Results of 1894's Fan Survey (Page 11) - 5,159 Supporters Took Part

A shame you didn't use this opportunity to help a section of fans that appear to have no voice, that's to say disabled or limited ability fans one that, unfortunately, continues to go unheard.

I, like many others, use Entrance H and rely on the lift to reach Level 3. For years, this lift has been unreliable, frequently breaking down or operating with severe restrictions, limiting capacity to just 6–8 people at a time. When the club finally decided to refurbish it, you might think this was great news—except they chose to do so during the season, rather than in the closed season when disruption would have been minimal.

As a result, all lift users had to go to an alternative entrance with a smaller lift, leading to long queues and frustrating delays. Now, with the refurbishment complete, we’ve simply swapped one problem for another. The new lift is much slower than the old one, increasing wait times, and—just as it was reopened—other lifts were taken out of service for refurbishment, causing yet more queue congestion.

Adding to the chaos is the way queuing is managed. Stewards split the queue into two—one for general access to Level 1 and the other for those who need the lift—but both queues merge again at the lift entrance. This not only causes confusion but also allows queue-jumping, further worsening an already frustrating situation.

I have attempted to raise these concerns multiple times:
  • I have contacted the Disability Fans Rep—no improvement.
  • I have reached out to the club’s disability team—several times over the years, with no change.
  • I have spoken with stewards and staff at Entrance H—again, no action has been taken.
It’s disheartening to see that accessibility remains such a low priority. Disabled fans should not have to struggle just to enter the stadium. This is a basic issue of fairness and inclusion.
After watching wheelchair bound City fans suffer in the bus park shambles at Istanbul, this doesn't surprise me I'm afraid. If the club can't even acknowledge that life-threatening scenario, they certainly won't be prioritising the issue you've highlighted, despite their duty of care.

Shameful.
 
A shame you didn't use this opportunity to help a section of fans that appear to have no voice, that's to say disabled or limited ability fans one that, unfortunately, continues to go unheard.

I, like many others, use Entrance H and rely on the lift to reach Level 3. For years, this lift has been unreliable, frequently breaking down or operating with severe restrictions, limiting capacity to just 6–8 people at a time. When the club finally decided to refurbish it, you might think this was great news—except they chose to do so during the season, rather than in the closed season when disruption would have been minimal.

As a result, all lift users had to go to an alternative entrance with a smaller lift, leading to long queues and frustrating delays. Now, with the refurbishment complete, we’ve simply swapped one problem for another. The new lift is much slower than the old one, increasing wait times, and—just as it was reopened—other lifts were taken out of service for refurbishment, causing yet more queue congestion.

Adding to the chaos is the way queuing is managed. Stewards split the queue into two—one for general access to Level 1 and the other for those who need the lift—but both queues merge again at the lift entrance. This not only causes confusion but also allows queue-jumping, further worsening an already frustrating situation.

I have attempted to raise these concerns multiple times:
  • I have contacted the Disability Fans Rep—no improvement.
  • I have reached out to the club’s disability team—several times over the years, with no change.
  • I have spoken with stewards and staff at Entrance H—again, no action has been taken.
It’s disheartening to see that accessibility remains such a low priority. Disabled fans should not have to struggle just to enter the stadium. This is a basic issue of fairness and inclusion.
I’m sorry to read that. But I think it’s unfair that you’re calling out 1894 (for not representing this in our survey).

We’ve done a significant amount of campaigning this year. I was one of the organisers in a multi-group collective who decided to start a fundraiser to cover costs for disabled fans who were unfairly hit with a charge to use accessible parking.

1894 members and City fans generally donated a lot of money. The associated news stories basically pushed the club to reflect and make the correct decision in the end. But the most heartening aspect was the togetherness fans showed.

It’s a shambles that you’re having to put up with that and it’s a reflection of the wider issues us fans are facing.

Editing to say I’ve seen Howard’s response above. I’ve worked with Howard on the campaign mentioned above and I know he’s a great representative for our disabled blues. Great guy doing loads for his fellow City fans.
 
I’m sorry to read that. But I think it’s unfair that you’re calling out 1894 (for not representing this in our survey).

We’ve done a significant amount of campaigning this year. I was one of the organisers in a multi-group collective who decided to start a fundraiser to cover costs for disabled fans who were unfairly hit with a charge to use accessible parking.

1894 members and City fans generally donated a lot of money. The associated news stories basically pushed the club to reflect and make the correct decision in the end. But the most heartening aspect was the togetherness fans showed.

It’s a shambles that you’re having to put up with that and it’s a reflection of the wider issues us fans are facing.

Editing to say I’ve seen Howard’s response above. I’ve worked with Howard on the campaign mentioned above and I know he’s a great representative for our disabled blues. Great guy doing loads for his fellow City fans.
I really appreciate your response and all the work that 1894 and others have done to support disabled fans, particularly with the accessible parking charges. That was a fantastic example of how fan unity can bring about real change, and I completely respect the effort that went into that campaign.

My frustration isn’t aimed at 1894 at all, but rather at the ongoing accessibility issues that still seem to go unheard, despite repeated efforts to raise them. The lift situation at Entrance H has been a persistent problem for years, and while individual campaigns have had success, there doesn’t seem to be the same momentum behind resolving these kinds of day-to-day barriers for disabled and limited-mobility fans.

I’d love to see more focus on these issues as part of wider fan engagement—perhaps including them in future surveys or campaigns. Do you think that’s something 1894 or other supporter groups could help push forward? I'd be happy to provide more detail or work with anyone willing to take this forward.

Thanks again for taking the time to reply, and I really appreciate the work you’ve already done.
 
This is an issue I am very well aware of and have been discussing regularly with the club. I use the same entrance and lift myself, so know exactly what you are talking about. It's an issue which has been raised regularly at meetings of the Disabled Supporters Association too. What we were told by the club is that the lifts could only be replaced one at a time and that meant that they started the work in the summer but had to continue into the first half of the season. I am still baffled as to what was stopping them doing more than one at a time during the summer but that was the only explanation we got. All the lifts have now been replaced and, apart from one or two initial problems, appear to be working fine now. You're right that they seem a bit slower but I think that's still better than having them constantly breaking down. As for the stewarding and queue management at H, I have been discussing that too and the Access Team have been at the entrance themselves to monitor how the changes have been working. There are definitely still issues with people hanging around the inside of the entrance and getting in the way of people trying to get to the lift. The Access Team have reported this to those who manage the stewards and it will hopefully get better now. It's an ongoing process which we are working hard on, to get improvements. I don't know if you are a member of the Disabled Supporters Association but, if not, please feel free to join. It's free to join. Just email manchestercitydsa@gmail.com
You can contact me via that address too or at my City Matters address: howard.cohen@citymatters.co.uk

In the meantime, thanks for posting and please rest assured that I am doing my best to help all disabled fans and to press the club to make all the improvements we need.

Howard Cohen
Chair - Manchester City Disabled Supporters Association
Disabled Fans Representative - City Matters
Hi Howard, Thanks for taking the time to respond—I really appreciate it. It’s good to hear that this issue has been actively raised and that you’re pushing for improvements. I guess sometimes these things are being discussed in the background and don't come to light until they are sorted out. I completely understand that lift refurbishments needed to be staggered, though like you, I can’t help but wonder if more could have been done during the summer to minimize disruption, maybe this would be good to find out, I think perhaps communication from the club could be looked at so people understand what's happening, what the impact is on fans, and what if any mitigation/support will be in place.

I agree that having working lifts, even if slower, is preferable to constant breakdowns. That said, it is slow! I wonder if the club could ask the lift company if speed adjustments could be made? The queue management and stewarding issues are still causing unnecessary frustration, and I’m glad to hear that the Access Team has been monitoring the situation. Hopefully, their involvement leads to real changes.

I’ll definitely consider joining the Disabled Supporters Association—it’s reassuring to know that there’s an ongoing effort to make things better. I can't express enough my thanks again for all the work you’re doing to represent disabled fans. It’s really important, and I massively appreciate the dedication you put into this.
 
After watching wheelchair bound City fans suffer in the bus park shambles at Istanbul, this doesn't surprise me I'm afraid. If the club can't even acknowledge that life-threatening scenario, they certainly won't be prioritising the issue you've highlighted, despite their duty of care.

Shameful.
Yeah, I saw the same, and it was heartbreaking to witness. While the situation in Istanbul wasn’t the club’s fault, they still had a responsibility to ensure the wellbeing of our fans, especially those with accessibility needs. The way wheelchair-bound supporters were left struggling was appalling, and it’s disappointing that the club hasn’t properly acknowledged it.

You’re right—if they can’t take ownership of ensuring fans are properly looked after in such serious situations, it’s no wonder that ongoing accessibility issues like this keep getting pushed aside. It really shouldn’t take a crisis for basic needs to be met.

The frustrating thing is that these aren’t impossible problems to fix—it just takes the right people making it a priority. Fans deserve better. That’s why it’s great to see groups like Manchester City Disabled Supporters Association and 1894, and others, getting involved and continuing to push for improvements. Their work is so important in keeping these issues on the agenda.
 
Really appreciate all the support for this. I've filled in the survey now. I'm just curious how many people have responded to the survey now? :)
 
1894 Survey

On Friday 7th of March 2025, 1894 shared a survey with Manchester City supporters. 5,159 fans responded to the survey. A breakdown of the answers can be found below.

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Further points for consideration:

  • 1,636 respondents left further comments for 1894 to pass onto the club
  • 1,751 (52.4%) of season card holders believe season card prices are too high.
    1,545 (46%) think they’re just right
    Only 6 (<0.2%) think they’re too cheap
  • 1,919 (57.4%) of season card holders are happy with the 14 game mandatory attendance limit.
    769 (23%) would prefer the 14 game limit is reduced to a lower number of games.
    514 (15.4%) think the figure should rise above 14 games.
  • 4,696 (90.5%) would like to see a clear pricing plan for the next three years.
  • 127 (97.7%) of flexi gold members would prefer City to offer them the choice of flexi gold or a normal season card.
    Only 3 (2.3%) are happy with flexi gold being the only offering from the club.
  • 118 (90.8%) flexi gold members would like to see the £150/£75 charges (if they attend every home game) removed.
    8 (6.2%) are happy with the charge.
  • Of the other members (e.g. Cityzens), 1,129 (81.3%) believe match day ticket prices are too expensive.
    249 (17.9%) believe match day ticket prices are just right.
  • Non-City fans in home areas and the tickets being distributed to third party sites are of huge concern.
 
Unfortunately the club will probably think 1,159 fans out of the over 30,000 is it that hold some type of membership is not really representative.

I think it was an excellent move to do the survey but needs more responses.
It’s 5 thousand responses!!

It’s around 10% of our seasoncard holders.

It’s 17% of flexi gold members.

We compared the turnout with various other fan group’s surveys from across the league. Most only get around 1.5k responses so our turnout is great. Far above what we were expecting.
 
It’s 5 thousand responses!!

It’s around 10% of our seasoncard holders.

It’s 17% of flexi gold members.

We compared the turnout with various other fan group’s surveys from across the league. Most only get around 1.5k responses so our turnout is great. Far above what we were expecting.

5k is an incredible response rate!! All at 1894 should be rightly proud of the success of it.
 
The season card question about the cost was interesting result.
I guess people that have citizen matchday membership think compared to the cost we pay of 60quid per game, season tickets are cheap !
Yeah, I think it’s because a lot of people who responded have seasoncards in the cheapest parts of the stadium. No denying that some of the prices in SS3 represent great value for money or if you have one on the front couple of rows in various parts of the stadium where it’s cheaper than the rest of the stand due to it being open to the elements. Mine is one of those but I answered the question not in respect of my SC but in respect of the SC prices in general in the stadium. Mine is pretty reasonably priced but the pricing for my seat is very much in a minority and I’ve got loads of mates further up the stand who pay about £200 more per season.
 
Yeah, I think it’s because a lot of people who responded have seasoncards in the cheapest parts of the stadium. No denying that some of the prices in SS3 represent great value for money or if you have one on the front couple of rows in various parts of the stadium where it’s cheaper than the rest of the stand due to it being open to the elements. Mine is one of those but I answered the question not in respect of my SC but in respect of the SC prices in general in the stadium. Mine is pretty reasonably priced but the pricing for my seat is very much in a minority and I’ve got loads of mates further up the stand who pay about £200 more per season.
My season ticket is £930.

The one thing City do quite well with ticketing is the range of prices for season tickets. £450-£1,100 (I think)… Although, even our cheapest is expensive compared to Germany and our most expensive normal ST is about £450 more expensive than Liverpool’s equivalent (that’s why I only said ‘quite well’ haha). But at least there is a range of prices, unlike with matchday tickets.

They should adopt the same kind of range with matchday tickets. Instead of £71-£88 which you often see for Coty home games… make it £25-£88, with £25 tickets in the front row where you can’t see the ball or the players lower legs over on the other side of the pitch, or on the back five rows of the 3rd tiers.
 

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