Priced out?

[mexico1970]

City will say they are catering for every type of City fan and (fan) occasion.

If City fans or people want to pay X to dine in the Tunnel Club, that’s up to them.

But somebody tell Pep not to waste his time and energy trying to get the Tunnel Club match day goers to stand up and sing.

I was really more having a pop at the players, seems they don't frequent the places we do any more.

 

[blue b4 the moon]

The next five to ten years are going to be really important for City in the stands. I don’t think the club are envisioning what’s about to come.

A huge proportion of our season ticket holders are older blokes. Soon they will be getting to the age where they will have to pack it in due to it being too much of a struggle to attend, too unwell to attend or, unfortunately, they die.

Add to that the constant loss of season ticket holders due to price rises.

Add to that the constant loss of season ticket holders due to getting fed up of the sanitised bollocks and influx of tourists at City games.

I know approaching 30 lads who’ve given up their season tickets. I know three more who are thinking about doing so.

Add to that the very expensive individual matchday tickets, especially child tickets, and local fans and local families especially not being able to afford to go.

Add to this the lack of initiatives for local fans, like Liverpool have.

I think the club are, with no long term vision, actively loving all these ‘legacy fans’ dropping away from being season ticket holders so they can sell them as match tickets to tourists and earn more money to go towards their annual targets which allows them to earn their annual bonuses.

But that strategy is slowly ruining our support. Since the treble (or including the Bayern and Madrid home games in the treble season) the amount of tourists in the ground has noticeably increased, same at away games. They add nothing toward the atmosphere. Many aren’t even there to support City: some are just there to take in a game, some are fans of the opposition, some are fans of an opposition player and some are fans of a City player but have no interest in City winning.

This dilution of our support in the stands cannot keep happening.

Add to this that there are no new season tickets for the next generation of local fans, once all these older fans end their attending of City games, and City aren’t as successful on the pitch so attract fewer tourists, who are the club going to fill 62,000 seats with?

I live in Manchester’s Garden City, the city’s largest district (by some distance), in Wythenshawe. Wythenshawe is swarming with City fans yet City are not a presence in the Wythenshawe area… at all! If you are a citizen of Wythenshwee and didn’t have the internet or SkySports/TNT, you wouldn’t know City existed.

City are constantly boasting about where Shauny Wright and Lescott are around the world with the trophies, yet in all the years we’ve been winning trophies now in this era, the trophies have never been to Wythenshawe. You don’t see City in the local schools round here and there seem to be very few CITC initiatives around here (they did some Summer holidays sessions at the Woodhouse Park Lifestyle Centre a few years ago but little else).

These are the kind of areas that City are going to need to rely on in the coming years due to the concentration of City fans in this area, yet they aren’t acting like they understand this. They’re not envisioning the future coming years.

We’ve already seen this season that empty seats are starting to become noticeable. The prices for Boxing Day were so out of touch they were ridiculous. £66-78 for adult tickets, £38-42 for child tickets, that have to be paid for before Christmas, with the game on Boxing Day when there are no trains and you’re relying on local fans? Fucking stupid by the club. At £30 for adults and £15 for kids, a family of four could have attended the other day for £90 as a Christmas family treat… but not in City’s eyes, they’d rather have empty seats.

When you know you're going to like a post when only a quarter through.

Welcome back fella not been around for a bit.

 

[mexico1970]

I suspect most of the attendees were guests of companies who own a table (as I was). I can't deny it's a great experience and you're a handful of rows behind Pep and the team, but yes, it feels very distant from the typical fan experience. Food and drink apart, I prefer sitting in the stands with my mates.

Wasn't having aat you mate, it's nice to get a bit of luxury when you get the chance.

 

[FanchesterCity]

I was really more having a pop at the players, seems they don't frequent the places we do any more.

In fairness a lot of that is down to camera phones and social media. People just didn't carry cameras with them in the old days, and they certainly couldn't publish something worldwide within seconds.
It's not the only reason, but it's a significant factor.
The money factor doesn't help either when it makes them easy targets for antagonism, and in truth, some of them are just so far removed from the common fan, they are an incident just waiting to happen.

 

[Dodge]

If possible, can a you forward that to the board of directors at City? If you can, start with Khaldoon first, and remind him about what he said of the fans, and why they are so important to the club. Obviously Khaldoon’s either forgot, or what he said has fallen on deaf ears at boardroom level.

Gladly mate, that is if I had the email address of anyone that matters at the club. Might just remove the effin and jeffin though...

I agree that Khaldoon (and Mansour) need to be reminded of the commitments they made when they bought "our" club.

Empty platitudes comes to mind...

 

[FanchesterCity]

Wasn't having aat you mate, it's nice to get a bit of luxury when you get the chance.

I didn't take it that way at all. It was very enjoyable but I was always conscious of how surreal it is. It's not really indicative of the traditional matchday experience, but maybe I'm just old fashioned and it's the future!

 

[Tim of the Oak]

I’m really looking forward to Khaldoon’s end of season speech.

I want to see Kool Hand Luke put his cards on the table and talk about no regular season tickets, just Flexi Gold season tickets, and continual season ticket and match day ticket price rises that are pricing loyal, local, legacy fans out of matches at City.

This thread has become a bit of an advert for flexi-golds with all the season card holders who go away at Christmas and in January, and list their tickets on the Official Exchange.

 

[jrb]

This thread has become a bit of an advert for flexi-golds with all the season card holders who go away at Christmas and in January, and list their tickets on the Official Exchange.

A bit like Airbnb.

I’m off to Spain or the Canaries for Winter, so my apartment or house in Manchester is available to rent.

 

[I'm not really here]

A bit like Airbnb.

I’m off to Spain or the Canaries for Winter, so my apartment or house in Manchester is available to rent.

How much? These midweek games are killing me

 

[Tim of the Oak]

That wasn't my experience. Most tables were owned by a company who then invited key clients along for a jolly. Some had an interest in football but few were regular matchgoers and supported other clubs.
Plenty were arriving late after kickoff and half time.
Of course there were City fans too... but I wouldn't say it was the majority. Very hard to prove either way as it's very anecdotal, but the few tables around us were pretty passive fans of other clubs sprinkled with a few City fans enjoying a rare freebie. I sat behind Peter Reid and on the same row has him sat 4 young ladies with zero interest in the game (looked like City staff of some description but not certain)

There will be different experiences on different days. On the night I went in the Tunnel Club there was a sponsorship event for DSquared and most of their contingent were diehard Blues who I used to see at all the away games. I’m talking about real home and away regulars who would piss on most Blues track record of supporting City. It might have been the exception that they were in there. I couldn’t say as I’ve only been in there once.

Where me and my mate were sat in the stand, to my left were a lawyer and his son who are diehard Blues who travel to European away games. To my right was Sir Howard Bernstein and maybe his son or nephew. For balance, in the restaurant. there was a table of West Ham fans (including the guy off the apprentice who says “bosh”). Next to us and on the other side were Alfie Haaland and Erling’s support team.