Atmosphere 2024/25

[willipp]

That's what happens when City fans don't turn up. The reasons don't matter: don't like UEFA, can't afford it even though some games are cheaper than PL games, place is full of tourists etc, etc.
If fans won't buy tickets then the club will sell them to tourists. Last night was arranged at short notice, but it was also short notice for tourists.
I doubt there are an additional 8,000 tourists to help fill the north stand so what will the club do next season if even more City fans decide to watch on the telly?

I think people forget that SC holders pay a hell of a lot for it already, so when cup games come around money is already tight and adding another 50/60 quid is too much. SC's have gone up and up and up year on year for as long as i can remember and that just makes games like last night harder to afford regardless of the opposition and pricing.

 

[Brightwell Bros.]

I had to very politely turn around and remind the "neutrals" who were cheering goals from Madrid and enjoying us get beat a bit too much that they were guests and should behave as such.

I actually don't care about tourists. Watching an Asian lad who clearly loves City come to his first game and get involved is quite sweet. The one and only thing I want is to be surrounded by people who are blues and experience the joy and pain collectively.

 

[M18CTID]

Things will continue to boil over as long as we have tourist fans in home sections. To the left of the South Stand, the stewards seemed to be doing their job of getting a number of fuckwits who celebrated when Madrid scored their first. I have mixed feelings about tourist fans. City supporters should always take priority of course and working that out is key - although I doubt it will ever be fixed while maximising ticket money is the way the club are operating. Tourists simply need to know how to behave. I'll be a tourist myself in 10 days when I go to the San Siro to watch Inter Milan. The difference with me and some of these weirdos at the Etihad though, is that despite me preferring AC Milan (we're watching Inter v Genoa), I wouldn't dream of cheering a Genoa goal and will be all in hoping for an Inter win on the night. It's about having respect for your surroundings.

While I'm here though, I witnessed some ugly behaviour from City fans last night. The FOC stood behind me who was on Rico's back from the second he took his tracksuit off needs to be reminded of Richard Edghill. Rico is a young player who, regardless of whether he will ever be at the level of Kyle Walker, bleeds blue and gives 100% every time he turns out. Last night, he was up against one of the best players in the world. He won a few challenges and lost a few. The twat behind me was almost gutted when Rico won a couple of tackles.

Then it got worse. At full time, a foreign lady and an older gent (maybe her Dad) were harassed on the stairs between 117 & 118. I don't know if they had celebrated a Madrid goal but what shouldn't have happened was the skin headed thug pulling the chaps hood over his face and holding it there, followed by him throwing punches at the woman when she tried to defend what I assume was her Dad. To be fair to the girl, she was game and went back at him. She was visibly shocked though. I went over to try and get the pair of them to safety, abandoning my (grown up) sons to do this. She was crying saying "I work here. This is the first time I've brought my family to the match." I don't know if she meant she worked at City or just in Manchester.

I hope that neanderthal was spotted on CCTV. I hope his mates tell him what a shithouse he is for picking on old blokes and punching women. She fucking shocked you when she gave you a few back didn't she? Dickhead.

This is spot on. I've been a football tourist myself a few times. At 1860 Munich where 4 of us - 3 City fans and a United fan - watched them against Ingolstadt in a Bundesliga 2 game. All of us were supporting 1860 and celebrated like fuck when they scored. A couple of years before that at my mate's stag do in Prague we went to see Slavia Prague play and we were all supporting Slavia and joining in with the songs. Well, the ones where we understood the words enough to join in that is! Oh, and an odd one some years before where about 20-30 members of the Levenshulme supporters club branch went to see Rochdale v Exeter. Buster Phillips was back at Exeter on loan from us and was our branch president so we all piled in the Exeter end and supported them throughout the game.

As for that last bit you posted, that's bang out of order and absolutely no excuse for it.

 

[Cellarite]

I had to very politely turn around and remind the "neutrals" who were cheering goals from Madrid and enjoying us get beat a bit too much that they were guests and should behave as such.

I actually don't care about tourists. Watching an Asian lad who clearly loves City come to his first game and get involved is quite sweet. The one and only thing I want is to be surrounded by people who are blues and experience the joy and pain collectively.

Top post.

 

[East Level 2]

I would argue it’s entirely on the club. Traditional city fans aren’t going to champions league games and I think a big part of that is price and the difficulty of getting tickets. Long standing fans who might have been priced out, young lads and locals and now going to the fa cup games instead. A few years ago those same fans would be at champions league games. The crowd against Plymouth will have barely any tourists.

The sales criteria doesn’t mean anything, as huge amounts of tickets are being sold on third party websites

But how long will fans priced out of the PL and CL games continue to pick up the slack for domestic cup games? Perhaps new fans of any age will settle for it, but former regulars who want to see more than half a dozen games all of which are dependent on the draw might not be happy with so few chances to see their team.
I know a rag who goes to some domestic cup and Thursday League games and he's happy with that. But he's never been a regular at the swamp.

 

[Manchester33]

FWIW I thought the atmosphere was pretty good last night. It's probably the best so far this season.

It was nervous when we conceded, but loud when we were ahead.

 

[uwerosler28]

Selling tickets to tourists isn't so much of the problem , the seats need to be filled and if they want them fair enough, their behaviour however needs to stop, I should not have to tell a group of lads that's sitting in Madrid scarves, cheering the opposing players and telling those around them that they hope "you" lose isn't acceptable. It's down right dangerous and fucking rude to behave like an away fan in the home end .

 

[blueparrot]

FWIW I thought the atmosphere was pretty good last night. It's probably the best so far this season.

It was nervous when we conceded, but loud when we were ahead.

Only watched this one on TV last night but it sounded okay to me, better that a fair few league games.

 

[Otamendi's Beard]

FWIW I thought the atmosphere was pretty good last night. It's probably the best so far this season.

It was nervous when we conceded, but loud when we were ahead.

Definitely depends where you sit. I was lower tier Colin Bell and thought it was terrible.

All of the issues as mentioned above with tourists, phones, songs not travelling further than south stand, etc.

Streams of 'neutrals' getting chucked out around there.

 

[Scaring Europe to Death]

I think people forget that SC holders pay a hell of a lot for it already, so when cup games come around money is already tight and adding another 50/60 quid is too much. SC's have gone up and up and up year on year for as long as i can remember and that just makes games like last night harder to afford regardless of the opposition and pricing.

You're right, but equally I know plenty of supporters who sit around me on PL matchdays, but simply can't be arsed with the CL, (and still wouldn't be arsed, even if it was free).

Traffic and half days off work are probably more relevant for them

 

[Charlesfarsbar]

The champions league games are different to any other game at the Etihad. Loads of people that you don’t normally see , away fans in the home end , neutrals just there for the experience with their cameras out

However , this has been the case for ages , when we beat Madrid 4-0 a couple of years ago , where I sit was full of tourists but the atmosphere was great

It only seems to be an issue when we lose the game

 

[freshie]

 

[Man_City_Loyal]

Club will probably see that haircut vid and open a concourse parlour for haircuts

"Get your matchday ticket and Phil Foden hairdo £150"

"Haaland hairbraiding, half and half scarf and seat £200"

sign me up haha.

In parts it was great last night, but it wasn't the atmosphere of 2 seasons ago vs RM. I've sat in the CB tier 3 since the ground opened (apart from a few years of a ban)

Its getting worse up there, try singing and your looked at like you've robbed someones nan.

if the club want to do something about the atmosphere why not try out all of the 3rd tier of the south stand for home fans in the fa cup game vs plymouth?

the sound will work out better

 

[MCFC 110]

Seriously what the fuck is going on at our club? Surely now real City fans stand up and say enough is enough? No, I’m not talking about Pep or the players but the board & directors who run our club. Sorinao, Khaldoon, Tarré etc.

Last night was an absolute disgrace, yet again.

Madrid fans getting haircuts in the home end?

Not one person celebrating our second in CB Level 1?

More tourists than Disney Land?

Atmosphere flatter than a pancake for a huge game we would dream of not too many years ago?

If this is the “price of success” then I simply don’t want it. It’s clear the club don’t give a fuck - they rub our faces in it in fact. They give away tickets to Madrid fans for Liverpool Away, state “1% of City fans come from Manchester”, cease selling Season Tickets to true fans in favour of tourist packages, and I could go on. We are ridiculed all across the country and there is little pressure or outrage from our organised fan groups and representatives.

1894 Group - too busy organising shite banners attempting cheap jibes at 13 x winners, and a team that beat us a lot more than we beat them. United/Scouse behaviour if you ask me.

City Matters - token gesture de-facto group with no voice on any of the real issues.

How much longer do us local City fans put up with this shite? We need to come together and make a stand against this as our identity is being stolen right before our eyes.

 

[Didsbury Dave]

Or the 2-1 League Cup semi derby v United when Tevez netted a couple .... as loud as anything I ever witnessed at Maine Road.

Light years away from that now, and probably gone forever.

It's not gone forever. Real Madrid in 2023 was louder than that game. So was Liverpool the season before. The magnitude of the games and the way we played saw to that. This thread is full of hysterical nonsense. Yes we attract more tourists than we did before but it comes with the territory. If we'd dominated the game last night the atmosphere would have been up with those games.

People have false memories of atmosphere like when people think that every summer was hot when they were kids.

 

[Marvin.]

Last 5 minutes 30-40 Real Madrid fans celebrated wildly in 305 (central tier at back of the East stand). They were everywhere last night. It always happens when we play Barcelona and Real Madrid. Their end is half empty but some of their fans get into home areas. It happens more than ever now because City's seasoncard holders don't by and large go.

City's Ticket Office need to take note because there is nothing worse than being sat amongst away fans celebrating. The damage is done. But they can reduce further damage by lowering prices.

 

[Gone for a Burton]

It's not an exact science.

Around me in ESL3 PL games all the regulars from Maine Rd.

Last night only 5 to be recognised.

Newbies (tourists) were all City fans but with varying levels of low interest & involvement, until we scored.

*ALL the youngsters,ages 10 to 18ish, were on their phones or filming for part or all of the match.

I would imagine this scenario was repeated around the stadium.

The only Franco fans I saw in the ground were Japanese who were getting a good kicking in a stair well after celebrating the late winner.

Imo....new or displaced City fans buying tickets for CL games, that are unwanted by PL ticket holders, is fine,it widens our fan base and what's the alternative....empty seats.

The only issue is 'away' fans in home seats, ( Franco fc sold 40% of their allocation), however I'd imagine that most of them were UK or Manchester based & could obtain tickets from numerous sources.

The bottom line is that we now have 3 groups of fans -:
PL
CL
Domestic cups.....

.....the vast majority being City fans of one sort or another and there's much to like about that.

Not all 'irregular' fans are 'tourists'.

More realism, understanding and tolerance is required.

*A socially prevalent activity NOT restricted to youngsters.

 

[Lowtower]

All begging signs should be banned

Dipper behaviour

 

[Sibierskii]

 

[Brad mcfc]

We've become what we mocked other teams for, It's only going to get worse.