Ticket prices slashed for Hamburg

Manchester City Football Club are delighted to announce fantastic ticket prices for the forthcoming UEFA Cup quarter final second leg against Hamburg on April 16th at the City of Manchester Stadium.

In an amazing one-off sale starting this Wednesday, all adult tickets will be available for five days only at a rate of just £5. After that date, tickets will be available at a remarkably competitive £10 for a further ten days up to and including April 8th, after which admission will double to £20.

All supporters can purchase tickets from Wednesday 25th March, with Seasoncard holders seats being held until Sunday 29th March, after which they will be released.

>>mcfc.co.uk

It is no secret that our attendances for UEFA Cup games this season have been disappointing in comparison to a fairly consistent average in the Premier League.

Although prices have been cut already, the club announced a drastic cut in prices for the quarter-final second leg in a bid to fill the ground as near to capacity as possible.

There has been plenty of theory on why the attendances have been so low in the UEFA Cup, but for me it comes down to three main reasons:

• People are unwilling (even with reduced prices) to pay 'extra' for tickets in this competition on top of Premier League games.
• All games have been shown live on TV.
• The quality of opponents has not been overly glamorous.

Although the game will be shown live, points 1 and 3 have been met by this initiative. The attendance for this game (given our involvement in the tournament has shifted to a new level) was something I was keen to see, but I would be amazed now if the added interest coupled with the low ticket prices resulted in anything other than a near capacity attendance.

News on Hamburg

Hamburg claimed a crucial 2-1 victory at Schalke to move to within a point of Bundesliga leaders Hertha Berlin.

There were no goals in the first half but the game exploded into life with 20 minutes to go, Paolo Guerrero making the initial breakthrough.

Guerrero made it 2-0 in the 75th minute but Jefferson Farfan reduced Schalke's arrears five minutes later to set up a nervous finale.

>>skysports.com

Thoughts on Hamburg

Since the draw was made yesterday, concensus opinion has been that drawing Hamburg was as bad a draw as we could have been handed, eroding some of the 'name on the cup' feeling that eminated in the aftermath of the penalty shoot-out.

I'm not so sure though. Whilst Hamburg are undoubted a tough proposition, there were worse draws out there. My knowledge of the Bundesliga is not great, with my information generally being garnered from Rafael Honigstein's updates on the Football Weekly podcast.

Having listened to it over the course season, it seems there is a general feeling that Hamburg have perhaps overachieved during this campaign. They currently lie in fourth place in what is a very tight and competitive Bundesliga - all of this after losing Rafael van der Vaart and Vincent Kompany in the summer, and then Nigel de Jong in January. From Honigstein's comments in a recent episode, it is felt they could be running out of steam at the wrong team, or from our own perspective, at exactly the right time.

Their home record is impressive though on all levels, in contrast to an average away record (although better than our domestic one) and I do feel that whilst playing away first is to our advantage, the first leg match in Hamburg will likely determine the outcome of this tie.

de Jong signing confirmed

Manchester City have completed the signing of Nigel de Jong on a four-and-a-half year contract.

The Dutch international had been in talks with City recently after they agreed a fee with Hamburg on Monday for his services.

De Jong becomes City's third signing of the winter transfer window following the arrivals of Wayne Bridge and Craig Bellamy.

The fee for the 24-year-old former Ajax midfielder, who has won 29 caps for his county, remains undisclosed.

>>Sky Sports

Again, confirmation of news we all expected and a good addition to the side I would say, adding much needed depth in that area and also allowing the option for Vincent Kompany to move back into central defence.

Hamburg manager Martin Jol has likened de Jong to Michael Carrick, and it also possible that both Kompany and de Jong can form a midfield partnership - although a definite 4-5-1 would have to be operated.

One issue regarding the signing though is the report of the £1.5 million release fee which would have come into being this summer. If this is the case, are we crying out so badly for de Jong (or this position) to offer around £15 million more just to secure him for half a season?

UPDATE 20:53 - Some comments from de Jong:

“I feel very good and for me it is the next step in my own career after three years in Germany and I hope to be successful here at Manchester City.

“The ideas and the planning behind this Club are very hopeful and it’s a new adventure so I’m delighted to be here right now.”

“The Stadium looks great and I think it can only be better when it’s full of people.

“I’m looking forward to playing here and everybody knows that the Premier League is maybe the biggest competition in the world.”

de Jong bid accepted

Hamburg have agreed to sell their Dutch international midfielder Nigel de Jong to Manchester City and have said that the decision now rests with the player agreeing personal terms with City.

"The two clubs have reached agreement," the Hamburg spokesman Jörn Wolf said today. "Now de Jong has to agree with Manchester City."

Wolf would not disclose any further details but the German media have speculated that Manchester City may be willing to pay as much as €20m (£18.15m) for the 24-year-old player.

>>guardian.co.uk

What is interesting regarding any bid we have made is that the BBC are reporting that he has a clause in his contract that allows him to move from the club this summer for a fee of just £1.5 million.

Although the amount we are paying is in a sense no longer relevant, if it is true we are paying around £15 million extra just to secure him in January is maybe a sign that Hughes feels he really does need a strong second half of the season, and de Jong will be integral to that.

Bid confirmed for de Jong

Slightly lost amidst the talk of Kaka's potential arrival, but confirmation from the Mail that we have actually lodged a bid for Nigel de Jong:

Hamburg have confirmed that Manchester City have made an approach for Holland international midfielder Nigel de Jong.

In an interview with the Hamburger Abendblatt newspaper, the German club's director of sport Dietmar Beiersdorfer admitted that City have made an offer for the former Ajax man.

de Jong himself appears to be receptive to the possibility of the move, saying:

'Everybody knows that I would like to play for a big club eventually, I count Manchester City in that category,' said the Dutchman.

'I will take my time and listen to everything and then I will make the right decision for me. But I am a Hamburg player and it could be that I remain so.'

This would be a good signing, and of course would address areas where we are currently lacking most - both in the defensive midfield area and of course at the heart of the defence assuming Vincent Kompany would step back into that position.

Perhaps the frustration of the past ten days lack of activity could be coming to an end?

Who's Kompany?

"There is a president with ambition, players with ambition, coaches with ambition, a manager with ambition and that helped me to make this decision.

"I just had a good feeling with everybody I was talking to inside the club. I felt some kind of dynamic.

"When you feel that there are dynamic people, and who have knowledge about football and stuff like this, you know you are in a good environment to improve."

>>Vincent Kompany.

From what little I've seen of Kompany, he has always impressed.

He appears to be a young, ambitious player - exactly the kind we should be looking to bring in to the club and I have no doubt that Mark Hughes will be looking to deploy him in midfield rather than defence.

Hughes himself was clearly enamoured, and delighted to bring him to the club:

"Vincent is one of the outstanding talents in Europe. He understands the ambition of the club. He understands where we want to take the club.

"We want to be a young, vibrant team with energy and technical ability. He comes into the category of the kind of young player we are trying to attract."

More on Kompany

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• OleOle