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

[Metalartin]

Simply saying the fanbase needs to change though isn't right, there are thousands of people on the waiting list to get a season ticket and the fans who go every week are usually the fans who go every week night. I don't think our support is any different to any other club, we are special and have an identity in the sense that we have stuck by the club in the direst of times but spending wise and similar we aren't any different.

The club does everything to get people in but it just shows there that the ticket price barely makes any real difference and it is because there are other reasons people cannot attend. The blokes at work have a go at me for our attendances whilst they attend local teams near here because they are cheap, one of them abandoned going on Leeds every week long ago! The reason they give me for attending local team games is the price and the atmosphere but I guess that being within walking distance of the ground helps too. For me it isn't that easy, the ticket price is 2/3x theirs and then I have to travel 40 miles, all of that costs £100+ a time if you factor in the ticket too. It isn't that much but it isn't something you can do every week.

Now if season ticket holders aren't willing to go then someone like me will probably be the ones filling some of those gaps but as above it isn't always possible to do so and I'll admit I pick and choose when I can go based on who we are playing. For season ticket holders you have to remember the cost is worse, they pay for their seat effectively twice so it is no wonder they choose not to go into the cup scheme and instead watch it on TV. That there is why the gaps are so prominent for a game like last night and if the club were that bothered they would change the cup scheme. Instead even if it was £10, that is £10 more each season ticket holder pays twice for their ticket.

The only way you will get a capacity crowd for a game like last night is if you sell a handful of tickets to tourists which is fine in a capitol like London or Madrid but it is not so easy in Manchester. It is exactly the audience the club is targeting because the core fan group is not going to change although they cannot ignore the core group since they are still the ones who prop up attendances and spend the most money.

I did an edit to flesh out my reasoning since you quoted that so I will summarise that I believe the club should be able(we shouldn't be touchy or defensive about it) to appeal to the wider TV watching fanbase in and around manchester who those comments were probably aimed at, the club will have an idea how many there are who now might be thinking they should probably try and get to a game or two if they weren't already. It probably wouldn't take a large percentage of those around Manchester for them to sell out IMO. I agree most people don't like the hassle of getting to a game on a weekday night but with football like this seasons and the atmosphere improving(little by little I think it is, last night was great) I think more will start to deem the hassle worth it. Transport could be better but that's not the clubs fault.

 

[cucumberman]

Give it several years, I think we're winning the interest of the schoolchildren now. I've been to two primary schools and the kids are predominantly blue. City is also doing a fantastic job with the CITC, the academy and the City multisports programme. We just lost the millennials because of the lack of airtime given to us. Something that championship clubs today can relate to. Start them young and we will improve our core support.

 

[waterfootblues]

The attendance was poor and it wouldn't have been great on Tuesday. The football though was amazing and far better than comes across through the TV coverage
Our fans in the South Stand especially were the best I've heard at the Etihad for ages. Well worth the 2 and half annual holidays, the soaking I got on Tuesday and the several hundred pounds it cost me. Thank you Pep and the boys and the singing section.

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I think Pepp is bang on the money BTW. If the existing fan Base doesn't turn up the new fans will take their place. One way or another we will fill the stadium on champion league nights. The football is far to good for it not too.
As business model we have a fantastic product.

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[ACCORD]

Folks, sorry to go off-topic. I am bringing my kid and his cousin to the Middlesbrough home game in early November. They are both big fans, especially my son; we'll be flying over from Ireland for the game. Its their first EPL game; they are both 8 yrs old. He asked if its possible to get player autographs, if you show up when the bus is arriving in at the stadium. Am guessing its not? Is there anything else worth knowing about stadium on Match Day - should we get there early to watch the team train etc. Our tickets are in family stand, near the pitch. Again sorry for butting in here; thought it would be handier than starting a whole new thread.

 

[moomba]

If you want to go, go.

If you don't, don't.

Honestly don't understand why anyone would care which group another person is in.

 

[everythingchangesbutblue]

I'll probably catch shit for this but i don't care, Pep has hung us out to dry with those comments, it's was a quickly rescheduled match in a competition with the runners have tried to block us at every turn. The next 2 games are likely to be sellouts and pl games are for the most part already that. While it's been funny to read the likes of rawk and ragcafe, seeing all the glory hunting plastics trying to validate their lives through a football club i still think last night was a poor time to say it. I love Pep and whole-heartedley support him in all other matters but in this he was wrong and i'm disapointed in him tbh

 

[IWasHere]

the only way to fill the stadium is to have very low ticket prices , it's as simple as that

Tickets were cheap yesterday/Tuesday

 

[gocity]

the only way to fill the stadium is to have very low ticket prices , it's as simple as that

It's a bit more than that. Not read all the thread but has anyone mentioned the difficulty in getting to evening matches. Our journey on Sat or Sun normally takes us 45mins. For an evening K O it is 2 hours and sometimes more. A lot of wasted fuel and a lot of frustration. Football last night was magic, but because of travel difficulties we are seriously thinking of giving evening games up next season. Would a later KO make it better or worse for attendance? Or do UEFA dictate the KO time anyway?

 

[Marvin]

You're right mate, we've got a pretty unique fan base. There's a fella in his 60s who sits in front of me and he only comes to moan. Never heard him say anything positive about the team in 5 years. He just wants to complain about referees, or Kolarov misplacing a pass, Sterling missing a chance etc. When we've been shit for so long, it's quite difficult for some to adjust.

We've had a core of 30-50k match going fans for the last 30 years. Usually towards the lower end, but even at our worst we could have sold 50k for a derby, big semi final, or league title run in or whatever. It's just we didn't have any semi finals or league title run ins during the 80s and 90s. We've got the same core match going attendance, it's just now we're brilliant, so we get towards the 50k mark and above regularly.

If we went shit again, got relegated, appointed Frank Clark as manager and were insipid to watch, I've got no doubt our attendances would slip back towards the 30k mark. No problem with that for me, that's just our match going regulars. We've maybe attracted an extra 5-10k fans who are tourists, international students etc who would have never come 20 years ago. But their numbers are still quite small. Compare that to the 30 odd thousand the Shite have every week bussing in from London, Doncaster, Belfast, Oslo etc.

City have still not attracted that extra 20-30k plastics who just support a club because they're insecure and desperately want to be associated with success. I'm sure it will happen eventually and those numbers will grow. I'm not entirely sure that's a good thing though. Who gives a toss if the seats are filled up with tourists in half and half scarves? It won't add much to the match day experience for me.

It's funny, City used to get praised for having 30k turning up in the 2nd division. Now we're getting slaughtered for only having 30k at a Champions League game. So what these people are saying, is that basically we're shit because we can't attract a load of glory hunting fans that want to be associated with success. I'm afraid that mob over the road stole a march on us with that. If you want to go and see a crowd of glory hunters, take yourself over to Trafford once a fortnight.

I wouldn't trust Paul Wilson figures.

 

[philiph20]

You're right mate, we've got a pretty unique fan base. There's a fella in his 60s who sits in front of me and he only comes to moan. Never heard him say anything positive about the team in 5 years. He just wants to complain about referees, or Kolarov misplacing a pass, Sterling missing a chance etc. When we've been shit for so long, it's quite difficult for some to adjust.

We've had a core of 30-50k match going fans for the last 30 years. Usually towards the lower end, but even at our worst we could have sold 50k for a derby, big semi final, or league title run in or whatever. It's just we didn't have any semi finals or league title run ins during the 80s and 90s. We've got the same core match going attendance, it's just now we're brilliant, so we get towards the 50k mark and above regularly.

If we went shit again, got relegated, appointed Frank Clark as manager and were insipid to watch, I've got no doubt our attendances would slip back towards the 30k mark. No problem with that for me, that's just our match going regulars. We've maybe attracted an extra 5-10k fans who are tourists, international students etc who would have never come 20 years ago. But their numbers are still quite small. Compare that to the 30 odd thousand the Shite have every week bussing in from London, Doncaster, Belfast, Oslo etc.

City have still not attracted that extra 20-30k plastics who just support a club because they're insecure and desperately want to be associated with success. I'm sure it will happen eventually and those numbers will grow. I'm not entirely sure that's a good thing though. Who gives a toss if the seats are filled up with tourists in half and half scarves? It won't add much to the match day experience for me.

It's funny, City used to get praised for having 30k turning up in the 2nd division. Now we're getting slaughtered for only having 30k at a Champions League game. So what these people are saying, is that basically we're shit because we can't attract a load of glory hunting fans that want to be associated with success. I'm afraid that mob over the road stole a march on us with that. If you want to go and see a crowd of glory hunters, take yourself over to Trafford once a fortnight.

These Internet seat counters don't seem to get it that there are seats to count at CL games because City don't have many day trippers, out of towners and casuals as you have clearly indicated above, they really are as thick as pig shit when push comes to shove.