Pep Guardiola puts pressure on Manchester City fans to change their stance on Champions League

Guardiola has been backed by City's former chairman this morning, as City fans are urged again to change their stance on Uefa and the Champions League

Just 30,000 fans turned out for Manchester City's 4-0 victory over Borussia Monchengladbach (Getty)

Manchester City legend and former chairman Francis Lee joined the chorus of respected voices this morning urging City fans to put their grievances with Uefa behind them and back the team in the Champions League.

Pep Guardiola made an unprecedented intervention on Wednesday night, telling City fans that they must “forget what happened in the past” with Uefa, and pledging that he would “work until the last moment” to convince them to attend. City attracted a crowd of just 30,270 for their re-scheduled game against Borussia Monchengladbach. They had expected more than 40,000 for the original date on Tuesday night.

Francis Lee echoed Guardiola’s comments on Thursday morning, telling City fans on twitter that they should “bury the hatchet” with Uefa as their booing “sets a bad tone to the start of the game”. “This could be the most exciting era in the history of the Club,” Lee continued. “Go with it and forget the childish anti-Uefa protest.”

The combination of Lee and Guardiola’s comments point to a gentle pressure from senior Manchester City figures on their supporters. City privately agree with what Guardiola said on Wednesday night, and would love to see a full stadium for all of City’s Champions League games. The club, however, do not want to be seen to be criticising the fans, in public or private.

That is why they hope this encouragement will help to convince City fans to attend Champions League games and to get behind the team. The early signs are that the mood of City fans is softening and that they are open to complying with Guardiola’s request.

“I do get the impression that based on what Pep has said, the majority of the fans will encourage those who are booing to let it go now,” Kevin Parker, general secretary of City’s supporters club, told The Independent. “They will not do it in a negative way. Pep’s intervention could be the thing that gets some to say that they have made their point, and if Pep doesn’t want us to boo then let’s not boo.”

While the attendance on Wednesday was less than expected, the club would point to the unique circumstance of the game being arranged. Had they got the 40,000 they expected, it would have tallied with the 41,829 who saw City beat the same opposition in December 2015.

City’s Champions League attendances have been underwhelming for years, but the club are confident that they are steadily increasing year on year. They are expecting the visit of Barcelona on 1 November to be a 53,000 sell-out and are hopeful that Celtic on 6 December will be the same, if it is a vital game to deciding City’s position in the group.

City fans hold a poor regard for Uefa over past sanctions (Getty)

After criticism in the past over Champions League prices, City have priced this year’s games competitively, selling bundles of all three games priced between £80 and £135 for seasoncard holders. Tickets for the Borussia Monchengladbach game were priced between £17.50 and £35 for seasoncard holders and members, whereas tickets for Barcelona for those fans will cost between £40 and £60.

The Barcelona and Celtic games are now litmus tests for whether the fans have listened to Guardiola, but the club trust in the prices that they have set. “I don’t think anybody can be critical of the pricing the club have done for these games,” said Parker. “I think they’ve got it right.”