Don’t Blame Fans For The Empty Seats

[Bilboblue]

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I won't read anything by him, he's one of the 'journo's/writers' that has heavily criticised City, recently too.

Not a penny of mine will line his pockets.

 

[mexico1970]

I honestly get treated better watching from home than I ever did sitting in a paid seat at the Etihad. You get the feeling that football supporters that go to games are just a mild irritant whom they tolerate.

 

[mrtwiceaseason]

It happens everywhere.
I have more of a beef about fans leaving ridiculously early, I understand a bit for week games but weekend games its baffling that people leave 10 minutes before the end.
Would you leave the cinema or theatre before the conclusion?

If I was watching titanic I would consider it :+)

 

[Interstate 5]

I agree. I think a good segment of the season ticket holders are pretty selective in their attendance, which adds to the "empty seats" situation.

Not just season ticket holders.
If we didn't have STs, we'd have chosen which games we were going to go to at the start of the season and bought our tickets then when the club makes them available. Obviously, this would be before kick off changes (around 32 out of 38 every season) for TV, real life getting in the way, etc etc which would influence whether we could turn up or not.
I know why the club do it - it's early guaranteed income - but selling out March and April big games in the previous August, seven or eight months earlier and expecting everyone to turn up is madness.

Also, the Ticket Exchange is a sticking plaster on a gunshot wound, but that isn't even rolled out to Cityzen and Cup scheme members.

The club bang on about wanting seats to be occupied but their decisions are some of the biggest (and most baffling, at times) parts of the problem.

 

[Tim of the Oak]

I think we do well for crowds but the anti City media onslaught is slowing the growth in our fanbase. There are probably fewer empties this season compared with recent years.

I think the Ticket Exchange is pretty good and the Face Value ticket sites play an important role in filling seats. Its just a shame that the admin of the Club score an own goal, every now and then, by overpricing matches like the Madrid game.

 

[Gingers Dad]

I think we do well for crowds but the anti City media onslaught is slowing the growth in our fanbase. There are probably fewer empties this season compared with recent years.

I think the Ticket Exchange is pretty good and the Face Value ticket sites play an important role in filling seats. Its just a shame that the admin of the Club score an own goal, every now and then, by overpricing matches like the Madrid game.

I've never used the exchange but don't the club sell the ticket you've already paid for and give you about half the proceeds back. Then make out they've done you a favour?

 

[bzekosilva]

I've never used the exchange but don't the club sell the ticket you've already paid for and give you about half the proceeds back. Then make out they've done you a favour?

Yep you get 1/19th of your seasoncard refunded back in to you account 4-5 days after the game has been played . So I’m my instance I get £21.84

 

[Tim of the Oak]

I've never used the exchange but don't the club sell the ticket you've already paid for and give you about half the proceeds back. Then make out they've done you a favour?

I am in 209 and a 19th of the cost of a season card is closer to face value than most other parts of the ground I reckon. I’ve used the Ticket Exchange a few times and it’s been pretty good for me. It is an improvement of Vianogo being as the Club’s main ticket partner that was the case before the Ticket Exchange.

Use of the Ticket Exchange is optional and I have some friends who won’t use it because the Club resell tickets for more than the season card holder using the Exchange gets. It’s fair enough if some Blues think that is unfair but I don’t recognise this notion that the Club are making out they are doing us a favour.

 

[Thomas Hearns]

It happens everywhere.
I have more of a beef about fans leaving ridiculously early, I understand a bit for week games but weekend games its baffling that people leave 10 minutes before the end.
Would you leave the cinema or theatre before the conclusion?

The conclusion at a match is the victory, if there’s more than one goal in it which there often is then why stay to watch the movie meander to a dull end then watch the credits

 

[blueyorkie]

We're being fleeced and our supporter representatives won't raise it. They should offer to resign if the club won't listen to them.

You’re way off the mark here mate, knowing at least one of the supporters representatives I can assure you that it will be right at the top of their list the next time they meet the club

 

[Gingers Dad]

I am in 209 and a 19th of the cost of a season card is closer to face value than most other parts of the ground I reckon. I’ve used the Ticket Exchange a few times and it’s been pretty good for me. It is an improvement of Vianogo being as the Club’s main ticket partner that was the case before the Ticket Exchange.

Use of the Ticket Exchange is optional and I have some friends who won’t use it because the Club resell tickets for more than the season card holder using the Exchange gets. It’s fair enough if some Blues think that is unfair but I don’t recognise this notion that the Club are making out they are doing us a favour.

Maybe my point about the club doing us a favour is a bit over the top and I do like the idea of the exchange. Personally don't think it works for City at the moment because one off matchday prices are too high for our fans. The club don't seem to have any trouble shifting the non-season ticket seats for league games hence the 54k attendance figures. But when 5 or 6k season tickets are on the exchange they don't shift. They're basically trying to sell premium priced tickets to people who weren't really that arsed about going in the first place.

 

[Gingers Dad]

You’re way off the mark here mate, knowing at least one of the supporters representatives I can assure you that it will be right at the top of their list the next time they meet the club

I know for a fact that they are not allowed to talk about it and they won't.

 

[Prestwich_Blue]

I know for a fact that they are not allowed to talk about it and they won't.

You know that for a fact do you? Well as one of those representatives who has talked to the club about ticket prices I know for a fact that you're talking through your arse.

 

[Tim of the Oak]

Maybe my point about the club doing us a favour is a bit over the top and I do like the idea of the exchange. Personally don't think it works for City at the moment because one off matchday prices are too high for our fans. The club don't seem to have any trouble shifting the non-season ticket seats for league games hence the 54k attendance figures. But when 5 or 6k season tickets are on the exchange they don't shift. They're basically trying to sell premium priced tickets to people who weren't really that arsed about going in the first place.

I think many of the people buying on the Ticket Exchange have worked out they can get tickets for the more prestigious matches. Some of the Blues will use the Face Value or Less ticket pages for lower profile games to save money and that leaves tickets unsold on the Official Exchange like you said.

 

[blueparrot]

Maybe my point about the club doing us a favour is a bit over the top and I do like the idea of the exchange. Personally don't think it works for City at the moment because one off matchday prices are too high for our fans. The club don't seem to have any trouble shifting the non-season ticket seats for league games hence the 54k attendance figures. But when 5 or 6k season tickets are on the exchange they don't shift. They're basically trying to sell premium priced tickets to people who weren't really that arsed about going in the first place.

I think part of the problem is when and how they are put onto the exchange. Take me and my son for example. We bought tickets for 3 games when they went on sale in July, even then getting two seats together was difficult. In previous years we would buy for two or three more games through the season. Its impossible to find tickets together for other games now unless either the away teams return blocks or tickets go onto the exchange.
Two problems here first it usually happens close to a game, second there is no alert to say two tickets together have become available.
Like , I assume many matchday buyers, the reason we haven't got s/c is we live away from Manchester , so we have to plan ahead for travel, hotels, cover for work etc. So last minute ticket availability doesn’t help, especially if I have to constantly check the site for availability..
Don’t really know the solution, my solution this year is to plan around cup dates and hope for home draws, and progression through c/l knockout dates.
So it’ Fulham and Madrid for us at the moment and we have given up on any more league games , apart from Norwich that we bought in July, so don’t even look for the other league game on the exchange.

 

[Gingers Dad]

You know that for a fact do you? Well as one of those representatives who has talked to the club about ticket prices I know for a fact that you're talking through your arse.

So are you telling me that you'll be raising ticket prices at any future City Matters meeting?

 

[failsworthblueboy]

Feels like clubs want real fans to sit at home and watch the games and have tourists in there grounds to spend there money in the superstore.

Nailed it in one mate, I stopped going this year after 52 years due to health reasons 70's 80's and 90's home and away. None of the Manchester City family contacted me to see how I was, even the renewal reminder email couldn't be replied to.
I watch on TV now it's not the same but makes you realise no one gives a damn about the match going fans and everything is geared up for the armchair fan. Sad but true, they just want your money.

 

[Tim of the Oak]

I think part of the problem is when and how they are put onto the exchange. Take me and my son for example. We bought tickets for 3 games when they went on sale in July, even then getting two seats together was difficult. In previous years we would buy for two or three more games through the season. Its impossible to find tickets together for other games now unless either the away teams return blocks or tickets go onto the exchange.
Two problems here first it usually happens close to a game, second there is no alert to say two tickets together have become available.
Like , I assume many matchday buyers, the reason we haven't got s/c is we live away from Manchester , so we have to plan ahead for travel, hotels, cover for work etc. So last minute ticket availability doesn’t help, especially if I have to constantly check the site for availability..
Don’t really know the solution, my solution this year is to plan around cup dates and hope for home draws, and progression through c/l knockout dates.
So it’ Fulham and Madrid for us at the moment and we have given up on any more league games , apart from Norwich that we bought in July, so don’t even look for the other league game on the exchange.

Are you in a Supporters Club Branch mate? I think the OSC let people cancel ticket bookings if the date of the game changes.

 

[Prestwich_Blue]

So are you telling me that you'll be raising ticket prices at any future City Matters meeting?

Yes. I've raised it before, more than once, and I'll continue to raise it until the club show me they have a coherent short and long term strategy. We've also raised it as a group, asking the club to think about the financial impact of charging high prices for a CL game at a time when, like last season, we'd been to Wembley and had a few London away games, plus we had every prospect of two more Wembley trips in the FA Cup. I see it as my job to inform the club that we don't have the bottomless pockets that our owner has or the wide support that Liverpool & United have.

In the short-term I want to see some transparency on pricing. I don't particularly like Category A, B & C prices, like many clubs have, but it's a damn sight better than the 'Think of a number' system we seem to have at the moment, particularly with CL games. Liverpool (and I think United) make it clear to their fans what prices will be for PL, domestic cup and European games at the start of the season and I'd like us to go down that route, even if it's a case of them saying "The maximum you will be charged up to the semi-final will be £x". Liverpool & United also have a single price per seat for PL games regardless of whether they're playing us or Norwich. I'm not sure we'd get away with that at the moment but you can watch a Cat C game at Arsenal for £26.50 (and that's full price) whereas you'd pay £15 more that that to see the exact same team at the Etihad. I can't see how we can justify that.

Longer term (and this is a conversation I've had with them on a number of occasions) I'd like to see some evidence that the club is thinking strategically about how it attracts the next generation of fans. I've passed on a study to our own Head of Research that's been done by the MLB about that very subject. You can't sit there and hope that, in 20 years time when the large number of over-55's that support us now have stopped coming, there's a new generation that will have taken their place. You've got to do something proactive to encourage and facilitate that.

So it's all very well saying I should resign if they don't listen but they certainly aren't going to listen if no one is telling them these things. And I actually do think that they're starting to listen to us.

 

[blueparrot]

Are you in a Supporters Club Branch mate? I think the OSC let people cancel ticket bookings if the date of the game changes.

No, I think the club also let people cancel tickets if the date changes. I know they did when last season think it was the Southhampton game changed twice. The biggest issue for me personally is sorting and planning time off work out as I’m self employed, but thats my problem.
The other issue is buying match day tickets in July when they all go on sale I spend about £200 for my son and myself on 3 games, then in previous years have had no problem finding seats together as I pick and choose through the year to spread the cost. Now if I do that 2 tickets together are the problem, but I might have to look at buying more than 3 in July this summer.As you can see 2 cheap s/c becomes attractive but I couldn't actually make more games, ( so empty seats?)
There are loads of single seats for games where there used to be groups of matchday seats together. Since the last extension and location these groups have disappeared as people with S/C have relocated and moved about leaving singles all over the ground. The solution if we extend and relocate again is to ring fence seats in groups or blocks for matchday sales and not allow s/c relocations in the following years to disperse them.