Utd had 25,000 empty seats in the Europa League. You example is not very good, and the prices were about £20 in the Stretford End.
You have a point about Cup crowds being smaller than league crowds which are regular sell outs, but how do you get bigger Cup crowds? By increasing the supporter base and the quickest way to do that is to expand the ground so more can go regularly.
I don't really see how anyone can argue that City wouldn't benefit from a bigger ground when you look at our crowds. As I mentioned earlier, the Arsenal game sold out more than 2 months before its due to be played.
What made you choose Paraguay my learned blue friend ?
i dont agree, we have no where near as many tourists at the etihad as other top teams and the majority of our fans have remained the same throughout, wouldn't say its drastically changed and swathes of fans have been replaced.. champions league nights i agree, but i think thats to do more with apathy and hatred of the tournament.
Meanwhile In China, City are pushing for new fans/tourist packages to fly fans in huge numbers to and from City games as part of UK tours. With this and relaxed visa conditions, expect crowds to rocket soon enough.
I understand what you are saying but i will still be going along with my family for years to come, wont you ? and i dont see why other fans who have been going for donkeys years should give it up.i agree to a certain extent, but would you be happy if the etihad became like old trafford ?. yea the club might get more money, but long standing blues wouldn't be attending and the people of manchester wouldn't be benefitting. nothing wrong with "moaning" about not wanting that to happen . we have to find the right balance and not price out fans
The question about what will go on the Collar Site will be perhaps as big a decision for the club's future as the capturing of Pep.
Whatever is built will be far more permanent that Pep's tenure though and it may well secure the future financially and take City ahead of all other clubs.
I would also caution against claims that ASDA will always be ASDA as the area's future will need an ASDA like it does a sink hole in Alan Turing Way.
There are also some interesting changes internally happening around the tunnel with some need staircases for players to use but with additional changes to warm up areas etc but with a note that they will not limit future changes to that side of the ground.
We should hear more and learn more about the mid to long term plans soon enough and I hope it puts an end to lots of the speculation we have all 'enjoyed' the last few years.
i lived in barcelona for a year and it was fairly easy to get tickets for most games.People shouldn't think about our lower attendances. There are always going to be games that don't sell out due to loads of different reasons. What would be a much bigger nightmare is the prospect of being in a ground that's too small for us in 20 years time. It's reasonably sane to predict Manchester's population is going to grow exponentially over the next decade or so. With the investment into East Manchester that particular area around Eastlands will be one of the most densely populated areas in the country and as a result our fanbase will grow. Now if we're selling out every game, the club can raise ticket prices and price more and more working-class fans out of the game - that leads to a boring, dull atmosphere and ever increasingly expensive football.
If it were up to me I'd try and build the stadium to hold 100,000. We'd sell it out once a year and imagine the concerts and shows Manchester would be able to host. For the rest of the games that don't sell out, it would be natural for ticket prices to come down and every fan that wants to attend a game should get a ticket. The ONLY down side is that a few insecure fans would cry at other fans saying the word 'emptyhad'.
Having the biggest stadium never held the likes of Barcelona back, even when they weren't the force they are now.
you would think the ultimate ambition of ours owners is for us to win the champions league and to one day do it at the etihad in the final.Wouldn't it be great to have a stadium big enough to hold every City fan who wants to attend the really big games?
But we can't have in case Rags take the piss if we have 50,000 empty seats against Accrington Stanley in the League Cup 4th round!
You should never let the enemy dictate your tactics.
Exactly right. And Barça are extending to over 100000 soon.They will almost certainly extend the sides. The question is 'when'. That will be down to whether they decide to just build it anyhow & leave seats usually empty (like Barcelona) or do it gradually over a long period.
I'd just build it as a follow on from the North Stand a couple of years later. Only sell tickets up there when the rest is full. Barcelona last season averaged 72,911. The highest attendance was 98,760, so typically they have over 25k empty seats. Nobody gives a flying fuck. No reason we have to sell out the ground every week. It's a bullshit modern day trick rags etc use to try & make other clubs feel inferior, even though they don't sell out themselves.
We will fill the 61k regularly in the near future btw, just as we are doing with 54k. It will happen.
We'll never have a better opportunity to have a proper decent stand that would be special to be part of at City for the first time since 1994. I just hope we don't squander this opportunity and go for something we'll all look at in ten years time and say "wish we'd gone for a proper one-tier job, missed a trick there!"I see that Liverpool's supporters union voted 95% in favour of safe standing and are going to ask the Hillsborough families group about their opinion on safe standing.
Given hillsborough was the main reason for the football spectators act, I wonder how influential an endorsement of safe standing from them would be politically speaking.
Celtic have gone for safestanding as well this season - which is surely another sign it's on its way back.
A redone north stand, if the talk about it being less corporate and not having any boxes is true, would be the perfect place to introduce a rail seating tier.
That's not entirely true. A very large number of City fans from back when we were shit have stopped going to City.we were getting full grounds under keegan and pearce though ( until it dropped off a bit) most of our fans were there when we were shit and are now taking there sons/daughters to the games
That's part of the normal cycle of match going. People's interest often, but not always, wanes as they get older.That's not entirely true. A very large number of City fans from back when we were shit have stopped going to City.
That's part of the normal cycle of match going. People's interest often, but not always, wanes as they get older.
I agree mate, lets build the biggest stadium we can, these big stadiums become tourist attractions in their own right, and yes also a big selling point for getting concerts and other stuff like Champions League finals . I always wonder how many tickets we would of sold for the league winning QPR game 70/80'000 ?People shouldn't think about our lower attendances. There are always going to be games that don't sell out due to loads of different reasons. What would be a much bigger nightmare is the prospect of being in a ground that's too small for us in 20 years time. It's reasonably sane to predict Manchester's population is going to grow exponentially over the next decade or so. With the investment into East Manchester that particular area around Eastlands will be one of the most densely populated areas in the country and as a result our fanbase will grow. Now if we're selling out every game, the club can raise ticket prices and price more and more working-class fans out of the game - that leads to a boring, dull atmosphere and ever increasingly expensive football.
If it were up to me I'd try and build the stadium to hold 100,000. We'd sell it out once a year and imagine the concerts and shows Manchester would be able to host. For the rest of the games that don't sell out, it would be natural for ticket prices to come down and every fan that wants to attend a game should get a ticket. The ONLY down side is that a few insecure fans would cry at other fans saying the word 'emptyhad'.
Having the biggest stadium never held the likes of Barcelona back, even when they weren't the force they are now.
That's not entirely true. A very large number of City fans from back when we were shit have stopped going to City.
I understand what you are saying but i will still be going along with my family for years to come, wont you ? and i dont see why other fans who have been going for donkeys years should give it up.