Manchester City fans tell JOE their theories about ‘Emptihad’ jibes

It's one of the oldest running jokes in the Premier League over recent years, and frankly Manchester City fans are getting sick of it.

Every time they play at home, and every time empty seats are spotted on television, the word 'Emptihad' seems to make an appearance. While it's true there are plenty of seats still available for the club's Champions League return match at home to Dynamo Kiev, there's surely an explanation for the swathes of sky blue we often see when Manuel Pellegrini's team play at the Etihad Stadium. There must be a reason for it all, we thought, so we tried to get the answer straight from the horse's mouth. https://twitter.com/JOE_co_uk/status/702535444089720833 While it would have probably been excusable for City fans to go off on one, they're clearly a reasonable bunch based on our interactions. Here are a few of the explanations given for a phenomenon they'd surely rather do without.

The attendances for league games are regularly above 50,000, which isn't at all bad for a stadium which holds little more than that

https://twitter.com/HeydemannLuukas/status/702535802815954945 https://twitter.com/kidkd7/status/702550455335800832

So it could well be an issue which affects plenty of clubs, from the top to the bottom of the Premier League

https://twitter.com/MCX316/status/702538654879715328 https://twitter.com/joemayyy/status/702536004390031365

One scenario which isn't common throughout the league concerns the family section, and plenty of supporters mentioned this to us

https://twitter.com/MCX316/status/702539421116198913 https://twitter.com/MCX316/status/702539554167898113 https://twitter.com/MarkMCFC10/status/702540433143013376 https://twitter.com/CelbridgeBlue/status/702539966757339136

There's also a chance that the timing of the Kiev tie has played a part

https://twitter.com/niallmc10/status/702540680548257793

There's one final theory which we hadn't considered, and who knows, there could be something to it

https://twitter.com/mrcross89/status/702538825696935936