OK, I've Followed This "Citizens" Idea From The Start And I Was There Last Night, I Think It's Only Right I Give My Full Account Of Things And Share My Opinion On The Forum.
Firstly I Do Not Consider Myself Of Any Supporters Group/Club, I Did However Attempt To Start A Similar Movement Last Season Under The Name CM11, This Was Basically Me And A Mate Making Our Own Flags From Material And Paint With What We Percieved As Original Ideas, We Managed To Get In The Etihad With Our Flags For The Villareal Champions League Game But After This The Club Almost Made It Impossible For Us To Bring Them Again (Sticks Are Prohibited).
When The Citizens Thread Appreared On The Board More Recently I Couldn't Help But Be Intrigued, I'm Well Aware Of The Blue Alliance And The Work They Do But From What I Understood They Were Happy With The English Style Of Support And Striving Towards A More Continental Ultras Style Was Not What They Were About Where As This Continental Style Is Something I Am Very Interested By Therefore I Decided To See If The Citizens Could Make A Better Effort.
Believe It Or Not Myself And My Mate Had The Idea Of Taking Our Flags To Hyde For The EDS Games But We Never Pushed On With Promotion Or Getting The Message Out And Sadly We Dried Up For A While, So When We Got Messages From The Citizens Inviting Us Down To The EDS Game We Really Couldn't Say No, More So Out Of Curiosity.
I Follow Torino In Italy And I've Been In The Curve With Their Ultras (Not For The Last Time), I Also Have Many Friends From Across Europe Actively Involved Within The Ultras Scene (Portugal, Sweden, Germany). I'm Active On Many Internet Forums And Without Blowing My Own Trumpet I Consider My Knowledge Of "Football Ultras" By No Means Immaculate But I Know The In's And Out's, The Do's And The Dont's Etc.
City EDS V Juventus - Hyde FC.
No Offence Is Meant To Any Members Of The Citizens, But Please Take My Words For What They Are.
Me And My Mate Turned Up Armed With Our Flags About 10 Minutes Before Kick Off, And It Was Not Difficult To Locate The Citizens Group, Not An Accurate Figure But I'd Say Maximum 20 Lads, The Numbers Were Not The Important Thing About Last Night. Immediately One Of Their Lads Approached Us And Introduced The Group, I Was Shocked By The Appearance Of The Group, Now Whether It's Right Or Wrong, People At The Core Of Such An Organisation Have To Have A Certain Persona And This Was Not There, It Was 90% Replica City Shirts And Merchandise And The Age Group Was Really Young (15-19) Considering The Things This Group Has To Achieve. It Was Even Apparent There Were Parents Of Some Of These Lads Knocking About, Almost Looking After Them.
Anyway, I Would Always Give Them A Chance And It Gave Us A Good Opportunity To Show Off The Hard Work That Went Into Our Flags. I Stood At The Front Waving My Flag And I handed Out Some Other Flags To The Citizens. The First Bunch Of Chants Were The Usual "We're Not Really Here", "We Never Win At Home...", "Blue Moon" And Along With Feeling Very Awkward I Could Not Help But Wonder, What Is The Whole Point?
Soon Enough One Young Lad Took It Upon Himself To Play The Role Of Capo, He Asked Everyone To "Shhh" And Instructed "Everybody Copy Me...City, Come On You Boys In Blue..." In My Opinion This Was Really Unnecessary And Way Off The Mark.
About 15 Minutes In Saw The Arrival Of The Blue Alliance, They Made Lots Of Noise As They Entered The Ground All 50+ Of Them And Made Their Way Over To The Citizens. They Stood In Their Own Group Slightly Seperate From The Citizens And Right Away Made Their Intentions Clear (Which Were Later Confirmed By Members), This To Me Seems Like A Mission To Show The Citizens "This Town Aint Big Enough For The Both Of Us" With Parody Songs Like "EDS Hooligans", And A Guy At The Front Mimicking A Capo In An Over Emphatic Comedic Style Which Many Laughed And Sniggered. At This Point Members Of The Citizens Began To Feel All The Efforts To Make Tonight Happen Were Void Because The Big Numbers Of The Blue Alliance Had Hijacked The Event, Citizens Chants Could No Longer Be Heard And Half Time Could Not Come Quick Enough In My Opinion. At Half Time A Few Members From Each Group Were Having Verbal Confrontation I Presume Over The fact The Blue Alliance Had Ruined What The Citizens Were Doing And The Question From The Citizens Was Why Didn't You Join Us?, To Which The Blue Alliance Replied With The Same Question. The Second Half Was Basically The Blue Alliance Having The Chance To Sing Their Catalogue Of Songs That Usually Wouldn't See Light Of Day Outside Of The Away Day Coach, To Which The Citizens Joined In With As It Seemed The Only Way.
To Summarise,
I Feel The Small Group Of Lads That Set Up The Citizens Are A Long Way From Realising What Ultras Is All About, It's More Than Capo's, Drums And Hand Claps. Its Culture, It's Not For Saturdays, It's A Way Of Life.
It's Not Ordering A Flag From Barmy Flags, Its Getting In The Local Church Hall With Projectors And Making Your Own Banners With Messages You Want To Express.
It Appeared To Me The Citizens Really Went Through The Book Of Instructions And It Was All Very Robotic, You Can't Volunteer To Be The Capo, The Capo Will Naturally Progress To The Front And Become He Who Starts Songs, Just Like Big Tony Would On The Back Of The Wythenshawe Branch Bus So To Speak. Ultras Is Very Cultural And Underneath It All There Will Always Be A Small Element Of Politics Whether That Is Made Public Is Another Matter.
I Respect The Blue Alliance But I Am Slightly Confused As To Why They Bothered Last Night, If It Was For The Reason Mentioned Earlier Then That Is Disappointing.
I Think Myself More Than Anyone Would Love To See An Ultras Movement At MCFC, I Am Really Excited By What Crystal Palce Are Doing And The Green Brigade Have Been Ground-Breaking In The UK. Our Stadium Is Really Strict And I Personally Don't Feel The Club Will Make Any Special Arrangements To Facilitate An Ultras Group. I Think What The EDS Games Gives Is An Opportunity For People Interested In Being Involved In A Continental Style Atmophere At A Football Game To Get Together More Freely Without Oppression, Take The Flags, Try Different Style Songs Without The Daunting 45,000 Other Fans Turning Their Nose, Cheap Entry And That Old School Style Football Event. These Games Don't Take Place Every Week So It Gives Chance For People To Spread The Word And Get People Involved.
Ultimately I Believe The Way Forward Is To Avoid Creating A "Group" No Names (Citizens, Blue Alliance), This Is Just A Get Together For People Who Want To Enjoy Themselves In The Way They See The European Fans Do At The Etihad. I Would Also Like To Add One More Thing, Without A Drum, You Can Forget It, Otherwise You're Almost Back Where You Started, It's Not Like Blackburn Or Portsmouth, It Will Be Played By A Percussionist Keeping Each Chant In Time With Different Rhythms And It Just Helps Maintain Chants For Extended Periods Of Time.
I Could Have Wrote Double This But I Can't Be Bothered And I'm Almost Expecting To Recieve Numerous Smart Remarks, So Fire Away, But This Was Just My Account Of Events As A Neutral Who Was There Last Night.
Cheers.
I Use Capitals Because I Fucking Want To.
