A little taken aback by the level of vitriol on this thread.
If you don’t choose to protest, that absolutely your right. Personally (just my opinion) I have always believed that standing up for those that have been negatively impacted and will be in the future, is something you should always do – even if the ‘exact’ call for action may not be absolutely definitive.
I respect other Blues who don’t share that belief, but I would kindly suggest that the announcement on Viagogo is a perfectly appropriate moment to say ‘enough’.
I will be there at 7pm (currently on the train from London – and yes, I will be spending over £250 on hotels and travel, as always for a midweek home game), and hope as many of my fellow Blues will be there too.
Has this been rather quickly organised? Would I have preferred a 15min pre-half time walk out? Could the communications have been slightly better? Yes to all, but none of that means this isn’t something to rally behind.
I sat behind a row of Bournemouth fans in the City end on Sunday, who all bought tickets from an ‘exchange’, as I did at the Orient FA Cup game – and to be honest, on that issue alone I support this protest. But as others have said – this is the straw that broke the camel’s back. Ignoring City Matters, no new Season Cards, no discussions on the North Stand, tickets allocations and yes – tourists.
I want the entire world to support City. I love my club, and love that gone are the days that I used to have tell taxi drivers on holiday that there was another club in Manchester that played in Blue.
However, the current situation is untenable. There is a genuine risk of public safety and obviously, the atmosphere is so completely shite because CFG care more about the ROI of each plastic seat than fans (and I am not a totally myopic nostalgic FOC about Maine Road).
But there is so much more – we have one of the lowest social economic demographics across fan bases in the Premier League, and the season-on-season increase in pricing has driven so many fans away – and not just individual fans – but generations of Blues. You can forget us oldies, but it’s our kids, and grandkids that we will hand the legacy of this Club over to, and many are simply ‘giving up’.
I have even been tempted to stop going to home games (after 40 years as a SC holder) as I only really enjoy going away these days. But as I said earlier, even there, tourists are depriving genuine loyal fans of a £30 away ticket.
I have loved (and am so grateful) to what Khaldoon has done for us – Sergio, 93:20, Four in a Row, Yaya, David Silva, Vinnie, Earling, Pep, etc., but the contract between us – the fans – which they appeared to honour in that first decade, and the ownership of our Club has now become broken.
The moment ‘CFG’ emerged as a serious multi-franchise business, things began to change – and none of them for the good.
My battle isn’t against Serrano, Danny Wilson or even the Shiek – it’s against CFG and the pernicious and mendacious destruction of football. It’s not about standing in the way of progress, changing times, digital trends, influencers, the need to monetize ‘content’, it’s about my fucking Club – that means more to me, my family, my kids, my friends, my memories and frankly, my mental health, than any fucking trophy or tunnel club.
Tonight might make no impact at all – but let’s go down fighting.
