Vietnamese fans disappointed with Man City ‘indifference’

Manchester City seemed to be very cool toward Vietnamese fans during their three-day trip in Viet Nam that rounded off their summer tour, Vietnamese website doisongphatluat.com said.

Manchester City seen in an exchanging event with children in SOS Children's Village in Ha Noi. They seemed to be very cool toward Vietnamese fans during their three-day trip in Viet Nam. — Photo v3.news.zdn.vn

Many Vietnamese fans and reporters were present at Noi Bai International Airport on Saturday to welcome the team, but the players were visible only for a moment in their bus in heavy rain.

Even after they reached JW Marriott Hotel in Ha Noi, Man City continued to be indifferent despite shouts of cheers from the fans.

The website said a video posted by a fan on a social networking site showed players such as Raheem Sterling, Joe Hart and Samir Nasri responding with little enthusiasm towards their fans.

In community activities such as interactions with children in the SOS Children’s Village and with fans at Viet Nam National University, the team said little and also stayed just for a short while.

However, many Vietnamese fans continued to defend their idols. They said Man City’s attitude could not be criticised as they had had a tiring flight and also had earlier lost 4-1 to a strong Real Madrid side at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in front of a 99,382-strong near-capacity crowd.

The reason why Man City are said to be cool towards Vietnamese fans is reportedly that the Vietnamese fans had seen Arsenal’s warm feelings for them two years ago.

Arsenal was the first-ever Premier League team to play a friendly match with the Viet Nam national team in the 40,000-seat My Dinh National Stadium, as part of the team’s pre-season Asia Tour 2013.

Tonight, also at My Dinh National Stadium, Man City – the 2014 Football League Cup winners – will face Viet Nam’s national football team.

Tickets for the match, which are selling for record prices, haven’t been sold out yet.

The tickets for the best seats cost VND1.8 million (US$85), the highest for any football event held in Viet Nam.

The prices for the other seats are at VND1.5 million ($70), VND1 million ($50) and VND600,000 ($28).

They are available for half the price in the black market, with tickets priced VND1.5 million to VND 1.8 million going for VND700,000 to VND1 million and the VND1-million tickets going for VND500,000.

The match, which will be shown live on VTV6 and VTV6HD channels, will complete Manchester City’s pre-season tour. They are expected to be back in Manchester on July 28.

VNS

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