Atmosphere 2024/25

[M23 Citizen]

Look at what happened on Wednesday night. The game was dull and the atmosphere was dull.

Then out of nowhere (thank you Sparta fans for being a bunch of dicks), it kicked off with the away fans on both sides of the divides, and a load of songs started being sung and the team responded and the last half hour was really exciting and it ended 5-0.

The team obviously thought we were getting behind them and they reacted.

Yesterday nothing happened in the stands and the team didn’t react because there was nothing to react to.

 

[youngbob]

1. Employ more staff on the concourse so people get seen to faster. Pay those staff better wages so that more qualified people join the catering team. You're never gonna get through thousands of food and drink orders in 15 mins with teenagers on minimum wage trying to keep a kitchen running. Maybe if things moved faster at half-time you wouldn't have people fleeing their seats en masse as soon as it hits 40 minutes, and maybe people would actually be back in their seats for the second half instead of slowly dribbling in before the hour mark.

2. Drop ticket prices back under inflation and get the working class diehards back in. The best years the Etihad has ever seen for atmosphere were between 2009 and 2014, after the takeover and before the third tier was put on the South Stand. The Poznan Years, as they've been dubbed by others. That was because tickets were still affordable for people who remembered Maine Road - and the lower prices also encouraged young people aged 18-21 to get to games. Kids tickets were £95 for the season. The kind of demographic going to City games now is more monied but less energetic.

3. Move the Family Stand up and away from the pitch. It always looks awful on TV when parents with kids are trying to get out on 80-85 mins and the atmosphere goes with them. As soon as that first seat slams shut, the exodus starts and the energy evaporates. Move it to the top of the Colin Bell or East Stand imo. Sadly there's nowhere else to put the away fans because of the way the turnstiles work on that side but more effort should be made to bring the two singing sections together. We do it for Champions League games and it always looks and sounds better.

4. But, having said all that, the fans currently in the stadium have also got to take better responsibility for themselves imo. Once you've paid your money you can do as you like, just as far as I'm concerned, but even with that in mind I think a few questions need to be asked. Can you really not go two hours without a pint? Do you really need to leave on 80 mins just to avoid sitting in traffic for a bit?

 

[Man_City_Loyal]

4. But, having said all that, the fans currently in the stadium have also got to take better responsibility for themselves imo. Once you've paid your money you can do as you like, just as far as I'm concerned, but even with that in mind I think a few questions need to be asked. Can you really not go two hours without a pint? Do you really need to leave on 80 mins just to avoid sitting in traffic for a bit?

even more frustrating is when they do it at the 3pm kick offs!!!

 

[johnnytapia]

I'm struggling with that take on today's game.

I'm in SS3 and though there were times where there was a reasonable amount of noise it never got going across the whole stand, which is very unusual. Most of the time it was really flat.

Just my take from where I sit. Colin Bell level 1. Thought we got behind the team well.

 

[GaudinoMotors]

Or let people discuss atmosphere at the football when football is 50% what goes on on the pitch, 50% what goes on in the stands and a great many people want a better atmosphere than is dished up.

During lockdowns when fans weren’t allowed into stadiums, football was fucking dire to watch and it was shown up a bit as a bit of a shit sport when it was just about what goes on on that strip of grass.

When fans weren’t in the stadiums, I only bothered watching City. When, usually, if football was on I’d watch it whether it was the Premier League, Championship, a good Leagie 1 game, Spain, Germany, Italy, Champions League or a good Europa League game… because it felt pointless without the fans there.

The fans and the atmosphere they create makes football a better sport.

Being in a stadium when there’s a good atmosphere to join in with, is a much better experience and more enjoyable than when the atmosphere is shite, whether it’s 0-0, 2-2, 4-0 or 0-4…

You don't say - a good atmosphere is better than a shite one!
Nobody is disputing that - but you can't fabricate an atmosphere. In the end it boils down to occasion, occasion, occasion.

 

[M23 Citizen]

You don't say - a good atmosphere is better than a shite one!
Nobody is disputing that - but you can't fabricate an atmosphere. In the end it boils down to occasion, occasion, occasion.

Yet the atmosphere was better against Watford in a competition we aren’t arsed if we go out in where there were about 600 away fans, then it was yesterday for a Prem game which is a much bigger occasion.

 

[paulchapo]

We need this lot before the game and at halftime. This would galvanise us!

 

[Big Joe Corrigan]

Yet the atmosphere was better against Watford in a competition we aren’t arsed if we go out in where there were about 600 away fans, then it was yesterday for a Prem game which is a much bigger occasion.

Could this in part be down to the Watford game being cheaper, therefore more local old school Blues could afford to attend?

 

[Betterdeedthan red]

Shouldn’t be allowed in the stadium.

There should be a rule brought in that people are made very aware of when purchasing tickets that there a ban on other club colours of any kind - shirts shorts socks scarves coats flags etc. - in the home sections of the stadium, otherwise entry will be refused.

The piss taking **** of a Mother doing that.

Half and half scarves aswell.
100% ban them

 

[jitsubluedan]

Was in my usual seat in CB1 yesterday and thought atmosphere was pretty flat; said to my lad that the only time the whole ground joins in is when it’s a simple chant where everyone knows/can follow the words i.e. Champions Again and Blue Moon. The overseas fans and most of the day trippers don’t know the other chants.

That said, it was difficult to pick up the other chants as the stands either side of the away fans usually start different ones and from where we are, you can’t hear either of them properly and consequently, aren’t sure which one to join in with.

Whilst I have no objection to casual fans, it is impacting on the match day atmosphere; most of them are there for the ‘experience’, rather than the game and therefore, aren’t as emotionally invested as the regular fans.

IMHO there are too many casual fans interspersed in the stands which dilutes the atmosphere.