Our relationship with the Champions League

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Ric

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I've seen a few of the press reports of last night's game suggesting that the performance and result will change our relationship, as fans, with the competition. Guardiola's also made it pretty clear that he wants us to move on from booing the anthem and to start to embrace the tournament.

The atmosphere last night was certainly the best it's been for a Champions League game, and I'm sure that was a factor in the eventual outcome.

Are the journalists right, or is it a bit condescending to suggest that we only enjoy it when we're winning and performing well? Our grievances with UEFA certainly run a lot deeper than that. Indeed, the refereeing last night seems to have just added to the sense of injustice many City fans feel.

Has last night changed the way you feel about CL football, or will we always have an issue with the competition because of the organising body?
 
Yes. Last night I must admit I fell in love with the competition. For so many years my rag mates and dipper mates would go on about "European nights" and say they were above all else and yesterday I finally understood what they meant. Amazing.
 
I agree Ric. Just said something similar on the post match thread. We needed to win on a big European night against a Madrid or Barcelona in a meaningful game so that the fans and players can believe they are at the same level. I genuinely think before last night our players and fans would consider City in the next bracket down from those two and Bayern. I think everything changed last night.
 
I always go into every game expecting the officials to do us over and they usually do.Regarding the booing it makes no odds on how we play,the booing is always loud then we get behind the team,im afraid it matters not whether pep likes it or not as we have proper reasons for it which the club and the players understand so if you want to boo then do it.the comp comes 2nd to the league to me and always will do
 
I must admit that a large part of me wanting us to do well in the Champions League, is to stick two fingers up to UEFA.

As long as we continue to get very questionable referee performances, questionable draws, and ludicrous fines, then I don't think that will change. There was depressing sense of De Ja Vu after the Sterling penalty incident and lack of Tigne booking.

Last night was brilliant, mainly because were able to overcome everything that UEFA could throw at us, and make it impossible for them, and the referee, to stop us.
 
Absolutely not.

I think the format is bogus, the decisions made by UEFA are Stalinesque, the seeding is corrupt and the favouritism shown by officials laughably clear.

Even if you ignore the treatment City have received from UEFA in terms of FFP and fines for racism/timekeeping many of the above concerns devalue the competition in my eyes.

Give me the old European Cup and I might find it more appealing.
 
If the manager wants us to move on then I think it's only fair that we respect that and move on. We've make our feelings very clear about the Champions League and to be honest I don't think UEFA could care less. Last nights referee could 'possibly' be proof of this. On a personal level yes it's made a big difference to me on how I feel. We really need to keep creating an atmosphere like that for the players though - it obviously lifted them to a massive degree.
 
When we no longer need "Tonight's referee threads" then attitudes may change but until then no we will always view it as the compition were we aren't welcome
 
The competition isn't going anywhere and neither is it's governing body. People either take the morale high ground and get on with it or be bitter about it forever.

Personally, UEFA don't deserve my bitterness. They don't deserve a solitary emotion.

The booing is pathetic and i'd rather we just sang blue moon over the top of it.

Until you get past their corruption, and accept them for the piece of shit that they are, I don't think you can truly enjoy the competition and nights like last night. I find the idea of UEFA affecting my enjoyment of something to be galling and I won't allow it to happen, so personally, I moved on from it a long time ago.
 
Armaan said:
Yes. Last night I must admit I fell in love with the competition. For so many years my rag mates and dipper mates would go on about "European nights" and say they were above all else and yesterday I finally understood what they meant. Amazing.
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You were doing alright but to then mention the rags and dipper mates eulogising about the competition simply took all the credibility away.

Would they be as enthusiastic if they had never won the thing , I'm not so sure .

it's a way of making themselves feel relevant imo .
 
Can't see it anytime soon. Booing might fade out over the next couple years. I might be more positive about the competition after that game if I didn't have the feeling the ref wanted Barca to win it. Luckily we still managed to beat them 11 v 12 somehow.
 
blue ranger said:
I agree Ric. Just said something similar on the post match thread. We needed to win on a big European night against a Madrid or Barcelona in a meaningful game so that the fans and players can believe they are at the same level. I genuinely think before last night our players and fans would consider City in the next bracket down from those two and Bayern. I think everything changed last night.
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Great post.
 
fbloke said:
Absolutely not.

I think the format is bogus, the decisions made by UEFA are Stalinesque, the seeding is corrupt and the favouritism shown by officials laughably clear.

Even if you ignore the treatment City have received from UEFA in terms of FFP and fines for racism/timekeeping many of the above concerns devalue the competition in my eyes.

Give me the old European Cup and I might find it more appealing.
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I agree with most of this. I still can't warm to it properly. It's hard to forget everything UEFA have thrown at us. That might seem a small time comment, but they have fucked us over in the past few years, no arguement about it. I'll never forget platini saying he doesn't want teams like city winning the champions league. Just think how many more UEFA officials are saying stuff like this.
 
I've never had an issue with the competition because of the governing body I always want to do well. If the governing bodies put me off competitions the FA, and Premier league would be off as well.
 
Manchester_lalala said:
I agree with most of this. I still can't warm to it properly. It's hard to forget everything UEFA have thrown at us. That might seem a small time comment, but they have fucked us over in the past few years, no arguement about it. I'll never forget platini saying he doesn't want teams like city winning the champions league. Just think how many more UEFA officials are saying stuff like this.
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And I thought it was me as I'm ( paranoid - apparently ) or just looking for things that don't exist.
 
fbloke said:
Absolutely not.

I think the format is bogus, the decisions made by UEFA are Stalinesque, the seeding is corrupt and the favouritism shown by officials laughably clear.

Even if you ignore the treatment City have received from UEFA in terms of FFP and fines for racism/timekeeping many of the above concerns devalue the competition in my eyes.

Give me the old European Cup and I might find it more appealing.
Click to expand...
This as well, it'll all change if they start to allow stadiums to sell alcohol and when refs aren't so apparently biased. It's not just refs against us, refs have been helping Barca out for years. There were allegations last year I think it was that La Liga linesmen were told to favour Real Madrid. Not to sound discriminatory, but if La Liga has a problem with it, makes you wonder about Hungarian refs and other such footballing countries.
 
fbloke said:
Absolutely not.

I think the format is bogus, the decisions made by UEFA are Stalinesque, the seeding is corrupt and the favouritism shown by officials laughably clear.

Even if you ignore the treatment City have received from UEFA in terms of FFP and fines for racism/timekeeping many of the above concerns devalue the competition in my eyes.

Give me the old European Cup and I might find it more appealing.
Click to expand...

Absolutely agree 100%.
 
I don't believe that booing the competition and engaging in it are mutually exclusive.


There's been this argument made that the fanbase doesn't engage, and booing is a symbol of that - and while that's true that some boo-ers are ambivalent about the competition, others like me, have booed their hearts out but still desperately want to win, even if it's just as the ultimate fuck you to an organisation that doesn't want us to win it.
 
It's such a thoroughly corrupt competition it's not even funny. And not corrupt in the sort of brown envelope under the table way (although it could easily be that too), openly corrupt by design. The draw isn't rigged, it's just designed to be as non-random as possible while being presented as a random draw. The whole format of the competition is specifically designed to favour certain teams. And I don't particularly have a problem with the format itself. I quite like the group stages followed by knockout format, it's just the way they decide the groups.
 
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