Etihad Atmosphere - 2021/22

[jrb]

I've got an instagram feed which shows supporters and the atmosphere they create at clubs around the world. The European fans are great in Germany, Poland, Italy, Turkey, etc, but my god, the fans in Argentina are something else. Singing in groups outside the ground before and after the match, inside the ground the singing and support is continual involving the whole stadium. I'm not just talking Boca, River, and the other big Argentinian clubs, but the smaller clubs as well. I still don't get the up and down arm waving to every chant. Can't imagine doing that for 90 minutes along with chanting. :-)

 

[Moss Side's Finest]

Yes but the difference is they don’t disappear on mass like we do. We have a very unique fan base. All this success and lovely football yet half of the crowd can’t wait to leave the ground and get back home.

I agree completely. Can maybe understand evening games if people need to get home at a reasonable hour for work etc. but it's just as bad on Saturday 3pms, do 20 odd thousand people really need that extra 30 mins they gain on their journeys home by leaving 15 mins early that badly? People will say everyone is within their rights to do what they like but it really doesn't look good or help the team. One day this could all be gone, don't take it for granted

 

[bluwes]

Looking across from my seat, I’ve noticed there are fewer piss takers in 115 this season with the majority of Blues getting behind the lads. Credit to 1894 and anyone else who is trying to create a good atmosphere.

I’ve noticed this week that the Edin Dzeko song was hardly sung until we were dominating the games and there were plenty of chants for the rest of the ground to join in with if peole have the motivation.

Btw Glad to see the lad in 209 return who sings, “You’re fooking shit” to the opposition half a dozen times a game.!

Is that last bit tongue in cheek ?

 

[jrb]

Being honest.

I left 10 minutes early on Saturday. Went back into town. Don't often leave that early or early.

Got out of the ground, got on the 1st waiting bus, got a seat, the bus filled up quickly, set off, 10 minutes, if that, got off the bus close to
Piccadilly Gardens, into the bar. Many of the people on the bus were doing the same thing.

I think it's 2 things.

1. Beating the traffic and getting home early.
2. Getting into town early, and the closeness of town, and the bars and pubs.

For people who leave early continually it's now become a habit they won't change.

 

[Moss Side's Finest]

Talking about the atmosphere feels like Groundhog Day for me.

It’s not acoustics.
It’s not position of singers.
It’s not the type of song.
It’s not the style of play.
It’s not the KO time.
It’s not the opposition.
It’s not nerves.
It’s not overconfidence.

These are all variables that affect every stadium whether it’s La Bombanera or Craven Cottage.

The difference between our atmosphere being brilliant and awful is down to the monetisation of us fans by the club.

We have had a decade of price rises.
Our match day tickets are extortionate.
We have vast, vast amounts of rarely occupied corporate seats. We have LED advertising boards. Adverts blaring at 150 decibels. The club don’t give a shit about the atmosphere as long as the money keeps flooding in and it shows. Fuck getting a bunch of 17/18/19 year old lads in when you can charge a family £200 + whatever they spend in the club shop and on food/drink.

The issue we have is that the club have rid our stands of the type of person who’s likely to create an atmosphere and replaced them with families/tourists/corporates. In a 55k stadium, we have around 5k fan(atic)s who will sing. The rest are purely spectators.

It’s so short sighted and as you said, it will cost us fans (and subsequently money) in the long run.

Simply put, we can organise singing sections and all sorts of incentives, but there will always be a limit on what we achieve when we’re treated as cash cows rather than supporters.

Completely disagree with this. You cannot blame ticketing policy for fans that can't be arsed to arrive on time, stay to the end or open their mouths to support the team. I've been a season ticket holder for many years and I've seen the same bunch of people sat around me during that time (before some of the things you say have happened) and they've always been the same, certainly since the success began. Plain and simple, many city fans only get negatively vocal to either slate the referee or the team if we are playing badly. Positive singing/chanting is virtually non existent, the odd slow monotonous drone of Blue Moon or We're Not Really Here from a small percentage of the stadium from time to time is about as good as it gets for the vast majority of games. All this for the country's current Champions and top of the league side. It's laughable.

 

[Tim of the Oak]

Is that last bit tongue in cheek ?

No mate. I do enjoy that but that’s my sense of humour.

He also gets behind the lads for the 90 minutes that’s a credit to him.

 

[jrb]

I watched the Merseyside derby.

The atmosphere was ok at times, but it wasn't great, bar after the goals.

Liverpool fans do have a good variety of chants, but no more than we have. And they tend to stick to their favourite chants, you know the one's.

In no order City, United, Liverpool have the biggest variety of chants, followed by Newcastle and Leeds in my opinion.

 

[mexico1970]

Completely disagree with this. You cannot blame ticketing policy for fans that can't be arsed to arrive on time, stay to the end or open their mouths to support the team. I've been a season ticket holder for many years and I've seen the same bunch of people sat around me during that time (before some of the things you say have happened) and they've always been the same, certainly since the success began. Plain and simple, many city fans only get negatively vocal to either slate the referee or the team if we are playing badly. Positive singing/chanting is virtually non existent, the odd slow monotonous drone of Blue Moon or We're Not Really Here from a small percentage of the stadium from time to time is about as good as it gets for the vast majority of games. All this for the countries current Champions and top of the league side. It's laughable.

I go to watch the match, it's not a bloody Eisteddfod ;)

 

[M18CTID]

Being honest.

I left 10 minutes early on Saturday. Went back into town. Don't often leave that early or early.

Got out of the ground, got on the 1st waiting bus, got a seat, the bus filled up quickly, set off, 10 minutes, if that, got off the bus close to
Piccadilly Gardens, into the bar. Many of the people on the bus were doing the same thing.

I think it's 2 things.

1. Beating the traffic and getting home early.
2. Getting into town early, and the closeness of town, and the bars and pubs.

For people who leave early continually it's now become a habit they won't change.

Not aimed at you mate as I know you don't make a habit of this but I'm not sure why people would need to leave early to get in a boozer in town, especially a 3pm Saturday kick-off. Town is a 20-ish minute walk so one could stay until the end, clap the team off, and still be on the beer in the city centre for 5.20pm. And I say that as someone who is a complete pisshead on match days! Before Covid hit, we had a habit of often going back into town for an extra hour's drinking following a 3pm Saturday game. I'd just walk it and if I was helping put 1894 banners away I'd just put on a spurt and if I needed my alcohol fix, I'd just call in at that kiosk further down Ashton New Road and buy a can which I'd neck en route ;)

 

[Moss Side's Finest]

I go to watch the match, it's not a bloody Eisteddfod ;)

Lol. Jesting aside you have just confirmed a point. Many people at the Etihad are 'spectators' who simply pay to watch a game of football as they would on TV at home (who believe that because they've paid their money that's their part of the deal settled). What is lacking are 'supporters' who are willing to pay and then push on the team by vocal support (act as the 12th Man etc.). Many people's view these days is that 'footballers get paid millions so they shouldn't need my support' or 'I pay a fortune to watch this and pay their wages so I'll do what I like'. The reality is though that any player, paid or not, needs that support sometimes from the fans watching plus it creates a better atmosphere. Like I said, everyone is entitled to do what they want, it's a free world, but I believe this is what the root of the problem is for us.