I am a Celtic supporter (Be nice, don't shoot me please ha-ha) and have a season ticket at Celtic Park. Now before I start, I know absolutely nothing on the setup you have at the Etihad so forgive my lack of knowledge but I will try and expand on what they have at Celtic Park.
- A ''Green Brigade Ultras'' supporters group with official recognition by the club.
- Safe Standing area - Around 3000 seats in a lower corner of the East stand
- An ever growing songbook
- Banner/Fan/Seat Displays
To the first point - I'm not sure if there is a link between City supporter groups and the club, but to get anywhere in addressing these issues you need the backing from your club first and foremost before you can even think about adopting change. City need to create a group of ''Ultras'' and these need to be managed and controlled by a committee head member or members. This leader (Spokesperson) will have direct input into the club and will be the middle man between club and supporters. This person (or persons) can negotiate with the club to listen to their plans and help adopt changes that the fans are wanting.
Safe Standing area - Now I'm not sure if this is even an option in England yet, but if not, identify an area in your stadium that will house your newly created ''Blue Brigade'' set of fans. Probably somewhere in the region of around 3000 seats.
Now, you need to find 3000 ''Ultra'' type fans, this ideally will be controlled by the head(s) of the "Blue Brigade" committee and not the club itself. You need to identify 3000 fans that will sing and create an atmosphere for the whole 90 mins. These fans will be dedicated to the cause and will sing whether the team are winning, drawing or losing. They need to be 'hardcore' fans that their sole purpose of being in that section is to generate noise, (Not sit down, eat burgers, discuss the weather or whine about the management or players, their job is to sing, not relax) - There needs to be about 5-6 'head' members in particular that will control this section by standing at the front (1 with a megaphone) and co-ordinate the singing. This member(s) will choose which song or chant they want the rest of the section to sing. Ideally, there will be 1 or 2 fans standing beside this person with drums to set the tone of the chant/song. You will need a team of 5-6 members to rotate to keep it going for the 90 mins. These members will be facing the fans and will not be watching the game behind them.
Now, how do you recruit 3000 Ultra type fans? Well, these fans need to be vetted. Every single one need to be capable of belting out song after song for 90 mins and membership criteria would need to highlight this. If you like to go to the game, sit down, watch the football and relax, this group is not for you. Now at Celtic Park, I would say that the majority of the fans that make up the Green Brigade are working class, alcohol fuelled and under the age of 50. Now, you don't need to be pissed to sing and chant but I think it does help, many people grow in confidence with alcohol inside them and in my opinion, it may be a confidence thing as to whether they openly sing or not. Personally, I always sing and chant a lot more after a few beers, when I'm stone cold sober, I can be a lot quieter. Recruitment of these 'Die Hard' City fans therefore need to be vetted by the fans themselves and not the club. You want all your singers together, not dotted around all over the place.
You need songs, plenty of them, 20 or so minimum different chants/songs that you can keep it going. No point having 3-4 chants and singing them 6 times every half. Now, if you don't have these songs, someone creative needs to create these songs/chants. The advantage of having a 'blue brigade' type group is that you only need to teach this song to these 3000 people (the rest of the stadium and fans will soon learn) - How do you do that? Create a 'Blue Brigade' forum where each of the 3000 members will have a login. Post up the chants, co-ordinate the chanting as above and people will soon adopt.
Celtic for example, have a popular chant of "Celtic, Celtic" "Come on you boys in green, Come on you boys in green", Glasgow's Green and White, Glasgow's green and white" - That's it, easy.
Look at the effect it has... (Celtic Away at Kilmarnock)
Easily changed to "City, City" Come on you boys in blue, Come on you boys in blue" Manchester's blue and white, Manchester's blue and white" - Keep it simple. In this case, you need to try and co-ordinate it like the Celtic fans do with one section responding to the original chant so its choreographed. You have to admit, that simple chant above in those videos comes across very well.
You need creative members to lead all this, you need someone dedicated pretty much 24/7, live and die City type to be in charge. He wont even be fussed about the football behind him, his job is to control the group of Ultra supporters underneath him.
Ask the club for funding for the group, for co-ordination, for banner displays etc etc
When the laws change, ask the club for a safe standing section.
Now I'll probably get flamed for this post, Why do we want to be like Celtic etc etc? Guys, this is in no way meant as patronizing, derogatory or a we are better than you attitude, it's just simply ideas on what I believe are easy changes to make that can help out with your atmosphere problem
In summary, get all the City die hards together, create a City "ultras" group, find someone to head that Ultras group, ask the club for a section, co-ordinate them all and don't stop singing for 90 mins irrespective of the score line.