City Fans Leaving Early/Empty seats

The traffic has become more of an issue since the increase in capacity, especially for midweek games (it shouldn’t take two hours to drive 18 miles to the ETIHAD for the Watford game).

After that experience I was always going to depart, once the result was safe.


However, as others have alluded there’s always been some people who want to leave early.

I always stay when the game’s in the balance, but it’s a myth that the fans who leave early are not proper supporters.
 
Scaring Europe to Death said:
The traffic has become more of an issue since the increase in capacity, especially for midweek games (it shouldn’t take two hours to drive 18 miles to the ETIHAD for the Watford game).

After that experience I was always going to depart, once the result was safe.


However, as others have alluded there’s always been some people who want to leave early.

I always stay when the game’s in the balance, but it’s a myth that the fans who leave early are not proper supporters.
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I always stay until the end but some people feel a bit superior imo by criticising others. There are many genuine and practical reasons why people leave before the end of the game.

Getting to Sale after the Everton, I didn't get into the house until 7.15pm - why I have absolutely no idea .
 
I'm in 115 down near the front and I mostly stay til the end and let the stadium quietly filter out around me, but on midweek games I tend to leave on 87-90 minutes.

If the games finishes at approx 9.45pm on a "school night" and I leave 3 minutes from the end I can get home by 1030pm if I'm not getting a lift. If I stay to the very end which is approximately 6-7 minutes later I get home for 1130pm due to the congestion getting out of the stadium, then no 216 buses, so I walk into town and catch the Metrolink from Piccadilly Gdns to St.Retford.

When I used to sit in the family stand I'd sometimes leave on 87mins to get on the tram - again the difference was a 10minute wait if I left on 87mins or a 50 minute wait if I left on the whistle. For those on other sides of the ground they have to leave even earlier to miss that rush. Most of the time, if I left on the final whistle I would just walk to town as it was less boring and was actually quicker than waiting in the Metorlink queue with a bunch of moaning so and so's.

It's a fact of life that just waiting those extra 7 minutes causes an hour of extra journey time - and I only live 4-5 miles away!

So, I guess the moral of my comment is - better transport planning is needed!

1. Have more buses ready - not just the 6-7 they have at the moment - after all, each bus only carries about 80 people so they are only shifting 5-600 people in total. By the time most "stayers" leave the ground all the buses are gone.

2. Get the trams stacked up at the Velodrome - each double tram can safely carry 400 people (more like 500 on a matchday) if they had 5-6 double trams stacked up on the Velo-Droylsden part of the line, coming in at 2-3 minute intervals, they could shift the initial 3000 punters in 12-18 minutes and be coordinated to start as soon as the final whistle blows. These trams could all be set to run to Cornbrook - allowing people to change at Piccadilly, Gardens, Gmex and Cornbrook for all other line.

3. Car parking - I shall let others dwell on that :)

Oh wait - why do I mostly stay to the end? Because I have paid my money, and you would rarely leave a film early unless it was dirge or predictable.
 
Are the people who go early actually getting home quicker than if they watched the whole game? I live in Flixton and am back within the hour. I stay to the end. I get held up in South Stand Level 3, walk to the roads behind Ashdon Old Road and drive from there. If I left at 80 minutes I don't think I'd be home much earlier but an hour if fine by me.
 
As an alternative stay a bit later. For one reason or another I have waited around 15 mins or so after the final whistle for the last few games before walking to my car. As a result it has been much quicker getting away and I seem to have arrived home (20 miles away) around the same time as if I would have left bang on the whistle and sat in traffic.
It usually takes me an hour maximum to get home and I never leave before the end. I can't see what all the fuss is about, just stay to the end.
 
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Hardly ever leave early ,once at Wembley 1999 and once in 2012 last home game of the season.
Generally I stay on just in case though
 
desperatedon said:
As an alternative stay a bit later. For one reason or another I have waited around 15 mins or so after the final whistle for the last few games before walking to my car. As a result it has been much quicker getting away and I seem to have arrived home (20 miles away) around the same time as if I would have left bang on the whistle and sat in traffic.
It usually takes me an hour maximum to get home and I never leave before the end. I can't see what all the fuss is about, just stay to the end.
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Is the correct answer
 
if the excuse is " it takes longer to get away from the ground "

just park further away, i do and i am home 45 mins after the end of the match.

i live 11 miles away from the ground.
 
cibaman said:
That Wolves game is one of my all time favourite City games. Especially that scintillating, Freddie Hill inspired, finish to the game when we scored our 4th and 5th goals.
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I didn't see them, obviously.

I remember walking down some dark street and asking a Policeman how to get to Old Trafford station, only to be met by the unfriendliest Police dog I've ever met in my life.

It really did want to take me out by the throat, and it took me a while to remember which station I had to go to, I was that scared of the toothy beast.

To be fair, the copper I was talking to was OK, but that dog behind him was just mental.
 
A few left the ground when Aguero scored vs QPR. I would regret that until I die if it were me.

Never leave early even if we are cruising.

Saw Stevie Ireland volley in a 90 something minute goal once when there was only about 10000 left in the ground.
 
Fowlers Penalty Miss said:
3-0 Down. You plastic tourist:)

Us, well, me and a few others waited and watched the 4th goal go in before sodding off into the rain.

The funny thing was when I was trudging back to my car I heard a sort of cheer, and thought Leicester had scored a 5th goal.

I've been watching City since 1967 and it's the 3rd time I've left a game early. The first time was in 1972 when we were playing Wolves. We were winning 3-2 at the time. As I neared home some bloke I was passing asked me if it was a good game, and I said 'Yeah, we won 3-2', which resulted in a funny look from him, and the reason became clear when I got home and I found out we had won 5-2.

The second time was in 2001 when we played Leeds. It was something like minus 8 with a howling gale, and we were 2-0 down. I'd had enough with being cold and miserable, so I left in bad spirits, telling the the team they were rubbish on the way out, as you do, and when I got to the pub I had a general rant about the useless tossers losing 2-0. My rant continued for a while and when I eventually shut up, some old boy sitting in the corner said 'What are you going on about. They lost 4-0 so get yourself a pint and calm down!' The whole pub convulsed into fits of laughter at that stage.

Anyway, that's 3 games I've left early in all that time, and 6 missed goals in total.
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Glad you felt my pain mate '-) wont be leaving early tomorrow at Hull, once was enough for me..!
 
yayas trusty right foot said:
if the excuse is " it takes longer to get away from the ground "

just park further away, i do and i am home 45 mins after the end of the match.

i live 11 miles away from the ground.
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I do this. For those mobile enough it's an easy solution.

For many (and I stress not all of early leavers) I think that there's a laziness and apathy. An attitude of "As long as some are there to clap the team on my behalf it'll be ok won't it". If we all had this attitude it literally would be the end of the club. Imagine a completely empty stadium as the players turn a team over in the 86th minute. What player and manager would want to be part of that? Pep's noticed it and we are worse than most at this. It's become a culture and habit.

I'll probably rile a few but it does grate and the above doesn't refer to I those that would love to stay but just can't work it.
 
My dad always used to leave early "to beat the traffic" (in the early 60s ffs) which frustrated the hell out of me as a kid. One time he dragged me away from the swamp at 2-2 and we missed the City winner. That's why I've always stayed to the end and have avoided missing dramatic finales many times. Aguero 93.20 should be lesson enough though it's funny that very few fans seemed to have absolutely positively had to leave early to beat the traffic, get to work, be somewhere else, etc. that day.
 
@BluePhil8 said:
A few left the ground when Aguero scored vs QPR. I would regret that until I die if it were me.

Never leave early even if we are cruising.

Saw Stevie Ireland volley in a 90 something minute goal once when there was only about 10000 left in the ground.
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Against Reading. IIRC that preserved our 100% home record under Sven.
 
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