City and the Champions League

I've had a few brief looks across social media since Tuesday, and the none-footballing side of Manchester City seems to have been spoken about quite a lot over the past 48 hours by lots of different sets of supporters.

At around lunchtime on Wednesday I saw a tweet from Jamie Jackson, or it could have been Mark Ogden, one of the usual journalists which cannot hide their loyalties. One of the replies to this tweet which eluded to the -8,000 in the ground on Tuesday night was, "they have dreamt about this and now they can't be bothered." It got me thinking about City's relationship with the Champions League and possibly, football all together from a City fans perspective. I'm not claiming to be the voice of the fans, but this is just the way I see it...

"They have dreamt about this..."

Do you know what? I don't ever really recall "dreaming" of playing in the Champions League when growing up. I have been going to City since 1994 and had a season ticket since 1999. City weren't even in the Premier League in a lot of the time in these years, let alone in contention to qualify for the Champions League. Maybe it's my own ignorance to football outside of City which I keep to this day, but I can't really remember the Champions League being as big a thing when I was younger. I remember watching United win it, but to me, Sky didn't ram it down my throat until about 2003-04. Maybe that's because round then English football was beginning to be back at the top of the European game. Over the next few seasons we saw many huge battles between Chelsea and Liverpool and of course the latters famous night in Istanbul, Arsenal got to the final in Paris a year later, and over the next five seasons United only failed to make at least the semi's once, getting to the final three times, then the following year Chelsea won it.

But back to City. For so much of my life, Champions League football wasn't ever even a thought. There was no way we'd ever qualify, unless some billionaire pumped a load of money into of course, but how unlikely is that? The City around the time of the takeover in 2008 can be compared a lot to the club that Sunderland are today. Big ground, good fanbase, terribly mismanaged, millions squandered on journeymen, and go through managers and false dawns like you wouldn't believe. Also, after a few years of being a yo-yo club, they have had a good run of years in the top division. I'm sure if you asked a lot of Mackems, "what do you dream of?" the answer will be something a long the lines of, "six points against them bastards and a cup win." Because that's exactly how it was for me. As a Mancunian being brought up in a pathetic southern town full of them, I was, to misquote my favourite new Vine, "bantered off for 19 years with shithousery", which therefore entitles me to be a bitter blue. Growing up, I just wanted to be better than United and if we could win a cup then that would be incredible. The Champions League was never a thought.

Even when the takeover happened and we bought Robinho, I still didn't really think about the Champions League. I can remember Alan Green on 5Live chuckling at the thought of Manchester City in the Champions League. The knowing we had to be in it, and the wanting to qualify for it came around Spring 2010. I was really gutted when Tottenham beat us to 4th place that year. A year later, when we beat Tottenham to qualify for it, I was delighted and relieved in equal measure. You shouldn't take the jibes to heart, but looking back it would have been nothing short of a disgrace if that team in 2010/11 didn't get in the top four. I've had debates with people in the years that have passed that we could have won the league that year, but probably lacked self belief.

Getting away from my feelings on the Champions League in the years before we qualified for it, I think people/camelfaced dickheads need to remember a few things before they start preaching about empty seats. As previously said, I got my season ticket in 1999. It wasn't until 2006 that City got to the quarter finals of a cup competition. So for many years, you had your 38 league games, and without exaggerating, you probably had 4 cup games at most. 5 if we scraped a draw away at Villa (cheers Micah). All in all, about 42-44 games a season. And this was when City were category C for most clubs and football all round was a lot cheaper. Compare all this to how many games a season we have now, and how many times we're the category A game. Was over 50 last season, and probably will be the same going forward. I know people moan about it a lot, and I tend to keep quiet on the subject because I go to virtually every game every season regardless, but it really is shocking. At home to Sheffield Wednesday last week, I went in without having my tea and had a hot dog and chips. £6.50. Robbing bastards. And for me, one of the saddest things on this subject is when people deem the £43 that x are charging a fair price. I remember being horrified in 2006 when Wigan charged us £35. I can hear fans of other teams saying, "you're paying for the price of success" and perhaps we are, but the amount it's changed to be a regular at City is obviously going to have an effect on our fanbase. City are very fair on kids prices, and quite good on 18-21's. But there's a lot of blokes I've met over the years who are the same age as me, and they just don't go anymore, because it's too much money, and for someone who used to have a season ticket and go to 6 or 7 aways a season, they're now looking at two or three, as with everything else, travel and beer has gone up too.

I used to love the days when I was a kid and my Dad would take me to an away game, they're probably the best and most clear memories I have of my childhood. If (God forbid) I ever have children, I'd like to be able to ruin their lives, too. But by then, how much will it cost to watch your club? Probably best not thinking about it.

I have a lot of time for Garry Cook, but his idea to categorise each stand at City was nothing short of a blunder. The North Stand becoming a crèche was a mistake as far as atmosphere goes, and you always see empty seats there. The North Stand was fine as it was, but moving people who had been there since the move from Maine Road, and those that had sat with the same people in the Platt Lane was just not on, really. I'm not sure if it's still the same rules, but I'm pretty sure the there needs to be an under 16 within a group of 6 adults to sit in the North Stand. No wonder why we see empty seats there.

And of course, there's the constant discussion on the atmosphere. No one really knows the answer to this. I have attended meetings at City before discussing this topic. The club tried moving the away fans but didn't advertise the blocks which are usually taken by the away fans for people who want to sing. For me, the issue is the stadium itself. The noise doesn't travel well, and it would be a lot better if the tiers one and two were just one. There's times where the ground does get going, but it's not really enough.

I think it's fair to say that the group games are a bit of a damp squib anyway. The knockouts give a whole different edge to the game, and I'm sure if we had played Roma in the last 16 then we would have had a completely different experience to Tuesday night. We've got one point from two games, but there's nothing to say that we can't be going out to Rome in December with ten points and needing only a draw to take us through to the last 16.

Bit of a controversial one, but I also think the songs we sing must play a part too. Hear me out. Not the songs for individual players, because they're fine. But songs about the club. Blue Moon is a great terrace anthem, but I'd suggest it's strength is that it sounds great as being defiant when there's despair on the pitch. A lot of our songs are. "We never win at home and we never win away" for example, is a great song, and it's part of our culture. But our culture for so many of all our supporters life has been the ability to laugh at ourselves, to show that we're loyal to our club despite what's going on. We haven't got much beyond "Come on City" which you feel raises the expectation from the stands and has an effect on the players. You can tell I've spent a lot of time thinking to myself in a van this week, can't you?

I'm hoping that with time I and many others start to get and enjoy the Champions League. I've seen what winning it has meant to my mates who support other teams. But right now, it's just another cup competition which we seem to be shite at. Like the good old days.