Protest v Wolves

[TheGhost]

In all honesty, they could still twist that to be topping up relocations to + 4k, the devils in the detail I suppose, would be great if @Alex - City Matters or anyone else involved in the discussions could offer clarity, I suspect they’ll be like the rest of us

You know there’s some kind of shenanigans - probably the expected drop in season cards from 10+ games attended rule is 4k - otherwise that would have been at the top of the press release

 

[blueparrot]

It's certainly a start but there's still the issue of matchday ticket pricing. The cheapest full adult ticket for tonight is £71. At Arsenal that cheapest ticket would be £43. At Anfield you wouldn't pay more than £61 to watch a game, and that's from the best general admission seats in their main stand.

We may have won a couple of battles but the war isn't over. As @M18CTID says above, we need to keep the pressure on regarding the outstanding issues.

Thats fair, but the approach for me is to make a gesture of calling it off or postponing it withe proviso the club continues discussions around any outstanding issues like match day tickets.

 

[Tolmie scores]

I don’t think it’s about preferring beer over football. I’ll be there tonight but to be honest I would rather not have to attend a game at 8pm on a Friday.

Totally agree, I won't be as i have a work commitment in London, normal working day - impossible for me to get there, ridiculous Friday night football

 

[CC1]

It's certainly a start but there's still the issue of matchday ticket pricing. The cheapest full adult ticket for tonight is £71. At Arsenal that cheapest ticket would be £43. At Anfield you wouldn't pay more than £61 to watch a game, and that's from the best general admission seats in their main stand.

We may have won a couple of battles but the war isn't over. As @M18CTID says above, we need to keep the pressure on regarding the outstanding issues.

One of the main issues that seems to be being ignored, is the requirement for long term ST holders to have to personally attend 10 matches. Games are constantly being moved for TV & fans have work commitments which means they have to unavoidably miss games.
As long as the ticket is used via Exchange (which can be monitored to ensure the tickets are not “touted”) or used by F&F then there is no need for this rule.

 

[mancityvstoke]

November 1987 I was living & working in that London.
Decided on the Friday afternoon to come home for the weekend, it was always last minute due to pressures of the job.

Popped along to Maine Road, paid at the gate and stood on The Kippax.

Nobody has the option to just ‘turn up’ anymore - imagine missing a 10-1 score line just because you didn’t have the right card/membership or some such claptrap.

IIRC though we did have to sign up to some kind of membership due to the milk snatcher/dipper love in at the time.

yeah Kippax membership around 1987

 

[halfcenturyup]

The demand was for more seasoncards and this is from the announcement...

"It was always the Club’s intention to release new Season Tickets as part of the expansion of the North Stand. Whilst the seating configuration of the stand is yet to be finalised, we can confirm that it will be predominantly GA seating and that the majority of the additional GA seating capacity will be held by Season Ticket Members, through the release of new Season Tickets."

That means a minimum of 4,000 season tickets will be released in 2026-27.

A win is a win.

Tbf to all the sceptics, words like predominantly and majority don't necessarily mean 4000 new season tickets. And it isn't a win until the new season tickets are issued. I used to write corporate bullshit like that for a living .....

Timing does look like a desperate effort to put off another protest that will be visible to Mansour. Hopefully Soriano is feeling some pressure. Keep it up!

 

[Laertes]

Thats fair, but the approach for me is to make a gesture of calling it off or postponing it withe proviso the club continues discussions around any outstanding issues like match day tickets.

The gesture is going back in after 6 minutes and keeping it a limited protest despite being this being an issue that's built-up over years.

It's all well and good people talking about compromises, or give and take and the like, but the fans are giving and sacrificing, and have for years - it's the club leadership who are only just giving something back. And that's ignoring the fact there are still so many issues, of the club's making and in their give, still unresolved.

This sort of momentum and pressure is easier to lose than to build, cuttings things short at the first sign of progress only serves the likes of Soriano.

 

[117 M34]

Where does it say there will be 4,000 new season tickets?

"It was always the Club’s intention to release new Season Tickets as part of the expansion of the North Stand. Whilst the seating configuration of the stand is yet to be finalised, we can confirm that it will be predominantly GA seating and that the majority of the additional GA seating capacity will be held by Season Ticket Members, through the release of new Season Tickets."

 

[Mr Grumpy]

It's certainly a start but there's still the issue of matchday ticket pricing. The cheapest full adult ticket for tonight is £71. At Arsenal that cheapest ticket would be £43. At Anfield you wouldn't pay more than £61 to watch a game, and that's from the best general admission seats in their main stand.

We may have won a couple of battles but the war isn't over. As @M18CTID says above, we need to keep the pressure on regarding the outstanding issues.

As a tourist on a 1-in a lifetime visit, you can justify €100 to watch a match in a premier league stadium tbh.

But,

That's not how football support works is it?

You are not going to be doing that 3 times a week as a local working class lad huh.

Seems the model is STs for local, constant support and high cost visitor tickets with nothing in-between.

No wonder the atmosphere is tanking.

But is this not a sport issue rather than a city issue?
Surely all clubs have the same problem. What do they do?

 

[Centurions]

Where does it say there will be 4,000 new season tickets?

"It was always the Club’s intention to release new Season Tickets as part of the expansion of the North Stand. Whilst the seating configuration of the stand is yet to be finalised, we can confirm that it will be predominantly GA seating and that the majority of the additional GA seating capacity will be held by Season Ticket Members, through the release of new Season Tickets."

Season ticket update

Following positive dialogue with City Matters this evening, we are delighted to share new ticketing information, particularly as we prepare for the opening of the expanded North Stand next year.

www.mancity.com

8,000 new seats, so at least 4,000 new STs (regardless if they're initially flexi golds). They're not necessarily in the new stand by the way.

 

[mancityvstoke]

Tbf to all the sceptics, words like predominantly and majority don't necessarily mean 4000 new season tickets. And it isn't a win until the new season tickets are issued. I used to write corporate bullshit like that for a living .....

Timing does look like a desperate effort to put off another protest that will be visible to Mansour. Hopefully Soriano is feeling some pressure. Keep it up!

10.40 pm announcement? Anybody seen that before? I haven't.

 

[117 M34]

Actually, he made a very good point. If you seriously believe that was always their intention - just like they claimed it was always their intention NOT to charge disabled season ticket holders for parking going forwards - then you must have "GULLIBLE" tattoed across your forehead

It doesn't matter what the plan was.
You're wanting to continue a protest because of something they may have done instead of altering your actions based on what will actually happen.

If they never intended to but are doing now, what does a protest achieve at this stage?

 

[117 M34]

Why does it matter? Because the directors are playing he fans. If as they say, there were always going to be 4000 new season tickets, announce that. Don't wait until the last City Matters meeting to announce it for some good supporter PR. Whilst completely ignoring the other issues that have been highlighted by the protests and have been completely ignored by the directors. You're obviously easily persuaded and pleased.

Time to move on.

Effective removal of the £150 FG fee for the fans who actually turn up.

4500 new tickets released over the next 2 seasons for people to be able to attend every home game in the same seat and a clear pathway to getting a season ticket.
No other big PL team are offering that.
A liverpool fan can't say i want to bring my kid to sit next to me every home game next year and will be able to (depending on what criteria is).

Are you going to protest against Bournemouth and the first game of next season too? Very doubtful so what does a protest tonight achieve?

 

[Laertes]

If they never intended to but are doing now, what does a protest achieve at this stage?

Do you think a protest makes it less likely for the club to do the right thing? Do you think it makes the club more likely to renege? What's the down side here?

Surely, either club leadership are trustworthy and they'll keep their word regardless of the protest, or they can't be trusted and keeping the pressure on is the logical thing to do until the promises have been kept.

 

[mancityvstoke]

It doesn't matter what the plan was.
You're wanting to continue a protest because of something they may have done instead of altering your actions based on what will actually happen.

If they never intended to but are doing now, what does a protest achieve at this stage?

Protesting for cheaper tickets, piss taking of match attending fans, rip off prices, kick off times....the list is fucking endless. Keeping the pressure on is a wise move. Last minute offers to placate the plebs is another piss take. Kicking the can down the road.

More proper season tickets is a good start if it actually happens. Being able to take your kids is a very important win.

 

[CoventryBlue]

Well this sentence in the announcement says it:

"Confirmation that the majority of the additional General Admission seat capacity, resulting from the expansion of the North Stand for the 2026/27 season, will be dedicated to Season Ticket Members..... and that the majority of the additional GA seating capacity will be held by Season Ticket Members, through the release of new Season Tickets. "

I would take it to mean that at least 4,000 will be new season ticket holders, and:

"As part of our commitment to making sure the next generation of fans can regularly attend home matches at the Etihad Stadium, of the new Season Tickets to be released for the 2026/27 season, we will ringfence a minimum of 50% for Junior Cityzens. "

So at least 2,000 will go to young fans

But it also states they'll be FG which aren't real season tickets

They talk about this "trial" of attending 16 games on a FG to convert to a full SC but they left that vague, you and a few others assume that to mean 4000, I'm skeptical as they will have to cut that off one year fucking over whoever does 16 games

And personally, this whole proving yourself worthy of a full SC thing stinks. Along with the other draconian attendance rules, they've effectively made it as difficult as possible because deep down, they don't want SC holders

How anyone sees that as a win, I don't know

 

[117 M34]

Do you think a protest makes it less likely for the club to do the right thing? Do you think it makes the club more likely to renege? What's the down side here?

Surely, either club leadership are trustworthy and they'll keep their word regardless of the protest, or they can't be trusted and keeping the pressure on is the logical thing to do until the promises have been kept.

There was a protest against Leicester, which I joined in with and the club took that on board and made changes.

Another one was planned for tonight and they also took that on board and again made changes.

What exactly are you protesting about tonight now because the club have done everything they realistically could have at this point.

Frozen season ticket prices
Effective removal of the FG fee
4500 new tickets released over the next 2 seasons (no other big PL club will be offering that).

 

[halfcenturyup]

It doesn't matter what the plan was.
You're wanting to continue a protest because of something they may have done instead of altering your actions based on what will actually happen.

If they never intended to but are doing now, what does a protest achieve at this stage?

They haven't done anything yet apart from the price freeze. I suppose it depends how much each fan trusts the executive and the words they are using. Personally, not a lot. I recognise corporate bullshit when I see it.

Let's be Churchills and not Chamberlains.

 

[Scottish Cityzen]

I’m going tonight and I will fall in with the protest (and enjoy a leisurely pint or two).

I’ve bought tickets off a SC holder so it’s costing me £60 for two adults in SS3.

It would have cost me £110 from the club.

I would have paid that as I want to see KDB in the flesh one last time and show my appreciation.

It’s great that the club are doing positive things around season cards, flexi gold amendments, more kids availability going forward but I also think the club can do a lot more around the price of individual match tickets. I agree with some of the logic where it would be around 20% more than the ppm of a SC.

Also, I do think that these wins or concessions for supporters are as a result of the good work of 1894 and the other fan groups, as well as the club being somewhat shocked at the lack of uptake of tickets for a few matches recently.

I’ve been to a couple of CL matches this season and the experience was so diluted it was really disappointing, the club really needs to be careful, maintain a substantial and passionate local fan base and the atmosphere will remain.

 

[Jesus H Gabz]

If there was ever a moment to join forces with Wolves fans, this would be it. All the ingredients are here to take a real stand against the dark forces who are trying to destroy football. Make a Wolves friend tonight.

Wolves have been the lone voice of reason throughout these dark times. They tried so hard to fight against this madness and put football back right. If there's ever been another fanbase that we can respect and relate to it would certainly be Wolves. Wolves are the eternal heroes for standing up against VAR. What a statement could be made for City and Wolves fans to unite for one night to fight for all of our football future.

Just read some of them are joining City fans by staying on the concourse