Etihad Atmosphere - 2021/22

[Blue Theatre]

I would have thought that the best thing for the future of the club would be to increase the capacity, reduce prices a little for adults ... but make it really cheap for kids. Make it affordable for parents to bring their kids - and their kids' friends - along each week.

You never know when the 'City bug' is going to grab a youngster & make him / her a lifelong fan.

While we're playing such great & exciting football, scoring goals, winning trophies ... this is the obvious time to get the kids in & build the next generation of Blues.

Apologies for stating the obvious !

 

[M18CTID]

I agree with your points about songs.

One of the issues we have is at the back of 115 there are 2 or 3 lads who are incredibly loud and can start songs off easily.

Not wanting to sound tight, but I have to mention song choice to them game in game out and they never get it. I don’t know how to make the penny drop. That’s why you have people singing ‘here’s to you Vincent Kompany’ right after Jesus scores the opener.

They’re good lads though and I consider them friends, but they aren’t switched on, for want of a better description.

I've no idea who you're referring to! ;)

To be honest, those 2 or 3 did an absolutely brilliant job in keeping it going in the SS on Wednesday night (aided by me) against Brighton and were singing songs that were more relevant and could keep going for longer. Bernardo chant at the start went on for a good 5 or 6 minutes and that set the tone. More fans than usual in that section were joining in too and I noticed a group of lads where my mates are further down the block who I've never seen before and they were joining in with everything. They weren't there on Saturday though, plus one of the three from Wednesday night at the back wasn't there, and despite it being more full than the Brighton game the atmosphere didn't seem to take off as much, although like Wednesday at least there was a Stand Up For The Champions that started at the back of 115 and ended up going round the stadium.

 

[Tim of the Oak]

I've no idea who you're referring to! ;)

To be honest, those 2 or 3 did an absolutely brilliant job in keeping it going in the SS on Wednesday night (aided by me) against Brighton and were singing songs that were more relevant and could keep going for longer. Bernardo chant at the start went on for a good 5 or 6 minutes and that set the tone. More fans than usual in that section were joining in too and I noticed a group of lads where my mates are further down the block who I've never seen before and they were joining in with everything. They weren't there on Saturday though, plus one of the three from Wednesday night at the back wasn't there, and despite it being more full than the Brighton game the atmosphere didn't seem to take off as much, although like Wednesday at least there was a Stand Up For The Champions that started at the back of 115 and ended up going round the stadium.

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.!

 

[Didsbury Dave]

I agree with your points about songs.

One of the issues we have is at the back of 115 there are 2 or 3 lads who are incredibly loud and can start songs off easily.

Not wanting to sound tight, but I have to mention song choice to them game in game out and they never get it. I don’t know how to make the penny drop. That’s why you have people singing ‘here’s to you Vincent Kompany’ right after Jesus scores the opener.

They’re good lads though and I consider them friends, but they aren’t switched on, for want of a better description.

You can tel that this is happening and it’s having a big effect. Clap clap fucking clap all game. Pablo Zabaleta straight After kick off. Erik Dzeko repeatedly. Empty Seats at home straight after a goal. We ever win at home as we build attacks. It’s like they are obsessed with getting the south stand clapping and that means no atmosphere around the ground.

 

[Tim of the Oak]

You can tel that this is happening and it’s having a big effect. Clap clap fucking clap all game. Pablo Zabaleta straight After kick off. Erik Dzeko repeatedly. Empty Seats at home straight after a goal. We ever win at home as we build attacks. It’s like they are obsessed with getting the south stand clapping and that means no atmosphere around the ground.

That’s not been the case this week Dave from the songs I’ve heard. There’s been a good range of chants for people to join in with and I’ve found the atmosphere decent.

The most frequently sung songs on Saturday were, “City tearing Cockneys apart” and “Bluemoon”

 

[Gingers Dad]

Is claiming that you stay to the end the new "I was at York away"?

 

[Deleted member 77198]

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...

There are so many reasons why our atmosphere is shit (genuine ones n’all, not shit like “it was a 12:30 Saturday afternoon kick off”!). But it’s mainly just down to apathy.

Our support is apathetic.

We have a very small number of fans who try very hard around all different areas of the stadium. But I don’t think there are more than 5,000 of us in total out of 50,000. Even in the designated “Singing Section” there’s only two small chunks of two blocks who sing plus a little bit of 110-111, then it’s just odd people or pairs or trios dotted about the stadium.

The rest of the ground barely join in at all.

And of course it does matter. People like to feel part of a fanbase that is together and behind the team. Football fan culture is as much part of football as the game on the grass. I’m left frustrated with our support very often. Wembley was bad, but the last 10 mins the other day when 5-1 up at home when going for the title was the worse, “is there a fire drill” by the Watford fans was the biggest chant of the end of the game.

 

[kevin horlocks wand]

Is claiming that you stay to the end the new "I was at York away"?

some on here will be advocating snipers on the roof after 75 minutes to pick them off the disloyal bastards.

 

[Tim of the Oak]

some on here will be advocating snipers on the roof after 75 minutes to pick them off the disloyal bastards.

Or people who leave that early should be able to ticket share so they get part of their money back.

 

[WNRH]

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.

Tbf when you visit once a year and spend close to £500/600 as half the Anfield crowd do, you’d want to squeeze every last second out of it.

 

[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. :-)

 

[ArniArason]

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.

 

[ArniArason]

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 ;)

 

[ArniArason]

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.