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...
