Atmosphere Thread | 2025/26

[citymad]

I think there's another intangible factor, whereby despite all the fantastic success, our recent football has been incredibly dull.

Not an issue if we're still winning, but there's a sense that football is morphing into something far more physical, based on speed and set piece aggression, whilst City are overloaded with small, left footed lightweights

What I'd have given for a Nigel de Jong tackle yesterday that would have lifted our spirits and improved the atmosphere

De Jong wouldn't have let Dalot's challenge on Doku go unpunished either.

Instead we had Ait Nouri rolling around in agony (whilst Spurs were on the counter attack) before miraculously recovering

We're being outmuscled and bullied and it needs to change

Good analysis that.

 

[Scaring Europe to Death]

Totally agree. Not that there aren’t any legitimate reasons for leaving early, but those that leave a game still in the balance just to get home 10 minutes earlier have no place in a football ground.

I mentioned this the other day and was belittled by some posters who don't realise that in North Derbyshire, everyone supports City or United

However it's worth repeating that for some people on Wednesday, there will be a straight choice

Leave around 85 minutes and get back to Piccadilly just in time for the 10:19 train

Stay till the end and have to wait for the 11:10 Bus Replacement Service which arrives at its final destination (Buxton) at 1:07am

 

[ercbkippax]

I mentioned this the other day and was belittled by some posters who don't realise that in North Derbyshire, everyone supports City or United

However it's worth repeating that for some people on Wednesday, there will be a straight choice

Leave around 85 minutes and get back to Piccadilly just in time for the 10:19 train

Stay till the end and have to wait for the 11:10 Bus Replacement Service which arrives at its final destination (Buxton) at 1:07am

That is a very fair - and very specific - excuse to leave early. Sadly a lot of the people who leave early don’t have such an excuse to fall back on.

 

[mcfc315]

Better put on a tin hat....but old Trafford still looked pretty full when Unit*d were looking for a 94th minute winner today. Let's be honest, and not defensive, what would the Ethiad have been like in similar circumstances, and why?

We should have a 50k seater full of fans that care, and stay, not a 61k seater with thousands of half interested bluffers, or people for whom the game is an inconvenience.
Sorry, but I'm so sick of making and hearing excuses, the weather, the kick off time, the transport, the opposition. The thing we loved is changed, the people who loved it are broken by pricing, by dilution of the passionate fans around them, and by ticketing policies. All peventable, but that's the reality.

I've spent a lot of time on here defending our support, you buy your ticket, you leave when you want. But when I see other clubs, with half the team we have, and they're finishing games to a nearly full house, willing them on to success, or acknowledging a good performance, and we see the half deserted shit show we witness every week, I get disillusioned.

I might be just pissed off at throwing away a winnable title this year, but the fuckers regularly walking out on 80 minutes regardless of circumstances, are a major problem in our support.
We'd be better off without them. Confession, I don't live in Manchester, and only go a few times a year, so major respect to those getting out and travelling to games to support the team, but I really don't understand or like our endemic early leaving culture. I'd rather miss my flight home than walk out on 80 minutes with the game in the balance.
It's been done to death, it's probably never gonna change, but it's gradually eating away at our soul. A very substantial chunk of our support don't hugely care, not enough to fight til the end. It wasn't always like this, but it's really bad at the moment.

No doubt I'll get defensive vitriol for this, but that's part of the issue, many who constantly deny the problem, and it is a problem, denying or defending it is just tolerating it. I can't even image what it'll be like when we're diluted by another 7,000 next year.

Great post mate, I echo your views here.

 

[blue whippet]

I mentioned this the other day and was belittled by some posters who don't realise that in North Derbyshire, everyone supports City or United

However it's worth repeating that for some people on Wednesday, there will be a straight choice

Leave around 85 minutes and get back to Piccadilly just in time for the 10:19 train

Stay till the end and have to wait for the 11:10 Bus Replacement Service which arrives at its final destination (Buxton) at 1:07am

Your comment is worth repeating every time we have a night match. What also needs adding is that some people will have to be up in the morning 5 or 6am for work. When you are young and fancy free you can cope with that once a week. When you are a bit older it wipes you out.
I live just outside Bury, the tram is fine, at times, but it's getting out of Bury where the problem arises.

 

[paulchapo]

When you remember Blackburn in 2000 surely their is a huge amount of hypocrisy when we bemoan away fans in home stands at the Etihad.
At the start of the following season WSC did a survey of fans of every club including the questions "what was the worse thing your club did last season", followed by" what was the best thing your club did last season. In response to the first question the Blackburn reply was " the ticketing, policing, and stewarding for the Man City match". In response to the second question the reply was losing that match.

Not really because it was a must win game for us and promotion on the line. I was actually sat next to s fellow blue but we kept it respectful. The bloke next to me on the other side had sussed i was a City fan but said they had no problem so long as i didn't celebrate if we scored.

Blackburn couldn't complain as loads of their fans sold their tickets for a big profit and went to watch it in the pub. It was a nothing game for them.

 

[LongsightM13]

Not really because it was a must win game for us and promotion on the line. I was actually sat next to s fellow blue but we kept it respectful. The bloke next to me on the other side had sussed i was a City fan but said they had no problem so long as i didn't celebrate if we scored.

Blackburn couldn't complain as loads of their fans sold their tickets for a big profit and went to watch it in the pub. It was a nothing game for them.

Yep thousands of Rovers fans sold us their tickets

 

[paulchapo]

Yep thousands of Rovers fans sold us their tickets

Yes around £50 was the going rate i think. Bloody annoying as I'd asked loads and nobody would sell their ticket so in desperation and with time running out i bought one from a tout for £100. Still worth every penny in the end.

 

[LongsightM13]

Yes around £50 was the going rate i think. Bloody annoying as I'd asked loads and nobody would sell their ticket so in desperation and with time running out i bought one from a tout for £100. Still worth every penny in the end.

One of their pubs up the hill had a queue of people willing to sell

 

[carlosthejackal]

The majority of our fans have lost the fire in our bellies, I'm sure individual supporters have their own reasons whether it's being bored, VAR, we've won everything, Same style football, football in general ect...

Home and away is absolutely dire, so many people staying in the concourse and missing the first 10/15 mins of games, then going back to the concourse at the 35th minute and coming back in the 55th and then leaving on 80 minutes...It's fucking mad.

Nobody seems to give a shit anymore. Players look like they feel the same on the pitch being bored shitless.

It’s a viscous circle . The majority of games are turgid , we’ve lost some truly world class players and replaced them with average players. The excitement has vanished. We’ve got a few players who are stealing a living when you look at effort and commitment compared to what they earn .
The majority of match going fans aren’t stupid . It only takes a couple of hard crunching tackles to get the crowd going.

 

[Blue tiger]

It’s a viscous circle . The majority of games are turgid , we’ve lost some truly world class players and replaced them with average players. The excitement has vanished. We’ve got a few players who are stealing a living when you look at effort and commitment compared to what they earn .
The majority of match going fans aren’t stupid . It only takes a couple of hard crunching tackles to get the crowd going.

We are without doubt the softest touch in the league. We dont win any 50/50s so frustrating. Only one who puts it about is Khusanov. Haaland 6ft 5 gets bullied far too often. Like you say this team is crying out for a De Jong, Zabaleta, Barry and Fernandinho.

 

[mancityvstoke]

Not really because it was a must win game for us and promotion on the line. I was actually sat next to s fellow blue but we kept it respectful. The bloke next to me on the other side had sussed i was a City fan but said they had no problem so long as i didn't celebrate if we scored.

Blackburn couldn't complain as loads of their fans sold their tickets for a big profit and went to watch it in the pub. It was a nothing game for them.

That worked out well …. I was in the side along with hundreds of blues bouncing about then doing the conga

 

[East Level 2]

It’s a viscous circle . The majority of games are turgid , we’ve lost some truly world class players and replaced them with average players. The excitement has vanished. We’ve got a few players who are stealing a living when you look at effort and commitment compared to what they earn .
The majority of match going fans aren’t stupid . It only takes a couple of hard crunching tackles to get the crowd going.

We've replaced world-class players with good players, but there's a huge gulf between world-class and good.

 

[M18CTID]

That away end was wank

I thought the City fans behind the goal were doing a decent job trying to get songs going. Being round the corner in block 118, I and a few others kept trying to help carry the songs over into our section but it was like flogging a dead horse most of the time.

The Spurs fans were very quiet in the first half so our fans might’ve actually come across ok on TV before the break. A Spurs fan on the train home said he could hear us loud and clear in the first half from his seat behind the goal at the opposite end of the pitch to where we were, yet I thought we were average at best!

 

[jrb]

One thing is sure about Wednesday night, it will be the diehards who turn up, so I’m expecting a decent atmosphere from both sets of fans. I doubt many, if any tourists and general football fans will be there. It’s back to the 40K old skool support.

 

[.db.]

Better put on a tin hat....but old Trafford still looked pretty full when Unit*d were looking for a 94th minute winner today. Let's be honest, and not defensive, what would the Ethiad have been like in similar circumstances, and why?

We should have a 50k seater full of fans that care, and stay, not a 61k seater with thousands of half interested bluffers, or people for whom the game is an inconvenience.
Sorry, but I'm so sick of making and hearing excuses, the weather, the kick off time, the transport, the opposition. The thing we loved is changed, the people who loved it are broken by pricing, by dilution of the passionate fans around them, and by ticketing policies. All peventable, but that's the reality.

I've spent a lot of time on here defending our support, you buy your ticket, you leave when you want. But when I see other clubs, with half the team we have, and they're finishing games to a nearly full house, willing them on to success, or acknowledging a good performance, and we see the half deserted shit show we witness every week, I get disillusioned.

I might be just pissed off at throwing away a winnable title this year, but the fuckers regularly walking out on 80 minutes regardless of circumstances, are a major problem in our support.
We'd be better off without them. Confession, I don't live in Manchester, and only go a few times a year, so major respect to those getting out and travelling to games to support the team, but I really don't understand or like our endemic early leaving culture. I'd rather miss my flight home than walk out on 80 minutes with the game in the balance.
It's been done to death, it's probably never gonna change, but it's gradually eating away at our soul. A very substantial chunk of our support don't hugely care, not enough to fight til the end. It wasn't always like this, but it's really bad at the moment.

No doubt I'll get defensive vitriol for this, but that's part of the issue, many who constantly deny the problem, and it is a problem, denying or defending it is just tolerating it. I can't even image what it'll be like when we're diluted by another 7,000 next year.

You’re spot on!

I think our support is fucking shit. There, I said it. Sad to say it, but it’s true. So bad, I feel like chanting it at the game when everyone is sat in silence for long stretches of the game or flooding out of the ground as the clock hits 35 miniutes and 80 minutes.

‘Our support, our support; our support is fucking shit, our support is fucking shit’.

 

[Tim of the Oak]

Hope the loyal Blues and school parties (if needs be) get the ground rocking tonight. I’m really looking forward to the game.

I don’t need to worry about the Geordie hoards as I’ve got @Indaparkside riding shotgun

 

[EastMidlandsBlue]

1st goal will be massive here.

If we scored it, it pretty much puts the tie to bed and hopefully it'll get quite lively.

If they score first it'll get really tense, not to mention the 6,000 geordies who'll be beside themselves with giddiness.

Even though it's not a sellout, should be a crowd of proper blues tonight. I'm excited.

 

[Ctidpaul]

One thing is sure about Wednesday night, it will be the diehards who turn up, so I’m expecting a decent atmosphere from both sets of fans. I doubt many, if any tourists and general football fans will be there. It’s back to the 40K old skool support.

And first dibs on final tickets if we get there

 

[blue b4 the moon]

What we don't want is an end to end tie for 90 (+30?) mins while the dips are sat on their sofas picking their arses waiting for Sunday.

Get a solid 45 in ideally a couple of goals and do our usual second half performance (gulp) if we're 4 up on aggregate we'll get through ok.