Forever Blue With Ian Cheeseman: Proposed Ideas Are A Cause For Concern

As it was an International break last weekend, it gave me time to think about the future for Manchester City and elite football in general.

I host a weekly podcast called Forever Blue, which can be downloaded for free and I try to invite a series of interesting guests to chat about all things City.

This week the former Piccadilly Radio presenter Mike Shaft joined me and two more City fans. I thought Mike would be a perfect guest because he’s a Blue, but he generally watches the games on TV. I’ve been an obsessive match going fan all my adult life and of course for a big chunk of that time I was also the BBC’s City correspondent and commentator, but I was, and still am, a fan first and foremost.

The Champions League, League Cup and FA Cup are about to go through some big changes. This season, because of the upcoming World Cup, it’s possible that City won’t have to play a replay in the FA Cup third round, to limit the potential fixtures they face. Other big clubs, who’re competing in Europe, may also be exempt from third round replays, though everyone else could face that extra game. The FA say they won’t make a decision on this until after the third round draw is made.

Less imminent is the possibility that once the new Champions League format is introduced from season 2024/25, clubs like City will field their u21 side in the League Cup, just as they do in the Papa Johns Trophy. The League Cup would no longer be a first team game on the fixtures list. 

The new Champions League group stage would see clubs play five home games, rather than three, as it is now, before Christmas each season, and five away games. They would no longer play in a group of four teams, playing each team at home and away, instead they would face five teams at home and a different five away. The teams who qualified for that stage of the competition would all be in one league, with the top eight going straight through to the knockout stage in the new year. It sounds bizarre to me and too complicated to explain fully, but it’s UEFAs attempt to have more fixtures, create more income and try to prevent a reframing of the European Super League.

Another idea being seriously considered, is that one or two of these extra Champions League group games might take place in the USA or Asia. We’ve seen City, partly US owned these days, cash in on the growing fascination with English football by playing games in places like Houston and Los Angeles, where tickets for friendlies are routinely priced at $120. You can see the appeal of playing games Stateside where a competitive game might bring in up to 80,000 paying double that ticket price, which in the current climate is way beyond the means of the average City fan.

While this season and next might feel “normal”, it also feels like big cultural changes are afoot. For Mike, the fact that City’s televised games are being played in the USA might not make any difference but to Mancunian fans, those who are season card holders, or obsessives like me, big questions are about to be asked and are sneaking up on us.

This weekend the Manchester derby will take place at the Etihad Stadium, in East Manchester and I, for one, am going to enjoy every second. Who knows how many we’ll miss out on in the coming years, IF these momentous decisions take the joy of attending these games away from us.