Yesterday
Tickets & fuel cost me 200quid add on a beer and food 250quid for a bog standard pl game.
I pay this because my lad (27) I want him to be the new blood but if I don't pay for him he can't afford to go.
I haven't really enjoyed game since the villa 3-2 game.
We had great night's in the CL, RM, PSG etc we have seen Messi, naymer, Mbappe for less than we pay for pl games. Now we don't qualify for these games as we can't afford to attend 3 group games.
Once my lad says he doesn't fancy going that's us both stopped. I go now really only so my son can live the next 40yrs going to City like his dad (me) grandad and great grandad. Sadly I think I'm going to be the last, he simply can afford these prices , what with the cost of living nowadays. Plus going to matches has changed so much since he first went 20years ago.
We have great memories of trips, like me setting his car on fire , or some roadrage knobhead waving a knife at us, or someone knobhead crashing into the car. Great times.
Football in 2025 isn't great. It's not just City nearly every pl club is the same. My lad wanted to look at the Oasis/City hoodie in the City shop, I thought I had be transport to China lol.
Sorry for the moan but I never thought I wouldn't like attending City matches. It's something hard to accept that I don't enjoy matches anymore.
I sat quietly in 315 something I've never done before.
Something has changed at City and it's not for me thanks.
You just know this isn’t going to happen though. South stand is where they want the peasants and away fans. SS3 was thrown up and doesn’t even have enough places to rest your pint. This new stand will be completely state of the art. The best facilities. They absolutely won’t want a load of pissheads in there. That stand is being built for £60-75 day trippers with maybe a bit for existing ST holders. Nothing will change. It’s pie in the sky to think it will.
I'm certain they took all 3 tiers yesterday, looked like it from where I was sat.
That's a very good point you've made, Speaking to other Blues yesterday they weren't putting it down to a "must win", It was more along the lines of "ah we'll see what happens" they are just going the game because that's habit.Very true, but it didn't have the feel of an important game. Walking up to the ground I got the impression fans were doing it out of habit rather than in anticipation.
I agree with this bit, mainly because the majority of games seem to sell out very close to kick-off. However, the club knows the likely demand for corporate/hospitality/tourists and should be acting accordingly.We're not Real Madrid though, we don't just have 8,000 extra coorperates waiting to buy tickets for every game, surely the club no that they're going to need to rely on locals to fill this new stand up.
It's also worth noting that coorperates paying loads won't want to be sat behind the goal up in the gods, they'll want padded seats on the halfway line
They took all three tiers, They were "decent" yesterday, Then again, I could have put my cat in the away end and I would of heard him because you could hear fuck all else :)I stand corrected?
I read on the ticket counting page Brighton hadn’t taken the 3rd tier and those tickets were being sold to City fans at a reduced price to shift them by the club.
100% this post.I read something on here about how blues don't feel "at home" at the Etihad. It's making me feel that way.
I got a ticket off a blue on here in level 3. I made my way into the ground and got a drink. In the twenty minutes I was there I didn't hear a single chant. I went for a piss, started singing "we never win at home.." and one fan joined in.
(Doff my cap to the blue having a cig who joined in)
I continued back into the concourse and the crowd looked at me like I had two heads. Like I was a wrong un for making noise. Not a soul joined in. Embarrassed I went to my seat and sat watching the streams of half and half scarves enter.
Luckily a mate of mine had a spare in level 1 so I made the decision to be late for kick off and leave. Back down the stairs and back into a queue to be scanned at security again.
Got down to level 1 and it was better but also shite. One blue was getting heckled by the Brighton fans and all city just stood there. What's happened?
I used to be nervous walking up to 115. It was always full of die hards and you didnt fuck about.
Now its like being at the Drs. Blues stood in silence, posturing, checking scores of other matches. Some gimp a few rows down spent the entire match chatting shite to his friends on the row behind, he wasn't even facing the pitch.
I'm a gobshite who will start a song off when it is quiet. There are fewer and fewer around than ever who will get one going.
I'm close to packing it in. Fuck knows what else I'll do
Its more than apathy in in the ground, it’s apathy about turning up in the first place. A ‘legacy fan’ might not sing but they will shout and swear. If they don’t show up the ticket goes to someone with their phone glued to their hand who doesn’t care enough to shout or swear. Not singing is one thing but a game with no passion and only the odd ripple of applause is weird. That said I don’t think yesterday stood out. When I think about it it’s been like this for too much of the season, across all competitions, so I left thinking it wasn’t the worst atmos because I’m sadly getting used to it!Shocked at the apathy yesterday. People more concerned about their bets and what they're having for their tea than the game in front of them, one of the most important of the season. Maybe it's good for the fans to have a season or two not competing and people can get hungry for it again.
It's enough fans but the location will never be good enough. Songs rarely spread from SSL1 around the ground because of the shit accoustics. The second loudest area in the ground SSL3 can't hear the loudest, that is never gonna help atmosphere. There's a reason nearly all of the songs that spread round the ground come from SSL3.South stand L1 holds 3000 fans.(roughly) That's enough fans to create a constant and decent atmosphere. In reality, there are a few hundred fans singing in the South stand at any one time, when the singing gets going.
Great idea, far too sensible.My preference would be to turn NS2 into a "home end" with relatively cheap tickets and to introduce half season tickets next January to get new or lapsed fans in, and also to allow fans from other areas to swap for the last ten games to try the stand with the understanding they could return to their original seat for the 2026-27 season if they don't like NS2.
Can totally relate. I had an influencer ask me ‘if I was sure’ it was my seat because she seemed to think she had reserved it as a place to put her bag…100% this post.
I've been in the South Stand a number of times but only do it if I'm going the game on my own as I normally have my daughter with me and as you said if you try get a chant going people look at you and you get the impression that they are thinking "what the fuck is that **** at"...
I sit elsewhere with my daughter because she's not great with noise that's why I used to avoid the South Stand, I reckon I could bring her in now no problem!
I'll give you a laugh, I was in 132 with my little one, About 30 minutes into the game an Asian woman was walking into the row that we were in, She said to me "You are sitting in my seat", I said "No I'm not, this is my seat". She walked off and got a Steward and they both came down and said "Can I see your ticket sir", I showed them the ticket on my phone and clearly my seat, Row V Seat 873, The Asian woman has her ticket on her phone and she's not even in the right fucking block, Plus she had Row A on her ticket...
An old blue on front of me in Row U had the same problem, He was a season ticket holder and the woman was adamant that he was in her seat, Another blue let a shout at her and said "He's there every fucking week love, Now piss off I can't see the fucking game".
I think that was Leicester, mate.I stand corrected?
I read on the ticket counting page Brighton hadn’t taken the 3rd tier and those tickets were being sold to City fans at a reduced price to shift them by the club.
The 1894 group get a let of stick too for some reason, I can't understand why they do, They put effort in and try create atmospheres.The atmosphere will fall off a cliff without the die hard fans..
Hahahahahaha ffs give me strength!Can totally relate. I had an influencer ask me ‘if I was sure’ it was my seat because she seemed to think she had reserved it as a place to put her bag…
I get the sentiment but the lads on their phones around me were all season card holders with thick Manc accents.Its more than apathy in in the ground, it’s apathy about turning up in the first place. A ‘legacy fan’ might not sing but they will shout and swear. If they don’t show up the ticket goes to someone with their phone glued to their hand who doesn’t care enough to shout or swear. Not singing is one thing but a game with no passion and only the odd ripple of applause is weird. That said I don’t think yesterday stood out. When I think about it it’s been like this for too much of the season, across all competitions, so I left thinking it wasn’t the worst atmos because I’m sadly getting used to it!
Shocked at the apathy yesterday. People more concerned about their bets and what they're having for their tea than the game in front of them, one of the most important of the season. Maybe it's good for the fans to have a season or two not competing and people can get hungry for it again.