Roll call for 9 minute protest

[Tim of the Oak]

It was unfortunately inevitable; if you celebrated any of the success that the Sheikh subsidised over the past 17 years, you can’t then complain about the erosion of the unique identity the club had, because the organic Manchester City most of us grew up a part of, and the recent monopoly of English football are very much mutually exclusive.

It’s essentially a new club - that’s why any all time 11 should be separated into pre and post 2008; otherwise non of the real club legends, who toiled generally against the odds in mediocre teams, would get anywhere near it ahead of the unprecedented raft of legitimate superstars this contemporary version of the club has had access to.

I’ve celebrated every win in the last 17 years. I’ve sang for the lads throughout the games. Great days are great days. The Villa Park 81 Cup semi final win ranks up there with the Yaya semi final win in 2011. There was 30 years between the games but it’s definitely the same club.

Directors can come and go, There will be many thousands of fans at home to Leicester on Wednesday, who would have been at Villa Park against Ipswich.

 

[DelToro]

We’re not going to put 12 years of hard earned contacts and trust with contacts at risk to someone on here who doesn’t really care.

You don’t have to take us at face value.

We’re happy with the information we receive from various sources and will continue to use that to our advantage.

I do really care.

I’m happy to criticise the club when it errs but on this occasion it did not.

I’m not sure what advantage you refer to either.

 

[havefaith]

I,m all for highlighting issues regarding tickets and being priced out of the club/game we love.

Would a more effective protest be for fans to simply turn their backs on the game, (Poznan without the bounce) let's face it any empty seats at the ethihad would simply be dismissed as normal service by the wider footballing world.

Imagine if all fans got together throughout the league (its an increasing issues for all fans is it not) and staged such a protest, no matter the TV angles it simply couldn't be ignored.

 

[Tim of the Oak]

But the FV pages are just as bad. If my pro-rata season ticket cost is £45 and I sell that ticket at 'face value', let's say £65, I've made a £20 profit. Even if I sell it at £50, I've made a profit. Thats not much better than selling it on viagogo.

You will get tickets for £20 or less for Leicester on Wednesday mate. Face Value is the max that can be charged.

We will also lose passionate support that is maintained despite disdain for City’s Directors. I recall a Wembley game against Arsenal when we were getting slated for slow ticket sales . A call went out from Daz and the mods to get behind the lads that resulted in many thousands of extra tickets being shifted. An on-line ticketing system can’t replicate that passion.

 

[.db.]

This is wrong though. At Anfield the top price for any game is £60, which is the full adult price for their Main Stand. We're charging over £60 for Wolves in SS3 and probably more for Villa.

It's £78 in 93:20 for Palace and the lowest price is £61. At Arsenal the lowest price you'd pay for the equivalent game is £43. At Spurs for their game against Palace the cheapest ticket is £48. A Chelsea Category B game is from £46 to £64.

We're well out of line with the other big clubs.

Massive thing this. I’ve been banging this drum for a few years.

There’s no range of pricing. It’s either expensive or very expensive, unless the opposition return Level 3 of the away stand.

Shit seats like front row on Level 1 behind the goal and back seats on Level 3 behind the goal are the same price as top views like Row T on Level 1 along the side or Row A on Level 3 along the side.

Loads of games this season have been £61-78 for adult. Loads of other PL clubs have £35-65 prices. I’ve mentioned many times how good Bayern are with pricing, a club we want to emulate.

Worst of all are children’s prices. Those same games that are £61-81 for adults, are £41-58 for children. While nearly all child tickets at Anfield are £9 for all PL games and until recently £15 at Old Trafford.

 

[Prestwich_Blue]

Massive thing this. I’ve been banging this drum for a few years.

There’s no range of pricing. It’s either expensive or very expensive.

Shit seats like front row on Level 1 being the goal and back seats on Level 3 behind the goal are the same price as top views like Row T on Lebel 1 along the side or Row A on Level 3 along the side.

Loads of games this season have been £61-78 for adult. Loads of other PL clubs have £35-65 prices. I’ve mentioned many times how good Bayern are with pricing, a club we want to emulate.

Worst of all are children’s prices. Those same games that are £61-81 for adults, are £41-58 for children. While nearly all child tickets at Anfield are £9 for all PL games and until recently £15 at Old Trafford.

Great post but I'd point out that the £9 prices for kids at Anfield is only for seats in their Main Stand. But the adult price for those is £60, regardless of the opposition, so £69 for a dad and lad compared to around £110 at City.

 

[Cellarite]

I want to know what the protest is about. I saw a tweet from Trade Union Blues called 'vianoshow' stating that its about the viagogo deal. I am not protesting about that. I have no interest in Hospitality seats and how the club choose to sell them. On the other hand, if it's about ticket pricing, I would support a protest about that. I am waiting until it becomes clear.

Clubs are calling normal tickets "hospitality". At City, you can have a meal at a restaurant near the ground and a normal ticket. At Anfield, a hospitality ticket can be a pint at a local pub and a normal seat. Do be mislead into thinking that these hospitality tickets on Viagogo will be cushioned seats on the halfway line.

 

[stonerblue]

You have the right to not give a shit and I have the right to think this makes you a selfish wanker

Still abusing posters then..

 

[Eccles Blue]

The thing that is beginning to worry me at present is that the press have taken it up and I have no trust in the media whatever.
Have they taken it up because they have observed how fractionised the protest is becoming, how it is dividing the fan base? Leaving the media waiting with bated breath for it to be a damp squib?

I do not want it to be a damp squib obviously (whatever @Damocles thinks of me) but I am wary these days of the British press. Sorry :-)

 

[Marvin.]

I don't know where you've been all season but this isn't just about Viagogo. Viagogo just happens to be the straw that broke the camel's back. No, this isn't just about Viagogo and the other 8 official ticket resale partners. This is also about wider ticketing issues such as incremental season ticket price increases, ever-increasing match day prices, the erosion of seasoncard numbers, the refusal to offer new seasoncards, the club only offering Flexi-Gold and the up front cost that goes with it, the club selling tickets via third party websites to anybody and everybody and not putting enough checks in place as to whether those buying are home or away fans and then not giving much of a shit if they are away fans, and the club refusing for weeks to meet with City Matters over ticket prices despite saying ages ago that they would (yes, I know they're now meeting this coming Thursday but that's weeks later than they said they would).

You know about all the above issues because you're a regular poster on here and you've posted in many of the relevant threads so I'm not sure why you're being so disingenuous about it.

I was going to participate assuming it was about ticket prices but later I googled '9 minute protest' and got a tweet from Trade Union Blues called 'Vianoshow' whilst Psychedelic Casuals has produced flyers demanding 'We want our City back'. I am not participating in a protest like that during 115 when the demands are unclear and ambiguous.

 

[CC1]

The thing that is beginning to worry me at present is that the press have taken it up and I have no trust in the media whatever.
Have they taken it up because they have observed how fractionised the protest is becoming, how it is dividing the fan base? Leaving the media waiting with bated breath for it to be a damp squib?

I do not want it to be a damp squib obviously (whatever @Damocles thinks of me) but I am wary these days of the British press. Sorry :-)

Me too EB. The media are loving watching City fans v the club. Anything to hit City with

 

[M18CTID]

I was going to participate assuming it was about ticket prices but later I googled '9 minute protest' and got a tweet from Trade Union Blues called 'Vianoshow' whilst Psychedelic Casuals has produced flyers demanding 'We want our City back'. I am not participating in a protest like that during 115 when the demands are unclear and ambiguous.

Why are you using 115 as an excuse? Are you saying that the club can afford to spend £180m on new players and commit Haaland to a new long-term deal without knowing the outcome of that but can’t make an announcement on season-ticket or match day ticket prices?

I’m not being funny but you must have “Gullible” tattooed across your forehead mate. I bet Soriano absolutely loves seeing posts like this.

 

[Corky]

What is the outcome being sought if they club were to make a concession to the fans? It isn't clear.

 

[Moss Side's Finest]

Why are you using 115 as an excuse? Are you saying that the club can afford to spend £180m on new players and commit Haaland to a new long-term deal without knowing the outcome of that but can’t make an announcement on season-ticket or match day ticket prices?

I’m not being funny but you must have “Gullible” tattooed across your forehead mate. I bet Soriano absolutely loves seeing posts like this.

I agree with Marvin. Any confusion over what you are actually protesting for will be the absolute ammunition the rag press need to once again slate the club in the media. Something most certainly not needed while the charges are front and centre. I would go so far as to say that any fan protesting at this time does not have our clubs best interests at heart (and I mean the actual name of the club, not the current ownership stewards)

 

[blueparrot]

Why are you using 115 as an excuse? Are you saying that the club can afford to spend £180m on new players and commit Haaland to a new long-term deal without knowing the outcome of that but can’t make an announcement on season-ticket or match day ticket prices?

I’m not being funny but you must have “Gullible” tattooed across your forehead mate. I bet Soriano absolutely loves seeing posts like this.

This is another thing that pisses me off, using Soriano as some kind of human shield. If you are angry about things happening about the club at least be honest and aim it at the owner and chairman. Not an employee doing the job he was employed for and which the club are happy with.

 

[Prophet of Doom]

Im all for campaigning to stop 3rd party sales, but I’m sorry the idea that City were flogging a story about Haaland being accused of assaulting a mascot to stop a story about a protest being published is fantasy.

The story of fans walking in on 9 mins would have barely got a paragraph in the press regardless of any Haaland story being offered.

Show me where it’s reported in the any of the papers not offered the Haaland story.

Ffs there was a full article in the Mail yesterday by their senior opinion reporter about stripping all our titles and accusing us of being Lance Armstrong - but you are saying our PR team are fine with that - far more worried about a few lines about some fans going to their seats on 9 minutes.

 

[M18CTID]

This is another thing that pisses me off, using Soriano as some kind of human shield. If you are angry about things happening about the club at least be honest and aim it at the owner and chairman. Not an employee doing the job he was employed for and which the club are happy with.

You make it sound like Soriano is an office junior on £10 an hour. He's not. He's absolutely the one who is calling the shots on this. And yes, I also agree that the likes of Khaldoon have the power to get him to reign it in. But don't go making out that Soriano is a victim in all this when he's actually an instigator FFS!

 

[blueparrot]

You make it sound like Soriano is an office junior on £10 an hour. He's not. He's absolutely the one who is calling the shots on this. And yes, I also agree that the likes of Khaldoon have the power to get him to reign it in. But don't go making out that Soriano is a victim in all this when he's actually an instigator FFS!

The club knew exactly who Soriano was and how he worked, they employed him for those reasons. Whatever the direction Soriano takes the club is the direction the owner wants the club to go. At least be honest enough if you want to blame the club then do it, not the somebody carrying out the what he was employed to do. Like I say using him as a shield.
Of course he instigates these things, probably anyway, but they don't happen without others approval.

 

[Gorton_Tubster]

Not sure what you guys achieved but I saw nothing, heard nothiing of it on the telly and radio. Might be just me I suppose.

 

[Academica]

Been thinking for a while on this subject, what does profit from ticket sales mean to the club. Why has scruffy at the swamp had to massively cut the workforce. It all comes down to meeting PSR, FFP or whatever else you want to call it. If profit from ticket sales was removed from the calculations of FFP, like it is for other things (ground improvements, youth teams) etc. There would be no need to fleece fans. At the moment It becomes a race to see who can extract the most from their fan base. Removing ticket sales from calculations for PSR would also level the playing field in the Premier League, something the authorities tell us they want to do. It then wouldn't matter that Arsenal are currently making £5m a game and clubs like Bournemouth or Wolves make a fraction of this. I think doing this would allow all clubs to control ticket prices, of course we all know it wouldn't suit the red cartel but I think it would benefit the people paying to watch football. I've no doubt the financial experts will be along to tell why it's not possible. Just an idea and I'm sure there are other ways of doing things. So it doesn't become a race to see which club can squeeze the fan base the hardest.