 Yes, yes people how we all doing welcome back to another stream we got a panel together we got a panel together to talk about not so much actual footballing affairs tonight it's more about the general running of our beloved football club because this morning we did get news regarding tickets and pricing and it's an ongoing debate online or maybe not even debate it's it's kind of one-sided the fans are unhappy but we're gonna have a good discussion about it you guys make sure you get active in the chat as well as always hit the like button on your way in subscribe if you're new and yeah share your thoughts because it's one of those ones where I think everybody can have a say and it's good to get different points of view we've got Ollie here of course one of our own here city extra Martin from Mancunium way and then Ollie from the city repart with that the banner behind them there and welcome to the show Ollie man good to see you yeah so good to be on now which is gonna get my name's Jordan to be fair according to the thing at the bottom so I mean you you go first Ollie how are you doing man yeah I'm good I'm good how are you Ollie I'm very well is I'm very well I'm seeing a load of people in the comments saying Jordan's looking a little bit different he's grown he's grown a foot and cut his beard and but yeah no Jordan is a foot is doing them nice a foot being quite generous to be fair yeah no but I'm good I'm good mate how are you doing here how are you feeling I guess in light of today's news yeah well I'm not happy not happy I suppose but I'll explain why I'll explain why I know Martin's not happy either but I suppose in short the news people is it's that time of the year again where where season tickets become up for renewal of Manchester City and look I think even if you're not a season ticket holder in Manchester City you can be invested in this topic because it's about how our club is run and it's about how the owners or the people who make these decisions what kind of respect and what way they view the fans the loyal fans season ticket holders regular match goers people who are who are there week in week out so everybody can have a say and obviously the email came out this morning I mentioned before we went live Martin and every time I get this email this time every year I always go right what I'm what am I about to read now what's what's the damage this year and it's gone up again I don't know what yours has gone up Martin but over the last two seasons I'm up 100 pound and it's justified apparently by inflation but my wages ain't inflating right now so I don't know how you can justify it yeah it's not great I do understand the club off to make money and everything else what was it four months ago we were waxing lyrical about record profits and blah blah blah and then yeah I don't know listen to me it's not just a maxi in case you there's a there's a much bigger issue at play here the trouble is you say anything you get put in this you don't like fans abroad you don't like this the other and it's not even about that it's not those versus them or them versus those debate what this is is quite simply fairness balance and I think the club are failing at making a balanced effort at the moment 100% we need fans from abroad and everything else to come in and grow the club brilliant 1000% agree with it but what the club don't realize is they are pushing the loyal local fans that have been here 20 30 40 years out of the door and they used to think that the card don't think they do but I don't just by the way I don't just think this is a monster city issue I think this is a football wide issue right now this isn't just before anyone goes Martin's slate no I'm not slightly monster set this is a football wide issue right now I'll be straight with you I told everyone I was gonna go to Orlando and watch monster set not it not at over two in the power ticket I'm not which is what I'm being quoting so far to go monster in Orlando so you know and it's great and the people over 200 pounds nothing is when I've got three people and it comes out 6700 quid and I'm on a two-week break it's just everything's money now and I get some what's made it worse is some people have gone up a couple of quid per game and others have gone up 20 30 quid again depending on where you sit what's made it worse for me is I still don't know what's going on with me next season with regards to this because I'm in the north stand so I might be moved am I not I don't know I've had no update on it so and I don't know I just think it's a wider issue but city are losing touch with Manchester well that's that's kind of the conversation I wanted to have as a as a group here is the club going in a direction that would obviously upset a lot of the the longer term fans the the legacy fans the match going fans are other there's touch I mean I know people will argue that all but it's a primarily wide thing and all the other clubs are doing this but I don't know about you guys but something that I tried to pride myself on was the fact that my club had a massive respect for its ethos and the working-class community and the people who kept the club alive essentially at times when it was really really struggling and but it's it seems to be going in a direction over where they're losing touch with that with that group they don't seem to have that level of respect that I thought they had and for that group I think the club did have it but I think the further and further we move away from the years like the color scheme behind me on the background 99 and the years when we were really in the alderans the further we move away from that the the more and more they are beginning to forget the fans that still turned out week in week out you know something the city have always had for at least certainly the last 20 years is we were there right when we're in league one or as it was the old division so we still had 33 to 35000 turning out week in week out on main road and when the takeover happened in 2008 and in the years that followed that I do think the club did very well at keeping in touch with the fans and in many ways it still does right we ask for statues we get statues we ask for mosaics we get mosaics we ask for kits that hark back to the glory days of Colin Bell or color schemes that are back to 99 we get it there are in many many ways signs that the club does stay in touch with the mancunium roots pays homage to fans pays homage to old players treats old players very well all of this stuff and it's nice but when it comes down to the bottom line that's where they're starting to lose touch I mean I was a tweet earlier David Mooney posted his pricing every year since well he had one year at thousand seven thousand eight then 13 14 and every year since in 0708 he paid 460 quid next season he's being asked for 915 quid 460 quid with inflation from back then is 800 pounds that's a 115 pound difference and that's after he's reduced his membership and came off a couple of the cup schemes so it's not to with inflation either the club here is running at prices far higher than inflation far far higher than inflation and then you take everything else into account shirts we've got more expensive you go back to the times when we moved into the ad we were still having shirts that would go two seasons instead of one right and we'd have home away and maybe a third kit or the third kits with super niche and not widely sold shirts more expensive every season now what is it for a proper replica these days under a quid 90 pound under a pound so not that for a fan version for a fan version you're definitely looking at at least 80 to 90 pounds and then if you want to get the player fit if you're in good shape to that you're looking 140 150 easily because it comes in that nice box on it nice yeah yeah so you've got all that then they're releasing special edition shirts throughout the year Chinese and year we have the Aguero one we've had the world champions one the travel one then you've got food at the ground whether you buy food from the ground or not food is more expensive the beer at the ground petrol to get to the ground parking I mean my own parking near the Etihad has gone from a fiver to a tenor over the course of a season 20 games whatever it is that's 200 odd quid more even if you don't park or drive you get the tram tram prices are going up football is supposed to be traditionally the get away from the issues in day-to-day life right whether it's money issues personal issues whatever it is you go to the football you get away from it for a little bit now it's just become part of that it's become part of the same issue that everyone's having at the moment with everything getting price here the only argument the other way is about the quality right if the tickets are running at 14% higher than inflation the football is 14% at minimum better than it was in stars and they get that but there has to be a line they have to find an alternative way of doing things they have to find a way where yes they can capitalise on tourist revenues and I don't say tourists is a derogatory term right people around the world when I come to city when I come to the Etihad and watch the best football in the world fine if the club wants to capitalise on those revenues they need to find a balance do you get some kind of discount for how long you've held the season ticket we've had season tickets in the family for 50 years or more so do you get a discount or the price is freeze or do you get a couple of games of season three how does it work or do people coming from elsewhere pay a premium probably a bit unfair but the club has got to find a balance and they need to communicate this is the biggest thing we've not had a word from the club other than email that says stomp up 9 10 11% more than you did last year that's it communication is a massive problem this is something that I've spoke to big Steve a lot about and I'll correct big Steve he's offered out to the club many times to be somewhat of a family a is an officer or did it decline every time there is a wall there's a wall I don't there is a wall I don't and this is the thing we're only asking for somebody to represent a chart just a conversation because like I said there's too much of this we're not saying price you shouldn't go up I understand that things go up but the problem is I think we even have the same conversation last season you keep increasing it year on year on year on year you do that for 10 15 years it's going to get to a point where it becomes unaffordable for a lot and what it is is is when your cut off year becomes and this is the problem when is your cut off year if someone's paying just one ticket then they might have a bit longer leg room it's like me I'm paying for three my my cut off point but the trouble is you out because we have that emotional attachment it's like the Wembley stuff last season we swallow it mate we take it we do it we pay we all sit there and bitch and mum but we all then go but there has to be a cut off point there's some reason there is a reason atmosphere has been the worst experience at the A.M. for a good while this season there are empty seats Hugh you know for a fact every single home game it's a wave fan singing the exact same song to us football and a library are empty seats I'm sick to laugh a bit last season we stood up and we were proud of our atmosphere mini junior talking about how he got we got sitting through semi finals because it intimidated him and we weren't expecting that I just don't know I just feel like I do feel like we're being pushed away I do want to reiterate heavy this is by no means a dig at foreign fans or overseas fans it's more so a dig at the club in my opinion blatantly making an attempt to only attract either fans or people who want to go to an event of a certain I suppose affluency who who have who have the funds to do so because like I mean look I think the signs of this sort of thing or a disconnect forming have been coming for a long long time they really have look I think it's nine years in a row potentially we've seen some sort of increase on season tickets I've had my season ticket I think for seven or eight and my very first one I qualified as a child I think for the first one maybe 1821 I paid like 350 this morning I was told to pay 750 for this outstanding so wow it's the first year where I'm kind of like can I justify it can I can I afford to and then you had things like do you remember the Real Madrid tickets for the home game last season they decided all of a sudden all you had to do was purchase a matchday membership and you get access to Real Madrid at home in the Champions League semi-final tickets which meant you're gonna get an influx of people buying matchday memberships and then an influx of people of course trying to buy tickets and then I don't know about you guys Martin and Oliver I'm pretty sure you have a season ticket as well regularly getting text messages off the club and emails off the club saying do you fancy listing your ticket for this game up on the exchange we're playing Manchester United next week do you fancy giving your ticket away obviously no I'm going to the game but there have been instances where the guy beside me in the south stand has said oh I can't make whatever game next week I'm gonna list on the exchange tells me he gets face value for it which is 3750 if you're gonna buy it the guy who actually turns up beside me at the game has paid 6570 for the ticket so the club have actually doubled their money on this guy's season ticket it's I mean Ollie it's becoming it's farce at this point and I get people say this is the price of success but I think Oliver made a very good point that that's not what you like to believe football is meant to be about at the end of the day football is meant to be a form of escapism and something that should always be there for you at an affordable price but it's it's going the opposite direction yeah I mean I sort of come at this from a different perspective than you three is the only person sort of in this stream at the moment who actually doesn't hold a season ticket currently so I guess maybe I'm talking about it from more of a wider perspective of the football fan and of the man city fan and also our relationship with the club is sort of Martin and Ollie have touched upon I feel like the the ownership have a tough task but a task that is there whether they like it or not of sort of towing this line of keeping what's true about man city and keeping true to to what this club is which is primarily a club that's made up of working-class fans that's always been the history of this club East Manchester you know like I have worked in the areas before obviously being fortunate enough to do this I taught in schools in Manchester who rely so heavily on funding from man city is a club the gentrification of East Manchester city in the community you know them supplying PE supplies and and workers to go in and work at the football club you know they've built schools they're built leisure centers in East Manchester which has been absolutely massive for the area as a whole and then you look at their funding of co-op live and obviously the regeneration of the stadium itself and all that side of stuff is fantastic but then on the other side they're trying to approach this as a business and that's always been the case they're trying to appeal to a wider fan base you talk about the the actual match going fan and then as we said it's no disrespect but the tourist it's widely known that they're going to spend more money per capita in the stadium than the match going fan they'll go to the club shop they'll buy a shirt and they'll maybe experience a tour they're going to bring in more money so trying to appeal to them is always going to be at the forefront of the club ownership's mind and I think that is when it then comes into the conversations of well how does that affect the actual you know rooted in the city of Manchester fans and the sort of community that's always been there before the ownership before the shankment soles before all the success because they're the ones that are then being told to fork out X amount year on year and year more money more money more money someone made a good point in the chat a couple minutes ago our actual matchday revenue makes up about seven percent of our revenue as a whole one of the actual lowest I do know for a fact out the top six we're like near the bottom matchday spurs on a bigger revenue than us that is a concern for the club I know that and the thing is though as well is well that probably I will be a concern for the club when they're looking at it from a business perspective but they're trying to up that as much as possible especially in the last 10 years with the expansion of the styles south stand now the expansion of you know the family stand but then you look at the tunnel club we've got so much sick when the tunnel club came into play in 2015 whenever it was you know people saying this is like the end of match match going football fans and to an extent that seven percent is going to be made up largely of people who are tourists going to the club shop people who are doing the tunnel club you know people who are experiencing the hospitality actually where where we as a club should be looking to make money is maybe you know right rising our sponsorship rates raising our business partnerships you know I don't even mind the stuff that we do would like releasing the fourth kids I'm personally not going to buy one but you know that I'm sure there are kids out there who might want to spend the money on a Chinese New Year kit raise your money that way but I think for me to sort of put put the needle into the back of the match going fan who has been reared in the community for 30 years you know all he's saying there his family's had season ticket in the family stand or sort of within main road in the yard for 50 odd years it just it sort of seems like when when I speak at the start of that was towing that line the toes just starting to sort of seep through from that business end and it's starting it's sort of really pinning the pain on us can I just just add on to that Olly you you'll probably remember this and you hopefully you will 2003 we got told when we moved now no different orders different everything else now all his smiling because he probably knows what we're about to come out when we were told the main road go go to the new stadium and you picked out your seat and we were told you would never be moved that was your seat my dad was in the calling bell seen to get older 50 60 years at the time and got moved out when the tunnel club came in got told and you can have it a discount it was it two years discounted see I think it was I like don't if you can remember it was two years discounting and then you had to go up to the tunnel club price and my dad and my brother stopped going from that day on I know fans who have been going 34 years they're packing in at the end of the season and I understand I get it we're a big club now when we're not equal Manchester City that we were back in 1998 even though we were still a huge football club but the thing that hurts me the most is yeah we're all confident of these charges going away and we're you know and everything else if these charges don't go away and we get done us for the majority of the fans will all toggle off back down to the mission to and play Colchester again and we'll have a merry old time what do you know about the other few thousand that you've pissed off and they've gone out the door and won't come back because I'm sorry and this is you someone not gonna like this Jack from Australia ain't coming over to watch Luke Colchester United on a Wednesday night of the a bell in fixture that this is not this is not me saying because there will be some fans who come from America and they'll enjoy it and they're on board for life and I love it I've again I've said this to you no problem with fans abroad I think it helps you grow as a football club I think it's tremendous but well these fans well some of them some of them I use are they willing to go with because it's all nice and happy at the moment we're lifting the trophies left right center this is I'm not here for the trophies you you're not there for the trophies we could be getting smart 10 they'll every week and we're still coming through the door like idiots because we're sheep because it's love cut us open we bleed blue now some of those fans what I join in the journey brilliant great but there are fans are in the stadium who I film and get have no interest in singing no interest in joining in and our guy comes over America he sings he joins in he wants to get in with it all it's amazing but I've seen other fans sat in front of me in the game filming the whole thing no interest in singing go watch ballet I don't know in it we always come back to the same word balance yeah it is balancing I think the what you mentioned you talk about for example hospitality now we've got a lot of new what chairmen's 93 20 tunnel club I've got no problem with those I've got no problem with those and sometimes there will be issues with seating position in the ground and whatnot but those facilities are overly good and the amount of money that they generate per seat is astronomical right for the price of a season ticket one game sometimes but the other side of it is and the point it's just been made in the chat which is it was dynamo drill as Craig fans and atmosphere contributes the success on the pitch without local fans the atmosphere will be worse the club needs final innovative ways to make money and lead the way in the PL this is it right as the game gets bigger globally bigger and bigger and bigger the ways to watch grow and grow and grow the amount of games that are televised grows and grows and grows that percentage I think he says 7% of the revenue is match day that's only gonna get smaller even if prices keep going up that's only gonna get smaller because everything else is getting so much bigger they have to find a balance because that is the other aspect right you watch a game on cv you listen to a game on the radio very often the Premier League the first thing you notice is the crowd whether it's the away crowd the home crowd and again this is this is a Premier League problem right and I live a pool talk about there their atmosphere a lot united every now and then talk about the atmosphere not much to shout about win against Liverpool yeah and all of these clubs the top clubs anyway it's all going the same way home games are getting quieter quieter and quieter and quieter and our way following has been unbelievable loud and clear every time we go anywhere but you you have to find the balance for revenue you have to find the balance for atmosphere you have to also find the balance for the fans that will if we were relegated again if we were relegated twice again will still be the ones turning up every week the problem is that that works both ways they know that if we're willing to turn up and pay three four hundred quid for a season ticket in league one they also know that we're gonna be willing to double it or even triple it to keep watching us at the very top of Europe and England they are relying on the fact that we will whether the football's bad or the prices are high we're going to take it so again they have to find a balance find a way to get the matchday revenue from the club benefiting from the global growth of football and the astronomically better football than we were playing 20 years ago but also I don't want to say reward the loyal fans it's not a case of reward we don't need rewarding we're loyal because we're loyal we don't need to be handed stuff to keep going every week because even if we are served crap we'll still go every week that's the point but at least recognize it at least recognize it and give give us something for being the ones that will and do turn up every week no matter what the price of the football I think you make a really good point there Rolly and I just want to bring it up I mean I'm no expert on foreign football but I do think it comes into it when we speak about the fact that this is a Premier League problem you know the the profitability and sort of the capitalist culture within within football at the moment within the Premier League is absolutely what's at the core of this problem because you know we speak about understanding the matchday experience and we want people to come if they're going to actually indulge in the atmosphere and have a good time and like you say Martin not just watch for a phone screen we want people to come over and take part in what is this fantastic football club that we've all learned to love I love nothing more than the fact that we're now starting to grow a global fan base I think it's absolutely fantastic a couple years ago I was over in New York I watched the Liverpool Man City game there with the fan group absolutely bouncing you can tell how much city actually means to those people all locals to New York and yet they absolutely love it so for them if they're going to come over once a year once every couple years they want to spend their money on their holidays to go watch Man City that should be a part of it that is absolutely fantastic but that shouldn't be at the detriment of the fan that like you say is there weak and weak are Carabao cup games you know FA cup third round fixtures if we go down the leagues the people that are still there and you look at all the leagues Bundesliga you know is obviously the example that people always come back to Syria you know what are the games that people want to go to when they go abroad everyone wants to go to the yellow wall in Dortmund you know I'm not a Dortmund fan but if someone says to me let's go for a European away day we all want to go Dortmund if we say let's go to a European game we all want to go to the San Siro we all want to you know go to the Allianz or or go go to a Dortmund game so we're in a way tourists within those fields yeah we pay a premium on those tickets because we you know foreign tourists come in to take part in that atmosphere but they don't punish the season ticket holders for it I think what is it like Dortmund cap their season tickets at something like 175 quid it's ridiculous you know it's almost 50 plus one real don't push on yeah but also just to give you the council argument right what success of German clubs had in Europe over the last few years not that much yes buying of one it once twice but only buying the standard overall standard at the top end of those leagues tends to be lower not always not always before you know any Bundesliga fans jump in and and jump down my throat for this one but the Premier League at the moment is the Super League and that is almost entirely almost entirely because of the financial aspect so the clubs still do need to maintain those revenues but again coming back to it is that balance is enabling the the tourists to come over to the games to find tickets to buy tickets maybe a little bit of a premium but also enabling the local long-time fans to come without quite frankly getting getting ripped off um ripped off in comparison to what we used to pay as opposed to ripped off for crap football because it ain't crap football so city you've got to they've got to come up with something creative instead of simply nine percent up ten percent up eleven percent up five percent up ten percent up they've got to be creative how to season ticket for this long we'll do this is it your first time at a game we'll do this is it your 10th time at a game we'll do this and for ticket and seat availability as well a massive game against the united against Liverpool have a certain amount of the single sale tickets the match day tickets where say 75 percent of them are for people that have been to two or more games or three or more games and then at a slight price premium 25 percent of the allocation is for first-time buyers first come first serve again creative solutions but talk to the fans as well I don't know is it just because it's we're slightly newer to success than the clubs that I'm about to mention but that's that's scheme that you're you're you're outlying there that's the way Liverpool and United operate they have a system whereby you have to have accumulated a certain amount of games to seize the qualify for for certain fixtures but we've already got that look here that's what they're telling everyone we've got it that's what the lollipops put system as but it's implemented terribly it's implemented terribly it's like the the it's you know I think it's one of the is I think it's been too many changes at once and the problem is I've said this a thousand times human beings can't handle change we've gone to light shows to flash your blue lights when we've scored a goal to this and they are trying 1000 I don't you know don't get me wrong I just think probably for an old footy don't you like myself maybe it's too I mean do you know the scary thing is my 14-year-old lad who's always what he seems to get has had one for two three years now and even he said he said he's a bit boring now dad nobody sings then nobody does anything he said there's no excitement anymore I don't think I wouldn't I wouldn't put that entirely down to the club because I do think that is just one of the issues that comes with an influx of success because subconsciously whether you like it or not I think particularly the home games there is a certain element of expectation amongst people who've been watching winning and trophies in great football for years and years I mean I I know for a fact that Barcelona fans used to complain about the exact same thing when they had Pep Guardiola they were going to a winning cauldron they were going with the full expectation Messi was going to bang a load of goals and he asked and Shaby were going to blow them away and it took away that raw edge of uncertainty you know we could lose the day there's something at stake so let's go it's not much it's not so much the games it's that no one sings you know like you also to be fair though like your son's 14 he's probably just discovered girls you know I mean he doesn't care about football at the moment but also hang on also all he's ever known is winning this is important right we've seen worse we've seen a lot worse we can appreciate every trophy that comes our way because we we used to pine for an FA quarter final now we've just made it what six years in a row semi-final five years in a row something like that it's insane I think even for some of us it's still not some kind that's why for us success doesn't get boring because we know what it's like to live without it and we know that it could come around again yeah I think the kid's perspective on this is a little bit different and to be honest by the time the young lads now that support city grow up and see their season ticket prices they might be all right with it because they've never seen any different they might have been conditioned to it I don't know you know you look at the prices for sporting events in the USA they're astronomical huge it's normalized there will it become normalized here I don't know but the other side is that a lot of American sports I went to an Arizona Diamondbacks game a few years ago I was a tourist I was a day tripper loved it had a great time but the stadium was dead it was dead and baseball if you if you've never seen it before the game's gone a long time hours and hours so people just kind of come in watch a bit come out or go late watch a bit of it but there's there's no atmosphere and the prices are very very high and that's that's quite normal there for a lot of these games all of them you see you see you know Super Bowl obviously the big events the rivalries they still have their days but high prices and low atmosphere is quite normal there and I just pray that it doesn't get to that point here and because Sky are going to have to start running they're going to have to start running audio tracks in the background to make it seem like there isn't I remember them days when they used to have fake chanting points in the stadium Sky likes to do it on telly I'm doing that again but I just just want to say because I am looking at a couple of these comments so I'm not I'm not going to read them out specifically but there are fans from other clubs slating us and we we said at the very very beginning this is a football problem this isn't just a city problem people need to get over this this isn't city being greedy this isn't city's owners this isn't well it might be city being greedy but but it's it's football there is not enough of an appreciation in English football for the the the heritage the atmosphere and the loyalty that English football fans have had for many many years we will not be the only ones about to implement a price rise for the ninth year in a row far from it there were a couple of seasons a decade or so ago where I think we froze ticket prices and we were one of the only ones this has been happening for a very long time in football across the Premier League yeah I am I remember back when I was at uni and they used to do ticket schemes for the Champions League for sort of non-season ticket holders where you could buy a ticket for all three group stage champions league games at home for I can't remember I was like 21 at the time so I think it was slightly cheaper maybe like 90 quid for all three games or 80 quid and I used to have a load of United Liverpool mates I mean I still have them but and they just used to get on at me and say oh you know that's ridiculous you can't get a ticket for United for less than 75 quid and you've managed to get three and I actually used to be proud of city then because I was like well why are you bragging about that like why are you bragging about the fact that you know it's costing you 90 pounds go to football games that's not what football should be about and like you say it is a it is a problem within the whole Premier League I've had conversations with other fans before who sort of say oh well you can't complain when you're seeing on your season tickets at the club a 750 quid because at Arsenal the 1,300 it's like well the problem there is is just as much Arsenal as it is with city with the prices going up it it needs to be addressed all over there's nothing in my opinion braggadocious about the fact that it's costing astronomical prices because we once put stops out there we don't want it to become like the US where people are paying 500 quid for a match you know 300 quid for a Taylor Swift concert and then 500 quid for a football match like it's absolutely ridiculous and you're fighting at what at 5 a.m to get in the queue exactly to me like we we need football to be you know for a Taylor Swift concert before no no don't start that rooting around yeah but we need we need it to be impactful everywhere we need we need prices to be fair all over and you know it like you say it's not just a city issue but yeah I mean look obviously I'm aware you I know we've had a few super chats throughout throughout the stream don't know if we maybe want to start reading a few of them out get some opinions from the chat and see what people are saying yeah it's just just rusting here with a member chat and a super chat gives his thoughts well big up over the 40 months by the way russians a long long time man you've been loyal for a long time massively appreciate you he says don't blame city because they're still a business and relatively lower than most from a macro level the economy incomes haven't risen in the UK big issue and he also follows up with I try to keep politics separate from this beautiful game it's hard to not overstate the impact their decisions have on the economy hate it but that is why I left Gorton and head to LA for better money better weather too no doubt and uh I don't know if there's much that Gorton can say they have that is better than LA anything better pies better fishing ships yeah probably I'm gonna be really rude now I need to shoot lads I do apologize I need to jump I've got um yeah I just I don't know because I say I just the my part of year is just let's have a meeting let's have a chat because we've got what because I do get it rivals look at us and think wow you look morning you know I think there's probably 19 clubs that's what places with us and we're sort of I get it and but I do agree I think it's a you know don't want to go down a politics road but it's UK government issue everything issues inflation goes up our wages don't go up Manchester's a working class sir food banks are a high rate that's why you know MCFC food bank do such an amazing job of what they do I just I don't I do if you ever if I had a magic wand you know perfection but I just don't see where you go with it I don't see where you never you're never going to get a situation where everybody's happy singing off the same entry you're always going to get a percentage having a moment always that's the problem there's no way of pleasing anyone Tottenham we've just got rid of their concession prices aren't there for over 65s I think you know I'll let you go and set mark but what you just said when you're at the top I think that's when it's the most important to lead and make an example you know I think the people saying why should you complain you've got it all going on well that's why we we our voices should be heard as a club and as a fan base right now because people are looking towards us within the global game and we want to fight and talk from we are 1894 just seen on the city extra-twitter this minute a spokesperson has said gone yeah go for it you sorry if you got up there you can read it I just got it up the rise is immensely disappointing there is no justification for it we'd like man city to reconsider people want a freeze which is achievable we're in a situation now where they don't need to ring every last bit out of the matchday revenue the fans are a little bit restless this one feels like a step too far there is a battle for the heart and soul of the club and there's a good statement I think it's a pretty good statement I can't lie anybody starts on that they're very unhappy and all that they are very unhappy which is why they say they say people want a freeze that is achievable look we're not the club's accountants we we don't know what kind of impact exactly a total freeze would have and we have to recognize the club's requirements to keep revenues going up and up and up it's just a question of how much of that has to come from 35 000 season ticket holders every year in the grand scheme of things how much of it has to come from us that's exactly my thought process I have no issue with the football club from a business standpoint always striving to improve the revenues and so on so forth but why penalize in that in that pursuit that section of the fan base the people who sit in the the bog standard seats as they would be called you know the lowest tier seats or the regular seats when I sat in a in a corporate box for one game I was fortunate to get to sit in a corporate box for one game this season and I asked the lady who worked there was like how much one of these things cost to rent for the year and she said you're looking at about a quarter of a million so you're looking at about a quarter of a million to to purchase one of these boxes for the season I don't know just is that just the 19 Premier League games or is it every single home game and whatnot but if they're earning a quarter of a million from each company that buys these boxes I know a number of them are are allocated to players not every player has a box by the way so a number of them go to your okx's your eti had all these are paying a quarter of a million to have a box I don't see why you can't squeeze a teeny bit more out of these you know mncs who clearly have the funds to be able to do so rather than the the core fan base who are many of which are struggling just to pay the fees to to acquire the season ticket season in season out and I think the point about you know the appeal to Manchester City dying down slightly when look football cyclical we will have a period in time in the future where we're not as sexy as we are right now and we're not lifting as many trophies we are right now I don't even think it's a case of relegation I think when City eventually become top four mid-table something along those lines and you don't have as many people looking to come to Manchester City the club will be looking once again to people like us people like the the south stand the family stand the east and the column bell stand and saying well do you want your season tickets back you know I know we kind of priced you out of it a while ago and then you know there's the the argument about peps complaining about atmosphere these days regularly people beat us with that stick all the time this is that's a really good point something I want to mention about pep there's a disconnect between pep and the club here just sorry just before we move on I know that Martin needs to to head off by the way so just yeah I appreciate it having you on Martin obviously yeah I know you're going on there is it the cheeseman podcast now yeah go and record that please everyone's going mad about the same thing good good but yeah we'll let you go obviously and obviously go check out Martin's channel guys if you are watching if you've not come across it before appreciate it no thank you for that skin again yeah yeah Martin is always yes fellas do you guys do do go and check out the Mancunian way Martin's always a fantastic guest here so go over to the Mancunian way and of course the city report podcast as well where Oliver operates with Amos and that great crew they have over there but and Oliver go on about the disconnect I think we're on the same wavelength regarding pep and g-ing up the fans asking for more atmosphere it does it's so apparent he's not satisfied with the situation it's neither of the neither of the fans and it is completely interconnected now we are never going to know what happens in the boardroom right and in those discussions the meetings between the club between the directors with pep etc I really hope that pep is fighting our corner on this I really hope pep's fighting our corner we'll never know or at least we won't know for a number of years but I would like to think and we know that pep's got a burner account on Twitter we know he'll be seeing be seeing all the the the anger in the reaction I just I just hope that he is there fighting our corner because the bleak thing about the lack of communication is that it indicates that there isn't really anyone fighting our corner in the club I know pep recognizes the atmosphere issues at times I know he appreciates it when the atmosphere does drive the players forward like him against Madrid last season and you know we will no doubt do it again this season against Madrid so if he's there fighting our corner then props to him although it's not having too much of an effect but it is another massive problem there is another potential solution which I hope will come to happen will come to pass the renovation that's going on in the Chano Ori myself now the north side the expansion north side yeah they're building a blue wall style right it's not going to be like the south stand in the away end where it's three tiers I think it's going to be a lower tier and then a big single upper tier similar to the yellow wall make those tickets cheap make them available for local fans make them available for the people that want to relocate potentially from the south stand make that a blue wall and that one end of the ground will will carry the atmosphere the only problem is obviously got considerations with what is now the family stand and the people that are sat there there might be major rejigging to be done but there is an opportunity here there's an opportunity for cheaper tickets for better availability of tickets and to have one huge atmosphere generating block a number of a number of issues can be solved in in one fell swooper it's sad to say I don't have much faith in the club pulling it off but there is an opportunity here to do that with your stand the fear the fear is what's the more likely outcome is that they're just increasing the capacity to to squeeze in even more people to squeeze in even more tourists or people willing to pay whatever prices they are at that point in time um yeah it's just a frustrating one because I know people are saying it's the price of success and you want to sign this player and that player I think it's really naive to believe the charging me 50 pounds more like everybody in the stadiums season tickets collectively probably isn't even a drop in the ocean when it comes to transfer fees or or player wages it's it's not I don't think they correlate I don't think they correlate but once again as Oliver says I'm not the accountant but my point was it just felt like it would have been a classy thing to do right now while we're on top and while we're we're doing very well to say we're going to freeze we're going to freeze it's already fairly expensive but we're going to freeze we're not going to push it any further and they've missed a massive opportunity and I don't know was their fears of sports washing accusations that or you're just trying to make yourselves look nice and friendly and clear your name decriminalize yourselves before these charges land and so on so forth but I thought it would be the classy thing to do um I don't know what you think Ollie about that man yeah no I'm pretty much pound for pound degree I sort of to encapsulate everything that we've sort of spoken about in this stream so far like that they're in my opinion has to be other streams of revenue that we can be exploiting to subsidize this increase and again how it affects city's reputation within the market with its fans like like you said it just would have been a classy thing to do and I mean surely they surely at this point would all success we have city can charge whatever the hell they want the sponsors we are the most commercially commercially you know attractive football club right now charges aside I know maybe that might put some people off but in general we are the most commercially attractive with the best players the best manager we win the most trophies surely if city are in pursuit of slightly more revenue and they were thinking oh can we get it off the match going fans they may say well why don't we say to whatever later sponsorship deal we have with you know I see on youtube they have myhomes.com or something or Medea and all these sponsorships that I'm not really sure hey we're ridiculous like we are now global especially in the past I'd say three years we have reached complete new peaks especially with the treble you know it and the thing is as well is it's only going to get more more severe like this sort of success that we're having whether that's in terms of trophies like you know I can't say you know I'm not saying we're going to win back to back to back to back trebles but this Netflix documentary like we're we're going to have globalize on us that have never even thought about man city before who will then literally become man city fans because that is how the new football fan works you know I know there are people out there who are now rexen fans who weren't rexen fans before and sundland fans who weren't sundland fans before this type of docu-series will have a massive impacts on on sort of the global eyes on us and we can charge you know don't want to be ridiculous and say whatever we want but like people want to work with man city I used to go abroad when I was a kid I'm from Manchester United United now I go abroad and like city Drabble Ireland Pep Guardiola like we are huge we're bigger than we've ever been and we don't need to punish the fans for that there's got like you said whether it's boxes no it is hard to believe that we can't just pick up another sponsor 100 quid say 100 quid a ticket 35 000 season tickets that's three and a half million not counting match day spend etc a shirt it's visits to the club shop all of that three and a half million I mean we've got sponsors coming out of our ears now we've got sleeve sponsor I don't know if you've noticed but um opposite the Colin Bell in if you want to call it the kipaxe or old school um name for the for the main stand opposite the Colin Bell you've got on the stairs the actual stairs going to and from the concourse yeah sponsorships on there so if you're three and a half million or 100 quid a seat can you not stick a new sponsor logo on the back of each seat billboards are doubled in there billboards yeah we've got double billboards remember like they used to be single ones now that yeah three it is just very hard to again you know we're not the accountants we're not the people running the club sponsorships and partnerships but it is hard to believe that we can't find three and a half million a very basic level three and a half million to stave off that 100 pound increase somewhere it is hard to believe it doesn't it's not even like look if we're going to bring it down to be really harsh on them it's not even just ticket prices i know all over you you go to the game so you'll know and all the any games you've been to i don't know recently but the prices of even just food and drink in the stadium have gone a lot a lot since i first started going i know you get a 10 discount where you're seeing ticket and they'll argue that's your rewards but the the whole cost of going to Manchester City it's increasing all the time now look if we're being totally honest they probably just viewed as supply and demand they probably just view it as the fact that we are so popular right now if you're not willing to pay the prices we know for a fact someone is willing to pay it so it's it's no big deal losing you or whoever can't but i suppose just because we're a fan channel we have to speak on on behalf and and try and be fair to those who deserve it um you know loyal match going fans i mean one of my cousins texts me today he goes how much of your season ticket go up i told him and he says i'm getting rid of mine because he pays for him and his is two kids so he's talking three season tickets he's like i can't justify it anymore how how do i tell the misses i'm spending two grand or whatever on on three season tickets when the same products as well yeah yeah you're not getting more money are you no we are though we are this is we are also you know Hugh you said that we're speaking for a lot of the fan base here but i think we have been fairly balanced we have given some recognition of the club's requirements for its revenue increases its profit increases and the expenditure increases and we have seen better for it's like i said we're running at 14% ahead of inflation the football is about 300% better than whatever the whatever it was that stewart pierce was serving up just before shake one sort of over that there is the club does have some justifications for some rises somewhere to some yeah and i agree across the board 9% 9% 9% year on year on year on year for everyone that's that's over the top i agree i agree with what you're saying to an extent like we are a better team we're a better we we get more entertainment for our money like yes the light shows cost money yes the improved stands and facilities and you know even like everything that's going on in the concourse is obviously a lot better than it was 10 years ago so i agree like there needs to be an increase or some sort of increase but like you said or like lots of city fans have said today on twitter like tickets their season tickets have gone up 100 plus within the space of two seasons now when you're huge may or you know any sort of family man or woman or whatever in manchester or further a field and you've got three season tickets that you're paying for that's three four hundred quid that it's going up for or can we can we reasonably say three four hundred quids a reasonable expense for something that is technically the same product yeah it's slightly improved but is it four hundred quids worth improved for huge mate's family and his cousins and stuff like that i i don't know i don't think that's justifiable i agree with an increase but not what it is at the moment my uh my old man's chips in on whatsapp to me just about the food and drink he said the food and drink are tenants uh someone's actually put it in the chat as well craig their rent has obviously increased which is why the prices have increased um i don't know too much about the economics of renting casering space at the etihad unfortunately but um two pound fifty is it for a cart and a water cardboard cart and water yeah yeah yeah i mean again come on the club's going to accept some responsibility for it it's water um i suppose look all we can hope for is that the 1894 maybe get i have little faith they'll get anything in return uh from from that statement but it is what it is we want us to just do the show anyway and have a discussion about it it's always great to get multiple points of views and big up rustin and dina madhuras craig as well for giving your opinions um look it's not very often we have to criticize the club thankfully we do we do support generally a very well-run club and we get to watch the best football in the world but it is important to to not allow them to take the piss if you do feel they are but i think we're going to wrap it up because we've just hit the air mark and i've really enjoyed that discussion big up to martin as always and big up to oliver from the city report podcast what have you guys got coming up over the international break that our viewers can go and check out uh we recorded an episode last night dropped today we just had a bit of a coffee corner new series so when things acquire international breaks no midweek games etc just taking listener questions and answering on them on the show but the podcast is is daily five or six times a week apart from break on a sunday so yeah just say to everyone go check it out we've got reactions from all the last few games we've got our coffee corner that dropped today and subscribe and they'll get 30 minutes straight to the phones every day i genuinely i'm an advocate for the city report podcast i do a lot of traveling and i'll always download a couple episodes of the city report podcast to make time fly excuse the pun when i'm on the plane and map it i i i do suggest go over and check it out people it's a great podcast aim loss all over a great crew over there and always making great content and we always like to show support to the great guests to come on to the actual look if there's one thing we do have over clubs right now or one of the few things we do is we're a very unified fan base i like to believe or at least our content creators are very unified we're not split we like to help each other out we like to support each other so support martin mancunian way support oliver on the city report podcast you catch myself ollie and jordy porty as always here on city extra we're going to bring you as much content as we can throughout the international break so make sure you're subscribed notification bell on hit the like button on your way out leave all your comments down below i do read them after these streams i want to see what you guys have to say and i'll reply to a few of them if i can other than that enjoy the rest of the evenings look after yourselves good night and god bless blues in a bit