Pep: 'The players deserve a full stadium, we need our fans!'

[IanBishopsHaircut]

I think a lot of people involved with football, Players and managers especially, who have every little thing taken care of so they can fully concentrate on the game just have no concept of the real world and life outside of the stadium. For many of us, City is a luxury, one that is getting harder to afford and harder to justify, no matter how well we're playing. City and football won't put itself out for us (prices, KO times etc), so why is it expected that we will put ourselves out for them?

Pretty much my stance on it

I'm not on any cup schemes because I genuinely cannot afford to have random amounts of money taken out of my account in the middle of the month...that's the only reason and don't have to justify it either as I have two young boys to feed along with all the other outgoings I have of an average month

As I advised earlier...if they put my ST up £50 and said i'll get the CL group stage tickets thrown in I would be happy with that...but City doing that aside...I will pick and choose my cup games based on how my bank balance is doing at the given time

 

[moomba]

we forget the detrimental effect that this is creating on the club, the players and more so our new manager who has simply asked for our support

What detrimental effect?

 

[Happy Feet]

Well said Pep

 

[BurnCK]

Did you miss the announcement about the changes to the co-efficient? You know, the ones where if you have won the Champions league 3 times in the past and squeeze through in the play-offs you get more points than if you are the champions of England? And the ones that distribute TV money on the same basis?

You know, the ones that nakedly favour the old established elite teams - the rags, AC Milan, Ajax, Benfica, Liverpool - at the expense of the teams like us and Spurs who are actually better than them at the moment?

I think that's more to do with Europe's big clubs holding UEFA over a barrel, threatening to form a super league if UEFA doesn't pander to them, but regardless that's not even the reason we boo them.

And if everyone hates UEFA corruption so much, why even go to a CL game to help fill UEFA pockets? Just shows how fickle fans are. Boo the anthem but can guarantee they'd be celebrating like crazy if they won it.

 

[Tugay One Cup]

Boo if you want and don't if you don't want. Simple as that. I took up the opportunity to do just that last season and don't personally feel the need to anymore.

However, I feel like some of the comments made toward the manager in this thread to be knee jerk, overly defensive and embarrassing to be quite honest. Where has he been "gobbing off about fans"? He's even now being described as wanting it to be "all about him". Maybe I missed something or I'm less determined to 'read between the lines' than others but, to me at least, he came across as someone describing a positive scenario for the fans, club and players. Optimism, nothing more and nothing less.

Storm in a teacup stuff this thread. Our support last night was incredible and (again in my opinion) quality trumps quantity. If Guardiola wants both, what's the issue?

 

[kaz7]

Barca and Athletico boo and it does not harm the team,the players know why and it's 10 secs at the start,i'm not there so my opinion doesn't really count but if i was i still would if that's what the majority want,pep loves the CL but he has to accept we as a fan base are not there yet

 

[BurnCK]

You've clearly got a different opinion to me. I'll be booing, no matter what. I'm sure I won't be alone.

Wouldn't not going to the game make a bigger statement? After all, you're just helping fill UEFA's coffers, the organisation that's out to get us.

 

[BurnCK]

I wish our fans could be as passionate about making as much noise during a game as they do booing UEFA's anthem. It's usually the peak of the atmosphere (last night being a rare exception).

Maybe they could randomly play the CL music over the speaker system at points during the game so we make some actual noise.

 

[BlueGirl62]

To be fair we've had it coming for a while. It's a bit of an insult to the fans that go to every game though. Like people have said tonight was probably a bad example as there were issues with tickets not being available on the day.

As for asking us not to boo the champs league anthem, he hasn't used those exact words, but even so I don't think that is for Pep or anyone else to tell us what to do. Just as we back his on pitch selections maybe he should look into the reasons behind the booing and get behind the fans.

I seem to remember Kompany publicly supporting the fans over it during an interview the other year, which is the way it should be. UEFA have made things difficult at every turn for City, the only way the fans can demonstrate their frustration with them is by booing. Fair enough if some people don't like it or want to join in but a lot of fans feel strongly about it. Pep needs to respect that, even if he disagrees.

This.

 

[hgblue]

Wouldn't not going to the game make a bigger statement? After all, you're just helping fill UEFA's coffers, the organisation that's out to get us.

You understand that people who boo the Champs League anthem are City fans don't you? We are there to support the team, but take the opportunity to make our feelings known about the corrupt organisation that governs the competition. You might not give a shit about that, so bully for you, don't boo the anthem. Some of us remember what UEFA tried to do to our club and what they'd do again given the chance, so fuck them and fuck their anthem.