Atmosphere 2024/25

[AJ71]

They only want to hear stuff they want to hear.

They don’t want criticism even if it is constructive and when we point out we can save them getting bad PR by actually listening to what fans want they ignore that too.

Because they decided what they wanted out if before the stand was being built.

And remember Soriano is going anyway in 2026 yet wants the new stand to be on his terms… yet won’t be there himself to see the final results of his car crash.

Is Soriano going?

 

[Zabbasbeard]

No we haven’t we have absolutely highlighted what our members wanted highlighting plus the views of many other non members who got in touch through social media.

We don’t sit here articulating pretend views and live on button moon about what will make the club listen all of a sudden, mainly because we have years of experience and you have years of sitting on the sidelines talking a good game on bluemoon but actually doing nothing.

You are not intending to move yourself. So you are basically part of the problem. Raising expectations when the club can’t even deliver basic information on the type of person they want in there.

How many NSL2 seats will be syphoned off on packages, come with a meal/hotel/package. How many seats will go to 3rd party sites and if a someone in a singing area can’t attend that day, will that ticket be prioritised for someone else who wants to sing or will it go into Ferran’s pot, the black hole of mystery where anyone turns up
Next game, often with no connection to the club, this diluting the singing area even more.

You think we have over reached? You don’t know what our objectives are ? We didn’t ask for a blue wall, club suggested it and then invited us with others to meeting and then when we pointed out what would make that work and what wouldn’t they largely ignored it and just went off something designed to make khaldoon the net spend champion again.

If you think you can do ay better - Feel free to set up your own group then, arrange funding, get a structure, have elected leaders , do it through bluemoon, mail the club and say we have x amount of people wanting to relocate and how do we go about it. We can talk at any time.

Do let us know how you get on and what reply you get.

Good response. It's so easy to sit in the sidelines, criticise others are doing something and do nowt.

The only thing I disagree is I'm intending to stay in the Colin Bell, but I'm not 'part of the problem' as you put it unless you didn't mean people like me. I just like sitting down the sides or standing on the sidelines on the Kippax at Maine Road.

 

[Zabbasbeard]

No we haven’t we have absolutely highlighted what our members wanted highlighting plus the views of many other non members who got in touch through social media.

We don’t sit here articulating pretend views and live on button moon about what will make the club listen all of a sudden, mainly because we have years of experience and you have years of sitting on the sidelines talking a good game on bluemoon but actually doing nothing.

You are not intending to move yourself. So you are basically part of the problem. Raising expectations when the club can’t even deliver basic information on the type of person they want in there.

How many NSL2 seats will be syphoned off on packages, come with a meal/hotel/package. How many seats will go to 3rd party sites and if a someone in a singing area can’t attend that day, will that ticket be prioritised for someone else who wants to sing or will it go into Ferran’s pot, the black hole of mystery where anyone turns up
Next game, often with no connection to the club, this diluting the singing area even more.

You think we have over reached? You don’t know what our objectives are ? We didn’t ask for a blue wall, club suggested it and then invited us with others to meeting and then when we pointed out what would make that work and what wouldn’t they largely ignored it and just went off something designed to make khaldoon the net spend champion again.

If you think you can do ay better - Feel free to set up your own group then, arrange funding, get a structure, have elected leaders , do it through bluemoon, mail the club and say we have x amount of people wanting to relocate and how do we go about it. We can talk at any time.

Do let us know how you get on and what reply you get.

Good response. Its so easy to sit in the sidelines, criticise others are doing something and do nowt.

The only thing I disagree is I'm intending to stay in the Colin Bell Stand, but I'm not part of the problem as you put it unless you didn't mean people who are not moving aren't all part if the problem. I just like sitting down the sides or standing on the sidelines on the Kippax at Maine Road.

 

[Blue Mist]

Brilliant job ????

It was a compliment.
I want everyone in all the other sections of the ground to get vocally involved. It doesn't have to be singing, clapping, cheering, shouting anything but sit there in silence.

 

[wearethesouthstand]

Good response. It's so easy to sit in the sidelines, criticise others are doing something and do nowt.

The only thing I disagree is I'm intending to stay in the Colin Bell, but I'm not 'part of the problem' as you put it unless you didn't mean people like me. I just like sitting down the sides or standing on the sidelines on the Kippax at Maine Road.

Zabba the response was directed directly to DD because of his comment about 1894 and his longevity on this forum a decade of posting when if you’re really arsed you get involved

 

[BamberBridgeBlue]

No we haven’t we have absolutely highlighted what our members wanted highlighting plus the views of many other non members who got in touch through social media.

We don’t sit here articulating pretend views and live on button moon about what will make the club listen all of a sudden, mainly because we have years of experience and you have years of sitting on the sidelines talking a good game on bluemoon but actually doing nothing.

You are not intending to move yourself. So you are basically part of the problem. Raising expectations when the club can’t even deliver basic information on the type of person they want in there.

How many NSL2 seats will be syphoned off on packages, come with a meal/hotel/package. How many seats will go to 3rd party sites and if a someone in a singing area can’t attend that day, will that ticket be prioritised for someone else who wants to sing or will it go into Ferran’s pot, the black hole of mystery where anyone turns up
Next game, often with no connection to the club, this diluting the singing area even more.

You think we have over reached? You don’t know what our objectives are ? We didn’t ask for a blue wall, club suggested it and then invited us with others to meeting and then when we pointed out what would make that work and what wouldn’t they largely ignored it and just went off something designed to make khaldoon the net spend champion again.

If you think you can do ay better - Feel free to set up your own group then, arrange funding, get a structure, have elected leaders , do it through bluemoon, mail the club and say we have x amount of people wanting to relocate and how do we go about it. We can talk at any time.

Do let us know how you get on and what reply you get.

Thanks for highlighting the work of 1894 Group. I find the posts complaining about the atmosphere as tedious as hell. Unless a significant number of fans are prepared to put in a lot of work coupled of course with commitment from the club then all the moaning is pointless.
Unless City are prepared to get involved and help then 1894 Group and the rest of us are pissing in the wind. There’s been multiple issues like these that City have pissed me off about, like the girl that got scarred from coins thrown by Liverpool fans. They almost seem to enjoy shitting on the South Stand.

 

[BungleBear]

at Pep only the other week said again how great the away fans were, this time at Leicester. The common denominator with the best away days is there are fewer tourists, it’s not rocket science. Fill the new stand with them and the atmosphere will be diminished. Making tickets affordable for those local fans who ha

Also lower tier.

 

[colinthewindowcleaner]

Who are they emailing? Is it something the OSC should be involved in or don’t they want to rock the boat in any way. What about City Matters getting involved as well.

OSC won’t rock the boat, they know which way their bread is buttered.

 

[BlueMoonRisin’]

They only want to hear stuff they want to hear.

They don’t want criticism even if it is constructive and when we point out we can save them getting bad PR by actually listening to what fans want they ignore that too.

Because they decided what they wanted out if before the stand was being built.

And remember Soriano is going anyway in 2026 yet wants the new stand to be on his terms… yet won’t be there himself to see the final results of his car crash.

Exactly!

I look forward to Khaldoon's contrived end of season speech answering Chris Bailey's loaded questions. In part 2 of the last Q&A's he briefly mentioned local fans being priced out saying this will be looked at.

It's time the club reduced prices not increase them, because it looks like we'll struggle to win anything this season and a lot of supporters are pissed off with ticket prices.

Tourists have put a lot of money into the club but they shift like sand and won't be around when success dries up. It's up to the club to finally start valuing local fans because thousands are sick of being taken for granted week in week out. Enough is enough.

 

[Didsbury Dave]

No we haven’t we have absolutely highlighted what our members wanted highlighting plus the views of many other non members who got in touch through social media.

We don’t sit here articulating pretend views and live on button moon about what will make the club listen all of a sudden, mainly because we have years of experience and you have years of sitting on the sidelines talking a good game on bluemoon but actually doing nothing.

You are not intending to move yourself. So you are basically part of the problem. Raising expectations when the club can’t even deliver basic information on the type of person they want in there.

How many NSL2 seats will be syphoned off on packages, come with a meal/hotel/package. How many seats will go to 3rd party sites and if a someone in a singing area can’t attend that day, will that ticket be prioritised for someone else who wants to sing or will it go into Ferran’s pot, the black hole of mystery where anyone turns up
Next game, often with no connection to the club, this diluting the singing area even more.

You think we have over reached? You don’t know what our objectives are ? We didn’t ask for a blue wall, club suggested it and then invited us with others to meeting and then when we pointed out what would make that work and what wouldn’t they largely ignored it and just went off something designed to make khaldoon the net spend champion again.

If you think you can do ay better - Feel free to set up your own group then, arrange funding, get a structure, have elected leaders , do it through bluemoon, mail the club and say we have x amount of people wanting to relocate and how do we go about it. We can talk at any time.

Do let us know how you get on and what reply you get.

Zabba the response was directed directly to DD because of his comment about 1894 and his longevity on this forum a decade of posting when if you’re really arsed you get involved

Sorry mate but you cannot demand the list of issues below as “red lines” and expect to be taken seriously. Discuss, negotiate, influence. whatever, but demanding these as non negotiables is simply not realistic.

1894 GROUP STATEMENT RESPONSING TO THE CLUB'S NORTH STAND ANNOUNCEMENT

Our club, Manchester City, looks to keep growing. We applaud that ambition and having a 60,000+ capacity stadium, with state of the art facilities, capable of hosting a Champions League Final, is something to be proud of. It is worth noting the capacity was reduced by 2,000 seats recently to accomodate bigger advertising boards.

We asked the club not to be directly referenced in their statement, which was announced today, as we disagree with some of the plans as they currently stand.

The club wanted 1894 Group to become "anchor tenants" in the North Stand. We only had one committee member in attendance at 3 meetings but there were 4 meetings overall and invites given to all members of Citymatters, who were all able to give views representing their own demographic of the club's supporters.

This ultimately makes things harder to convince the club around atmospheric needs but we decided we should still try.

At the first opportunity we had to meet the club, we were asked to sign an "NDA" - a non-disclosure agreement with the club. We were unhappy about this, but we made this public on social media and emailed our members to ask whether we should engage with the club on this basis. A large majority told us to get involved as best as we could. This was April 2024.

What is important to note, though, is that there was an exceedingly short period of "fan consultation" between 28th February and 26th March 2023, and City submitted the planning application the following month. By July 2023, Manchester Council had already approved the club's plans. So It's difficult to see what anyone from any fan group could have done to alter the club's pre-determined plans for this stand at any stage, with images of the new stand already being released into the public domain.

For us to be anchor tenants, the stand would have to represent the wishes and principles of our members.

We entered into these meetings in good faith and brought some suggestions to the table and we said both publicly and privately that the club should open out a fuller consultation to all supporters but notably to existing North Stand season card holders, to allow fans to suggest amendments and improvements.

We had almost 1,500 supporter responses and our red lines were :

*That the stand should be built with acoustics in mind and the position of "singers" central to the stand.

* Pricing plans for season card and match day prices laid out for the next 5 years for the North Stand and other areas of the ground as a comparison - vital if supporters are expected to make a long term move. 1894's position is two year freeze on season and match day tickets to allow fans to catch up followed by inflationary rises only after the 2 years have been completed.

* Maintaining the current 70% ratio of season card holders amongst the 8,000 extra capacity to reverse the recent trend of not releasing new season tickets. (ie 5,600 season cards - not the extortionate Flexi Gold)

* 7,000 - 8,000 rail seats in North Stand Level 2.

* An 18-25 year old section.

* Additional rail seating in South Level 3 to mirror the noise coming from a higher atmospheric section in North Stand Level 2 so that the two ends are encouraged to sing to each other.

* A re-think from the club on the positioning, indeed the addition of general admission / hospitality seats in an "atmospheric" North Stand from what had been disclosed on images over the last few months.

We say today's update from the club lacks detail.

There is no detail on prices, no detail on the numbers of season cards being made available. We noted that Flexi Gold tickets were made available previously and as such many fans fear that the club's business plan might involve offering more Flexi Gold tickets across the ground including for the new North Stand. This would not enhance the atmosphere as not only would it price enthusiastic fans out of attending football, it would mean different people in the seats each game which does not lend itself to the atmosphere improving. Liverpool currently have this problem where only 1,000 of their new 8,000 Anfield Road upper tier has been made available to season ticket. The atmosphere has subsequently dipped.

The lack of detail around seasoncard numbers is very worrying.

More detail is required on the position of the rail seating area or areas and under what circumstances would those areas be increased.

We welcome the mention of ringfenced tickets for 18-21 year olds however we feel more detail is required. Would these be within the rail seating area only or in other areas? We believe ringfencing tickets for 18-25 section would help more fans financially.

In summary, we believe the stand has been designed with commercial revenues in mind over atmosphere. We think the club would be happy to have an improved atmosphere in the stadium but we do believe their priority would be to maximise revenue at all costs and as such some of the ideas presented to the club haven't been taken up.

There is always time to take on board fans' feedback and make changes and our door remains open.