1894 GROUP STATEMENT RESPONSING TO THE CLUB'S NORTH STAND ANNOUNCEMENT
Our club, Manchester City, looks to keep growing. We applaud that ambition and having a 60,000+ capacity stadium, with state of the art facilities, capable of hosting a Champions League Final, is something to be proud of. It is worth noting the capacity was reduced by 2,000 seats recently to accomodate bigger advertising boards.
We asked the club not to be directly referenced in their statement, which was announced today, as we disagree with some of the plans as they currently stand.
The club wanted 1894 Group to become "anchor tenants" in the North Stand. We only had one committee member in attendance at 3 meetings but there were 4 meetings overall and invites given to all members of Citymatters, who were all able to give views representing their own demographic of the club's supporters.
This ultimately makes things harder to convince the club around atmospheric needs but we decided we should still try.
At the first opportunity we had to meet the club, we were asked to sign an "NDA" - a non-disclosure agreement with the club. We were unhappy about this, but we made this public on social media and emailed our members to ask whether we should engage with the club on this basis. A large majority told us to get involved as best as we could. This was April 2024.
What is important to note, though, is that there was an exceedingly short period of "fan consultation" between 28th February and 26th March 2023, and City submitted the planning application the following month. By July 2023, Manchester Council had already approved the club's plans. So It's difficult to see what anyone from any fan group could have done to alter the club's pre-determined plans for this stand at any stage, with images of the new stand already being released into the public domain.
For us to be anchor tenants, the stand would have to represent the wishes and principles of our members.
We entered into these meetings in good faith and brought some suggestions to the table and we said both publicly and privately that the club should open out a fuller consultation to all supporters but notably to existing North Stand season card holders, to allow fans to suggest amendments and improvements.
We had almost 1,500 supporter responses and our red lines were :
*That the stand should be built with acoustics in mind and the position of "singers" central to the stand.
* Pricing plans for season card and match day prices laid out for the next 5 years for the North Stand and other areas of the ground as a comparison - vital if supporters are expected to make a long term move. 1894's position is two year freeze on season and match day tickets to allow fans to catch up followed by inflationary rises only after the 2 years have been completed.
* Maintaining the current 70% ratio of season card holders amongst the 8,000 extra capacity to reverse the recent trend of not releasing new season tickets. (ie 5,600 season cards - not the extortionate Flexi Gold)
* 7,000 - 8,000 rail seats in North Stand Level 2.
* An 18-25 year old section.
* Additional rail seating in South Level 3 to mirror the noise coming from a higher atmospheric section in North Stand Level 2 so that the two ends are encouraged to sing to each other.
* A re-think from the club on the positioning, indeed the addition of general admission / hospitality seats in an "atmospheric" North Stand from what had been disclosed on images over the last few months.
We say today's update from the club lacks detail.
There is no detail on prices, no detail on the numbers of season cards being made available. We noted that Flexi Gold tickets were made available previously and as such many fans fear that the club's business plan might involve offering more Flexi Gold tickets across the ground including for the new North Stand. This would not enhance the atmosphere as not only would it price enthusiastic fans out of attending football, it would mean different people in the seats each game which does not lend itself to the atmosphere improving. Liverpool currently have this problem where only 1,000 of their new 8,000 Anfield Road upper tier has been made available to season ticket. The atmosphere has subsequently dipped.
The lack of detail around seasoncard numbers is very worrying.
More detail is required on the position of the rail seating area or areas and under what circumstances would those areas be increased.
We welcome the mention of ringfenced tickets for 18-21 year olds however we feel more detail is required. Would these be within the rail seating area only or in other areas? We believe ringfencing tickets for 18-25 section would help more fans financially.
In summary, we believe the stand has been designed with commercial revenues in mind over atmosphere. We think the club would be happy to have an improved atmosphere in the stadium but we do believe their priority would be to maximise revenue at all costs and as such some of the ideas presented to the club haven't been taken up.
There is always time to take on board fans' feedback and make changes and our door remains open.
