Atmosphere 2024/25

[kippax_blueboy]

Tourists can only get tickets because Blues are not buying them. I have noticed around me a number of older fans not going anymore and those seats now have different people in them every game. Some are City fans and others just experience hunters.

 

[Bellamy's Caddy]

Weren't the first 3 rows removed ?

That does sound familiar now you mention it. Shame. It looks tacky as fuck. Watching the highlights this morning and it takes up half the frame!

 

[TivvyBlue]

Weren't the first 3 rows removed ?

Yep

 

[TivvyBlue]

When I first took my lad 20 years ago, I think it's fair to say someone with a southern accent ( with abit of manc lol ) was abit unusual at the game.
We would be in the family stand and fans would talk to us because of our southern accent. Were surprised when told we left at 6am ( lots of loo brakes ) my lad loved it and was surprised how friendly the mancs are lol he wanted us to move to Manchester.Really enjoyable times, now we hear different languages and no one talks to us.
Attending matches has really changed and not for the better of died hard fans

It has gone a bit full circle. I’m a second generation blue from Devon & people used to think we were mad travelling up from here and felt out of place at times, but everyone was so welcoming. Get looked at funny for saying hello to the person next to you now.

 

[jrb]

Were seats taken out for this god awful massive advertising hoardings? Fortunately can't see them from my seat, but every time I watch the game back on TV I can't help but think how shit they look. Sure they make a fortune which is the reasoning... but pretty crap if fans were moved to accommodate them.

The answer to your question is yes.

 

[give it to gordon]

It has gone a bit full circle. I’m a second generation blue from Devon & people used to think we were mad travelling up from here and felt out of place at times, but everyone was so welcoming. Get looked at funny for saying hello to the person next to you now.

This

 

[Scaring Europe to Death]

I touched on this in my previous post. Years ago going to the match was everything. There was less competition, it was affordable and if you wanted to go you just turned up, queued, paid or bunked in and that was that. No memberships, purchasing history etcetera, it was easy.
There was less football and certainly a lot less on tv. If you missed a game and it wasn't on MOTD or Sunday afternoon you missed it. Going to the match was the highlight of the week and eagerly anticipated. It's now actually becoming a chore for many people. They go out of a dwindling sense of loyalty and habit but the attraction is diminishing year by year. They can stay at home and on a match day watch up to three games legally if they have paid the subscriptions and any game they want if they have illegal streams. It probably won't be in my lifetime but virtual reality spectators will be the fan of the future. All the experience of being at the game without leaving your armchair.

100% mate.

I'll be 61 in August but I still attend home matches with my school mates

It was easier to go in the 80s yet strangely easier to not go.
Nobody got prickly over empty seats and I even remember attending a rags game at Old Trafford in 88-89 (in the Everton end) when the attendance was only 26,000.

We had our moments, and I'm as guilty as anyone for misty eyed revisionism but in general, I attended matches regularly for the addictive anticipation, the fear of missing something spectacular (which rarely happened) and above all, the sense of collective pride

Back in the Autumn of 1980, City were playing well, but losing to the league leaders Ipswich.

I was only 16 but started a Kippax chant of COME ON.CITY!
COME ON CITY!
Within 30 Seconds Gerry Gow equalised.

The emotional power of the subsequent uncontrollable hysteria as I literally floated down the Kippax still reduces me to tears.
Forgot Paul Power's cross. It was my chant that deserved the assist

Of course it was all bollocks, but it was also a feeling that United fans would have understood far more than non football fans

That raw sense of belonging was diluted by the removal of terracing and the process has since accelerated with the emergence of the new breed of football fan, and even worse, every new stadium development at the Etihad seems to be aimed at them, rather than me.

MAYBE IN ANOTHER GENERATION
WHEN OTHER LADS WILL COME TO TAKE OUR PLACE

I'm still that emotional 16 year old who kicks every ball, but sadly nobody will take my place.

 

[St Helens Blue (Exiled)]

Unfortunately the atmosphere at the Etihad is like most top premier league grounds. If you think the demographic of new fans will change the atmosphere then they simply wont.
The new hotel and stand will be full of tourists who will buy overnight packages including stadium tours, match ticket and hotel stay. They will potentially spend a few hundred pounds in the superstore but they simply have no interest in atmosphere, in fact most are now player fans rather than City fans.
Unless the club listen to the groundswell of opinion, return season tickets for the new stand, make it a real blue wall of noise with local priced out fams who want to return then nothing will change and it will be a huge white elephant on match days versus the likes of Brenford, Brighton, Fulhams etc. ( no disrespect any of those teams)
The atmosphere was utter shite yesterday. Was my 1st game back for some time but wow it was shit. Outsung by Brighton fans!! Never thought that day would come.

 

[maurizio]

The City away fans are up for it and have a right good time. If only there was some way of getting them together in the new North stand. It takes some area to start things off for most fans to get going. If it's a dead atmosphere to begin with you aren't going to get the majority to start something. My attitude yesterday was resigned for a tough game, a bit worried. It's our form and the fact that we are liable to concede from their first attack. Corner of the East stand were a bit up for it, SS1 were not. Everything is expensive these days to us old gits, have you seen how much a gig or theatre ticket is. Management at the club probably compare and think it's good value. I remember paying on the gate when young and meeting up with friends and family inside. We shouldn't price the young and ordinary mancunian with a family out. This needs to be got over to the club forcibly. Mind you most grounds home support is a bit quiet with the away fans having a loud support. That dreadful dirge "is this a library" is sung at most games on the telly these days.

 

[jrb]

I finished work early yesterday at 1.30pm.
I got home at 2pm.
I set off to the ground from Burnage at 2:10pm.
I got inside the ground at 3:05pm.
It took me 55 minutes to get from Burnage to the Etihad.
The traffic, traffic light sequences at the road junctions, etc were an absolute nightmare.

The lad who stands to the left of me is thinking of not renewing his season ticket next season. His Dad doesn't go as much as he used to with him, and he's not feeing the connection with the club anymore, along with the poor match day experience.

 

[117 M34]

Yet in the bogs in 315 before the game

View attachment 149919

City seem happy to mufc written on the wall

Now that pissed me of before a ball had been kicked

Surprised you could see it through all the smoke

 

[give it to gordon]

100% mate.

I'll be 61 in August but I still attend home matches with my school mates

It was easier to go in the 80s yet strangely easier to not go.
Nobody got prickly over empty seats and I even remember attending a rags game at Old Trafford in 88-89 (in the Everton end) when the attendance was only 26,000.

We had our moments, and I'm as guilty as anyone for misty eyed revisionism but in general, I attended matches regularly for the addictive anticipation, the fear of missing something spectacular (which rarely happened) and above all, the sense of collective pride

Back in the Autumn of 1980, City were playing well, but losing to the league leaders Ipswich.

I was only 16 but started a Kippax chant of COME ON.CITY!
COME ON CITY!
Within 30 Seconds Gerry Gow equalised.

The emotional power of the subsequent uncontrollable hysteria as I literally floated down the Kippax still reduces me to tears.
Forgot Paul Power's cross. It was my chant that deserved the assist

Of course it was all bollocks, but it was also a feeling that United fans would have understood far more than non football fans

That raw sense of belonging was diluted by the removal of terracing and the process has since accelerated with the emergence of the new breed of football fan, and even worse, every new stadium development at the Etihad seems to be aimed at them, rather than me.

MAYBE IN ANOTHER GENERATION
WHEN OTHER LADS WILL COME TO TAKE OUR PLACE

I'm still that emotional 16 year old who kicks every ball, but sadly nobody will take my place.

Interestingly that line stood out to me yesterday when 'Boys in blue' was played. I looked around and thought were are they ?
Made me abit sad that !

 

[Greenandblue]

Tourists can only get tickets because Blues are not buying them. I have noticed around me a number of older fans not going anymore and those seats now have different people in them every game. Some are City fans and others just experience hunters.

This is partially true, but as a longtime matchday buyer, I can tell you the ticket purchase experience has deteriorated dramatically. We go as 5 together, I manage the memberships, I used to be able to get 5 together, or pretty close, for most games, we have purchase history etc. Now every July I have to get multiple devices open, and enter a shit show online to try and get tickets. The big games are instantly gone. Most of the rest all appear "sold out" very soon afterwards, but you can wait for the second drop.
In the meantime agency sales and hospitality are pushed.
If seats were sold, at a semi-affordable price, then local blues would be snapping them up.
I get it that success brings demand, and we're not entitled to tickets, but I can't tell you how many times I've had to scramble to get matchday tickets in split locations and then see rows of empty seats at the game. It's bullshit.
The Brighton game was apparently sold out for months....I know some of the late availability is ST exchange listings, but there has to be a better way.
You are seeing thousands of partially interested silent observers at games, because they are paying a few hundred each to agencies for Brighton at home.....the game was "sold out", so they bought the agency seats.
The club is killing it....but they really don't care.

 

[johnnytapia]

Had this at least three times in the seat next to me this season. Woman next to me yesterday didn’t speak a word of English so it makes it even harder for blues to tell them where to go. Painful

As I made my way to my seat yesterday a Chinese bloke was in it and refusing to move, despite my son telling him I’d be along shortly and that the bloke was in the wrong seat. I just said “you need to move mate, you’re in my seat.” He looked genuinely perplexed. I then repeated it, a little more sternly and with a flick of the thumb, as in, “do one”. He then meandered up to the stewards who put him in the correct seat.
Our block is like downtown Beijing.

 

[jrb]

This took seats away from City fans. And it doesn't create an atmosphere. But they probably bring in more revenue than those missing City fans, hence why the club did it?

The city of Manchester Stadium is a professional football stadium in Manchester, England. Unilumin provides 446 square meters of IP65 high-protection double-layer perimeter screens, and the project passed the UEFA test with world-class product performance, very suitable for outdoor all-weather use. The soft rubber protective cover and silicone soft mask are designed to ensure that players are protected from injury and meet the impact of external forces on the screen. The project uses Virtual Technology to allow television viewers in different regions to see different ads on the double-layer perimeter screens, supporting HD display and precision placement advertising to improve the value of advertising.

Manchester City Football Club

www.unilumin.com

 

[TivvyBlue]

MAYBE IN ANOTHER GENERATION

All the next 1894/protest banner needs to be is this with a question mark & #stopexploitingloyalty on the end

 

[Prestwich_Blue]

This took seats away from City fans. And they don't create an atmosphere. But they probably bring in more revenue than those missing City fans, hence why the club did it?

A few seasons before they put those new boards in, the club put in 3 rows of seats at the front of the stands. These were effectively below pitch level and they charged a lower price for them. The vast majority of the seats lost to these boards were those seats.

 

[Edghill OG]

It is.
And it has got more and more obvious this season.
The club are really pushing it now.
Tighter security and more over zealous stewarding has become much more evident this season.
Perhaps the directors are reacting to their fuck ups of selling home tickets to away fans, and this is their way of trying to rectify their mistakes?

I'm quite cynical by nature mate so I probably shouldn't say this, but I think they're actively trying to get rid of season ticket holders either directly through banning them themselves or disillusioning others not to re-new. Can you imagine all the messages, posters, tannoy announcements etc threatening you with losing your seat before the takeover? No I can't either, as they wanted your money.

It appears we can't throw objects in our own stadium and the only people that can do that are scousers.... but then the scouser won't have a season ticket the club can take from him and sell his seat for a premium instead. Therefore it's not worth the effort of identifying that thug apparently. If that was a City fan they'd have been found and banned instantly.

I see a football club (or at least I used to) as an extended family. We may agree or disagree, may even fall out with one another from time to time but we're all blues. Indeed I spend more time watching City either live or on the TV than I spend with a lot of my relatives. I'm sure that is the case for many others on here. We back the club, but that backing is no longer reciprocated. The incident above and Istanbul in particular really highlight that. Rather be in bed with UEFA and the scousers than consider the welfare of its own supporters. I'd rather the club came out and heavily criticise UEFA (like it should have done and it's shameful that they didn't) and risk getting a ban or a further investigation. At least we'd feel some sort of unity with those in charge, that clearly isn't there any longer.

 

[jrb]

A few seasons before they put those new boards in, the club put in 3 rows of seats at the front of the stands. These were effectively below pitch level and they charged a lower price for them. The vast majority of the seats lost to these boards were those seats.

My friend and his dad sat on two of those seats. When they took those seats out the club moved both of them to other seats and charged them more for doing that. The two of them eventually gave their season tickets up and have never been back to the Etihad since. I still ask him if he misses going, and he says not anymore.

 

[CheshireExpat]

All the next 1894/protest banner needs to be is this with a question mark & #stopexploitingloyalty on the end

More like "There won't be another generation".

If you look at the atmosphere at county, the prices, especially for the under 14s. Can you really blame people for jumping ship?

Is it really too much to ask for reduced pricing and priority for people within certain postcodes? An "utras"/atmosphere section with guaranteed season ticket seating as cringy as it sounds.

If there are groups looking out for the common fan. Where are they and why haven't they set up protests? As stupid as united look with their zebra striped riot as least they seem to do something, we just seem to sit there and take it or fuck the whole thing off.

Sitting next to silent "fans" who leave at 80th min and tourists just isn't fun. In fact it's embarrassing.