Wandy

How they tackle stadium redevelopment will give a very clear signal of what their true intentions are for NUFC, and how long they plan to stick around for. The simple fact is that the development & modernisation of SJP, or a whole new stadium, will require a colossal amount of money. If, in the end, they decide to do a modest upgrade of the current stadium then that will confirm to me that they only plan on fixing the club up somewhat & then flipping it on. The bottom line is that the club needs probably at least a billion in infrastructure development, through stadium expansion/modernisation and a state-of-the-art training complex, to truly bring themselves alongside what Man City & Liverpool currently have. If none of this happens I expect them to have moved on within the next 5 years or so.

The comments section on Craig Hope's youtube reaction video is absolute AIDS. Do we really have so many wankers in our ranks? Doesn't bear thinking about what this lot will be like in a few years' time.

I will give them the benefit of the doubt for now, but if they don’t change the system by next season whereby they decide where you sit after a ballot win then I won’t be buying another membership. Won the ballot for the City cup game but it’s in Level 7, row X….exactly where I didn’t want to be as I imagine it’s right near the back row? Just as well it’s only cost £40 for two tickets because I’d be livid if it had cost the best part of £100 for these.

It’s a great point in the grand scheme of things. This team still has last season’s character in abundance, but the lack of any creativity is a real concern. Proud of them overall though, they gave it 100% effort, no doubt about that. Hopefully the performances will improve now that we have some easier-looking league fixtures coming up. I’m really not sure why Eddie wanted Tonali so badly at this point though. It seems that him and Bruno are best suited to the exact same position so Tonali just looks awkward right now where he is currently played.

I’m hearing from friends who were there in Milan tonight that pre-match atmosphere amongst our lot was good but support at the game was crap. Sigh.

One of the most important changes that needs to happen is that fans need to be able to choose where they sit within the various categories. The NUSC and NUST need to be feeling the heat to get this sorted, amongst all of the other ticketing farces going on.

Just seen this too.. Empty seats? This ticketing situation is shambolic.

What was it like yesterday then? I'm abroad at the moment but watched it in a bar, albeit with the sound switched off ffs, so couldn't get a feel of how the crowd were, until the ending minutes when people finally looked animated? I've read a few reports though that said the place was quiet.

Sorry, yeah I meant the Gallowgate corner. Yeah they never stopped all game. And I thought the songbook was pretty varied too. There were some songs that I have never even heard before.

Yep, it was particularly impressive how the whole ground was singing in unison just after we scored. Seems the trick is to have pockets of singing sections around the ground which will get the people around them joining in. Considering I was in the so-called "old farts" stand I was pleasantly surprised to see so many people in full voice.

Love the bloke but that decision to sub off Gordon and Tonali was diabolical. We had them where we wanted them and the 2nd goal looked like it was coming. But to take the player off who was, at that point, man of the match was ludicrous and basically handed them the momentum. It felt like a substution simply for the sake of it with no logic behind it. He has loads of credit in the bank and deserves the benefit of any doubt this season but the fact that we have lost all of the crucial showdown matches against the big teams where expectations were high...ie cup final plus the last two games....is a worry. I could see us making it to another final but losing again, unfortunately.

As someone who has been hugely critical of the SJP atmosphere I'm surprised to hear the negative comments about yesterday. I was in the East Stand, right next to the Gallowgate standing corner and the singing never stopped all game. And from where I sat it felt like the whole ground was lively. Was it really that bad around other parts of the stadium?

Yep, should have been Mourinho. No chance of that though as the Gullit experience had scared Shepherd off the idea of going with another foreigner.

You know nothing about football history then clearly. Pre-1950s Man Utd were literally the walking definition of a nothing club. Something like 3 trophies won in the first 70 years of their history, and nowhere on the historical crowds league table. It took them to the late 1960s to overtake NUFC in overall trophies won, and mid 1970s in domestic trophies. Before then they had never been ahead of NUFC. And City have a very similar trophy history to NUFC, pre-2008, in fact it's better. As for Liverpool, their pre-1974 history is almost identical to NUFC, and therefore Man City.

So basically, it's not just about the money then. And therefore, running a football club successfully is actually quite a challenging business.

So why have Man Utd failed so badly for the last 10 years?

Have you missed the last 22 months? That's exactly what is happening at NUFC, but the taps have been closed to restrict the flow, that's all. Man Utd have always been amongst the biggest spenders too though. The idea that their stature was grown completely organically is a myth. Yeah, Ferguson's early success was more organic but after that he was buying success just as much as any other successful club. Liverpool were bankrolled by the Moores family for 20 years.

So have Man Utd. Look at the difference in the results for each club over that period. Look at the state of Everton after spending half a billion. No matter how they got the money, the simple fact is that City spent it spectacularly well. Not just on playing & coaching staff, but also the entire club infrastructure. It's a model we are very obviously trying to emulate.

Plenty of people do though. Maybe not on here but that's the lazy chatter amongst many fans of rival clubs.

It's not just about the money though is it? The fact is that they have spent their money spectacularly well, to the point that they are finely honed machine & super-strong in every club facet. That is something to be respected.

I am talking about their club stature though, that's the point. Fans of the traditional big five like to dismiss their big club status as something that was entirely contrived by the UAE takeover, when in reality they have always been one of the biggest clubs in the country. They are the club that NUFC have the most common with in the country, outside of that lot down the road.

Maybe. The point is though that, in the modern era of the last 50 years, City fans have seen both sides of the life of a football fan, which the likes of Liverpool, Arsenal & Man Utd haven't. That lot like to belittle City as some kind of diddy club pre-2008, which is utter bullshit.

I agree. But it won't stop other fans from saying it. Basically, look at how the RTG goons are going on about us right now. That's the way many other fanbases will be like if we become successful.

Completely agree. And all the bollocks that gets flung at them...."bought success", "not really a big club", "plastic fans" ....will be thrown our way too in the coming years. If there is one club that we should have a solidarity-pact with, it's them.

I did the Etihad stadium tour a few years ago. It's not much to look at from the outside, but on the inside it's a fantastic stadium. And the steepness of the stands lends for creating a good atmosphere too. I think the roof design lets it down a bit though as the noise isn't contained as well as it could be.