Many fans of many other clubs will go to great lengths to tell you that there is no interest in City&aposs success, starting detailed conversations about why there are no detailed conversations. The most popular reasons given for this tend to be that City have no history, no fans, and 115 Premier League rule breaches.
The Premier League charges do still hang over the club&aposs head, and will do so – to the extreme annoyance of Pep Guardiola – until City&aposs legal team have been able to produce defences for all of the many allegations that have been levelled at them. A guilty verdict will undoubtedly force a reassessment of City&aposs recent achievements, although it is worth pointing out that the club are even more confident of being exonerated than they were when the Court of Arbitration for Sport overturned UEFA&aposs investigation into their finances in 2020.
While that sticks uncomfortably in the air, the Blues have been busy winning football matches. A first Champions League trophy completed a famous Treble in June that sees Guardiola break new ground at an historic club.
Bringing one of the game&aposs superstars to the Etihad last summer in Erling Haaland added to the increased appeal of City, seeing them become more popular around the world as football fans wanted to watch the goalscoring phenomenon either in person or on TV. That has only been amplified with the club&aposs second European trophy and first Champions League.
Interest in the team in the Far East this summer was markedly up on when they were last there four years ago, then over 30,000 tickets were sold for the Community Shield despite tens of thousands of regular fans boycotting the game in protest at the lack of consideration shown to supporters. A change in policy over the summer saw most of the tickets go on sale for every home game at once rather than a set period before each game, and every ticket on offer has been snapped up.
That may not be to the benefit of so-called &aposlegacy&apos supporters of a traditionally working-class fanbase, being asked to buy match tickets well in advance rather than over the course of a season when payments can be spread. In contrast, anyone planning a trip to Manchester or the Etihad to see Haaland and the rest can now do so well in advance knowing they already have a matchday ticket.
City will have to balance the surge in interest in the club, but it is also not particularly new. The decision to expand the North Stand has been in the pipeline for a while and the demand for tickets at the moment would suggest there will be no trouble filling the ground when its capacity moves above 60,000.
Regardless of how much anyone &aposdoesn&apost care&apos, City are cashing in on their success.
The transfer window has been a hectic one and City have been busy, with high-profile signings and sales aplenty.
City snapped up Croatian pair Mateo Kovacic and Josko Gvardiol from Chelsea and RB Leipzig respectively with the latest addition being Jeremy Doku. Wolves&apos Matheus Nunes then joined the Blues on deadline day. In terms of outgoings, Treble winner Ilkay Gundogan departed for Barcelona, Aymeric Laporte and Riyad Mahrez moved to Saudi Arabia, and Cole Palmer completed a shock move to Chelsea.
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