Roll call for 9 minute protest

[Gaz (FMwkdsoul)]

I went, I rebelled.

Damn the man, Save the Empire.

 

[True blue manc]

A quarter of a billion pounds in profit over the past 5 seasons mate. Don't fall for the PSR/FFP narrative. No-one's asking to be let in the stadium for free. We're asking for a price freeze and more sensible match day pricing. That's not an unrealistic request. The cost of my season ticket has gone up 31% since Covid. For fans in other parts of the stadium it'll be higher.

I would personally love to be let in for free.The optics of making a profit while being investiged can only help the clubs legal defence.31% price rise roughly in line with the increase in living wage over same period then?Covid was also the time when we were first charged by UEFA/Premier League,before that it has been accused of all sorts.Without the charges would the club have increased the prices by as much.
I honestly don't know.I am purely basing my response on the way our owners acted before charges

 

[Lee the Blue]

Decent uptake of people participating in the South Stand and plenty of people on the concourse. Hard to gauge really, but when I walked out I felt it maybe wasn't the same levels of participation elsewhere?

My mate came last night and its only his second game this season and even he joined in. Told him there was no need for him to get involved and miss a decent chunk of the game when he doesn't come that often and he used the word 'solidarity' which I thought was quite nice.

I had a mate who I grew up with who came from Lincoln last night with his wife and young son. He only gets to 3-4 games a season these days yet he stayed on the concourse with us last night in a show of solidarity - there were 4 of us who did so who all used to stand on the Kippax together in the 80s so was proud of him for joining us.

 

[bladdered]

Yes very impressive all round. Especially with the short timescales involved. My mates at the ground had not even heard about the protest.

I'm sure it will get the club worried about a possible even bigger protest at the Palace game - especially with it being live on TV.

 

[xmusampa]

On a night game a lot of people have had to come straight from work, battle through traffic and have no choice but to eat and drink at the stadium as there's no time to go anywhere else. Might be different for Palace.

Nobody buying anything at any home game until end of season may make them think!

 

[jrb]

Why are people still getting reeled in by the usual suspects?

Even after last night's successful protest, they are still fishing.

Either ignore them or put them on ignore.

The next milestone is the meeting tonight between the club and City.

Once we know the outcome of the discussions, we can go forward from that point.

Remember, last night was a great success. :-)

 

[solley attwell]

Nobody buying anything at any home game until end of season may make them think!

I've constantly argued that the money men couldnt care less how many arrived late.What concerns them is when they see no money in the tills from food and drink sales. And considering the club probably made more money from people having an extra 10 minutes drinking time last night. The protest will fall on deaf ears

 

[M18CTID]

Why are people still getting reeled in by the usual suspects?

Even after last night's successful protest, they are still fishing.

Either ignore them or put them on ignore.

The next milestone is the meeting tonight between the club and City.

Once we know the outcome of the discussions, we can go forward from that point.

Remember, last night was a great success. :-)

I didn't realise City were meeting with themselves ;)

 

[jrb]

If I felt as much apathy, as he clearly does, towards a protest, id probably avoid a thread that is solely about said protest.

I read each and every post of his, and a few others, yesterday dismissing the protest and bit my tongue (keyboard) but fuck me coming onto the same thread again today talking the same bollocks shows exactly the type of person you're trying to communicate with.

Put him on ignore.

I have. :-)

 

[TheGhost]

I've constantly argued that the money men couldnt care less how many arrived late.What concerns them is when they see no money in the tills from food and drink sales. And considering the club probably made more money from people having an extra 10 minutes drinking time last night. The protest will fall on deaf ears

A pre match blockade of the club shop could be a good idea.

 

[Gray]

I didn't take part but well done to all those who did.

There were thousand of empty seat around me and then all of a sudden on 9 minutes all the regulars arrived.

I was with my wife who rarely gets a chance to see a league match, and just in case we scored early we decided to be seated before kick-off.

 

[M18CTID]

I've constantly argued that the money men couldnt care less how many arrived late.What concerns them is when they see no money in the tills from food and drink sales. And considering the club probably made more money from people having an extra 10 minutes drinking time last night. The protest will fall on deaf ears

It's a fair point about not buying food and drink but the optics of so many not taking their seats for 9 minutes will not got unnoticed. We can always ramp it up to a boycott of refreshments if needs be and I'm sure even the tone deaf ones at the club know that there are plenty of other ways of escalation too that would hit the club in the pocket. Thousands and thousands of season ticket holders putting their tickets back on the exchange at very short notice for a guaranteed refund game - as suggested by @Prestwich_Blue - is an absolute belter as it leaves the club out of pocket but not the fans.

 

[TheGhost]

Put him on ignore.

I have. :-)

If it’s PIB he went on ignore yesterday, joining Marvin and Burton.

 

[Edghill OG]

I had a mate who I grew up with who came from Lincoln last night with his wife and young son. He only gets to 3-4 games a season these days yet he stayed on the concourse with us last night in a show of solidarity - there were 4 of us who did so who all used to stand on the Kippax together in the 80s so was proud of him for joining us.

Absolutely mate. Initially I thought it doesn't really effect him, but then I thought a bit deeper that if it's an issue for me it can become an issue for him. If I stopped going I obviously wouldn't be driving down and he wouldn't go at all. There's knock on effects to all of this that you don't think about straight away.

 

[Damocles]

I've constantly argued that the money men couldnt care less how many arrived late.What concerns them is when they see no money in the tills from food and drink sales. And considering the club probably made more money from people having an extra 10 minutes drinking time last night. The protest will fall on deaf ears

I would say we should not be trying to solely appeal to the money men because it's difficult to get fans to really hurt them. Again, look at how much pushback from sections there were about a 9 minute protest that DIRECTLY benefited them. Doing something more dramatic like a boycott would be extremely challenging.

But unlike Liverpool, United, etc our huge ace in the hole here is that while Soriano might not give a shit if City look bad towards fans in the press, I will absolutely 100% guarantee you that the people in Abu Dhabi will. They are extremely sensitive to reputational damage, especially as it pertains to treatment of people less fortunate than themselves who are classed as people they should be "looking after" in their culture, which we fit underneath.

Let's be clear, if we had a massive banner in the ground with a picture of Sheikh Mansour on it reading "Betrayer of Sheikh Zayed's legacy - help your Cityzens" then this would be over in about sixteen seconds. But that's very much a nuclear option. City are a unique club in terms of we're not owned by faceless moneymen who don't give a shit if you don't like them. We're owned by people who very much care if they're seen to be doing the right thing towards us, which is EXACTLY why "somebody" leaked to City Xtra an extremely redacted document of minutes in a meeting several years ago that totally exonerated Khaldoon from blame and threw Soriano under the bus. These people are trillionaires and some forum posts, media coverage and an impending walkout caused them to start leaking documents.

They are no soft touch but they are businessmen and, believe it or not, they seem to actually care about things like this on a human level. They aren't ultra benevolent people who will do things against their own interests as some of their actions in their own country tells you but they also have a culture where taking care of people that you're supposed to take care of is paramount. But the message needs to get through to them directly because otherwise Soriano is going to bankrupt us lot and stick a bunch of Disneylanders in the stands.

This is very simple. We talk to the Club's rep in Danny Wilson. If that doesn't enact change, we go above him and talk at Soriano. If that doesn't enact change then we go above him and talk at Khaldoon. If that doesn't enact change then we go above him and talk at Sheikh Mansour. If that doesn't enact change then we go above him and talk at Sheikh Mohammed. If that doesn't enact change then we target the entire ownership model.

We keep talking at people until the point gets across. The more we make this point and the more boundaries we're willing to push then the more successful we will be.

Again, let me be clear here, we're asking permission for City only to make fifty million pounds profit every year instead of seventy five million a year so that we and our children can continue to support out local community asset. This is not some disgraceful hyper-communist request here. I don't want a ticket price freeze, although it's a nice start, I want a drop. They've taken the piss and they need to realise this.

 

[Cheadle_hulmeBlue]

I thought it was really well done last night, with good humour and a sense of solidarity. For whatever reason City fans are not a militant bunch, but the time has come to take a stand. I was a bit concerned that it would get hostile and we would see blue on blue arguments, but thankfully there was none of that. When we came in, the regulars sat behind us who hadn’t participated said that they wished they had done. It also shows the Trafford lot that you can have a protest without smashing the place up, assaulting people and getting games called off.

The Trafford lot could probably learn something from our protest. It felt much more impactful and visual with all of those empty seats.

I’m still buzzing from last night. It felt like a real moment. The game didn’t really matter

 

[blue by birth]

If I felt as much apathy, as he clearly does, towards a protest, id probably avoid a thread that is solely about said protest.

I read each and every post of his, and a few others, yesterday dismissing the protest and bit my tongue (keyboard) but fuck me coming onto the same thread again today talking the same bollocks shows exactly the type of person you're trying to communicate with.

I didn't do the protest as I didn't think it would have much impact on the club ( still not sure if it will either)...but I've never knocked anybody who was for doing the protest either.
I will admit there were a lot more doing the protest than I thought there would be and it was noticeable but I still think boycotting buying anything from the club on match days would make them take notice as it's a financial hit.
This question isn't aimed at you Gazinho but to everyone..and it's a genuine question
If the club decide to raise season ticket prices again for next season ( which I wouldn't put it past them ) will it make more fans give up their season tickets ..as it's been stated the club aren't releasing anymore even though there's plenty of fans who have given them up.
If fans do give them up it only allows the club to resell those seats at match day prices and increase revenue and there is no way the fans will get another season ticket..which in a way benefits the club but definitely doesn't help the atmosphere.

 

[Edghill OG]

I didn't realise City were meeting with themselves ;)

If they thought they could get away with dressing up some of their own employees as the Fan Advisory Board I wouldn't put it past them.

 

[BlueMoonRisin’]

I joined in last night on EL1 concourse(FWIW) and it was pretty packed and when I peeked a view of the stadium it seemed many fans stayed on the concourse too. Although the game wasn't on UK TV our protest grabbed the headlines but I feel it's not enough for our owners to take action but well done all for protesting.

I think more action needs to be organised in our remaining 3 home games and next game I suggest staying outside the stadium for 30 minutes as a show of solidarity that we've been taken for granted for too long. Why should we? Short term pain will result in long term game for supporters sick of being taken for granted. Some have said on here they won't renew their SC next season on here but how many other blues won't renew who don't comment on Bluemoon for reasons of being priced out or sheer discontent on the way the club is heading and what it has already become? We have become the monster that we've hated for many years across town, morphed into a sky blue version of United, unfortunately.

When ADUG considered buying us out they knew this club was a sleeping giant. We proved we already had a large loyal fan base because we still turned up in the face of years of adversity and misery especially at our lowest point back in 98/99 in the old Third Division. When they bought us out things soon turned for the better and our fortunes changed. Our owners had a clear business vision of making this club the very best and they have kept every promise they've made except one.

Our chairman Khaldoon Al Muberak said how much he, Sheikh Mansour and the rest of the board appreciate our Mancunian core fanbase and how important we are in going forward into the future. I feel they meant it until they agreed to join the ESL in 21, that moment had alarm bells ringing of what their ulterior motive was. And their ulterior motive is coming to light and transpiring into treating 'legacy' supporters with utter contempt in pricing them out in order attract rich customers who have no allegiance and affinity to Manchester City, and that is plain wrong and stupid because they are playing a dangerous game that could(and probably will) backfire on them if and when our success dries up.

They've decided to get into bed and snuggle up to Viagogo and other online ticket agencies, feels like a virtual punch in the face and a painful one at that. I feel as though our loyalty has been betrayed tbh.

Next season we'll start to see more day trippers and we'll see away fans mingling with home fans, and there'll be flash points and skirmishes all over the stadium. Ok, the club will get their wish of selling tickets at extortionate prices via online ticket agencies but the price of their greed will be higher steward and policing costs to the club.

It's been fantastic seeing us being so successful on the pitch but it's been very expensive being a match going blue year on year, especially for those who go home and away in England and Europe, it's just that there aren't too many money growing trees in Manchester and surrounding areas these days.

I really hope the club sit up take notice and take action on how we feel before it's too late. Here's hoping : /

 

[paulchapo]