I've just looked at that Mark Ogden piece - so negative. Normally, I hold back and don't criticise journalists because I know the pressures some of them are on and that some are pushed in certain directions by the editors/directors, but Ogden's often been negative about City. Banning journalists doesn't normally work as, let's face it, if they're being negative when they're getting your free food and drink what are they going to be like when they're outside. But spinning negatives on a night when the attendance - if it's over 48,000 - will be a huge positive and record breaker is unbelievable. I've not gone back before 2008 but only 2 clubs have had League Cup semi finals with higher attendances since then - Arsenal (1) and Utd (including a game where we had lots of fans in 'home' sections).
I posted this earlier on my facebook. Those journalists spreading the negatives should take time, while they're sat in City's excellent press facilities eating the food, drinking the drink and watching the game for free, what fans have to face:
Looking forward to tonight #mcfc v #efc - the attendance is likely to be City's best in the competition since 1975; City's 3rd highest LC crowd of all time (might even be the 2nd highest); the highest cup crowd in the Etihad stadium; highest City home cup crowd since 1981; higher than any League Cup attendance at many clubs, including Chelsea.... I could go on. The point is that considering City are in four major competitions with European trips eating in to already tight post-Christmas budgets and away trips in the FAC; that it's the end of a miserable month that's always difficult to find spare cash in ; that traffic chaos at recent midweek games at both City and United has caused some very real issues for those travelling to games (as stated at MUFC and evidenced at the last City-Everton midweek match) etc. I think it's a brilliant response from fans. Manchester is not the richest city in England and some analysis a few years back showed that City fans are amongst the poorest in the country. So, all in all I think tonight's crowd (if indications that it'll be 48,000 or more are correct) is a positive. I wish the media would recognise what efforts some fans have to go through to be able to afford games, travel, car parking and so on. Sadly, some - who let's remember get to go to these games for free and are given food and drink by the club - make their money by focusing on the negatives.
