If Manchester City are the kings of Europe after their magnificent Treble, their fans are still being treated as jokers.
Anyone travelling down to Wembley for the Community Shield in August won't have it as bad as the tens of thousands who endured miserable journeys to and from the Champions League final, but the organisers of the season opener have still made it as inconvenient as possible for the team travelling the furthest. Those making the journey were already braced for costs of over £100 on the trains (if they end up running) but a 5.30pm kick-off on Sunday is about as needless as it gets; anyone wanting to stay over to enjoy the win will now have to take a day off work, while even those hotfooting it back to Manchester will do well to make it back before midnight.
Little wonder the 1894 Supporters' Club has taken a stand, calling on fans to boycott the game and instead make a donation or offer what they would have spent on a ticket to MCFC Fans Foodbank Support - a group of City fans who volunteer collect at every home game for Manchester Central Foodbank. They are in the process of arranging a spot in Manchester where fans can watch the match in August and also help battle food poverty.
Nobody is forcing fans to boycott and nobody will think any less of those who go, but the action from the two fan groups to put the charity into Charity Shield is an attempt to make a point about what little thought is given to supporters and turn a negative into a positive for the local community. The fact that 85 per cent on the Blue Moon Supporters Forum are in favour of the action, and more than 100 donors have raised over £2,000 for the foodbank in under 24 hours, points to the strength of feeling among Blues.
Read next: Why Man City supporters' group has asked fans to boycott Community Shield
Even if there is an acceptance that there will still be thousands of supporters who choose to go to the game, the hope is that the boycott is striking enough to make people question the treatment of fans. To really make the point, the groups need help from elsewhere.
The club would be a start. City may well put on subsidised travel to help fans going to the match out - especially if there are train strikes as there were for the FA Cup final - but could show their support for fans staying away by making a donation to the foodbank group or matching the total raised; given the backing Pep Guardiola has been given over the last season by supporters, it shouldn't be too much to ask for a word in solidarity from the manager when the time comes.
If the boycott does turn out as expected, ITV broadcasting the game and all other media reporting on it have a duty to know why there are empty seats and to tell that story. While there were Blues who had already decided a 24th visit to Wembley in 12 years was too much, it was the kick-off time that left the fan groups thinking that if they didn't make a stand now, where would it end?
That question is worth fans of other clubs thinking about when the usual, predictable slurs are inevitably made on social media. There are various reasons for them to be indifferent to City as a club or dislike them - three in four people assume that City have broken the Premier League's financial rules but most (63 per cent) do not think they will be seriously punished for it - but supporters of other clubs should remember that they share the same matchday experiences as Blues.
This is not the first time that City fans have been ignored and expected to cope with a ridiculous kick-off time, asked to play the jesters to make the product look royal, and it happens to each and every fanbase up and down the country. It will take an almighty effort for anything to chance, and if fans do not back each other it will be almost impossible.
Putting rivalries and tribalism to bed for one Sunday in August is the best way to help the wider football community
