Man City fans (or any football fan of general knowledge) help me out...

Spuddy · 9 Aug 2018 at 14:53

Firstly, to make it clear I have no interest and therefore know absolutely nothing about football. However my dad is a huge Man City fan and for his birthday I'd like to get him some tickets to a match with at least semi decent seats as he's never been. However because I've left it very last minute a lot of the "better" matches seem to have gone without paying obscene prices on 3rd party websites. But which is better out of my remaining options???

So I give you...

Man City vs West Ham (on a Wednesday night)

or

Man City vs Cardiff City (on a Saturday)

Do any of these teams have a history/rivalry with Man City? I want it to be as good as possible for him. Not sure if the days actually matter but I would presume a Saturday match would have more people/better atmosphere. But who am I to say! I could get him tickets to other matches, but Im trying to get 2, seated together so he doesn't have to go alone haha.

Thanks chaps!

BaZ87 · 9 Aug 2018 at 15:14

Of the two I'd go for the West Ham game. It should be a better match and being an evening kick-off it should be a better atmosphere. Another option would be to wait for the Champions League draw in a few weeks and go to one of the group games. City don't often sell out so you shouldn't have any issues getting tickets and they're likely to play at least 1 side better than West Ham or Cardiff.

edit: I've just looked on City's site and there's tickets on general sale for both the Chelsea and Arsenal games.

Spuddy · 9 Aug 2018 at 15:34

Moses said:
West Ham will probably be a better match. They might not be terrible this year!

BaZ87 said:
Of the two I'd go for the West Ham game. It should be a better match and being an evening kick-off it should be a better atmosphere. Another option would be to wait for the Champions League draw in a few weeks and go to one of the group games. City don't often sell out so you shouldn't have any issues getting tickets and they're likely to play at least 1 side better than West Ham or Cardiff.

edit: I've just looked on City's site and there's tickets on general sale for both the Chelsea and Arsenal games.

Thanks guys, noted! Looks like I was totally wrong on which day would have better atmosphere then.

@BaZ87 yeah I saw they were on sale but the remaining tickets looked a bit naff from what I remember, either up in the rafters or behind the goal.

Champions league is potential option but I was hoping to have something booked ASAP to give him the tickets on Saturday because I'm taking him for a "VIP Legends" tour of the stadium that day with one of the old players.

BaZ87 · 9 Aug 2018 at 16:31

Spuddy said:
@BaZ87 yeah I saw they were on sale but the remaining tickets looked a bit naff from what I remember, either up in the rafters or behind the goal.

Don't be too put off by sitting either behind the goal or in the upper tier - although I prefer not to, behind the goal isn't that bad of a view and the Etihad is by no means Wembley, the upper tier won't be much difference to sitting in the lower tier. I'd definitely go for one of those games over West Ham, even if you have to sit in not quite as good seats. The match and atmosphere will almost certainly be much better.

HangTime · 9 Aug 2018 at 22:32

Spuddy said:
Not sure if the days actually matter but I would presume a Saturday match would have more people/better atmosphere.!

In my experience midweek games (excluding lesser competitions such as league cup etc) tend to have a better atmosphere than weekend league games because you generally get fewer tourists taking selfies and the like, it feels like people are there because they want to watch the football rather than have a day out. There's also something about evening games having more of a sense of building tension about them. That said, I'm used to going to a stadium that sells out or very close for pretty much every league game, so you might be right in terms of lower attendances for midweek games at the Etihad.

If you can get tickets to Chelsea or Arsenal I would go for that instead as a football fan would regard them as better opposition as they nearly always finish in the top six. In the rafters is fine if it is somewhere between the two penalty boxes, you get a better view from there than lower down behind the goal

If you've left it this late you will likely struggle to get the tickets in hand by Saturday bearing in mind they aren't until 27th February or later next year so might not get sent out until much later. Also consider the chance of the games getting postponed due to progress in the cups, e.g 6th of April (Cardiff game) is the same weekend as FA Cup semi-final so game will get moved if either Man City or Cardiff reach the semis.

Spuddy · 10 Aug 2018 at 16:12

BaZ87 said:
Don't be too put off by sitting either behind the goal or in the upper tier - although I prefer not to, behind the goal isn't that bad of a view and the Etihad is by no means Wembley, the upper tier won't be much difference to sitting in the lower tier. I'd definitely go for one of those games over West Ham, even if you have to sit in not quite as good seats. The match and atmosphere will almost certainly be much better.

HangTime said:
In my experience midweek games (excluding lesser competitions such as league cup etc) tend to have a better atmosphere than weekend league games because you generally get fewer tourists taking selfies and the like, it feels like people are there because they want to watch the football rather than have a day out. There's also something about evening games having more of a sense of building tension about them. That said, I'm used to going to a stadium that sells out or very close for pretty much every league game, so you might be right in terms of lower attendances for midweek games at the Etihad.

If you can get tickets to Chelsea or Arsenal I would go for that instead as a football fan would regard them as better opposition as they nearly always finish in the top six. In the rafters is fine if it is somewhere between the two penalty boxes, you get a better view from there than lower down behind the goal

If you've left it this late you will likely struggle to get the tickets in hand by Saturday bearing in mind they aren't until 27th February or later next year so might not get sent out until much later. Also consider the chance of the games getting postponed due to progress in the cups, e.g 6th of April (Cardiff game) is the same weekend as FA Cup semi-final so game will get moved if either Man City or Cardiff reach the semis.

Thanks for the info guys, seems like most of the tickets for those matches have now sold out unfortunately. How far away is the Champions League draw, where I may have a better chance of some better tickets?

Also, do you happen to know which stand is for the away supporters? I don't want to accidentally get him a ticket surrounded by the opposition to get pummelled haha.

BaZ87 · 10 Aug 2018 at 16:17

Spuddy said:
Thanks for the info guys, seems like most of the tickets for those matches have now sold out unfortunately. How far away is the Champions League draw, where I may have a better chance of some better tickets?

Also, do you happen to know which stand is for the away supporters? I don't want to accidentally get him a ticket surrounded by the opposition to get pummelled haha.

The draw will be on the 30th so tickets will likely go on sale shortly after that date. City won't sell tickets in the away end - the away end is the south stand (towards the east stand) but there will be clear segregation between home and away supporters and it's incredibly rare to see any trouble inside stadiums these days, so even sitting near the away end you're not going to have any problems.

Sasahara · 10 Aug 2018 at 22:59

You want to avoid the West ham game, he'll be sad when they win.

HangTime · 11 Aug 2018 at 00:27

^^ At Arsenal vs Man City last season there were 3 MC fans in the row in front (Arsenal section), MC went 3-0 up the first half and the steward had to come down and tell them to STFU for their own safety; they were not far from getting lynched if it had carried on.

McBain · 11 Aug 2018 at 09:41

Evening kick offs tend to be a better atmosphere and West Ham are the better side so it should lead to a better game, in fairness City should win both comfortably.

If it's just the match you're concerned with go for West Ham, if the overall day experience is being taken into account and the Cardiff kick off is 3pm then at least it wouldn't be a late finish on a school night.

Iron-man · 12 Aug 2018 at 14:20

west ham game will be better for sure

Janesy B · 22 Sep 2018 at 21:03

WilliG said:
Awesome idea for birthday gift! What did you chose? I'm also a huge Man City fan. Going to visit Manchester next month. I've found info about old trafford tour and want to visit local gin lab, The John Rylands Library and of course MU museum. I heard so many positive reviews about this place, can't wait to see it live.

Erm why do you want a tour of Old Trafford?