Pep: 'The players deserve a full stadium, we need our fans!'

[Neville Kneville]

They couldn't actually, BT etc will be in charge of the crowd mics and as they showed last year against PSG and Real at home, they like the controversy it generates. You think the media will turn their noses up at a free headline on the instructions of a body the vast majority of their audience have nothing but contempt for one way or the other?

BT have actually turned down the crowd mics before on City so there would be no problem doing it again. Same as there's no problem micing up the Kop.

 

[aguero93:20]

BT have actually turned down the crowd mics before on City so there would be no problem doing it again. Same as there's no problem micing up the Kop.

I'm well aware of that after rewatching games I've attended that they've covered. They turned up the mics when we played PSG though, I could clearly hear the anthem at the game yet it's nearly completely drowned out on the broadcast.

 

[Neville Kneville]

I'm well aware of that after rewatching games I've attended that they've covered. They turned up the mics when we played PSG though, I could clearly hear the anthem at the game yet it's nearly completely drowned out on the broadcast.

Exactly. So if someone from UEFA has a word, it's done.

Truth is, they don't give a fuck, so will never do it. It was just one simpleton who thought he could make a name for himself by talking about us being sanctioned. UEFA threw it out. It was an embarrassment for them which gave us publicity.

That was the peak interst of our booing episode. Now it is old hat & dying a slow death & we will end up with nothing, unless we get on it now & do something else.

 

[Pam]

I am reviewing my stance on the booing thing. Here is an article about the influence of the Gill creature; plus the grand old clubs of Europe. It also mentions that Barca booed the anthem before the Celtic game (admittedly for their own reasons). I wonder if they''ll do so again when they get to our place. Perhaps Pep should say something about all this, maybe.

Respect has to be earned. Bunch of UEFA criminals.

http://www.mancityfans.net/mcfnet/viewtopic.php?f=119&t=51934&start=0

 

[aguero93:20]

Exactly. So if someone from UEFA has a word, it's done.

Not quite, the BT are UEFA's paymasters, you've got things arseways there I'm afraid.

 

[kaz7]

I am reviewing my stance on the booing thing. Here is an article about the influence of the Gill creature; plus the grand old clubs of Europe. It mentions that Barca booed the anthem before the Celtic game (admittedly for their own reasons).. I think Pep should say something about all this, maybe.

Bunch of UEFA criminals.

http://www.mancityfans.net/mcfnet/viewtopic.php?f=119&t=51934&start=0

Barca have been booing them for ages and it has no effect on their players or on ours,so in my view carry on,it's down to pep to understand why

 

[Pam]

Barca have been booing them for ages and it has no effect on their players or on ours,so in my view carry on,it's down to pep to understand why

Bloody strange that this was so ignored by the corrupt, twatty media, that it's the first I've heard of it. Two-faced fornicators. Make me feel better in a way, though.

Also, booing didn't harm our performance any more than the Barca players. Still think we should chant or poznan our way through their poxy anthem, though. When we did the Poznan before the S/F at Wembley when scum team was being announced, it went down like a storm. It was brilliant.

 

[Kerry bai]

22 thousand empty seats at Barca vs Celtic last night.

What are you getting at with posting the attendance from a random game?

Barca never sell out ( excluding classico ) and 73k fans is above average for them in the CL group stages.

 

[Chris in London]

Exactly. So if someone from UEFA has a word, it's done.

Truth is, they don't give a fuck, so will never do it. It was just one simpleton who thought he could make a name for himself by talking about us being sanctioned. UEFA threw it out. It was an embarrassment for them which gave us publicity.

That was the peak interst of our booing episode. Now it is old hat & dying a slow death & we will end up with nothing, unless we get on it now & do something else.

I think this massively underestimates how self important and pompous they are at UEFA, and I think it is almost certainly what did not happen.

Mark Halsey recently confirmed what we all suspected, namely that he was told what to say in a match report because the decision had been made higher up the food chain that they wanted to take action about a particular issue. That was in relation to PGMOL but I think you have to be naive to think that does not go on at UEFA level as well.

The booing was not a new thing in November last year when the possibility of charging us arose. It had been done on a number of occasions previously, and had been commented on at some length in the media. Booing the UEFA anthem however is a disciplinary offence - that is why they wanted to charge us in the first place. (The self important nature of UEFA in this respect can be seen from the fact that UEFA's regulations prohibit the crowd from booing the opposition's national anthem at an international match - which you can understand - OR the booing of UEFA's anthem. So these jumped up little knobheads place their little piece of corporate branding on the same level and as deserving of respect as God Save the Queen, Deutschland Uber Alles, La Marseillaise and all the other national anthems that have inspired billions in times of war and peace.)

The idea that every single UEFA official observing a City match since the booing began missed this clear disciplinary offence, but then one guy decided to mention it where no others had seems to me to beggar belief. The reality seems to me that UEFA decided that their dignity was being offended and the guilty party would be charged. Whether they previously ignored it in the match reports and this time decided to take action, or whether they wanted to act and (a la Mark Halsey) told the official what to put in his report seems to me to be as broad as it is long. They had decided enough was enough. Equally, I cannot remember an occasion on which UEFA has opened a disciplinary investigation and then not followed it through with a charge. (Or the FA for that matter). But this time, following a series of extremely adverse articles in the media, they wisely decided not to follow through with this particularly petty and vindictive action.

The idea that some suit at UEFA went off on a frolic of his own and was then put back in his box by UEFA seems to me to be incredible - as in, incapable of being believed. They wanted to charge us, but they bottled it when they saw the shitstorm they had kicked up.

 

[OB1]

All of that is true. But our "protest" doesn't exist in a vacuum. It will effect players and the manager if it goes on on match days. In that respect it's not really about him being the messiah. It's about him wanting to create something on match days. Full stadium , strong vocal support etc. Our fight with UEFA should never compromise the team. Now I'm not saying it has done or will. But at the same time it's not an excuse you want to give the players and management. If ANY manager asks matchday supporters to do something it's hard to justify simply ignoring them.

I'd agree.

My own opinion is that it is time to quit booing the anthem. I think we have made a point but I am not aware of it changing anything and I don't see that it will. Maybe I have missed something but it seems like an isolated gesture.

I think the players do deserve a full stadium but attending midweek games is generally difficult for me, despite being on the cup scheme, and everyone has their own circumstances to deal with that mean they cannot go to every game but you'd like to think that we have people beyond the regulars who could take up the slack. With Pep in charge, we will hopefully continue to attract more people to games.

 

[Shaelumstash]

As you say, they all know why we boo the anthem, so it makes no difference that we supprort the team other than it's what the manager wants.

It has been completely impotent as, rather than improve, UEFA is attempting to get worse. The only possible improvement, is if the new man at the top who has been put there by the smaller countries, to fight against Gill, Berlusconi etc, does so.

That's nowt to do with us, it's to do with the coefficients etc plus money.

How anyone can say that us booing the anthem has achieved anything in football, is beyond me. Nobody gives a flying fuck apart from Martin Samuel etc & people such as him were on it before we even got there, still they have achieved nothing either. So not only has the booing done fuck all, but the few people who actually listen to it, have done fuck all, having heard it.

The only bloke to make a difference, is that geezer who brought down Blatter & inadvertantly snared Platini. Otherwise, it would be worse still.

If people want to protest, why don't they out Gill & Berlusconi etc & sing about them ?

Because the truth is, they don't care enough to be arsed. A quick boo, is easy. Other stuff requires effort.

Imo, the half arsed protest is worth nothing, & Pep is worth backing, so I'm backing him.

If somebody comes up with some songs/chants about Gill etc we can slip in during supporting the team, I'll join in.

This is where you're being naive again. Chanting about Gill will get no headlines. Banners about Rumenigger will get no headlines. "Other stuff" about Burlesconi will get no headlines.

Yet our booing on Wednesday night was the lead story on the Mail online after the game. The lead story on the most viewed sports website in the country. For 30 seconds of booing. It's minimum effort, maximum impact.

Why would anyone bother to hand out leaflets, make banners, compose chants about these bastards when it will have less impact than a 30 second boo? It really doesn't make any sense. It just seems you've got yourself lost in your own argument and can't find your way back out.

Again, no one has ever suggested that booing is going to force regime change at UEFA. I've made that point 3 times to you now, yet you keep on repeating it.

All that booing does is highlight our dissatisfaction with UEFA. It's done a remarkably good job of that, no matter how much you might wish otherwise.

Millions of people read about it on Wednesday night and Thursday morning. Booing had far more impact than any banner, chant or leaflet, because the mass media reported on it at length.

That's the best possible way to highlight a cause, maximum impact, minimum effort.

 

[Pam]

match - . The reality seems to me that UEFA decided that their dignity was being offended and the guilty party would be charged. .

We all know who the real guilty party is and that's Uefa. There is nothing dignified about a cheating, robbing Cabal taking the absolute piss left, right and bastard centre. But lets be imaginitive because the booing is getting old and we should use our collective imaginations to do something different when that wretched, meaningless anthem comes on.

Also, Uefa isn't a nation state, ffs. Why do the twats need an anthem in the first place? We should stop playing it but then the egotistical, power-crazed clowns would kick us out.

 

[aguero93:20]

Barca have been booing them for ages and it has no effect on their players or on ours,so in my view carry on,it's down to pep to understand why

Bayern have also been doing it, plus refusing to take their seats until the anthem is over, Atleti boo it, hasn't hurt either team.

 

[paulchapo]

Barca have been booing them for ages and it has no effect on their players or on ours,so in my view carry on,it's down to pep to understand why

I am not sure what question Pep was asked but if it was about the attendance he should have replied, ''What do you expect people cannot just drop everything and turn up 24 hours later after a postponement.'' He seems thorough in everything else he does perhaps he needs to understand our fan base a little better. There is just too much football now and the days of ordinary working class fans going to every game have gone it is just too expensive and people have commitments. Even if they let people in for nothing there is still the cost and time involved in the travel which in this country is expensive.

 

[Cobwebcat]

This is where you're being naive again. Chanting about Gill will get no headlines. Banners about Rumenigger will get no headlines. "Other stuff" about Burlesconi will get no headlines.

Yet our booing on Wednesday night was the lead story on the Mail online after the game. The lead story on the most viewed sports website in the country. For 30 seconds of booing. It's minimum effort, maximum impact.

Why would anyone bother to hand out leaflets, make banners, compose chants about these bastards when it will have less impact than a 30 second boo? It really doesn't make any sense. It just seems you've got yourself lost in your own argument and can't find your way back out.

Again, no one has ever suggested that booing is going to force regime change at UEFA. I've made that point 3 times to you now, yet you keep on repeating it.

All that booing does is highlight our dissatisfaction with UEFA. It's done a remarkably good job of that, no matter how much you might wish otherwise.

Millions of people read about it on Wednesday night and Thursday morning. Booing had far more impact than any banner, chant or leaflet, because the mass media reported on it at length.

That's the best possible way to highlight a cause, maximum impact, minimum effort.

Although we differ you make some very good points.

If we cheered for 90 minutes after the anthem then maybe I'd be with you but at the moment it's the highlight and that's what's wrong. Until that changes Pep has asked that we put that passion into supporting the team and the implication is to protest another way.

I'm with Pep because I can see that he is trying to bring the club together as a whole and he sees the fans argument with UEFA as unhelpful on a matchday so I'm stopping. If we can protest another way or time then fair enough.

Bigger picture

 

[Pam]

Although we differ you make some very good points.

If we cheered for 90 minutes after the anthem then maybe I'd be with you but at the moment it's the highlight and that's what's wrong. Until that changes Pep has asked that we put that passion into supporting the team and the implication is to protest another way.

I'm with Pep because I can see that he is trying to bring the club together as a whole and he sees the fans argument with UEFA as unhelpful on a matchday so I'm stopping. If we can protest another way or time then fair enough.

Bigger picture

I whole heartedly concur. Plus, the. stadium would have been full had the game been played on Tuesday as scheduled.

 

[Blue Mist]

If we want Pep to even consider staying beyond the 3 years the fans need to step up to the plate. Never mind all this bollocks about we were here when we were shit and we don't have to turn up now. We have an ageing fan Base with to many grumpy old men. The atmosphere at the Gladbach game was the best in ages. Thanks to all the proper fans who turned up and played their part. That's the future.
Everyone at the club is doing there bit, players. Coach and funding to be able to buy the best. All we need now is to fill the stadium and get it rocking. This is a new era if you don't like it then fresh faces with greater enthusiasm will take your place. The sooner the better.

So I take it the grumpy old men didn't turn up on Wednesday ? Well I can only speak for myself. I was there, if I am classed by you as a grumpy old man so be it. But I will boo the bent bastards as loud as I can. It didn't bother the manager or the team last year why should it now. You say it is a new era, why ? becasue we have Pep ? it is still the same old bent UeFA, FIFA, Premier League the lot. Look how many pots Gill pisses in.
Sorry you don't like us but we are not making way for you happy clappys just because you say so.

Sent from my E6653 using Tapatalk

So I take it the grumpy old men didn't turn up on Wednesday ? Well I can only speak for myself. I was there, if I am classed by you as a grumpy old man so be it. But I will boo the bent bastards as loud as I can. It didn't bother the manager or the team last year why should it now. You say it is a new era, why ? becasue we have Pep ? it is still the same old bent UeFA, FIFA, Premier League the lot. Look how many pots Gill pisses in.
Sorry you don't like us but we are not making way for you happy clappys just because you say so.

 

[Shaelumstash]

Although we differ you make some very good points.

If we cheered for 90 minutes after the anthem then maybe I'd be with you but at the moment it's the highlight and that's what's wrong. Until that changes Pep has asked that we put that passion into supporting the team and the implication is to protest another way.

I'm with Pep because I can see that he is trying to bring the club together as a whole and he sees the fans argument with UEFA as unhelpful on a matchday so I'm stopping. If we can protest another way or time then fair enough.

Bigger picture

I totally understand your view mate, and I respect your right to make whatever decision you think is best.

My personal view is that the booing is one issue, and the attendances and chanting is another. I don't think it's one or the other, I think it's possible to have both.

The booing of the anthem for me is a positive, for the reasons I've expressed above.

The lacklustre attendances and atmosphere during the game are definitely issues that need to be addressed, but it's entirely unrelated to booing in my view.

Personally I enjoy the Champions League games and attend as many as I can. Many other Blues don't, and I'm not sure of the reasons for that.

I think it's too easy to say it's a money issue, because it was relatively cheap the other night at £20 odd quid. I bet Barca sells out despite being £50, so I don't think the cost is the major issue.

I think there is just apathy for group games against opposition we don't know much about / don't have much rivalry with. We don't have a history and a rivalry with most of these European clubs, so as a fan it's maybe difficult to get motivated for some of the games.

Maybe some people are staying away as a protest against UEFA, maybe people find European football boring, maybe it's because it's mid-week people have other family and work commitments. I'm not sure.

But what I do agree with is that I would love the stadium to be packed to the rafters of passionate blues singing their heart out for the lads during the entire game. But personally, I think we can have that, and a boisterous 30 second boo of the UEFA anthem at the start to kick things off!

 

[kismet]

I'd agree.

My own opinion is that it is time to quit booing the anthem. I think we have made a point but I am not aware of it changing anything and I don't see that it will. Maybe I have missed something but it seems like an isolated gesture.

I think the players do deserve a full stadium but attending midweek games is generally difficult for me, despite being on the cup scheme, and everyone has their own circumstances to deal with that mean they cannot go to every game but you'd like to think that we have people beyond the regulars who could take up the slack. With Pep in charge, we will hopefully continue to attract more people to games.

I agree OB1 and also with Billy's earlier post which is spot on. I feel we should not hinder Pep in anyway but take our UEFA complains via another route.

I also think the club have slipped up with no longer meeting regularly with the fans. They know what the best pricing structures are and how to attract new fans via the schools, universities, specific communities etc. They have slipped up here. Also should have added a token increase to season ticket prices of say a tenner which allowed season ticket holders access to all European games and would have ensured similar attendances to normal premier games.

 

[Blue Mist]

Because we're protesting against UEFA, not just ignoring it by drowning it out with City chants.

Is the correct answer.