Etihad Atmosphere - 2021/22

[ProofMCFC]

This thread has become an opportunity for City fans to slag off our own fanbase. We have enough enemies out there to do that for us.

Because mate, some of it is true. Atmosphere is as important as anything else, why would haaland want to play for that when he can play in better and win trophies somewhere else, thats my take anyway.

 

[Mifred]

Here’s the reality:

Option A
42,000 x £50 = £2,100,000
£2,100,000 x 19 = £39,900,000

Option B
52,000 x £30 = £1,560,000
£1,560,000 x 19 = £29,640,000

£39,900,000
- £29,640,000
= £10,260,000

The club couldn’t give two shits if the ground is full. They couldn’t give two shits if they’re pricing out people who would come and create an atmosphere.

They’re thinking short-term, what’s the best thing for the bottom line this year.

Because we’re successful and playing great football, they can charge £50 a game and there’s enough demand at that price to make it profitable.

The sad reality is, when we go shit, ticket prices will drop, and in turn, the atmosphere will get better.

I agree and would add another question Why can we not fill a ground when we have probably the best manager in the world and some of the best players.Our football at times is breathtaking

 

[Prophet of Doom]

Every time there is a shit atmosphere we get the same nonsense about it being due the club not caring about the fans etc etc.

All absolute bollocks. The atmosphere is shit because 95% of supporters sit in silence. It’s not cause of CFG, family stands, corporate seats or ticket prices.

It’s cause the majority of fans don’t make an atmosphere.

The idea that the only way we will get an atmosphere is by offering cheap tickets to these fans that don’t actually go to the games instead of asking why 40 odd thousand seasoncard holders sit in silence is embarrassing.

 

[SilvaisSkyBlue]

Id rank Stones above Dias - Ruben’s still prone going to ground too early and isn’t as good on the ball.

Stones does everything Dias does in terms of defensive solidity, but with an elegance that makes it a lot more subtle to the point it almost goes unnoticed.

He’s levels above anybody else in the league - Chelsea have got an Aldi version in Christensen starting, he’d walk into United and even Liverpool’s team. He’s also better than anything Bayern, Barca, Real Madrid have, and would be ideal alongside Marquinhos at PSG.

You don’t want Grealish to be moulded by Guardiola - he’d become average. We paid £100m for a mercurial player, not some dull component in a system.

I want us to to use him like Modric; allow him to improvise from a central midfield position, carry the ball, borrow it to others. Let him control the entire game.

I agree that Gascoigne was on a completely different level to Foden in terms of natural ability; Grealish is the only English player remotely similar since, and he’s still miles away. Foden is a lot more comparable to Giggs, both in the way he plays and the fact that he’ll have a much longer, more decorated career at the top level.

In this clip Gazza was a crocked and overweight but still dominates a Dortmund team that went on to win the Champions League the next season.

Do you think Bernardo or Gundogan would have single handedly carried Villa to trophies?

There are a number of factors as to why it’s taken so long for Grealish to reach an elite club, some his own fault, others not. His immaturity of the pitch was obviously a deterrent, but Spurs were very interested at one point, and United delayed signing him in January 2020, prioritising Bruno Fernandes under the assumption Villa would go down so he’d still be available in the summer, by which time they’d stayed up and the asking price doubled.

Another factor is that he was a Villa fan who stayed with them through relegation and missing out on promotion initially, got them back up and played a key role in keeping them there the first season. He left them in a very good position in the Premier League, forging a legacy at his boyhood club before moving on to the next level as late as was realistically possible - Bernardo apparently loves Benfica, but back-doored it after one senior game for a smaller mercenary club. If we hadn’t been taken over, and Foden came through the academy and gave us the first 7 years of his career despite obviously belonging at a higher level, he’d rigbe deified, so ridiculing Grealish’s career trajectory when loyalty to his club was a key factor in it is a bit silly.

He’s here now, is acclimatising to the shackles of a system that established geniuses like Ribery and Fabregas also detested, and has still created a good number of chances, especially when going rogue and drifting inside. Hopefully it all comes together for him here soon and people realise how special a player he really is.

Because his perceived brilliance is dependent on a final ball; he’s always been very ‘ordinary’ outside of the decisive pass or shot, we’ve just had the quality and structure to accommodate his flaws and provide the platform for those eye catching moments.

The above post is about De Bruyne.

Probably because he’s got a touch like his dad, and there are technically refined footballers available for a fraction of the overall cost and drama, who’d fit more seamlessly into top sides.

We definitely need an orthodox #9 as an option, but he’d be more trouble than he’s worth to accommodate his awkward all-round play and prick of an agent.

About Haaland

To be fair post-Tevez and Ronaldo, Ferguson was winning titles and reaching Champions League finals with geriatrics, crocks and the likes of Evans, Cleverley, Jones and Welbeck….plus Gill leaving and Woodworm taking over was almost equally catastrophic for them - his successor him was taking over a club that on the of brink of relative obscurity in need of a whole new team and direction.

Whoever takes over here will get a collection of £50/£60m players in/approaching their prime, some of the best young talents in the country coming through the academy, and a shitload of money to recruit. This is a club with an infrastructure, clearly defined culture, winning mentality and spending capacity to succeed that far predates Pep, and will perpetuate after him as well.

The next manager might not find trophies as easy to come by, as the league and especially direct competition is now far stronger than in Guardiola’s first 5 years here, but what they do win will mean more in such an elite environment anyway.

Liverpool are fucked once Klopp backdoors it, because - like fellow turd polisher Ferguson in his last few seasons - he’s overachieved with some pretty dubious players, but as Chelsea have for the past 15 years, whoever we appoint will generally win stuff by default because of the way the club operates.

It’s always been the case with him, it’s just for the first 18 months of his time here few teams had the capacity/desire to attack us, so the mirage of him being an elite centreback occurred. He’s a better footballer than he is defender.

Stones last season earned the right to be the default first choice centreback partner for Dias - psychologically he doesn’t seem to react well the pressure of being flawless to keep his place, and ironically that’s when errors start creeping back into his game.

About Laporte.

Pep’s style isn’t conducive to a good atmosphere.

Martinez at Villa; I’d send Steffen their way in part exchange.

A top keeper who makes the saves Ederson doesn’t is essential IMO if we’re ever going to win the Champions League.

It wasn’t just Van Dijk though was it? Gomez and Matip going down long term weeks after him meant they played more than half a season with either emergency solutions, or their two most important midfielders regularly featuring in defence. The system collapsed as a result

Insinuating Klopp ‘lucked out’ in having a decent sporting director who can spot decent potential at a good price, but Pep and Tuchel and getting greater than the sum of their parts is one of the weirdest interpretations of reality I’ve ever seen. Pep inherited a collection of the best players to have played in this league all in one squad, at a club who’d already established a winning culture and then had the capacity to spend another £1b+ to pad it out with even more quality to make sure injuries or fatigue are never really a factor.

If Klopp had taken our job when he was offered it in 2015, I reckon we’d already have more European Cups than United, and 5 titles on the bounce.

Regarding Haaland, IMO he’ll end up at either Bayern or United on the understanding that he’ll be allowed to go to Madrid within 3 years.

Klopp got to two Champions League finals with a Liverpool squad that had Karius, Lovren, Origi, and Shaqiri featuring, plus one with a flawed Dortmund side - 4 in 6 years with the depth of quality we have had in that period is a very real possibility.

You have to separate coach from the club; Liverpool are a horrible club, but the Klopp style and project from a sporting standpoint deserves respect; as soon as he goes, they’re back to fighting for top 4. When Pep leaves here, we win just as much if not more, IMO.

Klopp could have taken the easier jobs that Pep has - Bayern, here, plus PSG, Real, Barcelona and the perpetually open chequebook at Old Trafford and collected the default trophies that those clubs do, which would have led to him being unanimously regarded as the best coach of the past 10 years.

Go back to Rag Cafe because I don’t think Haaland will come here? Raiola won’t allow him to come to a club where he’d be locked in - our top players are almost obliged to do a decade, while PSG seem to take any bids for theirs as a declaration of war on Qatar, so he won’t be joining either.

Do you think we’d allow him to sign for anything less than 5/6 years or with a buyout clause? I’d don’t think Real would either, so his next club will be a stepping stone to Spain - Mino will want at least two substantial payments out of him. Bayern might agree to strengthen their monopoly in Germany for a few more seasons and then replace him whoever Dortmund discover in the meantime, while United would gladly take him for the short term #hashtagability for the duration of Rangnick’s tenure, then shift him on for £100m+.

Ronaldo is Haaland’s idol, so being able to play with him will probably appeal to him despite the fact he’s allegedly a Leeds fan who also has a soft spot for City, and ultimately his dad is aboard the Raiola gravy train, so will push for whatever will earn the family the most. He was close to joining them from Salzburg, and many perceived the fact he’d worked with Solskjaer as what almost facilitated it; I think it’s more likely that knowing what a shite manager he is pushed him towards Dortmund instead. Now that obstacle us clear, I think it’ll happen.

Pellegrini’s last season was sabotaged by the pending arrival of Pep; it was performing way below its natural level, even factoring in the advancing age of certain players. There was still an unprecedented depth of elite quality here - probably 5 of the top 20 players the league has seen all in the same team at once. It needed reinforcements, but Guardiola bought players for the bench that would be key players in most first 11’s in the league. He should have won what he has here, and probably more.

That 2014 Liverpool team was carried to a title challenge by the attacking trident of Suarez, Sturridge and Sterlingby the time Klopp got there, Suarez and Sterling had forced moves, and Sturridge was crocked.

Klopp also inherited terrible fullbacks in Clyne and Moreno; Pep addressed it by spending about £200m on them to find solutions, while Klopp converted an academy midfielder and brought in an £8m signing from a relegated club, and made them the most effective pair in Europe and catalysts of their overachievement.

Do you not think Klopp could have matched or even eclipsed what Pep has done here? I’d say fewer Carabao cups, but compensated for by European success.

It seems your default (and shared) dislike for Liverpool as a club is obscuring your subjective view of what Klopp’s achieved there.

Dias and Stones as a partnership are elite - they just seem to have a calming synchronicity that neutralises each other’s flaws - but as individuals they’re both just below the top tier. It’s a substandard era of centrebacks overall - there’s only really Marquinhos and perhaps Alaba under the age of 30 who are in the very top bracket.

This season’s rotation to pander to Laporte’s summer tantrum has set both Dias and Stones back; central defence is the one are that should have an established hierarchy, so restore their partnership In the hope they can both rediscover their top form for the second half of the season.

That’s what too many fans don’t understand - the owner buying the club wasn’t an act of philanthropy, it was an opportunity to attain a platform to project Abu Dhabi onto the world and secure a load of dubious land deals in the process. Chaotic characters like Garry Cook and Mancini, and players like Hart, Zabaleta and Kompany perpetuated the ‘City’ identity for the first few years after the takeover, but since Soriano arrived with his transcendent vision for the CFG, the club has gradually become a contemporary version everything we used to ridicule United for.

The ‘legacy’ fanbase is the only authentic element of the club left, and as you point out, those currently running the it aren’t really arsed about us - people are deluded if they think otherwise. An introduction of the 50+1 here would be ideal, but would require financial intervention from the Government.

Our fans can’t be blamed for the general lack of atmosphere either; most home games for the past 5 years have been a team assembled for 4x the cost of the opposition, having circa 70% possession and inevitably winning comfortably - you’d be a weirdo to be passionate about it. It’s generally not competitive, and has an exhibition vibe about it.

Perhaps you should find another team to support then assuming you don't already.

@bobbyowenquiff how dare you have a go at an absolute genuine City fan as @Long Slow Goodbye.

No doubting his credentials with a quick selection from his posting history.

I only looked into his posting history as I felt it would be what Klopp would of wanted.
Klopp has only spent just over half a billion on players, shoestring budget and won everything worth winning, Fraudiola spent just over 15 trillion and won a couple of energy drinks. Long live Klopp.

 

[Shaelumstash]

I agree and would add another question Why can we not fill a ground when we have probably the best manager in the world and some of the best players.Our football at times is breathtaking

I’ll tell you what else is a fucking liberty. The £35 cost to become a “member”.

If you wanted to buy tickets two weeks ago for that game yesterday, it would have been £85 including the “membership fee”.

What fucking planet are they living on when they think £85 for a 12.30 kick off against Wolves is a price our core fan base can afford.

They’re absolutely taking the piss.

 

[Lavinda Past]

Perhaps you should find another team to support then assuming you don't already.

That's a pathetic response to a perfectly reasonable post.

Not everything in the garden is rosy for all City fans, so it's unfair of you to criticise anyone who doesn't have your seemingly perfect view of the club.

The atmosphere is shit. The prices are too high. The club aims to attract wealthier fans and pays lip-service to those who aren't.

The football we play is wonderful but the 'quality' of opposition makes City look like the Harlem Globetrotters in the great majority of games. Like the HGs, this entertainment eventually wears thin for regular watchers, but continues to attract high spending tourists/day trippers.

A bit of an extreme example perhaps, but that is the ideal scenario for the club hierarchy, and I suspect is precisely what they are aiming for, along with their fellow Super League conspirators.

The CFG is no more than a circus.

 

[blue ranger]

52,613

Absolute no chance we had 52k in the ground yesterday. It was as empty for a PL
game as i can remember.

 

[Mike N]

I’m disappointed with the club and the prices for fans who might have wanted to go yesterday, as a one off. £50 is obviously far too much and those fans who decided not to bother must have thought it was the correct decision after the hateful ‘football’ served up by Wolves.

Of the fans who actually attended it was a shocking attempt at ‘supporting’ the players. Champions of England, top of the league and we still won’t sing. Utterly pathetic.

 

[Bluesince88]

Every time there is a shit atmosphere we get the same nonsense about it being due the club not caring about the fans etc etc.

All absolute bollocks. The atmosphere is shit because 95% of supporters sit in silence. It’s not cause of CFG, family stands, corporate seats or ticket prices.

It’s cause the majority of fans don’t make an atmosphere.

The idea that the only way we will get an atmosphere is by offering cheap tickets to these fans that don’t actually go to the games instead of asking why 40 odd thousand seasoncard holders sit in silence is embarrassing.

Agreed although the cheap tickets would guarantee the ground being full I reckon, hence an improvement in atmosphere.

 

[bluestevei]

I’ll tell you what else is a fucking liberty. The £35 cost to become a “member”.

If you wanted to buy tickets two weeks ago for that game yesterday, it would have been £85 including the “membership fee”.

What fucking planet are they living on when they think £85 for a 12.30 kick off against Wolves is a price our core fan base can afford.

They’re absolutely taking the piss.

i bought mine at the start of the season, if you go to about 7 games you have your money back, and if you go to another 3 -4 games you get 20 back well in price of tickets