Etihad Atmosphere - 2022/23

[stonerblue]

Here lies the problem with English football, we are English so we are not allowed to have ultras in the game, you may have the most competitive league in the world but the atmosphere really needs to be looked at, Rangers and Celtic both have ultras and they help create an atmosphere at games. There are capo stands at Celtic Park for the Green Brigade who help generate a lot of noise at Celtic Park and you just need to ask a lot of teams throughout the world where the best atmosphere and most of them will say, Celtic Park. Manchester City has 1894 but as a club needs to bring in new ideas to improve the atmosphere Pep has been quoted about this so many times about this. Please watch this video where a team set up in 2018 has a new stadium and they advise that the safe-standing section copy of the Dortmund Yellow Wall has been the best thing the club has ever done for the fans, so there is no argument saying you are too late to import it. Regarding football culture, you really need to move with the times the European teams and also MLS and Scottish teams have moved their culture by having ultra fans and doing marches before games etc with drums banging and smoke canisters going off.

Funny how the shit atmospheres in English football have made it the best league in the world eh?

 

[Elliot houghton]

We don’t have a problem with our atmosphere.

If we're judging it on English football standards we're far from the worse but sometimes its embarrassing how bad it is on Wednesday seen more people recording game on phone than singing and that was in the "singing section" things do need to change overall but they are other options before we need to even consider ultras

 

[Tim of the Oak]

The fact that so many people are saying drums should be banned (rather than us just making more noise than the drum) epitomises just how football fans have changed.

'I don't want loud sounds ruining my expensive match viewing experience, I want to turn up late, miss either side of half time at the bar, sit here in relative silence, and then leave 10 minutes early, because that's my right as a fan, it's my money and I'll do as I please'

OK that's a purposely extreme example made to make my point. However the fact is, whilst we may not need ultras with drums and flares, we do need better support in many home games. The Copenhagen game was a disgrace of a performance from city fans, all the home fans could have left early (and huge swathes did) and the atmosphere would have been no different.

Everyone will have their opinion on the subject, from "it is what it is" to "I can do what I want" to "people who complain about it are pricks" to "I'm not part of the problem".

The facts are though that players consistently say that great atmospheres help the team play better, we want our team to play even better and win everything (and complain when they dont), we can help them play better by creating a better atmosphere.

Surely, all excuses aside it's a no brainer.

The fact that so many people are saying drums should be banned (rather than us just making more noise than the drum) epitomises just how football fans have changed.

'I don't want loud sounds ruining my expensive match viewing experience, I want to turn up late, miss either side of half time at the bar, sit here in relative silence, and then leave 10 minutes early, because that's my right as a fan, it's my money and I'll do as I please'

OK that's a purposely extreme example made to make my point. However the fact is, whilst we may not need ultras with drums and flares, we do need better support in many home games. The Copenhagen game was a disgrace of a performance from city fans, all the home fans could have left early (and huge swathes did) and the atmosphere would have been no different.

Everyone will have their opinion on the subject, from "it is what it is" to "I can do what I want" to "people who complain about it are pricks" to "I'm not part of the problem".

The facts are though that players consistently say that great atmospheres help the team play better, we want our team to play even better and win everything (and complain when they dont), we can help them play better by creating a better atmosphere.

Surely, all excuses aside it's a no brainer.

I’m not quite sure what you see as a “disgrace”. The home crowd was quiet for most of the game but over 50k of us turned up in appalling weather and dodged train strikes to get there. I join in with every song and even start an occasional chant, but what other people do is up to them.

You are right that there hasn’t been a commitment across the Club and fans to have a good, consistent atmosphere. I1894 have helped to improve the atmosphere for Prem games in recent seasons but the messaging from the Club hasn’t always been great. When they told City Matters to look at away games first and put home games on the back burner is one example.

FWIW, I don’t like to read “solutions” (not in your post) that involve moving existing fans out of there seats in a redesigned stadium. I’m for an expanded North Stand but the answers are for fans to find their voices and the South Stand and Kippax Light to be better coordinated.

 

[ArniArason]

We don’t have a problem with our atmosphere.

I'd say you are at stage 1 of the Kubler-Ross Change Curve. You'll get there eventually

 

[JASR]

There’s absolutely nothing special about the atmosphere in that stadium whatsoever.

It’s as though the playing of 2 halves of 45mins of football has wilfully and rudely interrupted the entire experience…

 

[Deleted member 77198]

If we're judging it on English football standards we're far from the worse but sometimes its embarrassing how bad it is on Wednesday seen more people recording game on phone than singing and that was in the "singing section" things do need to change overall but they are other options before we need to even consider ultras

As I’ve said, our fanbase holds the Champions League Group Stages as seriously as we do the early rounds of the EFL and FA Cups. It’s not the business end of the season in that competition, we’re on something like 15 wins out of 18 Group Stage home games with an aggregate score line of something like 50-10. There’s no jeopardy, even when we lost to Lyon in the Group Stage at home (and drew with them away), we won the group.

Most of my mates don’t even go to the CL Group Stage games. I do, but I’m never as active or vocal in my support on those nights compared to Prem games or later in the season in the CL. Even when we played against Celtic in a British derby, they treated it like it was a massive game and we treated it like it was a pre-season friendly as we’d already qualified and it was only the Group Stage.

So I’d never judge our CL Group Stage atmospheres, just like we wouldn’t last season’s EFL Cup Third Round game against Wycombe or FA Cup Fourth Round game against Fulham.

We’ve been spot on this season with our Premier League atmospheres.

 

[Brightwell Bros.]

Here is the solution you redevelop the North Stand into a bottom tier featuring all safe standing(ultra section) and the top tier into the cheapest area in the ground so attracting younger fans with a capo stand at the front for everyone else can have their normal seats in other stands

Please watch this video about Orlando and how they do it

The reaction you're getting on here is probably giving you a snapshot of what the capo would get in the ground! Lol!

It sounds easy ("turn the north stand into an ultra area, make the redeveloped area cheap for under 25s"), but that's not really how ticketing works. And we don't have "ultras" so how would you make sure only "ultras" got tickets in there? What would happen is some people would move there, lots of people already there would stay, a bunch of people on the waiting list would grab a season ticket, and it'd look like the south stand within a few years. IE: great in big games, and a lot of them skipping CL games and being replaced by newer people.

For what it's worth, I don't think atmosphere has been an issue since the pandemic. Games against Copenhagen that come sandwiched between a derby and another PL home game are a bit flat, that's how it is.

And I've watched the videos...I really don't think they're that amazing? I'm glad for the people there, it looks fun enough, and I think it's great the USA is developing its own identity that seems to be a cross between European spectating and college football marching bands and stuff, but it just isn't something that would work in Manchester. I'm not saying that to be close minded, I'm just telling you how it is. You've got to work with the existing supporter base, it's culture and everything else.

 

[Deleted member 77198]

I'd say you are at stage 1 of the Kubler-Ross Change Curve. You'll get there eventually

I’m wondering if you’ve been to the Etihad for a Premier League game this season if you think that.

 

[mancityvstoke]

Here is the solution you redevelop the North Stand into a bottom tier featuring all safe standing(ultra section) and the top tier into the cheapest area in the ground so attracting younger fans with a capo stand at the front for everyone else can have their normal seats in other stands

Please watch this video about Orlando and how they do it

er.....no

 

[ArniArason]

I’m not quite sure what you see as a “disgrace”. The home crowd was quiet for most of the game but over 50k of us turned up in appalling weather and dodged train strikes to get there. I join in with every song and even start an occasional chant, but what other people do is up to them.

You are right that there hasn’t been a commitment across the Club and fans to have a good, consistent atmosphere. I1894 have helped to improve the atmosphere for Prem games in recent seasons but the messaging from the Club hasn’t always been great. When they told City Matters to look at away games first and put home games on the back burner is one example.

FWIW, I don’t like to read “solutions” (not in your post) that involve moving existing fans out of there seats in a redesigned stadium. I’m for an expanded North Stand but the answers are for fans to find their voices and the South Stand and Kippax Light to be better coordinated.

Having 50k+ people show up in the rain is great and all, but it depends on what the reason for having these fans in the stadium is. Is it so they can view a football game just for there own benefit and give the club good gate receipts, or is it for that AND to help their team by supporting them. If its the former then you could get the same effect from just inviting 50k neutral fans. I think it's the latter, which is why I made the disgrace comment, on Wednesday it felt like we had 50k neutral fans in the Etihad, in addition to a bunch of crazy jumping Danes with a drum. (p.s. you knew it's bad when Danish fans sing "is this a library" in English to you)

 

[Del_Bosque]

Rather have another Covid season than a song sheet, someone with a drum and a crapo on a megaphone.

Fucking MLS, do me a favour.

 

[mancityvstoke]

Having 50k+ people show up in the rain is great and all, but it depends on what the reason for having these fans in the stadium is. Is it so they can view a football game just for there own benefit and give the club good gate receipts, or is it for that AND to help their team by supporting them. If its the former then you could get the same effect from just inviting 50k neutral fans. I think it's the latter, which is why I made the disgrace comment, on Wednesday it felt like we had 50k neutral fans in the Etihad, in addition to a bunch of crazy jumping Danes with a drum. (p.s. you knew it's bad when Danish fans sing "is this a library" in English to you)

Singing "you're fucking shit " to the dibble and stewards was funny.

or was it "you're shit and you know you are? "

Rest of your post? People pay money to attend a football game so they do what the fuck they want.

There were a LOT of neutral fans there and the atmosphere was no different to most early round Ch Lge games. In fact it wasn't that bad .

The phones thing made me frown a bit.

 

[supercity88]

Having 50k+ people show up in the rain is great and all, but it depends on what the reason for having these fans in the stadium is. Is it so they can view a football game just for there own benefit and give the club good gate receipts, or is it for that AND to help their team by supporting them. If its the former then you could get the same effect from just inviting 50k neutral fans. I think it's the latter, which is why I made the disgrace comment, on Wednesday it felt like we had 50k neutral fans in the Etihad, in addition to a bunch of crazy jumping Danes with a drum. (p.s. you knew it's bad when Danish fans sing "is this a library" in English to you)

As has already been said. The CL group stages are a precession for us. There's no atmosphere because there's nothing at stake. We lose, fine we'll win the next one and qualify anyway. The team got the job done so they didn't need us to do anymore than we did. If it was 0-0 after 70 minutes or we were 1-0 down things would have been different. The atmosphere against Dortmund was better because the game needed the fans to step up.

When we played Real the atmosphere was brilliant and the CL has always been slightly poorer because a lot of fans still hate UEFA so much they don't give a shit about the CL. In the league the atmosphere has been very good. We play to the game and boost the team when we need to or the occasion requires us to. Those ultra videos might make some noise and they're impressive at first but when it's the same thing game after game it becomes dull. And it's just background noise that's monotonous a lot of the time. That doesn't inspire the players. You need peaks and troughs. If the stadium's a bit quiet and we're under pressure a big burst of come on city makes a big impact and gets a reaction from the players.

 

[LEXSTARproject]

The reaction you're getting on here is probably giving you a snapshot of what the capo would get in the ground! Lol!

It sounds easy ("turn the north stand into an ultra area, make the redeveloped area cheap for under 25s"), but that's not really how ticketing works. And we don't have "ultras" so how would you make sure only "ultras" got tickets in there? What would happen is some people would move there, lots of people already there would stay, a bunch of people on the waiting list would grab a season ticket, and it'd look like the south stand within a few years. IE: great in big games, and a lot of them skipping CL games and being replaced by newer people.

For what it's worth, I don't think atmosphere has been an issue since the pandemic. Games against Copenhagen that come sandwiched between a derby and another PL home game are a bit flat, that's how it is.

And I've watched the videos...I really don't think they're that amazing? I'm glad for the people there, it looks fun enough, and I think it's great the USA is developing its own identity that seems to be a cross between European spectating and college football marching bands and stuff, but it just isn't something that would work in Manchester. I'm not saying that to be close minded, I'm just telling you how it is. You've got to work with the existing supporter base, it's culture and everything else.

Thanks for the points Brightwell, our ultra is 1894 like the 3522 in Los Angles, the idea is the club would open up and work with 1894 so if you wanted a season ticket for the area you would work with 1894 by joining their supporters' association so if you wanted to be in the loudest part of the ground the new North Stand. The rest of the people who don't want to be can go to other parts of the ground where is less noise from people playing the drums etc. Regarding working with the supporter base making the North Stand the cheapest area in the ground would be a massive step forward. Culture be changed if you allow it, if the club had not changed its culture we would still be at Maine Road and we would not have Pep as manager when CFG took over they changed the culture invested in youth built the campus etc, and started getting all the teams playing 4-3-3 so youth players can come in play straight of the bat

Here is a video where the ultra worked with the club to help improve the atmosphere and facilities

 

[JASR]

There were a LOT of neutral fans there...

As posted earlier in the thread. I won tickets to a box of 10.
I was the only City fan.

And there was a United fan there as well...though his brother-in-law was Danish supporting Copenhagen... I did enjoy the comments of the rest of the box talking about the stunning stadium and facilities .. especailly when they started comparing it to the crap at Old trafford. :-D

Most of the box were there for the freebie, the amazing football... and Haaland.

 

[Tim of the Oak]

Having 50k+ people show up in the rain is great and all, but it depends on what the reason for having these fans in the stadium is. Is it so they can view a football game just for there own benefit and give the club good gate receipts, or is it for that AND to help their team by supporting them. If its the former then you could get the same effect from just inviting 50k neutral fans. I think it's the latter, which is why I made the disgrace comment, on Wednesday it felt like we had 50k neutral fans in the Etihad, in addition to a bunch of crazy jumping Danes with a drum. (p.s. you knew it's bad when Danish fans sing "is this a library" in English to you)

I laughed at that good quality banter from the Danes. We should give a bit of credit where it’s due. The Dutch famously took the piss out of the Germans (in German) and it’s seen as a mark of top banter across Europe.

I would love us to be loud and passionate every game but we aren’t so I will make do with brilliant football and even decent ticket prices the other night

 

[jamielowndes]

Hard to really generate an atmosphere when only 1 team is trying to play. It looked like an exhibition. The Dortmund game was a lot better.

As for the Copenhagen fans, European teams just come in and sing for the sake of it. Outside of goals, they don't react to anything going on. There were a few funny spots of banter, but generally once you've heard one you've heard them all.

 

[Tim of the Oak]

Thanks for the points Brightwell, our ultra is 1894 like the 3522 in Los Angles, the idea is the club would open up and work with 1894 so if you wanted a season ticket for the area you would work with 1894 by joining their supporters' association so if you wanted to be in the loudest part of the ground the new North Stand. The rest of the people who don't want to be can go to other parts of the ground where is less noise from people playing the drums etc. Regarding working with the supporter base making the North Stand the cheapest area in the ground would be a massive step forward. Culture be changed if you allow it, if the club had not changed its culture we would still be at Maine Road and we would not have Pep as manager when CFG took over they changed the culture invested in youth built the campus etc, and started getting all the teams playing 4-3-3 so youth players can come in play straight of the bat

Here is a video where the ultra worked with the club to help improve the atmosphere and facilities

I think it’s a good point about requiring people in a new Singing Section to be 1894 members.

Picking up on a point made by another poster about Capos. We effectively had them in the Kippax light a few years ago when I moved to 111 for CL fixtures. People only sang in there there one or two individuals started a chant.

 

[mancityvstoke]

 

[Nethermoor]

Here's my take. As a new City fan but having followed my actual club all over the country and having away fans come to our place and often outnumber us when we were in the conference.

I'll add in my match going mates opinion too (Wolves fan).

The atmosphere is better at bigger games, but that's par for course.

The chants are crap, there's no repetition. Take the dippers with the allez chant, they sing it more than just once.

It's awkward for new fans. I didn't see Zabaleta, Edin Dzeko etc. I don't sing those.... it would feel wrong.

We never win at home we never win away, we're not really here. I'll get stick for this but they're shit. I sing them, but they're shit. Might have been funny when being good was new, but time to move on.

Favourites are: Never felt more like singing the blues, Blue moon etc. Proper songs, that mean something. And CITY CITY CITY. Every corner that should be rolled out.

Anyway just my opinion. Doesn't change how much I love coming and will continue to come. I love the club, the stadium, the fans, the team.