Tourists

[Anonymous]

Lots of hypocrisy on this thread and threads like it.

Yes, it is easy to say that "it doesn't matter who is in the seats, I welcome everyone."

Well, yeah, anyone who makes someone else feel uncomfortable at a match, based on where they are from is a scumbag.

But unless you can say that you are happy with the following consequences and always will be then you cannot be genuine if you glibly post some through away line like "Everyone is welcome, it's great, shows how far we have come, we have to do this."

1) If you are happy for the atmosphere at the stadium to get even shitter, then fine (Anyone who is genuinely suggesting that your average camera weilding tourist on a one off jolly is genuinely going to contribute to a passionate, knowledgeable City atmosphere is deluding themselves - there is a massive difference between a proper atmosphere and a crowd full of flash bulbs, screaming kids and shouts of "Go, City" and you know it)

2) If you are happy for ticket prices to keep rising and to push even more long standing, loyal City fans away from being able to attend the games, then fine. If you can't spot the deliberate trend over the last 3 years then you have your eyes closed. There is a concerted effort to make more seats available to tourists and to remove the opportunity for genuine fans to attend (see the most recent, scandalous 'block of 5' tickets for the last home games, designed solely to get tickets in the hands of non members as quickly as possible).

3) If you are happy for a large chunk of high profile away ends to be taken up by people who have obviously barely ever been to a match before, then fine. Who cares how the get dozens and dozens of tickets.

4) If you are happy for the continuing trend of loyalty points to be downgraded and marginalised and for your support to mean less and less in terms of the club, then fine.

5) If you are happy for cup final tickets to be like gold dust for people who haven't got season tickets, yet have been to hundreds of games in their time, yet miraculously available to all sorts of tourists - including many that are not tout tickets but actually through the club and from an allocation that could, and would in the past, have gone to proper fans who want to see a piece of their club's history.

6) If you are happy, like during the Madrid home game, to be surrounded by tourists who want to cheer the opposition, rush to the pitch like school girls when the opposition are warming up, act like they are at Disney World, treat the game like some sort of photography competition, be waving Ipads all over the place during the game and generally being more interested in securing high quality, yet deathly boring footage of 22 men in the distance on a piece of grass with which they can bore their friends, rather than showing a genuine interest in the game, as with the Madrid crowd, then fine.

7) If you are happy for the stands to contain people who are so crass and bizarre that they want to use the match as a chance to a) get on TV and b) bring some sort of semi political aspect to it, doing their best to make sure that as many people, including TV, as possible see them and their national flag in the crowd (as if flags and some sort of nationalism-lite have got any place in football and as if anyone is interested that there is someone from happens to be in attendance), then fine.

8) If you don't think Old Trafford and the crowd there, with the flashbulbs, the morons on the front rows, the morons when corners are being taken and the fools who know little about genuine support of a club, then fine.



People seem to be getting confused and believing that the stadium does not have a finite capacity. It is a limited space. It has virtually always been filled by genuine City fans for the past 10 years. At matches where the crowd is noticeably full of a large percentage of 'tourists' that is not "just more City fans".

That is excluding genuine fans who would have been in those seats otherwise. Whether they are not there because of the scandalous prices or because of the efforts to get tickets into the hands of such tourists quicker and easier then has been in the past.

'Loving' the fact that the stands are full of people who obviously have no connection to this club and obviously have barely been to a match, never mind a City match, in their life before is 'loving' the fact that the genuine fans who used to be in those seats are being excluded.

You CANNOT separate the two.


And spare me the intellectually bankrupt responses regarding the nationality of the owners, racism, xenophobic, small mindedness and a lack of understanding of how global business works.

I am yet to hear an argument yet along those lines that stands up to any sort of genuine rigour. And, quite frankly, on matters much more important and significant to the well being of others, I am usually in a position, political or otherwise, much further away from sentiments like racism, xenophobia and small mindedness than most of the clowns who throw those sorts of responses around when discussing a much less important matter like football.

This matter is simple, until the stadium capacity is increased by a significant percentage then not being concerned about the ease with which tickets are distributed to people who attend as a one off is simply not being concerned about what has occurred to exclude the fans who used to occupy such seats.

Dress it up how you want. But that is what it boils down to, despite all the stupid cliches thrown about.

if you don't want glory fans then go and support someone else.

sheik mansour might as well fuck off and buy someone else because WE NEED THEM TO PROGRESS AS A CLUB.

got it!?

 

[Seosa]

There was an Asian man and woman next to me yesterday, they must have bought the tickets on viagogo off the ST holders.
When the game kicked off they sat down, and it took them a few minutes to realise they wouldn't see anything.

He spent most of the game taking photos and she kept on sitting down for a rest.

I was going to ask them if they were coming for the Barnsley game but I stayed nice.

There were a couple of newbies behind us in 117 too, albeit these were white. Very quiet, and not very reactionary for the goals, etc., though they were wearing City scarfs.

 

[southstander93]

Lots of hypocrisy on this thread and threads like it.

Yes, it is easy to say that "it doesn't matter who is in the seats, I welcome everyone."

Well, yeah, anyone who makes someone else feel uncomfortable at a match, based on where they are from is a scumbag.

But unless you can say that you are happy with the following consequences and always will be then you cannot be genuine if you glibly post some through away line like "Everyone is welcome, it's great, shows how far we have come, we have to do this."

1) If you are happy for the atmosphere at the stadium to get even shitter, then fine (Anyone who is genuinely suggesting that your average camera weilding tourist on a one off jolly is genuinely going to contribute to a passionate, knowledgeable City atmosphere is deluding themselves - there is a massive difference between a proper atmosphere and a crowd full of flash bulbs, screaming kids and shouts of "Go, City" and you know it)

2) If you are happy for ticket prices to keep rising and to push even more long standing, loyal City fans away from being able to attend the games, then fine. If you can't spot the deliberate trend over the last 3 years then you have your eyes closed. There is a concerted effort to make more seats available to tourists and to remove the opportunity for genuine fans to attend (see the most recent, scandalous 'block of 5' tickets for the last home games, designed solely to get tickets in the hands of non members as quickly as possible).

3) If you are happy for a large chunk of high profile away ends to be taken up by people who have obviously barely ever been to a match before, then fine. Who cares how the get dozens and dozens of tickets.

4) If you are happy for the continuing trend of loyalty points to be downgraded and marginalised and for your support to mean less and less in terms of the club, then fine.

5) If you are happy for cup final tickets to be like gold dust for people who haven't got season tickets, yet have been to hundreds of games in their time, yet miraculously available to all sorts of tourists - including many that are not tout tickets but actually through the club and from an allocation that could, and would in the past, have gone to proper fans who want to see a piece of their club's history.

6) If you are happy, like during the Madrid home game, to be surrounded by tourists who want to cheer the opposition, rush to the pitch like school girls when the opposition are warming up, act like they are at Disney World, treat the game like some sort of photography competition, be waving Ipads all over the place during the game and generally being more interested in securing high quality, yet deathly boring footage of 22 men in the distance on a piece of grass with which they can bore their friends, rather than showing a genuine interest in the game, as with the Madrid crowd, then fine.

7) If you are happy for the stands to contain people who are so crass and bizarre that they want to use the match as a chance to a) get on TV and b) bring some sort of semi political aspect to it, doing their best to make sure that as many people, including TV, as possible see them and their national flag in the crowd (as if flags and some sort of nationalism-lite have got any place in football and as if anyone is interested that there is someone from happens to be in attendance), then fine.

8) If you don't think Old Trafford and the crowd there, with the flashbulbs, the morons on the front rows, the morons when corners are being taken and the fools who know little about genuine support of a club, then fine.



People seem to be getting confused and believing that the stadium does not have a finite capacity. It is a limited space. It has virtually always been filled by genuine City fans for the past 10 years. At matches where the crowd is noticeably full of a large percentage of 'tourists' that is not "just more City fans".

That is excluding genuine fans who would have been in those seats otherwise. Whether they are not there because of the scandalous prices or because of the efforts to get tickets into the hands of such tourists quicker and easier then has been in the past.

'Loving' the fact that the stands are full of people who obviously have no connection to this club and obviously have barely been to a match, never mind a City match, in their life before is 'loving' the fact that the genuine fans who used to be in those seats are being excluded.

You CANNOT separate the two.


And spare me the intellectually bankrupt responses regarding the nationality of the owners, racism, xenophobic, small mindedness and a lack of understanding of how global business works.

I am yet to hear an argument yet along those lines that stands up to any sort of genuine rigour. And, quite frankly, on matters much more important and significant to the well being of others, I am usually in a position, political or otherwise, much further away from sentiments like racism, xenophobia and small mindedness than most of the clowns who throw those sorts of responses around when discussing a much less important matter like football.

This matter is simple, until the stadium capacity is increased by a significant percentage then not being concerned about the ease with which tickets are distributed to people who attend as a one off is simply not being concerned about what has occurred to exclude the fans who used to occupy such seats.

Dress it up how you want. But that is what it boils down to, despite all the stupid cliches thrown about.

One of the most direct and knowledgable posts I've ever seen on this forum. Well done sir, agree with everything you just wrote.

 

[Anonymous]

Lots of hypocrisy on this thread and threads like it.

Yes, it is easy to say that "it doesn't matter who is in the seats, I welcome everyone."

Well, yeah, anyone who makes someone else feel uncomfortable at a match, based on where they are from is a scumbag.

But unless you can say that you are happy with the following consequences and always will be then you cannot be genuine if you glibly post some through away line like "Everyone is welcome, it's great, shows how far we have come, we have to do this."

1) If you are happy for the atmosphere at the stadium to get even shitter, then fine (Anyone who is genuinely suggesting that your average camera weilding tourist on a one off jolly is genuinely going to contribute to a passionate, knowledgeable City atmosphere is deluding themselves - there is a massive difference between a proper atmosphere and a crowd full of flash bulbs, screaming kids and shouts of "Go, City" and you know it)

2) If you are happy for ticket prices to keep rising and to push even more long standing, loyal City fans away from being able to attend the games, then fine. If you can't spot the deliberate trend over the last 3 years then you have your eyes closed. There is a concerted effort to make more seats available to tourists and to remove the opportunity for genuine fans to attend (see the most recent, scandalous 'block of 5' tickets for the last home games, designed solely to get tickets in the hands of non members as quickly as possible).

3) If you are happy for a large chunk of high profile away ends to be taken up by people who have obviously barely ever been to a match before, then fine. Who cares how the get dozens and dozens of tickets.

4) If you are happy for the continuing trend of loyalty points to be downgraded and marginalised and for your support to mean less and less in terms of the club, then fine.

5) If you are happy for cup final tickets to be like gold dust for people who haven't got season tickets, yet have been to hundreds of games in their time, yet miraculously available to all sorts of tourists - including many that are not tout tickets but actually through the club and from an allocation that could, and would in the past, have gone to proper fans who want to see a piece of their club's history.

6) If you are happy, like during the Madrid home game, to be surrounded by tourists who want to cheer the opposition, rush to the pitch like school girls when the opposition are warming up, act like they are at Disney World, treat the game like some sort of photography competition, be waving Ipads all over the place during the game and generally being more interested in securing high quality, yet deathly boring footage of 22 men in the distance on a piece of grass with which they can bore their friends, rather than showing a genuine interest in the game, as with the Madrid crowd, then fine.

7) If you are happy for the stands to contain people who are so crass and bizarre that they want to use the match as a chance to a) get on TV and b) bring some sort of semi political aspect to it, doing their best to make sure that as many people, including TV, as possible see them and their national flag in the crowd (as if flags and some sort of nationalism-lite have got any place in football and as if anyone is interested that there is someone from happens to be in attendance), then fine.

8) If you don't think Old Trafford and the crowd there, with the flashbulbs, the morons on the front rows, the morons when corners are being taken and the fools who know little about genuine support of a club, then fine.



People seem to be getting confused and believing that the stadium does not have a finite capacity. It is a limited space. It has virtually always been filled by genuine City fans for the past 10 years. At matches where the crowd is noticeably full of a large percentage of 'tourists' that is not "just more City fans".

That is excluding genuine fans who would have been in those seats otherwise. Whether they are not there because of the scandalous prices or because of the efforts to get tickets into the hands of such tourists quicker and easier then has been in the past.

'Loving' the fact that the stands are full of people who obviously have no connection to this club and obviously have barely been to a match, never mind a City match, in their life before is 'loving' the fact that the genuine fans who used to be in those seats are being excluded.

You CANNOT separate the two.


And spare me the intellectually bankrupt responses regarding the nationality of the owners, racism, xenophobic, small mindedness and a lack of understanding of how global business works.

I am yet to hear an argument yet along those lines that stands up to any sort of genuine rigour. And, quite frankly, on matters much more important and significant to the well being of others, I am usually in a position, political or otherwise, much further away from sentiments like racism, xenophobia and small mindedness than most of the clowns who throw those sorts of responses around when discussing a much less important matter like football.

This matter is simple, until the stadium capacity is increased by a significant percentage then not being concerned about the ease with which tickets are distributed to people who attend as a one off is simply not being concerned about what has occurred to exclude the fans who used to occupy such seats.

Dress it up how you want. But that is what it boils down to, despite all the stupid cliches thrown about.

One of the most direct and knowledgable posts I've ever seen on this forum. Well done sir, agree with everything you just wrote.

absolute bollocks.

do you think our plans are to carry on with a stadium of 40k?

we might as well give up now.

 

[jma]

Lots of hypocrisy on this thread and threads like it.

Yes, it is easy to say that "it doesn't matter who is in the seats, I welcome everyone."

Well, yeah, anyone who makes someone else feel uncomfortable at a match, based on where they are from is a scumbag.

But unless you can say that you are happy with the following consequences and always will be then you cannot be genuine if you glibly post some through away line like "Everyone is welcome, it's great, shows how far we have come, we have to do this."

1) If you are happy for the atmosphere at the stadium to get even shitter, then fine (Anyone who is genuinely suggesting that your average camera weilding tourist on a one off jolly is genuinely going to contribute to a passionate, knowledgeable City atmosphere is deluding themselves - there is a massive difference between a proper atmosphere and a crowd full of flash bulbs, screaming kids and shouts of "Go, City" and you know it)

2) If you are happy for ticket prices to keep rising and to push even more long standing, loyal City fans away from being able to attend the games, then fine. If you can't spot the deliberate trend over the last 3 years then you have your eyes closed. There is a concerted effort to make more seats available to tourists and to remove the opportunity for genuine fans to attend (see the most recent, scandalous 'block of 5' tickets for the last home games, designed solely to get tickets in the hands of non members as quickly as possible).

3) If you are happy for a large chunk of high profile away ends to be taken up by people who have obviously barely ever been to a match before, then fine. Who cares how the get dozens and dozens of tickets.

4) If you are happy for the continuing trend of loyalty points to be downgraded and marginalised and for your support to mean less and less in terms of the club, then fine.

5) If you are happy for cup final tickets to be like gold dust for people who haven't got season tickets, yet have been to hundreds of games in their time, yet miraculously available to all sorts of tourists - including many that are not tout tickets but actually through the club and from an allocation that could, and would in the past, have gone to proper fans who want to see a piece of their club's history.

6) If you are happy, like during the Madrid home game, to be surrounded by tourists who want to cheer the opposition, rush to the pitch like school girls when the opposition are warming up, act like they are at Disney World, treat the game like some sort of photography competition, be waving Ipads all over the place during the game and generally being more interested in securing high quality, yet deathly boring footage of 22 men in the distance on a piece of grass with which they can bore their friends, rather than showing a genuine interest in the game, as with the Madrid crowd, then fine.

7) If you are happy for the stands to contain people who are so crass and bizarre that they want to use the match as a chance to a) get on TV and b) bring some sort of semi political aspect to it, doing their best to make sure that as many people, including TV, as possible see them and their national flag in the crowd (as if flags and some sort of nationalism-lite have got any place in football and as if anyone is interested that there is someone from happens to be in attendance), then fine.

8) If you don't think Old Trafford and the crowd there, with the flashbulbs, the morons on the front rows, the morons when corners are being taken and the fools who know little about genuine support of a club, then fine.



People seem to be getting confused and believing that the stadium does not have a finite capacity. It is a limited space. It has virtually always been filled by genuine City fans for the past 10 years. At matches where the crowd is noticeably full of a large percentage of 'tourists' that is not "just more City fans".

That is excluding genuine fans who would have been in those seats otherwise. Whether they are not there because of the scandalous prices or because of the efforts to get tickets into the hands of such tourists quicker and easier then has been in the past.

'Loving' the fact that the stands are full of people who obviously have no connection to this club and obviously have barely been to a match, never mind a City match, in their life before is 'loving' the fact that the genuine fans who used to be in those seats are being excluded.

You CANNOT separate the two.


And spare me the intellectually bankrupt responses regarding the nationality of the owners, racism, xenophobic, small mindedness and a lack of understanding of how global business works.

I am yet to hear an argument yet along those lines that stands up to any sort of genuine rigour. And, quite frankly, on matters much more important and significant to the well being of others, I am usually in a position, political or otherwise, much further away from sentiments like racism, xenophobia and small mindedness than most of the clowns who throw those sorts of responses around when discussing a much less important matter like football.

This matter is simple, until the stadium capacity is increased by a significant percentage then not being concerned about the ease with which tickets are distributed to people who attend as a one off is simply not being concerned about what has occurred to exclude the fans who used to occupy such seats.

Dress it up how you want. But that is what it boils down to, despite all the stupid cliches thrown about.

if you don't want glory fans then go and support someone else.

sheik mansour might as well fuck off and buy someone else because WE NEED THEM TO PROGRESS AS A CLUB.

got it!?

I might 'get it' if someone who could put together something like an intelligent response replied.

It might also be helpful if someone whose doesn't portray their support of City as something akin to the desperation of a gold digger could rationalise a genuine argument too. (No doubt that will, misguidedly, be seized upon as some sort of criticism or lack of appreciation of the owners)

I guess I'll just wait to see if that happens.

 

[Seosa]

Lots of hypocrisy on this thread and threads like it.

Yes, it is easy to say that "it doesn't matter who is in the seats, I welcome everyone."

Well, yeah, anyone who makes someone else feel uncomfortable at a match, based on where they are from is a scumbag.

But unless you can say that you are happy with the following consequences and always will be then you cannot be genuine if you glibly post some through away line like "Everyone is welcome, it's great, shows how far we have come, we have to do this."

1) If you are happy for the atmosphere at the stadium to get even shitter, then fine (Anyone who is genuinely suggesting that your average camera weilding tourist on a one off jolly is genuinely going to contribute to a passionate, knowledgeable City atmosphere is deluding themselves - there is a massive difference between a proper atmosphere and a crowd full of flash bulbs, screaming kids and shouts of "Go, City" and you know it)

2) If you are happy for ticket prices to keep rising and to push even more long standing, loyal City fans away from being able to attend the games, then fine. If you can't spot the deliberate trend over the last 3 years then you have your eyes closed. There is a concerted effort to make more seats available to tourists and to remove the opportunity for genuine fans to attend (see the most recent, scandalous 'block of 5' tickets for the last home games, designed solely to get tickets in the hands of non members as quickly as possible).

3) If you are happy for a large chunk of high profile away ends to be taken up by people who have obviously barely ever been to a match before, then fine. Who cares how the get dozens and dozens of tickets.

4) If you are happy for the continuing trend of loyalty points to be downgraded and marginalised and for your support to mean less and less in terms of the club, then fine.

5) If you are happy for cup final tickets to be like gold dust for people who haven't got season tickets, yet have been to hundreds of games in their time, yet miraculously available to all sorts of tourists - including many that are not tout tickets but actually through the club and from an allocation that could, and would in the past, have gone to proper fans who want to see a piece of their club's history.

6) If you are happy, like during the Madrid home game, to be surrounded by tourists who want to cheer the opposition, rush to the pitch like school girls when the opposition are warming up, act like they are at Disney World, treat the game like some sort of photography competition, be waving Ipads all over the place during the game and generally being more interested in securing high quality, yet deathly boring footage of 22 men in the distance on a piece of grass with which they can bore their friends, rather than showing a genuine interest in the game, as with the Madrid crowd, then fine.

7) If you are happy for the stands to contain people who are so crass and bizarre that they want to use the match as a chance to a) get on TV and b) bring some sort of semi political aspect to it, doing their best to make sure that as many people, including TV, as possible see them and their national flag in the crowd (as if flags and some sort of nationalism-lite have got any place in football and as if anyone is interested that there is someone from happens to be in attendance), then fine.

8) If you don't think Old Trafford and the crowd there, with the flashbulbs, the morons on the front rows, the morons when corners are being taken and the fools who know little about genuine support of a club, then fine.



People seem to be getting confused and believing that the stadium does not have a finite capacity. It is a limited space. It has virtually always been filled by genuine City fans for the past 10 years. At matches where the crowd is noticeably full of a large percentage of 'tourists' that is not "just more City fans".

That is excluding genuine fans who would have been in those seats otherwise. Whether they are not there because of the scandalous prices or because of the efforts to get tickets into the hands of such tourists quicker and easier then has been in the past.

'Loving' the fact that the stands are full of people who obviously have no connection to this club and obviously have barely been to a match, never mind a City match, in their life before is 'loving' the fact that the genuine fans who used to be in those seats are being excluded.

You CANNOT separate the two.


And spare me the intellectually bankrupt responses regarding the nationality of the owners, racism, xenophobic, small mindedness and a lack of understanding of how global business works.

I am yet to hear an argument yet along those lines that stands up to any sort of genuine rigour. And, quite frankly, on matters much more important and significant to the well being of others, I am usually in a position, political or otherwise, much further away from sentiments like racism, xenophobia and small mindedness than most of the clowns who throw those sorts of responses around when discussing a much less important matter like football.

This matter is simple, until the stadium capacity is increased by a significant percentage then not being concerned about the ease with which tickets are distributed to people who attend as a one off is simply not being concerned about what has occurred to exclude the fans who used to occupy such seats.

Dress it up how you want. But that is what it boils down to, despite all the stupid cliches thrown about.

if you don't want glory fans then go and support someone else.

sheik mansour might as well fuck off and buy someone else because WE NEED THEM TO PROGRESS AS A CLUB.

got it!?

Shit reply to a superb post, tbh.

 

[LoveCity]

I understand both sides of the debate but to say we couldn't attract more fans to the stadium without tourists is false. Maybe at current prices, but make the pricing stucture more flexible and we could get many more fans in the stadium exactly as we are now. We sell out every week with probably more than half of our local following priced out already. Focus the extravagant prices on hospitality and corporates and we could get bigger attendances in an expanded stadium even without overseas tourists.

 

[jma]

Lots of hypocrisy on this thread and threads like it.

Yes, it is easy to say that "it doesn't matter who is in the seats, I welcome everyone."

Well, yeah, anyone who makes someone else feel uncomfortable at a match, based on where they are from is a scumbag.

But unless you can say that you are happy with the following consequences and always will be then you cannot be genuine if you glibly post some through away line like "Everyone is welcome, it's great, shows how far we have come, we have to do this."

1) If you are happy for the atmosphere at the stadium to get even shitter, then fine (Anyone who is genuinely suggesting that your average camera weilding tourist on a one off jolly is genuinely going to contribute to a passionate, knowledgeable City atmosphere is deluding themselves - there is a massive difference between a proper atmosphere and a crowd full of flash bulbs, screaming kids and shouts of "Go, City" and you know it)

2) If you are happy for ticket prices to keep rising and to push even more long standing, loyal City fans away from being able to attend the games, then fine. If you can't spot the deliberate trend over the last 3 years then you have your eyes closed. There is a concerted effort to make more seats available to tourists and to remove the opportunity for genuine fans to attend (see the most recent, scandalous 'block of 5' tickets for the last home games, designed solely to get tickets in the hands of non members as quickly as possible).

3) If you are happy for a large chunk of high profile away ends to be taken up by people who have obviously barely ever been to a match before, then fine. Who cares how the get dozens and dozens of tickets.

4) If you are happy for the continuing trend of loyalty points to be downgraded and marginalised and for your support to mean less and less in terms of the club, then fine.

5) If you are happy for cup final tickets to be like gold dust for people who haven't got season tickets, yet have been to hundreds of games in their time, yet miraculously available to all sorts of tourists - including many that are not tout tickets but actually through the club and from an allocation that could, and would in the past, have gone to proper fans who want to see a piece of their club's history.

6) If you are happy, like during the Madrid home game, to be surrounded by tourists who want to cheer the opposition, rush to the pitch like school girls when the opposition are warming up, act like they are at Disney World, treat the game like some sort of photography competition, be waving Ipads all over the place during the game and generally being more interested in securing high quality, yet deathly boring footage of 22 men in the distance on a piece of grass with which they can bore their friends, rather than showing a genuine interest in the game, as with the Madrid crowd, then fine.

7) If you are happy for the stands to contain people who are so crass and bizarre that they want to use the match as a chance to a) get on TV and b) bring some sort of semi political aspect to it, doing their best to make sure that as many people, including TV, as possible see them and their national flag in the crowd (as if flags and some sort of nationalism-lite have got any place in football and as if anyone is interested that there is someone from happens to be in attendance), then fine.

8) If you don't think Old Trafford and the crowd there, with the flashbulbs, the morons on the front rows, the morons when corners are being taken and the fools who know little about genuine support of a club, then fine.



People seem to be getting confused and believing that the stadium does not have a finite capacity. It is a limited space. It has virtually always been filled by genuine City fans for the past 10 years. At matches where the crowd is noticeably full of a large percentage of 'tourists' that is not "just more City fans".

That is excluding genuine fans who would have been in those seats otherwise. Whether they are not there because of the scandalous prices or because of the efforts to get tickets into the hands of such tourists quicker and easier then has been in the past.

'Loving' the fact that the stands are full of people who obviously have no connection to this club and obviously have barely been to a match, never mind a City match, in their life before is 'loving' the fact that the genuine fans who used to be in those seats are being excluded.

You CANNOT separate the two.


And spare me the intellectually bankrupt responses regarding the nationality of the owners, racism, xenophobic, small mindedness and a lack of understanding of how global business works.

I am yet to hear an argument yet along those lines that stands up to any sort of genuine rigour. And, quite frankly, on matters much more important and significant to the well being of others, I am usually in a position, political or otherwise, much further away from sentiments like racism, xenophobia and small mindedness than most of the clowns who throw those sorts of responses around when discussing a much less important matter like football.

This matter is simple, until the stadium capacity is increased by a significant percentage then not being concerned about the ease with which tickets are distributed to people who attend as a one off is simply not being concerned about what has occurred to exclude the fans who used to occupy such seats.

Dress it up how you want. But that is what it boils down to, despite all the stupid cliches thrown about.

One of the most direct and knowledgable posts I've ever seen on this forum. Well done sir, agree with everything you just wrote.

absolute bollocks.

do you think our plans are to carry on with a stadium of 40k?

we might as well give up now.

Is the capacity of Manchester City's ground currently just less than 500,00?

Will it be that way for the foreseeable, near future, at least a few years?

Did that capacity mean lots of empty seats before 'tourists' were aggressively pursued?

The answer to those questions tell you why it is applicable and why you are making up scenarios and make believe assumptions about a stadium expansion that you don't have any knowledge of at all.

 

[Anonymous]

Lots of hypocrisy on this thread and threads like it.

Yes, it is easy to say that "it doesn't matter who is in the seats, I welcome everyone."

Well, yeah, anyone who makes someone else feel uncomfortable at a match, based on where they are from is a scumbag.

But unless you can say that you are happy with the following consequences and always will be then you cannot be genuine if you glibly post some through away line like "Everyone is welcome, it's great, shows how far we have come, we have to do this."

1) If you are happy for the atmosphere at the stadium to get even shitter, then fine (Anyone who is genuinely suggesting that your average camera weilding tourist on a one off jolly is genuinely going to contribute to a passionate, knowledgeable City atmosphere is deluding themselves - there is a massive difference between a proper atmosphere and a crowd full of flash bulbs, screaming kids and shouts of "Go, City" and you know it)

2) If you are happy for ticket prices to keep rising and to push even more long standing, loyal City fans away from being able to attend the games, then fine. If you can't spot the deliberate trend over the last 3 years then you have your eyes closed. There is a concerted effort to make more seats available to tourists and to remove the opportunity for genuine fans to attend (see the most recent, scandalous 'block of 5' tickets for the last home games, designed solely to get tickets in the hands of non members as quickly as possible).

3) If you are happy for a large chunk of high profile away ends to be taken up by people who have obviously barely ever been to a match before, then fine. Who cares how the get dozens and dozens of tickets.

4) If you are happy for the continuing trend of loyalty points to be downgraded and marginalised and for your support to mean less and less in terms of the club, then fine.

5) If you are happy for cup final tickets to be like gold dust for people who haven't got season tickets, yet have been to hundreds of games in their time, yet miraculously available to all sorts of tourists - including many that are not tout tickets but actually through the club and from an allocation that could, and would in the past, have gone to proper fans who want to see a piece of their club's history.

6) If you are happy, like during the Madrid home game, to be surrounded by tourists who want to cheer the opposition, rush to the pitch like school girls when the opposition are warming up, act like they are at Disney World, treat the game like some sort of photography competition, be waving Ipads all over the place during the game and generally being more interested in securing high quality, yet deathly boring footage of 22 men in the distance on a piece of grass with which they can bore their friends, rather than showing a genuine interest in the game, as with the Madrid crowd, then fine.

7) If you are happy for the stands to contain people who are so crass and bizarre that they want to use the match as a chance to a) get on TV and b) bring some sort of semi political aspect to it, doing their best to make sure that as many people, including TV, as possible see them and their national flag in the crowd (as if flags and some sort of nationalism-lite have got any place in football and as if anyone is interested that there is someone from happens to be in attendance), then fine.

8) If you don't think Old Trafford and the crowd there, with the flashbulbs, the morons on the front rows, the morons when corners are being taken and the fools who know little about genuine support of a club, then fine.



People seem to be getting confused and believing that the stadium does not have a finite capacity. It is a limited space. It has virtually always been filled by genuine City fans for the past 10 years. At matches where the crowd is noticeably full of a large percentage of 'tourists' that is not "just more City fans".

That is excluding genuine fans who would have been in those seats otherwise. Whether they are not there because of the scandalous prices or because of the efforts to get tickets into the hands of such tourists quicker and easier then has been in the past.

'Loving' the fact that the stands are full of people who obviously have no connection to this club and obviously have barely been to a match, never mind a City match, in their life before is 'loving' the fact that the genuine fans who used to be in those seats are being excluded.

You CANNOT separate the two.


And spare me the intellectually bankrupt responses regarding the nationality of the owners, racism, xenophobic, small mindedness and a lack of understanding of how global business works.

I am yet to hear an argument yet along those lines that stands up to any sort of genuine rigour. And, quite frankly, on matters much more important and significant to the well being of others, I am usually in a position, political or otherwise, much further away from sentiments like racism, xenophobia and small mindedness than most of the clowns who throw those sorts of responses around when discussing a much less important matter like football.

This matter is simple, until the stadium capacity is increased by a significant percentage then not being concerned about the ease with which tickets are distributed to people who attend as a one off is simply not being concerned about what has occurred to exclude the fans who used to occupy such seats.

Dress it up how you want. But that is what it boils down to, despite all the stupid cliches thrown about.

if you don't want glory fans then go and support someone else.

sheik mansour might as well fuck off and buy someone else because WE NEED THEM TO PROGRESS AS A CLUB.

got it!?

I might 'get it' if someone who could put together something like an intelligent response replied.

It might also be helpful if someone whose doesn't portray their support of City as something akin to the desperation of a gold digger could rationalise a genuine argument too. (No doubt that will, misguidedly, be seized upon as some sort of criticism or lack of appreciation of the owners)

I guess I'll just wait to see if that happens.

you see that pile of dirt with 2 cranes upon it just off grey mare lane?

you think they want to produce the worlds best talent to play in front of 40 odd thousand mancs?

no they want to rival madrid, barca, bayern and the rags. if that means another 20k supporters from london or bangkok then so be it.

this is the small time mentality we really don't need. we had 39,000 average during that pearce season, i know because i sat through every single home game. so where have 8,000 fans come from now suddenly?

success brings plastics but we need them too progress, if you don't like glory fans then support oldham or county because you clearly don't realise what our owners want with this club.<br /><br />-- Tue Feb 26, 2013 7:33 pm --<br /><br />

Lots of hypocrisy on this thread and threads like it.

Yes, it is easy to say that "it doesn't matter who is in the seats, I welcome everyone."

Well, yeah, anyone who makes someone else feel uncomfortable at a match, based on where they are from is a scumbag.

But unless you can say that you are happy with the following consequences and always will be then you cannot be genuine if you glibly post some through away line like "Everyone is welcome, it's great, shows how far we have come, we have to do this."

1) If you are happy for the atmosphere at the stadium to get even shitter, then fine (Anyone who is genuinely suggesting that your average camera weilding tourist on a one off jolly is genuinely going to contribute to a passionate, knowledgeable City atmosphere is deluding themselves - there is a massive difference between a proper atmosphere and a crowd full of flash bulbs, screaming kids and shouts of "Go, City" and you know it)

2) If you are happy for ticket prices to keep rising and to push even more long standing, loyal City fans away from being able to attend the games, then fine. If you can't spot the deliberate trend over the last 3 years then you have your eyes closed. There is a concerted effort to make more seats available to tourists and to remove the opportunity for genuine fans to attend (see the most recent, scandalous 'block of 5' tickets for the last home games, designed solely to get tickets in the hands of non members as quickly as possible).

3) If you are happy for a large chunk of high profile away ends to be taken up by people who have obviously barely ever been to a match before, then fine. Who cares how the get dozens and dozens of tickets.

4) If you are happy for the continuing trend of loyalty points to be downgraded and marginalised and for your support to mean less and less in terms of the club, then fine.

5) If you are happy for cup final tickets to be like gold dust for people who haven't got season tickets, yet have been to hundreds of games in their time, yet miraculously available to all sorts of tourists - including many that are not tout tickets but actually through the club and from an allocation that could, and would in the past, have gone to proper fans who want to see a piece of their club's history.

6) If you are happy, like during the Madrid home game, to be surrounded by tourists who want to cheer the opposition, rush to the pitch like school girls when the opposition are warming up, act like they are at Disney World, treat the game like some sort of photography competition, be waving Ipads all over the place during the game and generally being more interested in securing high quality, yet deathly boring footage of 22 men in the distance on a piece of grass with which they can bore their friends, rather than showing a genuine interest in the game, as with the Madrid crowd, then fine.

7) If you are happy for the stands to contain people who are so crass and bizarre that they want to use the match as a chance to a) get on TV and b) bring some sort of semi political aspect to it, doing their best to make sure that as many people, including TV, as possible see them and their national flag in the crowd (as if flags and some sort of nationalism-lite have got any place in football and as if anyone is interested that there is someone from happens to be in attendance), then fine.

8) If you don't think Old Trafford and the crowd there, with the flashbulbs, the morons on the front rows, the morons when corners are being taken and the fools who know little about genuine support of a club, then fine.



People seem to be getting confused and believing that the stadium does not have a finite capacity. It is a limited space. It has virtually always been filled by genuine City fans for the past 10 years. At matches where the crowd is noticeably full of a large percentage of 'tourists' that is not "just more City fans".

That is excluding genuine fans who would have been in those seats otherwise. Whether they are not there because of the scandalous prices or because of the efforts to get tickets into the hands of such tourists quicker and easier then has been in the past.

'Loving' the fact that the stands are full of people who obviously have no connection to this club and obviously have barely been to a match, never mind a City match, in their life before is 'loving' the fact that the genuine fans who used to be in those seats are being excluded.

You CANNOT separate the two.


And spare me the intellectually bankrupt responses regarding the nationality of the owners, racism, xenophobic, small mindedness and a lack of understanding of how global business works.

I am yet to hear an argument yet along those lines that stands up to any sort of genuine rigour. And, quite frankly, on matters much more important and significant to the well being of others, I am usually in a position, political or otherwise, much further away from sentiments like racism, xenophobia and small mindedness than most of the clowns who throw those sorts of responses around when discussing a much less important matter like football.

This matter is simple, until the stadium capacity is increased by a significant percentage then not being concerned about the ease with which tickets are distributed to people who attend as a one off is simply not being concerned about what has occurred to exclude the fans who used to occupy such seats.

Dress it up how you want. But that is what it boils down to, despite all the stupid cliches thrown about.

if you don't want glory fans then go and support someone else.

sheik mansour might as well fuck off and buy someone else because WE NEED THEM TO PROGRESS AS A CLUB.

got it!?

I might 'get it' if someone who could put together something like an intelligent response replied.

It might also be helpful if someone whose doesn't portray their support of City as something akin to the desperation of a gold digger could rationalise a genuine argument too. (No doubt that will, misguidedly, be seized upon as some sort of criticism or lack of appreciation of the owners)

I guess I'll just wait to see if that happens.

you see that pile of dirt with 2 cranes upon it just off grey mare lane?

you think they want to produce the worlds best talent to play in front of 40 odd thousand mancs?

no they want to rival madrid, barca, bayern and the rags. if that means another 20k supporters from london or bangkok then so be it.

this is the small time mentality we really don't need. we had 39,000 average during that pearce season, i know because i sat through every single home game. so where have 8,000 fans come from now suddenly?

success brings plastics but we need them too progress, if you don't like glory fans then support oldham or county because you clearly don't realise what our owners want with this club.

 

[ballinio]

Lots of hypocrisy on this thread and threads like it.

Yes, it is easy to say that "it doesn't matter who is in the seats, I welcome everyone."

Well, yeah, anyone who makes someone else feel uncomfortable at a match, based on where they are from is a scumbag.

But unless you can say that you are happy with the following consequences and always will be then you cannot be genuine if you glibly post some through away line like "Everyone is welcome, it's great, shows how far we have come, we have to do this."

1) If you are happy for the atmosphere at the stadium to get even shitter, then fine (Anyone who is genuinely suggesting that your average camera weilding tourist on a one off jolly is genuinely going to contribute to a passionate, knowledgeable City atmosphere is deluding themselves - there is a massive difference between a proper atmosphere and a crowd full of flash bulbs, screaming kids and shouts of "Go, City" and you know it)

2) If you are happy for ticket prices to keep rising and to push even more long standing, loyal City fans away from being able to attend the games, then fine. If you can't spot the deliberate trend over the last 3 years then you have your eyes closed. There is a concerted effort to make more seats available to tourists and to remove the opportunity for genuine fans to attend (see the most recent, scandalous 'block of 5' tickets for the last home games, designed solely to get tickets in the hands of non members as quickly as possible).

3) If you are happy for a large chunk of high profile away ends to be taken up by people who have obviously barely ever been to a match before, then fine. Who cares how the get dozens and dozens of tickets.

4) If you are happy for the continuing trend of loyalty points to be downgraded and marginalised and for your support to mean less and less in terms of the club, then fine.

5) If you are happy for cup final tickets to be like gold dust for people who haven't got season tickets, yet have been to hundreds of games in their time, yet miraculously available to all sorts of tourists - including many that are not tout tickets but actually through the club and from an allocation that could, and would in the past, have gone to proper fans who want to see a piece of their club's history.

6) If you are happy, like during the Madrid home game, to be surrounded by tourists who want to cheer the opposition, rush to the pitch like school girls when the opposition are warming up, act like they are at Disney World, treat the game like some sort of photography competition, be waving Ipads all over the place during the game and generally being more interested in securing high quality, yet deathly boring footage of 22 men in the distance on a piece of grass with which they can bore their friends, rather than showing a genuine interest in the game, as with the Madrid crowd, then fine.

7) If you are happy for the stands to contain people who are so crass and bizarre that they want to use the match as a chance to a) get on TV and b) bring some sort of semi political aspect to it, doing their best to make sure that as many people, including TV, as possible see them and their national flag in the crowd (as if flags and some sort of nationalism-lite have got any place in football and as if anyone is interested that there is someone from happens to be in attendance), then fine.

8) If you don't think Old Trafford and the crowd there, with the flashbulbs, the morons on the front rows, the morons when corners are being taken and the fools who know little about genuine support of a club, then fine.



People seem to be getting confused and believing that the stadium does not have a finite capacity. It is a limited space. It has virtually always been filled by genuine City fans for the past 10 years. At matches where the crowd is noticeably full of a large percentage of 'tourists' that is not "just more City fans".

That is excluding genuine fans who would have been in those seats otherwise. Whether they are not there because of the scandalous prices or because of the efforts to get tickets into the hands of such tourists quicker and easier then has been in the past.

'Loving' the fact that the stands are full of people who obviously have no connection to this club and obviously have barely been to a match, never mind a City match, in their life before is 'loving' the fact that the genuine fans who used to be in those seats are being excluded.

You CANNOT separate the two.


And spare me the intellectually bankrupt responses regarding the nationality of the owners, racism, xenophobic, small mindedness and a lack of understanding of how global business works.

I am yet to hear an argument yet along those lines that stands up to any sort of genuine rigour. And, quite frankly, on matters much more important and significant to the well being of others, I am usually in a position, political or otherwise, much further away from sentiments like racism, xenophobia and small mindedness than most of the clowns who throw those sorts of responses around when discussing a much less important matter like football.

This matter is simple, until the stadium capacity is increased by a significant percentage then not being concerned about the ease with which tickets are distributed to people who attend as a one off is simply not being concerned about what has occurred to exclude the fans who used to occupy such seats.

Dress it up how you want. But that is what it boils down to, despite all the stupid cliches thrown about.

post of the year, The Real Madrid game was a vision of the future for me & it was scary.