Blues see surge in demand for tickets

CITY have seen a surge in demand for tickets and memberships on the back of a record year of sales as they prepare for their first home game of the season.

It has been a summer of change for the squad, with the club seeing five senior players depart and setting a new competition record for the most money raised through player sales in a single transfer window (a guaranteed £161m) in the process.

City have largely replaced those who have moved on, though and in Erling Haaland (£51m) have landed one of the most exciting signings in Premier League history.

City Women have also had a major spike ahead of their new campaign after the roaring success of the Lionesses.

The club have sold more than twice as many season tickets as last year and have also fully sold out of seated capacity for their opening WSL home game on September 11 - a mouthwatering tie against last season’s runners-up Arsenal.

In addition to that, the club sold more than 10,000 derby tickets for their December clash against United in the first week after announcing that the game would be played at the Etihad Stadium.

City briefly held the record attendance in the WSL for a derby game that attracted 31,209 in September 2019 and will be hoping for more as they look to take advantage of the match being played during a break in the men’s season for the World Cup.

As well as increased interest on the back of success, the surge in numbers of people wanting to watch City this season can also be put down to the return of normality after the pandemic. There were still travel restrictions in place at the beginning of last season and more uncertainty around Covid-19, but many lives have gotten back to normal over the last year.

“It’s really encouraging to see the excitement in the club both locally and globally, at such an early stage of the season, particularly on the back of the pandemic and following our first full season with crowds for a number of years,” said Danny Wilson, head of operations at City.

“We’re seeing a strong increase in interest across various areas including ticketing, membership and hospitality, in addition to a record year for our retail sales last season and these are key indicators of the club’s worldwide growth on the back of the on-pitch success of our teams and our commitment to developing new experiences and offerings for our fans.

“We look forward to welcoming fans from near and far to our home games this season.”

Growing interest in watching the City teams reflects a wider theme across the club.

Last season was the most successful year to date for retail and both the new home and away kits for this season broke records for their opening-day sales.

The club’s first pre-season tour for three years and their first matches back in the United States since 2018 which included the launch of the new away kit featuring Haaland and Guardiola at the NASA base in Houston - helped to see an upturn in sales from the US and also make July the latest record-breaking month for sales.

WE’VE another weekend of Premier League action to savour.

Champions City, who breezed impressively to a 2-0 win at West Ham last weekend, entertain Bournemouth at the Etihad today and we have the visitors at 40/1 for the win - yes, that’s FORTY to one!

In the outright Premier League market the Blues have been cut slightly into 8/15 to successfully defend their title after Liverpool, who are now 10/3, could only manage a draw with Fulham in their opener – while Spurs and Chelsea are 11/1 and 14/1 respectively.

Erling Haaland, after scoring a brace at the London Stadium, is now 6/5 with us to win the Golden Boot and he’s just 13/8 to open the scoring against Scott Parker’s men this afternoon.

I thought he looked the business on Sunday and, over four or five yards in particular, lightning-fast.

One of the West Ham lads described him as ‘a speedboat.’ He’s going to give defenders nightmares.

As for my beloved United, despite all the promise of pre-season, it was a modest performance against Brighton that, hopefully, sent a clear message to the board – we need more signings, particularly a midfielder and an attacker or two.

United are 21/20 with us to win today, while Brentford are 11/4 – and the draw is 13/5.

Erik ten Hag’s side have almost doubled in price to 50/1 with Betfred to win the Premier League title and anything but three points today could potentially see them drift further.

I loved the Premier League’s opening weekend – apart from that disappointment at Old Trafford – and of all the would-be challengers to the usual top two I thought Spurs were excellent in popping four past Southampton without either Harry Kane or Son Heung-Min hitting the back of the net for once.

Manager Antonio Conte looks to know his business all right.

Meanwhile, I was happy for Wire fans to see Warrington edge a tense thriller against Toulouse the other day in what was a real Betfred Super League relegation scrap.

They’ve got a bit of valuable breathing space now and the French side look to have it all to do to avoid the drop.

Wakefield can’t afford too many slip-ups, though, either it’s compelling stuff at both ends of the table.