Protest v Wolves

[jrb]

Can just imagine the discussion at the next board meeting

“So next on the agenda lads is how much money we made from that 6 minute protest and do we agree that a few of these every season will see an increase in Food and Drink sales”

Not worth the negative PR.

I’m sure Sheikh Mansour would rather have 1000’s of happier City fans at their seats for the start of the match instead of more money in the City bank account.

That aside, the season ticket price freeze has cost City much more than they have made from extra beer sales before the Leicester and Wolves games.

It will be a very interesting meeting at the end of the season in Abu Dhabi.

 

[blueparrot]

Can just imagine the discussion at the next board meeting

“So next on the agenda lads is how much money we made from that 6 minute protest and do we agree that a few of these every season will see an increase in Food and Drink sales”

Can’t be sure but always though the club sell the concession and wouldn’t make anything from the beer or food sold. I know thats how the big arenas work.May be wrong with football stadiums though.

 

[Mr Grumpy]

How many more answers do you want? You keep on asking the same questions over and again, even though you’ve had the answers to your questions from numerous posters. Like I’ve replied to you previously, if you don’t understand what the protests are about by now, don’t bother asking the same questions.

View attachment 154868

Did the Wolves fans join in the protest as well? ;-)

View attachment 154869

Now you are gaslighting.
You don't have an explicit agenda. When I've asked what the protest is and what you want, I get vague, conflicting answers.


It's a simple question.
What are you protesting for exactly?

What's your agenda?

Should be easy to answer.

 

[jrb]

Even the Rags are struggling to sell out at their ticket prices.

 

[wearethesouthstand]

Now you are gaslighting.
You don't have an explicit agenda. When I've asked what the protest is and what you want, I get vague, conflicting answers.


It's a simple question.
What are you protesting for exactly?

What's your agenda?

Should be easy to answer.

Agenda is set by the club and we respond to what they impose on fans mate

We also work with an element of surprise and so this forum is not where we discuss strategy but follow us on twitter and go through the last year you will see all our statements and what we have been fighting for

 

[jrb]

From 1894.

 

[Mr Grumpy]

Even the Rags are struggling to sell out at their ticket prices.

View attachment 154874

You shouldn't be selling out though eh?
If you are, you are too cheap.

You should be charging enough to be just on the other side of a full stadium. (For max profit).

Obviously this suits Ryanair and not a football club due to optics but the maths is correct.

 

[Tim of the Oak]

Not worth the negative PR.

I’m sure Sheikh Mansour would rather have 1000’s of happier City fans at their seats for the start of the match instead of more money in the City bank account.

That aside, the season ticket price freeze has cost City much more than they have made from extra beer sales before the Leicester and Wolves games.

It will be a very interesting meeting at the end of the season in Abu Dhabi.

True mate but I think if there is an improvement in fan engagement that helps to shift 8k extra seats it will be a price the Sheikh and Khaldoon will have been happy to pay.

In the last month we’ve seen better and winning football with an improved atmosphere in the stands. Committments to extra affordable tickets and a season card price freeze.

Maybe just the beginning but things are better than they were a couple of months ago.

 

[Mr Grumpy]

Agenda is set by the club and we respond to what they impose on fans mate

We also work with an element of surprise and so this forum is not where we discuss strategy but follow us on twitter and go through the last year you will see all our statements and what we have been fighting for

Right.

That's not good enough is it?

You've got half the fan base up in arms. You should have at least a clear, simple agenda.

It's not a difficult question. "What do you want?".

Well, what do you want?

 

[jrb]

South Stand - Level 1 Concourse and Bar during the 6 minute protest.

Expand, small white box.

 

[Mr Grumpy]

Right.

That's not good enough is it?

You've got half the fan base up in arms. You should have at least a clear, simple agenda.

It's not a difficult question. "What do you want?".

Well, what do you want?

Hmm.
Didn't think it was a difficult question.

 

[jrb]

 

[Manchester33]

Right.

That's not good enough is it?

You've got half the fan base up in arms. You should have at least a clear, simple agenda.

It's not a difficult question. "What do you want?".

Well, what do you want?

Well the agenda has been clear and simple enough to be effective, has it not? The participation in recent protests proved that. The fans aren’t stupid. They’re not sheep who will blindly follow everything 1894 posts on twitter. They’re up in arms because they’re understandably frustrated.

I know you’re purposefully being pedantic, but the issues fans are upset about are complex and numerous, so it’s not as simple as if we were a union fighting for increased pay for our members.

We sent an open letter to the directors at City in FEB (id recommend reading if you want to understand the protests more) which you can see here:



Since then, the club announced its 9th reseller/touting partner (in the wake of various incidents involving away fans in home areas).

There are also other concerns such as match day ticket pricing (which is too high) and some of the new proposed policies (the 10 game rule going into next season).

You’re making out like our entire argument should fit on the back of a postage stamp - but that’s impossible.

Your posts come across to me as being quite condescending. As if you know better than everyone. If I’m wrong and you’re being sincere, then, apologies.

Ultimately, as mentioned in my first paragraph, the protests have been incredibly effective and HELPED to gain numerous concessions as well as being recognised and applauded by fan groups around the country, so I don’t think our strategy has been too poor:

 

[jrb]

 

[WNRH]

Well the agenda has been clear and simple enough to be effective, has it not? The participation in recent protests proved that. The fans aren’t stupid. They’re not sheep who will blindly follow everything 1894 posts on twitter. They’re up in arms because they’re understandably frustrated.

I know you’re purposefully being pedantic, but the issues fans are upset about are complex and numerous, so it’s not as simple as if we were a union fighting for increased pay for our members.

We sent an open letter to the directors at City in FEB (id recommend reading if you want to understand the protests more) which you can see here:



Since then, the club announced its 9th reseller/touting partner (in the wake of various incidents involving away fans in home areas).

There are also other concerns such as match day ticket pricing (which is too high) and some of the new proposed policies (the 10 game rule going into next season).

You’re making out like our entire argument should fit on the back of a postage stamp - but that’s impossible.

Your posts come across to me as being quite condescending. As if you know better than everyone. If I’m wrong and you’re being sincere, then, apologies.

Ultimately, as mentioned in my first paragraph, the protests have been incredibly effective and HELPED to gain numerous concessions as well as being recognised and applauded by fan groups around the country, so I don’t think our strategy has been too poor:

Well the agenda has been clear and simple enough to be effective, has it not? The participation in recent protests proved that. The fans aren’t stupid. They’re not sheep who will blindly follow everything 1894 posts on twitter. They’re up in arms because they’re understandably frustrated.

I know you’re purposefully being pedantic, but the issues fans are upset about are complex and numerous, so it’s not as simple as if we were a union fighting for increased pay for our members.

We sent an open letter to the directors at City in FEB (id recommend reading if you want to understand the protests more) which you can see here:



Since then, the club announced its 9th reseller/touting partner (in the wake of various incidents involving away fans in home areas).

There are also other concerns such as match day ticket pricing (which is too high) and some of the new proposed policies (the 10 game rule going into next season).

You’re making out like our entire argument should fit on the back of a postage stamp - but that’s impossible.

Your posts come across to me as being quite condescending. As if you know better than everyone. If I’m wrong and you’re being sincere, then, apologies.

Ultimately, as mentioned in my first paragraph, the protests have been incredibly effective and HELPED to gain numerous concessions as well as being recognised and applauded by fan groups around the country, so I don’t think our strategy has been too poor:

You guys will be on the right side of history. Keep it up!

 

[halfcenturyup]

Right.

That's not good enough is it?

You've got half the fan base up in arms. You should have at least a clear, simple agenda.

It's not a difficult question. "What do you want?".

Well, what do you want?

It's pretty simple, imho. These protests aren't a "political movement" with a "manifesto". They are simply a tool for the fanbase to protest in a way that is visible to Mansour so he puts pressure on Soriano, through Khaldoon, to engage seriously with the concerns of the fanbase through City Matters.

It doesn't matter what individual fans want / don't want, care about / don't care about. All fans should want the club to engage with City Matters seriously on the issues around fan engagement, tickets and pricing.

It doesn't matter which particular issue is being protested on which day. Those are questions for City Matters to raise with the club. It is about visibly showing dissatisfaction with the engagement between club and fans on any number of issues so that pressure is maintained on Soriano from Mansour / Khaldoon.

That's all this is.

And so far it has been working pretty well, I would say. Highly visible short protests with vociferous support for the rest of the match. Keep it up.

 

[Damocles]

Right.

That's not good enough is it?

You've got half the fan base up in arms. You should have at least a clear, simple agenda.

It's not a difficult question. "What do you want?".

Well, what do you want?

If only they had repeatedly posted massive leaflets everywhere detailing EXACTLY what it is that they were protesting about.

If only the issue has been repeatedly explained to you by numerous people across numerous weeks across numerous threads.

But you've already made it clear exactly what you think about "local fan groups" so you purposely misunderstanding and attempting to undermine these things doesn't really come as a shock.

 

[mancityvstoke]

If only they had repeatedly posted massive leaflets everywhere detailing EXACTLY what it is that they were protesting about.

If only the issue has been repeatedly explained to you by numerous people across numerous weeks across numerous threads.

But you've already made it clear exactly what you think about "local fan groups" so you purposely misunderstanding and attempting to undermine these things doesn't really come as a shock.

Is it that Grumpy get? Something not right about that one.

I feel sorry for him in a way. Obsessed with us. Needs some help I reckon.

 

[wearethesouthstand]

The agenda is set by the club. If they make ticket prices £200 each we campaign against that.

The club have ignored the fans and fan groups for years up until the last few weeks.

1894 surveyed fans. If someone can do a bigger survey feel free. Those results were passed onto Citymatters in a meeting between fan groups before the egm on ticketing.

Those reps were made aware of the depth of feeling on various issues for example non City fans in our end and the use of ticket resale agencies high on the list. They were made aware that flexi good members wanted the choice to upgrade to season card - without any preconditions.

No solutions so far presented by the club on 1st May which resolved those issues.

1894 will have different views to the trade union blues on issues for example on stewarding if we felt there was an issue to be addressed TUB wouldn’t participate because stewards are workers and they wouldn’t support us calling out stewards. Groups don’t agree on everything.

We feel flexi good continuing in any form is one of the reasons why non City fans will end up in the home ends. When people don’t take up the option to buy the ticket for that game we think the returns may be bypassing the main supporter base and ending up on 3rd party sites.

If flexi gold was brought in to stop empty seats then it’s failed because empty seats has increased since it came in.

So we feel flexi good should be scrapped and we have based that on actual surveying whereas Citymatters and the club are happy for it to continue in some form and that we should celebrate 500 extra FG as some kind of win.

1894 pre date citymatters by five years. We support citymatters when they are in the room ultimately it is up to them what they decide to fight on. We can’t control that.

But we can and do set the conditions around everything so that the fans frustrations get amplified.

It is clear that the club are throwing crumbs and hoping we get full on that.

The club bringing back real season tickets for 2025-26 was one such wish by the fans. That has not been addressed.

We are the only ones surveying people all the time. We are not in a bubble. If the fans tell us they are happy with everything we will know when that moment is.

Our supporters group has an objective to slow down the club on their current policies to make it a PR issue that morally they have to concede ground. Fight on everything that they are not giving and slow down their obsession with milking the fans on everything until there is at some point either fresh thinking from the club or indeed when a change of CEO happens a whole new way of communicating with all fan groups.

The fans think the club have not gone far enough. That is clear. The people on the concourse are largely supported by the ones inside the ground.

The historical context is that the club has not acted on the recommendations of citymatters since 2018 when it started, there remains a distrust of the club’s motives and it would take more than what we have seen so far to change that view.

The club have refused to implement the chair’s recommendations on modernising the governance of citymatters.

Certainly within 1894 there are people with decades of successful campaigning experience and when you add all that together amongst various people on 1894 it adds up to hundreds of years of campaign experience.

The current chair of citymatters has known about the 3 fan groups strategy.

The next chair of citymatters might feel it should be done in a different way. How much cooperation there is in the future who can tell but we will always survey fans and try and do what they ask us to do.

We have been leading the stop exploiting loyalty campaign and our campaigning on ticketing issues pre dates the current citymatters negotiations and negotiation team.

We have always made ourselves available to all groups but at the end of the day we are independent and we are able to speak out on ways others can’t.

At the end of the day who cares who actually scores the goal as long as it’s our team (the fans) that wins.

 

[jrb]

It's pretty simple, imho. These protests aren't a "political movement" with a "manifesto". They are simply a tool for the fanbase to protest in a way that is visible to Mansour so he puts pressure on Soriano, through Khaldoon, to engage seriously with the concerns of the fanbase through City Matters.

It doesn't matter what individual fans want / don't want, care about / don't care about. All fans should want the club to engage with City Matters seriously on the issues around fan engagement, tickets and pricing.

It doesn't matter which particular issue is being protested on which day. Those are questions for City Matters to raise with the club. It is about visibly showing dissatisfaction with the engagement between club and fans on any number of issues so that pressure is maintained on Soriano from Mansour / Khaldoon.

That's all this is.

And so far it has been working pretty well, I would say. Highly visible short protests with vociferous support for the rest of the match. Keep it up.

Good post.

Hopefully he'll understand that?

But I'm expecting home to come back AGAIN with questions he's already asked.

Hence why I've stopped replying to him.