"We aren’t the global powerhouse our club seem to think we are"
WE ARE, whatever you think mate
Sorry, but ignoring the language of "global powerhouse" for a second, he's right in that we've got a hardcore support of about 40-45k who go to every home game, and there probably would be c10k who would go to every away game were it possible. on top of that there's a fanbase of c100k who go anytime between once and a dozen times a year- these people don't go more often due to a combination of cost, difficulty of getting tickets, and the club's restrictions on enticing new people into the fold.
The rest are one-offs, tourists, call them what you will - and up to last year, filled in any gaps - maybe the success, maybe the Haaland factor, who knows, but these people aren't around this year and wont do midweeks at the Etihad. The club probably relied on them being there and so kept pricing and availability high for them and are now finding out they need the local and new support more than they thought.
So, when you've got 33000 seats to fill 200 miles away for a match without a trophy, there's a big challenge there. No potential historic outcome at the end, expense and hassle of getting there/back, and its live on council telly.
We really are in the worst position on this compared to EVERY other club - it's not a rare occasion (yes it could be the last time ever but no-one really believes that), its now not a special day out, we're 200 miles away unlike most of the rest of the Premier League and any other opposition we may meet at Wembley, and we don't have the slack filled by thousands flying every week from Ireland or Scandinavia.
So 25k going is a great thing, we should be proud of that.