Atmosphere Thread | 2025/26

[EastMidlandsBlue]

I said something a few weeks ago in another thread about all the pubs that there used to be around the Etihad in the years after we first moved there; we’d go round loads of them before and after games over the course of a season and get to know loads of people who we’d see at games home+away and at early Wembley trips.

Now, most of the pubs have gone, most of the lads who used to sit around me in the ground have gone, most fans can only get tickets for the odd away games these days, people don’t go to Wembley anymore.

The fanbase feels a bit like it’s dying. The close-knit camaraderie, Mancunianness, fan culture, pub culture and atmosphere is certainly dying.

Just feels like a tourist destination rather than a special Manchester cultural institution.

I still don't think the club quite realises the damage they've done to our core fanbase over the past few seasons, with their shocking ticket pricing and policies.

After winning the treble, they really did think they were going to forever attract tourists and they could just ride off into the sunset leaving their core fanbase behind.

Well now we've had a bad run of form and the tourists have all fucked off, and so has a huge amount of our core fanbase. The hugely concerning thing to me is that the club doesn't seem interested in trying to win their core fans back.

 

[Scaring Europe to Death]

Same for me. I know lads who were more home+away than I was a few decades ago, who only go to early round FA Cup games now. If we draw any of the big teams in the early rounds and the prices are expensive, they don’t come at all in those seasons.

They don’t even do Wembley trips anymore. We used to fill a coach, then a minibus… last year’s FA Cup final was just three of us and I’ve done a number of recent semifinals on my own.

When you price a fan out, ban them for fuck all and disillusion them with daytripper and CBBC matchday experiences that they stop enjoying, it is very easy for them to find other things to do and they completely get out of the routine of going to the match or even thinking of getting tickets to a match.

It’s really sad what’s happened to our support. Especially the hard yards being behind this club in the dark years that so many put in for so long, to see them sat at home watching games now, hardly ever coming to games.

Our fanbase was our main marketing point years ago. The club should have treated it like it was sacrosanct.

I'm not sure it's all down to price mate, especially our relatively low numbers for FA Cup Semi Finals which quite frankly shouldn't be held at Wembley

I posted this on another thread, but it's 8 years since we last missed a Wembley trip in the FA Cup, and a great day out has since become a tedious chore, where the best you can hope for is a return the following month

I agree with your main point though

 

[Millwallawayveteran1988]

I'm not sure it's all down to price mate, especially our relatively low numbers for FA Cup Semi Finals which quite frankly shouldn't be held at Wembley

I posted this on another thread, but it's 8 years since we last missed a Wembley trip in the FA Cup, and a great day out has since become a tedious chore, where the best you can hope for is a return the following month

I agree with your main point though

With the general apathy and issues that fans have with the club currently, if we do manage to see of Newcastle, I can see this final going to anyone who wants one.

I couldn’t go yesterday but only at last minute. (Ie Friday night)

I couldn’t list my ticket
I couldn’t donate my ticket
I couldnt transfer it to my lad (to give to his mate) as he is a ST holder which you can’t do.

Madness

 

[Eric Hitchmough]

I still don't think the club quite realises the damage they've done to our core fanbase over the past few seasons, with their shocking ticket pricing and policies.

After winning the treble, they really did think they were going to forever attract tourists and they could just ride off into the sunset leaving their core fanbase behind.

Well now we've had a bad run of form and the tourists have all fucked off, and so has a huge amount of our core fanbase. The hugely concerning thing to me is that the club doesn't seem interested in trying to win their core fans back.

I agree mate and I can’t exactly see Chris Bailey asking Khaldoon about it in their end of season PR wankfest either.

 

[carlosthejackal]

Same for me. I know lads who were more home+away than I was a few decades ago, who only go to early round FA Cup games now. If we draw any of the big teams in the early rounds and the prices are expensive, they don’t come at all in those seasons.

They don’t even do Wembley trips anymore. We used to fill a coach, then a minibus… last year’s FA Cup final was just three of us and I’ve done a number of recent semifinals on my own.

When you price a fan out, ban them for fuck all and disillusion them with daytripper and CBBC matchday experiences that they stop enjoying, it is very easy for them to find other things to do and they completely get out of the routine of going to the match or even thinking of getting tickets to a match.

It’s really sad what’s happened to our support. Especially the hard yards being behind this club in the dark years that so many put in for so long, to see them sat at home watching games now, hardly ever coming to games.

Our fanbase was our main marketing point years ago. The club should have treated it like it was sacrosanct.

The club has sanitised our fan base , they don’t want the old school fan . They want a middle class fan base and the YouTube TikTok generation. If you swear in the heat of the moment or stand up you can sense the distaste all around. They have killed the atmosphere in pursuit of money .

 

[Petethemancinleeds]

2 decent games and our beloved neighbours reignite their worldwide and indeed their local support!

We cant sell out forthcoming key home cup games and have not grown the local, tourist fanbase despite a near decade of decline at utd.

Our myriad of marketing , fan experience execs and ultimately our owners have missed an open goal.

 

[give it to gordon]

I'm not sure it's all down to price mate, especially our relatively low numbers for FA Cup Semi Finals which quite frankly shouldn't be held at Wembley

I posted this on another thread, but it's 8 years since we last missed a Wembley trip in the FA Cup, and a great day out has since become a tedious chore, where the best you can hope for is a return the following month

I agree with your main point though

Think its said i wasn't goi g to post in here again lol looks like I am !

Im not knocking you at all, we would make the trip from SE Kent to the Etihad around 10times a season.

There's a few reasons we havent been this season. But for me there's 3 main reasons lack of atmosphere, park the bus teams. The main one is the travelling trying to get around the country is a nightmare. Consistent road works, 50mph speed limits on motorways for miles after mile, road closures etc. The trip is just taking longer and longer

 

[Scaring Europe to Death]

Think its said i wasn't goi g to post in here again lol looks like I am !

Im not knocking you at all, we would make the trip from SE Kent to the Etihad around 10times a season.

There's a few reasons we havent been this season. But for me there's 3 main reasons lack of atmosphere, park the bus teams. The main one is the travelling trying to get around the country is a nightmare. Consistent road works, 50mph speed limits on motorways for miles after mile, road closures etc. The trip is just taking longer and longer

Not disagreeing mate

I was just suggesting that cost isn't the only issue whilst obviously it's a huge issue for many people

 

[Maine Rd]

I’m going to be honest, I’m finding the atmosphere in the stadium to be very strange at the moment. Almost a depressed vibe where things just feel… ‘dead’.

I think a positive result in terms of the charges will help lift some of the feeling, but I also believe the ticket prices, loss of long term match goers & increase in tourists etc have taken a near critical toll in terms of the feeling that is in the ground now.

I was actually surprised at the crowd numbers yesterday, there were far more empty seats at Sunderland & Leeds home games, both 3pm. However, no idea what is going on with the atmosphere, it was dead. Wolves not much better, I’m not sure either sand for about 15-20 mins in the 1st half and then wolves sang shall we sing a song for you. They of course sang football in a library. As dull as the football on show.

 

[Tim of the Oak]

I was actually surprised at the crowd numbers yesterday, there were far more empty seats at Sunderland & Leeds home games, both 3pm. However, no idea what is going on with the atmosphere, it was dead. Wolves not much better, I’m not sure either sand for about 15-20 mins in the 1st half and then wolves sang shall we sing a song for you. They of course sang football in a library. As dull as the football on show.

The Etihad yesterday was nearly as quiet as the Arsenal fans in the second half today.

 

[dadnlad]

Think its said i wasn't goi g to post in here again lol looks like I am !

Im not knocking you at all, we would make the trip from SE Kent to the Etihad around 10times a season.

There's a few reasons we havent been this season. But for me there's 3 main reasons lack of atmosphere, park the bus teams. The main one is the travelling trying to get around the country is a nightmare. Consistent road works, 50mph speed limits on motorways for miles after mile, road closures etc. The trip is just taking longer and longer

soriano has been blamed for somethings some rightly sp but the opposition parking the bus and roadworks is stretching it abit
atmosphere is myth like longer a player injured the better he gets

 

[There is a Light]

If City execs had anything about them and they remotely cared about the good of the club, rather than solely about revenue, in addition to bringing in young local fans, they would do everything possible to woo back lapsed season tickets holders and match day members with high loyalty points to fill the White Elephant stand.

They should accept that this unsuccessful strategy they’ve been pushing on us for the last few years has been a failure and get us back to being a proper club with a proper fanbase.

 

[Tim of the Oak]

soriano has been blamed for somethings some rightly sp but the opposition parking the bus and roadworks is stretching it abit
atmosphere is myth like longer a player injured the better he gets

Soriano can be blamed for everything because nobody knows him to confirm or deny his culpability. He's the Osama Bin Laden light of this forum. Maybe he deserves the criticism. Maybe he doesn't.

People more junior to Soriano share some of the responsibility, particularly in relation to more fans being banned from the Etihad and the very complex entry to the ground that blighted the opening week of the season.

It probably isn't our Directors fault (and I'm not a fan of them) that we have to contend with Multi-£billion communications empires like the BBC and Sky TV being infatuated with our rivals.

I do think we share some of the responsibility for trying to grow our fan base, although price increases and ticket availability can be very big obstacles.

Next season will be the first time in several years that we will have excess capacity to grow the number of young families of Blues with season cards in the Etihad. I think it's premature to write off the Etihad as being too big until the newer generation of fans who have been attracted by Haaland etc. have the chance to get season cards.

I don't really care if individual games are sold out. Who am I to comment on the financial circumstances of people I don't even know.

I do see our Directors as being responsible for the poor state of fan engagement that contributes to poor decision making that can hinder the growth of our club.

 

[gordondaviesmoustache]

I said something a few weeks ago in another thread about all the pubs that there used to be around the Etihad in the years after we first moved there; we’d go round loads of them before and after games over the course of a season and get to know loads of people who we’d see at games home+away and at early Wembley trips.

Absolutely nuts that someone hasn’t tried to operate a serious fanzone within ten minutes walk of the ground. Unless I’m missing something? And I’m not talking about Mary D’s!

Maybe the club owning all the land round there massively restricts any such use? Seems strange there’s nothing like that of note near the ground. A good (and big) fanzone boozer can take over £100k on a match day, so there’s lots of money to be made.

Seems strange to me how inactive that market has been near the ground in recent years. Given our success. There should definitely be more hospitality round the Etihad. Hopefully that will come as the club and its zone of influence continues to expand.

 

[bobbyowenquiff]

I said something a few weeks ago in another thread about all the pubs that there used to be around the Etihad in the years after we first moved there; we’d go round loads of them before and after games over the course of a season and get to know loads of people who we’d see at games home+away and at early Wembley trips.

Now, most of the pubs have gone, most of the lads who used to sit around me in the ground have gone, most fans can only get tickets for the odd away games these days, people don’t go to Wembley anymore.

The fanbase feels a bit like it’s dying. The close-knit camaraderie, Mancunianness, fan culture, pub culture and atmosphere is certainly dying.

Just feels like a tourist destination rather than a special Manchester cultural institution.

Most City fans drink in town these days and it's great. Most of those pubs near the Etihad were dire.

 

[Legalamb777]

I’m in good company then mate. :-)

You might have even pissed down my leg, not being able to get out of the packed Kippax before you needed a piss?

Wonderful and beautiful days mate, that I will always remember and cherish.

I feel so sorry for the youth of today and the by gone years who will never experience the freedom of the terraces then.

Happy days……

 

[Tim of the Oak]

With the general apathy and issues that fans have with the club currently, if we do manage to see of Newcastle, I can see this final going to anyone who wants one.

I couldn’t go yesterday but only at last minute. (Ie Friday night)

I couldn’t list my ticket
I couldn’t donate my ticket
I couldnt transfer it to my lad (to give to his mate) as he is a ST holder which you can’t do.

Madness

Your lad's mate could have got a membership and you could have transferred the spare ticket to him. If your son's mate is Under 18 he could have got a membership for a fiver linked to your friends and family.

That might be too much of an inconvenience. It depends how much your son's mate wanted to see the game.

 

[dadnlad]

Your lad's mate could have got a membership and you could have transferred the spare ticket to him. If your son's mate is Under 18 he could have got a membership for a fiver linked to your friends and family.

That might be too much of an inconvenience. It depends how much your son's mate wanted to see the game.

the info you give on this thread helping fans is better then the club do

 

[Legalamb777]

The TWO English clubs with the biggest amount of match going plastic fans are Liverpool and the rags,difference between their plastics and our plastics is theirs actually give a shit about their clubs…..City’s plastics aren’t really that arsed about us,we score a goal they just stand and politely clap that’s why you see the ground only 3 quarters full by the 50th minute after half time,and 100s/1000s fucking off in the 85th minute,they may have City colours on but win or lose…they’re not really that bothered…depending on the result won’t affect whether their weekend is great or fucked.

 

[Scaring Europe to Death]

With the general apathy and issues that fans have with the club currently, if we do manage to see of Newcastle, I can see this final going to anyone who wants one.

I couldn’t go yesterday but only at last minute. (Ie Friday night)

I couldn’t list my ticket
I couldn’t donate my ticket
I couldnt transfer it to my lad (to give to his mate) as he is a ST holder which you can’t do.

Madness

Cost is a huge factor, but it's by no means the only factor and there's definitely a groundswell of apathy.

My mate can be filed under miscellaneous, but I suspect that he's not alone

He's supported City since the early 70s, and sat with me in the home end at Macclesfield and Stockport in the dark days of the late 90s.

He was in all the cup schemes and was there when Wembley was one great novelty in the Mancini era
,
Fast Forward to 2026, and he's only in the FA Cup scheme, but couldn't be arsed attending v Exeter, and I'm not even sure if he attended v Huddersfield or Plymouth last season.
He couldn't be arsed with the Semi Final v Forest and didn't even bother with the Final (or the previous year) as it clashed with a Derbyshire Music Festival

He's not been to a Carabao Cup match this season and he won't be there v Newcastle. However, if we reach Wembley ne might attend, but only if somebody drives him.