yesterday. Mostly young kids and young or senior age group. We knew it would be quite !.

Couldn't here any songs to be honest apart from bluemoon. I think it's due to the set of the stadium.

As for people leaving early the two next to me left before half time !

 

[Cheadle_hulmeBlue]

Strange to start having a go at the the only fans that make any noise in an atmosphere thread?

why is that strange? The threads about atmosphere and improving it. Song choice plays a big part in that. Especially getting other fans to join in. Would you not agree?

singing about dzeko or Zaba when going 1-0 up doesnt make much sense to me personally. Most of the ground never join in with those either. Don’t really see what’s wrong in saying that

 

[mattcity5]

Yes but the difference is they don’t disappear on mass like we do. We have a very unique fan base. All this success and lovely football yet half of the crowd can’t wait to leave the ground and get back home.

True. Liverpool have this myth of a great atmosphere in the media, but it's rarely any more than singing You'll Never Walk Alone at the start of the match and then again on 90 mins. However it does mean that fewer of them leave early, as its part of their cult to sing that song on 90 minutes.

That said, the atmosphere issue and the fans leaving early issue are not necessarily the same issue.

 

[bennyboy]

The cheap seats empty just as quick as the dearer ones.
Nonsense to suggest anything else.
I cannot think of a ground that does not have fans leaving early.
Not just City's problem.
Season holders not turning up a bigger problem.
The club should contact the season holders who have missed over a third of the games for a genuine excuse.

 

[Cheadle_hulmeBlue]

it's no wonder . 5-1 up after 53 mins and we turn it into a training session. goal difference could be absolutely vital .
i get the preserving energy bit but come on how many of those players at the end will start v RM.

i was bored to tears.

I find that odd. 5-1 at home, top of the league and your bored?

we used to win games 1-0 or scrape a draw and their would be more noise

 

[Betterdeedthan red]

Anyone have any idea if season ticket prices will increase next season.

 

[ytic04]

Mainly fans react to what is happening on the pitch and most of the time we watch a game of chess unfold and play in short bursts in the last third. The atmosphere does pick it's self up when it needs too, just not constantly. As soon as the subs were made yesterday the game died on it's arse and that's when we should have pushed the team to get 6 or 7, instead there was a steady flow of people leaving as time wound down.

For my two pence i would put the family stand upstairs and introduce another cheap section behind the goal.
I would shake up the mix of fans by having all under 18's seats the same price anywhere in the ground, people would move within their budget to parts of the ground they actually want to be in.

Next season will be interesting when people who deferred don't come back and others will have to make serious financial decisions as the current cost of living only looks too be getting worse for most.