Why Manchester City fans boo pre-match anthems
Manchester City fans held up literal 'boos' during a Champions League game at Sevilla in 2015, and that same noise now regularly greets the Premier League and Champions League anthems at the Etihad Stadium; the jeers were particularly prominent at the home match against Ipswich last Saturday after the club was found guilty of breaching the Premier League's financial rules.
City season-ticket holder Dave Wilson told BBC Sport: "I can't remember a Premier League or Champions League home game where the anthems haven't been booed." The current pre-match discontent can be traced back to February 2023, when 115 charges were first announced against the club, and was amplified by the Premier League sanctioning process and other clubs' punishments for profit and sustainability breaches. Everton had 10 points - reduced to six on appeal - deducted after being found to have broken profit and sustainability rules, and Toffees fans responded in their first match back by loudly booing the league's pre-match anthem and holding up red cards printed with the word 'corrupt' under the Premier League logo.
"The Premier League anthem has been booed by City fans for many years," Wilson said. "It was probably heightened on Saturday because it was the first home game since the [guilty verdict] announcement. There hasn't been much love lost between City and the Premier League for a long time. For certain games it will be louder than others, it definitely wasn't co-ordinated for that [Ipswich] game but a symptom of everything coming together." There was audible booing before Tuesday's Champions League fixture against AEK Athens as well.
City fans' discontent with Uefa is also long-standing, with a series of disputes involving European authorities. In 2012, Porto were handed a fine, external of around £17,000 by Uefa after City made a complaint of racial abuse towards striker Mario Balotelli to the organising body, and in that same season City were given a fine, external of around £24,000 for being one minute late back on to the pitch for the second half of a game against Sporting. In 2014, Uefa fined City £49m and capped their squad size for the Champions League after they failed Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules.
Six years later, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas) overturned City's two-year ban from European club competitions after clearing them of "disguising equity funds as sponsorship contributions"; Uefa had initially ruled City had committed "serious breaches" of FFP regulations between 2012 and 2016. On those histories, Wilson added: "City fans generally feel there is a conspiracy against them, like the booing of the Uefa anthem too. There is a feeling of being targeted, rightly or wrongly. City fans just don't seem to like the competitions we play in!"
The team remain in limbo as the club and its supporters await the outcome of the appeal and any potential sanctions. The side are currently top of the table having won all seven league games so far, and that 100% record will be examined with a trip to Aston Villa on Saturday (kick-off 12:30 BST).
Nick Clarke, interim chair of The Citizens Trust — a member-led supporters' union set up earlier this year — said: "The booing of the anthem on Saturday was totally organic. Whereas the bananas at Liverpool was a fan-led initiative co-ordinated by the 1894 atmosphere group and they did great work handing those out before the game. Even though there are fans who are conflicted about what has happened with the club, there is still a general feeling among the majority [of City fans] that the Premier League is not fit for purpose in regulating itself and how it is ran."
City and their supporters are currently in limbo as they await the outcome of the appeal and any potential sanctions, and whatever the outcome of the appeal, City fans are likely to continue making their feelings clear before kick-off.