Tourists

[gordondaviesmoustache]

Re: What happened to the "Tourists" thread?

I think we have to be realistic. The reality is that this football club is big business now These new fans are good for FFP. Quite frankly it's a disgrace endorsing giving grief to people who are just attending a football match, especially as the stadium is going to be expanded and without loads of tourists attending we wouldn't be a good team.

I wish people would stop trying to be the biggest blue. It smacks of xenophobia.

As I've told you before, unlike a little band of lickspittle followers on here who seem to have swallowed your self promotion of yourself as a modern day, off form Oscar Wilde, I don't buy it and I don't fancy being like them and feeling intellectually inferior to someone because they do a nice line of online self back slapping.

I appreciate that, in the absence of me converting to that line of thought, you are happy to constantly snipe away, patting yourself on the back with the misguided belief that you have some sort of sad online 'upper hand' because you are a "top WUM" whose band of followers will bull up with pea brained praise of your wit.

But I just find it tiring.

Address the points or just arrange to meet up with your group of cheerleaders so they can massage your ego, and whatever else they fancy, in person. Just leave the playing to your crowd out of threads like this.

Take this response as me 'losing my rag' or having no sense of humour if that's how you want to tell it to your clique. But I just find it boring. Once or twice, yeah, nice one. Regularly and constantly playing to your crowd. Just boring.

I think you'll find the collective noun for my followers, or acolytes as they prefer to be called, is a "massive", rather than "group" or "band" as you have posted there and believe me, they look nothing whatsoever like cheerleaders, lamentably.

 

[Benarbia_is_god]

Re: What happened to the "Tourists" thread?

It's a pain in the arse to get tickets now and it does anger me slightly to see so many foreigners in the ground, the stoke game was the first time i'd been up this season and it felt very strange. Been going up at least 2-3 times a season since '99, not a lot to some but surely our loyalty should be rewarded!

However on the other hand, are there any people from Manchester who didn't give a damn about City until 2010?

 

[sir baconface]

Re: What happened to the "Tourists" thread?

This is probably going to develop in to a long reply. So, apologies in advance to those who are horrified by that and feel moved to express their disgust on threads every time there is a reply over three paragraphs. Hollyoaks is on at 1830, if that's any consolation.

This is is solely to do with THE SIZE OF THE STADIUM.

Let me just repeat that as it really seems to be a difficult concept for some people to get their heads around.

THE SIZE OF THE STADIUM.

Two points, JMA.

First, despite your disclaimer, a succinct post has far more impact.

And second, don't insult your readers' intelligence before you've even started.

 

[andyhinch]

Re: What happened to the "Tourists" thread?

I'm blaming the original OP for starting this bloody JCL I'll bet

 

[Didsbury Dave]

Re: What happened to the "Tourists" thread?

I'm not going to "quote" it, jma, but you make great points and I agree entirely. Some fans haven't quite got over the notion that the sheikh saw Likkle old city languishing in man united's shadow and decided to give us poor fans a little relief. We are all customers now. Nothing more, nothing less. It was obvious when the new family stand was allocated. It was obvious when season ticket holders were getting shoved round the stadium for cup matches into shit seats just so it looked good on the telly. And it's obvious now you can't walk five yards up joe mercer way without having to circumnavigate some little smiling gaggle having their photos taken, arms around each other, with the stadium in the background and their thumbs up.

What does the future hold? It won't get any better I'm afraid. The club are desperate to crank revenue up and "grow the brand". There's an article in the independent about it today. They probably reason that having a geeky guy going back to Singapore with his new shirt and telling his mates what a great day he had at the Etihad is a better long term proposition than gaz from blackley who has a skinful in Mary d's, smokes in the bog and stands up all game. A lot of people believe that if/when the day comes that clubs can sell their own games on the web then fans through the turnstiles dont matter if you have 10 million people paying £2 per game. They might even figure that building up some pent up demand prior to any ground expansion makes commercial sense.

What jars is that this sort of stuff has minimal input into top and bottom line, but it does have a bit. And that's why they re doing it. City's top brass want us to become Manchester United. I'll bet there aren't more than a handful of people in the entire club's staff, and certainly few decision makers, who were at the club at Maine road. Danny Wilson maybe, but they are all being managed by targets and numbers and sales like any other business.

I'm waffling. Bottom line is i share your awareness and concern that we 'fans' are nothing more than faceless wallets for the club, and I suspect some suspect strategy is behind it.

 

[chesterbells]

Re: What happened to the "Tourists" thread?

It was moved because of an argument between two posters that had been reported. I'll clean it up and move it back when I get a minute.

Just got back online & seen this - cheers Ric

 

[gordondaviesmoustache]

Re: What happened to the

Bottom line is i share your awareness and concern that we 'fans' are nothing more than faceless wallets for the club, and I suspect some suspect strategy is behind it.

When were we anything else? Peter Swales and Francis Lee cared nothing for the ordinary fan. Our interests may have mattered to John Wardle, however as far as I was concerned that was merely a palliative for the shambolic way the club had been run for thirty years.

If you relish dining at the top table, as I know you do DD, then the club has to extend its reach well beyond its traditional fan base.

 

[moomba]

Re: What happened to the "Tourists" thread?

And just as "tourists" played a huge role in keeping the club running when we were at our lowest ebb

How?

Specifically, not just 'some people bought some shirts'? How did the club aggressively attempt to fill the grounds with 'tourists' and what did they allow Franny Lee or Bernstein to do that they wouldn't have been able to otherwise.

"tourists" have a huge role in pushing us to another level.

How?

What difference, to revenue, worldwide shirts sales or otherwise, would it realistically make to regularly have 500 'tourists' taking tickets for big games or 10,000 'tourists' taking tickets for big games?

Are you seriously trying to argue that there isn't a financial benefit to the club of attracting "tourists" to it? Or are you seriously trying to argue that "tourists" haven't provided money to the club when it needed it most?

 

[Didsbury Dave]

Re: What happened to the "Tourists" thread?

Bottom line is i share your awareness and concern that we 'fans' are nothing more than faceless wallets for the club, and I suspect some suspect strategy is behind it.

When were we anything else? Peter Swales and Francis Lee cared nothing for the ordinary fan. Our interests may have mattered to John Wardle, however as far as I was concerned that was merely a palliative for the shambolic way the club had been run for thirty years.

If you relish dining at the top table, as I know you do DD, then the club has to extend its reach well beyond its traditional fan base.

That's fine, mate, and I understand and accept that. I'm not living in some football utopia where we are all in it #together for the love. What's good for the sheikh is good for me, in the main. But the club's first priority should be its long term repeat customers. If nothing else, if they keep this manager we aren't going to grow much world-wide anyway ;-)

I'm not up In arms about this but jma has made a really good and insightful post and much of it I agree with.

 

[jma]

Re: What happened to the

And just as "tourists" played a huge role in keeping the club running when we were at our lowest ebb

How?

Specifically, not just 'some people bought some shirts'? How did the club aggressively attempt to fill the grounds with 'tourists' and what did they allow Franny Lee or Bernstein to do that they wouldn't have been able to otherwise.

"tourists" have a huge role in pushing us to another level.

How?

What difference, to revenue, worldwide shirts sales or otherwise, would it realistically make to regularly have 500 'tourists' taking tickets for big games or 10,000 'tourists' taking tickets for big games?

Are you seriously trying to argue that there isn't a financial benefit to the club of attracting "tourists" to it? Or are you seriously trying to argue that "tourists" haven't provided money to the club when it needed it most?

I'm simply asking you to be specific, backing up your assertions with evidence, and answer the questions that you have just quoted.