franksinatra said:
mcfc1632 said:
I was at the ground yesterday to buy a ticket for my dad - to get us together I had to relocate to the family stand as there were no '2 together' elsewhere. I asked how many tickets were left and the answer was "....it will be a good crowd but not likely to be a sell-out..."
I do not mean to slag of our fans but I must admit I am disappointed and exasperated that we cannot sell out our 1st ever CL game
It is embarrassing - and does ask questions over our claim for many years to have wonderful support - a factor I am guessing was involved in the Sheik's decision to 'choose us'. My take on it is that through the decades of hurt we have suffered we kept our core support - many on here I am sure were going all the years down to Div1 and back - but it will take us some time to attract the larger support that will go to the ground - not helped because of the ease with which you can watch the match live in the pub or at home.
Supporters will be a different breed to when the scum started to attract full houses - the good news (I hope) is that when we knock the scum off their perch they will start to see the gaps appear and accelerate. CITY are doing the right thing (IMO), although unpopular with some fans, by tying in attendance to the big games to attendance at the preliminary rounds. That is for me why the scum do well - and also why when they stop getting to finals it will change.
On a different note - whilst I was there in the (smallish) queue there was an example of the determination of Napoli fans to but tickets in the home end.
There was a couple of young italians going to great lengths to explain how they should get tickets 'booked / requested' via email a week ago using a card that belongs to a CITY fan with points etc etc - they were refused and but the debate went on all the way though the time I was queuing and they were left debating the position with a manager in a side area by the time I left - this probably explains how some of the ticketing policy of CITY in this regards has been right
I personally cant understand why you find attending a football match with say 43k others embarassing. Watching throughout the 80s the crowds dropped to 16, 17K for some matches and not once did I feel embarrassed. We are what we are, we dont have attendances like Arsenal or United but so what? Just enjoy the fact were in the Champs Lge and and youre lucky enough to attend.
Also the attendance we get now, along with the late 70s are the highest in our history. Even when champions in 1968 some of the attendance were poor. Just enjoy the experience, I find it even more amazing that there is a 56 page thread of negativity the week before such an amazing occasion
But I did not say that I find it embarrasing to be at the match with 43k others - what I said I found disappointing/exassperating/embarrassing is that we cannot sell out our ground - different things so you should not twist the words.
You refer to the crowd sizes in the 80s - well I would have been one of those as I also was in the late 60s, 70s and 90s etc. I was proud to be part of those crowds and even so when we did not quite sell out our crowd - or on occasion were no where near - in the circumstances those crowds demonstrated our ongoing steadfast support.
But, FFS, this is historic - our first appearance in the CL - so yes for me it is embarrassing that we cannot sell out and I personally cannot see why you cannot understand what was written
