great performance last night. can't see how anyone could be churlish about it, had Barca all over the shop in the second half
by the by, quite why is the CL so unpopular with the fans? i noted the anthem was booed again last night. why do that when you know it will get the club into trouble?
Hpe you have as much fun in your adventure tonight.
Personally I love the CL and not missed a home game since they've been it. The PL remains the priority tho. Lots of regular match-going fans boycotted it for a combinatiion of reasons - contempt for UEFA, cost of tickets for some individual CL games (the club have got this wrong at times) and generally unaffordable for many when added to the cost of a season ticket for a fanbase which is not the wealthiest and also the horrendous transport problems (roads and public transport) around Manchester which is at its worse for midweek night games.
As per the booing UEFA pulled back after they were considering a sanction last year. It only compounded the problem and the booing againt Real madrid in the semi was the loudest yet and literally it was the whole ground. I don't think there is a riskof getting in trouble now and having said that the booing last night was no where near as bad as last year
As for UEFA, there is general antipathy towards what was perceived as a corrupt organisation and contempt because of the collaboration with the old G14 clubs who wanted to protect the gravy train. This is/wasn't a conspiracy theory - almost a statement of fact. They even retrospectively changed the rules for FFP after City had submitted their accounts and this culminated in the fine and sanction. Then you have the hypocrisy when they changed the rules again and decreed that investment was good for the game afterall.
Many City fans were pissed off over the big deal UEFA make about “no racism” yet on 2 occassions City receive bigger fines for trivial offences in games than opponents who were charged for racial abuse/monkey chants aimed at YaYa (twice) and Mario.
Then they announced a game against CSKA Moscow would be behind closed doors for previous CKSA midemeanours. . The problem IIRC was that City fans had already paid for non-refundable travel arrangements and bought tickets before the ban was announced. Many still travelled and weren’t let in the game yet they allowed loads of CSKA fans into the game.
Similar issues with Kyiv and hhy will know the details better than me.
There is loads of other smaller stuff including the conspiracy theories around warm balls in CL draws, the seeding system (since rectified), the mroe recent stuff including the ridiculous propsoal that if you won a European Cup 25 years ago should be advanatged in terms of securing a place.
Finally, there is the huge conflict of interest involving David Gill and his allegiances with United and his role with UEFA.
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