james_mcfc

Posted this on your match thread before, just noticed this one. As for the accusation of sick chants, thankfully it's yet another example of people making shite up on twitter. An absolutely horrific suggestion.

Firstly, well done - you were the better team and deserved the win. We were very poor (probably the worst I've seen them under Mancini to be honest) and although a lot of players who I wouldn't consider 'first choice' played, I'm pretty concerned about our inability to hold a lead because it's been a recurring theme this season so far. Needs sorting out. On a different note, regarding the Petrov/19th minute clapping thing, I stand near the away fans but I was a bit disappointed with the 'no respect' chant from the away end because the City fans didn't join in - the City fans genuinely didn't have a clue what was going on. I remembered halfway through and tried to join in but if we'd been told about it everyone would've joined in rather than wondering what was going on (we did something identical for Neil Young in 2011 before he died). Anyway, you'll probably know it yourselves, but you'll be alright with Paul Lambert. Just needs the time to get your team playing his way.

You speak too soon, we're moving to Nike after this season Gutted. Umbro have been fantastic to us, absolutely love this year's away kit. You were, by a country mile. I was pretty shocked at the Chelsea support actually, it all just seemed very (as I said before) casual. I guess they really didn't give a toss. Although as I heard a bloke behind me say to his mate at one point - 'you gave a toss when we were 1-0 up and it was 11v11 ;)' Haha, good to hear a neutral perspective. As I say, had a cracking time and wish this was the permanent venue. Much more suited.

City fan here, went to the game yesterday. Have to say, I'm glad the game was moved to VP - had a great time; and it seems to be a unanimous opinion among everyone who went that it was a much better trip overall than Wembley last year - proper football ground and a cracking atmosphere, sounded louder even with 10k less tickets. Perhaps because the ground is smaller it allowed the songs to catch on better, but my (biased) opinion was that we were by far the louder of the two sets. Wish holding it at Villa Park wasn't a one off.

Ha ha ha ha! You must smoke some silly stuff in Manc land. It's unlikely but you forget Blackburn won there this season! Hopefully Given and Dunney can help out their old club. No doubt Given will be sent off in the first minute for deliberate handball in his own box, this is at the shithole after all.

I'm a Villa fan for today, please do those bastards for us. Please.

The problem being, the internet doesn't really say how long it actually takes to get back after the game now does it? I was only looking for a bit of help rather than a few sarcastic comments. Thanks for helping mate.

Alright lads, City fan in peace. Got myself a ticket for the game at VP in a week and a half and looking for travel advice as it's my first time to go there, and figured you'd be the best people to ask. Going to be booking trains tonight so need to know a couple of things. Firstly, what's the closest station to the ground, and secondly how long would it take to get back to New Street after the game. Cheers. (Looking forward to it btw, was at Goodison last night. Proper shithole compounded by a shit result.)

Hear hear. I hope the guy is alright - they were treating him for ages and ages, when it all calmed down. The whole thing is an utter shambles and a disgrace. From the Guidance (not law) on how all seater ground safety certificates should be managed, to council clowns, to private stewarding companies there's so much wrong, so much that treats the fans as a problem, and that's before you get rip-off prices. Thankfully he was okay in the end - saw him walking up the steps with the paramedic and police (who quite rightly got an earful off pretty much everyone near the end the row for standing back and letting these thugs do what they did). The irony is that the club are looking to our section to improve the atmosphere and are moving the away fans into the 3rd tier for Villarreal in order to give City the whole South Stand. But when we try and get the atmosphere going by standing and singing, we get kicked out for the former. I'm in 110, the block to the left of where it was going on. Us and 111 don't get any grief for standing because I think the club have admitted defeat in attempting to enforce it; people with tickets there are there because they want to stand. Increasingly that's the case with 109, where the trouble took place. The whole argument against safe standing is flawed, and Citing Hillsborough (however tragic that incident was) is wrong. Hillsborough didn't occur because of standing; it occurred through shocking crowd management and the pens the fans were placed in. Standing at a football match in itself is not dangerous if implemented correctly.

As I said in the other thread, I absolutely agree. The fact is, football fans pay over the odds to be treated like scum by police and bullies in hi-vis jackets. It's a far cry from the 70s and 80s where it kicked off every week, but this has sent it to the other extreme. You can't stand and sing without being turfed out of the ground anymore. It's sad how sterilised the modern game is. Passionless.

Not that I don't love the German game, but where the hell does this free food, drink and travel happen?! :shock: Clearly I'm supporting the wrong German team. I'll have to check back with my mate who knows a lot more about the German game than me. But it's definitely done at certain German clubs. As for the Man City incident. It's clearly another example of the way fans are treated like scumbags these days by jobsworth club officials, police and stewards. It's certainly not a problem exclusive to Eastlands. I agree. It says a lot that the biggest danger to fans now are heavy handed stewards like the ones we have. Sure, it's moved on from the 70s/80s where it kicked off every single week, but it's simply gone from one extreme to another. The irony is that City are actively encouraging fans to try and improve the atmosphere and when we do try, we get kicked out. Thankfully though block 110, the 2nd block along from the away end which I'm in, doesn't get any grief from the stewards.

I'd like to explain why this happened, because it's not without blame from the stewards. Showsec have been making a big deal about stopping people standing in block 109 (three blocks to the right of the away end), and they tried to kick out a bloke who was quite clearly doing nothing wrong today. They went in all guns blazing at this old bloke with heart problems, do you really expect that City fans nearby would stand by and let it happen? Because the treatment of this guy by Showsec and GMP is nothing short of disgraceful.

Good signing for you lot, Given is a class keeper and realistically can't expect him to sit on the bench for another season. Great shot stopper but his one weakness is probably command of the area.

You've just done us a **** huge favour, 3rd place is now in our hands. Cheers for that, caps an absolute belter of a weekend.

James, you can have all the money in the world BUT it won't buy you class and decency. To me, the support for the Blue side of Manchester has many similarities to the Blue side of our city and this includes the thuggish element. ....you still can't tar everyone with the same brush......we had plenty of banter and more than a few beers with citeh fans before and after the match....not a hint of bother.....it was only the 90mins of pure shite that got in the way of a good away day.....which citeh usually is... I haven't, and wouldn't want to, tar everyone with the same brush. As an example, I know a number of decent Noses (although I really should keep that quite) as I'm sure a lot of us do, so its not all of them. It is just about the general feel of a club for me. Blues feel small time, aggressive and inhospitable and generally lack any class or decency. Citeh, despite all the riches, feels the same to me. This stems from the top at Citeh for me - Cook downwards - with a general lack of respect for others. We have our morons as well don't get me wrong. They are just less in number than a lot of clubs. I also feel we conduct our business, fortunately, in a much more respectful manner than most. I cannot agree with you here mate. You say you don't want to tar us all with the same brush and then proceed to do just that! You seem to imply that we have a larger cretin element than most clubs. I dispute this entirely. You'll probably find that as similar sized clubs we will probably have a similar number. Again, this is all anecdotal evidence (as is yours) but as I say, I've never seen anything kick off personally at Eastlands. While I agree there has (sadly) been a noticeable arrogant streak shown by a section of our support since the takeover, I wouldn't say it's massively widespread among our matchgoing fans currently. You'll see it on websites (no names mentioned) but is that really a genuine cross section of our support? Of course, I'm biased when I say this but you'll find the vast majority of the fans who go to the games are the ones who went in the dark days and are on the whole decent people. We have our brainless morons as does every club.