Genuine question, because I’ve noticed this quite a lot recently, especially watching City games and seeing noticeable numbers of empty seats. I’m genuinely curious what the reason is. City have been hugely successful over the last decade, so you’d expect demand for tickets to be absolutely massive. Whenever this gets brought up, though, I always see the same sort of excuses from City fans: “It’s only Southampton,” “it’s only a midweek game,” “the opposition isn’t attractive,” etc. But isn’t that part of the point? Liverpool, United, Arsenal and plenty of other big clubs seem to sell out regardless of whether they’re playing a glamorous opponent or one of the league’s less fashionable sides. So what is actually causing the empty seats at City? Is it ticket prices? Season-ticket holders not attending? Tickets being returned too late? The location? A smaller local fanbase? Or something else? I’m not trying to turn this into a “who has the biggest fanbase” argument, I’m genuinely interested in the explanation. Because if a club is one of the most successful teams in English football over the last decade, it seems strange that the stadium can still have sizeable gaps for Premier League games. City fans who regularly go to the Etihad, what’s the actual reason? And if the answer really is “it’s only Southampton”, why don’t the other big clubs have the same problem when they play similar opposition? 🤔   submitted by   /u/MikeL1412 [link]   [comments]