Manchester City supporters are showing public backing for the club and its owners in the wake of the guilty verdict in the 115 charges case, a reaction shaped by years of perceived media hostility and a deep-seated loyalty that has been tested but not broken.
The relationship between City fans and sections of the media has been fraught for years, with many supporters feeling they have been sneered at and targeted. This sentiment has now boiled over, as evidenced by the scenes at Liverpool on Sunday, where fans dressed up as Sheikh Mansour and sang a new song dedicated to chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak, offering their owners more public backing than they have probably received in the last decade combined.
Years of Media Criticism
City fans point to a long list of examples where they believe the media has been unfair. In 2010, Paul Merson described Yaya Toure as 'average', and in 2015, he joked that the £54m paid for Kevin De Bruyne was in Turkish lira (more like £11m). One national newspaper coined De Bruyne as "THE £60M REJECT" when he signed, and another wrote off Erling Haaland after one friendly in 2022, only to ask two months later if it would get boring that he kept scoring.
Supporters themselves have also been targeted. In 2020, they were told they hadn't actually been happy since winning the league eight years earlier. This has all bubbled for years, and then boiled over with the last two weeks of so many of the same people who have been rude towards City fans now affronted that they are not coming running when they whistle.
Internal Conflict and Loyalty
Despite the outward show of unity, many City fans are conflicted. Kevin Parker, the head of the official supporters club, has fiercely defended the club online, yet in conversation it is clear how reading the 40-page verdict hurt him. Plenty of others who travelled to Liverpool said similar but are waiting for the outcome of the appeal before they 'deal with it'.
Many may not happily speak to media outlets because they do not think they will get a fair airing. This is rooted in a 2015 incident when Manchester City offered free coach travel for a Monday night game at Crystal Palace, but a photo opportunity with Mike Summerbee delayed the coaches, causing fans to miss kick-off in a match they lost 2-1. When fans posted complaints online, reporters from the Manchester Evening News contacted them, but every fan declined to expand, making clear: we can criticise our club, but we will take no part in helping you to do it.
A Stand Against Outsiders
Even if City's appeal fails - and it will be very difficult for it to succeed whatever the club's confidence - the club weren't just mocked for the money they spent but what they spent it on. Some supporters are fully backing the club, but even the ones that aren't will not show that in public in front of a media watching and waiting for them to do what they've been told to do.
It's like a colleague slagging you and your partner off for a decade and then knocking on your door expecting to be thanked when it turns out your partner was in fact cheating. One of those may well be a relationship that you now need to get out of, but the other has never really existed, so why should City fans start doing what people who have never cared for them are now demanding? Blues know there is plenty of soulsearching to come, but they won't be taking up the role of sad clowns just because the circus is in town.
