Man City fan lets rip...

[PaulPowersTash]

you wouldn't stop supporting them but the interest may wane, I know a couple of City fans who followed them home and away when City were at their depths but they say they have lost the connection to the club these days. I can kinda see where they are coming from, they still look out for the results but wouldn't dream of being season ticket holders again

I fully understand that as an old timer myself. The club and the match going fans are miles apart nowadays. It's not just with City though, it's the way football has gone. It's completely and totally about the money nothing else. Basically greed. But the sad thing is nowadays is that to be a top team and win trophies you have to have the money. It was already that way before we won the lottery. City as a club is exceptionaly well run and it shows. I have agonised about jacking in my season ticket for years. Not because of the owners in any way as I genuinely feel that a lot of the hostility towards City is due to fear, jealousy and racism (at a geopolitical level which is another huge discussion - but not for now). But due to other reasons. Also, I just do not accept that if United or Liverpool had been bought and taken over by our owners that the levels of hate (because thats what it is) by the media would be anywhere near the same level. It just wouldn't.
Would I go back to being a comedy club, a joke of football club, having our noses rubbed in it season after season by United? Never in a million years!
The only way the City fans survived was due to the gallows humour we had as we simply didn't have any other option. It was just that - a survival mechanism.
As you say, I know a few fans who have packed it in but they still cheer every win and every trophy and not a single one of them has a bad word for the owners. Just as fans of any other club wouldn't have if they were in the same position. Modern day football sold it's soul to the devil when they voted to have the Premier League.

 

[PaulPowersTash]

Obviously it's a hypothetical & I dont think I could walk away, but where I would make sure I got to is not denial that the club was being leveraged as a sportswashing tool & I would like to think I would never turn down the route of looking at the owners as "Good People". Yes of course I would enjoy the wins, but there would be a sense of regret with it & like lots of city fans, my personal interest would wane IMHO

I have no Idea about you PPT, you seem like a great fella, but I hear many Man City fans, talking about the "Good People" that own the club & that for me is frightening & more worryingly, in a far more extreme sense - the NUFC fans, out in large volumes suddenly were defending the role of Bin Salman in the Khashoggi murder. Defending Murder as ok because of football is bananas but that's why sportswashing is so powerful.

With all that said, I appreciate all football fans, including myself are hypocrites, so who knows

As I have said previously I just don't buy this 'sportswashing' narrative. Why are United never picked up by the media for their multi million pound sponsorship deal they have with a Saudi state owned telecomms provider? Why isn't horse racing pilloried to the heavens when the Qatari Sheikh Fahad bin Abdullah Al-Thani is a major player in it or Sheikh Mohammed bin Rasid al-Maktoum who owns Godolphin and effectively controls horse racing on the flat and is a personal friend of the Queen never gets a mention? Or F1 racing which is having a Grand Prix race in Saudi next year? Of the big time pro golfers who go to Saudi every year and trouser ridiculous amounts of cash for doing so? Same with the top pro tennis players. Why isn't that sportswashing and if it is then why isn't it called out on almost a daily basis by one form of media or another? Can someone answer that question for me as I am genuinely baffled why 'sportswashing' is only ever associated with football and only two clubs? I can also assure that I have never met a City fan who has 'a sense of regret' as you say for being who we are now. Not a single one. It's the exact opposite as it would be with the fans of any other struggling football club if the same had happened to them. Also, the question I asked is not hypothetical. Sheikh Mansour had Everton on his short list along with Newcastle from all reports. So never say never. The media narrative and agenda is there for a reason...

Edit: As we know both Barca & Real Madrid have just been found guilty of receiving state aid for years and years. Yep financial aid from a nation state.
Does that mean all of the trophies they have won during this time are stained and worthless? Nope. Didn't think so...

 

[arch stanton]

I fully understand that as an old timer myself. The club and the match going fans are miles apart nowadays. It's not just with City though, it's the way football has gone. It's completely and totally about the money nothing else. Basically greed. But the sad thing is nowadays is that to be a top team and win trophies you have to have the money. It was already that way before we won the lottery. City as a club is exceptionaly well run and it shows. I have agonised about jacking in my season ticket for years. Not because of the owners in any way as I genuinely feel that a lot of the hostility towards City is due to fear, jealousy and racism (at a geopolitical level which is another huge discussion - but not for now). But due to other reasons. Also, I just do not accept that if United or Liverpool had been bought and taken over by our owners that the levels of hate (because thats what it is) by the media would be anywhere near the same level. It just wouldn't.
Would I go back to being a comedy club, a joke of football club, having our noses rubbed in it season after season by United? Never in a million years!
The only way the City fans survived was due to the gallows humour we had as we simply didn't have any other option. It was just that - a survival mechanism.
As you say, I know a few fans who have packed it in but they still cheer every win and every trophy and not a single one of them has a bad word for the owners. Just as fans of any other club wouldn't have if they were in the same position. Modern day football sold it's soul to the devil when they voted to have the Premier League.

great post. Many think City and Everton are kindred spirits, looks like we may be following similar paths once again.

 

[number4.]

As I have said previously I just don't buy this 'sportswashing' narrative. Why are United never picked up by the media for their multi million pound sponsorship deal they have with a Saudi state owned telecomms provider? Why isn't horse racing pilloried to the heavens when the Qatari Sheikh Fahad bin Abdullah Al-Thani is a major player in it or Sheikh Mohammed bin Rasid al-Maktoum who owns Godolphin and effectively controls horse racing on the flat and is a personal friend of the Queen never gets a mention? Or F1 racing which is having a Grand Prix race in Saudi next year? Of the big time pro golfers who go to Saudi every year and trouser ridiculous amounts of cash for doing so? Same with the top pro tennis players. Why isn't that sportswashing and if it is then why isn't it called out on almost a daily basis by one form of media or another? Can someone answer that question for me as I am genuinely baffled why 'sportswashing' is only ever associated with football and only two clubs? I can also assure that I have never met a City fan who has 'a sense of regret' as you say for being who we are now. Not a single one. It's the exact opposite as it would be with the fans of any other struggling football club if the same had happened to them. Also, the question I asked is not hypothetical. Sheikh Mansour had Everton on his short list along with Newcastle from all reports. So never say never. The media narrative and agenda is there for a reason...

Edit: As we know both Barca & Real Madrid have just been found guilty of receiving state aid for years and years. Yep financial aid from a nation state.
Does that mean all of the trophies they have won during this time are stained and worthless? Nope. Didn't think so...

Great post & in one way, I completely agree with you; but then again surely your whataboutary is only proving the point??? You come armed with a list to justify why Abu Dhabi are doing the same with Man City.

To answer your question on why is it only an issue for football clubs, I dont think it is. Boxing has been heavily criticized for fights in SA & the brokerage that is MTK & their links to crime, the qatar WC has been question from day one in terms of how it was awarded, the ethics of it & should it go ahead. Golfers were hugely massively for going to SA & many were applauded for skipping it on the mens and more so the womens tours. Man City are not the only ones subject to this critism, but you must accept they are highest profile. I suppose the difference with Godolphin, is it is of genuine cultural interest to Middle-east, where breeding of thoroughbreds is as older than the state.

For me the scariest illustration of sports washing is what happened with Newcastle fans, as soon as SA came into discussions, suddenly they were experts in the Arms trade, justifying murdering a journalist and so on. Literally arguing that murder was ok because they might sign M'Bappe, that is why sportswashing is important & it shouldnt be ignored

 

[Martin Alvito]

The only pathway to exiting the trap is by having the kind of sustained success United had and winning a sizable fraction of the next generation of fans. The media is always trying to attract eyeballs in order to maximize ad revenue, so they serve up what the audience wants. There's a reason that the pundits are heroes of the teams that pull the most eyeballs.

City is as always going to carry the stigma of how they got there, and that's going to bias the coverage. We're fortunate enough to be doing it the right way, which gives us more of a shot at eventually getting fairer coverage.

 

[rochdaleblue]

Basically sky and bt sport revolve around their two media darlings. United and City. They don’t won’t this cartel to be broken. It was bad enough last year, but can you just imagine what they would be like if the RS or united were on a 21 game winning streak on the way to walking to the title.

 

[PaulPowersTash]

Basically sky and bt sport revolve around their two media darlings. United and City. They don’t won’t this cartel to be broken. It was bad enough last year, but can you just imagine what they would be like if the RS or united were on a 21 game winning streak on the way to walking to the title.

I do hope thats a typo and you mean United & Liverpool?
I'm certain you do.

 

[PaulPowersTash]

The only pathway to exiting the trap is by having the kind of sustained success United had and winning a sizable fraction of the next generation of fans. The media is always trying to attract eyeballs in order to maximize ad revenue, so they serve up what the audience wants. There's a reason that the pundits are heroes of the teams that pull the most eyeballs.

City is as always going to carry the stigma of how they got there, and that's going to bias the coverage. We're fortunate enough to be doing it the right way, which gives us more of a shot at eventually getting fairer coverage.

Don't you believe it brother.
Do you honestly think you will get fair media coverage if you replace Liverpool as the best team in Liverpool and start to win trophies
on a regular basis? It just ain't gonna happen. The reason it won't happen is because Everton & City don't have a world wide base of armchair
supporters who can be repeatedly moneitized with clicks & hits and SKY TV subscriptions.

 

[KaiserEFC]

Basically sky and bt sport revolve around their two media darlings. United and City. They don’t won’t this cartel to be broken. It was bad enough last year, but can you just imagine what they would be like if the RS or united were on a 21 game winning streak on the way to walking to the title.

Mate I’d say United, Leicester and now even Leeds (who have replaced Wolves) are on the pedestal above City

 

[Martin Alvito]

Don't you believe it brother.
Do you honestly think you will get fair media coverage if you replace Liverpool as the best team in Liverpool and start to win trophies
on a regular basis? It just ain't gonna happen. The reason it won't happen is because Everton & City don't have a world wide base of armchair
supporters who can be repeatedly moneitized with clicks & hits and SKY TV subscriptions.

You have to build that the way United did.

A year or three won't cut it.

 

[PaulPowersTash]

You have to build that the way United did.

A year or three won't cut it.

How about 10 trophies in the last 11 years.
Possibly the title & Carabo Cup to add this season also.
How long does it take to get fair coverage 15, 20 25 years?

 

[Maine road Man]

This whole city have no fans thing is strange too.....I hear united and RS fans say it all the time....while they themselves have not been to watch their own team EVER!!

Those that know, will know how good CItys support is, ist when you are at your worst, should the support be measured & judged.

Good post.

98/99 season I struggled to get tickets against bobbins sides in the old third division. The worse we were on the pitch the more staunch and supportive we became. United give us stick far worse than you have suffered against RS because you'd have to have been in our shoes to know just how far we'd fallen, and we suffered big time.

That season Maine Road was restricted to around 35k and if it wasn't a total sellout it was because opposition clubs couldn't sell their allocation.

My mate and I hatched a cunning plan of getting in games by borrowing his dad's wheelchair. He went in the chair and in the ground for nowt, I had to pay 2quid as his helper, a quid each, sorted. We pulled that stunt about half a dozen times, then we got rumbled when the wheelchair was behind the touchline only about 10 yards from the dug out. City scored an absolute pearler out of the blue and my mate shot up in the air like a leaping salmon punching his first in delight!

That was the end of that but it was fun while it lasted... "Yeah I know"

 

[Pabbers]

Good post.

98/99 season I struggled to get tickets against bobbins sides in the old third division. The worse we were on the pitch the more staunch and supportive we became. United give us stick far worse than you have suffered against RS because you'd have to have been in our shoes to know just how far we'd fallen, and we suffered big time.

That season Maine Road was restricted to around 35k and if it wasn't a total sellout it was because opposition clubs couldn't sell their allocation.

My mate and I hatched a cunning plan of getting in games by borrowing his dad's wheelchair. He went in the chair and in the ground for nowt, I had to pay 2quid as his helper, a quid each, sorted. We pulled that stunt about half a dozen times, then we got rumbled when the wheelchair was behind the touchline only about 10 yards from the dug out. City scored an absolute pearler out of the blue and my mate shot up in the air like a leaping salmon punching his first in delight!

That was the end of that but it was fun while it lasted... "Yeah I know"

Haha brilliant, love footy stoies like this.

One of my best mates for years is a massive City fan, very well known lad too.

Had some tales from the 90's era he did. I went to a few away games with him when Everton didn't play....away crowds almost identical imo, proper fans.

 

[Maine road Man]

Haha brilliant, love footy stoies like this.

One of my best mates for years is a massive City fan, very well known lad too.

Had some tales from the 90's era he did. I went to a few away games with him when Everton didn't play....away crowds almost identical imo, proper fans.

I think old skool Everton Sunderland and West Ham fans are very similar to us.

 

[Pabbers]

I think old skool Everton Sunderland and West Ham fans are very similar to us.

Yea agree with that, Sunderland same, we seem to have a good connection with them.

Maybe something to do with have utter weapons as local rivals too!!