Football Tourists

[goatinho]

Good point. Also from Cork, and City fan since 1965. Have to to pay up to £ 200 to get flights & ticket + possible 100+ for night stay if needed. When I started supporting City in the 60' & 70's they were unheard of in Irish media (all Trafford/Ferry cross the Mersey and Celtic, I had to buy uk papers for any snippets of info on my heroes and try to tune in to BBC Light wave on saturdays. Now that City are known and loved worldwide and it is logical that more and more foreigners want to see their favourite team, bringing funds into the club and local economy. It is sickening to be treated with disdain by self appointed saviours of the the "locals" who want have all the benefits of a top 4 team without looking at the means of achieving that status. Short sighted dark ages thinking. Also remember a foreign visitor at their first City game is in, exactly the same position as a Manchester kid at its first game, make it an experience to encourage them to return and educate the xenophic narrow minds who regard anyone not born inside Maine Road or The Etihad as a sub-species.

i dont think people are getting at guys like you.
its people these days who are buying tickets from certain places who have no interest in city and its just a day out where they can watch premier league football. people who sit taking selfies all game or facetiming people. home tourists in the away end.
in my opinion, arsenal on sunday was the worst it has ever been.
i got my 5 tickets for me and my mates from city but i swear no one within talking distance didnt just not have a manc accent but most of didnt even speak english and had no interest in the game and just talked all the way through and messed with their phones

 

[dennishasdoneit]

The Emirates was crawling with "tourists" yesterday and it was, without doubt, the most sterile atmosphere I've ever experienced. The Tarquins were appalling, it was like going to the theatre, no noise. no banter, no nothing..

To be fair, our end was just as quiet, it was just...meh.

If this is how football is going to develop in the future, I'm out..

Just the reason i gave up .
Going to the theatre .
And then there is the corruption...
Its not real anymore.

 

[dennishasdoneit]

Totally agree about the atmosphere - it was shite and while some away games have been hit and miss atmosphere-wise this season, that was easily the worst away atmosphere of the lot out of a dozen or so away games I've attended. It was nigh on impossible to try and get any songs going from where I was. Some fans further back were making a gallant effort but hardly any songs caught on. And while there were a lot of touristy types yesterday, there were still plenty of the usual faces on the concourse when I went for a pint at half time so I don't think we can put all this on the tourists/JCLs. There are long-standing blues who can't be arsed singing either.

The Arsenal fans weren't up to much either but that's no excuse for us hardly singing ourselves.

Can u think of a reason why long standing blues couldn,t be arsed to sing?
Do people sing at the theatre?

 

[squirtyflower]

Here's a thought. Why not just take back a 100% City scarf?

I'm with you

 

[M18CTID]

Can u think of a reason why long standing blues couldn,t be arsed to sing?
Do people sing at the theatre?

As someone I know outside of this forum and count as a decent bloke, I have to say that that comment is a bit of a cop out mate. If people made more of an effort then it would be less like the theatre and more like a football match.

Now I don't expect everyone to sing non-stop for 90 minutes but I expect away games to be markedly better for atmosphere than Arsenal was on Sunday, and I can't be doing with some of the excuses people come out with for not singing. Burnley away this season - a Lancashire derby with hardly a tourist in sight yet there were fans moaning about what songs were being sung. Here's a thing - as long as they're not offensive (and they weren't) then why not just join in instead of moaning that it's not one's favourite song or chant? For some reason, I've never been overly keen on "City, best team in the land and all the world" but if someone starts it off then I'll sure as hell join in. Or how about the curious case of the concourse singer? Often witnessed at Stoke away. You know the type - singing like fuck on the concourse prior to the match and at half-time but as soon as they take their seats they mysteriously lose their voices. By all means sing and bounce around on the concourse - I like to do it myself - but at least carry it on into the fucking stands as well. Speaking of Stoke away, I was on the back row of the away end this season and thought it would be a good idea to start up a chant of "Guardiola's blue and white army" as the game kicked off while banging the corrugated fence behind me, only to be told by some gimp - who looked as far removed from a tourist as you can possibly get by the way - to keep the noise down. And here's another - for home games, we created a section in blocks 114 and 115 for people who wanted to sing and clearly advertised it as a singing section. However, for reasons that I can't for the life of me fathom, some fans that moved there can't be arsed making the effort and would sooner stand there with their arms folded constantly moaning about what's going on on the pitch, or flicking wanker signs to the away fans. Or how about this for the ultimate piss-take? Burnley at home just after Christmas and one of ours is making a real effort on his row to get things going, only to be told by someone to stop singing.....in a fucking singing section.

Apologies for the rant and it isn't really aimed at you - like me, you're railing against the ever-increasing gentrification of football so we're singing from the same page but I do feel more of our long-standing fanbase need to step up at times rather than chucking the towel in.

 

[NickyWeaverTheMagician]

And here's another - for home games, we created a section in blocks 114 and 115 for people who wanted to sing and clearly advertised it as a singing section. However, for reasons that I can't for the life of me fathom, some fans that moved there can't be arsed making the effort and would sooner stand there with their arms folded constantly moaning about what's going on on the pitch, or flicking wanker signs to the away fans. Or how about this for the ultimate piss-take? Burnley at home just after Christmas and one of ours is making a real effort on his row to get things going, only to be told by someone to stop singing.....in a fucking singing section.

Apologies for the rant and it isn't really aimed at you - like me, you're railing against the ever-increasing gentrification of football so we're singing from the same page but I do feel more of our long-standing fanbase need to step up at times rather than chucking the towel in.

The problem with 114 and 115 is a lot of new season ticket holders from the waiting list moved in there. I would like to say they will move once they have chance after a season or two but due to prices of other areas of the ground I don't think they will. A lot of the ones who initially tried moving to the singing section ended up on tier 3 because it was marginally cheaper, hopefully they move back down to level 1 after the nightmare of queueing up that I see for them every game and the idiot stewards who think they're invincible because they have a fluorescent jacket on telling them to sit down etc.

 

[M18CTID]

The problem with 114 and 115 is a lot of new season ticket holders from the waiting list moved in there. I would like to say they will move once they have chance after a season or two but due to prices of other areas of the ground I don't think they will. A lot of the ones who initially tried moving to the singing section ended up on tier 3 because it was marginally cheaper, hopefully they move back down to level 1 after the nightmare of queueing up that I see for them every game and the idiot stewards who think they're invincible because they have a fluorescent jacket on telling them to sit down etc.

A lot of truth in that but it doesn't tell the full story. Yes, some that were intending to move to the singing section ended up going to SS3 because of the cheaper ST prices - trouble is, it's not a marginal difference - £600 in 114/115 versus £299/£380 in the upper echelons of SS3 is a big difference and it will be difficult to entice them into 114/115 as a result. Anyway, because of those that relocated to SS3 instead of 114/115, as you say it did create a bit of a vacuum which was filled by some less vocal fans. However, I also believe that some that made the move originally and were fully aware that they were signing up to be part of a singing area are not making the effort and never intended to despite saying they would.

 

[blue b4 the moon]

I went 'up top' when level 3 opened for cost but the fact the club built a half step on the terrace area in 117 that i was in which meant standing was a pain with a two level half step sealed the deal.

 

[NickyWeaverTheMagician]

A lot of truth in that but it doesn't tell the full story. Yes, some that were intending to move to the singing section ended up going to SS3 because of the cheaper ST prices - trouble is, it's not a marginal difference - £600 in 114/115 versus £299/£380 in the upper echelons of SS3 is a big difference and it will be difficult to entice them into 114/115 as a result. Anyway, because of those that relocated to SS3 instead of 114/115, as you say it did create a bit of a vacuum which was filled by some less vocal fans. However, I also believe that some that made the move originally and were fully aware that they were signing up to be part of a singing area are not making the effort and never intended to despite saying they would.

the club did provide cheap season tickets on the first couple of rows of 114/115, I know not a lot of seats in the grand scheme of things but they are there for people instead of moving to SS3. The other problem is not everyone moved to 115 for the singing, some just wanted to stand at the game and not be bothered. I see plenty of older fans in 115 doing just that. I think more needs to be looked towards those to the left of 115 / 114 in the south stand. Before the singing section they was always started songs etc, now its like they can't be bothered because 115 should be doing that for them.

I got moved to 119 I think it was just before the corner flag for the Huddersfield replay and there was about 10 of us singing who are usually in 115 anyway! I know the attendance was low but surely all there usual singers can't have not been there.

As for the general topic in the forum I don't know why anyone was surprised. Sunday kick off it was bound to happen. It will happen midweek where the away will be full of tourists just like the Liverpool game etc earlier in the year was. Sure that sold out around 12000 or something like that and I had a Norwegian couple next to me on one side that watched about 70 mins and a group from Italy or somewhere similar on the other side.

 

[trevorriley]

As someone I know outside of this forum and count as a decent bloke, I have to say that that comment is a bit of a cop out mate. If people made more of an effort then it would be less like the theatre and more like a football match.

Now I don't expect everyone to sing non-stop for 90 minutes but I expect away games to be markedly better for atmosphere than Arsenal was on Sunday, and I can't be doing with some of the excuses people come out with for not singing. Burnley away this season - a Lancashire derby with hardly a tourist in sight yet there were fans moaning about what songs were being sung. Here's a thing - as long as they're not offensive (and they weren't) then why not just join in instead of moaning that it's not one's favourite song or chant? For some reason, I've never been overly keen on "City, best team in the land and all the world" but if someone starts it off then I'll sure as hell join in. Or how about the curious case of the concourse singer? Often witnessed at Stoke away. You know the type - singing like fuck on the concourse prior to the match and at half-time but as soon as they take their seats they mysteriously lose their voices. By all means sing and bounce around on the concourse - I like to do it myself - but at least carry it on into the fucking stands as well. Speaking of Stoke away, I was on the back row of the away end this season and thought it would be a good idea to start up a chant of "Guardiola's blue and white army" as the game kicked off while banging the corrugated fence behind me, only to be told by some gimp - who looked as far removed from a tourist as you can possibly get by the way - to keep the noise down. And here's another - for home games, we created a section in blocks 114 and 115 for people who wanted to sing and clearly advertised it as a singing section. However, for reasons that I can't for the life of me fathom, some fans that moved there can't be arsed making the effort and would sooner stand there with their arms folded constantly moaning about what's going on on the pitch, or flicking wanker signs to the away fans. Or how about this for the ultimate piss-take? Burnley at home just after Christmas and one of ours is making a real effort on his row to get things going, only to be told by someone to stop singing.....in a fucking singing section.

Apologies for the rant and it isn't really aimed at you - like me, you're railing against the ever-increasing gentrification of football so we're singing from the same page but I do feel more of our long-standing fanbase need to step up at times rather than chucking the towel in.

Its a fair rant that. Ive managed 5 away games this season due to 1894 commitments I am busy with that. Two of the 5 where good as in stoke / WBA but three of the away games as in Hull / Burnley / Huddersfield where shocking. I tried to get songs going but nothing. Not a tourist in sight, looked like a usual bunch of footy fans. People for some reason just where not up for it for those games.

Some games or good home and away, others poor and just don't get going. It doesn't take the whole stadium to make a noise so who cares if family stand has empty seats or the where tourists in Colin Bell. Look at the noise 500 Monaco fans made in lower tier !

Its a great game and laugh when songs are belting out, I will carry on if its only "one of us singing" !