Football Tourists

[KingCarlito]

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.

Some good points in that post.

For me, it's not where you are from that is the problem, it's the lack of singing from people all over. About 10 of us on the front singing at Arsenal, and saw a group of lads on the far left trying to get it going too. Done 13 or 14 aways this season, and the atmosphere and crowd is much better when we are not playing one of the top 6, other than United. Been looking forward to Chelsea for ages, I hope mid week draws a better crowd and a louder atmosphere like it did at West Ham in the cup.

I do think you get less tourists at the less glamorous ties which does help, but as you mentioned there's plenty of lads messing about underneath who don't bring that noise up to the stands (especially if their mate doesn't start the chant), it's a shame. We saw a fella unveil a 'naive Pep' poster at full time on Sunday, few people less than impressed told him to take it down. If the club and it's sources are willing to flog tickets to these sorts of people, then they need to look at themselves.

As for home games, I think it's crazy how the club haven't changed the singing section in recent years. There's more disparity between 110, 111 and the SS lower now the third tier has been built. They saw that extension as an easy way to appease unhappy fans by offering 300 quid season tickets. Which was great for some, but a more viable option could've been to think of a new expanded singing section. Move people into that area who only want to sing.

If we build the North Stand expansion at some point, we should scrap the family area from there in my opinion, put them down the side somewhere, and have at least 2 levels of the North Stand as a criteria based singing section. That's how it is at Dortmund and places, if you go in that section you join in with the songs.

 

[Alec-mcfc]

I don't think anyone is that arsed about tourists coming to City or any other ground. It is when an away end is inundated with them when it has sold out at quite a high level of points that is grating. As said, it seems the London games are now particularly bad for this. The club, or more specifically the ticket office has become a very secretive organisation, with very little transparency when it comes to the distribution of away tickets. The ticket office is only selling the tickets on behalf of the opposing club, so aren't doing it for profit reasons (except in the case of the City in the City events) - so why ride roughshod over the regular seasoncard holders and give preference to someone who is asking the person next to them "who they are supporting today"?!

I agree mate. I had mates that couldn't go because they only have 12,000 points and it sold out on 12,500, the whole point in the loyalty system is to allow loyal fans to get tickets over those that haven't been before. Some of the people that were sat near me on Sunday had quite clearly never been to a game before so how is it that they can get tickets but my mates that have been going for years can't.

 

[NickyWeaverTheMagician]

Some good points in that post.

If we build the North Stand expansion at some point, we should scrap the family area from there in my opinion, put them down the side somewhere, and have at least 2 levels of the North Stand as a criteria based singing section. That's how it is at Dortmund and places, if you go in that section you join in with the songs.

The North Stand expansion is inevitable, although it would never sell out. The family section would need to be moved to a third tier or replace the south stand. I think it has always been may too big anyway. I would love them to redo the whole north stand into one massive tier like dortmund or even the kop rather than three tiers as atmosphere always gets lost like this. Ideally with Safe standing of some sort in place by then. Problem is whenever city do something with the ground it is only with corporate or hospitality in mind. I am sure they are going to change the whole of level 2 to corporate they can't resist. People in charge who don't care about football.

It's like the section above 115, did that really need to go there. Sure there is enough fancy seats to shove them elsewhere. Displays or anything over the full stand are useless because they simply can't be arsed.

 

[KingCarlito]

The North Stand expansion is inevitable, although it would never sell out. The family section would need to be moved to a third tier or replace the south stand. I think it has always been may too big anyway. I would love them to redo the whole north stand into one massive tier like dortmund or even the kop rather than three tiers as atmosphere always gets lost like this. Ideally with Safe standing of some sort in place by then. Problem is whenever city do something with the ground it is only with corporate or hospitality in mind. I am sure they are going to change the whole of level 2 to corporate they can't resist. People in charge who don't care about football.

It's like the section above 115, did that really need to go there. Sure there is enough fancy seats to shove them elsewhere. Displays or anything over the full stand are useless because they simply can't be arsed.

You just have to look at the Emirates as an example. They have 2 tiny middle tiers both known as 'the prawn circle'. We will go the same way for our full middle tier soon.

It is tough to take sometimes, global success has taken away some of the personal feel of the club and it's only gonna get worse. I just wish someone within their power could incorporate a new singing section for normal fans, it'd be so much better.

 

[M18CTID]

The North Stand expansion is inevitable, although it would never sell out. The family section would need to be moved to a third tier or replace the south stand. I think it has always been may too big anyway. I would love them to redo the whole north stand into one massive tier like dortmund or even the kop rather than three tiers as atmosphere always gets lost like this. Ideally with Safe standing of some sort in place by then. Problem is whenever city do something with the ground it is only with corporate or hospitality in mind. I am sure they are going to change the whole of level 2 to corporate they can't resist. People in charge who don't care about football.

It's like the section above 115, did that really need to go there. Sure there is enough fancy seats to shove them elsewhere. Displays or anything over the full stand are useless because they simply can't be arsed.

Just to clarify something on this - I think it's only fair to point out that while a lot of what you say is true, there are still some really good people working at the club who are keyed in to the core fanbase and it's not all about sidelining us and pushing us out. Remember that they allowed us to move into the vacated 114/115 area after all and the people we deal directly with on a match day when it comes to displays and flags, etc, are very accomodating - in fact, I'd go as far as to say that the club are more accomodating than most in the Premier League when it comes to what is or isn't allowed. For example, we have a good relationship with the Spirit Of Shankly lads and they told us the other week that it can be quite difficult dealing with Liverpool FC at times. Villa fans had a nightmare of an experience with their own club a couple of seasons back which resulted in some of their fans getting banned for effectively doing nothing wrong apart from wanting to improve the atmosphere in the Holte End. United only allow certain size flags in their own singing section and nothing bigger. Even Palace fans have had issues when they hung a banner from the Holmesdale Road End because it blocked the view of a Sky cameraman and instead of engaging with their fans afterwards in a constructive manner, the club threatened to issue bans if it happened again. Contrast that to the "Pep - This is Your City" banner we dropped down from tier 2 of the South Stand against Steaua Bucharest back in August. We had it prepped and ready to drop about half an hour before kick-off but it was covering the UEFA Champions League logo that was adorning the digital advertising screen. Next minute a steward came over and told us that UEFA had complained and could we bring it back up so it wasn't covering the logo. Which we duly did as we didn't want the club to get in the shit and cop for yet another fine. We were still allowed to drop the banner as the players came out though and held it in place for a good minute or so - a compromise that suited everyone.

 

[Tim of the Oak]

I don't know what's happened in 110/111 either. I moved out of there to be in 114/115 and I think only 11 or 12 people in total relocated from 110/111 so it should've had little to no impact but I was speaking to someone at Arsenal on Sunday who is still in 111 on the same row I used to be on and he said it's gone downhill rapidly in the past couple of seasons. The intention was never to reduce the impact of 110/111 - it was to expand the more vocal area of the ground to encompass 114/115, and beyond.

I have been in 111 for a couple of the Champs League games and I got a sense that some Blues only join in with a song started by their mates.

 

[NickyWeaverTheMagician]

Just to clarify something on this - I think it's only fair to point out that while a lot of what you say is true, there are still some really good people working at the club who are keyed in to the core fanbase and it's not all about sidelining us and pushing us out. Remember that they allowed us to move into the vacated 114/115 area after all and the people we deal directly with on a match day when it comes to displays and flags, etc, are very accomodating - in fact, I'd go as far as to say that the club are more accomodating than most in the Premier League when it comes to what is or isn't allowed. For example, we have a good relationship with the Spirit Of Shankly lads and they told us the other week that it can be quite difficult dealing with Liverpool FC at times. Villa fans had a nightmare of an experience with their own club a couple of seasons back which resulted in some of their fans getting banned for effectively doing nothing wrong apart from wanting to improve the atmosphere in the Holte End. United only allow certain size flags in their own singing section and nothing bigger. Even Palace fans have had issues when they hung a banner from the Holmesdale Road End because it blocked the view of a Sky cameraman and instead of engaging with their fans afterwards in a constructive manner, the club threatened to issue bans if it happened again. Contrast that to the "Pep - This is Your City" banner we dropped down from tier 2 of the South Stand against Steaua Bucharest back in August. We had it prepped and ready to drop about half an hour before kick-off but it was covering the UEFA Champions League logo that was adorning the digital advertising screen. Next minute a steward came over and told us that UEFA had complained and could we bring it back up so it wasn't covering the logo. Which we duly did as we didn't want the club to get in the shit and cop for yet another fine. We were still allowed to drop the banner as the players came out though and held it in place for a good minute or so - a compromise that suited everyone.

Sorry if you misunderstood, I know there are people who care for things like these such as the ones that help organise displays etc. I remember when putting display out once the member of staff from city was actually helping.

I was only talking in relation to the corporate seats when mentioning that and the ever extending amount of them, people who make decisions to introduce things like the new amazing tunnel club. These people will be much higher up the ladder than those that help out on things like displays or matchday things.

 

[gs1960]

don't mind tourists as long as they add to the atmosphere but to walk around with Juventus shirt on is taking the piss,then again i bet it wasn't a tourist that left the mess in the uranal

 

[samarasra]

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

That behaviour seems to be par for the course nowadays. I went to a couple of concerts recently and there were constant distractions from selfies, phones switching on & off and babble that had nothing to do with the shows.

 

[Sir peace frog]

people are more interested in showing people they are actually there (gig,or match) than they are actually interested in the event.

this generation are fucking shallow as fuck.