I try and go to as many away games as possible. With me being 17 i have to use my own points whichs makes it harder for me to get the tickets as i only have 5700 points.
A way around this issue is to use my local supporters group to get the tickets and in turn improve my points total.
The tickets the sc get are obviously in an area with most tourist (and last night i was sat directly behind kompany). I find the tourist are always very polite and are buzzing with excitement. They may not know all the words but they join in with every song as they love the english football fan culture.
I think some on here need to maybe take a look at themselves a little. I have been going away games for 10 years now and i have seen our support at away games change. We have an ageing support as these are the demographic with the points to get the tickets. I see these familiar faces at everygame. I know singing is not for everyone but they spend more time moaning or texting their misses about whats for tea. Therefore i find it a little unfair for people to blame the atmosphere on tourist.
Was at that game too. It was about this time of year and there were two South Korean Arsenal fans trying to get in who didn't realise it was the away end.I remember going to Arsenal away, can't remember the year, maybe 2011, it was midweek and ended up 0-0. There was a Chinese tourist stood behind me, sung every word to every song!
Perhaps I'm wrong, but it looks like United have gone in the opposite direction. They used give a lot of tourists and day trippers away tickets, and United's away support suffered. There was a lot of resentment about that amongst United's local fans. Now if you look at United's away support it's pretty much full of local looking United fans, with plentry of MIBs in amongst them. Being honest, and this isn't easy to admit, they currently have the best and loudest away support in the PL, and have done so for quite a while.
We on the other hand seem to be heading in the other direction, with more tourists, day trippers, and plastic City fans, who really support other clubs getting tickets in the away end. Not to mention home fans. How insane is that!!
United away. Admittedly this year was better with more local City fans in the United away end, but a couple of season's back there was loads of tourists and day trippers in the United away end. It was discussed on here after the match.
That aside, I've decided to give Everton a swerve. Done it loads of times and can't be arsed. Hopefully my ticket will find it's way to a genuine City fan.
It will be very interesting to see what the club come up with as regards a revised and new away ticketing policy next season. And whether that includes making more tickets available to genuine City fans, at the expense of sponsorship partners, tourists, day trippers, and ticket websites.
How on earth these ticket websites get away tickets, ie, Bournemouth away, with a restricted allocation, and a high loyalty point mark, and then mark them up to £400+ is beyond me. If it isn't the club selling batches of tickets to make some extra money, which I honestly doubt, then they should at least buy a couple, or buy them all as a one off, and find out who has sold them on.
If you get a ticket through a supporters club do you still get points added to your personal record?
I usually travel to the UK once a year for work and I always throw in a game or two. I always sing from start to finish and it's the main reason why I prefer away matches to home matches. Does that make me a 'tourist' fan? I would consider myself a non-Mancunian fan, and I always do everything I can to contribute to the atmosphere.
Empty seats could be explained by the hundreds drinking on the concourse throughout the game
I take your point, but it wouldn't explain how a steward knew before the match began that there were empty seats on the first couple of rows. I wouldn't know about the fans drinking throughout the game as I go to watch the football. Which is why I didn't know until half time (when I looked at a text I had received just as the match started) that a Belgian gentleman was in the crowd with our fans!! :-)
Having a couple of pints at an away game, on New Year's eve ? How dare they!Kompany was two rows behind me, I had to step out to the gents and couldn't believe how many folks were on the concourse getting pissed.