Manchester City - "Emptihad"

Were the seats not on an allocation basis?
I mean near the stadium by looking at the shirts. It was a sea of blue shirts with the occasional red ones.

Both clubs received the same number of tickets, but there was I think a large number of tickets that could have been bought by other people, and I assume most of those were bought by City ones. Or there were just so many City fans that went near the stadium for the experience (pretty much every pub nearby was reserved for City fans). If was crazy, the exact opposite of what I would have expected.
 
I mean near the stadium by looking at the shirts. It was a sea of blue shirts with the occasional red ones.

Both clubs received the same number of tickets, but there was I think a large number of tickets that could have been bought by other people, and I assume most of those were bought by City ones. Or there were just so many City fans that went near the stadium for the experience (pretty much every pub nearby was reserved for City fans). If was crazy, the exact opposite of what I would have expected.

City and United have each been allocated 30,500 tickets, combining for 61,000 of Wembley’s 90,000 capacity.

Adult pricing is £145 ($181), £115, £70 and £45 for Category 1, 2, 3 and 4 tickets respectively. Concessions cost £135, £105, £60 and £35 respectively.

As the showpiece event in the FA’s calendar, the governing body also uses the final as an opportunity to distribute tickets to volunteers from across English football, who represent counties, leagues, local clubs and charities.

The remainder of the tickets will be distributed among the FA’s commercial partners and Club Wembley, the national stadium’s membership club.
 
I mean near the stadium by looking at the shirts. It was a sea of blue shirts with the occasional red ones.

Both clubs received the same number of tickets, but there was I think a large number of tickets that could have been bought by other people, and I assume most of those were bought by City ones. Or there were just so many City fans that went near the stadium for the experience (pretty much every pub nearby was reserved for City fans). If was crazy, the exact opposite of what I would have expected.

I’m not going to argue about the amount of fans wearing club colours on the day but the ‘sea of blue’ might be because city fans notoriously wear their club colours compared to United who notoriously DO NOT wear club colours in the main.

In the group of 10+ lads that I was with all day at Wembley, there was zero red shirts between us all day.

There is no way that United were outnumbered near Wembley, in fact, I was astounded how quickly the swell and outnumbering of city fans was changed when I got off the train at Wembley. From Uxbridge to Wembley was a fairy uncomfortable 30 mins with the amount of city fans compared to United but as soon as we got inside the station, the number of United fans increased considerably and unsurprisingly, the city fans couldn’t be heard anymore more.

I’m not sure I heard a city voice again outside the stadium. Don’t get me started on post-match! Their fans were embarrassing on a whole other level
 
I’m not going to argue about the amount of fans wearing club colours on the day but the ‘sea of blue’ might be because city fans notoriously wear their club colours compared to United who notoriously DO NOT wear club colours in the main.

In the group of 10+ lads that I was with all day at Wembley, there was zero red shirts between us all day.

There is no way that United were outnumbered near Wembley, in fact, I was astounded how quickly the swell and outnumbering of city fans was changed when I got off the train at Wembley. From Uxbridge to Wembley was a fairy uncomfortable 30 mins with the amount of city fans compared to United but as soon as we got inside the station, the number of United fans increased considerably and unsurprisingly, the city fans couldn’t be heard anymore more.

I’m not sure I heard a city voice again outside the stadium. Don’t get me started on post-match! Their fans were embarrassing on a whole other level
Honestly, as I said my opinion was based on the number of shirts (it was easy 3 or 4 City shirts for every United ones), and for pretty much every pub I checked being booked for City fans.

Probably they were just more organized in pre/post events.
 
Honestly, as I said my opinion was based on the number of shirts (it was easy 3 or 4 City shirts for every United ones), and for pretty much every pub I checked being booked for City fans.

Probably they were just more organized in pre/post events.

Yeah maybe but like I said, city have always worn more ‘shirts’ than United in my experience.

In terms of pubs, I think that boiled down to the area. Uxbridge was amazingly blue.
 
I think we've got a generation of kids who don't really have much of a connection to any club. They all have favourite players and they'll probably just 'support' whoever they play for.

Basically guesswork, but I do wonder how much things like Fifa Ultimate Team has affected team allegiance, coupled with how prohibitively expensive it is to actually watch football, even at home, these days.
Yeah that plays a big part surely.
 
Bit naive to think kids listen to their parents!

Didn't stop me, my Dad's family are all City fans from West Gorton, when I decided United were my team my Grandad didn't speak to me for months, that only changed when my Grandma cracked him round the earhole and told him to grow up, I was 5 at the time!
You were a smart boy. :)
And way to go grandma!
 
You were a smart boy. :)
And way to go grandma!
It was 1967, Grandma didn't follow football but she liked George Best!

Wasn't a fun place to be when they beat us though, with my Dad's brother there were 3 of them + all the locals because St Mark's was round the corner and that's where City were founded
 
I think our last parade, 2013 one, puts a shame to that. But yes, the next parade if it happens in our lifetime will be huge.
Very true! The (hopefully) next one will be especially special, though, considering how long it will have been since our last one.
This our treble’s better than theirs and our parade was bigger is rather tedious. Get behind your team and suck it in as they have become a major threat whatever happens in future. The next few transfer windows are vital to getting back to a level to where winning the league is a possibility
That's part of fandom, though. A game of one-upmanship with your rivals. It's especially meaningful when you're from Manchester and surrounded by blues.
 
As a mere Swindon fan who saw united in93/94 it is strange to see how this team is struggling. The spine of it is non existent compared to then.United have been a team I have enjoyed watching until recently when the transfer policy seems to be to purchase egos and non team players, whilst the team across town seem to be very cohesive and a unit, until that changes I don’t think United will catch up, especially if you buy the likes of Mount and Pickford
Pickford :lol:
 
As a mere Swindon fan who saw united in93/94 it is strange to see how this team is struggling. The spine of it is non existent compared to then.United have been a team I have enjoyed watching until recently when the transfer policy seems to be to purchase egos and non team players, whilst the team across town seem to be very cohesive and a unit, until that changes I don’t think United will catch up, especially if you buy the likes of Mount and Pickford

The difference between United and City's transfer policies is United have wasted a fortune buying big name players for large fees regardless of whether they fit in the team be ause they have been run by inept people with zero knowledge of how to do transfers whilst City have taken a tactic Pep copied from those that managed him and let Txiki Begiristain spend a fortune buying a top player for every position in it.
 
There was a photo from above that spanned the whole front and back page of a newspaper of the parade in 99. Stuck it to my wall. It said there were 1m people
 
I mean near the stadium by looking at the shirts. It was a sea of blue shirts with the occasional red ones.

Both clubs received the same number of tickets, but there was I think a large number of tickets that could have been bought by other people, and I assume most of those were bought by City ones. Or there were just so many City fans that went near the stadium for the experience (pretty much every pub nearby was reserved for City fans). If was crazy, the exact opposite of what I would have expected.

I was in a group of 8. None of us went near the stadium, none of us wore United colours. That's pretty normal for Wembley (or any other away trips) - not sure why City (and Newcastle) fans feel the need to drape themselves in the club shop, but whatever works for them I guess.
 
You know, for all the memes about how empty and lame their home stadium is, they are much better at home regardless.

We used to think home advantage had to do with atmosphere, intimidating crowds, but for City it isn't that, and yet they look very ordinary away, but very strong at home.
 
Bit naive to think kids listen to their parents!

Didn't stop me, my Dad's family are all City fans from West Gorton, when I decided United were my team my Grandad didn't speak to me for months, that only changed when my Grandma cracked him round the earhole and told him to grow up, I was 5 at the time!

Your grandad refused to speak to his 5 year old grandson for months because of a football team? :lol:
 
Your grandad refused to speak to his 5 year old grandson for months because of a football team? :lol:
Yep, I was the first to support United, he got over it, eventually!
 
You know, for all the memes about how empty and lame their home stadium is, they are much better at home regardless.

We used to think home advantage had to do with atmosphere, intimidating crowds, but for City it isn't that, and yet they look very ordinary away, but very strong at home.

Well, it could still be that because that's what they face away from home.
 
Well, it could still be that because that's what they face away from home.

But why wouldn't their lame home stadium make away teams confident in getting results though, are you saying Man City are so good that its only their away nerves that keeps them from being even better?
 
You know, for all the memes about how empty and lame their home stadium is, they are much better at home regardless.

We used to think home advantage had to do with atmosphere, intimidating crowds, but for City it isn't that, and yet they look very ordinary away, but very strong at home.

Half the time teams dont turn up at the Etihad, they basiccally accept defeat before a balls been kicked and just sit back in their own half hoping not to conceed too many.

Ive seen teams go to the Etihad and hardly move out of their own half then the same team has come to Old Trafford the next week and played their hearts out for 90 minutes.
 
We used to think home advantage had to do with atmosphere, intimidating crowds, but for City it isn't that, and yet they look very ordinary away, but very strong at home.

Their pitch is one of the biggest in the PL - slightly wider than ours which is also one of the biggest. Both are bigger than Wembley.
 
Their pitch is one of the biggest in the PL - slightly wider than ours which is also one of the biggest. Both are bigger than Wembley.

Isn't that what most big teams do though, large, wide pitch?

Why wouldn't every team that aims to dominate, just max their own pitch?
 
Isn't that what most big teams do though, large, wide pitch?

Why wouldn't every team that aims to dominate, just max their own pitch?

Probably to do with regulations on space around the pitch and some teams preferring less width (though the lengths vary too). Some grounds are pretty cramped and increasing the size of the pitch would be pretty much impossible.
 
Isn't that what most big teams do though, large, wide pitch?

Why wouldn't every team that aims to dominate, just max their own pitch?

But why wouldn't their lame home stadium make away teams confident in getting results though, are you saying Man City are so good that its only their away nerves that keeps them from being even better?

And what's exactly your point here?
 
As a mere Swindon fan who saw united in93/94 it is strange to see how this team is struggling. The spine of it is non existent compared to then.United have been a team I have enjoyed watching until recently when the transfer policy seems to be to purchase egos and non team players, whilst the team across town seem to be very cohesive and a unit, until that changes I don’t think United will catch up, especially if you buy the likes of Mount and Pickford
That is changing with big characters like Martinez and Varane and I dont think Mount isn't a team player.
We wont buy Pickford (hopefully).
 
But why wouldn't their lame home stadium make away teams confident in getting results though, are you saying Man City are so good that its only their away nerves that keeps them from being even better?

Without trying to delve too deep into the psychology of home advantage, yes.
 
It’s such a footballing tragedy what a dead atmosphere they have. That final whistle was greeted with such muted cheers. It was like clapping off the batsmen for lunch in a cricket test match.

They had to quickly stick on the music to disguise the graveyard silence.
 
They can win all they want with their oil billions, they remain a soulless, plastic club
 
Maybe because their style of play is boring.
Heard Andy Gray having a pop at 1/2 time saying:-
"1 shot 1 goal.
Not my idea of football"
or words to that effect.
They've taken the joy out of the game and their atmosphere reflects that.
Pep's legacy.
 
You lot wouldn’t recognise a parody even if you looked in a mirror.