Bayern Munich @ Home

[Scaring Europe to Death]

Ok, here’s my angle.

City;s hardcore support, was spawned during the baby boom years of the mid 60s, and it’s this generation, who grew up with City, dominating Manchester football, if not quite winning as many trophies as we should have done; the 1971-72 League title, and 1974 League Cup Final being the obvious examples.

When this generation starting regularly attending games in the late 70s, our average attendance rose to almost 6,000 higher than when we actually won the League ten years earlier.

Fast forward to the early 90s and City lost all the floating support to the rags. All we had was a hardcore 30,000 who were mainly in their mid 30s or slightly older.

From the York defeat to the Aguero goal, no other club in the history of English football has seen such a dramatic turn in fortunes.

The problem now is that the Champions League was never in our dreams. All we ever wanted was one trophy to end the 35 years of shite.

The original hardcore support are now in their 50s and we feel marginalised. Pretty soon, the ETIHAD will be averaging more than 50,000. Everything looks rosy, but the higher the crowds, the more our sense of loss.
We sound like football snobs, probably because we are football snobs. The club doesn’t really need us anymore, but christ they needed us 20 years ago.

As for the Champions League, I’ve been to every game, home and away, apart from the recent farce in Moscow.

However, that probably says more about my addictive personality than any lingering ambitions of seeing City progress this year.

I respect everybody’s opinion and can see both sides of the argument. It just irritates me when people get personal.

That's it though its your angle, but I don't identify with some of it.

I'm in my 50's and started watching City as a kid at the very end of the 60's, but I don't identify with "football snob", "all I ever wanted was 1 trophy", or "sense of loss".

Nor do my grown up kids, who started watching at a time when we were pretty shit (and got worse), and who have visited all manner of stadia watching the club, from the Nou Camp, to Halifax, but who are also proud to be blues, even though they have neither lived in the Manchester area at any time, and grew up in schools where they were the only blues. They both love the fact that they have seen this club rise from the depths of division 2, to playing and competing with the likes of Bayern, Barcelona, and Real, even if none of us really like what those clubs and the likes of united stand for.

I'm loving this new City too, looking forward to the new stand opening, the academy producing our own talent, the fact we've built the local area a new school and leisure centre. I'm damned proud of the club in fact, and the football isn't bad either, and most of all I look forward to us winning the Champions League one day, so we can firmly shove two fingers into the faces of those politicians that run our football and try to take it away from the true fan, not to mention the slimy twats like gill.

I'll be there against Bayern, as will my daughter, we might win, we might not, but City deserve our support in this game as much as any other game, because the club wants to succeed in the competition, and eventually we will, and on that day, nobody will be moaning.

Thank you Sheik Mansour, for all you have done already, and for what we will eventually do as well.

Fair enough. It was only a sweeping generalization based on anecdotal evidence, although I do think it has some mileage.

I work in Market Research and we’ve worked on a few projects for a number of Premier League teams. Make no mistake, when you receive those survey online, City prefer the value of new supporters, rather than the traditional fanbase.
Nothing wrong with that, but there’s a distinction between a fan and a supporter. Most of the people on her are fans, but we will be outnumbered sooner than you think..

 

[cleavers]

Fair enough. It was only a sweeping generalization based on anecdotal evidence, although I do think it has some mileage.

I work in Market Research and we’ve worked on a few projects for a number of Premier League teams. Make no mistake, when you receive those survey online, City prefer the value of new supporters, rather than the traditional fanbase.
Nothing wrong with that, but there’s a distinction between a fan and a supporter. Most of the people on her are fans, but we will be outnumbered sooner than you think..

Oh I think most of us are more than aware of all that. I wasn't having a go at you by the way, we all have our own feelings, I realised it was meant as a "sweeping statement".

We shouldn't be hurting the club for something that is largely beyond their control (UEFA), the only people "not going" hurts is MCFC, even if its not very much in the grand scheme of things.

 

[inbetween]

Ok, here’s my angle.

City;s hardcore support, was spawned during the baby boom years of the mid 60s, and it’s this generation, who grew up with City, dominating Manchester football, if not quite winning as many trophies as we should have done; the 1971-72 League title, and 1974 League Cup Final being the obvious examples.

When this generation starting regularly attending games in the late 70s, our average attendance rose to almost 6,000 higher than when we actually won the League ten years earlier.

Fast forward to the early 90s and City lost all the floating support to the rags. All we had was a hardcore 30,000 who were mainly in their mid 30s or slightly older.

From the York defeat to the Aguero goal, no other club in the history of English football has seen such a dramatic turn in fortunes.

The problem now is that the Champions League was never in our dreams. All we ever wanted was one trophy to end the 35 years of shite.

The original hardcore support are now in their 50s and we feel marginalised. Pretty soon, the ETIHAD will be averaging more than 50,000. Everything looks rosy, but the higher the crowds, the more our sense of loss.
We sound like football snobs, probably because we are football snobs. The club doesn’t really need us anymore, but christ they needed us 20 years ago.

As for the Champions League, I’ve been to every game, home and away, apart from the recent farce in Moscow.

However, that probably says more about my addictive personality than any lingering ambitions of seeing City progress this year.

I respect everybody’s opinion and can see both sides of the argument. It just irritates me when people get personal.

That's it though its your angle, but I don't identify with some of it.

I'm in my 50's and started watching City as a kid at the very end of the 60's, but I don't identify with "football snob", "all I ever wanted was 1 trophy", or "sense of loss".

Nor do my grown up kids, who started watching at a time when we were pretty shit (and got worse), and who have visited all manner of stadia watching the club, from the Nou Camp, to Halifax, but who are also proud to be blues, even though they have neither lived in the Manchester area at any time, and grew up in schools where they were the only blues. They both love the fact that they have seen this club rise from the depths of division 2, to playing and competing with the likes of Bayern, Barcelona, and Real, even if none of us really like what those clubs and the likes of united stand for.

I'm loving this new City too, looking forward to the new stand opening, the academy producing our own talent, the fact we've built the local area a new school and leisure centre. I'm damned proud of the club in fact, and the football isn't bad either, and most of all I look forward to us winning the Champions League one day, so we can firmly shove two fingers into the faces of those politicians that run our football and try to take it away from the true fan, not to mention the slimy twats like gill.

I'll be there against Bayern, as will my daughter, we might win, we might not, but City deserve our support in this game as much as any other game, because the club wants to succeed in the competition, and eventually we will, and on that day, nobody will be moaning.

Thank you Sheik Mansour, for all you have done already, and for what we will eventually do as well.

Sums it up for me too.

Playing Bayern Munich just in a competitive game is something we would of given up a season to have a chance at years ago. I remember games when I was younger and we were in Division 2 like West Ham, Leeds in the cup and the atmosphere was just killer. We usually lost all of those games but it was still the biggest game of the season.

Why are these games not big to anyone? I can understand why some cannot relate with it but is it really because of this negativity towards UEFA. We got done for penalties against United the other week and had we conceded late in that game would everyone then not turn up in protest? Did anyone not turn up the week after Kompany got sent off for that joke foul against United a few years ago in the cup? Did anyone also not turn up after Richards' joke handball penalty against Liverpool in the Carling Cup semi etc etc. It is really a load of rubbish, the refereeing for the most part in the Champions League I think is actually MILES ahead of the Premier League. Against CSKA Yaya deserved his red, Fernandinho didn't but Nasri should of had one but got away with it. Nasri has also amazingly got away with any retrospective action too. CKSA should have had a red too but that had absolutely no bearing on the disgraceful performance nor total implosion from the team.

I seem to be part of an alarmingly small minority who are desperate to do well in the Champions League, I'd take 2nd/3rd in the Premier League ANYDAY just to get to the final of this competition. Real Madrid SACK MANAGERS who don't do well in the Champions League regardless of their performance domestically, ask Pellegrini! The rest of our fans seemingly just want to lap up the money, buy the best players (who wouldn't come anyway) and win the league every year which is fine but we will never be a team that could be called great. If that was to happen Silva, Aguero etc who have all won the Premier league would be off, it wouldn't surprise me if Aguero does one to Madrid in a couple of years anyway unless our performances improve in Europe.

For those choosing not to go, the club needs us and offering things like BOGOF is just ridiculous and embarassing because I know any club would fill their grounds 5000 times over to play a club like Bayern Munich. I will be at the Bayern game and I have been getting badgered none stop by mates who want to go who aren't even City fans, it's embarassing to say don't worry about getting a ticket because our fans don't want to go..........

 

[Maldeika]

They both love the fact that they have seen this club rise from the depths of division 2, to playing and competing with the likes of Bayern, Barcelona, and Real, even if none of us really like what those clubs and the likes of united stand for.

I do not know what Barcelona and Real stand for in your eyes. But I know what Bayern stands for and that is mainly positive.

A club that prior to the World War was influenced by Jews - with a Jewish president and a jewish coach that in the 30s stood for a international open approach. That got German Champions in 1932 - but then got a lot problems in Nazi-Germany. The first years after the World War were very difficult - Landauer, the jewish president from prior the War came back and was president again (There is a book and a film about his story and he is a really interesting person, a Jew whose family was extinguished by Nazis and who came back into Nazi Germany after the War and helped to rebuild the club who was his life) - and helped them getting a new licence etc. He even put the compensation money he got for the war into the club. They struggled in the 60s but then were lucky to have a golden generation with players like Beckenbauer, Maier, Müller, Hoeneß, Breitner that won the World Cup and 3 international Cups. That did not give them any economical power. When Hoeneß started as a manager (he had to end his career early because of injuries) the club was in debt and he saved the club by selling Rummenigge to Inter. The story after that is a story of success in sport combined with a real great financial management. The result you see today.

Today it is a club that is 70% owned by its fans and tries to be as fan friendly as possible - with a local root - without loosing the target to be successful both economically as in sports. A club with heart who does not mind to do unpaid friendlies in favour of clubs with tradition that are in financial need or in favour of social projects.

You want to see your club seen as a club with a lot of tradition and not just as the toy of an arabian billionaire - then you should give the respect to other clubs, too...

There is just no black or white.

People somehow just try to see what they want to see - maybe sometimes it is good to see things from a different perspective.

Nobody likes the UEFA - I guess whatever they would do nobody would like them anyways. You are not the only ones.

 

[shemnel]

there was a good point raised above about 'lagtime'.

In 10 years you will probably have a load of current kids supporting City on the back of recent Premier League wins, growing into adults with some money to spend and who want to go to matches. Perhaps their attitudes to filling the stadium for Roma at home in a UEFA competition will differ to ours? i expect it will.

Id love to know how different the support would have been this last season or two in the CL if we were actually good in it. Perhaps the same amount of apathy would have existed? who knows. Time will change everything for City, for certain.

 

[Scaring Europe to Death]

Fair enough. It was only a sweeping generalization based on anecdotal evidence, although I do think it has some mileage.

I work in Market Research and we’ve worked on a few projects for a number of Premier League teams. Make no mistake, when you receive those survey online, City prefer the value of new supporters, rather than the traditional fanbase.
Nothing wrong with that, but there’s a distinction between a fan and a supporter. Most of the people on her are fans, but we will be outnumbered sooner than you think..

Oh I think most of us are more than aware of all that. I wasn't having a go at you by the way, we all have our own feelings, I realised it was meant as a "sweeping statement".

We shouldn't be hurting the club for something that is largely beyond their control (UEFA), the only people "not going" hurts is MCFC, even if its not very much in the grand scheme of things.

No problem mate, and as I said in my first post, I'm going to the Bayern game as well.

I also attended the pre season tournament at the Allianz last summer so God knows how much I've spent, watching City in Munich over the last few seasons.

However, I can afford it, and as a few people have suggested (and been instantly ridiculed) there comes a point where enough is enough.

On a similar theme, I was talking to a mate from my cricket club, just after the victory over Liverpool last Christmas.
He's in his mid 50s and only had a season ticket since we moved to the ETIHAD. He was explaining how much he enjoyed the game and then added that he wasn't one of those City fans who got too stressed after a defeat. All he wanted for his money was a good game, regardless of the result.
I laughed to myself, thinking that I didn't see a good game for 4 years in the late 90s (Newcastle 3-3, to the 4-2 over Sunderland if you're curious). However it was during this period that I was at my most fanatical.

The big difference is that he's the type of supporter/customer who will arrive in City Square, roughly two hours before kick-off and then spend £20 on pies and burgers.
The fans will be in Mary D's arguing over whether Barry Conlon appeared at Gigg Lane.

 

[cheddar404]

I just don't feel it when I'm at Champions League matches. I imagine it to be like being in a relationship with someone that you don't really love. Well, we're having 2 more unsatisfying shags and then she can pack her bags.

 

[Lavinda Past]

Fair enough. It was only a sweeping generalization based on anecdotal evidence, although I do think it has some mileage.

I work in Market Research and we’ve worked on a few projects for a number of Premier League teams. Make no mistake, when you receive those survey online, City prefer the value of new supporters, rather than the traditional fanbase.
Nothing wrong with that, but there’s a distinction between a fan and a supporter. Most of the people on her are fans, but we will be outnumbered sooner than you think..

Oh I think most of us are more than aware of all that. I wasn't having a go at you by the way, we all have our own feelings, I realised it was meant as a "sweeping statement".

We shouldn't be hurting the club for something that is largely beyond their control (UEFA), the only people "not going" hurts is MCFC, even if its not very much in the grand scheme of things.

No problem mate, and as I said in my first post, I'm going to the Bayern game as well.

I also attended the pre season tournament at the Allianz last summer so God knows how much I've spent, watching City in Munich over the last few seasons.

However, I can afford it, and as a few people have suggested (and been instantly ridiculed) there comes a point where enough is enough.

On a similar theme, I was talking to a mate from my cricket club, just after the victory over Liverpool last Christmas.
He's in his mid 50s and only had a season ticket since we moved to the ETIHAD. He was explaining how much he enjoyed the game and then added that he wasn't one of those City fans who got too stressed after a defeat. All he wanted for his money was a good game, regardless of the result.
I laughed to myself, thinking that I didn't see a good game for 4 years in the late 90s (Newcastle 3-3, to the 4-2 over Sunderland if you're curious). However it was during this period that I was at my most fanatical.

The big difference is that he's the type of supporter/customer who will arrive in City Square, roughly two hours before kick-off and then spend £20 on pies and burgers.
The fans will be in Mary D's arguing over whether Barry Conlon appeared at Gigg Lane.

Does that make your mate (or others like him) any less of a fan than those in Mary D's?

No, it doesn't. He's just as much a Blue as the rest of us... Long may he keep going, and let's hope that there are even more like him in the future, if only to help fill our 61K stadium every game.

Once a Blue, always a Blue.

 

[Citizen of Legoland]

I just don't feel it when I'm at Champions League matches. I imagine it to be like being in a relationship with someone that you don't really love. Well, we're having 2 more unsatisfying shags and then she can pack her bags.

Just close your eyes and think of Gillingham!

 

[cleavers]

They both love the fact that they have seen this club rise from the depths of division 2, to playing and competing with the likes of Bayern, Barcelona, and Real, even if none of us really like what those clubs and the likes of united stand for.

I do not know what Barcelona and Real stand for in your eyes. But I know what Bayern stands for and that is mainly positive.

A club that prior to the World War was influenced by Jews - with a Jewish president and a jewish coach that in the 30s stood for a international open approach. That got German Champions in 1932 - but then got a lot problems in Nazi-Germany. The first years after the World War were very difficult - Landauer, the jewish president from prior the War came back and was president again (There is a book and a film about his story and he is a really interesting person, a Jew whose family was extinguished by Nazis and who came back into Nazi Germany after the War and helped to rebuild the club who was his life) - and helped them getting a new licence etc. He even put the compensation money he got for the war into the club. They struggled in the 60s but then were lucky to have a golden generation with players like Beckenbauer, Maier, Müller, Hoeneß, Breitner that won the World Cup and 3 international Cups. That did not give them any economical power. When Hoeneß started as a manager (he had to end his career early because of injuries) the club was in debt and he saved the club by selling Rummenigge to Inter. The story after that is a story of success in sport combined with a real great financial management. The result you see today.

Today it is a club that is 70% owned by its fans and tries to be as fan friendly as possible - with a local root - without loosing the target to be successful both economically as in sports. A club with heart who does not mind to do unpaid friendlies in favour of clubs with tradition that are in financial need or in favour of social projects.

You want to see your club seen as a club with a lot of tradition and not just as the toy of an arabian billionaire - then you should give the respect to other clubs, too...

There is just no black or white.

People somehow just try to see what they want to see - maybe sometimes it is good to see things from a different perspective.

Nobody likes the UEFA - I guess whatever they would do nobody would like them anyways. You are not the only ones.

Having spent some time living in Germany, to me they are the manchester united of Germany, with a lot of arrogant, glory hunting, out of town supporters (a sweeping statement I know, and probably doesn't apply to yourself). A club that collects the best players in Germany (both home grown german, and foreign import once developed), to the detriment of german football as a whole, because they have manipulated german football to best suit Bayern Munich. Just like united, they also have a history that have some good parts, but they have an arrogant way of portraying themselves to the rest of football.

Also like united, they also have a loyal home grown supporter base, that are just fans like the rest of us, but to many in Germany (fans of other clubs I know) you are as equally despised as a club as the aforesaid manchester united.

Despite all that I've said, I've met, drank with, and enjoyed the company of your true supporters both here, and in Munich, so I don't tar you all with the same brush, so please don't take offence ;o)