How many more people will now become City fans?

East Level 2 said:
Are our global glory hunting fanboys any better than the global glory hunting fanboys of the rags and dippers, or the player fanboys of Crap7 and Messi?
Obviously they have better taste, but don't they have local clubs to support?
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As a new glory hunting fan girl, just some perspective. I live in the Boston area and we have a MLS franchise - but with traffic it’s still over 90 minutes away. I’d much rather watch higher quality football on TV (we do support local sports - we have season tickets to the Major League Baseball team in town). My kids have been lucky enough to see Brazil, Argentina and City play. Unfortunately the MLS just isn’t the same - and even my 9 yo knows it. I don’t think people in Europe know how lucky they are to have accessible, good football at multiple levels - that’s close to their house with engaged crowds. I don’t really think anything in the US compares (maybe college American football?).
 
Middedon said:
As a new glory hunting fan girl, just some perspective. I live in the Boston area and we have a MLS franchise - but with traffic it’s still over 90 minutes away. I’d much rather watch higher quality football on TV (we do support local sports - we have season tickets to the Major League Baseball team in town). My kids have been lucky enough to see Brazil, Argentina and City play. Unfortunately the MLS just isn’t the same - and even my 9 yo knows it. I don’t think people in Europe know how lucky they are to have accessible, good football at multiple levels - that’s close to their house with engaged crowds. I don’t really think anything in the US compares (maybe college American football?).
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To be fair, I think he was only making the point that any successful football team in Europe will always attract new fans, especially those without parental pressure to support another team.
In contrast, I had no choice, as my dad was a big City fan in the 50s and 60s

As for Baseball, I was attracted to the Cubs (and even celebrated my 50th birthday at Wrigley Fields in 2014) essentially because the old hopeless and jinxed team sounded so reminiscent of City in the 80s and 90s.
It was never the same once they started winning things.
 
Scaring Europe to Death said:
To be fair, I think he was only making the point that any successful football team in Europe will always attract new fans, especially those without parental pressure to support another team.
In contrast, I had no choice, as my dad was a big City fan in the 50s and 60s

As for Baseball, I was attracted to the Cubs (and even celebrated my 50th birthday at Wrigley Fields in 2014) essentially because the old hopeless and jinxed team sounded so reminiscent of City in the 80s and 90s.
It was never the same once they started winning things.
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I also think the whole idea of fandom is different in the US too! Maybe because people move around more and pro sports teams are more spread out? I grew up in the Midwest and there were a few pro sports team within 4-5 hours. So people end up supporting different ones, even if they live in the same area. And kids today tend to follow players more than teams. Don’t know if that’s the case in UK?

I also think a lot of European supporters are attracted to the older sports franchises - Sox, Cubs, Yankees, etc. Probably more visibility. That’s partially why I started supporting City. Always on TV! But I like your comment about misery loving company - my husband supports the Spurs because it’s like 1990s Red Sox.

Article - If you like American sports you might find this article interesting - as stupid as it sounds, I know a lot of US football supporters that picked their team based on this article almost 20 years ago.
 
Middedon said:
I also think the whole idea of fandom is different in the US too! Maybe because people move around more and pro sports teams are more spread out? I grew up in the Midwest and there were a few pro sports team within 4-5 hours. So people end up supporting different ones, even if they live in the same area. And kids today tend to follow players more than teams. Don’t know if that’s the case in UK?

I also think a lot of European supporters are attracted to the older sports franchises - Sox, Cubs, Yankees, etc. Probably more visibility. That’s partially why I started supporting City. Always on TV! But I like your comment about misery loving company - my husband supports the Spurs because it’s like 1990s Red Sox.

Article - If you like American sports you might find this article interesting - as stupid as it sounds, I know a lot of US football supporters that picked their team based on this article almost 20 years ago.
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I live in the Boston area as well but grew up in Ireland which is where my support for City began back in 1969. Well they won the FA Cup that year so I guess I was a gloryhunter...little did I know what was to follow. Anyway, I agree with your points about American sports supporters, and that is a very good article that you linked. I will also add that many teams/franchises move cities here as well; e.g. the Raiders so it can be hard to form an attachment to your local pro sports team when they could be playing in another city the next season. So it can be very transient at best in a lot of cases. I remember when Hartford CT had the Whalers hockey team. Big local rivalry with the Bruins but then they moved to Dallas...the poor hockey supporters in Hartford were left without a team to root for.

We are lucky enough in Boston that our celebrated sports franchises will never move (although the Patriots almost ended up in St Louis back around 1993 before Bob Kraft bought them). I am lucky enough as well that I live about a 20 minute walk from Gillette stadium so I have seen them and the Revs in the flesh a few times; indeed I was a half-season ticket holder for the Revs. But I have only seen a handful of their games this past couple of years. I hate the fact that they have to play on turf too. Much prefer watching my City boyz on TV playing beautiful football. And traveling to Manchester very occasionally to see them in the flesh. I just wish I could do it more often...

But I also support all the teams here, especially the Celtics who were my first love here. (I even support the Sox, despite the Fenway ownership but have celebrated their victories also, especially 2004.) I have been to Fenway and the Garden more than a few times. And since 2002, I have been around for the unprecedented run of success that all the teams here had. (Except for the poor old Revs of course. The Buffalo Bills of the MLS.)

To me, the most passionate fans here in the US are the college football supporters, especially the Southeast area - Alabama, Florida, Tennessee etc. Those people are batshit crazy over their teams. I was at an Alabama game years ago. I was invited by a friend down there. Absolute bedlam. Great fun it was.

Of course, I still support my teams back in Ireland as well; Cork City, Cork GAA, Munster and Irish rugby teams etc. Plus my local town teams that I played for back in the day. I'm still a lifetime member of Clonakilty Rugby Club. So my weekends are pretty busy checking up on all my teams fortunes in all codes. Thank God for Facebook groups...;) I guess the point of this ramble is that you can support your local teams but still have a love for the best team in all the land and the world. And they were and still are my first sporting love for so many reasons.
 
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@BongoBlue - I’m surprised with Ireland/Bsoton you’re a City fan! We have lots of Irish friends here and it’s all rag fans.

As I mentioned, we have Sox season tickets and were lucky enough to see some of those great (comeback) wins in the early 2000s. But my husband still says that no sporting event (even SEC football) will come close to seeing City play Chelsea this year at Stamford Bridge. And he’s not a City fan (which is probably why he enjoyed the tie - haha). Even my non-football watching unruly teenagers were hooked. I think folks that have so much accessible football overlook the allure of the game day experience. We had friends (also from boston) that saw West Ham play Arsenal last Spring (we like to say they started the Arsenal collapse). They sat next to some long term Hammers who told them all kinds of stories and taught them all the songs. And now they’re hooked. Seem them in the West Ham hats every weekend.
 
Middedon said:
@BongoBlue - I’m surprised with Ireland/Bsoton you’re a City fan! We have lots of Irish friends here and it’s all rag fans.

As I mentioned, we have Sox season tickets and were lucky enough to see some of those great (comeback) wins in the early 2000s. But my husband still says that no sporting event (even SEC football) will come close to seeing City play Chelsea this year at Stamford Bridge. And he’s not a City fan (which is probably why he enjoyed the tie - haha). Even my non-football watching unruly teenagers were hooked. I think folks that have so much accessible football overlook the allure of the game day experience. We had friends (also from boston) that saw West Ham play Arsenal last Spring (we like to say they started the Arsenal collapse). They sat next to some long term Hammers who told them all kinds of stories and taught them all the songs. And now they’re hooked. Seem them in the West Ham hats every weekend.
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;) Oh trust me, I was an island back then; surrounded by Rags, Dippers, Arsenal and Leeds fans in particular. I ploughed a lonely furrow. Except for one friend, who peculiarly was a Stoke fan - I always felt sorry for him to be honest...:)

But yes, I also see a lot of new fans here who watch the Premier league at weekends and marvel at the entertainment on show. There are less and less American sports fans now that say "Oh that 'sawcker'...all boring 0-0 games, isn't it?" There's a whole new generation of fans and many are supporting CIty as we are now the most successful club of all. I am seeing more and more CIty shirts and other merch here. I went to one of the NBC Sports fan fests that was at Fenway a few years back with my son. The place was absolutely mobbed. Got to meet some of the NBC panel too. Nice people - Rebecca Lowe has quite the fan club; it was like a Taylor Swift concert out there. :)

So like it or not, "sawcker" is here to stay in this country. Even when I was coaching my kids' underage teams here, I was noticing more and more of them wearing Premier League team shirts when arriving for their matches. (I had to put a few parents straight that had their kids wearing red shirts though...;) )
 
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@BongoBlue - We were at Fan Fest too. It was fun.

And yes, lots more jerseys these days. Messi and Haaland are the faves among my 9 yos set. Ronaldo is finally going away. I always buy jerseys (knockoffs) as birthday gifts for my son’s friends - so i always buy them City! DeBruyne and Alvarez popular. A few Gvardiol Croatia after the WC (mask+cool jersey is kid heaven). Handful of Liverpool and AC Milan. According to them Rags are not a big club so no one wants them!
 
Middedon said:
As a new glory hunting fan girl, just some perspective. I live in the Boston area and we have a MLS franchise - but with traffic it’s still over 90 minutes away. I’d much rather watch higher quality football on TV (we do support local sports - we have season tickets to the Major League Baseball team in town). My kids have been lucky enough to see Brazil, Argentina and City play. Unfortunately the MLS just isn’t the same - and even my 9 yo knows it. I don’t think people in Europe know how lucky they are to have accessible, good football at multiple levels - that’s close to their house with engaged crowds. I don’t really think anything in the US compares (maybe college American football?).
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Excellent post. Hope you get the chance to come over to Manchester to see a game,
 
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