Etihad Stadium Manchester City
Manchester City has recently faced a growing issue of empty seats at the Etihad Stadium, raising concerns among supporters and club officials alike. The situation has been exacerbated by an injury crisis impacting the team’s Premier League title challenge and a congested schedule, with nine home games in just the first two months of 2026. This has led to discussions about the club’s ticketing policies and their impact on fan attendance and engagement.
A City fan said: “I just find the atmospheres are pretty lame these days at most games. But you know, but also VAR’s a big thing, the petty officiating and just general modern football really on the pitch. But also, I got to 40 years old thinking I’d never seen my team play at Wembley and now I wouldn’t even contemplate going back to Wembley. I’ve been however many times I went, but there’s no way I would pay that sort of £300 day out anymore for that experience.”
The fan continued: “There is the life journey element there as well I think after 2023. I was lucky enough to go to all of those, all of these trophies in 2023 [when City won the Treble] and the analogy I used after that was it’s like if you’re a mountain climber and you just did Everest, do you wake up the next day and want to go and climb a hill? That was a natural breaking point as well, I guess, for me.”
Big Steve, a prominent City fan, stated: “There’s been a massive change in the ticket policy at Manchester City. If you’ve got a season ticket now and you want to give it to your mate or you want to give it to your son or your pal to take his lad, it’s literally impossible to do that. You used to be able to transfer your ticket to a season ticket holder, now you can’t. You’ve got to be on your registered list of people you can transfer to, and how do you know who’s available for what game? You can’t transfer it to a season ticket holder and they’re just making it difficult.”
The club’s decision to relocate 500 fans in the North Stand to accommodate a new hospitality area has sparked protests, adding to the discontent among supporters. While Manchester City has managed to sell over 99% of tickets for Premier League games, other matches have seen less interest, leading to concerns about fan apathy. The introduction of a minimum attendance policy, requiring season ticket holders to attend a certain number of games, has also faced criticism for limiting flexibility in ticket transfers.
The club is actively engaging with City Matters to address these issues, considering further tweaks to ticket transfer policies and evaluating the impact of attendance requirements. As the business end of the season approaches, Manchester City must ensure they are responsive to the needs of their loyal fanbase to maintain strong local support amidst growing global interest.
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