Etihad Atmosphere - 2021/22

[citymad]

don’t think I agree with at. Just seems like a list of excuses. You do not see the level of early leavers we have at other grounds. A lot of those fans at Liverpool for example don’t live anywhere near their ground either - you don’t see as many leaving there.

a lot of the people you describe must have lots of money to waste to justify paying for tickets and missing so much football. Seems like lots of them aren’t that bothered about the match and go out of habit.

I keep hearing how we’ve always had early leavers. When we were going for the league under Mancini or trying to get a champions league spot it was no where near as bad.

Exactly, its been a tradition for them over the years and they're just losing touch with the game.There is no emotional connection.

 

[meeesh]

While I agree that we have too many early leavers, I think people are missing the point regarding Liverpool and United fans who live miles away. Many of those fans will be stopping over the night so they’re actually less likely to leave early than a local fan. And for those who aren’t staying over, many of them will be on coaches from here, there, and everywhere (United in particular have shit loads of coaches coming from one end of the country or another), and those coaches ain’t going anywhere until every fucker is on them so there’s no point in those fans bailing out early.

I’d say there is more point in leaving the swamp earlier these days like after 30 mins or so,be better sat on coach looking out of a window than watching that shite in the stadium anyway

 

[meeesh]

Like someone said earlier, to me it's just a lack of passion for the club. Their time at home or at the pub is more important than cheering the team off. There seems a definite lack of emotional connection with this team, not sure why because they're a wonderful group of professionals. The owners must be shaking their heads yesterday wondering what more they could do to please the fans. I know Newcastle and Everton fans would be loving these successful times.

We are all spoilt fuckers these days that’s why,like Wednesday night prime example -didn’t score early “this is shit this” according to some near me,I’m more of a patient guy these days,well until about 65-70 mins anyway

 

[NorthamptonBlue]

Like someone said earlier, to me it's just a lack of passion for the club. Their time at home or at the pub is more important than cheering the team off. There seems a definite lack of emotional connection with this team, not sure why because they're a wonderful group of professionals. The owners must be shaking their heads yesterday wondering what more they could do to please the fans. I know Newcastle and Everton fans would be loving these successful times.

We’ve become a bit entitled as a fan base I’m afraid. We were much noisier when we were shit.

 

[mancityvstoke]

Have you been to Old Trafford? The atmosphere is crap nearly every game.
I gather this is a wind up?

yeah..sussed that this morning...proper WUM

 

[paulchapo]

We’ve become a bit entitled as a fan base I’m afraid. We were much noisier when we were shit.

We had nothing else to do when we were shit but make our own entertainment. It was also a badge of honour to show that no matter how crap we were we were loud, loyal and proud. Games these days we usually dominate so it's just waiting for us to score, plus nerves as normally something is riding on every game.

On early leavers it's not just the old timers go early. On the row in front of me in the south stand was six young lads I hadn't seen before. Hardly sang and fucked off with fifteen minutes to go. If that's our future we're fucked.

 

[cyberblue]

What ever the reasons and excuses
Genuine or not
The sight of 25.000 - 30.000 leaving with 5 minutes to go is just embarasing
The players must be thinking WTF
A performance like yesterday and hardly anyone left to cheer the players of
Back in the day when we were regularly on the receiving end it was like a badge of honour we stayed to the end
Now it a badge of honour to fuck of with 10-15 minutes left

 

[Barcon]

Yeah, because they're shit af now. Losing week after week, Why would they stay? when they were good under Fergie, hardly any would leave early during title run ins and close games, I'm talking about the Etihad. We play the best football ever played in English football history imo and our atmosphere is still bad, the passion is still lacking. We are in an epic title race with scousers and fans always leave early regardless of the score. Doesn't really matter anyway, the players proved last season they don't need an atmosphere or passionate to win the league or big CL games. Thank God we have Pep.

They stay because no matter how early they leave, their planes and trains aren't going to leave earlier.

 

[blue44]

What ever the reasons and excuses
Genuine or not
The sight of 25.000 - 30.000 leaving with 5 minutes to go is just embarasing
The players must be thinking WTF
A performance like yesterday and hardly anyone left to cheer the players of
Back in the day when we were regularly on the receiving end it was like a badge of honour we stayed to the end
Now it a badge of honour to fuck of with 10-15 minutes left

well
my 14 year old ,for the last 11 years
will always stay
he's had it drilled into him
he ,like me is mystified why a lot of our fans leave early

 

[GrumpyLegacyFan]

Sat right behind Pep today and it was a good insight. Basically it was quiet and shit and it sounds much worse at pitch level than it does in level 3. I’ve given up making excuses, blaming acoustics and song choices and all that stuff. Unless the club grasp the mettle and make some serious changes we have a shit product to sell at the moment. I think that the poor atmosphere is now part of the club culture and is one of the reasons that glory hunting kids are choosing Liverpool and not us.

Unless someone gets hold of this and makes some radical choices then we have a problem in the club DNA. I’d love to advise them on solutions because it is still solvable, but it’s drifting away.

Not long ago we were the club with a shit team but great support. Now we are the opposite. We either bite the bullet or that’s what we are for the future.

So did I - as a guest in the Tunnel Club (check my previous posts slagging off the TC - so yes - massive hypocrite - but my god the food was nice!!)...so an interesting perspective. I was quite literally on the single row above the tunnel, a few seats behind Kyle Walker. So, as good as what the players hear from the bench. And like @Didsbury Dave says - it was utterly shite.

No excuses at all for this one, and I am out of trying to work out why.

Why is it when I go away (which I do, and have done for decades for almost every game, before I am accused of being a plastic) the pissed-up concourse is loud and proud - and for most away (Leicester, for example, very early this season in particular for some reason was fantastic - 90mins of non stop singing) we are excellent - but come back home, and despite the efforts of the SS, no one else seems to give a flying fuck?

Does it matter? The players - from watching them close up, don't seem to give a fuck. As proved playing in empty stadiums. They just want their £200K a week. Some, in fairness, make an effort to clap the 7 fans left at full time, and on away days, Pep seems to make sure they come over (although the days of players like Zaba, Vinnie and Hart, who would make a special effort, have long gone). But others just head down the tunnel - and who can blame them when there is no-one left in the stadium?

So I don't think it particularly matters for the players (expect for maybe the lift it gives the bin dippers playing into the Kop on a European night), and I do think there is a bit in every City fan of a certain age that might be more vocal when we are fighting relegation against Port Vale, or chasing an improbable Cup come back against clubs we used to think as 'giants'. For all the success, all the money, all the spectacular stars of recent years, is there a significant part of our support who are just so damaged, that what only really excites is spontaneous, unlikely, 'back against the wall' football, rather than the magnificent machine we watch weekly now?

I have had to explore pseudo-psychology, because I am out of options. What else can explain the difference between the atmosphere at Wembley in 1999 and that at the Semi-Final two weeks ago?

And finally...I think it does matter. It matters to me. I go to football as my weekly therapy, to disengage from the all the stresses and bollocks of daily life - and I like to shout and sing and feel part of a community I cherish. It's just a shame that I can now only really get that therapy at the occasional away game...