Atmosphere 2024/25

[uwerosler28]

Where were you sat ?

I was in 507, it wasn’t bouncing but it was pretty good. My family were in 523 and said it was noisy in there. There were songs breaking out all over the upper tier.

Coincidentally was in 523 also.

 

[Pezzer2]

Ha how can you think we were fine , it was the ultimate stand up , fold your arms and be silent crowd fucking garbage

Speak for yourself, was you sat in club wembley or something? Stop looking for negatives, so much city bashing from our own fans these days. You can call me a happy clapper all you want but the City fans were in fine fettle yesterday throughout the day and behind the goal where I was

 

[M18CTID]

Old boomer fart here. One thing the old boomer farts know about is atmosphere. If you’d been to Maine Rd you would know that the Kippax would generate atmosphere even for dead rubber games.
Not a single game have I seen at the Etihad where the crowd have generated anything like the atmosphere the Kippax would have done given the same circumstance.

But if ya need props to generate atmosphere fill ya boots if it’s in support of the blues.

Blue tinted specs. On a good day the Kippax was immense for atmosphere but don’t try to claim it was always like that. Plenty of times we were outsung by opposition fans. Even a couple of hundred Wimbledon fans outsung us in 1991 during a drab 0-0 draw.

And as for the Etihad, yeah it’s shit a lot of the time but that comment is utter bollocks. Have you forgotten the Hamburg game? Or the 2-1 win against Liverpool in January 2019? And there have been others too

 

[TheGhost]

Only because tgats all they needed tbf..we equalise..they would have attacked mire...they neatly went 2 up as well

I agree but you were saying the way play impacts our atmosphere. We made almost all of the attacking play.

Edit - apologies, not you the poster I was replying to

 

[M18CTID]

Everyone on our list had to qualify to get a ticket (and could only buy tickets when it reached their criteria).

We ended up with 500.

Unfortunately, a fair few jumped the gun and got tickets through their OSCs (in other areas), which meant some seats were released. Probably ended up with around 350-400 in there (which is still a good number IMO). It just wasn’t our day, despite our best attempts.

Just to add to this, on at least 2 occasions during the selling process - either due to a glitch or a cock-up on City’s part - the 1894 singing section seats were available to buy for any qualifying supporter even if they weren’t signed up to the singing section. That shouldn’t have happened - the seats should’ve been greyed out for everyone who wasn’t signed up to the singing section. As such, loads of fans ended up buying tickets in there who weren’t signed up.
This stopped a large number of predominantly younger fans who were signed up from buying tickets in there. That’s because a lot of those younger fans were members only rather than season ticket holders so only qualified for a ticket towards the end of the sales process. By the time they did qualify, the singing section seats were pretty much sold out.
I actually think your estimate of 350-400 is an over-estimate and I reckon it was nearer 250-300 so that effectively diluted it by around 50%.
By all accounts the singing section for the semi-final was a huge success even though the numbers were capped at 200. Maybe that’s because all 200 who were signed up got tickets in there so it ended up being pure singers.

 

[M18CTID]

I contributed the same as everyone else in the ground , not enough. However I didn't sign up to sit in a section specifically labelled as being there to create an atmosphere or call my block the singing section, curious as to why anyone else would pick to sit in that section and then stand there arms folded in silence, and for what's its worth understanding how to make it better won't happen if every piece of critism is met with " well what did you do"

See my post on page 483 of this thread and it might explain why some people were sat there with their arms folded. We can’t help it if City mistakenly made tickets on that section available to everyone to buy even if they weren’t signed up to the singing section.

 

[Cobwebcat]

Hopefully the ref will give Bournemouth a ridiculous decision that comes to nothing to get the crowd annoyed tomorrow.

 

[M18CTID]

Absolutely. Real support, not fake. Small clubs have drums.

I'm not a fan of drums at football but I wouldn't call Celtic, Rangers, Dortmund, Bayern, etc small clubs

 

[eastmanc]

I'm not a fan of drums at football but I wouldn't call Celtic, Rangers, Dortmund, Bayern, etc small clubs

Fuck drums.

 

[M18CTID]

I honestly think that if Marmoush scores that penalty then the atmosphere flips. While Palace fans were on it pretty much throughout the game, I thought they weren't as loud in the first half as the second. Definitely moments during that first half where their songs weren't carrying that well across the whole end and that's because I think a lot of their fans were nervous. That's why I think scoring the penalty transforms our end and reduces theirs to just their Ultras behind the goal making noise.

Second half though, their fans grew in confidence as the game wore on and our fans wilted as time went on. The atmosphere was like the Forest semi in reverse.

Personally, I don't think it's a disgrace being outsung by Palace fans at Wembley. Previously, they've outsung Villa fans there this year and United fans in the 2016 final. They probably outsung whoever they played in the 2016 semi final too. People can slag off their drums and megaphones as much as they fucking want but what they are good at is organising a proper atmosphere section at Wembley and that in itself is something we can all learn from.

 

[M18CTID]

Fuck drums.

I literally said the same. I was pointing out that it's a total myth that only small clubs have drums. In any case, I wouldn't call Palace a small club. Medium sized IMO

 

[b6_brum]

Stating the obvious but Wembley really highlights the difference between an organised atmosphere and an unorganised one. A lot us can't really be bothered with that co-ordinated stuff as it feels a bit fake week in week out, and I still love the spontaneous English atmosphere that is very reactive. However, there is probably merit in clubs trying to organise people in certain sections at Wembley, as you have such a diverse group of people who all want to do different things. Palace seem to be the benchmark.

The final sounds identical to Villa in the semi final, families with elderly people mixed in areas with groups of lads coked up and too pissed to even get their words out, never mind sing. All it leads to is people kicking off with each other and a disjointed non-existent atmosphere, which angers some and annoys others. Clubs probably have to do more to separate areas into where people really want to be, a bit more like home games.

 

[mancityvstoke]

Stating the obvious but Wembley really highlights the difference between an organised atmosphere and an unorganised one. A lot us can't really be bothered with that co-ordinated stuff as it feels a bit fake week in week out, and I still love the spontaneous English atmosphere that is very reactive. However, there is probably merit in clubs trying to organise people in certain sections at Wembley, as you have such a diverse group of people who all want to do different things. Palace seem to be the benchmark.

The final sounds identical to Villa in the semi final, families with elderly people mixed in areas with groups of lads coked up and too pissed to even get their words out, never mind sing. All it leads to is people kicking off with each other and a disjointed non-existent atmosphere, which angers some and annoys others. Clubs probably have to do more to separate areas into where people really want to be, a bit more like home games.

When we played you at wembley your mob had plenty to say, especially to families and lone blues.

We've played plenty of clubs at wembley and yours comes top of the list for gobshytes by a mile. Even Utd are behind (but not much).

 

[Tolmie scores]

I agree but you were saying the way play impacts our atmosphere. We made almost all of the attacking play.

Edit - apologies, not you the poster I was replying to

No i agree.. i think Palace's chance of first ever major trophy did influence.. but they hardly got a kick first 15 mins and they sang tgeir hearts out. So they were encouraging their team even though they couldnt string 2 passes togetger until they scored. We created loads..missed pen as well..virtual silence..in an fa cup final!!

 

[paulchapo]

Clubs probably have to do more to separate areas into where people really want to be, a bit more like home games.

It happens a bit, like the standing/singing section. The problem at Wembley is the buying criteria so everybody just has to grab a ticket where they can when they are in the window to buy one. That means groups who are together at our ground are separated. When they actually get to Wembley they just seek each other out, choose one area and cram in there. That then leads to friction when the people in those seats don't take kindly to a load of lads squashing into their space.

 

[M18CTID]

When we played you at wembley your mob had plenty to say, especially to families and lone blues.

We've played plenty of clubs at wembley and yours comes top of the list for gobshytes by a mile. Even Utd are behind (but not much).

I think the behaviour of some United fans on Wembley Way after the semi-final in 2011 tops the lot to be fair

 

[jrb]

The CL final atmosphere between Inter and PSG will be great.

 

[Joelsim]

Hi, first post, and full disclosure, I’m a ST holder at Palace.

I was reading this thread with interest as from our perspective the SF and the F at Wembley were stunning days out that will live forever in my memory, in particular the atmosphere created.

The hf05, Holmesdale Fanatics, Fanatics, Ultras or whatever you want to call them have been going since 2005. They number around 500, unfortunately there isn’t the space in the seating at Selhurst to make it much bigger. They started down in the corner in The Holmesdale block B near the Arthur Wait and moved about 4 years ago to block E behind the goal. This upset some people who were moved from their long-standing seats in block E, so we’re now kind of stuck with organic moving when the older folk don’t renew or whatever.

Anyway, the Fanatics are a decent bunch, they don’t cause trouble - we have very few Police at Selhurst unless it’s Brighton, Wet Spam or Miiilllll coming, as those of you who come to away games will know. They are a unit in the sense that they like to be part of an ultras group, they’re proud to be hf05, and they just want to make noise, as well as collect for local causes - they do plenty of work in the community including food banks and things like that, and whilst they’re not to everyone’s taste they are generally appreciated by the vast majority of our fans.

Anyone who’s been to Selhurst will know that they never shut up, they sing all game long, it’s rare that there’s silence - I think the last time I can remember this was when they refused to sing for the first half of a game when Parish put in new digital advertising boards which replaced their ‘Holmesdale Fanatics’ banner above them. It was pretty strange.

What they do do well though is create a focal point for the singing, taking Wembley as an example…we all knew that the ‘singing section’ had been set aside for blocks 133 and 134, so anyone who wanted to be part of the noise should buy their tickets as near to there as possible, and unsurprisingly those £125 seats in the lower sold out in minutes. Of course this meant that there was always going to be a wall of noise supporting them and the drum beat - as one of you said our drummer is very good, check out the Bournemouth version for someone who’s clueless. If you’re ever in that section at Selhurst the drumming’s hypnotic, like chilling out after clubbing.

So it’s always a constant hum, then add a few thousand like-minded in the same area and it becomes huge, best done when it’s rising and falling with what you could term the natural atmosphere in peaks, the drumming gets faster and the volume increases bringing more fans in. I know it’s not to everyone’s taste, and we have a few dissenters on our forum too. But you know as Villa know that when coupled with an occasion it can be extremely effective, and furthermore it is clearly a 12th man, I don’t know whether you noticed but at the start they set the tone with our usual goal song ‘We love you, we love you, we love you and when you play we follow, follow, follow, cos we support the Palace, Palace, Palace…’ and they just carried on. I watched the game back yesterday and they did 6 different songs in the first 18 minutes, the best ones are the more simple ones with fewer words. Then of course when we score it goes nuts. Now, recently we got spanked by you guys and Newcastle, and those games hinged on moments like a disallowed goal. On Saturday and against Villa the noise increased after a bad moment to try to pick the team up.

Anyway, with regard to balaclavas and suchlike, much of it is image related or to ensure that when letting pyro off they can’t be identified easily.

The other thing they do well is the tifos, examples being the Maxi Jazz tribute (non-exec director and lifelong fan) against Forest, and tickertape style or whatever, there have been many that you’ll find on Google. We’ve got a shitty little ground so stuff like this works really well for us, and we’re only a small club, about 30th in England on ground size.

So, to wrap up, and of course heightened by the importance of the game on Saturday to us as a club - first major trophy over and above a ZDS, and our first chance at Europe - we were always going to win the war on creating noise, it’s what we do best and what we see at Selhurst every week on a smaller scale. It doesn’t come through on the TV quite as much as they moved the microphones away from the drum as it gets in the way of the commentary. Some may think it’s ‘cringe’ but it works for us.

Good luck in your UCL quest, and not just because I don’t fancy playing you in the Europa - you and Arsenal are the two teams I hate playing against as you don’t let us have the ball. Luckily in Glasner we have a manager who is adept at working the best strategy out, which against you was to just let you have it, know exactly where to be defensively and then break at speed.

Now I’m going to go and watch some more content. This is where I was on Saturday, it was tremendous, sore throat at the end of it. Cheers all.

 

[mancityvstoke]

I think the behaviour of some United fans on Wembley Way after the semi-final in 2011 tops the lot to be fair

Getting called a manc or northern **** was hilarious.

 

[Joelsim]

And this is inside that area. Villa game.