The Aguero End for me.
I loved the Kippax, but I always associate it with standing at the side of the pitch with piss trickling underfoot (in a nice way :-)), not £7 artisan hot dogs and glass box hotels.
forget about all that shite, I know it's hard to. But imagine from the pitch side, having a full stand behind the goal which became infamous again. Just a wall of noise. Aguero stand sounds wanky to me. The Kippax ticks all the boxes. It has the history, and it tells the world that this is where the noise comes from, where the camera pans to after a goal, the voice of the fans. Not for day trippers or people who have won a competition. The Kippax, where you will hear foul language, where drunk men will let it all out. Somewhere authentic and not contrived, or made up by marketing wankers with no attachment to the club.
You know, there's hundreds of people employed by the club who don't actually support City or even follow football. They've studied marketing at uni, and these are the people who make decisions about the fan experience, and all the stuff that makes you cringe. Light shows and Hugh Ferris.
I was at Old Scaffold, last month, and when they scored that dodgy equaliser, IMO the second goal came from the Stretford end going totally mental. It was like an explosion. As soon as I heard it, I was thinking, "their gonna score here." And they did.
There is nothing like that at the Etihad ATM. No wall of noise, no area where all the nutters are in one place. It's too corporate, too contrived, not edgy or vibrant. Very sanitised. Winning consistently has taken the edge off.
The plans for this new stand seem to appeal to a different sort of clientele. Souvenir shops, a hotel, fast food outlets. It's not really that focused on creating a better atmosphere.
