Atmosphere 2024/25

The powers that be at city arent fans, they are people at the top end of their careers who are tasked with maximising profits down to the last penny.
I met a lawyer at city 5 month or so ago. Decent bloke, from the south coast, not really a fan of football, never comes to a game but one of his roles is ticketing prices (alongside the bean counters).

He cares about squeezing every last penny out of match day revenue.
As hes not a fan he doesnt care if ‘legacy’ fans dont come if they are replaced by a high spending tourist
He also doesnt give one shit if the atmosphere is silent or rocking.

I said the annual increase of season ticket prices is needless and united have frozen theirs for years. He replied “yeah but they are shit and city are brilliant”.

And that sums it up!! This convo was before this slump , he thinks that as long as we a winning the tourists will come. He also said the good times are here to stay.
The club need to be careful

So people need to stop thinking the club care about atmosphere, they dont, they care about the till ringing.
The players and pep also need to get out of their bubble and understand this before calling fans out
 
Bluesince1979 said:
The powers that be at city arent fans, they are people at the top end of their careers who are tasked with maximising profits down to the last penny.
I met a lawyer at city 5 month or so ago. Decent bloke, from the south coast, not really a fan of football, never comes to a game but one of his roles is ticketing prices (alongside the bean counters).

He cares about squeezing every last penny out of match day revenue.
As hes not a fan he doesnt care if ‘legacy’ fans dont come if they are replaced by a high spending tourist
He also doesnt give one shit if the atmosphere is silent or rocking.

I said the annual increase of season ticket prices is needless and united have frozen theirs for years. He replied “yeah but they are shit and city are brilliant”.

And that sums it up!! This convo was before this slump , he thinks that as long as we a winning the tourists will come. He also said the good times are here to stay.
The club need to be careful

So people need to stop thinking the club care about atmosphere, they dont, they care about the till ringing.
The players and pep also need to get out of their bubble and understand this before calling fans out
Click to expand...
I agree, but then management and players should direct their comments at their bosses and not the fans.
 
Didsbury Dave said:
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.
Click to expand...
Mate, there’s nothing in that statement that suggests all the red lines are non-negotiable and surely you aim high to begin with? “Our door remains open” at the end of the statement clearly indicates that a compromise could be reached, and “our door remains open” has been re-iterated to the club since that statement was put out. The ball is back in the club’s court and has been since late-September. All those issues aside, fans also simply want clarification on pricing, etc, because until they get that who is going to seriously consider moving there? 1894 have also said, even if we ultimately decide not to back the final plans, that we’d still be prepared to give up our spare time in helping the club facilitate the moving of fans from other areas of the ground into the new North Stand.

I fully accept that the club are spinning multiple plates on this and now they have another - the recent downturn in form has shown that things never last forever and if it doesn't pick up significantly they're going to have a bigger issue than they perhaps initially thought in filling that stand, week in week out, when it opens.

Maybe we’re doing it all wrong and maybe it is time for another fan group to be set up. They’ll have to be quick though and good luck dealing with the club!
 
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FWIW, the Club have said they will step
Up their communication about the new stand, ticket prices etc when the last major milestone in the timetable for the expanded North Stand is overcome. Namely, replacing the roof. Based on the construction thread that might be February / March. That timetable might not be ideal but it’s what the Club’s admin say they are going to do.

Hopefully, they are taking on board recent games when it has been harder to fill the Etihad and make plenty of affordable tickets available in the expanded North Stand, as well as more season cards around the ground. There is a commitment to 3,000 to 4,000 more flexible golds at the the moment and I know they are divisive and have an excessive annual payment.
 
M18CTID said:
Mate, there’s nothing in that statement that suggests all the red lines are non-negotiable and surely you aim high to begin with? “Our door remains open” at the end of the statement clearly indicates that a compromise could be reached, and “our door remains open” has been re-iterated to the club since that statement was put out. The ball is back in the club’s court and has been since late-September. All those issues aside, fans also simply want clarification on pricing, etc, because until they get that who is going to seriously consider moving there? 1894 have also said, even if we ultimately decide not to back the final plans, that we’d still be prepared to give up our spare time in helping the club facilitate the moving of fans from other areas of the ground into the new North Stand.

I fully accept that the club are spinning multiple plates on this and now they have another - the recent downturn in form has shown that things never last forever and if it doesn't pick up significantly they're going to have a bigger issue than they perhaps initially thought in filling that stand, week in week out, when it opens.

Maybe we’re doing it all wrong and maybe it is time for another fan group to be set up. They’ll have to be quick though and good luck dealing with the club!
Click to expand...
The definition of “red lines” means that they are non negotiable.
 
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