FinchFarmBlue
Player Valuation: £8m
Whilst I would be surprised if anyone felt any sympathy full stop for Man City, not really an eyeopener that the following genuine old skool City fan has moreorless had enough of the Sheikh roadshow.
"I don't consider my season ticket to be good value.
Good value next to other ridiculous prices in the Pemiership maybe. But 'good value' in any other walk of life? No.
They know they have us tied in and they know that we will turn up no matter what, that's why football clubs charge these prices and then point to other clubs doing the same and say that it is good value compared to other pi$$ takers.
Anyway, there are some things that I don't like about the way City (or any team) go about winning things by throwing money at it. But that is the fault of English football. It is impossible to challenge for anything in the English game without doing so. So whilst it might not be ideal and I might not like it, I blame the people running the game for the situation in the first place. They aren't interested in true competition anymore, so this is what they get.
Finally, I can't really agree with the people spouting about how they are looking after the fans at the moment.
I think Garry Cook is a bull$hit merchant of the highest order.
He loves talking the talk about fans and buying people drinks in order to gain his reputation as 'a top bloke.'
But everything he has said about looking after the loyal fans has just been soundbites. What exactly has he backed it up with.
Whilst millions are being wasted all over the club and everyone is coining it in, the following has happened and it goes against all his rhetoric.
Season ticket prices - raised next year by a significant amount
North Stand season ticket holders - chucked out of seats they have had since Maine Road.
Other season ticket holders - told to move now or be forced to move next season when they are shafted in favour of corporate fans.
Box prices - increased next year by a ridiculous percentage.
Parking prices at the ground - Increased next year by a ridiculous percentage
Food and drink in the ground - increased next year
The one nod to the fans has been giving the people who were shafted in the North Stand the chance to get a £250 ticket (in the $hit seats though).
Now, after doing this, they have realised that their family stand idea was ridiculous, can't fill the whole stand and are now begging some of those people to go back to their old seats.
Not a bad offer, you might think, but they insist that, despite the hassle that they caused people (queueing up for hours, taking time off to sort a new ticket) that they go back and pay the full, more expensive price. BUT, and this is the sly bit, after next season, people who do go back will be paying prices that are in line with the Colin Bell Stand and the other side of the pitch stand - yet they will still be sat in their 'behind the goal' seats that are nowhere near as good as the seats in the other stands.
Just another attempt to shaft them for every last penny.
You might be able to tell, I don't like Cook. His rhetoric sounds good, but his actions don't back it up.
He is only interested in attrcting as many 'new fans' as he can. The sort of mugs who flock to Old Trafford and spend loads in the Superstore, whilst people who used to go are at FC United or somewhere.
Anyone who filled in any of his surveys (laughable used as the justification for the season ticket shake up) can see that the questions were slanted to take on board the views of people who rarely go (What would make you go more etc? What could improve the 'matchday experience' to encourage you to buy more tickets?). One of the questions was 'How long have you been coming to watch City? 1 year, 2-3 years, 4-5 years, other.
Everyone I know would be other. But that isn't the sort of feedback they really want. They were interested in the views people who they can entice to come who usually don't.
All the above sounds very ungrateful, but I would love him to justify how they can not give a $hit about cost, profit or break even points in any area of the business, with every man and his dog (players, agents, staff, commercial partners) raping the club for money, yet when it comes to the loyal fans take steps to sqeeuze every last penny out of them.
If anyone mentions them wanting to run the club as a financially viable entity, and this is how they can do it, I will laugh in their face. It is impossible. Chelsea can't do it, and City's expenditure makes them look like small fry. That is spin and bull$hit that some people have lapped up.
Mind you, at least I'll be able to buy a ten foot hot dog and some merchadise on 'City Street' or whatever it is going to be called.
Sounds ungrateful, doesn't it? But I'm not 17 anymore so I'm not obsessed by the winning. I'll probably pack it in in a couple of years if the above trends continue. Would be nice to see them win something before then though.
In fact, if Garry Cook was straight about it and said, "look this is what we are doing, we don't want a club for the fans, we are in the business of building a worldwide reputation and old fans aren't anywhere in our priorities" I'd have a bit of respect for him.
As it is, he talks the talk on vague matters but the above increases and the squeezing of the loyal fans on prices this season is the one subject he hasn't opened his big gob on. Funny that. You can't shut him up usually.
Rant over."
"I don't consider my season ticket to be good value.
Good value next to other ridiculous prices in the Pemiership maybe. But 'good value' in any other walk of life? No.
They know they have us tied in and they know that we will turn up no matter what, that's why football clubs charge these prices and then point to other clubs doing the same and say that it is good value compared to other pi$$ takers.
Anyway, there are some things that I don't like about the way City (or any team) go about winning things by throwing money at it. But that is the fault of English football. It is impossible to challenge for anything in the English game without doing so. So whilst it might not be ideal and I might not like it, I blame the people running the game for the situation in the first place. They aren't interested in true competition anymore, so this is what they get.
Finally, I can't really agree with the people spouting about how they are looking after the fans at the moment.
I think Garry Cook is a bull$hit merchant of the highest order.
He loves talking the talk about fans and buying people drinks in order to gain his reputation as 'a top bloke.'
But everything he has said about looking after the loyal fans has just been soundbites. What exactly has he backed it up with.
Whilst millions are being wasted all over the club and everyone is coining it in, the following has happened and it goes against all his rhetoric.
Season ticket prices - raised next year by a significant amount
North Stand season ticket holders - chucked out of seats they have had since Maine Road.
Other season ticket holders - told to move now or be forced to move next season when they are shafted in favour of corporate fans.
Box prices - increased next year by a ridiculous percentage.
Parking prices at the ground - Increased next year by a ridiculous percentage
Food and drink in the ground - increased next year
The one nod to the fans has been giving the people who were shafted in the North Stand the chance to get a £250 ticket (in the $hit seats though).
Now, after doing this, they have realised that their family stand idea was ridiculous, can't fill the whole stand and are now begging some of those people to go back to their old seats.
Not a bad offer, you might think, but they insist that, despite the hassle that they caused people (queueing up for hours, taking time off to sort a new ticket) that they go back and pay the full, more expensive price. BUT, and this is the sly bit, after next season, people who do go back will be paying prices that are in line with the Colin Bell Stand and the other side of the pitch stand - yet they will still be sat in their 'behind the goal' seats that are nowhere near as good as the seats in the other stands.
Just another attempt to shaft them for every last penny.
You might be able to tell, I don't like Cook. His rhetoric sounds good, but his actions don't back it up.
He is only interested in attrcting as many 'new fans' as he can. The sort of mugs who flock to Old Trafford and spend loads in the Superstore, whilst people who used to go are at FC United or somewhere.
Anyone who filled in any of his surveys (laughable used as the justification for the season ticket shake up) can see that the questions were slanted to take on board the views of people who rarely go (What would make you go more etc? What could improve the 'matchday experience' to encourage you to buy more tickets?). One of the questions was 'How long have you been coming to watch City? 1 year, 2-3 years, 4-5 years, other.
Everyone I know would be other. But that isn't the sort of feedback they really want. They were interested in the views people who they can entice to come who usually don't.
All the above sounds very ungrateful, but I would love him to justify how they can not give a $hit about cost, profit or break even points in any area of the business, with every man and his dog (players, agents, staff, commercial partners) raping the club for money, yet when it comes to the loyal fans take steps to sqeeuze every last penny out of them.
If anyone mentions them wanting to run the club as a financially viable entity, and this is how they can do it, I will laugh in their face. It is impossible. Chelsea can't do it, and City's expenditure makes them look like small fry. That is spin and bull$hit that some people have lapped up.
Mind you, at least I'll be able to buy a ten foot hot dog and some merchadise on 'City Street' or whatever it is going to be called.
Sounds ungrateful, doesn't it? But I'm not 17 anymore so I'm not obsessed by the winning. I'll probably pack it in in a couple of years if the above trends continue. Would be nice to see them win something before then though.
In fact, if Garry Cook was straight about it and said, "look this is what we are doing, we don't want a club for the fans, we are in the business of building a worldwide reputation and old fans aren't anywhere in our priorities" I'd have a bit of respect for him.
As it is, he talks the talk on vague matters but the above increases and the squeezing of the loyal fans on prices this season is the one subject he hasn't opened his big gob on. Funny that. You can't shut him up usually.
Rant over."
