Tonight I was invited to the fan’s preview at Manchester City Football Club representing Vital. The meeting took place in The Mancunian Suite at 7 pm and lasted three hours. Other leading fan sites as well as supporter clubs and groups were invited, around 16 people turned up for the event as we digested the new initiatives for the upcoming seasons and the pricing of season tickets.
There were several items in the presentation and I will give you an insight on what was said and how it went down.
Season Ticket Prices
City have stayed very loyal to their fans by freezing and reducing ticket prices over the recent years. Unfortunately, there comes a time where an increase is necessary and due to the lack of increase over recent years this could be dramatic. On adult season tickets there will be an average 6% increase. Although this might not sound disastrous, this is an average, some ticket prices will be unbelievably cheap as a new first come first serve initiative, meaning you could possibly find an increase of around 10%. The prices will be unveiled tomorrow so don`t forget to check your new details.
The first come first server basis which I touched upon is to allow fans, who buy their tickets very early a cheap season ticket price. The price of this season ticket will be £250 but as of yet we don’t know how many will be released. This will all be verified after the ticket sales in my opinion. The other downfall is you don’t know where you seat is originally, after buying your ticket you will be allocated at a later date where a seat is available, but don’t worry your seat will remain constant. However, is it possible you could just be shipped to the third tier?
The family stand will also be operating differently from now on. The north Stand level 2 is usually the seating point, however the whole of the north stand will now be family only. This means you will not be able to keep your seat in this stand and must move elsewhere unless you have a child. On the plus side, the greater addition of children will be good for the club in the future. The £95 season ticket offer for under 16’s still stands but only if the season ticket is in the family stand.
Overall, this was met with many disgruntled fans, an increase isn’t helpful at this current financial time, but unfortunately City are being punished for being friendly over recent seasons.
CityStreet
This was possibly the most pleasing point of the evening, a new initiative that was put across hoping to receive plaudits from the fans. CityStreet will take part on Joe Mercer way before kickoff and after kickoff. The idea is to allow fans an added experience with greater atmosphere before the game. It is also set up brilliant for families as the club try to introduce new fans. The set-up and graphic design looked fantastic, a mix between a World Cup carnival and the Christmas markets is the theme with bars, food stands etc on the walk way. There will also be a halo placed above the City Shop that will shelter you from the extremely frequent Manchester rain.
This was taken well with the only sour note the possible arrival of the Mary D crowd disrupting match day.
Premier Seating
In 2011-2012 City are introducing a premier seating. This will affect any season card holders in Level 2 of the Colin Bell or the East stand, myself included. The ticket prices will be inflated due to a better match day outing, they are thinking of comfier seats, better standard service and food as well as a complimentary programme. It is a halfway house point between the current season ticket occasion and hospitality. We are being warned about the scheme now so we have time to change our season tickets this year.
Another point which wasn’t taken too fondly but as a club we’re striving to be better.
It was an eventful evening with many talking points. What are your thoughts of the current scheme? How will it affect you? Which parts are good and bad? More will be revealed tomorrow i.e. season ticket prices on the Official Site.
Many thanks for Vital Football and Manchester City Football Club for allowing me to attend. I hope you have managed to digest all that information, so why not have your say, now!
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