Away Support

[borninm14]

The biggest factors are cost and the availiability of games on satellite tv, many will have five pints in a boozer and watch game for £20, go to london on train £55,ticket £55,food£10,ale £20 Day out £140, effectively we are paying £120 extra to be there and at present many dont have that cash,three times a month.

I remember in the 80/90s we had a much bigger travelling support but the costs were effectively much smaller and many lads went in big groups,they cant afford it now, the profile of the fan attending matches changed after the Taylor Report, effectively the report reduce the number of lads who went to games and made the support of most clubs more middle class than working class, you had to be to afford the prices. The characters attending the games went.
The lads who used to beg,steal and borrow to be everywhere we played were top guys, There were the buses like Mayne Line, Denton, Star Bar Glossop that were wild etc, It was football,ale,wacky backy,poppers and a top day out with no social responsability,it was pure heaven for many. All seater stadiums and the ticketing hassle started the decline and cost requirements have finally screwed many of these guys. Away trips were what many lads lived and worked all week to do, Many of the young lads from then now have families to support. Fair play to lads like Chelt and Glouc,Reddish etc who still go week in week out but times have changed for many.
I still go to all aways games and must admit I preferred the old days but football has changed and will never ever be the same again. We will never again have support we used to have at away games,the game has changed. The JCL type will never know and understand City like lads who followed City everywhere in the 80/90s.
If you were there I need not explain what I mean, If you were not you will never know how much City means to Lads who were.True Blues.

best post on here for ages mate sums it up perfectly.

 

[Manchester la la la la]

I ain't missed one yet this season and going to fulham on Sunday. There are still ways to get down to London on the cheap but I agree in that trips have to be planned weeks in advance. Mega bus to London and back for me on Sunday: total cost - 18 quid! Downside is the 6am wakeup and not getting back to Manchester til 11pm but all worth it to see the blues! :)

 

[i8rags]

Everything about football as changed the obvious is sky. Seems our team is hardly ever off the tv. Even if not live three hours later the whole game is shown on sky. The only way to watch the blues in the 80s was to go, the mayneline and the service carried hordes of blues everywhere.
Long gone are the invasions of blues at notts county, Shrewsbury, and the annual invasion of Oldham. Paying on the gate was the only way to go and charging the odd gates at the likes of Huddersfield, Carlisle etc are viewed as criminal acts and rightly so after hillsborough.
The kicking off would probably result in a custodial now.
I personally went five years without missing a game away from home and the cost was rarely an issue. We would get a tranny van and rob some crates to sit on from the back off the co-op, pure luxury. The driver would provide the entertainment by means of dislodging us from the crates at every opportunity and we would sport many a cut and bruise given by the sides of the van.
Now you can't hire a van without a 300 deposit, 50 quid for your ticket, ten quid to park, a gold card for the fuel and a second mortgage for a brekkie at the services, if you make one wobble on the way to the turnstile you are instantly turned away for being pissed, if you stand you get the sit down brigade or a steward giving you the evils.
Sorry to say away days are never going to return.

 

[flb]

What is it with this constant slagging off of our fans home and away?

Your average away day to midlands and london with a ticket is £100 a pop,on top of that european football to contend with which is even more expensive,something has to give for most peoples outgoings and im afraid its football that has to make way for people,it doesnt mean they dont love the blues,it just means a lot of fans have to pick and choose what away days they go to.

Give it a fucking rest FFS

The game as it is today has priced out large numbers of fans,we are still up there with the best top four supported clubs in the country,when we win the league or CL we will move up a level.

 

[bridgeblue]

The kicking off would probably result in a custodial now.
I personally went five years without missing a game away from home and the cost was rarely an issue. We would get a tranny van and rob some crates to sit on from the back off the co-op, pure luxury. The driver would provide the entertainment by means of dislodging us from the crates at every opportunity and we would sport many a cut and bruise given by the sides of the van.
Now you can't hire a van without a 300 deposit, 50 quid for your ticket, ten quid to park, a gold card for the fuel and a second mortgage for a brekkie at the services, if you make one wobble on the way to the turnstile you are instantly turned away for being pissed, if you stand you get the sit down brigade or a steward giving you the evils.
Sorry to say away days are never going to return.[/quote]
We use to hire a sherpa van, 12 lads in the back and 3 in the front. I remember going to Norwich this way and the cost for transport was the same as the ticket £5.
I went everywhere from the mid 70s to 2006. that's when I stopped doing London games. I also have the added cost of taking my son for the last 12 years. It cost £92 for us to go to Anfield last season for a telivised game. I can't justify paying that to go to the game.Many feel the same way.

 

[Stretford Born Blue]

I, along with 3 mates normally do around 5 or 6 away league games each season. Never go to London games as it costs too much......
Will probably do more games this season, but yes, its down to money I'm affraid.
If it was like Germany where its cheap as chips, I'd do the lot..

Will do:

Bolton
Blackburn
Everton
Liverpool
ManUre - we sneak in via somebody I know so it costs nothing other than the pain of standing in that shit hole...!!
Villa
Wigan
Newcastle
Sunderland
Stoke
West Brom
Wolves

So, 12 away league games with an average of say £120 dabs a game.
Add a couple of local away cup games, then semi's and finals which are possible this year, plus upto 4 European trips (1 group stage, 1 knock out, semi and final..!!??) and the additional cost of FA/League Cup games at home and then your season ticket and it could hit £5000+ for the year. Bleedin hell, never added it up, hope the wife doesn't find out!!!

 

[Abbeygoo]

I remember in the 80/90s we had a much bigger travelling support but the costs were effectively much smaller and many lads went in big groups,they cant afford it now,
If you were there I need not explain what I mean, If you were not you will never know how much City means to Lads who were.True Blues.

Absolutely spot on post mate, agree with every word.

The average age of the City fan is about 40, if you believe the stats and certainly what you have posted rings true with me and my City-going mates.

We used to go home and away every week, no matter where we were playing. The difference was three things, in my opinion

1) The cost. Unbelievably cheaper and paying for just yourself (kids have all come along) made a big difference. Ticket prices, travel prices, food & beer all add up to make a very expensive day nowadays.
2) The convenience. All the games were 3pm on a Saturday. So if we were travelling to Southampton, you could get a train at Piccadilly at 9am and be there in plenty of time to have a drink and a good old sing song before the match. Plenty of time to get back home with loads of trains at decent prices. Can you imagine that for QPR away on a Saturday tea time at 530pm? Even worse when you look at two Sky Monday night games .... earlier this week, QPR v Newcastle and next week (I think) Norwich v Sunderland ... how the fuck are the away fans supposed to get there and back for those? Ridiculous.
3) Television coverage - too many games now for my liking. It would be possible to watch all City's games without leaving your armchair or occasionally nipping to the pub. Sky have created millions of armchair fans that detract from the real experience of actually going to a game. How many people do you know that "support" a team yet never go to the game? Loads. Never used to be the case years ago.

Hey ho, I'm getting older.

 

[cheddar404]

What is it with this constant slagging off of our fans home and away?

Your average away day to midlands and london with a ticket is £100 a pop,on top of that european football to contend with which is even more expensive,something has to give for most peoples outgoings and im afraid its football that has to make way for people,it doesnt mean they dont love the blues,it just means a lot of fans have to pick and choose what away days they go to.

Give it a fucking rest FFS

The game as it is today has priced out large numbers of fans,we are still up there with the best top four supported clubs in the country,when we win the league or CL we will move up a level.

MOST of us aren't slagging us off, fella. Just saying that it wasn't so long ago that we'd sell out for every away game and wondering why that isn't the case now at a time when he have maybe the best team we've ever had. The rags, liverpool, arsenal and chelsea have had their support swelled by a lot of success. If someone can't afford a certain away day there's probably 2 or 3 that will take their place who don't go so often. It will happen to us if we have success but the people filling the gaps will probably be a new breed of fan.

 

[Deleted member 14625]

Is ours one of the best or the best in the country? I think it is the best.

No! At best we're just not bad.

We only sell out about 50% of our away games a season. I think the Rags, Blackpool, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea, Sunderland, Newcastle, Wolves, Everton and Spurs sold out more away games than us last season. And as far as singing goes I think we are very sporadic. We don't sing constantly throughout the game. When we do sing we can be very loud but when it's every now and again it can't be classed as top notch.

Leeds are the best away supported club in the country and they NEVER stop singing. And we were as good as they are now when we had Keegan. I've never experienced a better away day than that sunny day in Sheffield when we beat Wednesday 6-2. Our singing that day was immense. We just don't have that about us anymore. I think our support size has dropped a lot since then too. A lot of match going fans then may have had families or moved away and stopped going, plus this generation of fans were the ones in a minority at school because the Rags were so dominant. It'll take a while to build back up to the point where we're selling out every week.

 

[BringBackSwales]

The biggest factors are cost and the availiability of games on satellite tv, many will have five pints in a boozer and watch game for £20, go to london on train £55,ticket £55,food£10,ale £20 Day out £140, effectively we are paying £120 extra to be there and at present many dont have that cash,three times a month.

I remember in the 80/90s we had a much bigger travelling support but the costs were effectively much smaller and many lads went in big groups,they cant afford it now, the profile of the fan attending matches changed after the Taylor Report, effectively the report reduce the number of lads who went to games and made the support of most clubs more middle class than working class, you had to be to afford the prices. The characters attending the games went.
The lads who used to beg,steal and borrow to be everywhere we played were top guys, There were the buses like Mayne Line, Denton, Star Bar Glossop that were wild etc, It was football,ale,wacky backy,poppers and a top day out with no social responsability,it was pure heaven for many. All seater stadiums and the ticketing hassle started the decline and cost requirements have finally screwed many of these guys. Away trips were what many lads lived and worked all week to do, Many of the young lads from then now have families to support. Fair play to lads like Chelt and Glouc,Reddish etc who still go week in week out but times have changed for many.
I still go to all aways games and must admit I preferred the old days but football has changed and will never ever be the same again. We will never again have support we used to have at away games,the game has changed. The JCL type will never know and understand City like lads who followed City everywhere in the 80/90s.
If you were there I need not explain what I mean, If you were not you will never know how much City means to Lads who were.True Blues.

why waste a tenner on food would be my only comment