Etihad Atmosphere - 2021/22

Just watched the clip, it does sound bad I admit but we've also got to consider he's not a natural English speaker and what I got from it was a rallying call.
Considering who we play after Southampton and the fact we had a ding dong match against Leipzig he probably thinks he needs the crowd to get behind the team to keep us in the mix.
That or I'm wrong and he thinks we're all berts from Stockport.
 
tolmie's hairdoo said:
I'd argue the atmosphere is also being impacted because it is the 'locals' who are now feeling disenfranchised?

A local must always traipse across Manchester in the height of rush hour, a local can take it or leave it, a local is invariably a little less affluent than someone making a rare/special occasion visit for a Champions League game?

I am a 'local' and, finances, not withstanding, the number of hurdles which legitimately exist just in terms of midweek attendance, for this 47-year-old, anyway, has me a deepening sense of, "They don't care about me and I won't be missed".

Can't blame day-trippers and kids, they are turning up in big numbers and making it a 'treat', they don't have any shared hard yards, leave the atmosphere responsibilities to the regulars, hoping to just spend £200 in the club shop and sit back and be entertained.

Too many people concerned about 'optics', or should I say the last rod to beat us over the head with, considering how successful we are as a team.

Pep is dropping the ball a little too much for my liking and also had to walk back his naive recent comments in Brazil about quitting at the end of the two-years left on his deal.

For him to feed into the lazy narrative again with regards fans staying away is extremely poor from him.

His lack of self-awareness and from the club in general with regards our fanbase, the considerations many also have with Covid, perhaps further highlights a huge, current disconnect.

There is an ignorance about Pep and the Catalan executives which I feel takes people like me for granted?

I've never felt further away from the club as I have this summer. My dad is ready to call it a day after 60 years, my brothers are taking or leaving it.

If I didn't have my two kids, I'd probably knock it all on the head and come and watch a couple of games a season, taking the rest in on the box.

What really angers me is that City fans are having to defend themselves because of comments like those from the manager.

"The players will be tired, Southampton are a tough team, more fans..."

The players are fucking tired? We have supporters who have lost jobs, businesses, grandparents too uncomfortable to return of late, being told to come to grips with a ticketing roll out which is beyond comical.

I don't give a fuck what other clubs get, there were 38,000 Blues who parted with their hard-earned last night and they'll do for me.

Sadly, not for Pep and the people who are being paid enough money to know better.

Tell you what, City. Make every ticket £20 across the board for every game and you would have to build a stadium twice the size of the Etihad to accommodate every person.

They aren't going to do that, though, as money will always be the bottom line, so accept the type of fans we have, or fuck off.
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He's probably best fucking off tbh when fans go on huge rants just because of a comment which was nowhere near as bad as is being made out on here.
Sorry Tolm but that's just a huge overreaction.
It's telling that you mention fans having to defend themselves which at the end of the day is the crux of the problem isn't it.
Those nasty opposition fans taking the piss about the attendance is what upsets blues. It's that simple and the majority slagging him off are only arsed because their red mates are taking the piss.
 
Phil1 said:
The supporters are having their say mate, over about 5 threads atm. Nobody is stopping them having a breakdown because the manager said he would like the fans to get behind the team on Saturday.
With respect, this whole "he doesn't get us" narrative is not something I agree with. It's usually made by fans who miss Mancini because they thought he got us by wearing a scarf.
It's all a bit sad but hey ho, we are where we are.
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I've never wanted him to be a scarf wearer,he is way too individual for that,but I would like him to take a derby for example,especially in the league, a lot more serious as we do.

If he doesn't win a battle,he generally wins the war,I get it,but like I say,on certain other things,he doesn't get us one bit.
 
His comments sounded to me like a rally call to support the team because they'll be tired, Sky Sports interpreted them that way too.

Of course on here it's all being blown ridiculously out of proportion with some old school Pep haters coming out of the woodwork and acting like he's insulting the fans. It's maddening.

What's worse is that threads like these highlight how spoiled and thin skinned some of our lot have become and are providing ammo for Rag Cafe's Blue Moon meltdown narrative. They think some of our fans are crazy - on evidence of some of the hyperbole here I'd be inclined to agree.

Y'all should be ashamed.
 
Inter Me Nan said:
Just watched the clip, it does sound bad I admit but we've also got to consider he's not a natural English speaker and what I got from it was a rallying call.
Considering who we play after Southampton and the fact we had a ding dong match against Leipzig he probably thinks he needs the crowd to get behind the team to keep us in the mix.
That or I'm wrong and he thinks we're all berts from Stockport.
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It's something that has gotten under the skin of blues long before Pep turned up. The Empyhad jibes really do seem to get people wound up and whilst it's a bit irritating there's really no need for fans to go off like they have done because of his comments.
 
I hope Pep is manning the ticket office phones today. Let's see what he's got to say to City fans who have been waiting 5 hours to buy a ticket. That's if Pep doesn't cut them off.

A great win. A good performance. 6 goals. 3 points. Now over shadowed by Pep's ill thought out comments about City fans and their support.

Pep. Can you tell us why you messed about with the winning team formation that beat PSG for the CL final against Chelsea?
 
Phil1 said:
It's something that has gotten under the skin of blues long before Pep turned up. The Empyhad jibes really do seem to get people wound up and whilst it's a bit irritating there's really no need for fans to go off like they have done because of his comments.
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If any fan tries that shit on with me I just smile and say 'Champion that, champion'.
 
Roll on the bigger Champions League games when it will be full and the atmosphere raucous.
The atmosphere against Liverpool in 2018 and Spurs in 2019 was superb. Likewise it would have been off the scale in 2020 for Real Madrid if not for Covid. Same last season for Dortmund and PSG.

Liverpool's famed "magical European nights under the lights" (puke) was built on the historic norm on having lower attendances in the earlier rounds or group stage matches. The attendances below were for the first 5 seasons when they went on to actually win the European Cup. I've highlighted the low and the high.


1976/1977
R32: 22,242
R16: 42,275
QF: 55,043
SF: 50,611

1977/1978
R16: 39,835
QF: 48,364
SF: 51,500

1980/81
R32: 21,013
R16: 36,182
QF: 37,255
SF: 44,543


1983/1984
R32: 14,985
R16: 33,063
QF: 39,096
SF: 36,941

2004/2005
LG: 33,517
R16: 40,952
QF: 41,216
SF: 42,259
 
Sometimes I feel that Pep plays into the media narrative way too much, Like a 15 year old kid on twitter chatting shit about us.

He has done this time and again and I always felt that he has this need to manage a club where from media to referees to football pundits constantly big upping him and that certain club.
Otherwise he wouldn't whine so much.

Look at his time at Barcelona. Having the best club team of all time with the GOAT as all in sundry go wax lyrical about him and the entire league is there to service Barcelona including that **** Tebas. He loved that.

His time in Bayern where again he would have the entire league at his disposal plus a crazy fan base of locals and tourists similar to Barcelona. He wants Lewa - he gets it. He wants Gotze he wants Kimmich. No problem!

At City there are 8 clubs vying for your blood. The media hates you. There is FFP and what not. You can't get Kane even if you need it. Thats why we see him needlessly commenting on the Grealish fee or how he will spend another billion and then this atmosphere rhetoric.

SOmetimes he is too egoistic for his own good.
 
tolmie's hairdoo said:
I'd argue the atmosphere is also being impacted because it is the 'locals' who are now feeling disenfranchised?

A local must always traipse across Manchester in the height of rush hour, a local can take it or leave it, a local is invariably a little less affluent than someone making a rare/special occasion visit for a Champions League game?

I am a 'local' and, finances, not withstanding, the number of hurdles which legitimately exist just in terms of midweek attendance, for this 47-year-old, anyway, has me a deepening sense of, "They don't care about me and I won't be missed".

Can't blame day-trippers and kids, they are turning up in big numbers and making it a 'treat', they don't have any shared hard yards, leave the atmosphere responsibilities to the regulars, hoping to just spend £200 in the club shop and sit back and be entertained.

Too many people concerned about 'optics', or should I say the last rod to beat us over the head with, considering how successful we are as a team.

Pep is dropping the ball a little too much for my liking and also had to walk back his naive recent comments in Brazil about quitting at the end of the two-years left on his deal.

For him to feed into the lazy narrative again with regards fans staying away is extremely poor from him.

His lack of self-awareness and from the club in general with regards our fanbase, the considerations many also have with Covid, perhaps further highlights a huge, current disconnect.

There is an ignorance about Pep and the Catalan executives which I feel takes people like me for granted?

I've never felt further away from the club as I have this summer. My dad is ready to call it a day after 60 years, my brothers are taking or leaving it.

If I didn't have my two kids, I'd probably knock it all on the head and come and watch a couple of games a season, taking the rest in on the box.

What really angers me is that City fans are having to defend themselves because of comments like those from the manager.

"The players will be tired, Southampton are a tough team, more fans..."

The players are fucking tired? We have supporters who have lost jobs, businesses, grandparents too uncomfortable to return of late, being told to come to grips with a ticketing roll out which is beyond comical.

I don't give a fuck what other clubs get, there were 38,000 Blues who parted with their hard-earned last night and they'll do for me.

Sadly, not for Pep and the people who are being paid enough money to know better.

Tell you what, City. Make every ticket £20 across the board for every game and you would have to build a stadium twice the size of the Etihad to accommodate every person.

They aren't going to do that, though, as money will always be the bottom line, so accept the type of fans we have, or fuck off.
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I could not agree more.

Confession time from me... I haven't been to a game yet this season and I'm not sure I'll ever go back. I've resold my ST games via the XChange so far.

As TH says, there are just too many things which make it difficult to go any more, and thats before I think about if I want to be in a large crowd of people where a significant proportion of that crowd will be covid spreaders.

And our willingness to accept defeat to the rags in recent seasons is totally unaccaptable to me but Pep and the current players don't seem to have much of a problem with it.

I'm pretty certain its the end of the line for me after over 25 years.

Maybe Aguero going, the last of the generation of players that got us to where we are now is a factor. I don't feel the same way about most of this current group.

Fully expect the usual insults, plastic etc but I'm giving an honest opinion.
 
I was upset by Pep as I knew what was coming after his words. I thought the attendance was reasonable. A number of people who sit near me for the premier league games pick and choose cup games. It's a cost, work and transport hassle thing. Some are diehards, but there's a fair few getting older like me who would turn up for stupid meaningless midweek games when we were younger who are more picky. It's not cheap any more, transport issues worse and I'm less agreeable to late nights. It's on telly as well. That's OK if we had more younger fans or day trippers clamouring for my seat. And if we didn't have to live with these jibes off rivals who hardly ever set foot in a stadium themselves. I enjoyed the football yesterday, we have a great team, the youth team are terrific as well. Things are good, looking forward to Saturday, why do I need to consider what idiot opposition fans think? Maybe, as people have said he was trying to rally the troupes for a more vocal support on Saturday but it kind of backfired.
 
tolmie's hairdoo said:
I'd argue the atmosphere is also being impacted because it is the 'locals' who are now feeling disenfranchised?

A local must always traipse across Manchester in the height of rush hour, a local can take it or leave it, a local is invariably a little less affluent than someone making a rare/special occasion visit for a Champions League game?

I am a 'local' and, finances, not withstanding, the number of hurdles which legitimately exist just in terms of midweek attendance, for this 47-year-old, anyway, has me a deepening sense of, "They don't care about me and I won't be missed".

Can't blame day-trippers and kids, they are turning up in big numbers and making it a 'treat', they don't have any shared hard yards, leave the atmosphere responsibilities to the regulars, hoping to just spend £200 in the club shop and sit back and be entertained.

Too many people concerned about 'optics', or should I say the last rod to beat us over the head with, considering how successful we are as a team.

Pep is dropping the ball a little too much for my liking and also had to walk back his naive recent comments in Brazil about quitting at the end of the two-years left on his deal.

For him to feed into the lazy narrative again with regards fans staying away is extremely poor from him.

His lack of self-awareness and from the club in general with regards our fanbase, the considerations many also have with Covid, perhaps further highlights a huge, current disconnect.

There is an ignorance about Pep and the Catalan executives which I feel takes people like me for granted?

I've never felt further away from the club as I have this summer. My dad is ready to call it a day after 60 years, my brothers are taking or leaving it.

If I didn't have my two kids, I'd probably knock it all on the head and come and watch a couple of games a season, taking the rest in on the box.

What really angers me is that City fans are having to defend themselves because of comments like those from the manager.

"The players will be tired, Southampton are a tough team, more fans..."

The players are fucking tired? We have supporters who have lost jobs, businesses, grandparents too uncomfortable to return of late, being told to come to grips with a ticketing roll out which is beyond comical.

I don't give a fuck what other clubs get, there were 38,000 Blues who parted with their hard-earned last night and they'll do for me.

Sadly, not for Pep and the people who are being paid enough money to know better.

Tell you what, City. Make every ticket £20 across the board for every game and you would have to build a stadium twice the size of the Etihad to accommodate every person.

They aren't going to do that, though, as money will always be the bottom line, so accept the type of fans we have, or fuck off.
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Fans have changed. It felt like in the old days I was the only southern/manc accent in the crowd !. Now its accents from all over the world.

In the last few seasons I have been surrounded by away fans, tourists, and lots of kids from clubs who spent the whole match running around.

This are the reasons I wont be attending as many matches. I pay over £50 or more for a ticket, all I want is to be surrounded by City mad fans. To spend over £100 per match ( food travelling etc ) and over 12hrs travelling is it to much to ask to be around fellow City fans ?.

We always try and get in the South Stand, but not always possible in fact we arent even sitting next together for the Everton game. Not sure if we are next to my lad on Saturday cant remember, but so many tickets are for a seat on there own.

Like you say lots of people are struggling with the pandemic and everything associated with that. Going to football is getting out of the working class fans.
 
give it to gordon said:
Just noticed the commenter calling our ground The City of Manchester Stadium. Isnt City+ an on house production ? If so surely they should know the name of our stadium.
Or arent we allowed to say the Etihad Stadium in the champions league ?
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It's CL regulations mate as ground sponsors haven't tipped any money up to UEFA.
 
One of the best and most accurate posts I've ever read on here. You are absolutely spot on and nobody with even the smallest amount of common sense could disagree.
 
Gabriel said:
Long thought Guardiola should have hired someone British to be on his the coaching staff who could also do more of the media work, which he evidently loathes, much in the way that Platt helped Mancini out. I thought Craig Bellamy would have been a good choice, as he is both intelligent and eloquent, and having worked in the media he knows both sides of the coin.
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It's a good idea. A lot of it gets lost in translation. Guarantee the next presser where one of the journo's quizzes Pep about calling out the fans he'll get all arsey a deny that's what he said. Like when he gets asked about him saying he was leaving in two years
 
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