Odd criticism on the Blue Moon forum

[Talk Of The Town]

[Kodjias Wrist]

Always going to have a few thickos on a forum spouting lies/nonsense. In general they are a good bunch especially the hardcore city fans.

[Talk Of The Town]

Anyone that’s on Twitter you can follow the Groundsman and see the amount of work they put into the stadium pitch and failand. I’m pretty sure it’s 5 sites they now look after 

[ralphindevon]

Although a great occasion the pitch could really have done without the 2 womens games on the same day.

During the Lionesses match I thought was the worse I’ve seen the pitch for years.

I’m amazed just how good it is when you think what it goes through.

[ralphindevon]

2 minutes ago, Bobby Bollax said:

Anyone that’s on Twitter you can follow the Groundsman and see the amount of work they put into the stadium pitch and failand. I’m pretty sure it’s 5 sites they now look after 

Amazing effort, the rugby posts were going up after last nights game.

I just hope with the summer concerts there’s enough time to get it back to top drawer before next season 

[Mr Popodopolous]

18 minutes ago, Red-Robbo said:

 

Aye, but they've "found" 24K ardent supporters since then. Maine Rd wasn't selling out when they were third tier.

I accept their claim that they have the majority support in Manchester proper, but I can recall when they were averaging low 20s in the early days of the Prem. Roughly the same amount as our support last night which apparently is "******* shit". How we could've got more in isn't clear. House them on the roofs I suppose?

Tbh if you look through attendances even into the 1990s they still are somewhat lower- took a while to recover to the levels that we see today.

Some oc that will be down to the newer practice of counting all tickets sold regardless of attendances, some of it pre further redevelopment of grounds, new grounds etc. Not sure that Man City are especially exceptional in this regard.

Edited March 1, 2023 by Mr Popodopolous

[Numero Uno]

2 minutes ago, Bobby Bollax said:

Anyone that’s on Twitter you can follow the Groundsman and see the amount of work they put into the stadium pitch and failand. I’m pretty sure it’s 5 sites they now look after 

To be fair I don't think the work ethic and dedication of ground staff is in question. A lesson to be learned perhaps that income and prestige are great things but at the end of it all providing a decent playing surface for Bristol City and Bristol Bears is the main aim. Playing two games of International Women's Football in wet conditions one after another bang smack in the middle of a busy and important playing period for the main club that plays on that pitch as far as I'm concerned is hopefully something that never happens again.

[Mr Popodopolous]

Tbh forums don't always reflect reality.

Know a few Man City fans, all quite sound. One of them was very complimentary last night- said didn't think that score did us justice, coukd see Scott in a Man City shirt, impressed with our wide players etc.

Another again thought scoreline was harsh and believes that with VAR the Sykes penalty would have been more likely than not to have been given- both have supported for years, Maine Road etc so definitely not post 2008 glory fans.

Often found them to be quite decent, the real Man City fans. 2nd one also doesn't use Bluemoon Forum, has a bit of disregard for it tbh.

[GrahamC]

22 minutes ago, Red-Robbo said:

 

Aye, but they've "found" 24K ardent supporters since then. Maine Rd wasn't selling out when they were third tier.

I accept their claim that they have the majority support in Manchester proper, but I can recall when they were averaging low 20s in the early days of the Prem. Roughly the same amount as our support last night which apparently is "******* shit". How we could've got more in isn't clear. House them on the roofs I suppose?

I used to think this but last August I stopped in Manchester for a night on the way to Scotland & saw absolutely no one in City garb in Manchester but loads In United merch.

Neither side were playing (Prem season hadn’t even started) so that didn’t skew it.

[Robbored]

The AG surface is desso grass laid to help cope with amount use it would be getting with the Bears using AG for their matches and tbf it’s stood up pretty well.

It’s only this season that ‘problems’ have begun to arise. That might be that it’s begun to age and the artificial elements have started to deteriorate or maybe it’s simply been overused with the women playing their international match at AG.

I daresay that plans are afoot to carry out work on the pitch this coming close season.

 

[Silvio Dante]

In amongst the many media interviews recently, I’m sure I saw one from Nige a few days ago where he expressed his dissatisfaction with England (and indeed all other nations in the Arnold Clark cup) where we’d asked them not to use certain areas of the pitch to warm up in but they went ahead and did it anyway. It struck me in a couple of ways - firstly, it won’t do our chances of hosting another international much good, but on the more positive front, how protective he was of the clubs assets.

Can someone tell me I wasn’t dreaming that?

[City Rocker]

29 minutes ago, GrahamC said:

I used to think this but last August I stopped in Manchester for a night on the way to Scotland & saw absolutely no one in City garb in Manchester but loads In United merch.

Neither side were playing (Prem season hadn’t even started) so that didn’t skew it.

Correct, the myth that 'most football fans in Manchester support City' is just that, it's never been true, as all Mancunians are well aware!

[View from the Dolman]

7 minutes ago, Silvio Dante said:

In amongst the many media interviews recently, I’m sure I saw one from Nige a few days ago where he expressed his dissatisfaction with England (and indeed all other nations in the Arnold Clark cup) where we’d asked them not to use certain areas of the pitch to warm up in but they went ahead and did it anyway. It struck me in a couple of ways - firstly, it won’t do our chances of hosting another international much good, but on the more positive front, how protective he was of the clubs assets.

Can someone tell me I wasn’t dreaming that?

 

[Red-Robbo]

16 minutes ago, GrahamC said:

I used to think this but last August I stopped in Manchester for a night on the way to Scotland & saw absolutely no one in City garb in Manchester but loads In United merch.

Neither side were playing (Prem season hadn’t even started) so that didn’t skew it.

 

They tend to be more north Manchester-based, whereas United's fans are from Salford and (unsurprisingly) Trafford. Just like Bristol though, the situation isn't as simple as City fans here/United fans here.  United definitely have the south Manchester districts of Guildford and Penzance though.    It'll take a while for the glory-hunting kids of today in their Etihad Airways shirts from Sports Direct to become glory-hunting adults.

I haven't particularly got a downer on Man City fans though. As others have said, the ones down last night seemed a reasonable bunch. Spoke to a couple in the TF before the game. They lived in Devon but were originally Mancunians. Very complimentary about Bristol and - as they'd checked out the stadium early - complimentary about AG. The multiple games this last few days can explain the state of the pitch. 

Never had much time for the team though. I think the (weird) reason is that their light blue shirts reminded me of the light blue stripes on Embassy Regal packets. Possibly the worst fagerette ever made*. But every f-er I knew seemed to smoke them back when I was a kid. 

 

 

* John Player Special are also in with a shout here. This was proper brands, before all your Superkings and supermarket brands. 

[Open End Numb Legs]

Some ManC fans are a bit miffed that the game didn't go all their way and was not 0-6. Ignore them, if they are talking about the pitch it is a sign we played pretty well.

[sephjnr]

Was there not a thread earlier this or last week saying that the artificial portion of our pitch was due to be replaced this season / overdue?

[Selred]

4 hours ago, Red-Robbo said:

I think they've also forgotten how low their crowds were sometimes, before an influx of filthy oil money from a despotic state propelled them to where they are now.

 

They averaged 33,000 the last time they were in the First Division (now Championship).... 

[Red-Robbo]

Just now, Selred said:

They averaged 33,000 the last time they were in the First Division (now Championship).... 

Which was more than they averaged when they were in the Premiership (as was).  I'm not trying to claim they have ever been a small club, but we had more in last night than they were getting 30 years ago.  It hasn't always been 50k+ and the increase to that level is due in large part to a stadium funded by the national (and local) taxpayer plus them suddenly being propelled by oil money to becoming a huge club. That sort of never sits happily with me. 

[Numero Uno]

18 minutes ago, View from the Dolman said:

 

Simple, don't have them back. Let England Women and their opponents go and ruin other pitches up and down the country. Disrespectful *******.

[Selred]

6 minutes ago, Red-Robbo said:

Which was more than they averaged when they were in the Premiership (as was).  I'm not trying to claim they have ever been a small club, but we had more in last night than they were getting 30 years ago.  It hasn't always been 50k+ and the increase to that level is due in large part to a stadium funded by the national (and local) taxpayer plus them suddenly being propelled by oil money to becoming a huge club. That sort of never sits happily with me. 

Not sure how reliable this is, but suggests otherwise:

https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/manchester-city/besucherzahlenentwicklung/verein/281

[Mad Cyril]

29 minutes ago, Silvio Dante said:

...Nige expressed his dissatisfaction with England (and indeed all other nations in the Arnold Clark cup) where we’d asked them not to use certain areas of the pitch to warm up in but they went ahead and did it anyway.    

I understand they ruined the urinals. Terrible mess.

[2015]

7 minutes ago, Red-Robbo said:

Which was more than they averaged when they were in the Premiership (as was).  I'm not trying to claim they have ever been a small club, but we had more in last night than they were getting 30 years ago.  It hasn't always been 50k+ and the increase to that level is due in large part to a stadium funded by the national (and local) taxpayer plus them suddenly being propelled by oil money to becoming a huge club. That sort of never sits happily with me. 

But you could also say that 30 years ago BCFC were averaging 9k in home matches. Maybe attendances on average have increased during the last 30 years in general?

[Numero Uno]

2 minutes ago, 2015 said:

But you could also say that 30 years ago BCFC were averaging 9k in home matches. Maybe attendances on average have increased during the last 30 years in general?

That's a fact over the last 40 years. Crowds in the 80's were generally shite.

[2015]

1 minute ago, Numero Uno said:

That's a fact over the last 40 years. Crowds in the 80's were generally shite.

Whether people like this fact or not, the dwindling stadium attendances and crowd trouble was the main reason the Premier League was formed and Sky took their chance on it. 

Football in England had to change to appeal to a wider audience, because in the 1980s it was a mess. Sorry if this hurts anyone's nostalgia by the way

[Red-Robbo]

1 minute ago, Selred said:

Not sure how reliable this is, but suggests otherwise:

https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/manchester-city/besucherzahlenentwicklung/verein/281

Their average attendance in the Premiership 1994-95 22K.

They are a bigger club. I'm not saying otherwise. I'm just pointing out that if their online fans reckon we never get above 20K apart from when we play them, they've also had some real dips in decades past and now many of their fans have come out of the woodwork for the glory years.

[tin]

1 hour ago, GrahamC said:

I used to think this but last August I stopped in Manchester for a night on the way to Scotland & saw absolutely no one in City garb in Manchester but loads In United merch.

Neither side were playing (Prem season hadn’t even started) so that didn’t skew it.

Just like Bristol, their city is red! 

[2015]

Just now, Red-Robbo said:

Their average attendance in the Premiership 1994-95 22K.

They are a bigger club. I'm not saying otherwise. I'm just pointing out that if their online fans reckon we never get above 20K apart from when we play them, they've also had some real dips in decades past and now many of their fans have come out of the woodwork for the glory years.

If I'm honest, I don't think Man City's support has anywhere near taken off compared to what happened when Abramovich took over Chelsea. I very rarely see a Man City shirt around where I live.

As stated above, attendances have on average increased over the past few decades. City's has gone up and down a lot from relegation to promotion back to the League we're in. Man City have had ups and downs too, so naturally it will fluctuate.

[Selred]

4 minutes ago, Red-Robbo said:

Their average attendance in the Premiership 1994-95 22K.

They are a bigger club. I'm not saying otherwise. I'm just pointing out that if their online fans reckon we never get above 20K apart from when we play them, they've also had some real dips in decades past and now many of their fans have come out of the woodwork for the glory years.

We've only recently started getting above 20k.

You said they only started getting big crowds since oil money, which isn't true. They've had great attendances for decades.

[Mr Popodopolous]

10 minutes ago, Numero Uno said:

That's a fact over the last 40 years. Crowds in the 80's were generally shite.

Didn't jusr snap back from 0 to 100 in the 1990s or early 2000s either- took a while to build up again. Across the board I mean.

[Kodjias Wrist]

2 minutes ago, 2015 said:

If I'm honest, I don't think Man City's support has anywhere near taken off compared to what happened when Abramovich took over Chelsea. I very rarely see a Man City shirt around where I live.

As stated above, attendances have on average increased over the past few decades. City's has gone up and down a lot from relegation to promotion back to the League we're in. Man City have had ups and downs too, so naturally it will fluctuate.

I would say its similar. There are lots of Man City shirts and training gear around gyms over the last 4 or 5 years. Can't remember many Chelsea fans in school other than those with Italian heritage. Not many in college or work etc.