So I take my place in my seat after a lovely walk in the sunshine to get there (that even required my sunglasses!), a million miles away from the night before in the game that never was! For I arrived at my seat the night before literally drenched, I sat down to an empty stadium, took my trainers off because they were soaked and proceeded to ring my socks out and hang them over the seat in front! My mate Jim who had also made it to the ground, but had left earlier than me, was sat there completely dry with a carrier bag from the city store that contained the new training top still neatly folded with it's labels, so in the search for anything dry I acquisitioned it on loan! Once on I realised how nice a top it is this year and with Jim remembering he owed me 60 quid we decided to make the move permanent. Then moments later the few thousand City fans and a similar number of bare chested Germans were informed, much to our dismay after the utter mission it had been to simply get there, it was off!
Said mission had seen me cowering like a troll under a canal bridge in Ancoats, with numerous others, for over half an hour as the rain was that heavy and tropical! Then after half an hour of hiding, some phone calls and obsessively checking my weather app I new it wasn't going to relent any time soon, so I only had one chance of making it to the ground apart from the unthinkable! Returning to Ancoats street I took partial shelter in a bus stop I had tried earlier, before finding the bridge and prayed for a black cab! With the second one taking pity on me and taking me to the ground. Upon arriving at as near as I could be dropped to the Ethiad the remaining 300m dash still soaked me, such was the intensity of the rain, with the icing on the cake being the small 'river' that had totally blocked the path to my gate, that left you no choice other than to wade through, hence the drenched feet! Something I had managed to keep relatively dry till this point!
Anyway take two and a different night, completely different weather, different mate next to me (as Jim now couldn't make it and my mate Jenks took his place), but nothing different in the football! Indeed the Pep revolution keeps marching on! It could have been ten is no exaggeration and that would be the only criticism I could find at the moment, in that we need our pressure and dominance to be represented in a couple more goals, which is an amazing thing to say when we are already scoring more goals than everyone else it seems. So Aguero gets his Hat-trick and Iheanacho also continues his amazing scoring statistics as we are treated to a football delight once more. Yes, they weren't that good but we seem to be saying that about everyone this year, which begs the question are they actually that bad are we just that good?!
Now if you read my older blogs under Pellegrini this is what I was banging on about when I was asking to be entertained! For if you brave the weather, brave your Mrs saying 'what not more football' and brave the financial implications, you at least want to be entertained and fell that your sacrifices were worth it! For 2 years this simply hasn't been the case, but this is changing as I left the ground floating on joy, thoroughly entertained and even with the sodden game that never was feeling like it was all worth it. Thank you Pep my wishes have been answered!
So it seems we are winning on all fronts, however there is one issue that needs addressing for it is the only thing that the Salford lot say anymore and that's because it is the only thing they can still compete on! We all know it so lets face it head on 'The Emptiad'. Now Pep tried to address the fact that there was at least 15,000 empty seats there, but on this I don't think he has been so well informed for issues with UEFA are not why all those seats are empty! Yes a few thousand may be due to the rearranged day but I have said time and time again in posts that the majority of the problem is fans finances and how we then as a club manage that situation. I feel like this is the last major mismanagement we still need to put right.
Yes Pep it is full for Premiership games because a lot of working men on normal incomes save up and can just about justify their season ticket still, but the Champions league and cups are optional and in many cases an expense to far! Especially in recent years when you aren't even guaranteed some entertainment and with this I don't necessarily mean victories, rather excitement, for it seemed like 'Mr Fizzy water' was an undercover officer for the 'fun police' with his team sheets, tactics and in play decisions! My solution which I have said many times before is do what the Salford lot do, but do it better, like we have done in everything else! In that make it a compulsory part of the season ticket, but at massively reduced rates making people aware of that. For instance make the least interesting game say £10, the next £15 and the big game £20, get bums on seats create the atmosphere and go further in the competition and most importantly create a positive full energy in the stands to match that on the pitch! Then once this is done if you have to fire sell tickets for £10-£15 and let kids in for free with a Dad it's possible because it doesn't sit badly with season ticket holders. That's how you swell and grow a fan base, that's how you have greater success in Europe, that's how you shut others up and that's how you become a big club and one that cares about it's fans at the same time.
Finally it was good to see Zaba on and as Captain, I repeat do not let this man go! He's a future legendary City manager mark my words!
Colin Bell Stand, third tier
