james_mcfc

Posted this on your match thread before, just noticed this one.

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 - we 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).

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.

I'm getting insanely jealous of City now. You **** don't even have the good grace to have horrible shirts.

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.

my (biased) opinion was that we were by far the louder of the two sets.

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.

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

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.

Or, instead of reading this advice, you could always use the internet which will tell you in about 5 mins how to get there. Simples.

edit - took out correct station to get off. It's not rocket science: use a map.

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.

Witton Station is where you head to from New St

The away pub is nearby as is the away end

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.)

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.

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.

From the Villa end we saw lots of punches being thrown and it looked very nasty. After seeing that video earlier it's clear to see why people reacted so angrily and there will surely be some repercussions for both GMP and Showsec.

Unfortunately though, this happens in some form at every ground every week. It's just another example of fans being treated like mugs, despite paying over-inflated prices to watch overpaid players play in a ruined football league.

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.

In Germany you pay for a cheap match ticket, and also get free food and drink at the ground and travel to and from the game included. The result? Stadia which are full with the people who make football what it is.

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.

Let's not argue amongst ourselves. Man Citeh did a good enough job with that earlier when they started a mini-riot with their 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.

Oh God. I can only apologise on behalf of these neanderthals. Hope that they are collared and get the book thrown at them, a disgrace to the club and the fans.

Of course, remember we're not all like that so don't tar us all with the same brush because of the actions of a tiny minority. It's not a regular occurrance, I've never seen anything kick off outside Eastlands personally and I leave the ground near where the away fans do. I will say thug that the policing arrangements don't help matters. All fans, even United's, leave at the same time as the home fans and this needs to be changed IMO.

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.

Oh God. I can only apologise on behalf of these neanderthals. Hope that they are collared and get the book thrown at them, a disgrace to the club and the fans.

Of course, remember we're not all like that so don't tar us all with the same brush because of the actions of a tiny minority. It's not a regular occurrance, I've never seen anything kick off outside Eastlands personally and I leave the ground near where the away fans do. I will say thug that the policing arrangements don't help matters. All fans, even United's, leave at the same time as the home fans and this needs to be changed IMO.

With a relative secure place in the league, I hope GH really wants to win this. Problem is that the same applies for Mancini. Suspect they run all over us in the first 15-20 minutes. Not feeling very confident, but being a pessismist at least I won't be too disappointed..

If you look at the teams Mancini's put out in all of the rounds of the cup so far this season, you'll see he's really going for it. For that reason I expect us to put our strongest available side out tonight. Apparently Silva's back which is a huge bonus for us, we really missed him againt Fulham at the weekend and is a big reason we didn't take 3 points. Even still I'm filled with apprehension because this is City and we never miss an opportunity, to miss an opportunity.

Well, we meet again.

I'm glad Everton are out, if we were to get through they'd have been our death knell. We never **** beat them.

This game just got even bigger, the winner has a fantastic chance of getting to Wembley; I'm getting nervous already. The thing we definitely have going for us is Bent out. He scores against us nearly every time he plays against us. However, our squad is stretched as well. Albeit we still have Dzeko, Tevez and Balotelli available, the spine of our team in Kompany and De Jong are both definitely out while Silva is doubtful. I predict something along these lines:

--------------Hart----------------

Richards-Kolo-Lescott-Kolarov

-------------Barry---------------

---------Yaya---Milner----------

Balotelli-------------------Tevez

-------------Dzeko--------------

Hopefully we'll get the win but typical City isn't dead yet, I'm not taking anything for granted. Hopefully the team won't either, it won't be the same Villa side turning up as in December.

So to city fans... how do you rate milner so far? Do you think he has a big future at city? Have his performances justified sitting on the bench?

He's shown some real quality but he's been stuck out on the wing a lot of the time. When he played through the middle against Leicester away in the cup a few weeks ago he was immense, drove through their midfield and put one away in style. Wish Mancini would play him instead of Barry. In comparison to Milner he's slow, limited in ability and generally passes sideways. Truly believe he's got it in him.

It does seem like we've got some right Danny Dyer wannabes going to our away matches these days. I didn't go on Saturday but I've seen some right mugs this season. They do seem to be put off by longer trips though, so hopefully there won't be many at Chelsea when I next go away.

We've all got our fair share. Kind of knocks the edge off it when you've got the kids in tow and have to explain why some knuckledraggin' amoeba is leering drunkenly all over the place and abusing any poor soul in a away shirt!

I know what you mean in that respect; I take my little sister sister to home games, and some aways. By and large CoMS is fairly away fan-safe, which Maine Road was anything but! That maze of alleyways must've been hell for a visiting fan. My season ticket at City is just to the right of the away fans in the corner, I love the banter and some great people around me. I'm 19 so I'm fairly new to the away game lark, done 9 since last season. thankfully I missed the bad old days in that respect and I haven't seen anything actually kick off when I've gone away.

Regarding the dickhead singing going down, we already pointed out the fans who got a slap outside the holte, there are stories on 606 about a few getting one outside the church now theres him, what the **** was wrong with them? Drinking all day and bravado got to them? rocket polishers

It does seem like we've got some right Danny Dyer wannabes going to our away matches these days. I didn't go on Saturday but I've seen some right mugs this season. They do seem to be put off by longer trips though, so hopefully there won't be many at Chelsea when I next go away.

Yeah i think;

-------Toure----Milner-------

Johnson-----Tevez-----Silva

-------------Dzeko-----------

That would be very strong and balanced ATM.

It would, but I can't overemphasise the importance of De Jong. Every time he doesn't play we really, really miss him.

I would play him in the bigger games, but Milner in the lower league teams because he has a more forward threat.

If I had my way he'd start ahead of Barry no question. I just feel we need De Jong to anchor the midfield while Milner and Yaya bomb on upfield. In terms of importance to the team De Jong is right up there with Tevez, he's brilliant and hardly ever has a poor game.

Yeah i think;

-------Toure----Milner-------

Johnson-----Tevez-----Silva

-------------Dzeko-----------

That would be very strong and balanced ATM.

It would, but I can't overemphasise the importance of De Jong. Every time he doesn't play we really, really miss him. I think this would be for us:

-------------De Jong--------------

--------Milner------Yaya----------

Silva------------------------Tevez

--------------Dzeko---------------

With Tevez drifting in.

I think Yaya should be first name on the teamsheet where midfield is involved. I think he's immense.

Don't think Barry should be getting near your first team these days to be honest.

Agree entirely on both points mate. I think he had an off day on Saturday, as did Silva but they're allowed one once in a while, both have been immense this season.

Found on Bluemoon

mate im not a hooligan at all but after getin train from aston i ended up singingin 'goin down my lord goin down villa goin down' then this villa fan came up to me n said shut so i told him **** off n he said he was gunna stab me lol so i ignored him and he kept kickin off so i ended up chuckin a fence at him n he still give it so i asked him to come down a side street n fukin av it with me n he fukin done one so i shouted fuk off u brummie word removed then the next word removed comes along so i had lost it by then lol

OH DEAR

If you look at the thread everyone is taking the piss out of him. Literally everyone. We think he's as much of a knob as you do.

Do you think its the wrong time to be blooding Dzeko? I mean you could tell he has class with his touch with both feet and moment, but he still has to adapt to the Premier League, i think he should be on the bench for a few games first.

Other than that, City were decent, just too narrow until Johnson came on.

Nah, not really. I think the best way to adapt is to start the matches. In my opinion he just needs a goal to get going and then we'll see how good he really is. For that reason I'd keep him in for the FA Cup game at Notts County next week. I think Mancini will keep him in too, the team he played against Leicester both in the original and replay show he's really taking it seriously.

It was more to do with 6 wins in the last 8 in the premier league, you has essentially pushed yourselfs into challenging for the title. I always remember signing Cascarino **** up our team pushing for a title and Heskey **** up our Champions League push a few years ago.

It dose seem City buy players for the sake of it.

Disagree to be honest mate. We were certainly lacking someone good in the air, a focal point for our attacks. Tevez is quality but all too often he drifts into midfield leaving nobody forward. Dzeko will spearhead the attack once he settles and Tevez will benefit from it, because a lot of teams will heavily man mark Dzeko leaving Tevez the space to operate. That however depends on the service. That's the real problem we need to sort out. The strikers don't get any service, they ain't gonna score. Yesterday proved that. I think more than anything it was teething problems from a new system which should be sorted within a few weeks.