1 week ago
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Manchester City have announced more Flexi season tickets but are also relocating hundreds of fans in the lower tier of the North Stand
It never sounds good. Whatever bones are thrown, no matter the compromises offered up, turfing out regular matchgoing fans in order to slap a hospitality section literally front and centre of a stand will never be well received.
For the hundreds of Manchester City fans who are facing relocation from behind the goal of the North Stand to make way for City Hall, there is also the unpleasant element of surprise. Everybody knew that there would be some hospitality in the expanded North Stand but nobody expected that fans who already have their seats would have to make way for a new corporate section at the bottom of the stand as well.
It is unclear exactly how the new section will affect the makeup of the stand, but it is hard to think a space for 500 people that will also serve as a venue to be used on non-matchdays will not disrupt the look of the stand. Given it is immediately behind a goal, the difference could be as visible as when Jack Grealish celebrated in front of thousands of empty seats back in April as supporters protested about the club's relationship with third-party ticketing companies.
It is a blessing in disguise that the cameras at the Etihad never really pan across the lower section of the Colin Bell Stand because it avoids journalists being broadcast across TVs up and down the nation, but directly in front of the press box now resides the Tunnel Club.
That was a painful relocation for many supporters from behind the dugouts in order for the club to increase matchday revenue, and there would be some wincing every match if everyone could see how empty the seats are for the first five or ten minutes of every half.
More than how it looks and how it sounds though, City have to recognise how supporters feel about this latest change. They are never going to agree on everything, and the club did listen to supporter frustration last year both in freezing season ticket prices and reducing matchday prices.
There have been attempts to crack down on non-Blues getting tickets even if support for the methods has not been universal, and more than 4,000 Flexi Season Tickets announced, helped by the top tier of the new North Stand, is more positive than it could have been.
If regular matchgoers are not feeling any more of their pennies being pinched, other money-making exercises feel necessary if City are to continue in the rat race for high revenues and maintain a big budget that covers the signing and keeping of some of the best players in the world; there's an argument to be made for them not getting in such an unpleasant race, but that's for another piece.
Something has to give somewhere. However, given the ongoing battle between revenue and atmosphere, the reality that it is hard to make jumps in matchday revenue and the investment City have made to make money from their campus all year round, there will be questions again over how necessary this is and whether it will have a detrimental impact on the team - at a cost to revenue.
Fundamentally, it is about trust and whether supporters still feel the club are making the right decisions for the fanbase and the most loyal fans who devote large chunks of their lives and incomes to turning up to help their team try to win matches every week. It cannot be compared to buying tickets for a concert because of the regularity of games and the fact that the team needs the fans to turn up to increase their chances of winning.
"That relationship of trust between the fans and the club is the foundation of the success and sustainability of this club,” said chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak in summer as he went further than he needed to to reassure supporters that the club was not moving away from them.
Quiet gestures such as the support given to Martin Bradshaw this week after the devastating loss of his son in Spain before the Villarreal game shows that the club can be there for any fans who need help, providing a community service without seeking attention or praise for it. They were also rightly praised in the summer for their decisions over tickets.
But they will now face a lot of fair criticism for unseating and unsettled supporters with the new City Hall venture, some of who will have been in those seats for so many years and memories. The next time that section of the ground needs to roar the team on, will the noise be as loud?
It is a relationship that is ongoing though, and when the club inconvenience other supporters - as the new City Hall venture will do - they face fresh scrutiny over which fans they are looking to favour and the value of loyalty when more and more cash is being waved about.
The other elephant in the stand is that there is more to come surely when the reality of the seating allocations in the top tier do not match the vision that fans dreamed of - and chairman Al Mubarak did not play down - of a Blue Wall.
Whatever credit City have in the bank from their decisions over summer, they have to be braced for withdrawals.
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