Please please please no whingeing about the Juventus crowd

[jimbo101]

I went to the FA cup replay - we drew 1-1 & think we lost the 2nd replay.
Was in the Millwall end with a Millwall mate & was pretty scary.
Just looked it up. Yours was 1987. Mine was 1990.

 

[BurnCK]

The thing is that I've seen numerous posts on here talking about extending the stadium, etc.....for what ?? So the ground can look even more empty ? For the position we are in we get some of the best ticket deals in the country...but the club can't literally give every game away for nothing...even though £16.66 per game is almost that. It's still a business at the end of the day.

I'm not concerened about what any other fan gets up to, just expressing disappointment that we can't get decent crowds.

If people don't turn up then it won't affect my enjoyment of the game, it'll just mean I'm not gonna get stuck in traffic on the way home...bonus !!

 

[Rusholme Ruffians]

I think alot of it is an age thing. I have been going to the games for 35 years plus.

When I was a kid (under 10) I was more bothered about spending time with my dad and climbing on the kippax Wall than I was with the game.

From 15-25 I could do nothing but think about City and when the next game was. It was my life. For most of that time we were absolute crap, Stadiums were falling to bits. You had to watch from behind a ten foot fence with dogs snapping at your heels when you were escorted from the football specials. I never missed a game for ten years.

I then had a child and other priorities came first. money became tighter, I skipped the odd home game and away days were a rarity.

As i am in my 40's I now find myself as passionate as ever about us but find that i dont need to go to every game to justify that. I go to all home games and about 5 aways a season. I tend to go to the european games and have tickets for these three this season but I cant say I always enjoy them. I find the atmosphere flat, the kick off times too late and the intensity a bit lacking until the knockout stages.

In general I dont like the way football is going. I find it overpriced and getting worse especially if you dont have a season ticket which a couple of my mates dont. I think charging £3.90 for a lager that always tastes dire is a joke, the food is over priced and kick off times are a nightmare espcially Monday night and Saturday evening games.

The point is I would give up a night or a game if something more important came up but I would never have done this in my earlier years. Everyone is different and everyone has a choice! I bumped into a man who used to come to the games with us. he is now 90 years old. I hadnt seen him for years and all we talked about was City! he is as passionate as the next man BUT he cant go to the game anymore!

To some people City is their life, to others City is part of their lives and alot of this depends on where you are in your life.

Totally agree with you on this.

 

[moosos]

I know loads of people say "my mate works in the ticket office & he said". But seriously, he said they expect between 33 & 35 thousand. Also really looking forward to the game, Can't wait to meet my mate's fit mum!

 

[Dr Mick]

I think alot of it is an age thing. I have been going to the games for 35 years plus.

When I was a kid (under 10) I was more bothered about spending time with my dad and climbing on the kippax Wall than I was with the game.

From 15-25 I could do nothing but think about City and when the next game was. It was my life. For most of that time we were absolute crap, Stadiums were falling to bits. You had to watch from behind a ten foot fence with dogs snapping at your heels when you were escorted from the football specials. I never missed a game for ten years.

I then had a child and other priorities came first. money became tighter, I skipped the odd home game and away days were a rarity.

As i am in my 40's I now find myself as passionate as ever about us but find that i dont need to go to every game to justify that. I go to all home games and about 5 aways a season. I tend to go to the european games and have tickets for these three this season but I cant say I always enjoy them. I find the atmosphere flat, the kick off times too late and the intensity a bit lacking until the knockout stages.

In general I dont like the way football is going. I find it overpriced and getting worse especially if you dont have a season ticket which a couple of my mates dont. I think charging £3.90 for a lager that always tastes dire is a joke, the food is over priced and kick off times are a nightmare espcially Monday night and Saturday evening games.

The point is I would give up a night or a game if something more important came up but I would never have done this in my earlier years. Everyone is different and everyone has a choice! I bumped into a man who used to come to the games with us. he is now 90 years old. I hadnt seen him for years and all we talked about was City! he is as passionate as the next man BUT he cant go to the game anymore!

To some people City is their life, to others City is part of their lives and alot of this depends on where you are in your life.

Totally agree with you on this.

That is 100% spot on mate.

I am now 43 and can't remember being this passionate and obsessed about City since the 80's. It's a really sad thing to admit but I spend all my time these days thinking about City.

I've been a season ticket holder for 27 years and my love of City has never been in doubt, but the last 3 years have definitely felt different.

Maybe it's more to do with City and where we are these days then about me and my age but I now probably think about City more than I think about sex!!!

 

[Timmmmahhhh]

Maybe it's more to do with City and where we are these days then about me and my age but I now probably think about City more than I think about sex!!!

I don't, but that's probably due to me knowing I am going to go to City at least once ervery two weeks.

I also hope she doesn't decide to log in today and read this.

 

[Petetheblu]

I will be going this time, but have to admit that i thought long and hard before buying the tickets.

 

[M24-CRC]

I'm not saying that the pricing is too expensive... quite the opposite... I think the pricing is very fair.

My point is that the club has put a lot of effort into selling season cards with various initiatives (£250 deal / changes to family stand / endless surveys etc) which is leading to decent crowds for PL games.

The moment we try + sell tickets for European games (including attractive opposition such as Juventus) at "fair" prices ... we are struggling to get 30k.
This is not something to lose any sleep about in the Europa league... but it is an issue for when we are in CL.

We are all trying to work out what the recent investment in the club has done to the breadth + appetite of our fanbase.
My impression is that the core 25-30k who were watching us in Div2 are very excited, look forward to games more + appreciate the difficult balance the club has to try and achieve in pricing for games.

The wider pool of 100,000 "occasional" or "selective" supporters have obviously had their interest levels raised... but the club are finding it difficult to convert them into paying customers at anything other than "bargain" prices (e.g. Hamburg).

As I implied in my earlier post: Man City v Juventus has a Champions League "feel" about it... and for a club starved of success...to be finding it so difficult to shift tickets at "fair" prices... gives the club plenty of food for thought in relation to when we make the CL proper.

It's an interesting challenge. The fact that it is the CL will in itself boost the numbers but by how much and will it be enough? I would guess not. The club needs to think outside the box on this one. It is nothing new, City fans have always come in bigger numbers to league games. Early round cup games in particular are particularly unattractive it seems.

I am sure the marketing men will solve the problem and if I was one of them I'd be thinking:

* Give priority for all the cup finals and big occasions along the way that we are about to experience to those that attend early round cup games that season irrespective of whether they are ST holders or not and how many loyalty points they have overall. A new version of the old voucher system effectively. This would help get more ST holders into the stadium. It would be unpopular but fair imo (I am a ST holder). New fans would also have an incentive whereas at the moment with 6/5/3K whatever points likely to be required for the bigger games they may well think oh well whats the point going now if I can't get a ticket to the final or a semi.

* Give ST holders an attractive option to add on cup games for a low-ish fixed cost. Up to the QF say. Yes I know the number of games will vary but where there is a will there is a way. Sometimes the club will benefit. Sometimes the deal will benefit the supporters more. If they have paid and the cost is known then perhaps more will come. Deffo if they have a points incentive as above which they only get if the card is used. The club knows its minimum likely revenues up to a certain point in advance. The fans know what tickets are going to cost them up to the point where they won't be as bothered what they have to pay for the big category A games close to a final.

* Finally, kids/ guests/ students/ forces/ pygmies whatever for a quid to fill as many remaining empty seats as possible

I'm sure there are other ways but off the top of my head these might be the basis of ideas worth consideration. If the club does nowt then the situation will remain broadly the same.

Agree with this........I was proposing this when the discussion about price of season tickets was being discussed on here. I think this is the way Arsenal do it where they have cup games upto a certain round included in their season ticket price - hence full/nearly full ground each game.
And lets be honest/realistic, the current price for our season tickets is certainly value for money so adding an extra on to cover cup games should still be affordable.