the changing attitudes of people towards City and our fans

[Cheesy]

The most annoying thing for me now is having my support questioned. Before we won anything when you told someone (bar rags or county) you were City they would be fine and accept it.

Now almost immediately you start getting questioned, the most annoying being "so how long have you been a city fan?" erm since I went to Maine Road for the first time as a nipper you bellend.

Ive never actually met a City fan who didnt support us pre takeover it really really offends me that we would be anything like them rag bastards.

One thing I find amusing though I was speaking to a fan of a club I cant remember and he mentioned the ground expansion "Why are you doing that when you dont sell out?" "Well we sold out 18 games out of 19 last season so why wouldnt we expand?"

He genuinely believed all the rag bullshit about the "Emptihad" etc it was hilarious watching him squirm

Try being a City fan who doesn't come from Manchester!

I've supported City for nearly 40 years and for the vast majority of that time when I told people who I supported they were generally full of admiration for me supporting a team who were, quite frankly, shite the vast majority of the time.

Post takeover..... fucking hell! As soon as I mention City I get so much shit about being a JCL, a glory hunter, etc it's unbelievable.

 

[BerksBlue]

Try being a City fan who doesn't come from Manchester!

I've supported City for nearly 40 years and for the vast majority of that time when I told people who I supported they were generally full of admiration for me supporting a team who were, quite frankly, shite the vast majority of the time.

Post takeover..... fucking hell! As soon as I mention City I get so much shit about being a JCL, a glory hunter, etc it's unbelievable.

Same here, I carry my Kippax membership card from the 1988-89 season (my first in England regularly following City) in my wallet. Soon shuts up the glory hunter digs.

 

[Bodicoteblue]

The supreme irony is that I keep getting this garbage from a succession of under 30's rag fans who, if my arithmetic is right , started supporting them as they started winning everything after the PL started ! Coincidence? I think not ! We are glory hunters but they aren't!!
The you get the "buying the league" stuff , which truly demonstrates their ignorance , when you point out how they held the transfer and salary records in the 90s
They really do believe the rubbish they read and hear - sad really that such bitterness and jealousy can warp minds.
Still - fu*k 'em!

 

[desperatedon]

One thing that gets right up my pinny is new City fans walking round in shirts,

I have absolutely no problem whatsoever with Blues old and new wearing shirts, in fact I love to see our colours on the high street. However I very rarely used to see a City shirt in Wigan and when you did you automatically stopped for a chat, asked where you sat at Maine Road/Etihad, swapped tales etc.

Today within 45 mins I saw three shirts in the town centre and one was the new away shirt . As I passed I said "smart shirt mate", you'd think I had made a proposition by the look he gave me.

Maybe I'm old fashioned and need to get used to the New World but that camaraderie of old is being diluted.

Having said that I am fully aware that this is the way we need to go if we are to compete in the future and we must take the rough with the smooth.

Bit sad though.

 

[mancunial]

It's the British way, though. Cast your mind back to the Chelsea take over and you were probably one of those spitting venom in their direction, some still are.

It's very difficult for others to have empathy or value our opinion, because we now seemingly exist on a different planet. I recall watching Russell Brand on questiontime talking about poverty and the housing shortages in London and my wife was shouting at the TV about him being a multi-millionaire.

Calm down dear

My recollection is that most City fans were pleased when Abramovich came in, as it meant that united's stranglehold was under threat.

This

 

[East Level 2]

take a pay rise at work, that is one of the best posts ever!

I'd love to but I got made redundant six weeks ago!! - Just in time for a couple of weeks of sun.

Talking of work though; I used to work in Royton and I'd seen the rags at the swamp more times than many of their so called fans at the factory.

 

[dennishasdoneit]

Why concern yourself with it?
I started ignoring it a few seasons ago now, stopped giving a fuck the moment we won the FA Cup against Stoke.

I know its bullshit... Let them concern themselves with us.

I know, i know.

It's just i love football, y'know, thoroughly enjoy talking about it, but it's becoming harder and harder to do so without people having f*cking pointless, glib opinions, and being unable to discuss virtually anything without needless bias.

Pardoe, i echo your sentiments..you are bang on the button. i love city, but i love football more, i play football, have done all my life, love the game, always up for discussing the game..but as you say.. it gets harder and harder to do so when you reveal your a city fan..when we got taken over, decent conversation with other footy fans died for me, and thats been hard to deal with if i,m honest..feel as tho i only really get a good crack with other city fans now..touching base with other fans just doesn,t happen.its as though no-one can remember us before the take over..which is wierd, cos i can remember everything about other clubs for the past 40 years....happy with city being a great team once again, not so happy about the dearth of decent footy conversations i get from other clubs fans.

 

[dennishasdoneit]

It's the British way, though. Cast your mind back to the Chelsea take over and you were probably one of those spitting venom in their direction, some still are.

I, for one, was glad to see a new team have a chance against the power three as it was at the time. The Premier League has been the better for it, otherwise we'd be facing the inevitability of La Liga every year, and who wants that?

I'll even go a bit further. When Wigan beat us in the FA Cup final, I was happy for them. I would have been happier if we had won of course, and I don't care much for Dave "It was Better In My Day" Whelan, but I actually took some enjoyment in seeing a team win something for the first time.

exactly the way i felt re both Chelsea and Wigan...i was so glad that chelsea turned up and upset the established hierarchy,and fucked utd up ....I was , in a strange way, quite proud of Wigan..as soon as the final whistle went, i thought "fair-play" and shook countless wigan fans hands after the match, saying well done etc..cos at the end of the day, it was a cup final, their first ever, and they won..thats what makes football the game it is..no matter who you are, any team can beat any other team with the right amount of preparation, perspiration and luck..thats why its called a game..i had no time for being bitter, i was just impressed by the way that Wigan had set about us, worthy winners.

 

[Deleted member 52846]

The thing is, places like general forums open to all fans (i know we are but we are a City forum primarily) are full of absolute knob heads. Places like that are a breeding ground for trolls because they have so many different sorts of people they can wind up it's easily for them. They can't go onto club forums and do it because they'd be instantly banned, but on general open forums they can do it to their hearts content.

I don't do social media in terms of 'this is me, look at me' pictures/statuses bullshit. Too many nosey bastards. Twitter and MyFace and all that shite really aren't for me and I think a big part of that is all the tossers you get on there wanting people to "like" this and "follow" that where they just want to make someone else look like a cünt and themselves look like some witty bastard everyone links onto to make themselves look good. It's called "trending" or some shite isn't it?!

So my Internet life is pretty much bullshit free as I also don't bother reading newspaper websites or owt like that neither. Forums like this and others I go on in other aspects of my life, that are specific to the interest you have, are much more reliable for information than newspapers. A lot of the time journalists get their stories from forums or just make them up from thin air.

In real life I've found that when talking to fans of other clubs it's been at the matches and they've been alright as they're knowledgable enough to realise what's what.

There was one bloke I met on holiday a three years ago just after we'd finished 5th, he was a Spurs fan and without even mentioning a thing he saw me with City shorts on at breakfast own morning and said "hope you enjoy those Thursday nights!" to which I laughed and said "oh will do, ta for that!" I don't mind a bit of banter, he seemed alright to be fair. It was his missus who was the dick; she was pissed up one night going on at me about the money and no history, he looked genuinely embarrassed. Which said it all.

Other than that it's the same wankers who've always been wankers and always will be wankers who never fail to act like wankers who are the ones who annoy me the most...Rags! There will be plenty of fans of all clubs who know we're alright, just pay attention to them.

 

[chris85mcfc]

Knob heads are knob heads, regardless of who they support. Every club has them, even us.

Unfortunatly somewhere along the way fans of other clubs have probably come across one of ours and generalised the lot of us, It happens people find it easier to look at the idiots they meet in life rather than the ones that are actually alright.

I know a lot of United fans that haven't got a clue about their club and are just happy wearing their shirt and gloating when they win the league. I also know a fair few that are actually decent lads, good football fans and appreciate the game in general.

 

[casualdeyna]

I used to post on BBC 606 before they shut it down and used to get wound up with negative comments about City, but you realise after a while that is what they want, a reaction.

Half of the people spouting the nonsense myths about City are teenagers, probably posting from school, on the wind up. The other half are so thick, biased and angry with life that everything pisses them right off.

Pre takeover we didn't register on these people's radar so there wasn't any comments, now we are newsworthy the WUM's and the "angry-with-lifers" are positively fuming with us, and will drag up any old shit such true or not to try in some way take away from our success, even if it is just in their own head. They are trying to justify their hatred of us, when in truth they are just annoyed it is us and not them.

I personally take it as a compliment, to make these cretins so angry with us in the first place shows we are firmly on their radar, it's better to be in the limelight and hated than nowhere an loved, Colin Schindler should remind himself of this as all he wants is little old City loved by everyone again, I had that for 28 years of my life and I much prefer the last few years, I don't ever want to go back to that, so the more hatred the better!!

 

[kenzie115]

It's the British way, though. Cast your mind back to the Chelsea take over and you were probably one of those spitting venom in their direction, some still are.

I, for one, was glad to see a new team have a chance against the power three as it was at the time. The Premier League has been the better for it, otherwise we'd be facing the inevitability of La Liga every year, and who wants that?

I'll even go a bit further. When Wigan beat us in the FA Cup final, I was happy for them. I would have been happier if we had won of course, and I don't care much for Dave "It was Better In My Day" Whelan, but I actually took some enjoyment in seeing a team win something for the first time.

Agree.

My primary thought at the end of the game was that whilst it was disappointing to lose, imagine how happy every Latic would be right now, particularly those following us back up the M6. We stopped to congratulate loads of them on the way back to the car and in service stations on the way home. For them, it must have been an even better feeling than when we beat Stoke; because of the money we knew we were going to start challenging and if we hadn't won it that year, we'd have won one sooner or later, it was just a matter of time, but for them, they may not get another chance for years.

In one service station, there was a little lad, can't have been more than 6, wearing a Wigan shirt and a blue and white jester's hat. He was obviously buzzing from the match and was running around like a nutcase. He nearly ran into us on our way out (walking) and when he looked up and saw we had City shirts on he looked terrified for a moment but we gave him a thumbs up and said well done and he looked, if possible, even happier than he had been before.

We'll win plenty more trophies over the next few years, that could be Wigan's only one, ever.

 

[OB1]

It doesn't bother me too much when fans of other teams talk shite. Five minutes with Google supporting my comments usually shuts them up. Be it Gibson at the swamp, Harding then Abramovich at Chelsea, Fiszman at Arsenal (something their own fans don't know about even though his investment wasn't that long in the past) down to Whelan, Al Fayed, Madjeski and others too numerous to mention.
But some fans of certain clubs really piss me off: For example Everton fans who spend half their time criticising our spending and the other half pleading with Kenwright to sell to a rich owner so they can do exactly the same. Or Liverpool fans with their 'istry comments. We won the FA Cup three times before Liverpool won it, we won the League Cup twice before Liverpool won it and we won a European trophy before them. No history though. And it's a similar story with Chelsea: it took them until 2005 (with money from Harding and Abramovich) to catch us up in terms of major trophies which is strange as we "had no history".
Most other fans initially welcomed our good fortune as it broke up the dominance of a few clubs but that reaction is fading slightly.
What really winds me up though is professional pundits, commentators and journalists who come out with complete bollox. These people are paid to give a bit of insight rather than repeat a load of shit they've heard in the pub.
Shearer asking what Balotelli had ever achieved being a prime example. More than you, you Geordie dullard.
Lawrenson claimed we'd thrown away a ten point lead in the title winning season. It was never, ever ten points even if we played before the rags on a particular weekend. I think the maximum lead was eight points with them having a game in hand. Our maximum lead with the same number of games played was five points. - They of course threw away a genuine eight point lead but that's another matter. Then there are those who talked about the "size of our squad" as though our 25 man squad had more players than any other 25 man squad.
These mutant whores (and the clowns in the written media) are the ones to worry about as gullible fans believe the crap they produce.
And it doesn't help that some of our own fans believe it as they can't be arsed checking. Mind you, some still believe we were top at Christmas in the season we went down.

take a pay rise at work, that is one of the best posts ever!

It is a very good post.

I really don't usually care what other supporters think: it's not as if I hold other clubs or their fans, en masse, in high regard. Can't say that our success and wealth has caused any undue issues with other supporters although the nature of banter inevitably is influenced by the respective situations of the club's involved.

I don't go on general football forums and I only follow other blues or media types etc on Twitter. I tend to avoid interacting online with supporters of other clubs unless they invade a City forum so most conversations with other supporters tend to be in person and I find people tend to be more agreeable in those circumstances.

 

[Saif1994]

That is a good post just above btw^

I just have to say that we shouldn't be worried that people have a negative attitude towards the club. We should be worried if they didn't. People show a lot of emotion when they feel threatened and thats exactly what is happening here.

Clubs that have won a lot or are showing signs of dominance e.g. Bayern or Barcelona make most people instantly dislike them and they go to great lengths within what they can do to influence it for the worse. Most people will just have the internet to spurt out their false facts to try and play a part in this but at the end of the day it doesn't make any difference at all. Quite often you will come across a comment from a united fan on an Arsenal related topic and they'll say something like 'money can't buy class' or 'football won'. Its just a load of crap. If it makes them feel better so be it. The only thing we can do as fans is continue to support the club as much as we can and hope we win as many titles as possible.

As for replying to people on the internet, you should try as the guy above does. Because some people see comments like 'City bought the title' and they believe it when an overwhelming number of people have liked it or retweeted it. Either way, you shouldn't be worried because another benefit of transfers is they bring with them a bucket load of fans! Jesus Navas and Negredo brought a ton of Spanish fans for example. Sooner or later if we win titles while playing attractive football and using our youth academy we will gain a lot of admirers.

*Btw most Pundits know nothing about football... The only reasonable person out of 100s of them I've seen is Graeme Souness.

 

[Yaya_Tony]

One thing that gets right up my pinny is new City fans walking round in shirts,

I have absolutely no problem whatsoever with Blues old and new wearing shirts, in fact I love to see our colours on the high street. However I very rarely used to see a City shirt in Wigan and when you did you automatically stopped for a chat, asked where you sat at Maine Road/Etihad, swapped tales etc.

Today within 45 mins I saw three shirts in the town centre and one was the new away shirt . As I passed I said "smart shirt mate", you'd think I had made a proposition by the look he gave me.

Maybe I'm old fashioned and need to get used to the New World but that camaraderie of old is being diluted.

Having said that I am fully aware that this is the way we need to go if we are to compete in the future and we must take the rough with the smooth.

Bit sad though.

A few years ago I said a similar thing to my daughter who was only about 5 at the time "If you ever see a Blue in the street you can say "alright mate" and he will nod back or say "hi Blue" back". To prove it I tried it in our own fair city on Market St in front of her and looked like a right tit when we got blanked (we were both in colours too). Shame.

I used to go on a website where City fans were a minority from about 2004/5 and after the takeover happened attitudes towards us as a Club completely changed. I gave it back for a few years and ultimately fucked it off, just not worth the hassle. Was hindering my enjoyment of what was happening in reality when I had to make excuses for it and explain it all the time to no marks who believe what they are told by the "experts".

 

[Nebuchadnezzar]

It isn't a problem for a fan that has been behind the team since before the takeover. Its the new ones I feel for.

I did some temporary office work in London last summer, and there was a mix of fans in there. Arsenal, Tottenham, Chelsea, West Ham, and some rags. The three rags were from Leicester, Northern Ireland and Scotland. Upon learning which team I supported, the Irish one smugly asked how long I had supported City for. I told him my first game was 1994, and he went on as normal. But length of support is the question i've faced most from other fans.

 

[IanBishopsHaircut]

One thing that gets right up my pinny is new City fans walking round in shirts,

I have absolutely no problem whatsoever with Blues old and new wearing shirts, in fact I love to see our colours on the high street. However I very rarely used to see a City shirt in Wigan and when you did you automatically stopped for a chat, asked where you sat at Maine Road/Etihad, swapped tales etc.

Today within 45 mins I saw three shirts in the town centre and one was the new away shirt . As I passed I said "smart shirt mate", you'd think I had made a proposition by the look he gave me.

Maybe I'm old fashioned and need to get used to the New World but that camaraderie of old is being diluted.

Having said that I am fully aware that this is the way we need to go if we are to compete in the future and we must take the rough with the smooth.

Bit sad though.

A few years ago I said a similar thing to my daughter who was only about 5 at the time "If you ever see a Blue in the street you can say "alright mate" and he will nod back or say "hi Blue" back". To prove it I tried it in our own fair city on Market St in front of her and looked like a right tit when we got blanked (we were both in colours too). Shame.

I used to go on a website where City fans were a minority from about 2004/5 and after the takeover happened attitudes towards us as a Club completely changed. I gave it back for a few years and ultimately fucked it off, just not worth the hassle. Was hindering my enjoyment of what was happening in reality when I had to make excuses for it and explain it all the time to no marks who believe what they are told by the "experts".

Only time I ever wear any colours at all is on holiday...and it used to be if you ever saw someone with a city shirt on when abroad they were generally from the area and you could have a good chat...not been on holiday for a handful of years due to having a young family...but it would be interesting to see the change

 

[BibbyBlue85]

One thing that gets right up my pinny is new City fans walking round in shirts,

I have absolutely no problem whatsoever with Blues old and new wearing shirts, in fact I love to see our colours on the high street. However I very rarely used to see a City shirt in Wigan and when you did you automatically stopped for a chat, asked where you sat at Maine Road/Etihad, swapped tales etc.

Today within 45 mins I saw three shirts in the town centre and one was the new away shirt . As I passed I said "smart shirt mate", you'd think I had made a proposition by the look he gave me.

Maybe I'm old fashioned and need to get used to the New World but that camaraderie of old is being diluted.

Having said that I am fully aware that this is the way we need to go if we are to compete in the future and we must take the rough with the smooth.

Bit sad though.

A few years ago I said a similar thing to my daughter who was only about 5 at the time "If you ever see a Blue in the street you can say "alright mate" and he will nod back or say "hi Blue" back". To prove it I tried it in our own fair city on Market St in front of her and looked like a right tit when we got blanked (we were both in colours too). Shame.

I used to go on a website where City fans were a minority from about 2004/5 and after the takeover happened attitudes towards us as a Club completely changed. I gave it back for a few years and ultimately fucked it off, just not worth the hassle. Was hindering my enjoyment of what was happening in reality when I had to make excuses for it and explain it all the time to no marks who believe what they are told by the "experts".

I always make an effort to let on to blues I see out and about. What you're both saying is true though, that feeling of camaraderie is slowly being diluted

 

[Nebuchadnezzar]

I'll add that the amount of abuse i've received from passing cars when wearing a City shirt (not that i'm hard, they just never slag you off when stationary?) increased dramatically. This pretty much peaked in the weeks/few months after we won the League.

 

[EricBrooksGhost]

I still find the vast majority of other fans i meet quite like city, partly because everyone hates united. "At least you don't support the other lot" is the most common response.

Yes usually my experience even when abroad. Was in Capetown the other Xmas and met various local Arsenal, Liverpool and Rag supporters etc; got no moneybags, how long have you supported them rubbish. I had the non rags singing it should have been ten at the resident rags in my sister in laws local. Quite simply they are universally hated.