The mancityfans.net football forum

In researching an answer to some Scum twat on Skytext I came across their figures for the 1990-91 season, and it makes very interesting reading. They had gone 20-odd years without winning the league (they forget!), but were usually up there somewhere.

So with the ITKs on the blue site 'that must not be named' on here now talking about a fourth tier up to 85,000 for us, and with our attendances knocking capacity, doubters of Sheik Mansour's plans note the following. It would come as a shock to many of Scum's nouveau-following, but it just shows it can be done:

Home

Highest attendance - v Villa, 47,485.

Lowest attendance - v Derby 32,776

(Incidentally Chelsea attracted 22,000 for the visit of Scum.)

25 August 1990 Coventry City H 46,715
8 September 1990 Queens Park Rangers H 43,427
22 September 1990 Southampton H 41,288
29 September 1990 Nottingham Forest H 46,766
20 October 1990 Arsenal H 47,322
3 November 1990 Crystal Palace H 45,724
17 November 1990 Sheffield United H 45,903
25 November 1990 Chelsea H 37,836
8 December 1990 Leeds United H 40,947
26 December 1990 Norwich City H 39,801
29 December 1990 Aston Villa H 47,485
12 January 1991 Sunderland H 45,394

3 February 1991 Liverpool H 43,690
2 March 1991 Everton H 45,656
23 March 1991 Luton Town H 41,752

2 April 1991 Wimbledon H 36,660
16 April 1991 Derby County H 32,776
4 May 1991 Manchester City H 45,286
20 May 1991 Tottenham Hotspur H 46,791

Incidentally I reckon a 4th tier could be the way to go, as we could round off the 3rd, then build a 4th with new surround supports without disrupting current attendances too much.

I hope this is true. A bigger ground is the best way of "breaking-even" and therefore ensuring we can beat UEFA's new financial regulations.

I would think a new ground would be built / extended in stages, and it would make the whole match-day experience twice as exciting.

Goes without saying that we'd need a winning team to put bums on seats.

Build it, and they will come.

Beefymcfc wrote:Build it, and they will come.

Sunderland went from a 3/4 full Roker Park of 20k to 49k at Stadium of Light which they used to half fill for reserve games when the excitement was at its peak with SKP and Quinn

I said a while back that we would be looking to have the biggest and best stadium in the country and am not surprised if we are going for 80 odd thousand and although it sounds a lot at the mo, once we are winning thing's, have CL coverge, world class facilities and a pricing structure to suit all walks off life, then 85k will sound natural.

Top bombing. Will bookmark this for future use, cheers mate

johnpb78 wrote:Top bombing. Will bookmark this for future use, cheers mate

Checkout the info threads on BM oh doubting one. ".....into Las Vegas etc"

john@staustell wrote:

johnpb78 wrote:Top bombing. Will bookmark this for future use, cheers mate

Checkout the info threads on BM oh doubting one. ".....into Las Vegas etc"

Doubting? Not me, was a very interesting set of stats you put up there, which I will be using in the future when the rags start giggling like school kids when we do eventually get round to expanding

To add some further reference info to your point John. It was 1991-92 that the rags began to make their mark on the league by finishing 2nd....In the 4 years preceeding that, they were only attracting gates around the late 30K and early 40K mark. Well below our present average gates.
1990-91....6th.....43,218
1989-90...13th.....39,077
1988-89...11th.....36,488
1987-88....2nd.....39,152

Putting aside the swamp's increased capacity and development, they only started to attract the bigger crowds as they became more successful and that was on the back of the massive increased Premier League marketing and global coverage.
There is every reason to think that City success, plus increased global coverage could have a dramatic effect on our attendances.

I can't remember how long ago it was but someone at the City made a statement that it would be easier to market City because much of the pioneering and development work had already been done. The Premier League is a global concept andf the global market already exists for City to tap into.

Should the rags laugh, simply ask them if it was an "echo" of their past or if it sounded like that because of the hollowness of their laughter"

just i little point about how great uniteds support is when they are taking the piss out of our attendances

http://www.aboutmanutd.com/man-u-matche ... oscow.html

I love our club, but even if we won the prem and the champions league next season, I honestly cant see us filling more than 60k into our stadium, no matter how big. We would have to lower prices, subsidise that with knowing more people will be buying beer etc. Maybe if we can get a hotel on the grounds that would bring in another few thousand per home game.

To build to scums level, Barca and Madrids levels, we would need a decade of glory, to build a new fan base in the UK and abroad.

Although im sure upping the stadium capacity would take atleast 5 years. A stand per season +1 for facilities.

Crossie wrote:I love our club, but even if we won the prem and the champions league next season, I honestly cant see us filling more than 60k into our stadium, no matter how big. We would have to lower prices, subsidise that with knowing more people will be buying beer etc. Maybe if we can get a hotel on the grounds that would bring in another few thousand per home game.

To build to scums level, Barca and Madrids levels, we would need a decade of glory, to build a new fan base in the UK and abroad.

Although im sure upping the stadium capacity would take atleast 5 years. A stand per season +1 for facilities.

I think you are right on all counts. And that is the point. Most people only seem to see 6 months or a year down the line - for some bizarre reason.

City have a huge support base in Greater Manchester with tens of thousands of families having blues in their ancestry who have given up going over the bleak years.

Build a great stadium, and win some trophies and they will come back

I don't know if it's possible due to that wanker Platini's bullshit 'fairplay' rules but imagine if the Sheikh could get round that with sponsorship & was to build a bigger stadium, build a side that wins the Premier league & competes in the Champions league & then drop admission prices, especially for the top tiers.

How many new people would be attracted into a ground to see the best team in Europe if it was cheap? How many would get a taste for it & come back regularly? How many lapsed blues would be tempted to come back for the odd game? How many would get the 'bug' again? Imo we can piss 60k at the current prices if we win stuff but look how many extra people turn up for tin pot Euro games when the prices are dropped. I recon there are as many or more non regulars than regulars at those games. The potential is huge.

Also, why are people so arsed about having a percentage of empty seats? Because peple would take the piss? Barca have 20,000 of them on average & I don't see anyone laughing.

Maybe a point worth noting, regarding future vision.
When considering the move from Hyde Road to Maine Road, the initial plan was to build a new ground over 2 phases that would ultimately hold 120.000 people.
During its lifespan, Maine Road held over 80,000 crowds on more than 1 occasion and crowds above 70,000 several times. It was quite common for City to attract crowds of over 60,000.
Increasing the capacity of CoMS to a significantly higher figure is not as outlandish as we may think.