asahartford1
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Etihad Atmosphere - 2022/23
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Didsbury Dave
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It would have so much easier to do this when they expended the south stand but there is another chance. It's all about the way they market it and the "loss-leader" type pricing will pay for itself , not only with atmosphere, but with the club's ability to attract new young fans. We've sort of lost of club identity a bit following the move and the takeover. That identity was basically "loud, loyal and proud" and has morphed into "the money club with the empty seats". this reverses that. Kids want noise, passion and agression.
Listen to the din that Chelsea will make tonight under that roof. That will show you would can be achieved. Also, listen to how it will sadly drown out the bottom tier where our singers are.
mancityvstoke
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Eccles at the front with a bell
supercity88
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Spot on with everything you've said mate. With the design of our stadium we need to have singers at the top, under the roof with the noise being sent around the bowl and getting others onboard. It might sound loud at times to those within the current singing sections but you can't hear it in SSL3. It doesn't spread. If the NS is going to be an extended 2nd tier with an additional 8,000 seats (which rumours suggest) then that's going to be one epic area for people to get going. If 2,000 people start a song at the top of it, which will be as loud as an away following, then you'll soon have the other 8-10,000 in that tier joining in and that's going to make an absolute racket and travel around the stadium.
You can have the people still giving shit to the away fans, but they'll hear the din from the NS and join in as well. It's the last chance we have to address the issues, and it has to be taken. I hope the club do take note. They do plenty of research when it comes to the majority of things so you'd expect they know exactly what the fans want and exactly how other clubs have been doing things. We can't do a single tier logistically without closing the stand, but an extended 2nd tier would be epic. The mock-ups look brilliant. Have the family stand beneath it and inspire the new generation to want to keep coming and to join in with the singers in the future. That's what Maine Road used to do.
Brightwell Bros.
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Chelsea's home game against Arsenal was one of the worst atmospheres I've ever heard at a big game, though.
asahartford1
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I remember a game v Bayern in the early Champ league .They had East Stand level 3. Still a great noise from them. One of the reasons I believe it must be a large number of like minded people getting together with one aim. Regardless of any critiscm of the stadium.
I don't know if 1894 have serious communication with the club , but whoever does the negotiation, needs to do it now.
Perhaps a quorum of people on Bluemoon could get together to put sensible, coherent proposals in place.
And any proposals MUST take into account what is possible and beneficial to the owners and the club.
asahartford1
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He would have his "John boy can I have your shirt , placard too"
Agree with most of your ideas Dave. Like given.
A few ideas I’m not sure about.
City won’t do cheaper beer before the game in the new singing section. It would piss other City fans off in other parts of the ground.
Giving first refusal to City fans in the current singing section and season tickets at half price, which the club won’t do, would only encourage non-singers to move to the new singing section from the current singing section.
Offering cheaper tickets. Again, that would just attract City fans who want cheaper tickets, not because they want to move to a new singing section and sing.
Making the back of the top tier a singing section is double, but only if the club make that happen. I’m more inclined to think the club will make a new singing section in the 2 NSL1 blocks behind the goal. Which isn’t ideal tbh.
The roof idea will be down to the stand design, so until we see the proposals, that certainly is a possibility.
Banners hanging from NSL3. Great idea.
Market the new NS singing section heavily. Great idea.
Offering 1894 and other fan groups a block. A great idea. Something I have always pushed for. Not because I’m in 1894.
Yes, City have years to get this final chance at creating a proper singing section right. They also have a blank seating plan, meaning they can create a singing section in any block they won’t depending on how they configure the current and new seating, and where they relocate current season ticket holders from NSL1. That wasn’t possible to do in SSL1 as it’s already full of season ticket holders. The club wouldn’t move season ticket holders to create a proper singing section in SSL1 and rightly so. (I stand corrected, but I think United moved fans out of their new singing section, offered them other seats that were being vacated by United fans moving into the new singing section or gave them the opportunity to stay inthere, even though it was going to be made a new singing section)
I know it’s the Rags. Spit! But they’ve now got a successful singing section. Originally it held 1400 Rags, now it’s been expanded to hold ‘2000’ Rags. Note. At the back of the stand and under the flat, leaking roof ;-), banners hung at the front of the block, flags, 2 sticks, Cockneys, etc, You’ve got to give United credit for listening to and working with their fans to create a proper singing section that works and has improved the atmosphere at Old Trafford.
Last night saw United come away with a 1-0 win against a potentially tricky Real Sociedad side. It also saw the trial of the Manchester United singing section, where 1,400 Reds were encouraged to make noise to build the Old Trafford Atmosphere – an idea that certainly worked from my point of view.
The fans were encouraged to enter the ground early, and various marches to the ground were also planned, both ideas proved to help the general atmosphere around the stadium. Flags and banners were also welcomed, and it certainly made a huge difference to the atmosphere.
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Didsbury Dave
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Maybe it was but you watch tonight. 3-4000 away fans under a low, angled roof and they'll be banging the songs out. It would be the same with any club. We were doing it at Leicester the other week. And our areas won'[t be able to compete.
Didsbury Dave
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The club have to push this hard as a singing section in the media and through their own channels throughout an entire summer.
If they do what you say and make the lower tier some kind of a singing section things will get worse, not better. That would be a monumentally stupid idea.
The WHOLE top tier has to be "Tee New Kippax" and the existing singing areas given cheap first refusal. That's the key point here. Everything else would follow I believe.
I’m not Dave.
I’m agreeing with you on most of your ideas.
From numerous rumours and snippets posted on the Etihad Stadium and Campus thread, the NS expansion, if it happens, won’t start until after the Coop Live Arena is built, which won’t be until December 2023, if construction stays on schedule? Rumours are that has slipped. It will take a further 2 years for the NS expansion to be built depending on what shape and form that takes. That means the NS expansion won’t be ready for at least another 3 years. I think any singing section and how it’s implemented into the NS is very much on the back burner atm at City. Once the Coop Live Arena is built, details of the NS expansion are made public, etc, that’s when City will start pushing the NS and a new singing section.
On the plus side that gives us another 3 years to discuss the new singing section. :-)
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Slightly off topic.
Posted by Stockton Heath Blue on the Etihad stadium and Campus thread.
I’m trying to tap up my mate, who works for Laing O’Rourke but it’s Top Secret
The only thing he would give up was 8,000 seats, museum, plaza & hotel, but no photos or indication of whether the hotel was part of the stand. His description - WOW!
Posted by Stockton Heath Blue on the Etihad stadium and Campus thread.
I’m trying to tap up my mate, who works for Laing O’Rourke but it’s Top Secret
The only thing he would give up was 8,000 seats, museum, plaza & hotel, but no photos or indication of whether the hotel was part of the stand. His description - WOW!
Didsbury Dave
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Manchester33
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@Didsbury Dave
What I would say to you, playing devil's advocate, is that we currently have around 4k fans in SSL3 for 90% of games, and they pay the lowest season card prices in the stadium. They are good when they get going, but they aren't consistently noisy up there. SSL1 sings more consistently than any other area in the stadium but the tickets there aren't the cheapest. So why is that? Should we not be looking at those fans and asking them questions rather than the fans who do currently sing in level 1?
My point is that cheap tickets don't directly correlate with a better atmosphere. There's more to it than that. You could make an argument that the 10 lads starting chants off at the back of 115 would be more effective in the third tier. But remember, it's only around 10 of us that actually get the songs going at all. That's all it would take - surely there are 10 lads who'd happily relocate to the back row of SSL3 and do the same job - but it's harder than you'd think to organize even just 10 people.
Finally, there are logistical issues with implementing singing sections in the upper tiers. For example, the current angle of the tiers isn't suitable for rail seating (or so we've been told). Security doesn't like the idea of more boisterous fans being higher up (as things might get thrown below). The obvious, easy choice for the club is to keep designated singing sections on the bottom tier, and I don't think the head honchos who make these decisions care enough about the atmosphere to overrule these things.
What I would say to you, playing devil's advocate, is that we currently have around 4k fans in SSL3 for 90% of games, and they pay the lowest season card prices in the stadium. They are good when they get going, but they aren't consistently noisy up there. SSL1 sings more consistently than any other area in the stadium but the tickets there aren't the cheapest. So why is that? Should we not be looking at those fans and asking them questions rather than the fans who do currently sing in level 1?
My point is that cheap tickets don't directly correlate with a better atmosphere. There's more to it than that. You could make an argument that the 10 lads starting chants off at the back of 115 would be more effective in the third tier. But remember, it's only around 10 of us that actually get the songs going at all. That's all it would take - surely there are 10 lads who'd happily relocate to the back row of SSL3 and do the same job - but it's harder than you'd think to organize even just 10 people.
Finally, there are logistical issues with implementing singing sections in the upper tiers. For example, the current angle of the tiers isn't suitable for rail seating (or so we've been told). Security doesn't like the idea of more boisterous fans being higher up (as things might get thrown below). The obvious, easy choice for the club is to keep designated singing sections on the bottom tier, and I don't think the head honchos who make these decisions care enough about the atmosphere to overrule these things.
Didsbury Dave
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I agree with all of that actually, mate. The simple answer is/was staring us in the face with SS3. If the whole bunch of singers who are stuck out on a limb in the corner of the East stand were moved up there the atmosphere would be miles better. Hell, if they moved to the south stand that would make a difference to. But the club missed the chance when it was available and now the ship has probably sailed I think.
I don't think cheap tickets is the be all and end all but I'm making that suggestion to try to overcome the intertia of existing fans and reluctance to change. The biggest driver of all for me would be a big time amrketing campaign and discussion and involvement with groups like yours.
I take your points about the logistics of the upper tier.
Manchester33
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This is a good post. I agree with you.
I don't think we need a drum to make an atmosphere, but having something to bang would help.
The issue with a drum is that it's a little bit cringy and too orchestrated. But when we used to play Stoke away, and the lads down the side would bang the metal cladding, everyone loved it and it helped our atmosphere there. So having a beat would be beneficial, even for traditional British support - I think it's more the physical drum itself and the clean noise it makes that irritates our fans.
There are things we're working on to improve that style of 'banging'. We tried implementing some metal sheeting on the floor for fans to stamp on - they worked great in an empty stadium, but we've found they aren't great in practice. We (1894) have a member, who's also an engineer, who's worked on some designs for metal sheeting to bolt onto the rail seats. It would be designed to be noisy. If we could cover the whole home end of the rail seats with it, we could have around 4k 'drummers' rather than one. It would be really loud, more distorted, and organic and represent a mix of 'Europop' and traditional support. It would also empower more fans to start off their own songs because now they have a big loud thing to bang and get it going if they wanted to.
Manchester33
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We haven't been able to (because of the higher demand) recently, but we usually organise singing sections for cup games.
If the third tier of the away section is returned, we could always try putting a singing section up there to see what difference it makes. Let's see what happens in the new year.
Prophet of Doom
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Sorry to put a dampener on these ideas but I think people are losing their minds here.
The idea that there will be a stampede of 8000 singers relocating to the 3rd tier in the new stand which will make the Etihad as load as La Bombinera is fantasy.
People on here have used every excuse imaginable on why the atmosphere is crap. The answer is simple - the majority of our support sit in silence. If they didn’t there would be no need for any campaigns to relocate people.
Good luck with any campaigns but it won’t make a difference as the new stand will be a mixture of tourists new fans and a smaller number of relocations no matter what they try to do.
The idea that there will be a stampede of 8000 singers relocating to the 3rd tier in the new stand which will make the Etihad as load as La Bombinera is fantasy.
People on here have used every excuse imaginable on why the atmosphere is crap. The answer is simple - the majority of our support sit in silence. If they didn’t there would be no need for any campaigns to relocate people.
Good luck with any campaigns but it won’t make a difference as the new stand will be a mixture of tourists new fans and a smaller number of relocations no matter what they try to do.
Didsbury Dave
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I think you're wrong. Nobody is saying that the Etihad will become the next "WElcome To Hell" but as it stands due to various factors it could be a whole lot better. Two lots of singers split by the away fans on the lower tier is a worst case scenario. A lot of people who don't sing would sing if others did. It's crowd psychology. That's why some away games are a lot better than others with the same people attending.