Istanbul CL Final chaos | City Matters statement (p 133)

[Deleted member 77198]

i have so much to write about those issues. i am writing, and erasing immediately. dont wanna get into trouble. issues will be mostly political (police, government stuff, shitty stadium etc.)

younger-middle aged fans; you had a great experience about a 3rd world country. take it that way. but i still apologize for the problems you experienced.

but, i am really
so sorry and sad about elderly and disabled fans....i send my deepest apologies for my country. actually i forgot to think about that issue (disabled and old fans) when i started to write you. wish that issue came to my mind, maybe i could have done better. i could easely arrange some busses for them; but could not think that uefa shuttles will be that shitty. anyway, everthing has been passed. nothing i/we can do. actually i wanted to write those issues to municipality, but i am sure they will not care. anyway really sorry.

i was expecting a chaos after game. dont wanted to scare you much, as some of you know, i stopped writing negative issues about istanbul after a while.... anyway, again, it has been passed, nothing again i/we can do.

why am i writing this? dont know. just sad about the disabled fans and elderly esp. again sorry guys. so sorry. i hope you are safe and calm now.

you have experienced at least some of the stuff we are dealing with in this country...

keep in touch next time, for the ones who will come to visit again. everthing will be better. i will involve more. and 100% wear my scaremonger mask; will not care about any criticism about my pessimism.

see you later.

You’ve nowt to apologise for, mate.

You’ve done more to help out City fans than UEFA ever have!

 

[mexico1970]

All these people and between them they can't arrange water and a shuttle bus system, they just don't care.

 

[BringBackSwales]

The fans are the club. Everyone else is just a short to medium term employee of our club, who work for us.

In theory yes but have you heard one word from the club about our shitty treatment in Istanbul? Too busy fawning to dippers and uefa

 

[Deleted member 77198]

I've got a mate who works high up in events over here and he's always on the front line when hosting events (some of them massive like Expo 2020) so he can learn lessons for the future. That's what he gets paid for. But it seems anyone who works for City or UEFA is completely oblivious to the issues we all faced cos once it comes to matchday, they're all treated as VIPs. It's a complete pisstake. There should be people whose job it is to go through the exact same experience as the fans so these things don't keep happening.

Until Khaldoon and Ferran have to walk queue up for half an hour for a Met in the rain, have to use the car parks around the stadium, have a ticket in the East Stand and have to walk all the way up to the bridge just to get to ANR, have to try and get tickets for games, have utter nobodies from nowhere get priority over them for big games, have to walk through the giant puddles around the Etihad when it rains, have to experience things like the farce around the CL final… they’ll forever be oblivious to it and even if informed will never understand what it feels like.

 

[Deleted member 77198]

In theory yes but have you heard one word from the club about our shitty treatment in Istanbul? Too busy fawning to dippers and uefa

Sorry, I agree with you… I should have elaborated… the fact that they aren’t working for us to look after us as best they possibly can and aren’t always backing us to the hilt shows they aren’t always doing such a brilliant job.

They are incredible on the pitch but still ver very lacking off it in many areas.

 

[mexico1970]

Sorry, I agree with you… I should have elaborated… the fact that they aren’t working for us to look after us as best they possibly can and aren’t always backing us to the hilt shows they aren’t always doing such a brilliant job.

They are incredible on the pitch but still ver very lacking off it in many areas.

I go to watch football with the fans and I support the fans, couldn't really care less who runs or owns it because it's fairly obvious they don't care too much about their customers or they would do something about it.

That applies to FIFA and UEFA and the FA too, all these rainbows and kisses mean fuck all at the end of the day.

 

[Citizen of Legoland]

As you might have seen, I am trying to pull together something comprehensive to take the club/wherever is appropriate. Really appreciate everyone that has sent through their experiences so far.

In regard to your second question, the club did have representatives out in Istanbul before the final on a number of occasions as part of the engagement that UEFA undertake with all clubs that are in the latter stages of the competition. They raised a number of issues, such as the fan park and travel, but ultimately had to trust that UEFA and the local organising committee would rectify them.

I have asked why they haven’t raised it more publicly. In any case, part of the exercise I am undertaking will hopefully mean that they cannot ignore the plight of our supporters last weekend.

Thanks for all your help Alex. We were on the day trip that City organised via Sportsworld. Those that were on the 3:30am return flights were always concerned that if the game went to ET and penalties that we’d struggle getting back by 2:45am when they said check-in would be closed. UEFA said on their app that the tour operators had to book a bus shuttle back to the airport AND said those buses would be waiting for us. Then, on the flight, we were given wrist straps to identify which flights we were on so we would be prioritised for the shuttles. Clearly none of this happened but I think there’s a good chance that us on these flights triggered or exacerbated the lack of queuing because we all seemed to be looking for our “reserved” coaches rather than the end of a queue.

My point is that UEFA were clearly aware that the timeframes were tight before factoring in the chaos but then didn’t do anything about it.

 

[Dobsy]

https://cityxtra.co.uk/4468/motorho...ague-final-between-manchester-city-and-inter/

Good summary of the shit show.

"Ultimately, everything boils down to two main points: The 2023 UEFA Champions League final should not have been held at the Ataturk Olympic Stadium, and that UEFA have absolutely no consideration for supporter safety and welfare."

The last point sickens me. It's only luck that meant nobody vulnerable died in that car park, it was a physical trial for me and I ran a marathon a couple of months ago.

 

[east2]

We the fans that suffered this shit show need to come together to drive this,unfortunately,
The British media and radio silence from City, have buried this already!
The Daily mail ran a small article 3/4 down its sport page yesterday, that disappeared after lunchtime, Talkshite ran a five minute article about “Man City fans claims” of UEFA & the stadium not being fit for purpose.
The contrast between last year and this years media coverage is startling,
I’m afraid we’re already going to have to go it alone on this one…

 

[ZanteWeatherman]

Until Khaldoon and Ferran have to walk queue up for half an hour for a Met in the rain, have to use the car parks around the stadium, have a ticket in the East Stand and have to walk all the way up to the bridge just to get to ANR, have to try and get tickets for games, have utter nobodies from nowhere get priority over them for big games, have to walk through the giant puddles around the Etihad when it rains, have to experience things like the farce around the CL final… they’ll forever be oblivious to it and even if informed will never understand what it feels like.

Almost everybody these days has a mobile phone. Does anyone have footage or photos of what they had to go through. Just to let the rest of us who didn't go see what the attending fans had to put up with.