FOREVER BLUE: with Ian Cheeseman

Football is back!

Last weekend the traditional curtain raiser for the Premier League saw the Treble Winners Manchester City take on the Premier League runners up Arsenal at Wembley, with the Gunners taking the trophy after a penalty shootout. It was fascinating to compare Mateo Kovacic and Declan Rice, two holding midfielders, making their debuts for City and Arsenal respectively.

The most interesting aspect of watching Kovacic properly for the first time, was seeing the change of shape in the way Guardiola set his team up. The man he replaced, Ilkay Gundogan, was far more creative, even when playing in a deeper role. The new man was neat and tidy, but on first showing he lacks the incisiveness of his predecessor. It was only the Community Shield, it was still pre-season and Guardiola’s new signings often take time to learn the Pep way of playing.

Will Declan Rice become Arsenal’s key man as they attempt to knock City of their perch? He certainly looked mobile, but it’ll be a while yet whether we’ll see if he makes a substantial difference. Guardiola warned, during his press conference on Friday, that the exertions of last season plus the departures of Gundogan and Mahrez might mean there are occasional dips by his team in the early days of this campaign.

Arsenal seemed more motivated for this Wembley showdown and never gave up, even after Cole Palmer’s wonderful goal seemed to have won it for City. Their equaliser had more than a touch of good luck about it, but if you don’t shoot you don’t score.

Off the field this was a real eye opener for me. I record a matchday vlog at every City game, home and away, where I chat to fans and former players before and after games. I’ve been watching City home and away since the 1970s and while I can’t claim to know or recognise every fan, I certainly recognise a big percentage of them. On Sunday I stood on Wembley way for nearly an hour with hundreds of City fans walking past me. I didn’t recognise anyone.

Later I walked around the concourse, directly leading onto the lower section at the City end, where normally the most passionate die-hards go. I saw two people I know. The vast majority of the crowd were people who couldn’t normally get a ticket.

Once game time approached, it became very apparent to me, sat in the neutrality of the press box, that the City end was virtually silent. Many of the fans in the City end seemed more interested in taking selfies for Instagram and simply being at a big event watching the best team in Europe. By contrast, the Arsenal end was passionate.

There were several reasons for this. The cost of travel and another expensive ticket at Wembley for what was effectively a pre-season friendly. There was a train strike and the game kicked off at 4pm on a Sunday. May die-hards would have been in Istanbul, just a few weeks earlier and might still be paying off their credit cards. There was a boycott be the 1894 Group, a section of fans who lead the singing in the South Stand at the Etihad Stadium and at most away games. They objected to the venue and kickoff time of the game.

The City end was virtually silent throughout the game. The players weren’t told befortehand and were bewildered by this. My hope is the club will learn from this and value the die-hards and so-called legacy fans more. My fear is they don’t care and that profit is becoming the only thing that matters. Time will tell.

It certainly the importance of loyal fans, those who go week in week out. Yes the seats were filled with those who can’t normally get tickets and I’m sure there will be some within Manchester City who will be delighted that type of “customer/consumer” got a chance to go. They probably see them as more likely to spend more money on merchandise etc but I’d warn them not to undervalue those who live and breathe the club and truly travel everywhere to support City. Be careful what you wish for!