There are some massive overreactions in this thread.
All that’s happened is that we’ve hit a slump because of the World Cup, yet previous to this slump the atmosphere was the best it’s been in years and everyone seems to be forgetting that.
To end last season we had cracking atmospheres from March onwards against United, Liverpool, Watford, Madrid, Newcastle and the comeback against Villa was the loudest I think I’ve ever heard the Etihad, then to start this season we had cracking atmospheres against Bournemouth, Palace (even at 2-0 down we were right behind the team and drove them on to win with full belief we’d come back), Forest, United, Southampton and then Fulham where we went a goal down and then a man down with Cancelo getting sent off and - like the Palace game - we stuck with the team and drove them on to win in the full belief we could do it even with ten men… the team even did a lap of honour to thank the fans that day.
We’ve just - like the team - had a pre-and-post- World Cup slump. I don’t know if everyone else felt like me but that stupid fucking World Cup pissed me off no end. In the run up to it I wasn’t looking forward to it one bit (I turned up to the Brentford game pissed off that it was going to be our last game for six weeks!) and after it I felt unsettled coming back to watching the footy again. The season felt well off because of it.
We just need to get that slump out of the system and get back to last year’s levels.
There’s a massive overreaction about last night n’all. I don’t think I’ve ever experienced a decent early rounds domestic Cup atmosphere at Maine Road or the Etihad other than Leeds in the Fourth Round Proper in 2000 when we were top of the First Division (as it was then) and they were top of the Premiership (as it was then). Even against United in the Third Round Proper in 2012 it was flat as a witches tit in that first half. We played Liverpool at home in the Third Round Proper at Maine Road in 2003 and I don’t remember City fans singing all game because Liverpool were given the North Stand and all our singers didn’t seem to sit elsewhere, it was like they didn’t bother coming or we couldn’t fit them in. That was our last ever FA Cup tie at Maine Road and it was a terrible atmosphere against a local rival. It’s just what the early rounds of the Cups are like. Always have been always will be. And we will never outsing the away Cup allocation with our vocal area being drowned out by 7,000 fans under a roof above them.
I do think our vocal section needs moving. Leave any fans who want to give shit to away fans where they are, that’s fine. Especially if they like the new bar in SSL1. But move the vocal section over to the new North Stand, make it purpose built for being a vocal section.
But all this talk of how bad our atmosphere is and it’ll always be shite is plain wrong. In 2022 we’d got it above the levels of the Mancini era. In general since coming back from lockdowns we had been better than we had been pre-lockdowns. We’ve just been a bit shit in November, December and January recently.
