MEUN Surpass Themselves - Get a drink before reading this

[Douglas Higginbottom]

This is Stuart Brennen's response in the MUEN.

My middle-aged eyesight must be failing me because I didn't see large sections of empty seats on Monday night.

A piece on the MEN website has caused some outrage by suggesting that the Etihad Stadium was a fair way short of capacity for the crunch match against Chelsea, and that this bodes ill for City's plans to expand the stadium to 60,000 in the next few years.

It was unfortunate that the claim came on the night when City announced that the match had attracted the biggest crowd of the season.

The game was sold out weeks in advance, understandably, as it as between the two favourites for the Premier League title.

I noticed a few empty seats in the Chelsea end, which surprised me, but given the distances involved, and that this was a Monday night, it was not entirely surprising.

But if there were significant areas of empty seats in the home areas, they were not evident to the naked eye on the night.

There may have been pockets of empty seats, but that does happen, especially at night matches, when season ticket holders who live some distance from the ground cannot get time off work, or kids have to be up for school in the morning, and so on.

It was also true on the night that kick off was almost delayed due to severe traffic problems. City's coach was delayed, and many others reported serious difficulties in getting to the stadium.

It is not beyond the realms of possibility that many of the empty seats were down to people abandoning their bid to get to the ground.

Whatever the reason, the fact remains that the seats were sold. That might jar on football purists, who like to see full grounds, but it is a fact of life in modern football that the stated attendance never matches the true attendance.

It is not lying or covering up, simply that clubs work off their ticket sales rather than counting how many individuals show up on the day, or night.

But it is ludicrous to suggest that City would forge ahead with plans to expand the stadium had they not done their homework on projected crowd figures.

The fact is that they are selling out for every home league game. What other figure do you need to justify plans to expand the stadium?

City are also turning into a global phenomenon, a process which has accelerate this season thanks to their brilliant, attacking football.

As happened at United and Liverpool, the club now caters for a growing demand for tickets from overseas – if you wander around the ground before matches, you will bump into many fans from all corners of the planet.

City's worldwide television audience is up 133 per cent since 2009, and almost half of the visitors to their website are from overseas.

City are growing, they are selling out regularly, and the odd empty seat is the exception rather than the rule.

[Peter Doherty (AGAIG)]

Nicked from BMoon a reply from Stuart Brennan of the MUEN

"I am as staggered at this article as the rest of you, and have made my views known to David and to our online operation, as have one or two other journalists.
In fact, I have just written a reply to David's article which is due to go online shortly - apologies in advance if it is misses any points, but it had to be done quickly.
All I can say is that David is entitled to his opinion.

It will be interesting to see what comes next in the MUEN.

The guy who wrote the article is a red dipper. That paper (now part of The Mirror group) is shocking. I have sympathy for Brennan's position on this, but jesus wept....

[Lee_R]

Incredible.

[Twobob]

probably in retaliation to the police statement on this http://redsaway.com/2013/04/revealed-ho ... -trafford/

That is very telling - 33k vs Newcastle in the cup...

Never a full house, generally about 10k short each game there.

The piece in the OP is atrocious, something you'd find a delusional pubescent 16 year old posting on the rag forum not something written in a 'News' paper!!

And the editor allowed it through to print too..

Disgraceful, London Evening News would be a more fitting name!

[Dameerto]

That's the second journalist I've seen using the stadium seat total as an assumed matchday maximum and berating us for not filling it. Anyone with a moderate amount of thought would realise seats would be lost to stewarding/policing and health and safety (more seats being lost with higher risk games IE derby day) especially in a stadium that was converted for football use rather than being designed for it.

[Herb]

I've not read it but can only surmise that it's a cheap attempt to draw attention away from the seriously falling match day attendances at the swamp. Rags have long since resorted to flogging whole sections to tour companies for a dollar a seat to fill otherwise empty sections. If you doubt this then you can see it on TV from the way that sections are filled with one particular nationality (dependent upon which tour operator was gifted that section) and the turban filled sections often stand out - bless 'em!

At least if we have a few empty seats it's not because the seat wasn't sold but because some poor soul hasn't been able to make it to a seat that he or she had paid for. When the rags have empty seats, as they generally do, it's because nobody would pay £1 a seat to fill the gaps.

[Hutch's Shoulder]

I stopped reading that paper ages ago when the price shot up and it became an oxymoron (Evening News morning edition). Looks like a good decision.

[Blue Since 76]

There were 3 empty seats next to me in the family stand. One was my mum's who had booked to go away before the match was moved and the other two were my kids who don't go to night matches due to school.

There will be two empty ones for Sunderland next week, as it's still a school night and unfortunately the club doesn't provide a way to sell a kid's seat in the family stand.

As for the article, what did you expect from our local paper? City should ban them

[Mikhail Chigorin]

There's a film director called David Lynch.

Whilst seemingly affected by partaking of too many magic mushrooms, he produced the imbecilic series 'Twin Peaks'. This 'journalist' is obviously trying to follow in his more illustrious namesake's footsteps.

Perhaps the spirit of Josef Goebels lives on at the MuEN in the guise of this particular cretin.

[Beefymcfc]

If I'm not mistaken, the MUEN follows its namesake by not actually being in Manchester. Maybe this makes their mentality very much alike.

TWATS!

[Lee_Kinda]

My seat has been empty for about 3 years! I hope it makes the news next week!

(for clarity I generally sit in the row behind with fu or hid behind a higginbottom at the back of the stand!)

Jokers!

[Peter Doherty (AGAIG)]

I'm thinking of taking up a subscription with the MuEN just so that I can cancel it. Embarrassing 'local' newspaper.

[Dunnylad]

There's a film director called David Lynch. Whilst seemingly affected by partaking of too many magic mushrooms, he produced the imbecilic series 'Twin Peaks'. This 'journalist' is obviously trying to follow in his more illustrious namesake's footsteps. Perhaps the spirit of Josef Goebels lives on at the MuEN in the guise of this particular cretin.

I liked Twin Peaks, much more than that MuEN article, after Brennan put his tuppence in, which bright spark decided to ask the Bluemoaners for comment, when was the last time someone off here was asked, is Ric the new Dave Wallace?

[Ted Hughes]

There's a film director called David Lynch.

Whilst seemingly affected by partaking of too many magic mushrooms, he produced the imbecilic series 'Twin Peaks'.

Reknaw siht ekil tunc esuocs gnirrits tihs a t'nsi eh dna, nuf saw ti thguoht i.

[mr_nool]

Reknaw siht ekil tunc esuocs gnirrits tihs a t'nsi eh dna, nuf saw ti thguoht i.

That took some effort!
By the way, the owls are in the woods.

[Slim]

There's a film director called David Lynch.

Whilst seemingly affected by partaking of too many magic mushrooms, he produced the imbecilic series 'Twin Peaks'. This 'journalist' is obviously trying to follow in his more illustrious namesake's footsteps.

Perhaps the spirit of Josef Goebels lives on at the MuEN in the guise of this particular cretin.

David Lynch(director) may be guilty of a few horrors in cinema over the years, but are you fucking kidding me? Twin Peaks was a groundbreaker and still holds up today.

[Mikhail Chigorin]

There's a film director called David Lynch.

Whilst seemingly affected by partaking of too many magic mushrooms, he produced the imbecilic series 'Twin Peaks'.

Reknaw siht ekil tunc esuocs gnirrits tihs a t'nsi eh dna, nuf saw ti thguoht i.

Glad you thought it was fun, Ted (didn't think you spoke fluent Boltonese), but I don't suppose anyone can please everyone all the time.

Moreover, as a musician, I thought the soundtrack was also abysmal, even though it was all played using a fantastic and now legendary synthesizer called the Prophet t8.

It was a total waste of a great keyboard but, at the end of the day, these are just my own thoughts for what they're worth, unlike this MuEN 'journalist who doesn't seem to have the capacity for rational thought at all.

[Slim]

Reknaw siht ekil tunc esuocs gnirrits tihs a t'nsi eh dna, nuf saw ti thguoht i.

Awesome.

[Twobob]

Reknaw siht ekil tunc esuocs gnirrits tihs a t'nsi eh dna, nuf saw ti thguoht i.

Haha quality!!

And must go down on record as one of your shortest ever posts? ;-)

[Foreverinbluedreams]

Fucking glory hunters not turning up on a school night.