Police aim cheeky dig at Man City with tweet offering advice to the ‘Emptihad’ for Aston Villa fans

West Midlands Police appeared to aim a cheeky dig at Manchester City as they offered advice to Aston Villa fans making the trip to face the champions on Saturday.

The force has various Twitter accounts to cater for the clubs in the region and in a post on Thursday, appeared to mock the attendance figures at Etihad Stadium – by calling it the ‘Emptihad’.

It read: ‘#avfc #utv fans travelling 2 the Emptihad on Sunday there r no pubs around the ground happy 2 accept away fans.

‘Away fans travelling via train will b welcome in Brunswick, Piccadilly Tavern & the Waldorf in the city centre. Advice 4 those travelling via coach&car, stop enroute!’

In January 2022, co-commentator Jim Beglin, who used to play for Liverpool and Leeds, apologised on social media for using the term during a City game, which he said was a slip of the tongue.

West Midlands Police offered advice to Aston Villa fans making the trip to the Etihad Stadium

Beglin had said: ‘You can hear the annoyance around the Emptihad’ during a game between City and Chelsea.

He then wrote: ‘I have the greatest respect for Manchester City Football Club. In no way was my verbal error today intended to cause City fans any offence.’

And the previous year, after a Champions League win over Leipzig, manager Pep Guardiola urged more fans to attend his team’s forthcoming Premier League meeting with Southampton. 

‘I would like more people next game on Saturday, we need the people next Saturday,’ he said.

According to respected football website Transfermarkt, City’s average home attendance last season was 52,738 – in sixth spot behind Manchester United, Arsenal, West Ham, Tottenham and Liverpool. 

Of those clubs, only Anfield’s capacity is comparable with City’s 53,400-seat home, with the other grounds considerably larger.

Manchester City boast the sixth highest average attendance in the Premier League