1 week ago
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Manchester City announced this week that 500 fans would be relocated in the North Stand due to a new hospitality section.
Manchester City's decision to relocate 500 fans behind the goal as part of the new North Stand development has been met with condemnation by many supporters.
The Blues will welcome more than 4,000 Flexi Season Tickets when they open the top tier of the expanded North Stand next year - but hundreds of supporters behind the goal will have to move seats.
City are opening two new bars as part of the development - Cross Bar will house 300 fans in the new top tier while City Hall will require 500 supporters to move seats to accommodate fans in the 'new experience'.
Those supporters can relocate to any available seat in the stadium for the same price they are currently paying, a two-year price freeze, and the option to relocate with family or friends even if not all of the group are affected by the changes.
The new North Stand is set to open early in 2026 and there might be further issues coming, as the Manchester Evening News' Chief City Correspondent Simon Bajkowski and City writer Tyrone Marshall discussed on the latest Talking City podcast.
Simon Bajkowski
"It will be a terrible look and it feels like a terrible look to have decided to do this.
"You have to balance it out. And I think the club has taken a lot of positive steps since the height of the protests, they have listened to the fans and frozen season tickets, they reduced matchday ticket prices, they have taken steps - which may be problematic in their own way - but steps to avoid another Aston Villa where there were loads of stupidly expensive tickets, taken steps to avoid another Real Madrid or Liverpool where there were so many away fans in the home end. The third party sites continue to be an issue and fans feel like the club could be doing more.
"The new expanded tier in the North Stand, there is a storm coming, because fans dreamed of a blue wall. City know that for that reason people will be angry when they announce the makeup of the top tier.
"And just before this comes, they say 'oh you lot who have been sitting here. . . . ' It is literally putting hospitality front and centre. It is not a good look
"Khaldoon Al Mubarak made a lot of strong comments this summer that were well received where he said the local supporters are the foundation of the club and the trust between us and those supporters is absolutely fundamental.
"The club get credit for some things, criticism for other things, and this has swung it towards more criticism and the club has work to do now to undo that."
Tyrone Marshall
"I have spoken to some fans for a piece. Some are pretty angry, some perhaps a bit more phlegmatic.
"One made the point that City have always been good with the fans but they have become more distant in the last five or six years and this is one of a number of issues.
"The Real Madrid game got mentioned as being a major problem last year where people felt they were surrounded by people supporting Real Madrid and there is a focus on day-trippers.
"There is concern about where you are going to move, will it be under cover? And the price thing is relevant because while it is being covered for two years if you are going from behind the goal to along the side, that is going to be an issue at some point."
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