Manchester City’s £300m stadium expansion will silence irksome critics despite fan concerns

If all goes to plan, the latest extension to Manchester City’s Etihad Stadium will be completed in around 12 months, ready for the 2025/26 season. The steel structures rising behind the North Stand and the start of the two wings which will be transformed into a hotel and museum already show the scale of what the development will look like.

Viewing a model this week highlighted the exciting prospect of the expansion, including the away supporters park, hotel and footbridge. But it is inside the Etihad where the work will generate the most interest for supporters, as the match day experience could be enhanced with an indoor fan zone and museum.

The expansion will see the four stands at the ground spread over three tiers and should allow more home fans, currently unable to get tickets, to attend City games. The hope will be that the atmosphere will improve with more supporters behind the team and a huge stand behind the goal designed to increase the noise from the end which currently houses the family stand.

However, supporters groups are concerned about the number of season tickets on offer in the new stand, as well as the matchday tickets that will be available to those who cannot secure a coveted season card. The fear among supporters is that the development will be used to add more hospitality options that will generate more revenue for the club, potentially at the expense of the atmosphere.

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City have been criticized for increasing season ticket prices for the 2024/25 season and have defended the increase by citing rising inflation as justification for the move. The North Stand could be an opportunity to improve fan relations and start a new era of atmosphere at home games.

There is also added motivation for the club and supporters to get on the same page. Manchester Evening News After sharing images of the stadium plans this week, the article’s comments were filled with rival supporters repeating lazy mockery about ‘Emptyhad’ and City’s inability to fill their stadium. “They won’t fill it anyway” was the general theme.

City fans know this stereotype is false. They regularly sell out their home games and when tickets for all Premier League matches went on sale last summer, they sold out quickly. Their attendance rate for home games is among the best in the championship, with Champions League matches following the same trend.

Real Madrid were so taken aback by the Etihad atmosphere in 2023 that they were blown away in the Champions League and celebrated wildly in their penalty shootout victory in a similar cauldron a year later – completely abandoning their usual attacking approach to nullify City and their fans.

Add a huge new level at the other end, and City could have a secret weapon in their arsenal going forward. At away matches, City fans taunt their rivals by asking “is that the Etihad” in quiet stadiums – a self-deprecating chant recognizing the contrast in away atmospheres compared to a handful of home games.

If City can balance the North Stand, that chant could be about to disappear. And the lazy jeers of away fans visiting the Etihad will be drowned out in more ways than one.