Atmosphere 2024/25

[M16 citeh]

Oh I know, but just meant it's the most blatant example we've seen. Early CL game prices being mental, the kit nonsense and the new format. It's never been so overt and out in the open. It's crept up for ages, and last night felt like a punch in the face.

Fair doos mate. As I say, I agree. I have felt the disconnect between the fans and the club for some time so for me it's not surprising or nothing new. I continue to find reasons to support the club as I'm sure you do, despite the changes to football the influence of money - it's getting harder though! And yes that kit is fucking shite haha

 

[Citizen of Legoland]

I didn't know where to post this really, so in here it will go! I've been thinking about last night's game a lot since the full time whistle and I can't shake this uneasy feeling I have. The whole night just felt really off about it, and I think it's because it's the most egregious example we've seen so far of football feeling like something you'd experience stateside. It was pure undiluted capitalism and it felt a little gross if i'm being honest.

Firstly, thousands of fans voted with their feet at the ridiculous ticket prices, obviously motivated by a hungry money hunt from the club. That left City with a crowd of tourists and newer fans - all there to 'experience' City. I don't blame them at all, they tried their best, but it just isn't the same atmosphere. It isn't their fault that football is this way, but we can't deny the effect it has on the night. Then you add to that the absurd nonsense of wearing an away kit at home. The reasoning behind that? Marketing. I wouldn't mind, but it's not even a kit in honour of City's heritage. It's essentially a marketing tool for a band reforming. We willingly sold out our club colours in a game that was a rerun of arguably the biggest night in the club's history to basically push a kit that is more or less a tribute to a band. Money....the kit is fucking shite too, which doesn't help.

Then when you consider the competition itself has changed dramatically, for money, leaving a confusing mess of a format that will feel inconsequential for a long time. A bunch of games, all random, all disconnected and all just a long slog until the inevitable big team qualifications...well yeah, the whole night just felt like a money grab, with a side serving of football. I understand some won't care about this and accuse me of being dramatic, but I don't think it's ever been that overt. Last night it felt like football and City changed in front of our eyes, or at very least we saw the direct result of this aggressive pursuit of money, and worryingly it only feels like the tip of the iceberg. It's not going to get any better.

There will be more kits at higher prices, more game at higher prices and fans will be pushed out. Can't wait for adverts at half-time in the stadium and even more 'innovations' that take the game closer to the dream NFL model of intense profitability at the expense of the consumer. A Champions League game of that magnitude should not feel like a preseason game, but it did. I really can't shake the feeling that last night things changed a lot, and personally i didn't like it at all. It's a crying shame.

I was bored for most of last night. Watching fans from abroad getting giddy over a dull game like that is a bit surreal and I can’t say I am that excited about the remaining 3 matches at home. I’m not even planning on watching the away games live, just the BBC highlights. Or I might not bother at all until the knockout stages.

 

[Cellarite]

Schmeicel has really P*ssed me off! He challenged Richards to get out of the studio and 'experience' what poor old Peter had to experience! If any of you have seen my twitter today I've had a bit of a rant and been met with all that sh*te from rival fans who believe the sh*te Schmeichel and co says.

After Schmeichel's comments to Richards to 'experience' it I have challenged Schmeichel to 'experience' what fans experience. He'll ignore it of course.

The bloke next to me loved every minute of last night's game apart from the lack of goals and City not winning. He was desperate to watch City in the CL and had caught a plane from Dublin at 7am; spent the day in Manchester; come to the game with his work shirt shoved in his pocket; didn't have a hotel and was planning to get a flight at 6am back then get in work in Dublin for 9am, presumably putting his work shirt on at some point. Not certain he had any deodorant or anything! Anyway, the point is that he must have spent £200+ on flights, tickets plus presumably a day off work. Little sleep too (I hope he's not a brain surgeon in Dublin!). I wonder how much he spent/sacrificed on watching that one game compares to the money earned by Schmeichel to be at that game?

It really irritates me when millionaires give their input on things like this as well.

Yesterday, I got up at 4:55 to get to work for 5:30 so that I could finish early to get to the match.

My lad works at our place and started an hour early to finish at 3. We then drove to the other lad's college and picked him up with a change of clothing in the back of the car and set off from Hull to Manchester. We stopped quickly on the Broadway for a chip barm, had a quick pint and chat with an old schoolmate in the Cornershop and headed to the ground. We were in block 110 and the atmosphere, whilst not the best I've experienced, certainly wasn't the worst. There was as much to-ing and fro-ing with the Inter fans that the language barrier would allow. The South Stand was the best it's been so far this season and if Peter Schmeichel can't feel that from whichever exclusive part of the stadium he watched from, then fuck him.

We then walked back to the car, drove back to Hull and got in at 00:30. I was wired from driving so had a brew, watched a bit of MOTD and hit the sack about twenty past one. Back up at 7 this morning for work and although tired, I wouldn't change a thing apart from a Gundog header to be a bit lower.

 

[TheGhost]

I didn't know where to post this really, so in here it will go! I've been thinking about last night's game a lot since the full time whistle and I can't shake this uneasy feeling I have. The whole night just felt really off about it, and I think it's because it's the most egregious example we've seen so far of football feeling like something you'd experience stateside. It was pure undiluted capitalism and it felt a little gross if i'm being honest.

Firstly, thousands of fans voted with their feet at the ridiculous ticket prices, obviously motivated by a hungry money hunt from the club. That left City with a crowd of tourists and newer fans - all there to 'experience' City. I don't blame them at all, they tried their best, but it just isn't the same atmosphere. It isn't their fault that football is this way, but we can't deny the effect it has on the night. Then you add to that the absurd nonsense of wearing an away kit at home. The reasoning behind that? Marketing. I wouldn't mind, but it's not even a kit in honour of City's heritage. It's essentially a marketing tool for a band reforming. We willingly sold out our club colours in a game that was a rerun of arguably the biggest night in the club's history to basically push a kit that is more or less a tribute to a band. Money....the kit is fucking shite too, which doesn't help.

Then when you consider the competition itself has changed dramatically, for money, leaving a confusing mess of a format that will feel inconsequential for a long time. A bunch of games, all random, all disconnected and all just a long slog until the inevitable big team qualifications...well yeah, the whole night just felt like a money grab, with a side serving of football. I understand some won't care about this and accuse me of being dramatic, but I don't think it's ever been that overt. Last night it felt like football and City changed in front of our eyes, or at very least we saw the direct result of this aggressive pursuit of money, and worryingly it only feels like the tip of the iceberg. It's not going to get any better.

There will be more kits at higher prices, more game at higher prices and fans will be pushed out. Can't wait for adverts at half-time in the stadium and even more 'innovations' that take the game closer to the dream NFL model of intense profitability at the expense of the consumer. A Champions League game of that magnitude should not feel like a preseason game, but it did. I really can't shake the feeling that last night things changed a lot, and personally i didn't like it at all. It's a crying shame.

On the upside though you could buy half time beer tokens in SSL3 which you previously couldn’t do on Champions League nights.
Although half of South Stand Level 3 were still outside at kick off due to the ticket office removing QR codes from tickets and making NFCs on phones essential causing huge queues.
And the bars don’t sell food, drink or beer tokens after kick off. Why they don’t use the counter that use for the half time beer service to just sell tokens pre match I’ll never know.
@Alex - City Matters ?

 

[Jazzyblue]

I didn't know where to post this really, so in here it will go! I've been thinking about last night's game a lot since the full time whistle and I can't shake this uneasy feeling I have. The whole night just felt really off about it, and I think it's because it's the most egregious example we've seen so far of football feeling like something you'd experience stateside. It was pure undiluted capitalism and it felt a little gross if i'm being honest.

Firstly, thousands of fans voted with their feet at the ridiculous ticket prices, obviously motivated by a hungry money hunt from the club. That left City with a crowd of tourists and newer fans - all there to 'experience' City. I don't blame them at all, they tried their best, but it just isn't the same atmosphere. It isn't their fault that football is this way, but we can't deny the effect it has on the night. Then you add to that the absurd nonsense of wearing an away kit at home. The reasoning behind that? Marketing. I wouldn't mind, but it's not even a kit in honour of City's heritage. It's essentially a marketing tool for a band reforming. We willingly sold out our club colours in a game that was a rerun of arguably the biggest night in the club's history to basically push a kit that is more or less a tribute to a band. Money....the kit is fucking shite too, which doesn't help.

Then when you consider the competition itself has changed dramatically, for money, leaving a confusing mess of a format that will feel inconsequential for a long time. A bunch of games, all random, all disconnected and all just a long slog until the inevitable big team qualifications...well yeah, the whole night just felt like a money grab, with a side serving of football. I understand some won't care about this and accuse me of being dramatic, but I don't think it's ever been that overt. Last night it felt like football and City changed in front of our eyes, or at very least we saw the direct result of this aggressive pursuit of money, and worryingly it only feels like the tip of the iceberg. It's not going to get any better.

There will be more kits at higher prices, more game at higher prices and fans will be pushed out. Can't wait for adverts at half-time in the stadium and even more 'innovations' that take the game closer to the dream NFL model of intense profitability at the expense of the consumer. A Champions League game of that magnitude should not feel like a preseason game, but it did. I really can't shake the feeling that last night things changed a lot, and personally i didn't like it at all. It's a crying shame.

The atmosphere last night was fine. PL games full of ST holders aren't any better. The hard truth is that if atmospheres aren't where we want them to be at Etihad it isn't because we've got more foreign fans or more new fans. They are a scapegoat because we don't like to admit it's more sedate now because matchgoing football has become an older person's pursuit and while there are a lot of older fans who make a noise, blokes in their 60s and 70s cannot be expected to make the same atmosphere as groups of young lads do at lower league games or used to do at all games in the 70s.

It's going so that you basically have to be 40 plus to afford PL football. But I do agree with that there were things that were worrying about last night. Usually CL games are when you get your diverse, working class younger Mancs - 20s, 30s - who don't get to PL games. Whether they make a noise or not they are the future. Hardly saw any of them last night which is why it was so quick to get served at the bar - priced out, obviously. Crowd last night, as far as I could see, was overwhelmingly older regulars, usual smattering of parents, and some tourists, but not that many.

But I do agree there were things that were worrying. Big blue gaps in SS3 and CB2. NS full, but not at capacity since the back of it is out of commission with the building work. NFCs glitchy as fuck at the turnstiles and at the bars. If the club doesn't acknowledge that the matchgoing fanbase is ageing and make tickets and season tickets cheaper and more accessible we are going to be embarrassed by unfilled seats when the new stand opens. Simple as that. We do not have enough tourists to fill those seats and if performances drop off they won't come.

 

[JRockBlues]

CBS forgot to turn the mic's down last night. The booing of the "anthem" was heard in full effect.

 

[GaudinoMotors]

I was bored for most of last night. Watching fans from abroad getting giddy over a dull game like that is a bit surreal and I can’t say I am that excited about the remaining 3 matches at home. I’m not even planning on watching the away games live, just the BBC highlights. Or I might not bother at all until the knockout stages.

Legoland sounds a hoot!

 

[Cheadle_hulmeBlue]

The atmosphere last night was fine. PL games full of ST holders aren't any better. The hard truth is that if atmospheres aren't where we want them to be at Etihad it isn't because we've got more foreign fans or more new fans. They are a scapegoat because we don't like to admit it's more sedate now because matchgoing football has become an older person's pursuit and while there are a lot of older fans who make a noise, blokes in their 60s and 70s cannot be expected to make the same atmosphere as groups of young lads do at lower league games or used to do at all games in the 70s.

It's going so that you basically have to be 40 plus to afford PL football. But I do agree with that there were things that were worrying about last night. Usually CL games are when you get your diverse, working class younger Mancs - 20s, 30s - who don't get to PL games. Whether they make a noise or not they are the future. Hardly saw any of them last night which is why it was so quick to get served at the bar - priced out, obviously. Crowd last night, as far as I could see, was overwhelmingly older regulars, usual smattering of parents, and some tourists, but not that many.

But I do agree there were things that were worrying. Big blue gaps in SS3 and CB2. NS full, but not at capacity since the back of it is out of commission with the building work. NFCs glitchy as fuck at the turnstiles and at the bars. If the club doesn't acknowledge that the matchgoing fanbase is ageing and make tickets and season tickets cheaper and more accessible we are going to be embarrassed by unfilled seats when the new stand opens. Simple as that. We do not have enough tourists to fill those seats and if performances drop off they won't come.

I completely agree with your last two points. Pricing in particular is now a huge issue as it means large numbers of local fans and long standing fans are being completely priced out of attending city matches.

There’s no long term thinking at all, as the next generation aren’t being considered. The average age of the crowd for league games has to be 60+ and above?
This is having a direct impact on the atmosphere in my opinion.

Champions league games now feel like the community shield game fans boycotted and it’s obvious large numbers of city fans are boycotting/ unable to attend these games.

We’ve got no one standing up for the fans.

 

[Cheadle_hulmeBlue]

I didn't know where to post this really, so in here it will go! I've been thinking about last night's game a lot since the full time whistle and I can't shake this uneasy feeling I have. The whole night just felt really off about it, and I think it's because it's the most egregious example we've seen so far of football feeling like something you'd experience stateside. It was pure undiluted capitalism and it felt a little gross if i'm being honest.

Firstly, thousands of fans voted with their feet at the ridiculous ticket prices, obviously motivated by a hungry money hunt from the club. That left City with a crowd of tourists and newer fans - all there to 'experience' City. I don't blame them at all, they tried their best, but it just isn't the same atmosphere. It isn't their fault that football is this way, but we can't deny the effect it has on the night. Then you add to that the absurd nonsense of wearing an away kit at home. The reasoning behind that? Marketing. I wouldn't mind, but it's not even a kit in honour of City's heritage. It's essentially a marketing tool for a band reforming. We willingly sold out our club colours in a game that was a rerun of arguably the biggest night in the club's history to basically push a kit that is more or less a tribute to a band. Money....the kit is fucking shite too, which doesn't help.

Then when you consider the competition itself has changed dramatically, for money, leaving a confusing mess of a format that will feel inconsequential for a long time. A bunch of games, all random, all disconnected and all just a long slog until the inevitable big team qualifications...well yeah, the whole night just felt like a money grab, with a side serving of football. I understand some won't care about this and accuse me of being dramatic, but I don't think it's ever been that overt. Last night it felt like football and City changed in front of our eyes, or at very least we saw the direct result of this aggressive pursuit of money, and worryingly it only feels like the tip of the iceberg. It's not going to get any better.

There will be more kits at higher prices, more game at higher prices and fans will be pushed out. Can't wait for adverts at half-time in the stadium and even more 'innovations' that take the game closer to the dream NFL model of intense profitability at the expense of the consumer. A Champions League game of that magnitude should not feel like a preseason game, but it did. I really can't shake the feeling that last night things changed a lot, and personally i didn't like it at all. It's a crying shame.

Great post. These games for me I don’t feel like I’m attending a city game anymore. We may as well play at Wembley, as the core fan base isn’t being considered.

Unless Im getting you mixed up. Have you considered making a YouTube video about this? It would make for a really interesting discussion.

 

[Gray]

Champions league games now feel like the community shield game fans boycotted and it’s obvious large numbers of city fans are boycotting/ unable to attend these games.

We’ve got no one standing up for the fans.

I have never enjoyed the Champions League and the new format is just a money grabbing exercise by UEFA. I was until a few years ago in all the cup schemes but dropped out of the CL and Carabao.

Getting to the Etihad for 8pm is just too much hassle for me, I do it reluctantly for league matches.