Tourists

[toddluvzgta]

But even as an admitted tourist, I have to hold reservations about the future direction of the match going support. I don’t want to play the “where were you when we were shit?” card, but there must have been a dozen UAE City fans on my flight out of Manchester after the QPR game, all dressed head-to-toe in freshly purchased Champions gear. How did they get tickets to one of the biggest games of our life-time?

you quite simply should not be bashing the UAE fans as they have every right to attend every match, especially if they are related to the almighty Sheikh.

everyone else can scram. ;-)

 

[Wilmslow Road]

From what I can see from this thread.
Some City fans want to pick and choose their matches, it's OK for Tourists to
buy tickets for matches they don't want to go to but if they decide to take the wife
to London for a weekend and cannot get a ticket for Spurs, it the fault of tourists.
Perhaps they should take them to Villa Park on Monday, not sold out but far cheaper.

 

[jma]

It's strange that whilst there are hundreds of people willing to throw about the cliches about "having loads of tourists is what football is now all about/means we are a success/is a great thing for the club" there is a total unwillingness from the same people to address the points raised in any detail.

It's much easy to throw in an offensive, cheap and snide, dumb comment suggesting that the issue is all about some sort of xenophobia.

In relation to one of the only attempts to address the issue, where the poster states that this is an issue brought about by blues being cynical and selling their tickets to tourists.

I think you'll find that the proportion of 'tourists' who get their tickets from blues (via the rip off Viagogo site or otherwise) is not actually that big.

I would put significant money on the fact that there is a fair percentage of tickets that the club is now holding back, that previously would have been sold to blues in the normal manner, which are now specifically reserved for the servicing of tourist demand. In fact, given that some of the biggest matches around (the derby, chelsea, big aways, etc) see loads of tourists, it seems very likely. Especially when there are sometimes 'blocks' of toursits sat together.

But, to me, the far more effective and cynical way that the club are actively trying to get the tickets in the hands of tourists are by making prices, especially non season tickets prices, extortionate and designed to price out the average blue - thus meaning they become available to tourists on open sale. People were up in arms about the Arsenal away prices but we charge blues something not too far short of that for most league games. Thus meaning that many blues have to accept they cannot go. Hey, presto, the tourist demographic have the tickets then become available to them. That's deliberate. And if it isn't, someone should be sacked for being stupid enough not to realise that that is a consequence of the prices.

And that's just normal circumstances. The 'block of five' scheme ramped up that aim and they should have hung a big banner above the tickets office saying "if you are a member please ensure that you can afford this rip off ramp up of match prices or kindly fuck off. We want to get these on open sale asap, not taken up by the likes of you lot."

It speaks volumes that the ratio of insults or cliches to people willing to be in favour of 'tourists' whilst genuinely addressing the points raised against it is about 20:1 (if that).

 

[kippaxchris]

I also noticed quite few Half and half scarf's

You think that's bad?

After the game I saw a guy wearing a Bayern Munich scarf- not a half and half- just a bright red Bayern Munich scarf

That's not that bad in my opinion as i have worn a NAC Breda scarf a St. Pats scarf and an Aris scarf to City matches this season and of course a lot of City scarfs :)

 

[Cheadle_hulmeBlue]

one of the main reasons there are more tourists is because city are directly selling them to businesses who are selling them at an inflated price to these people.

viagogo aswell.

at united away there was tonnes of tourists who clearly have never been to a game. This is shameful as actual fans now cant go as tickets have been sold out, clearly not to people with the points or to actual fans.

 

[Anonymous]

We're becoming everything we hated United and took the piss out of them for.
You suck the devils cock, at some point you have to swallow.

But did we take the piss out of them for it because we really felt strongly about it? Or was it because we couldn't take the piss out of them for winning trophies year after year while we were shit so we had to scratch around for any old stick to beat them with?

In fact not unlike the rags droning on about empty seats while we stuffed them twice last season and pinched "their" title...

Cant speak for the rest of you, but I always hated and took the piss out of the rags because of their arrogance and their devine right to win every trophy, game, decision etc, and while some of our brethern are slipping along that slippery slope, in the main, we are still the same people that followed the club through all the trials and tribulations that we have endured, laughed at and got pissed after.

Exactly. We took the piss out of them for being cheats, liars, hypocrites, arrogant, their sense of entitlement, the myth that surrounds them and for ruthlessly exploiting death and disaster for financial gain.

 

[jrb]

Got talking to some Dutch lads on the tram from the city centre.

4 of them spending a weekend in Manchester and decided to take the match in.

The 1 was speaking to was an Ajax fan. The other next to him was a Feyenoord fan.

They booked the trip in Holland, including match tickets.

It's safe to say they must have enjoyed the match, the day, and their weekend trip.

I appreciate tourists aren't to everyone's liking, but yesterday was a prime example of how they not only bring money into the City(Manchester), but more importantly into the club. There were plenty of other tourists walking around the stadium before the match and enjoying City Square as well.

The Lads from Somoa also made a weekend of it.

[bigimg]http://img513.imageshack.us/img513/8671/g8fz.jpg[/bigimg]

 

[mad4city]

It's not really the fact that they're tourists, though, is it? It's not even the daft half&half scarves, if we're really honest about it.
It's that these f**kers are actually ENJOYING themselves! Like... what's that all about? You're not supposed to enjoy watching City!! Somebody should set these f**kers straight. Watching City is all about endurance. Dour, po-faced endurance.
I swear I thought I saw one Johnny Foreigner Come Lately actually SMILE after the sixth goal yesterday. Not a f**king scooby, the lot of 'em...

 

[cleavers]

Had two dads and their sons (aged about 7 or 8) in front of me yesterday, in what are normally season ticket holder seats.

I assume the boys were at their first game, as they seemed a bit an awe at the crowd. They were scottish, not sure on the adults, but the boys definitely had scottish accents, and kids that age soon pick up a new accent. Looked like they had been on a spree in the shop, both boys wearing brand new home shirts, with Aguero on the back, and other bits and bobs. I expect they won't be here every week from now on, but they are the sort of new 'fan' the club want, because they spend, unlike us season ticket holders who just turn up, watch the game, and go home.

The thing is, these young boys, even if they might have a scottish team, will now be hooked on City, not many of us get to see a 7-0 win in their first live game, its taken me 40+ years to see us score 7, as I was living in Germany for the 10-1, and only got to about 10 games a season then, and sadly I was back a couple of weeks after that (a 0-0 draw if I correctly remember).

We have to accept that the demographic of the club is changing, some will like it, some will lump it, some will give up, but they bring the money in, so we older fans should accept it, and get on with supporting our club the way we always have, and let the new ones do it their way.

I'd sooner they were blues than any other club.

 

[Ducado]

I think the simple fact is that in order to fill a bigger stadium a fair proportion will have to be from outside of the City and even the North West, not got a problem with it really it's increasingly a global game, I do think that the club will hold on to it's Manchester routes and heritage because that is something unique to City