Away fans / tourists in home sections

[Tbilisi]

Very true my mate had a season ticket for 20 years, watched all the crap home and away, the tipping point, when they wouldn't allow his 5 year old a bottle top, deemed a security risk. He was the epitome of a family man, he said I don't need this shite, been back 4 times in 7 years, City lost a supporter and the next generation just like that, he will never return on a regular ba

I am going through similar pain atm.

 

[philiph20]

completely agree with this point. You only have to look at our match going crowd. Other than in ss1 there are barely any groups of young people going to games.
I’m not talking teenagers either, I’m talking people aged 18-35.

The only time you see that is for cup games now. It’s mainly people aged 50 and over. As you say a lot of younger fans are legacy fans going with their parents. When they stop going who’s going to replace them?

There’s no long term thinking at all.

It's staggering when you think about how few fans we have in that age range, 30 plus years ago probably 75% were in that age bracket, the club simply don't give a shit about the local fan base, they have no interest in drawing back the tens of thousands of lapsed blues. To build a supporter base you start with the local fan base and THEN branch out, since 2012 and the fall of the other lot in M16 they had the perfect opportunity to really go to town on having vast numbers of local fans desperate to watch the best team in the country but they have failed miserably, a whole generation of support has been lost and the majority of lapsed blues won't come back, the day-trippers, instagram crowd will piss off when things will really begin to wane and we'll have 40,000 in a stadium holding over 60,000...short termism and utter greed.

 

[Betterdeedthan red]

Do you really think that would have an affect?

We've mocked United fans on here for wearing yellow and green scarves, saying the Glazers wouldn't give a fuck what colour scarves they wear. Do you honestly think executives would bat an eyelid if everyone pays their money and then leaves early?

Someone needs to do something. It's about time proper fans stood together .
Clubs need to realise without fans football is shite

 

[Gone for a Burton]

It's staggering when you think about how few fans we have in that age range, 30 plus years ago probably 75% were in that age bracket, the club simply don't give a shit about the local fan base, they have no interest in drawing back the tens of thousands of lapsed blues. To build a supporter base you start with the local fan base and THEN branch out, since 2012 and the fall of the other lot in M16 they had the perfect opportunity to really go to town on having vast numbers of local fans desperate to watch the best team in the country but they have failed miserably, a whole generation of support has been lost and the majority of lapsed blues won't come back, the day-trippers, instagram crowd will piss off when things will really begin to wane and we'll have 40,000 in a stadium holding over 60,000...short termism and utter greed.

The club is entering very dangerous territory,they should be acting when they can, not when they must.

Who is councelling them on sensitive fan related matters....Mike Summerbee,Parker,Micky Francis or is it a case of hear no,see no,speak no evil.

In which case it'll be down to us to reincarnate our militant days from Maine Rd and act as we see fit
!!

 

[mexico1970]

The club is entering very dangerous territory,they should be acting when they can, not when they must.

Who is councelling them on sensitive fan related matters....Mike Summerbee,Parker,Micky Francis or is it a case of hear no,see no,speak no evil.

In which case it'll be down to us to reincarnate our militant days from Maine Rd and act as we see fit
!!

I get all of the feeling from the genuine city fans around me no feeling at all from the club, all the club seem to do is hire broom cupboard presenters, tell you constantly how to behave and not be a racist gay bashing misogynist.

I have always said that my support is for genuine city fans not for the club who moralise to us and just want to rinse us.

 

[Prestwich_Blue]

I don’t disagree with any of the points being made but if we all binned off the Champs League, who would be there to support the team.

I think the excessive pricing for the Inter game is doing lasting damage

That's the club's problem Tim. People make a personal choice not to go for various reasons but prices and yet more matches to shell out for are among those reasons.

As others have said, Soriano seems to have chosen to prioritise attracting 'tourists' over retaining us 'legacy' fans. And when people see fewer of the faces they recognise around them on CL nights they think "Why should I bother?".

 

[Tim of the Oak]

That's the club's problem Tim. People make a personal choice not to go for various reasons but prices and yet more matches to shell out for are among those reasons.

As others have said, Soriano seems to have chosen to prioritise attracting 'tourists' over retaining us 'legacy' fans. And when people see fewer of the faces they recognise around them on CL nights they think "Why should I bother?".

I can’t remember all the price bands for Feyenord but IIRC the significant cost reductions (compared to Inter were in the South Stand and possibly North Stand). Prices were still fairly high in the Colin Bell and East Stands. I was surprised there wasn’t more said about the Colin Bell and East Stand prices before the game.

I’ve not read all the thread and I take it Mr Moss Side was content with the prices. My main issues are too many games and how difficult it is to give tickets away for the a cup games. I’ve been met with all sorts of error messages when I’ve tried to give away domestic cup tickets and European tickets.

I think another issue to the several raised is that there aren’t as many high population density estates around Manchester as their used to be. There’s still of course but catchment areas are spread wider.

I’ve said it many times, but I like the more mixed ethnicity support we tend to get for European games. The train I normally get back over the Pennines is full with most Bkuesbeotuer being from West Yorkshire so bare international students from Asia. They aren’t rich people and aren’t denying anyone a ticket cos there are thousands of emptied. I’m just making a wider comment on this and not reaponding to what you or any other poster has said.

 

[EastMidlandsBlue]

A walk out of the ground after 70 minutes if that what the cost is that week.

Don't we do that every week anyway?

 

[bennyboy]

Don't we do that every week anyway?

Aye starting later helps nobody.

 

[Prophet of Doom]

Very true my mate had a season ticket for 20 years, watched all the crap home and away, the tipping point, when they wouldn't allow his 5 year old a bottle top, deemed a security risk. He was the epitome of a family man, he said I don't need this shite, been back 4 times in 7 years, City lost a supporter and the next generation just like that, he will never return on a regular basis

This is what makes me laugh when people bang on here about getting lapsed blues to come back. Once you pack in the routine it’s gone forever.

Some good posts above about supporting City at Maine Road as kids. The buzz that got us all hooked. Very different for kids these days.

The simple fact is the people running the club have fucked up growing the club in this country. 4 in a row should see us sold out every game - we might be growing overseas but we have shrunk in the UK.

It’s a textbook example on how disengaging completely with the local supporters results in where we are now.

Shame on everybody involved - monumental fuck up.

 

[mexico1970]

This is what makes me laugh when people bang on here about getting lapsed blues to come back. Once you pack in the routine it’s gone forever.

Some good posts above about supporting City at Maine Road as kids. The buzz that got us all hooked. Very different for kids these days.

The simple fact is the people running the club have fucked up growing the club in this country. 4 in a row should see us sold out every game - we might be growing overseas but we have shrunk in the UK.

It’s a textbook example on how disengaging completely with the local supporters results in where we are now.

Shame on everybody involved - monumental fuck up.

Very very unpopular view but for me pretty much spot on.

 

[Scaring Europe to Death]

Too much misty eyed revisionism over something that was never quite the way we prefer to remember.

When I was younger it was easier to go, but it was also easier to not go.

There weren't any loyalty points so it was never an issue if you couldn't be arsed attending a rearranged end-of-season midweek fixture, especially when the weather forecast looked grim and you were going out that night

On the contrary you'd literally decide to travel to Bramall Lane with your mates in the pub the previous evening.

Games were rarely all-ticket, there was always a cash turnstile and terracing guaranteed that you could stand with your mates.

Football had never been so cheap and yet every stadium in the country was regularly only half full.
When we reminisce we're actually pinning for our youth and are no different to the older fans of every other club

Indeed the last time I attended a game at the swamp that didn't involve City (United 1 Everton April 1989) the crowd was 26,000.

Nowadays everything is more safe and sanitised but City don't hold a monopoly over gentrification.
Younger fans still travel together but they can't sit together.
It's shite, but in contrast to the "good old days" our average attendance has never been so high.

Feyenoord fans in our end (the subject of this thread) was a problem but even without any away fans the attendance was still higher than any European game from 71-79 at Maine Road.

 

[.db.]

One of the saddest things about reading this thread is the general consensus from City fans is that the club doesn’t care about the fans, their views, and their opinions anymore, and haven’t done for a long time. That’s damning in itself, never mind the reasons for that. This has happened gradually over the years, before and after Khaldoon’s promises that the ‘club would always listen to the fans, and would always take the fans views and opinions into consideration’, because without the fans, and their loyalty, there would be no Manchester City Football Club.

Sheikh Mansour, 2008, when he bought City.

As part of that, we will absolutely spend time listening to you the fans about what you think about the future of the club. We are very aware that without you there would not be a club to buy, and your voice will be heard by the organisation at the highest level.

A letter to the City fans from Sheikh Mansour

Sheikh Mansour letter to Manchester City fans 2008

www.mancity.com

I gave up on the club caring about us after their total silence after the Istanbul car park debacle.

I can’t fucking stand Liverpool but their club would have stuck up for their fans in that situation, massively!

 

[Millwallawayveteran1988]

This is what makes me laugh when people bang on here about getting lapsed blues to come back. Once you pack in the routine it’s gone forever.

Some good posts above about supporting City at Maine Road as kids. The buzz that got us all hooked. Very different for kids these days.

The simple fact is the people running the club have fucked up growing the club in this country. 4 in a row should see us sold out every game - we might be growing overseas but we have shrunk in the UK.

It’s a textbook example on how disengaging completely with the local supporters results in where we are now.

Shame on everybody involved - monumental fuck up.

Totally agree with the first bit. If the club had contacted me on Wednesday and said you can have a ticket for £10 I wouldn’t have gone. I am not missing midweek matches at all. The hassle they involved was just becoming too much of a pain and I can’t see me going back now. Only going to Forest next week as 7.30 kick off.

 

[jrb]

I gave up on the club caring about us after their total silence after the Istanbul car park debacle.

I can’t fucking stand Liverpool but their club would have stuck up for their fans in that situation, massively!

City keep everything in house. Secret. We’ll deal with it internally. There’s no need to go public on it. Or to involve the fans in any capacity, bar sending them an email every now and again, etc.

Maybe it’s and Arab (racist, jrb) way of working? Maybe it’s a Catalan way of working? Maybe it’s a combination of both?

The North stand meetings were a perfect example. All fan representatives had to agree to NDA’s. And they did. Not much was ever posted on BM by the fan reps after the meetings, even though we asked specific questions to be asked at the meeting's by the fan reps. There was never any follow replies on BM. Tim gave a decent update after the Club and OSC meeting.

 

[bennyboy]

Too much misty eyed revisionism over something that was never quite the way we prefer to remember.

When I was younger it was easier to go, but it was also easier to not go.

There weren't any loyalty points so it was never an issue if you couldn't be arsed attending a rearranged end-of-season midweek fixture, especially when the weather forecast looked grim and you were going out that night

On the contrary you'd literally decide to travel to Bramall Lane with your mates in the pub the previous evening.

Games were rarely all-ticket, there was always a cash turnstile and terracing guaranteed that you could stand with your mates.

Football had never been so cheap and yet every stadium in the country was regularly only half full.
When we reminisce we're actually pinning for our youth and are no different to the older fans of every other club

Indeed the last time I attended a game at the swamp that didn't involve City (United 1 Everton April 1989) the crowd was 26,000.

Nowadays everything is more safe and sanitised but City don't hold a monopoly over gentrification.
Younger fans still travel together but they can't sit together.
It's shite, but in contrast to the "good old days" our average attendance has never been so high.

Feyenoord fans in our end (the subject of this thread) was a problem but even without any away fans the attendance was still higher than any European game from 71-79 at Maine Road.

Imagine the abuse if bluemoon message board was around in the 70's when your season ticket went up from £14.50 to£17.50.

 

[mexico1970]

Too much misty eyed revisionism over something that was never quite the way we prefer to remember.

When I was younger it was easier to go, but it was also easier to not go.

There weren't any loyalty points so it was never an issue if you couldn't be arsed attending a rearranged end-of-season midweek fixture, especially when the weather forecast looked grim and you were going out that night

On the contrary you'd literally decide to travel to Bramall Lane with your mates in the pub the previous evening.

Games were rarely all-ticket, there was always a cash turnstile and terracing guaranteed that you could stand with your mates.

Football had never been so cheap and yet every stadium in the country was regularly only half full.
When we reminisce we're actually pinning for our youth and are no different to the older fans of every other club

Indeed the last time I attended a game at the swamp that didn't involve City (United 1 Everton April 1989) the crowd was 26,000.

Nowadays everything is more safe and sanitised but City don't hold a monopoly over gentrification.
Younger fans still travel together but they can't sit together.
It's shite, but in contrast to the "good old days" our average attendance has never been so high.

Feyenoord fans in our end (the subject of this thread) was a problem but even without any away fans the attendance was still higher than any European game from 71-79 at Maine Road.

The point people are making is that bigger isn't necessarily better, the club IMHO seems a lot more distant from the fans right now.

People saying that's the way it is are just capitulating, it needs to change.

 

[bobbyowenquiff]

Too much misty eyed revisionism over something that was never quite the way we prefer to remember.

When I was younger it was easier to go, but it was also easier to not go.

There weren't any loyalty points so it was never an issue if you couldn't be arsed attending a rearranged end-of-season midweek fixture, especially when the weather forecast looked grim and you were going out that night

On the contrary you'd literally decide to travel to Bramall Lane with your mates in the pub the previous evening.

Games were rarely all-ticket, there was always a cash turnstile and terracing guaranteed that you could stand with your mates.

Football had never been so cheap and yet every stadium in the country was regularly only half full.
When we reminisce we're actually pinning for our youth and are no different to the older fans of every other club

Indeed the last time I attended a game at the swamp that didn't involve City (United 1 Everton April 1989) the crowd was 26,000.

Nowadays everything is more safe and sanitised but City don't hold a monopoly over gentrification.
Younger fans still travel together but they can't sit together.
It's shite, but in contrast to the "good old days" our average attendance has never been so high.

Feyenoord fans in our end (the subject of this thread) was a problem but even without any away fans the attendance was still higher than any European game from 71-79 at Maine Road.

Fair comment. The crowds and atmosphere was very poor for most of the 1980s with half empty stadiums. It was still a great excuse for an all-day piss-up with your mates though. Football has become more sanitised and global but so has the rest of the Western World. For me watching City is still a great pleasure. Funnily enough I think the fanbase has got younger in recent years though obviously not as fanatical. I don't blame those fans who don't enjoy the modern-day reality of PL football. But the truth is there are still plenty of new fans who will fill their seats when they quit. I am not sure what the long-term solution is but I support the campaign on ticket prices for starters.

 

[HelloCity]

Too much misty eyed revisionism over something that was never quite the way we prefer to remember.

When I was younger it was easier to go, but it was also easier to not go.

There weren't any loyalty points so it was never an issue if you couldn't be arsed attending a rearranged end-of-season midweek fixture, especially when the weather forecast looked grim and you were going out that night

On the contrary you'd literally decide to travel to Bramall Lane with your mates in the pub the previous evening.

Games were rarely all-ticket, there was always a cash turnstile and terracing guaranteed that you could stand with your mates.

Football had never been so cheap and yet every stadium in the country was regularly only half full.
When we reminisce we're actually pinning for our youth and are no different to the older fans of every other club

Indeed the last time I attended a game at the swamp that didn't involve City (United 1 Everton April 1989) the crowd was 26,000.

Nowadays everything is more safe and sanitised but City don't hold a monopoly over gentrification.
Younger fans still travel together but they can't sit together.
It's shite, but in contrast to the "good old days" our average attendance has never been so high.

Feyenoord fans in our end (the subject of this thread) was a problem but even without any away fans the attendance was still higher than any European game from 71-79 at Maine Road.

I’ve noticed younger fans on social media starting to pine for the days of real football back in the 11-12 season before all the diving and soft players, highlighting the Sky intros from back then etc.

 

[HelloCity]

Fair comment. The crowds and atmosphere was very poor for most of the 1980s with half empty stadiums. It was still a great excuse for an all-day piss-up with your mates though. Football has become more sanitised and global but so has the rest of the Western World. For me watching City is still a great pleasure. Funnily enough I think the fanbase has got younger in recent years though obviously not as fanatical. I don't blame those fans who don't enjoy the modern-day reality of PL football. But the truth is there are still plenty of new fans who will fill their seats when they quit. I am not sure what the long-term solution is but I support the campaign on ticket prices for starters.

Yep. It’s not just football.

My lad watches WWE and the crowd/atmosphere is way more sanitised compared to when I watched in the 90’s.

Tickets are super expensive, signs are removed if they’re even slightly offensive, the crowd chant ‘this is awesome’ instead of actually cheering and getting up on their feet.