Old Blue? New Blue? We're all Blue together!
By Graceyboy, Thu 23 February 2012 18:08
We are Manchester City.
The Family of Manchester City. Fans, supporters join the ride at different times.
You can make an analogy with fans of a music group. Some fans have followed a group from day one and have all the albums and go to all the concerts. These fans have treasured memories and hold strong bonds with early classic anthems.
You then get fans coming on board when the exposure of the group gets bigger and they win some awards. They join in and buy the latest album and start going to concerts. They may not have the same bond with the history of the band, but the band still welcome all fans, new and old, because that's how they make money.
You can't stop the growth of something because newcomers don't share the same history as you do. You have to feel fortunate that you have had these early experiances. Welcome new fans into the fold and educate the new fans as to what they have already missed. Only by doing this do the new fans get a stronger bond to the band.
It's the same with football. I can't give my son the experiences I have of following City for 30 years. I can only tell him what we have been through, and what it has meant to me as I have walked the path of a City fan. He now joins me on the path which just so happens to be a lot happier.
I understand there are differences when it comes to people who have supported one club when they have been successful, then jump ship to a different club when they start to become successful. It's life. It happens outside of football too.
What we can't seen to be doing is making supporting Manchester City exclusive to those that have only been through the bad times. We all want a common goal, to make Manchester City the best club, team, family in all the world in all the land. We want to grow big and strong and successful. To do that we need to grow strong as a supporting group.
The owners want to let more and more people see games. Expanding the ground, bigger and better media involvement to reach world wide audiances.
As happens in the music industry, when bands get a huge following and there's enormous demand, the price of the concert tickets go skywards. This is a shame for a great number of original fans who may now no longer afford the price to see the band they have supported and helped get to where they are now. It is really sad when this happens. I should know, it's happened to me.
City need to expand, and the way the club is growing under the new owner, with a huge understanding of where we have been and ensuring the bond with its supporters and community grows with it, has to be applauded. We as fans have to be more tolerant of where we want to get to, and understand what comes with this journey. There will be some negatives, but the positives, namely the success on the pitch which we as fans have always dreamed of, will surely outweigh these.
Lets all just enjoy being part of the Manchester City family and see what happens.
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