I have set this up away from the main Istanbul thread to get thought and traction so hope that is ok
I spoke to the Manchester Evening News and they are willing to publish an open letter from the fans to the club asking them for comment on how fans were treated in Istanbul. The cost of the advert (incl. VAT) is £480 for a half page advert. However... more importantly if the "letter" is agreed then they also want to follow up with interviews etc which in turn will make the item more newsworthy and take up far more space in the paper. Some people may now of course may just be thinking 'let sleeping dogs lie'
Anyway - I said I would get back to them but my thoughts are this : -
We could set up 'crowdfunding' for the 480quid and get the letter sent but it is better not coming from me but a more 'official' Man City supporters area (1894 etc) and also I had it 'bad' but nowhere near as bad as others (at least I got the metro to the ground and got in the ground early so only got the shit coming back)
Anyway...... :-
I have the contact - I have agreement that if the letter passes legal (we obviously can't be libellous:-) then MEN also want to give it more publicity but I think it needs someone (1894 group / Gary James etc) with more clout than me to move this forward
(please no tribalism about what you think of MEN - that isn't the point)
I would appreciate whether there is any demand for this and also whether any official group (who would be better sourcing the right people interviewed) were interested in pursuing this and I will 'hand over the contact' etc.
cheers
(For info - my fourpenneth at the open letter below - but again, there are better wordsmiths than me
(although there are also a few shitter ones.. :-) )
Dear Manchester City
This is an open letter from many of the fans who went to Istanbul for the culmination of possibly the greatest season in the history of the club. Whilst we would all like to thank the owners, the manager, players and all who contributed in creating wonderful indelible memories of the season, it is very disappointing how badly so many fans were treated at the Champions League final and how (it appears) the club appear somewhat disinterested in even commenting, never mind looking into what happened?
Last year in Paris, Liverpool fans were treated (admittedly) worse and understandably there was uproar across all media as a result, resulting in compensation for all fans, but whilst there has been considerable press coverage this year, the difference between Liverpool FC and their very public vocal support of their fans and Manchester City FC is markedly and disappointingly different
As most people are aware the way the fans were treated was somewhere between poor and almost inhumane. Some (but not all) of the key issues which have been well reported included : -
- City fans were told to use a bus to and from the venue which took on average of 3+ hours, including not leaving the car park for an average of 2 hours and many fans either ended up walking or struggled (due to disabilities) in even getting across the gravel car park in the dark to find a bus
- Failure at the ground (and fanpark) to provide appropriate places for food and drink meant queues of over an hour with only one concession stand in the ground for 20,000 fans
- Water being charged (illegally) at 5 euros for 225ml especially when a number of retailers in the ground demanded ‘cash’ even though it was a no cash venue
- Toilet blocks only for 20 to 30 people
- Horrendous queues into the ground whilst still having 2 hours before kick off
There are many more horror stories and even the Uefa president made the following statement :-
"We are well aware that in Istanbul not everything was perfect…..I'm thinking in particular transport links to and from stadium, the hosting of the stadium supporters and access to water and toilets for everyone." which somewhat reminds the older fan of the Monty Python sketch “what have the Romans ever done for us” given pretty much all the necessities of hosting a game other than the match itself were called out as failures
However, despite all this, there appears to have been complete silence from the club. We appreciate Manchester City do not pick the venue and have limited (if any) liability over what happened in Istanbul, but despite that, the fans expected at least some form of public comment of support, as we do not have any clue whether you are looking into this and supporting us or simply dismissing us as ‘legacy fans’.
Therefore all that we are asking is – please will you comment on what happened to give us an indication if you are looking into it or simply ignoring it
This is not about compensation it is about feeling valued as a fanbase, Pep often asks us to contribute and provide more noise and support the team, can we see some back please?
