Atmosphere Thread | 2025/26

[Man_City_Loyal]

The empty seats were very very noticable. Such poor ticketing policies as a club.

Unless it gets resolved I wont be going in the c.league scheme any more.

North stand is going to be 1 huge white elephant

We are leaving the UCL cup scheme for next season, had enough.

 

[There is a Light]

it really didnt feel/look as low as 35k, i am unsure what that figure is about (even though it's official), i am pretty sure it wasn't 33% empty. As others have said, felt very much over 40, mebs 42.

This did happen once before, can’t remember the tie, I think it was the first group stage match a few years ago but the opponent escapes me. It was reported at 35k in some quarters but it was easily 45k. I thought that was odd, but there’s no escaping it, it was a piss poor attendance. I was trying to work out in my head if you could have closed the East and West tier three and filled the rest of the gaps - I think you easily could have. I think the capacity of those are 6,000 each. Some of South Stand upper probably still wouldn’t have been filled so 40k at the absolute maximum was there IMO.

 

[Man_City_Loyal]

This did happen once before, can’t remember the tie, I think it was the first group stage match a few years ago but the opponent escapes me. It was reported at 35k in some quarters but it was easily 45k. I thought that was odd, but there’s no escaping it, it was a piss poor attendance. I was trying to work out in my head if you could have closed the East and West tier three and filled the rest of the gaps - I think you easily could have. I think the capacity of those are 6,000 each. Some of South Stand upper probably still wouldn’t have been filled so 40k at the absolute maximum was there IMO.

was in the treble season that I'm sure!

Every year in the UCL we have a home UCL game that has a really poor crowd don't we.

 

[There is a Light]

More people leaving the schemes means it’s only going to to get worse. I’m struggling to find justification for criticising third party sales and tourists any more. The club will do what they need to do, it just can’t be like last night in every tie.

 

[NJMCFC184]

1 more if you’d of been there

Domestic for me , done every home and away, wasn't a 2 faced **** and rock up for Istanbul/Porto, take Huddersfield and Swansea over Madrid every time.

 

[Panda Blue]

The Club needs a complete revamp concerning ticket prices and how to treat fans which has been missing now for a number of years. The drop of started over ten years ago putting prices yearly and pricing out our loyal fanbase which is one of the reasons why we all attend having known some fans for years.
First season ticket at age 11 and after leaving school and even entering the pubs and clubs scene I know of at least 50 lads who have been priced out or have found a new hobby.
Last night in my local pub with City fans who have season tickets total 12, nobody has the stomach to go due to pricing and to many games, the Chumps league format is okay but should be 6 games and if you don't qualify there should be no second chances but the powers to be want to protect the elite teams at all costs.
Since my wife stopped going not on cost but on constant date and time changes she has not missed going and will not even come back for a one off game.
The powers at City or the ticket office need to have a re-think and come up with different ideas to capture new fans, having again let the kids and family's down on putting up prices for the Salford game, simply stupid.
Lets have incentives within the stadium for food and drink, pie and a beer at reduced price, if you are a season ticket holder you receive a 10% discount but nothing for if you aren't a season ticket holder even though there is a wating list, WHY who makes these decision's.
The demonstration's worked to a degree but more needs to be done, transport parking I could go but I am sure somebody at the top will be asking some serious questions from within and another 8000 seats to shift.
Blue wall is required in the New Stand, everything which is broken can be fixed with the right people all pulling together.
Rant Over.

 

[Indaparkside]

Domestic for me , done every home and away, wasn't a 2 faced **** and rock up for Istanbul/Porto, take Huddersfield and Swansea over Madrid every time.

But were you at york

 

[Scaring Europe to Death]

Whilst agreeing with most of the wider points it's worth noting that 150,000 combined watched our other 3 CL games and for all sorts of reasons (we could have lost 5-0 and still qualified for the Last 24) last night's game was always going to be the lowest attendance, especially with the Newcastle game next midweek

In the PL we're averaging 52,000 and regardless of the number of sellouts/empty seats it will increase next season

 

[NJMCFC184]

But were you at york

No I was on the door at the Shakespeare that day wondering how low we could sink haha

 

[M18CTID]

The empty seats were very very noticable. Such poor ticketing policies as a club.

Unless it gets resolved I wont be going in the c.league scheme any more.

North stand is going to be 1 huge white elephant

The main thing that keeps me in it is the prority for European aways and the final if we get there. It's also logistically less hassle for me than the vast majority of our fans as I live within walking distance of the ground. I fully understand why so many regulars sack it off when taking into account the ticketing policies/number of away fans and randomers in the home areas/getting to and from the ground if you have any kind of distance to travel, etc

 

[Betterdeedthan red]

More people leaving the schemes means it’s only going to to get worse. I’m struggling to find justification for criticising third party sales and tourists any more. The club will do what they need to do, it just can’t be like last night in every tie.

It's too expensive.

 

[Cheadle_hulmeBlue]

Not worried about our capacity going up to 61k because then big premier games will sell out the important knock out champs games will sell out! Some games the attendance will be low especially in midweek games! Everything for fans around a night game is also a reason.. it’s what it is! Barcelona had 44k last night..

Who cares about Barcelona. I don’t get the comparison or basically saying ‘well Barcelona get empty seats, so that makes it alright’.

The reason Barcelona get empty seats is because of high ticket prices and alienating their core fanbase. I guess you can compare that, but it’s not something we should use to justify our own lack of attendance

 

[M18CTID]

This did happen once before, can’t remember the tie, I think it was the first group stage match a few years ago but the opponent escapes me. It was reported at 35k in some quarters but it was easily 45k. I thought that was odd, but there’s no escaping it, it was a piss poor attendance. I was trying to work out in my head if you could have closed the East and West tier three and filled the rest of the gaps - I think you easily could have. I think the capacity of those are 6,000 each. Some of South Stand upper probably still wouldn’t have been filled so 40k at the absolute maximum was there IMO.

Leipzig I think. Reported as 38k but like you say was more like 45k in the ground

 

[Bluesince1979]

Great post, all the club needs to know. Only takes one dad to take his lad and bring 3 or 4 of his mates with him.
Same for teenagers , like to go together for a day out, but will they jump the hoops to do it ?
Surely these things can't go unnoticed by the club.

Im at a loss and can only think its by design. Surely the club arent oblivious, they must know how difficult they make it.
So can only think its done on purpose

 

[Keith Lemon]

Whilst agreeing with most of the wider points it's worth noting that 150,000 combined watched our other 3 CL games and for all sorts of reasons (we could have lost 5-0 and still qualified for the Last 24) last night's game was always going to be the lowest attendance, especially with the Newcastle game next midweek

In the PL we're averaging 52,000 and regardless of the number of sellouts/empty seats it will increase next season

Seems to be even less sold for Newcastle at the minute

 

[Wallaceinthecheapseats.]

Treated the loyal core support like shit for years.Well the chickens are definitely coming home to roost for these money grabbing corporate twats at the top.
Fuck em.Only thing They understand is hitting them in the pockets.They don't listen nor do they give a fuck
I dropped out that cl scheme after that Real madrid fiasco.Thousands appear to have done the same .

 

[Keith Lemon]

Who cares about Barcelona. I don’t get the comparison or basically saying ‘well Barcelona get empty seats, so that makes it alright’.

The reason Barcelona get empty seats is because of high ticket prices and alienating their core fanbase. I guess you can compare that, but it’s not something we should use to justify our own lack of attendance

Think 44k is there current safety capacity

 

[Bluesince1979]

The Club needs a complete revamp concerning ticket prices and how to treat fans which has been missing now for a number of years. The drop of started over ten years ago putting prices yearly and pricing out our loyal fanbase which is one of the reasons why we all attend having known some fans for years.
First season ticket at age 11 and after leaving school and even entering the pubs and clubs scene I know of at least 50 lads who have been priced out or have found a new hobby.
Last night in my local pub with City fans who have season tickets total 12, nobody has the stomach to go due to pricing and to many games, the Chumps league format is okay but should be 6 games and if you don't qualify there should be no second chances but the powers to be want to protect the elite teams at all costs.
Since my wife stopped going not on cost but on constant date and time changes she has not missed going and will not even come back for a one off game.
The powers at City or the ticket office need to have a re-think and come up with different ideas to capture new fans, having again let the kids and family's down on putting up prices for the Salford game, simply stupid.
Lets have incentives within the stadium for food and drink, pie and a beer at reduced price, if you are a season ticket holder you receive a 10% discount but nothing for if you aren't a season ticket holder even though there is a wating list, WHY who makes these decision's.
The demonstration's worked to a degree but more needs to be done, transport parking I could go but I am sure somebody at the top will be asking some serious questions from within and another 8000 seats to shift.
Blue wall is required in the New Stand, everything which is broken can be fixed with the right people all pulling together.
Rant Over.

Currently, none of the guys at the top are city fans, they may be very good at what they do, but they have no emotional connection to the club. They dont care about “us”.
Soriano actually holds us in contempt.

So for all khaldoons smart, super controlled bollocks at the end of each season that loads on here weirdly lap up, he doesnt dee down give a fuck either

 

[.db.]

Soriano's job is to increase revenues and based on the recent publication of matchday revenue we're miles behind our competitors.

He's clearly decided to focus on maximising the amount of money and ignoring the number of people.

A sold out ground isn't his priority.

In my opinion he's miles off it in terms of what he's trying to do with us. He's looking to recreate what Barcelona had, what other top clubs around Europe do. But it won't work at City. Our fans are used to being able to get season tickets, to grab a match ticket on the day if we fancy going. We're not used to paying for a membership just to be able to access tickets. We've also not grown up with the foundation of games every few days or constant fluctuations in price from cheap FA Cup 3rd round to extortionate CL playoffs.

If you look at Barcelona, it's a tourist attraction. People will pay a fortune to go to a game whilst they're there. Arsenal have a huge fanbase and it's been incredibly difficult to get a ticket to a game let alone a season ticket. So they'll pay a membership just to enter a ballot to potentially get one.

You can't bring that system in at City unless you've built up the demand first and they've failed to do that.

We might play amazing football and we might have had unprecedented success but we have a fan base that has grown up having easy access to football and because of the lack of quality for such a long time were largely going for a few beers and the social side!

Cancel the memberships, bring in more consistent pricing, release more season tickets without silly penalties imposed on attendance and reduce the number being touted elsewhere. They've got to fill the ground if they want people to pay big bucks for hospitality etc. Who wants to go and watch a game in a ground with thousands of empty seats? Who is going to pay £150 to watch when they can get a matchday ticket for £50?

With the NS due to open, they need to seriously rethink things.

They tried to bring in 3-5 decades worth of changes upon the structure of ticketing and the fanbase in 15 years.

It’s not worked.

Fanbases don’t change and grow that quickly.

We are going to have a 62k stadium soon, and we have more than enough Mancunian fans to fill that every week had they spent the last 15 years looking after the core local support properly with ticketing initiatives and pricing. But they haven’t, and now even with the increase in day tripping support, they struggle to fill a 53k stadium never mind the expanded one coming up.

It’s a shame the fanbase or wider authorities cannot inspect and audit the club for what it’s done to ticketing and our core fanbase. They should be put in special measures like an NHS trust or a school is.
Never mind the 115 shit, they should be scrutinised so much more over ticketing and fanbase.

 

[Cheadle_hulmeBlue]

Think 44k is there current safety capacity

Currently it is, but I now before their expansion/ stadium upgrade they would regularly get empty seats for cup/ lower league games. But is it really relevant to us?