Etihad Atmosphere - 2021/22

[jrb]

Let’s not get carried away. As I keep saying, when you’re in with where the singers are it always seems loud and a good day in there sounds brilliant. But the rest of the ground are too quiet and to the rest of the ground the singing areas are hard to sing along to, sometimes you can’t tell what’s being sung, sometimes you can hear two songs at the same time from the two areas, often most of the ground have no idea about the words to the song that’s being sung, and there’s been a mid-game silence from the singing sections in every game so far.

Every atmosphere this season has been just okay, as a stadium on the whole.

I'm not getting carried away. I never do. ;-) There is definitely an audible difference between the atmosphere so far this season compared to last seasons atmosphere at the Etihad.

My partner sits in block 212, above blocks 111/110, and next to the away fans. She has noticed the improvement in the atmosphere as she can now hear the singing coming from SSL1, blocks 111, 110, and 109, more clearly, and more often than last season.

The singing in SSL1 has also spread further down the stand towards the CB stand since safe standing seating has been installed.

The safe standing seating/barriers have definitely had a possitive impact on the atmosphere at the Etihad. (It's probably more psychological than anything else. Having a barrier in-front of you brings back memories of the Kippax at MR for us older fans.)

With Burnley and Palace up next at the Etihad in the PL, it will be interesting to see if the improvement in the atmosphere continues or starts to drop off. After those 2 games it's Everton, then West Ham, which are two big games, with both teams bringing big away followings that should fill the away end.

 

[Keeper!]

Let’s not get carried away. As I keep saying, when you’re in with where the singers are it always seems loud and a good day in there sounds brilliant. But the rest of the ground are too quiet and to the rest of the ground the singing areas are hard to sing along to, sometimes you can’t tell what’s being sung, sometimes you can hear two songs at the same time from the two areas, often most of the ground have no idea about the words to the song that’s being sung, and there’s been a mid-game silence from the singing sections in every game so far.

Every atmosphere this season has been just okay, as a stadium on the whole.

Every ground in the country is the same, it's a sign of the changing times.

Let's face facts, football was the working mans games, somewhere to go after a hard weeks work and release your passion, anger, you name it.

Football grounds today are a very different beast to those times, football is now a middle class game.

Very few matches bring out the passion of the crowd, even the derby is now a pale imitation of the past hostile atmosphere.

Numerous thing have changed and for the better, atmosphere and passion is very much one that has declined and football is a lot poorer because of it.

 

[Tim of the Oak]

I'm not getting carried away. I never do. ;-) There is definitely an audible difference between the atmosphere so far this season compared to last seasons atmosphere at the Etihad.

My partner sits in block 212, above blocks 111/110, and next to the away fans. She has noticed the improvement in the atmosphere as she can now hear the singing coming from SSL1, blocks 111, 110, and 109, more clearly, and more often than last season.

The singing in SSL1 has also spread further down the stand towards the CB stand since safe standing seating has been installed.

The safe standing seating/barriers have definitely had a possitive impact on the atmosphere at the Etihad. (It's probably more psychological than anything else. Having a barrier in-front of you brings back memories of the Kippax at MR for us older fans.)

With Burnley and Palace up next at the Etihad in the PL, it will be interesting to see if the improvement in the atmosphere continues or starts to drop off. After those 2 games it's Everton, then West Ham, which are two big games, with both teams bringing big away followings that should fill the away end.

There has been an improvement in South Stand Level 1 and credit to the Club for installing the rail seats and the Singing Section / 1894. We might all need to up our game for the next 2 fixtures and it would good to see a decent flag display back.

I think some of us were a bit underwhelmed on Saturday because we expected a bit more of a reaction (across the ground) from the Peo / Kevin storm in a teacup. I took my own flag before anyone asks lol.

 

[Keeper!]

Last week's relentless jibes ground me down. I quit social media a long time ago to avoid it but every fucking meeting at work, every lame, recycled gif doing the rounds on WhatsApp, just sick of it now.

Yes, it's absolutely down to me to 'grow a pair' and be more thick skinned, and I've been okay with it for years, but last week got me really fed up. Maybe because it felt completely avoidable and was self-inflicted.

Nothing wrong with banter and criticism.

We should be criticized for some of the transfer fees and wages we have paid, I have no issues with that.

It's just the media hate and pure lies that are totally unacceptable and the clubs pathetic meek and mild attitude to it.

Before this takeover our club was universally accepted as having a huge, loyal and humorous support base, so why does the media and even our very own club find it ok to now attack it at every opportunity?

 

[Marvin]

There has been an improvement in South Stand Level 1 and credit to the Club for installing the rail seats and the Singing Section / 1894. We might all need to up our game for the next 2 fixtures and it would good to see a decent flag display back.

I think some of us were a bit underwhelmed on Saturday because we expected a bit more of a reaction (across the ground) from the Peo / Kevin storm in a teacup. I took my own flag before anyone asks lol.

I haven't noticed any change in the atmosphere this season. Leipzig was dead because there were no away fans. Southampton was dead too because the team was struggling. The only noise was 1 minute from the end when the crowd thought VAR was about to award us that goal.

 

[Bonzo Nododo]

Nothing wrong with banter and criticism.

We should be criticized for some of the transfer fees and wages we have paid, I have no issues with that.

It's just the media hate and pure lies that are totally unacceptable and the clubs pathetic meek and mild attitude to it.

Before this takeover our club was universally accepted as having a huge, loyal and humorous support base, so why does the media and even our very own club find it ok to now attack it at every opportunity?

I might be wrong but l didnt hear of the ticketing problems at City anywhere in the media which seemed an obvious open goal for them to have another go at lickle City. Perhaps they were anticipating Wednesday's crowd not being full and were ready to have a go about empty seats no matter what the reasons were.
Might sound like a conspiracy theory but every other team in Europe failed to fill their grounds
except perhaps the now airbrushed out match in Switzerland.

 

[Keeper!]

There has been an improvement in South Stand Level 1 and credit to the Club for installing the rail seats and the Singing Section / 1894. We might all need to up our game for the next 2 fixtures and it would good to see a decent flag display back.

I think some of us were a bit underwhelmed on Saturday because we expected a bit more of a reaction (across the ground) from the Peo / Kevin storm in a teacup. I took my own flag before anyone asks lol.

Appreciate your efforts but flags visually are a great sight but do little for genuine atmosphere.

Atmosphere comes from the heart and cannot be artificially created.

A strong tackle, a dubious red card, a stunning goal or rivalry they are the creators of atmosphere.

 

[Keeper!]

I might be wrong but l didnt hear of the ticketing problems at City anywhere in the media which seemed an obvious open goal for them to have another go at lickle City. Perhaps they were anticipating Wednesday's crowd not being full and were ready to have a go about empty seats no matter what the reasons were.
Might sound like a conspiracy theory but every other team in Europe failed to fill their grounds
except perhaps the now airbrushed out match in Switzerland.

There is no doubt there is an agenda against us, no doubt.

It's our club and it's attitude to it that I have the problem with.

We are a weak and at this moment pathetic in terms of fighting back, it very wrong and needs addressing.

 

[christened at st marks]

Away fans were in the Kippax for most of my time at Maine Road mate. If people want a good atmosphere then fans have to find their voices regardless of the design of the ground. The reality is that Southampton’s 1,500 out-sung the South Stand, despite the regulars singers best efforts.

No they weren't, there wasn't segregation beforehand, for many years, Leeds fans always went in the Platt Lane most others the Scoreboard end before the north stand was built, again can you imagine dividing the Kop up or the one tier at spuds, the old Kippax was one of the largest stands in the country and held half the ground capacity, more than half when the North stand was 1st built.

 

[Didsbury Dave]

Away fans were in the Kippax for most of my time at Maine Road mate. If people want a good atmosphere then fans have to find their voices regardless of the design of the ground. The reality is that Southampton’s 1,500 out-sung the South Stand, despite the regulars singers best efforts.

I can tell you from the Colin Bell Upper Tier that not once in that game did Southampton fans "outsing" City fans. You heard them once or twice but City fans were miles louder.

 

[Keeper!]

No they weren't, there wasn't segregation beforehand, for many years, Leeds fans always went in the Platt Lane most others the Scoreboard end before the north stand was built, again can you imagine dividing the Kop up or the one tier at spuds, the old Kippax was one of the largest stands in the country and held half the ground capacity, more than half when the North stand was 1st built.

Many away fans used to go into the old Platt lane, it was very tasty sometimes in there back in the bad old days.

 

[Indaparkside]

I took my own flag before anyone asks lol.

Was this you after the disallowed goal

 

[Didsbury Dave]

This is going to sound a bit bizarre but you know what would make a significant difference to the overall atmosphere and be a piece of piss to administer? Some sort of audio feedback system where the noise from each signing section was bounced to the back of the other one. I suspect it isn't hard to do with technology.

Most songs that both singing sections join together with spreads around the ground but it happens rarely because of the acoustics and location of the away fans.

 

[jrb]

Nothing wrong with banter and criticism.

We should be criticized for some of the transfer fees and wages we have paid, I have no issues with that.

It's just the media hate and pure lies that are totally unacceptable and the clubs pathetic meek and mild attitude to it.

Before this takeover our club was universally accepted as having a huge, loyal and humorous support base, so why does the media and even our very own club find it ok to now attack it at every opportunity?

Correct.

Did our new owners not think Etihad would be changed to Emptyhad (by the Rags) before signing the sponsorship deal? ;-)

Unfortunately time moves on. The young social media lot from other clubs don't remember or want to know about our superb and loyal support in the past.

 

[Bonzo Nododo]

There is no doubt there is an agenda against us, no doubt.

It's our club and it's attitude to it that I have the problem with.

We are a weak and at this moment pathetic in terms of fighting back, it very wrong and needs addressing.

The club give them open goals and free headers and do nothing about it when they score against us.
And of course the out and out lies become the accepted 'truth' when even non tabloid papers start repeating as Gospel something a daft rag schoolboy in Surbiton put on social media.

 

[Manc Born & Bred]

I can tell you the Club conducted a workshop on Friday, wanting to learn the supporter 'journey'.

They are obviously aware of all the problems and the disconnect between the fans and the club in a few areas.

I told someone they just need to spend a week trying to buy a ticket, trying to contact supporter services, trying to find a car park space or trying to rely on woeful public transport.

The journey lasts a week for most.

You should also have mentioned trying to queue up for a drink and / or food and watch the server balls up the order or give you cold chips. Or even better get into the ground. We had four lanes to our entrance on Saturday, three were literally empty whilst one had a ling queue. Why? Because they had one person searching bags whilst the other three did nothing. I suggested to the lady who had searched me that maybe more than one lane and person should be dedicated the bag searching. Her response was that it had nothing to do with them but it was a club directive! I then suggested she feed back to the club the issues and she just looked at me blankly

 

[ONTHERUNWITHTHAKSIN]

Time for the bananas to return I think

 

[tolmie's hairdoo]

You should also have mentioned trying to queue up for a drink and / or food and watch the server balls up the order or give you cold chips. Or even better get into the ground. We had four lanes to our entrance on Saturday, three were literally empty whilst one had a ling queue. Why? Because they had one person searching bags whilst the other three did nothing. I suggested to the lady who had searched me that maybe more than one lane and person should be dedicated the bag searching. Her response was that it had nothing to do with them but it was a club directive! I then suggested she feed back to the club the issues and she just looked at me blankly

No surprise mate. The blind being led by the blind.

 

[twosips]

Genuinely curious, as I might have a small chance of relaying this to someone at the club...what does everyone think all the problems are currently re the matchday experience, the issues around attendance/atmosphere etc are and what would you do about them? All suggestions welcome.

 

[Manc Born & Bred]

No surprise mate. The blind being led by the blind.

It was the most ridiculous thing ever. Three lanes empty with three stewards doing the square root of FA whilst one person had a queue of about 30 people. Talk about stupidity of the highest order. Don't know why the club doesn't employ me to sort the issues out. At least I have some idea of what the fans face each week and know what to do to sort.