Yaya Toure and European hopes are not the only things being ripped apart at Manchester City.
The club that are known to their Red rivals from across the city as ‘the noisy neighbours’ are not living up to their name as the empty seats begin to stick out at the Etihad.
During a bleak 1-1 draw against Roma on Tuesday night, there was a spot of tumbleweed going around as spectators eyes averted to the blocks of empty seats that were really quite an embarrassing reflection on the club’s quick rise into Europe.
The atmosphere at the ground had also been low-key in the previous week’s less challenging league cup clash with Sheffield Wednesday, but City fan’s lack of enthusiasm became all too apparent when they left some 10,000 seats unfilled for a match of much larger importance.
The question of why empty seats are happening still remains unanswered. The first talking point is the comments made by Paul Scholes who talked very little about the game and took much more interest in having a dig at his old rivals.
He said: “Do they realise how lucky they are to be in this competition? I don’t think they do.”
The ITV pundit went on to contrast the poor atmosphere with that of Old Trafford on European nights which seems a bitter comparison to make when United have been used to games of this grandeur for over twenty years.
Despite many moments of glory for the Blues in recent times, the Champions League unsurprisingly hasn’t set in yet. When you win two Premier League titles in three seasons, you tend to not ask too much more of a club that hung around mid-table for a good decade.
The attendance of only 32,509 is a bit of a worry though when the stadium is being extended to hold 54,000 people next season in reaction to the surge of success City have experienced. Rio Ferdinand was one of the first to question this move.
He posted on Twitter: “Expanding the stadium for what though? For who though?”
The ex-reds were quick to fire cheap shots at their rival fans, but the success that has boiled over for City needs time to simmer before focus can truly turn to Europe.
The opinion of multi-millionaire footballers also doesn’t count for much when ticket prices at the Etihad aren’t cheap. For the match against Roma, the adult price was as high as £40.
It may be cheaper than the average Premier League game, but it’s still unaffordable or unjustifiable for many fans when they can sit at home and watch it on TV.
Andy Savage from Hyde felt the comments made by Scholes and Ferdinand were unfair and that it is not about fans not being committed.
In response to Ferdinand, he said: “Some people are living hand to mouth and don’t know where the next penny is coming from and he’s criticising them for not filling the stadium when the tickets are £35-plus.”
“Perhaps it will hit home next year if QPR have to put their prices up and they won’t be able to fill their stadium. It really wound me up.”
The other side of the argument though is that the European and cup tickets are cheaper than league ones which means different fans end up attending them. The lack of season ticket holders at these games also means the stadium fills with less regular attendees who are too shy to stand up if you love City.
David Mooney, who produces the Blue Moon podcast, explained: “You can understand people who have paid for their season ticket saying this is one of the games they are going to miss to make it affordable for the year.”
Whoever or whatever you want to blame for the lack of feeling in the stadium though at the moment, what remains obvious is that fans have stuck with their club through good times and bad and it is clear that Manchester City still need time to grow into the diamond soled shoes they are now expected to fill.
Picture courtesy of Smabs Sputzer, with thanks.
