Does it matter if it is serious?
Either way, it is funny as fuck
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I know but if it is actually accurate itâs even funnier.
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Of course it is, the account is called âReal Talk MCFCâ. They couldnât call themselves that if their stories were fake now, could they?
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This season felt so good with them being completely irrelevant and just the way it should be. If only they get punished for their charges and this becomes a permanent reality.
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Fresh Man City ticket announcement should send shivers down the spine of club officials
Story by Joe Bray
Manchester City make their 21st cup journey to Wembley since 2016 this weekend. So maybe it is no surprise that the allocation at the national stadium is still not sold out.
City announced on Thursday that any Cityzen member who has purchased any ticket since 2022/23 can buy up to four seats for Sundayâs clash vs Nottingham Forest - who sold out their end instantly. That is as close to opening tickets up to general sale as possible so raises the question why fans are turning their backs on such a pivotal game.
Forest secured promotion back to the Premier League in 2022 via a Wembley play-off final, their only appearance there since it reopened in 2007. They have received two extra sets of tickets after quickly selling all their 36,000 allocation and extra trains have been put on from Nottingham to accommodate the added numbers heading from the East Midlands to Kings Cross. It is undoubtedly a huge game for them in a season that keeps on giving.
Yet City are relaxing almost all criteria having failed to sell out after season ticket holders and members in the cup schemes got priority. The only exemption to the new window is that fans who have only purchased tickets for fixtures against Forest are excluded, presumably to prevent red shirts in the blue end. Cityâs season doesnât have the excitement or feel good factor that Forestâs does and Wembley is not a novelty fans need to pay for.
There will almost certainly, then, be empty seats in the City end, following thousands of empty seats on Tuesday against Aston Villa. Even for two of Cityâs biggest games of the season, fans are putting their wallets first and who can blame them.
City have been spoilt with plenty of visits to Wembley and will hope for another one next month. If they reach their third consecutive FA Cup final it will be their tenth visit in four years, while they have reached the FA Cup semi-finals seven years in a row. This is not a new experience.
Tickets started at ÂŁ30 for adults for this yearâs semi-final, for a seat high up, rising to ÂŁ90 for the lower tier behind the goal. Club Wembley prices go as high as ÂŁ150. Then there is trains, petrol or accommodation to think about, plus the inconvenient Sunday afternoon kick-off time. A family probably wonât take their children given the cost (ÂŁ80 for under-18s in the lower tier) and late return to Manchester on a school night
City fans highlighted Tuesdayâs pricing against Villa, which started at ÂŁ71 for adults, and protested inside and outside the Etihad. Their message read: âPlease donât take my City awayâ to send a message that they feel the club are pricing out the next generation.
Protests against Leicester and Villa have focussed on the lack of new season tickets as well as other ticketing issues, and next weekâs clash with Wolves will see fans again stay in the concourse for the start of the game to highlight a lack of new season tickets being made available. Images of empty seats at the Etihad for different reasons have sparked debate, refreshingly without much of the usual sniping and jibing from rivals.
That will never go away but there is a growing realisation that fans must unite over growing ticket prices. As money becomes tighter for everyone, City fans shouldnât be judged for not being able to afford every single game. Not to mention public transport issues that come with another visit to London.
It also serves to underpin the protests which all come back to the same issue regardless of specifics on season ticket policy - the increasing expense of following football. It is not just City, and it is not just City fans. ÂŁ71 on Tuesday and ÂŁ90 for Sunday is unreasonable in anybodyâs book and this is another point to hammer that home.
The relaxed criteria should, at least, allow more fans who wouldnât usually get to Wembley see City at the home of football. The fact it has got that far should equally be a wake-up call to executives across the FA and Premier League. And when hundreds of regulars stayed away from the 2023 Community Shield in protest at the kick-off time, the atmosphere suffered as a result.
Fans need help and they are starting to do their talking with their feet. Clubs assume they can fill seats with tourists and new fans - so what happens when even that doesnât work?
Even without a call to action for protest, the City end on Sunday could be an even more worrying sight for officials, just like Tuesday should have been. Without regulars and their replacements, this weekend could be a worrying look into the future.
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Guess theyâre not really there after all.
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It also points to the problem of continuing to use Wembley for the semi finals, especially with two northern sides.
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No. It isnât sold out because their real fans are priced out of being there.
Both of them.
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Yeah Wemberly for the semi finals has always been a terrible mistake, simply a way to recoup some of the overspending on the Multiplex Arch
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Yep, a cash grab by the organizer in a move that paid no attention to the needs of the fans and devalued their own show piece event.
City fans would probably complain if it was hosted at Anfield, but imagine the send off for Goodison if they hosted it there. Even 40000 at Villa park would be a great venue for these two. As a kid I thought there was something really novel and exciting about the semis being held at a neutral venue (that was not Wembley) and if they are looking to bring interest back to the competition they should consider going back to that. Especially as new Wembley has little of the charm of the old one.
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How is that possible when Forrest sold out their allocation and their reallocated extra tickets and have had additional trains put on for their fans?
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Putting aside the obvious desire to put the boot into City, itâs a familiarity thing. Forest fans will pay the money because they have had a semi final for years and they donât know when the next one will be. City have have seen their team in loads of big games, so itâs less attractive at that price.
The issue is greed. The reflex in the game to charge the maximum price point possible for everything regardless of the damage it does to the future of the game.
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Could be the fickle Cheaters fans are changing allegiance to us, as PL winners elect, we are playing at the same time :0)
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City fans wonât even travel for their title win bus parades.
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But they will clap their hands, and you canât beat that sort of passion
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Goodison shouldnât be hosting conference games let alone a cup semi final.
Anyhow Cityâs attendances hit when the two Universities happen to be on their Easter break 
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Iâm pretty sure their last semi was the year of the Gazza final. So thatâs over 30 years ago.
Incidentally, I think that was the year the FA first used Wembley for the semi because of demand from Arsenal and Spurs.
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Growing up didnt the semi finals use to be held at the two most successful clubs that had won it the most ? At the time it was spurs and villa (80âs) so why dont they do that now ( although it would be arsenal /united grounds now
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I thought it was because the grounds were largely suitable enough. Spurs was quite up to date in the 80s and Villa Park had one of the bigger attendances. Plus being in the middle of the country helped.
Man Utd held a few but then again their expansion happened around their time of success.
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I thought it was a combination of location (roughly halfway between the teams) and suitability of the ground itself to accommodate the matches.