The strange thing is that City fans have become used to winning and yet still act like the ground might crack under their feet at any moment. The trophies are there — stacked up, shiny and almost boring now. However, if you go to the stands, or even just scroll through the forums, you’ll hear it: the anxiety and the muttering about luck, refs, VAR and injuries. Every match feels like another gamble, or another turn of the wheel.
Not long ago, these same fans lived through decades of collapse with Maine Road half-empty on a Tuesday night. There were matches where survival was the prize. They never forgot that, so even now, even with Pep on the touchline and half the squad worth more than some entire clubs, the feeling sticks: football is fickle, and fortune doesn’t always stay loyal.
The spin
You could call it superstition, but listen to the way City supporters talk before the next game, it’s always about the break of the ball, the timing of a goal or a decision that might swing either way. They know the team is good. Probably the best in the league. That’s not the point. The point is it only takes one slip, one dodgy call or one moment where the spin goes against them.
It’s why so many of them describe matches like a spin on a slot machine. Not in the glossy adverts sense, but in the plain sense of chance. You put your coin in, you watch the wheel, and you hope the right number lands. Sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn’t, and maybe that’s part of the thrill.
Though there's a solution to at least the casino spin part, which involves free spins in the UK. These are bonus spins on your favourite slot allowing you to spin the reels without investing your own hard-earned cash.
City fans know plenty about that. Winning is one thing, but the risk before the winning is what keeps the heart rate up. You can see it in the faces in the Etihad, late in a tight match. Nervous laughter, hands over eyes and groans, and then relief when the ball hits the net.
Old scars, new habits
It’s hard to wash away the City's history. City spent far too long on the wrong side of fortune. Relegations, humiliations and rivals laughing down the road. Even if that feels like another life, it clings on. Fans build habits around hope and dread, and they can’t just snap out of it because a new era has arrived.
So, you get this weird mix of total dominance on the pitch and in the stands a kind of twitchy pessimism. The old scars have never healed, not properly. Every game looks like another test of fate. Will fortune side with us or not this time?
Pep’s machine is still human
Of course, Guardiola built a machine, and everyone can see that. Recent coaching additions, such as Pep Ljinders joining the staff, aim to strengthen the machine, but even machines misfire. Injuries pile up, the ball clips the post, and a keeper guesses the right way. City fans watch all of it, painfully aware. They know brilliance doesn’t protect you from chance.
That’s the nagging truth. Football isn’t a straight line. It bends and bounces. The greatest tactics still need to fight with the spin of a ball that doesn’t care who paid the transfer fee.
A laugh, a sigh, repeat
Go stand outside the Etihad after a tight win and you’ll hear the same pattern over and over: fans laughing at their own nerves, sighing about the ref, replaying the moment fortune could have turned the other way. Then they shrug, talk about next week and do it all again.
It’s almost ritual. Anxiety, release, repeat. Supporters thrive on it, even if they complain. Maybe especially because they complain.
The illusion of control
Everyone wants to believe the game is predictable. You read the stats, you look at the table and you convince yourself, but in the middle of 90 minutes, all that melts. You’re left with a ball, some grass, a referee and chance. Fans know this better than anyone.
That’s why fortune is such a common theme rather than destiny or fate in some grand sense. Just the small twists, such as a deflection, a whistle or a late goal. These are the parts no one can script.
Fortune as habit
It is funny that City supporters almost depend on this feeling now. The idea that every game could spin out differently makes the winning sweeter. They might complain about nerves, but without the tension, would it mean as much? Probably not.
So, fortune isn’t just luck to them — its habit baked into how they experience the game. They are always half-expecting something to go wrong, and always half-surprised when it doesn’t.
The season rolls on
This season, the pattern feels stronger. Maybe it’s because of how tight the fixtures are, or the pressure of repeatedly defending or maybe it’s just football being football. City fans turn up, hearts in their throats and walk away relieved more often than not.
However, every match feels like another spin. Another chance for fortune to lean their way, or not. The thrill hasn’t gone, and the anxiety hasn’t either but that’s football in all its glory.
Final word
Manchester City has built something close to dominance, yet dominance never erases uncertainty. For the fans, every match still feels like a risk that they might win. They often do, but fortune always sits in the back of their minds.
Maybe that’s the point. Without chance, and the possibility of loss, what’s the joy of winning? For City fans, the gamble is part of the story. Every week. Every game.