Sportswash! - Let’s oil stare at Manchester City!

[Davkaus]

https://www.footballwebpages.co.uk/manchester-city/attendances

 

Average attendance is about 52500/53400, including all competitions, and last weeks 52,300 against Bayern Munich, so about a thousand unsold tickets, most of which were apparently single seats. Still a little surprising to not sell out, but certainly not the emptihad on those stats. There's little evidence of vast swathes of sold seats mysteriously empty from what I can see on the highlights, but I'd love to be proven wrong for another excuse to dislike this club

[blandy]

1 hour ago, Davkaus said:

https://www.footballwebpages.co.uk/manchester-city/attendances

 

Average attendance is about 52500/53400, including all competitions, and last weeks 52,300 against Bayern Munich, so about a thousand unsold tickets, most of which were apparently single seats. Still a little surprising to not sell out, but certainly not the emptihad on those stats. There's little evidence of vast swathes of sold seats mysteriously empty from what I can see on the highlights, but I'd love to be proven wrong for another excuse to dislike this club

My last boss is a Man City season ticket holder and he says there’s a few things around attendance that happen there. You can get a full season ticket, or you can get one for the non major games only (so it doesn’t cover their derby games or ones against Arsenal etc.). Also some of the full season ticket holders don’t bother with some of the non-big matches, so there’s often quite a noticeable number of empty sold seats at those games, according to him, but broadly speaking they have enough demand to add in another 5 or 6 thousand seats and mostly sell them most of the time. Given that not that long ago they were a unsuccessful club with around 32-35000 going, to be in a position where they can sell mid 50,000+ odd seats is pretty good.  I know they’re more recently massively successful due to all the money and what it’s allowed them to do, but they have clearly grown their fan base significantly as a result.

[Greenfly]

23 minutes ago, blandy said:

Also some of the full season ticket holders don’t bother with some of the non-big matches

What a bunch of wetters.

[The Fun Factory]

I love to bash city as much as the next fan but attendance figures are a joke for all clubs. Our attendances are nearly always over 41,000 though for some games this season we must have been a couple of thousand down on it. There is a big difference between paid tickets and actual attendance.

[The_Rev]

Clubs always report tickets sold as attendance.  It’s been that way since all ticket games became the norm 20+ years ago. 

[MrBlack]

5 hours ago, The Fun Factory said:

I love to bash city as much as the next fan but attendance figures are a joke for all clubs. Our attendances are nearly always over 41,000 though for some games this season we must have been a couple of thousand down on it. There is a big difference between paid tickets and actual attendance.

I guess the difference might be that our tickets were genuinely sold to people that fairly last minute couldn't make the game. City will be selling tickets to their sheikh friends that have no intention of ever turning up and probably aren't even in the country. 

I've no evidence to back this claim up by the way, but given the dodgy financial cheating they do get up to, this would be the easiest of them to commit without any risk of getting caught. 

[S-Platt]

Is it not part of the Euros bid as its at their ground not Old Trafford?

They can then sell it for other finals and concerts.

Not just for City fans?

[delboy54]

Just read the biggest load of bo$$ocks about how we should be all supporting man c£ty and what a brilliant club they are playing attractive football, and how Pep has got the best out of Gresford etc in the Daily Fail.......unbelievable nauseating tripe.

I would feel dirty by posting the link

And I wish I had not read it now

[blandy]

On 18/04/2023 at 18:12, The_Rev said:

Clubs always report tickets sold as attendance.  It’s been that way since all ticket games became the norm 20+ years ago. 

The PL rules require them to report actual attendance to the PL, but you're right, what the media put down as the attendance is just whatever the clubs tell them - it can be either figure, depending on the club and the day. Sometimes the media just guess or give an approximate figure and sometimes they don't give a figure at all.

[AshVilla]

[GlobalVillan]

12 hours ago, AshVilla said:

And yet there are people, even posters on this site, that are happy to watch their games and even hope they beat Man United in the final. Nobody likes Man United to win anything but if its either them or Cheat FC then it's a no brainer. Nobody should want these cheating bastards to win ANYTHING against ANYONE.

They should be boycotted by ALL football fans and immediately kicked out of the league.

[Rds1983]

Man City are cheats and I dont like them.

However, it is worth remembering that the financial rules they're breaking were basically put in place to stop wealthy owners (including our own) from spending their own money and challenging the established clubs like United.

Those rules are a cheat in their own way.

[villa4europe]

2 minutes ago, Rds1983 said:

Man City are cheats and I dont like them.

However, it is worth remembering that the financial rules they're breaking were basically put in place to stop wealthy owners (including our own) from spending their own money and challenging the established clubs like United.

Those rules are a cheat in their own way.

The alternative is that you win the league with your £2bn squad paid for by your official Vietnamese diesel engine partner

At least I've still never knowingly met a man City fan

[Don_Simon]

On 18/04/2023 at 15:39, blandy said:

My last boss is a Man City season ticket holder and he says there’s a few things around attendance that happen there. You can get a full season ticket, or you can get one for the non major games only (so it doesn’t cover their derby games or ones against Arsenal etc.). Also some of the full season ticket holders don’t bother with some of the non-big matches, so there’s often quite a noticeable number of empty sold seats at those games, according to him, but broadly speaking they have enough demand to add in another 5 or 6 thousand seats and mostly sell them most of the time. Given that not that long ago they were a unsuccessful club with around 32-35000 going, to be in a position where they can sell mid 50,000+ odd seats is pretty good.  I know they’re more recently massively successful due to all the money and what it’s allowed them to do, but they have clearly grown their fan base significantly as a result.

I was at a gig in Manchester last weekend, (City were home to Leicester).

Walking back to Picadilly station, I saw a group of people, probably five or six deep, with half and half scarves.

Manchester City v Leicester City. 

Half and half scarves.

I can't believe this exists. The number of tourist tickets they must sell at the Etihad, I imagine, is significant.

[MrBlack]

3 hours ago, Rds1983 said:

Man City are cheats and I dont like them.

However, it is worth remembering that the financial rules they're breaking were basically put in place to stop wealthy owners (including our own) from spending their own money and challenging the established clubs like United.

Those rules are a cheat in their own way.

Indeed those roles are crap and limit the opportunities for other clubs to break the monopoly. 

However, they're rules that are being followed by all the other clubs (except Everton). Breaking them because they're wrong, doesn't make it right when they're the only ones doing it. 

Not to mention the fact they're owned by a state, which isn't allowed anyway. 

[The_Steve]

11 hours ago, GlobalVillan said:

And yet there are people, even posters on this site, that are happy to watch their games and even hope they beat Man United in the final. Nobody likes Man United to win anything but if its either them or Cheat FC then it's a no brainer. Nobody should want these cheating bastards to win ANYTHING against ANYONE.

They should be boycotted by ALL football fans and immediately kicked out of the league.

Chelsea under Abramovich were the original financial dopers - distorting the transfer market with obscene spends. City took it to another level. Everything they touch is tainted. Don’t forget, City refused to engage with investigators. Over 100 potential charges is still the tip of the iceberg. Nothing about City is remotely likeable or redeemable. 

[villa4europe]

49 minutes ago, The_Steve said:

Chelsea under Abramovich were the original financial dopers - distorting the transfer market with obscene spends. City took it to another level. Everything they touch is tainted. Don’t forget, City refused to engage with investigators. Over 100 potential charges is still the tip of the iceberg. Nothing about City is remotely likeable or redeemable. 

i dunno, not sure man city inflated the transfer fees that much, they've probably done some decent business over the years, they didn't do the same market setting damian duff for £17m transfers

what city have done instead, which is worse, is artificially inflated the sponsorship market by sponsoring themselves but I'm sure that when man utd floated the idea of FFP they knew this would happen and that they would benefit from it, thats my conspiracy theory with FFP, those at the top table knew it wouldn't stop city it would just serve as a way of driving the numbers up making all of them richer, the disparity now is as bad as its ever been and the rules are making it worse not better, when it was utd and chelsea buying the league at least it was still relatively fair

[The_Steve]

11 minutes ago, villa4europe said:

i dunno, not sure man city inflated the transfer fees that much, they've probably done some decent business over the years, they didn't do the same market setting damian duff for £17m transfers

what city have done instead, which is worse, is artificially inflated the sponsorship market by sponsoring themselves but I'm sure that when man utd floated the idea of FFP they knew this would happen and that they would benefit from it, thats my conspiracy theory with FFP, those at the top table knew it wouldn't stop city it would just serve as a way of driving the numbers up making all of them richer, the disparity now is as bad as its ever been and the rules are making it worse not better, when it was utd and chelsea buying the league at least it was still relatively fair

I totally agree with your points about the artificial inflation stuff - a far bigger offence

I am also referring to their overall spends post-takeover - one of the biggest spends was £13m for Corluka - the season after spending over £50m on Jo and Robinho - operating with massive losses on outgoings too. It’s pretty staggering to look at in hindsight. Long before chequebook Pep would spend over £1bn alone on defensive talent 

https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/manchester-city/alletransfers/verein/281

[bobzy]

1 hour ago, The_Steve said:

Chelsea under Abramovich were the original financial dopers - distorting the transfer market with obscene spends. City took it to another level. Everything they touch is tainted. Don’t forget, City refused to engage with investigators. Over 100 potential charges is still the tip of the iceberg. Nothing about City is remotely likeable or redeemable. 

 

7 minutes ago, The_Steve said:

I totally agree with your points about the artificial inflation stuff - a far bigger offence

I am also referring to their overall spends post-takeover - one of the biggest spends was £13m for Corluka - the season after spending over £50m on Jo and Robinho - operating with massive losses on outgoings too. It’s pretty staggering to look at in hindsight. Long before chequebook Pep would spend over £1bn alone on defensive talent 

https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/manchester-city/alletransfers/verein/281

 

I agree with @villa4europe here, Man City have never really inflated the transfer market; let alone to "another level".  Robinho was a marquee signing from Real Madrid and cost £32m~.  On the same day, Dimitar Berbatov was signed by Man Utd for £31m~.  Those large prices were already there, Man City just joined the party.

If it wasn't for the Jack Grealish signing, Man City wouldn't even have a purchase in the top 10 Premier League purchases of all time.  Kevin De Bruyne - arguably the greatest midfielder of his generation - was their previous transfer record (and I think a record PL purchase?) and his signing has since been usurped by Paul Pogba, Nicolas Pepe, Kepa Arrizabalaga and Harry Maguire amongst others. 

[The_Steve]

12 minutes ago, bobzy said:

 

 

I agree with @villa4europe here, Man City have never really inflated the transfer market; let alone to "another level".  Robinho was a marquee signing from Real Madrid and cost £32m~.  On the same day, Dimitar Berbatov was signed by Man Utd for £31m~.  Those large prices were already there, Man City just joined the party.

If it wasn't for the Jack Grealish signing, Man City wouldn't even have a purchase in the top 10 Premier League purchases of all time.  Kevin De Bruyne - arguably the greatest midfielder of his generation - was their previous transfer record (and I think a record PL purchase?) and his signing has since been usurped by Paul Pogba, Nicolas Pepe, Kepa Arrizabalaga and Harry Maguire amongst others. 

Man City, who finished 9th (scrapping a low European qualification), outspend Chelsea for Robinho with the oil money. It’s not fair to compare those deals when United had just won the league. They'd then spend £118m to go from finishing 10th in Robinho's first season to finishing 5th. They had the biggest net spends in 08/09, 09/10 and 10/11 - spending almost £400m on transfers in just three years is a lot.