"Disappointing" attendances

[ctid1894]

Dear Sir/Madam,

I note recent media led comments about the attendance at the Etihad yesterday.

The attendance was the third highest in the fourth round, and coming on the back of games v Leics, SheffU, Everton, Port Vale and Crystal Palace and comments from various managers that there is too mugh football for the players - what about too much football for the ordinary man?

To take a child to all five games would cost £50+30 for Leics and Everton, £40+25 for SheffU and Palace and then £15+5 for each of the cup games. To attend all 6 games with one child would cost approx £330 - a weeks salary for a lot of people in Manchester.

With a Manchester derby semi final coming up in a few days and Real Madrid on the horizon and add to that the Fulham game being televised at an utterly garbage kick off time on a Sunday, I think it is fair to say fans reacted with their wallets on this one.

The press are happy to allow manageers such as Klopp say there is too much football - only today they lead with a story that his club won't be getting a winter break due to a replay, yet you are more than happy to publish stories about fans not attending when perhaps the answer is...too much football at too much cost.

Kind regards

As much as I hate Liverpool and that toothy cünt, they've got it bang on the money when it comes to the domestic cup games. Play the kids and tell the fans beforehand, so they don't waste their money.

If it was up to me I'd leave out the entire first team squad for League cup fixtures, play a mix and match XI in the FA cup (if odd players need game time or its stronger opposition) and once we'd qualified for the knockout stages of the champions League of throw the kids in again.

 

[worsleyweb]

I’m constantly being fat shamed, and I can tell you that it isn’t very nIce.

Really knocks my self-confidence.

I have had to report you to ric for constantly calling me Cuddly. He is going to have a strong word. Not even going to the matches at present due to self confidence issues.

 

[Rochdale Blue]

Have the club taken the money for the Real Madrid game from those on the CL scheme yet?

In one way I'm glad he talked about it as it gives me another bit of ammunition to go to the club & talk (again) about their whole strategic approach to building the future fan base.

I wonder how many people in CBL3 missed the game yesterday because they are totally arsed off with being relocated about three times a season.

 

[smevchenko]

I think we are long past 'winning' as a solution to 'poor' attendances.

Posted in another thread about the ridiculous scheduling, and as football keeps moving with the times, we will see a change in both domestic cups, as European Football will dictate how the PL and FA sort out the schedules. Clubs revenues will continue to increase, at least the teams in Europe, and fans will be expected to cough up more money each season as ticket prices continue to increase year on year despite revenue increasing through participating in the ridiculous product that is the CL. Clubs do not care about fans enough, ticket prices are too expensive, travel costs are high, transport is shit, and then we all argue, calling each other dick heads for basically being unable to afford the cost of football.

City may be at their best currently, but give me football how it was in the 90's.

 

[TheRemainsOfTheDave]

I wonder how many people in CBL3 missed the game yesterday because they are totally arsed off with being relocated about three times a season.

People do get attached to their seats and the people around them, I could understand them avoiding this game with all the factors around it.

 

[Mike N]

I don’t believe if fans had millions the ground would be full every week. We have reached saturation and going to the match isn’t special any more. We’ve all done it when the game we plan to go to is on TV and we just can’t be bothered.

Night games for me are an absolute chore. Getting home late and having to get up early is a really pain. Shame, as they used to be my very favourite. I know this to be the case with fans of other clubs but it’s only a media issue with us.

I think Pep’s comments were more about his frustrations with our, usually, poor home support. The lack of passion really is bizarre. I often think he must wonder what it would take to excite our fans into creating a wonderful atmosphere. Unlike us, who have been around for years, he’s only witnessed a handful of these occasions. It clearly takes more than having our best ever team and most successful period to get the Mancunian heart beating faster.

 

[Manchester33]

Fair point I suppose. Would it have sold enough if they banned U18s in there, though? Were they a kid for a quid also or was that just the NS?

That's the issue I guess, the club won't pick and choose who can go where if they're 15k short of capacity. But there would have been thousands of the 18-35 demographic spread out who could have been concentrated there. The club should do offers to entice them. They do kids for a quid in the family stand. Why not do 18-25 year olds for a quid in the singing sections?

Hard problem to solve though. The main point is fans could probably take up more slack and make educated decisions (such as not taking your little toddler into the singing section etc)

 

[gordondaviesmoustache]

I have had to report you to ric for constantly calling me Cuddly. He is going to have a strong word. Not even going to the matches at present due to self confidence issues.

You seem the diffident (and cuddly) type.

 

[Centurions]

I'm paraphrasing but

I don't know why there isn't more fans here.

Hopefully there's more on Wednesday

I don’t get the outrage.

I'm the same. You have to hold up your hands to the media, they've even managed to get some of our own fans to turn on Pep. Unbelievable Jeff.

 

[Manchester33]

115 should have some special arrangements for the special people that go in there. Maybe collection only from Mary D's bar.

Yeah something like that would help - but the club won't be bothered with the effort involved in arranging it.

1894 encouraged the club to put a pop-up on the website. When you select seats in 115, it says it's a singing section and you should expect flags and banners being waved, fans stading and some poor language etc. Fans still seem to bypass this and ignore it. An 1894 member was told off by another fan in 115 yesterday for 'singing too loudly'. YCNMIU. Obviously non of us had seen this fan before.

Although I don't think it would happen, I think a good solution would be that anyone who buys a ticket in 115 HAS to be an 1894 group member. So it would cost the one game a season crew an extra £15, which goes towards displays and improving the atmosphere. Would improve 1894's numbers and means of communication within the block and would encourage non-singers to move elsewhere.

 

[Scaring Europe to Death]

This started with the 50th anniversary of Munich, and then the media reaction to the Tevez Poster

Only City spend £200m on Full Backs (it must be true because Mourinho said so)

Only City commit tactical fouls

Only City pay high wages

Only City inflate sponsorship dealings

Only City have empty seats

It’s the Law!

 

[jrb]

When Fergie called out United’s support for being shite, it’s never been forgotten on the away terraces.

I bet Fergie regrets saying that to this day.

Pepe needs to be careful he doesn’t do the same about our support.

 

[Rochdale Blue]

People do get attached to their seats and the people around them, I could understand them avoiding this game with all the factors around it.

I relocated to level 2 yesterday and didn't see one familiar face. The club give the impression they couldn't care less about the inconvenience caused or the possible loss of ticket sales.

 

[Manchester33]

If it was up to me I'd leave out the entire first team squad for League cup fixtures, play a mix and match XI in the FA cup (if odd players need game time or its stronger opposition) and once we'd qualified for the knockout stages of the champions League of throw the kids in again.

I disagree with this. When I was in school I was desperate to watch City win a trophy. I'd have given one of my bollocks for a League Cup triumph. These are the glory years for us. Although I can't see that changing any time soon, we won't be this good forever. We have the squad to compete across all competitions (as we proved last year).

 

[JGL07]

As the two matches (Fulham and United) are very different you cannot generalise much about them.

The Fulham match attendance, based on experience from the last five top ten years, looks quite good. This is especially the case given the stupid kickoff time, live coverage on the BBC and late January when many will not have been paid for six weeks. Recently home FA Cup attendances have improved with some near sell-outs in the early rounds. The failure to hit 40,000 was probably down to a perfect storm with the factors mentioned earlier to which can be added foul weather and weakened teams, Not to mention having a LC semifinal and a CL match against Real Madrid all on sale. Could the club have done more on the pricing structure to help the crowd? Probably not.

The Unoted match is probably more to do with the stupid two-legged format of the EFL Cup semifinals. You don't find it anywhere else apart from CL/EL knock-out rounds and promotion playoffs. The problem is with City winning 3-1 away (if should have been at least 6), this has the look of a dead rubber. In addition the clubs (and the police) made a grave error in reducing away ticket allocations. This led to restrictions on ticket sales. You can see why they were used to prevent United fans getting in the home areas. That would not have happened if United were given a bigger allocation. Had the Rags been given the same allocation as Port Vale we would probably be looking at a sell out.

 

[blue corby]

I relocated to level 2 yesterday and didn't see one familiar face. The club give the impression they couldn't care less about the inconvenience caused or the possible loss of ticket sales.

We sat in our normal seats and there was hardly a familiar face around us. Most we sit with are season card holders but most were missing and replaced with people using those bloody clappers the club gave away, not just kids either.

 

[Gordyola]

Have the club taken the money for the Real Madrid game from those on the CL scheme yet?

In one way I'm glad he talked about it as it gives me another bit of ammunition to go to the club & talk (again) about their whole strategic approach to building the future fan base.

Not until next week Its show as a notification on your account this can be ignored

 

[levets]

Then use Newcastle as the example of how to do it
Bearing in mind the fans hate the board and team haven’t won a thing in my lifetime

Newcastle? 29k at home in round 3

 

[burnley blue mcfc]

At least!

A fucking outrage that attendance. There were folk sat in the aisles in all the stands, most especially the Platt Lane, and the Kippax was so overcrowded it must have been unsafe. It certainly looked it. Swales was an absolute liberty taking cünt. A small-time chancer who blagged his way to getting control of our club.

Not sure if I've posted this before, but I was right next to the tunnel for that game. I was on Match of the Day when the teams came out! My dad sorted the ticket out about two hours before kick-off from a ‘business associate’ and slapped it in my hand. Made up, although I’d lost a little bit of interest in City after we got relegated in ‘83 if I’m being entirely honest. Not hugely, but City just became slightly less important. That game reignited my fire, which remained even when we went to shit. One of my favourite ever games. Brilliant day to be at the old stadium.

I was 16 yrs old and the kippax was a scarey place that day!! Never seen it as rammed packed before or after for that matter, must’ve been at least 25,000 in kippax alone & nearer 57 rather than swales’s 47,000 in the ground

 

[jrb]

Regardless of what Pep said Yesterday, it has had no effect on ticket sales for the derby.

When those running the club decided along with United, or without United, to charge £50 for an Adult ticket on L2, and £35 elsewhere in the stadium for an Adult ticket, minus those in the cup scheme, you know they have lost all sense of reality, especially when they knew about all the games coming up over Christmas and the New Year, and the Real Madrid money being taken out of People’e Bank accounts even though the match isn’t the 17TH of MARCH.

I appreciate that Real Madrid money is better off being in City’s Bank account where it can earn a bit of interest instead of being in our banks accounts until late February.