Fan Culture

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Don Howe

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Morning. I have to do an article for "the enemy" (and why not, good time to do so) and there is a question that has stumped me....


Describe the fan culture at City right now.


Anyone able to define what that means, as am struggling to write a word tbh. It's all a bit vague, and not sure it can be clearly defined in a diverse fan base?



(also need words to our best song right now!)


Ta H
 
Sounds like they want you to slag the fan base off by saying how we hate the owners lack of investment in the team, stadium, infrastructure etc.

Oh hang on you said you were writing for the enemy not about them.

Fan culture at City is that we are all singing from the same hymn sheet. We love the football being played, we love our players, our manager, our owners, it's a great time to be a blue
 
The Bernardo song is our best at the minute and he’s our best player so.

Can only speak from personal experience but the matchdays I have are great, Ancoats/NQ are buzzing after all the redevelopment and are always hammered with blues on Matchday then there’s swathes of people walking the 20 mins down canal or Ashton road to the ground.

There isn’t much going on around the ground itself for me, the pubs are all grim and the City square stuff is pony but that side of town genuinely feels like it’s “ours” on a matchday which is great as it’s one of the most booming areas in the UK.

It’s not pints of carling in a plastic cup and crappy burgers from a van which I’d associated with what you’d traditionally get a few years ago or elsewhere in the country.

Feels more like you are in a major European city and it’s all the better for it and it feels like City are a genuine European heavyweight as well.
 
Perhaps the changing demographics of our away support might be an interesting opener? More young fans getting tickets post Covid as opposed to the older time served regulars and the positive effect that has had on atmospheres?
That said our younger generation still retain the self deprecating black comedy that is part of our identity- Empty seats at home, Is this the Etihad? etc
 
Don Howe said:
Morning. I have to do an article for "the enemy" (and why not, good time to do so) and there is a question that has stumped me....


Describe the fan culture at City right now.


Anyone able to define what that means, as am struggling to write a word tbh. It's all a bit vague, and not sure it can be clearly defined in a diverse fan base?



(also need words to our best song right now!)


Ta H
Click to expand...
Age, social profile, what do we do on match day, what influences are there on City fans. Is there a difference between match-going fans, and those who just generally follow. How do we support City at the ground? The rail stands. Displays vs singing. Hostility to away fans. Fan violence, firms. Do they exist any more. If not why not. Families, women. Attitudes towards the Police, stewards. The media. Complacency and sitting back watching football for pleasure. I've started to do that. Few supporters generally can do that. Impact of VAR on goal celebrations. Suspicion towards UEFA, refereeing fixing (that has declined?). Boycotting general media in the week's anticipation of the game. Why do Manchester City not have a successful City fan channel? Chance or is there a reason? Internet fanzines as opposed to KOTK. What's it like following City away?
 
LongsightM13 said:
Perhaps the changing demographics of our away support might be an interesting opener? More young fans getting tickets post Covid as opposed to the older time served regulars and the positive effect that has had on atmospheres?
That said our younger generation still retain the self deprecating black comedy that is part of our identity- Empty seats at home, Is this the Etihad? etc
Click to expand...
Yes, that was my thought too, though i kind of mention that in another question. Definitely worth expanding on though...
 
Marvin said:
Age, social profile, what do we do on match day, what influences are there on City fans. Is there a difference between match-going fans, and those who just generally follow. How do we support City at the ground? The rail stands. Displays vs singing. Hostility to away fans. Fan violence, firms. Do they exist any more. If not why not. Families, women. Attitudes towards the Police, stewards. The media. Complacency and sitting back watching football for pleasure. I've started to do that. Few supporters generally can do that. Impact of VAR on goal celebrations. Suspicion towards UEFA, refereeing fixing (that has declined?). Boycotting general media in the week's anticipation of the game. Why do Manchester City not have a successful City fan channel? Chance or is there a reason? Internet fanzines as opposed to KOTK. What's it like following City away?
Click to expand...
Thanks, (and to others) - plenty to work with there...
 
In a crowd of football fans as they walk away down Ashton New Rd, can you spot the away fans from the home? I am amazed that there is so little trouble. There's virtually no policing. I have seen two fights this season both relating to Mendy. It's the only thing visiting fans can sing about. There's more chance of seeing a punch up walking through Piccadilly Gardens, or going through town in an evening.
 
The fact that there are still fans who don't take winning for granted and are still not sure that for example going into the return leg against Sporting Lisbon 5-0 up is enough. Will we ever get over the 'inferiority' complex. Not 'inferior' to other teams but the mentality that this is too good to be true!

Is that fan culture or just (older) folk remembering the bad 'old' days. :-)
 
Given our recent history (50 yrs or so) any one-word answer is not likely to be very useful. The success of the Mercer Allison era, the dipper/rag/arse successes, the relegations , getting used to being number one, all have played a part. We know good football when we see it, we know "propaganda" when we see it. Mix it all up, stir and simmer, you might hav an answer....gd luck
 
City's fan culture is defined by a set of fans who not long ago were admired as being the most loyal and supportive in the country, to one that is parodied by the new generation of young internet fans as being the opposite. There's quite rightly an irritation amonsgt large sections of the fanbase about this. Opposition fans routinely sing "where were you when you were shit" to a fanbase who were actually here when we were shit.
 
Eccles Blue said:
The fact that there are still fans who don't take winning for granted and are still not sure that for example going into the return leg against Sporting Lisbon 5-0 up is enough. Will we ever get over the 'inferiority' complex. Not 'inferior' to other teams but the mentality that this is too good to be true!

Is that fan culture or just (older) folk remembering the bad 'old' days. :-)
Click to expand...
very insightful, take a curtsy :)
 
Don Howe said:
Morning. I have to do an article for "the enemy" (and why not, good time to do so) and there is a question that has stumped me....


Describe the fan culture at City right now.


Anyone able to define what that means, as am struggling to write a word tbh. It's all a bit vague, and not sure it can be clearly defined in a diverse fan base?



(also need words to our best song right now!)


Ta H
Click to expand...

Could just ask them? I know that sounds a bit obvious, but at least they'll realise it's a vague question (which it is) and change it for anyone else they send the same Q's to. I would just send an email to clarify while working on the others.
 
Eccles Blue said:
The fact that there are still fans who don't take winning for granted and are still not sure that for example going into the return leg against Sporting Lisbon 5-0 up is enough. Will we ever get over the 'inferiority' complex. Not 'inferior' to other teams but the mentality that this is too good to be true!

Is that fan culture or just (older) folk remembering the bad 'old' days. :-)
Click to expand...
Should we ever get over our inferiority complex?

Some fans will still be nervous about the second leg vs Sporting, but that, hopefully, will make the second leg a better experience when we probably win 2-0 whilst playing 2-3 youngsters.

Howard (The OP) is a long known nervous, typical City fan, so he could potentially write that better than I’ve tried above.

I think we have 3 categories of supporter. FOCs, 30-60 and younger fans.

FOCs will always think Typical City is about to return at any point, but are probably enjoying our recent success more than the other two sets.

30-60 year old fans. These also have the Typical City, but didn’t experience as much of the shite in 77-08. I’m 42 and remember about 87 onwards, but 1989 until now better.

Youngsters 20 and below don’t know anything but City winning. Our overall dynamic will change as a fanbase if our winning streak carries on for a while as the FOCs will stop going for one reason or the other.
 
"Culture is one of the two or three most complicated words in the English language"

But I'd echo some of the comments here: I think there is a quiet confidence and contentness at City that matches the (re)development of Manchester as a whole, for good, for bad and ugly.

People are broadly happy with everything on the pitch, happy with how the area is developing, happy with most things attached to the club. We have't fully got rid of the Bertie grumbling, but if you asked the average City fan to rate how the club is doing it'd score highly.

That contentness has probably leaked into a comfort that means some matches are a little less rowdy than they might have been on the terraces.

The inclusion of the Manchester food traders around the ground captures where the city is more generally in terms of cosmopolitanism, it's confidence, and the types of experiences you can get in the surrounding NQ and Ancoats.

I suppose with that you'd couple it with a creeping corporatization that matches the city as a whole: the tunnel club, creeping ticket prices and the like map onto where Manchester currently is with cost of living and "luxury" city centre flats that have completely changed the skyline in the last decade. It really does blow my mind how much the city has changed since I started coming up as a kid in the 90s and moved to the city in the early 2000s.

Not for nothing that two distinct memories from this season from a cultural rather than sporting occasion for me are dropping food at the food bank lads for Christmas, and being surrounded by what looked like Insagram influencers at the PSG game turning up early to see the lightshows and taking lots of photos. And they were welcome, by the way, made more noise than some of the regular season ticket holders, but it did capture a tale of two cities!

Away days are probably where I'd be looking for the slightly more "old school" city fan culture. Where the songs are born.
 
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The rise of our club matches the boom in Manchester as a city. I don't think the club has ever been more closely aligned with its home city than it is at present. There is an age split in our fanbase between the Maine Road loyals and the new generation but that is to be expected. Match days in Manchester city centre when City are at home are fantastic.
This Saturday the entire northern half of the city-centre, especially the NQ and Ancoats, will be packed all day (with quite a few boxing fans as well). The investment from our owner has transformed things for ever on and off the pitch.
 
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