The poor atmosphere and hordes of empty seats at Manchester City’s Etihad Stadium is ‘the price of success’, according to talkSPORT pundit Danny Higginbotham.
Pep Guardiola’s men beat Wolves 3-0 on Monday to keep the pressure on Liverpool, as they hunt for their second straight Premier League title.
But despite their incredible recent success under the Spanish boss, the club are struggling to fill out their 55,000 capacity ground.
Rival fans have taken to calling Man City’s stadium ‘The Emptihad’ with television cameras sometimes highlighting the lack of packed stands at home games, and an apparent lack of noise from supporters.
City drew their lowest attendance of the season last week when they battered Burton Albion 9-0 in their Carabao Cup semi-final tie, with just 32,089 supporters watching on.
The club broke Premier League records last season as they cantered to the title, yet reports claimed they averaged nearly 10,000 empty seats PER GAME at the Etihad.
And Higginbotham believes, just like Manchester United under Sir Alex Ferguson, Man City supporters have become ‘too used to winning.’
“It definitely was quiet yesterday,” said the ex-United defender, who covered the Wolves game for talkSPORT.
“But I think what you’re finding at Manchester City, and this happened a lot at Manchester United when they were having great success as well, is that supporters go there and expect to be entertained.
“When you watch Manchester City you know what’s coming. There’s an expectancy now at the club and that obviously goes towards the atmosphere.
“The fans get entertained every single week, whether that’s in the cup where they’re scoring seven and nine goals and even in the Premier League they’re scoring sixes.
“That’s the price of success sometimes, particularly when you’re playing at home, because you get so used to winning.”
