Atmosphere at Eastlands

[Anthony_18]

A diffrent variety of music pre game and at half time wouldn't go amiss. All it seems to be is indie indie indie! Get some rock and R n B played, forget this fans playlist malarchy. I noticed for the Milan Spuds game last week, that the pre match music was so much better over there than you get at COMS.

 

[leewill31]

i wonder if anybody actually goes for the football anymore!!

 

[shawgorbie]

Its not rocket science now is it.

Whilst we were still playing at the Grand Dame of Moss Side there was one of the worlds largest standing terraces and it was typically men, and young men and mostly working class young men in there (and lets be honest many many of them were pissed up) with almost no stewarding.

It was US against THEM and US normally won out when challenged vocally.

Now you have men women and kids, loads of the middle class types who wouldn't last 2 minutes on the streets of Moss Side of old - and they are split and divided by the away fans.

They are more BLur than Oasis and guess what the atmos' is pap.

My solution, get one end full of home fans, give tickets away to kids from the local PRU's, get them pissed up and watch it rock............

Best post i've heard in a long time and oh so true.I remember the day's when it was truly enjoyable to go with my mates near the tunnel and lose my voice.

 

[dom]

My two pennorth for what it's worth.

Not particularly original but perhaps a summary of the points made so far that ring true for me:

1 the away fans issue is the single biggest problem IMHO. They are a given prime spot to be TOGETHER whilst we are split.... where's our home advantage there?. They must think it's Christmas.
This is something that the club can and must do something about.
For their own selfish reasons they must understand how impressive a mass of home support looks to others;
Better atmos can help raise players' performance
Better performance = better results
Better results = better league position
Better league position = loads more money etc etc

A great atmos is something that should draw more fans = more money
Great home end spectacle (cf liverpool etc) draws more TV attention and = higher club profile ( eg I don't know much about Marseille but I love their atmos and will watch their games where possible coz it's a buzz)

With the Twatini reforms oh turning a profit we need all income streams to be generating to maximum.


2 On atmos. Get rid of that twunt Hugh. He makes the match sound like a girls hockey game. He clearly doesn't give a shite about City and it shows in his voice at times.
He talks too much and most of it is shite.

3. That crap dirge version of Blue Moon is embarassing and does nothing to create an intimidating atmos. There must be better ones around FFS

4. We should be actively encouraging banners , singing, chanting, flags and even megaphones. The stewards and the club have got to grow up on this one.

5. Standing is and always has been a fact of football support. Seats at knee height cause constant accidents. Solution: lower tier standing. Again this will help the atmos.


But of all these I repeat the SS home end issue is the most pressing and unless the club addresses this one we'll never really get things going.

Why bother to consult fans groups who all say the same thing if you are prepared to do F all about it??????

Rant over

 

[kunaguero10]

How about letting fans drink alcohol in the seats, not just in the concourse. Would help the pre match atmosphere no doubt

 

[toddy111]

Only read the first page so i'm not sure if it's been mentioned but they should put scarfs on the seats again. That would improve atmosphere surely!?

 

[fbloke]

We are trying to revive something that has been too long dead I am afraid.

City are not alone in having a huge demographic shift in their support base which has, rightly and properly, increased the numbers of kids and ladies in the grond on match days.

It is also the more affluent who attend games with the price for a family now way more than is affordable for the majority.

For the first time in history it is far more expensive to attend a top division football match (average prices here) than got to the theatre or even the opera!

The expectations of what language is acceptable is way more restrictive for those who would have been the majority of the singers to 'do their stuff'.

And lastly I would argue that City no longer have as string an identity any where near as strong as when at Maine Road.

We are no longer the plucky underachievers, the great dreamers or the club in decline with the fans not going down easily.

City have a club badge that many (including me) dont really associate fully with their club, it doesn't represent the real City - its a fake and I wont kiss it!

The ground still doesn't feel like home and has a sterility in its DNA.

The feel club desperately wants the fans to generate that identity and will throw resource at the problem to help but it's not going to happen as long as focus groups are involved.

And incidentally every set of fans that we are wowed by have far more invested in their clubs than we City fans do.

Aris for example is a fan owned club, and so they decide what banners are draped where and what is acceptable in terms of drinking/smoking/swearing.

So there is little that can be done to suddenly 'switch on' atmosphere like the good old days other than allowing the fans to be the fans of old.

England wont ever be like that though.

 

[Soulboy]

When the new stadium operned, the very first Fans Committee meeting held I went along to and got into a lengthy disscussion with former COO Alistair Mackintosh.

The gist of my concern was that we were giving up a vital part of the stadium to the away fans, in a prime position where they could be heard and seen by their own players.

I mentioned that just about every other Premiership club had consigned the away fans to some far off distant corner in the stadium where they could barely be heard or seen.

His response was.."It's a police matter"... but was nevertheless unconvinced that this was anything more than a petty whine by moaning City fans.

Eight years later and it's still the biggest issue in terms of atmosphere within the stadium.

They can have as many fucking customer-focus group meetings they like.... but they know what needs to be done but appear unwilling to do it.

Move the away fans into the third tier, give them their own spiral to traverse through, and keep them back 5 minutes while the stadium clears.

No other Premiership club goes to the lengths we do to segregate fans after a game... have you ever come out of Old Trafford!

 

[Didsbury Dave]

We are trying to revive something that has been too long dead I am afraid.

City are not alone in having a huge demographic shift in their support base which has, rightly and properly, increased the numbers of kids and ladies in the grond on match days.

It is also the more affluent who attend games with the price for a family now way more than is affordable for the majority.

For the first time in history it is far more expensive to attend a top division football match (average prices here) than got to the theatre or even the opera!

The expectations of what language is acceptable is way more restrictive for those who would have been the majority of the singers to 'do their stuff'.

And lastly I would argue that City no longer have as string an identity any where near as strong as when at Maine Road.

We are no longer the plucky underachievers, the great dreamers or the club in decline with the fans not going down easily.

City have a club badge that many (including me) dont really associate fully with their club, it doesn't represent the real City - its a fake and I wont kiss it!

The ground still doesn't feel like home and has a sterility in its DNA.

The feel club desperately wants the fans to generate that identity and will throw resource at the problem to help but it's not going to happen as long as focus groups are involved.

And incidentally every set of fans that we are wowed by have far more invested in their clubs than we City fans do.

Aris for example is a fan owned club, and so they decide what banners are draped where and what is acceptable in terms of drinking/smoking/swearing.

So there is little that can be done to suddenly 'switch on' atmosphere like the good old days other than allowing the fans to be the fans of old.

England wont ever be like that though.

There's some truth in what you are saying fbloke but I'd argue that the lions share of supporters in COMS are working class men. There were definitely more kids back in the 70s and 80s too, who just turned up in a gang.

I think the problem is big matches, where the singing falls largely flat after 15 minutes. the key here is getting the whole stadium singing. It hardly happens because the singers are split and the rest of the stadium have no leader.

 

[fbloke]

We are trying to revive something that has been too long dead I am afraid.

City are not alone in having a huge demographic shift in their support base which has, rightly and properly, increased the numbers of kids and ladies in the grond on match days.

It is also the more affluent who attend games with the price for a family now way more than is affordable for the majority.

For the first time in history it is far more expensive to attend a top division football match (average prices here) than got to the theatre or even the opera!

The expectations of what language is acceptable is way more restrictive for those who would have been the majority of the singers to 'do their stuff'.

And lastly I would argue that City no longer have as string an identity any where near as strong as when at Maine Road.

We are no longer the plucky underachievers, the great dreamers or the club in decline with the fans not going down easily.

City have a club badge that many (including me) dont really associate fully with their club, it doesn't represent the real City - its a fake and I wont kiss it!

The ground still doesn't feel like home and has a sterility in its DNA.

The feel club desperately wants the fans to generate that identity and will throw resource at the problem to help but it's not going to happen as long as focus groups are involved.

And incidentally every set of fans that we are wowed by have far more invested in their clubs than we City fans do.

Aris for example is a fan owned club, and so they decide what banners are draped where and what is acceptable in terms of drinking/smoking/swearing.

So there is little that can be done to suddenly 'switch on' atmosphere like the good old days other than allowing the fans to be the fans of old.

England wont ever be like that though.

There's some truth in what you are saying fbloke but I'd argue that the lions share of supporters in COMS are working class men. There were definitely more kids back in the 70s and 80s too, who just turned up in a gang.

I think the problem is big matches, where the singing falls largely flat after 15 minutes. the key here is getting the whole stadium singing. It hardly happens because the singers are split and the rest of the stadium have no leader.

But the idea of what working class is has changed completely as well.

Without getting into a debate on social demographics/the expansion of the middle class etc I would say that what we look back on in terms of the supporter base even 10 years ago has now been lost.

The kids are no longer in gangs for example they are with parents and sat down, attended to.

Many blokes who would have gone with mates now go with their ladies, and behave differently.

Those who drink and are merry are stuck in little islands surrounded by those of a different ilk and that brings the stewards into play.

Could you ever imagine a situation of a steward asking one of the top left Kippax regulars to leave the ground because of bad language?

And in reality the control that the police now have over 'safety' means that the club, even if it wanted to, could not allow a real singing section as we knew it.