The rain battered at times yesterday, leaving the outdoor inflatables and caravans of food sellers pondering the growing puddles. This was a fairly typical August Bank Holiday weekend in that we are all accustomed to a washout.
Vincent Kompany, Manchester City Captain, was being interviewed by Geoff Shreeves from Sky Sports right in front of me. Asked about the weather Kompany said, “This is Manchester. If we only went out when it was sunny we’d never go out.” Our adopted legend Kompany perfectly summed up our City. Despite the weather being atrocious the crowds turned up in droves, ignoring the rain and determined to enjoy the day.
Manchester City have long been considered as a community club. From their origins at St Mark’s Church in Gorton to Maine Road being a beacon amongst the terraces of Moss Side. Growing up I lived on Thornton Road which backed onto the ground and I remember hassling players for autographs in the car park behind the Kippax stand. I also remember hours spent with my face pressed against the fence at Platt Lane watching the players train.
In recent years, City have worked hard to maintain and strengthen these community links with the redevelopment of large swathes of East Manchester and the sprawling creation of the CFA- the City Football Academy.
A state of the art training and staff development complex across the road from where the first team play their games at the Etihad Stadium. Behind the fences the CFA includes the Academy Stadium where reserves, youth teams and City Women play their home games. This is a fantastic stadium with great supporter facilities, media suites and a full hospitality suite. I’m not sure what the capacity is but this facility alone would be the envy of many 1st and 2nd Division Football League clubs.
https://twitter.com/Notamendi30/status/1033776453136080896
Surrounding the Academy Stadium are the training pitches. Some 6 or 7 full size outdoor pitches using a complex blend of 3G grass products. Many of these training pitches are set up differently to practice different sets of drills and skills. Then there is the indoor area. A massive indoor arena containing indoor full size training pitches, medical facilities, first team facilities, medical suite, gyms, pools, management suite, offices of staff powering the City Football Group, media rooms, conference suites and a 5 star hotel developed to allow the first team to stay over on site before a game. The range of development at the CFA is awe inspiring and it’s easy to see how the club is at the forefront of innovation in the football business.
More from Man City Square
- Rodri believes City can have even more success this season
- Grealish, Stones, and Kovacic will NOT play tomorrow
- My Manchester City UCL Group Stage predictions
- After Injury Guardiola is back in Etihad
- Phil Foden Scores Opener for England Against Scotland
In recent years City have hosted an annual fan event, usually in the close season. These community linked events are designed to bridge the gap between fans and the first team. Tickets are usually sold to season card holders and members of Manchester City’s membership scheme called Cityzens. Since the CFA was completed the annual fan event has relocated from City Centre venues into the sprawling CFA complex, giving fans a chance to really experience behind the scenes.
Before every home game Manchester City hold a smaller event inside the indoor arena at the CFA aimed at families attending the match. This event is free to season card holders and generally provides an indoor opportunity for kids to play a variety of games, race around inflatables and compete in high tech games for prizes.
My children always enjoy this before the match and it’s telling how much effort Manchester City put into making the matches great for children. They have exclusive competitions every home game for children to win experiences like a place in the team photo before kick off and being a mascot.
Open training from Cityzens Sunday with our wonderful fans!!! 👍💫 #mancity pic.twitter.com/sCSzUaY3wk
— Manchester City (@ManCity) August 26, 2018
The Cityzens Sunday event is a larger version of what happens before every game. For Cityzens Sunday there is much more for the kids to do. From taking part in a massive total wipe out game to taking penalties and dribbling round obstacles. There are high-tech games on offer too, a chance to green screen yourself into a team photo and the opportunity to have your photo taken with the 3 trophies on display- Premier League, Charity Shield and League Cup.
Before the gates were open for those there was the chance to watch First Team training.This started, as had the previous year, with the first team squad standing at the edge of the CFA pitch and signing autographs and posing for selfies. This is the bit the kids love most. A chance to meet and interact with their heroes. The players undertake their role with good patience and humour. Kids are delighted. It’s important clubs bridge the gap between players and fans and enthuse kids.
The kind of opportunities presented throughout the Cityzens Sunday should be applauded, even by an old cynic like me. My children had shirts and balls signed by Vincent Kompany, Nicolas Otamendi and Fabian Delph. Last year they got Sergio Aguero, Bernardo Silva and Ilkay Gundogan. Then Guardiola and his staff took all his players through their paces on the pitch in front of us.
Players who completed 90 mins against Wolves went through a warm down routine and everyone else took part in full training. Whilst nothing in the open training revealed tactical planning it’s nevertheless interesting to see the continual emphasis on passing in all the drills. It was also interesting to see the other players who are on the fringes of the first team. I think I recognised Luke Bolton and Cameron Humphries playing on the pitch.
After a couple of hours in the CFA we returned to the final part of the day. The Intercontinental Cup Match between Manchester City Women and Leicester Women. This was the Women’s first home game of the season and entry was included in the £6 for adults, £4 for kids entrance price for the whole Cityzens Sunday event.
The bumper crowd got to see a fantastic game as City fan out 4:0 winners. Whether City Women can wrestle trophies back from Chelsea Women this season remains to be seen but this was a good run out against lower league opposition. City played their want away striker Nadia Nadim who had a hand in a couple of the goals. She scored one and flicked on another.
City also gave debuts to two of their summer signings, the Belgian player Tessa Wullaert and Canadian Janine Beckie. Both players found themselves amongst the goals although there was a hint of a deflection in the goal scored by Beckie. Both players looked good additions to the squad although how well they cope with the loss of Izzy Christiansen to Lyon will probably be the litmus test for the season.
So watching Cityzens Sunday we saw the first team train, got autographs, the kids took part in a range of play and we saw a 4:0 victory for the Women’s team. It may have been rainy but everyone had a great day and it was hard to think of a better way to pass a bank holiday Sunday. Investing in the fans like this is a real credit to the club. Whilst some smaller clubs in lower divisions continue to run fan days there are not many elite clubs who seek to replicate this kind of event.
Manchester City are proud of their community and players are encouraged to honour it. This is a good thing and really makes a difference for those of us who part with our hard-earned cash every week. We all want to feel valued and credit should be given to Manchester City for their efforts. I will leave the final word to my 7 year old.
“Dad,” she said, “I love Manchester City”. And that’s what it’s all about.