Atmosphere Thread | 2025/26

[East Level 2]

Was thinking the same made, wonder if the club have actually taken steps to limit away fans in the home end, as there were very few tonight or v. Napoli. I guess we’ll find out for sure v. Galatasaray!

Loads of tourists where I sit, hardly recognised anybody as the ST holders have given the CL a swerve.
Half 'n' half wankers were all over the place, but most seemed to be Blues rather than undercover Dortmund fans. It's clear a huge proportion of our fanbase has fallen out with European football and it can't all be UEFA's fault.

 

[.db.]

Do you honestly think NSL2 is going to be any different or better than South stand, Level 1?

It isn't.

It's not about 3000 safe standing seats, it's about like minded fans and singers getting together in large enough numbers to make a difference to the atmosphere inside the Etihad

The safe standing section on NSL2 will just be like the safe standing section on SSL1 filled with fans who want to sing and want to create an atmosphere, fans who will join in with the singing every now and again, and fans who have no or little interest in singing. On top of that, unlike SSL1, there will be GA and GA+ seating in front and to the sides of the safe standing sections, alongside hotel balconies at the back of the safe standing singing section. The fan makeup on NSL1 will be general fans, football tourists, day trippers, people staying at the hotel taking the match in as a weekend trip to MCR, hospitality, etc.

Yes, there will be singing and support on NSL2, but it will be exactly like SSL1, sporadic, not continuous.

Last night

I've read elsewhere that the singers who were standing at the front of SSL2 last night were told to sit down by the fans who were sat down behind them.

Not my picture.

SSL0 isn’t filled with fans who want to sing and want to create an atmosphere. There are certainly chunks of dedicated fans there who definitely do, but there are loads of fans in SSL0 who aren’t singing section style fans who rarely sing but just like to stand up or have tickets there because they like the bar in the concourse. There are loads of fans in SSL0 who aren’t singing section style fans as they don’t fill up the stand before kick off to create an atmosphere pre-game, leave early before half time, come back late for the second half and leave the end of the game early so don’t interact with the players or sing in appreciation to the players doing their lap of honour.

SSL0 is in a poor place in the stadium to have the singing section because it is a shallow section that is spread long rather than deep so fans in 018 can’t hear what is being sung in 015. Singers in SSL0 are in little pockets (those next to the away fans in 014, a group at the back of 015, middle of 015, middle of 016, back of 017, back of 019), with a lot of those across the rest of the stand who don’t sing. SSL0 is trapped between the away fans to one side, the quiestest stand in the ground to the other, a hospitality section above them and a little overhang that traps singing from the back rows at the back. This isolation stops the spread of songs around the stadium, often due to not quite being able to hear what song is breaking out because not many fans are singing at once or more than one is breaking out at the same time from 015 and 018, or because the isolation means there is no natural spread from that section around the rest of the ground.

SSL0 is in a poor place in the stadium to have the singing section because cannot compete with a set of away fans like Dortmund last night, so the rest of the stadium loses its leading voice. It becomes like going to a gig where the lead singer hasn’t got a microphone. And for domestic Cup games, it is swamped and completely overwhelmed by between 6-8,000 away fans who take over the stand.
Even if City fans in SSL0 have got a good chant going en mass, if 010+011 are also singing, SSL2 are also singing and the away fans are also singing (even then their away section in SSL0 can be singing a different song to their away section in SSL2), it just becomes an absolute mess of noise at that end where there could be five different chants being sung at once. The rest of the ground can’t join in with anything. On Sunday from my seat in ESL1, it’s guaranteed that at a few points in the game, I’ll hear something like ‘we never win at, fields of Anfield Road, we’re not really hear, oh I am a Liverpudlian, we’re Man City and we won the treble’ all being sung at the same time.

SSL0 is in a poor place in the stadium to have the singing section because each of the three tiers are small, it segregates the noise and the amount of people who sing at once is fragmented. And SSL0 is almost open air with the roof being far up in the air above the section, so noise is lost.

It’s just not designed to be the atmosphere end.

Also, low down in SSL0, the view of the pitch and the game is shit which has stopped many singers from ever moving over there. Due to that and all of the above, it’s just never been worth being part of for many singers around the stadium.

I was one of the people (you can’t quite see me, you can just see my hand on the furthest flag pole) in that picture you posted there waving a flag. I had a relocated for last night to seat on the front row of SSL2. I did sit down throughout the game because regulars behind me were sat down, but I joined in with every song that got going. But that was difficult last night due to the incessant noice from the Dortmund fans and the awful twatting of that drum meaning we couldn’t ever get a rhythm going with our songs over it.

In the new expanded NSL1, it would all be very different. Yes, the club have made it all a bit generic, there’s a bit of everything including a GA+ section and there will be tourists. I am as pissed off as anyone that the club aren’t actively pushing for this to a fully dedicated atmosphere stand themselves. The idea of the expansion at that end has come from years of fans asking for it to create a proper atmosphere end.
However, compared to the overall size of the huge stand, the GA+ area is a completely insignificant few rows. It’s not like the section bang in the middle of the South Stand which takes up a whole section from front to back of Level 1. And there are tourists in the South Stand now, it’s not like there are none.

But in the new expanded NSL1, there will be a huge mass of fans in one huge tier. The huge roof overhead will make songs that break out be easier to hear across the tier, the deepness of the stand will make songs that break out easier to hear across the tier, the large standing section will amplify singing down and across through the tier, being at the opposite end to away fans will make songs that break out be easier to hear across the tier with no dilution from away singing… and all of those things will make songs that get going in that tier easier for the rest of the ground to join in with because they’ll be more audible.

The club have said they are willing expand the safe standing section if demand is there. They have said they want 1894 to be ‘anchor tenants’ of the new tier. There won’t be long standing ST holders who are all used to sitting down up there because it will all be new, if people stand up we could create a culture of it being a standing tier. Even if it causes a few arguments early doors, at least the club will know there’s demand for expanding the standing sections. It’s the first time we’ll have had a tier that big since 1994 and is probably the ultimate chance we’ll ever have of getting a proper atmosphere stand at the Etihad Stadium.

Even if the new expanded NSL1 didn’t end up being perfect, even if there are things that would be annoying, there wouldn’t be anywhere near as many negatives over there than the South Stand has.

The South Stand has run its course.

 

[bobbyowenquiff]

Yes the German fans spent more time focusing on wether they are jumping, scarf waving or clapping in sync than whatever was going on the pitch - but they did make a big noise and I’m sure their players noticed it.

That Yellow Wall I saw went we played them away is something to behold - whatever you think about the orchestration of it all (which is a little strange in my book):

But we were utterly shite. I know - the traffic, the cost of being in all three cup schemes, the tourists (though I agree with others that there are less - and away too), the acoustics, the south stand being split, the singing ‘section’ moving all over the place, etc, etc, etc….

But we have to do better - seriously - I am the only ‘singer’ at the front of CBL3 and have been since I took my seat the day the Etihad opened. I know we are the FOC section - but most don’t even bother to get up when we score.

I have surrendered to the silence now, and as I sit with some folks who sat with me from Maine Road days - I’m not going to move - and I also love the view - almost dead in the halfway line.

So the only games I really look forward to these days are away games - although even then, at Monaco we couldn’t get a single chant/song going.

I am also sure the fucking stupid laser light show for the tourists doesn't help…right that’s enough grumpiness for one night (after all we did win!!)

The match was great. The atmosphere was normal for a group game. We will all be rocking on Sunday. I think the Dortmund support was so orchestrated and plastic it did nothing for their players at all. They hardly cheered when they scored. They just clapped in unison on the orders of a fool with a drum. Terrible compared to the passion of Spanish, Italian, or Greek fans.

 

[bobbyowenquiff]

I’ve always thought that the large number of fans who leave the first half early and come back to the second half late is a culture within our support that has hungover and sustained from when we were shit. Where each match isn’t really that important unless it’s the Derby or a game near the end of the season where we need a win to stay up. The game was often bobbins so it didn’t matter if they missed 10mins either side of HT, the half time beers were more important.

When we played Liverpool in the 2016 EFL Cup final, loads of our fans missed Fernandinho putting us 1-0 up on 49mins and a few around me who came back a few minutes later didn't know we’d scored and only realised when they randomly looked at the scoreboard on about 55mins.
You watch the Scouse cunts on Sunday, I always notice that they’re all back in their seats and singing for the start of the second half. One year they caught us cold and Mane scored in the first minute of the second half, with loads of our fans not seeing it.

Also, I always think that leaving early en mass at the end of the game like we do is what a support does when it’s disgusted with the team’s performance and they’re showing their disdain for the team. Another culture within our support where I bet half those who leave early just do it out of habit.

After the two late goals against Burnley, I reckoned up how many goals those who leave on 80minutes every week have missed since the takeover in 2008… add that to the two we’ve scored after 80mins since, and they’ve missed a staggering 348 City goals!

City fans have always done it since the 1960s, especially at Maine Road. We are a bloody-minded lot and always have been. I think laps of honour should be reserved for when you have won a trophy. I stay to the end but leave on the whistle. It’s a free country.

 

[its a Barm]

Loads of tourists where I sit, hardly recognised anybody as the ST holders have given the CL a swerve.
Half 'n' half wankers were all over the place, but most seemed to be Blues rather than undercover Dortmund fans. It's clear a huge proportion of our fanbase has fallen out with European football and it can't all be UEFA's fault.

It's the cost for me.

 

[uwerosler28]

The snobbish attitude to the "type" of noise the away fans created is one of the reasons we wont ever see progress for a decent home atmosphere. Every time we play anyone in Europe with this type of fans base we are complete drowned out and go back to the argument that its a non reactive support and we are too good to adopt that we must only make noise when reacting to what happens on the pitch. Even Palace with their ultras "lite" completely owned us at Wembley. Ironically when the north stand was commissioned the fans called for a " blue wall" , which team and which fans do you think this idea was based on ?, the "yellow wall" the very fans we are criticising last night create at every one of their home games. We cant continue to dismiss the impact actually coordinating an atmosphere can have whilst simultaneously sitting in a silent stadium turning our noses up to those who adopt it.

 

[shemnel]

The snobbish attitude to the "type" of noise the away fans created is one of the reasons we wont ever see progress for a decent home atmosphere. Every time we play anyone in Europe with this type of fans base we are complete drowned out and go back to the argument that its a non reactive support and we are too good to adopt that we must only make noise when reacting to what happens on the pitch. Even Palace with their ultras "lite" completely owned us at Wembley. Ironically when the north stand was commissioned the fans called for a " blue wall" , which team and which fans do you think this idea was based on ?, the "yellow wall" the very fans we are criticising last night create at every one of their home games. We cant continue to dismiss the impact actually coordinating an atmosphere can have whilst simultaneously sitting in a silent stadium turning our noses up to those who adopt it.

i really do agree with this answer, but to a point.

There has to be some comment about the detached nature of constant drumming, any support that doesn't react to a goal is quite odd. That is why i much prefer the Italian and Greek support, it's passionate and verging on hysterical at times, and they definitely react to what's going on as well as big long chants etc.

But the snobbishness of some of our fans about english atmospheres is well out of date. The PL is generally crap and very few seem willing to do anything about it.

 

[Centurions]

The snobbish attitude to the "type" of noise the away fans created is one of the reasons we wont ever see progress for a decent home atmosphere. Every time we play anyone in Europe with this type of fans base we are complete drowned out and go back to the argument that its a non reactive support and we are too good to adopt that we must only make noise when reacting to what happens on the pitch. Even Palace with their ultras "lite" completely owned us at Wembley. Ironically when the north stand was commissioned the fans called for a " blue wall" , which team and which fans do you think this idea was based on ?, the "yellow wall" the very fans we are criticising last night create at every one of their home games. We cant continue to dismiss the impact actually coordinating an atmosphere can have whilst simultaneously sitting in a silent stadium turning our noses up to those who adopt it.

It's a culture thing and if they're happy, I'm happy for them. What may make a difference is if all of the singers migrate to the upper level south stand. The much better acoustics with a large body of singing fans with it being picked up around the ground will make their drumming irrelevant.

 

[Didsbury Dave]

As much as I agree with many on here saying it's like white noise and almost detached from the game (not reacting to a goal is weird, i agree), if the away fans out-sing the home fans and make the home fans eventually just give in, then that is a big win for their fans. I know on the pitch they still lost.

I dont know what the answer is but surely there was enough good footy on the pitch for us lot to get behind last night? it wasnt like a 6-0 stroll that folks claim is bad for atmosphere too....

Many on here love 10 minute long chants like 'Follow you everywhere' and other ones, but rail against the noise some european visitors make, bit hypocritical. We've got to make more noise, collectively.

The answer is staring us in the face, every single game,

 

[bobbyowenquiff]

The snobbish attitude to the "type" of noise the away fans created is one of the reasons we wont ever see progress for a decent home atmosphere. Every time we play anyone in Europe with this type of fans base we are complete drowned out and go back to the argument that its a non reactive support and we are too good to adopt that we must only make noise when reacting to what happens on the pitch. Even Palace with their ultras "lite" completely owned us at Wembley. Ironically when the north stand was commissioned the fans called for a " blue wall" , which team and which fans do you think this idea was based on ?, the "yellow wall" the very fans we are criticising last night create at every one of their home games. We cant continue to dismiss the impact actually coordinating an atmosphere can have whilst simultaneously sitting in a silent stadium turning our noses up to those who adopt it.

The Palace fans were great at Wembley as they won their first ever trophy. But Selhurst Park is totally over-hyped. Their Ultras section is nothing to write home about but not as bad as the bearded posh boys in black shirts at Arsenal. The Arsenal ultras are the saddest sight in football. Give me Aris Salonica or Poznan any time.

 

[supercity88]

Do you honestly think NSL2 is going to be any different or better than South stand, Level 1?

It isn't.

It's not about 3000 safe standing seats, it's about like minded fans and singers getting together in large enough numbers to make a difference to the atmosphere inside the Etihad

The safe standing section on NSL2 will just be like the safe standing section on SSL1 filled with fans who want to sing and want to create an atmosphere, fans who will join in with the singing every now and again, and fans who have no or little interest in singing. On top of that, unlike SSL1, there will be GA and GA+ seating in front and to the sides of the safe standing sections, alongside hotel balconies at the back of the safe standing singing section. The fan makeup on NSL1 will be general fans, football tourists, day trippers, people staying at the hotel taking the match in as a weekend trip to MCR, hospitality, etc.

Yes, there will be singing and support on NSL2, but it will be exactly like SSL1, sporadic, not continuous.

Last night

I've read elsewhere that the singers who were standing at the front of SSL2 last night were told to sit down by the fans who were sat down behind them.

Not my picture.

I still think the NS is a chance to seize the opportunity. Don't worry about some of the negatives, the club have said they'd add more safe standing. Go there in numbers and it doesn't matter if there's GA+ in there you'll have 6,000 like minded fans making a racket. Maybe the club then re-think the GA+ or put it elsewhere - who knows. But if 3,000 blues can go and make a racket at away games, then 4-6,000 in the NS can orchestrate the whole ground without a problem.

There are still much fewer negatives to the North Stand than exist at the moment.

I appreciate 1894's position because of the NDA and feeling the club aren't being open and honest with their intentions. It also, ultimately is down to pricing. That makes or breaks it. Incentivise it as a singing section with cheaper tickets and it will take off. It needs to.

But we shouldn't let this perception that a thousand GA+ seats in a stand holding what 12,000 people will stop it from being the best place for a home end in my opinion. It's the typical mentality we see with City where we seemingly would prefer to moan about existing issues than make a true effort to make things work. If we want the atmosphere to improve the opportunity is there.

 

[pride in battle]

I’ve always thought that the large number of fans who leave the first half early and come back to the second half late is a culture within our support that has hungover and sustained from when we were shit. Where each match isn’t really that important unless it’s the Derby or a game near the end of the season where we need a win to stay up. The game was often bobbins so it didn’t matter if they missed 10mins either side of HT, the half time beers were more important.

When we played Liverpool in the 2016 EFL Cup final, loads of our fans missed Fernandinho putting us 1-0 up on 49mins and a few around me who came back a few minutes later didn't know we’d scored and only realised when they randomly looked at the scoreboard on about 55mins.
You watch the Scouse cunts on Sunday, I always notice that they’re all back in their seats and singing for the start of the second half. One year they caught us cold and Mane scored in the first minute of the second half, with loads of our fans not seeing it.

Also, I always think that leaving early en mass at the end of the game like we do is what a support does when it’s disgusted with the team’s performance and they’re showing their disdain for the team. Another culture within our support where I bet half those who leave early just do it out of habit.

After the two late goals against Burnley, I reckoned up how many goals those who leave on 80minutes every week have missed since the takeover in 2008… add that to the two we’ve scored after 80mins since, and they’ve missed a staggering 348 City goals!

Good! Part time *****

 

[pride in battle]

I still think the NS is a chance to seize the opportunity. Don't worry about some of the negatives, the club have said they'd add more safe standing. Go there in numbers and it doesn't matter if there's GA+ in there you'll have 6,000 like minded fans making a racket. Maybe the club then re-think the GA+ or put it elsewhere - who knows. But if 3,000 blues can go and make a racket at away games, then 4-6,000 in the NS can orchestrate the whole ground without a problem.

There are still much fewer negatives to the North Stand than exist at the moment.

I appreciate 1894's position because of the NDA and feeling the club aren't being open and honest with their intentions. It also, ultimately is down to pricing. That makes or breaks it. Incentivise it as a singing section with cheaper tickets and it will take off. It needs to.

But we shouldn't let this perception that a thousand GA+ seats in a stand holding what 12,000 people will stop it from being the best place for a home end in my opinion. It's the typical mentality we see with City where we seemingly would prefer to moan about existing issues than make a true effort to make things work. If we want the atmosphere to improve the opportunity is there.

As fans we can't half fucking moan, only City fans could turn the new north stand into a negative, embarassing.

 

[TueartsCossackSpray]

I‘m from Germany, and I don't like the german fan culture. The reason is that it's not related to the game itself. In England, the atmosphere depends on the moment in the game, which I like much more, but of course that's a matter of taste.

I think they didn‘t even celebrate their goal? Singing all time, but don‘t watching the match? I like more emotions, they are better in england, i prefer it.

I think mainland Europe fans are very subservient to a bloke facing them with telling them exactly what to do and when to do it. It’s a bit like Black Lace songs! They have to all have the same scarf and woe be tired if someone puts the wrong colour top on. Saying that it’s no worse than a load of wet weekends just standing there in “the singing section”creating no atmosphere whatsoever and it gets worse year on year.

 

[pride in battle]

SSL0 isn’t filled with fans who want to sing and want to create an atmosphere. There are certainly chunks of dedicated fans there who definitely do, but there are loads of fans in SSL0 who aren’t singing section style fans who rarely sing but just like to stand up or have tickets there because they like the bar in the concourse. There are loads of fans in SSL0 who aren’t singing section style fans as they don’t fill up the stand before kick off to create an atmosphere pre-game, leave early before half time, come back late for the second half and leave the end of the game early so don’t interact with the players or sing in appreciation to the players doing their lap of honour.

SSL0 is in a poor place in the stadium to have the singing section because it is a shallow section that is spread long rather than deep so fans in 018 can’t hear what is being sung in 015. Singers in SSL0 are in little pockets (those next to the away fans in 014, a group at the back of 015, middle of 015, middle of 016, back of 017, back of 019), with a lot of those across the rest of the stand who don’t sing. SSL0 is trapped between the away fans to one side, the quiestest stand in the ground to the other, a hospitality section above them and a little overhang that traps singing from the back rows at the back. This isolation stops the spread of songs around the stadium, often due to not quite being able to hear what song is breaking out because not many fans are singing at once or more than one is breaking out at the same time from 015 and 018, or because the isolation means there is no natural spread from that section around the rest of the ground.

SSL0 is in a poor place in the stadium to have the singing section because cannot compete with a set of away fans like Dortmund last night, so the rest of the stadium loses its leading voice. It becomes like going to a gig where the lead singer hasn’t got a microphone. And for domestic Cup games, it is swamped and completely overwhelmed by between 6-8,000 away fans who take over the stand.
Even if City fans in SSL0 have got a good chant going en mass, if 010+011 are also singing, SSL2 are also singing and the away fans are also singing (even then their away section in SSL0 can be singing a different song to their away section in SSL2), it just becomes an absolute mess of noise at that end where there could be five different chants being sung at once. The rest of the ground can’t join in with anything. On Sunday from my seat in ESL1, it’s guaranteed that at a few points in the game, I’ll hear something like ‘we never win at, fields of Anfield Road, we’re not really hear, oh I am a Liverpudlian, we’re Man City and we won the treble’ all being sung at the same time.

SSL0 is in a poor place in the stadium to have the singing section because each of the three tiers are small, it segregates the noise and the amount of people who sing at once is fragmented. And SSL0 is almost open air with the roof being far up in the air above the section, so noise is lost.

It’s just not designed to be the atmosphere end.

Also, low down in SSL0, the view of the pitch and the game is shit which has stopped many singers from ever moving over there. Due to that and all of the above, it’s just never been worth being part of for many singers around the stadium.

I was one of the people (you can’t quite see me, you can just see my hand on the furthest flag pole) in that picture you posted there waving a flag. I had a relocated for last night to seat on the front row of SSL2. I did sit down throughout the game because regulars behind me were sat down, but I joined in with every song that got going. But that was difficult last night due to the incessant noice from the Dortmund fans and the awful twatting of that drum meaning we couldn’t ever get a rhythm going with our songs over it.

In the new expanded NSL1, it would all be very different. Yes, the club have made it all a bit generic, there’s a bit of everything including a GA+ section and there will be tourists. I am as pissed off as anyone that the club aren’t actively pushing for this to a fully dedicated atmosphere stand themselves. The idea of the expansion at that end has come from years of fans asking for it to create a proper atmosphere end.
However, compared to the overall size of the huge stand, the GA+ area is a completely insignificant few rows. It’s not like the section bang in the middle of the South Stand which takes up a whole section from front to back of Level 1. And there are tourists in the South Stand now, it’s not like there are none.

But in the new expanded NSL1, there will be a huge mass of fans in one huge tier. The huge roof overhead will make songs that break out be easier to hear across the tier, the deepness of the stand will make songs that break out easier to hear across the tier, the large standing section will amplify singing down and across through the tier, being at the opposite end to away fans will make songs that break out be easier to hear across the tier with no dilution from away singing… and all of those things will make songs that get going in that tier easier for the rest of the ground to join in with because they’ll be more audible.

The club have said they are willing expand the safe standing section if demand is there. They have said they want 1894 to be ‘anchor tenants’ of the new tier. There won’t be long standing ST holders who are all used to sitting down up there because it will all be new, if people stand up we could create a culture of it being a standing tier. Even if it causes a few arguments early doors, at least the club will know there’s demand for expanding the standing sections. It’s the first time we’ll have had a tier that big since 1994 and is probably the ultimate chance we’ll ever have of getting a proper atmosphere stand at the Etihad Stadium.

Even if the new expanded NSL1 didn’t end up being perfect, even if there are things that would be annoying, there wouldn’t be anywhere near as many negatives over there than the South Stand has.

The South Stand has run its course.

Wow, fantastic post, but wait for the barage of criticism...
The singers should just relocate there for the ONE reason, cup games ! 6000 away fans in SS3, the rest of the south stand can't compete with that and singers in SS3 have to relocate.
WE HAVE NO HOME END !
We as a fan base need an end, a KIPPAX or whatever you want to call it and this is the last chance.

 

[EastMidlandsBlue]

SSL0 isn’t filled with fans who want to sing and want to create an atmosphere. There are certainly chunks of dedicated fans there who definitely do, but there are loads of fans in SSL0 who aren’t singing section style fans who rarely sing but just like to stand up or have tickets there because they like the bar in the concourse. There are loads of fans in SSL0 who aren’t singing section style fans as they don’t fill up the stand before kick off to create an atmosphere pre-game, leave early before half time, come back late for the second half and leave the end of the game early so don’t interact with the players or sing in appreciation to the players doing their lap of honour.

SSL0 is in a poor place in the stadium to have the singing section because it is a shallow section that is spread long rather than deep so fans in 018 can’t hear what is being sung in 015. Singers in SSL0 are in little pockets (those next to the away fans in 014, a group at the back of 015, middle of 015, middle of 016, back of 017, back of 019), with a lot of those across the rest of the stand who don’t sing. SSL0 is trapped between the away fans to one side, the quiestest stand in the ground to the other, a hospitality section above them and a little overhang that traps singing from the back rows at the back. This isolation stops the spread of songs around the stadium, often due to not quite being able to hear what song is breaking out because not many fans are singing at once or more than one is breaking out at the same time from 015 and 018, or because the isolation means there is no natural spread from that section around the rest of the ground.

SSL0 is in a poor place in the stadium to have the singing section because cannot compete with a set of away fans like Dortmund last night, so the rest of the stadium loses its leading voice. It becomes like going to a gig where the lead singer hasn’t got a microphone. And for domestic Cup games, it is swamped and completely overwhelmed by between 6-8,000 away fans who take over the stand.
Even if City fans in SSL0 have got a good chant going en mass, if 010+011 are also singing, SSL2 are also singing and the away fans are also singing (even then their away section in SSL0 can be singing a different song to their away section in SSL2), it just becomes an absolute mess of noise at that end where there could be five different chants being sung at once. The rest of the ground can’t join in with anything. On Sunday from my seat in ESL1, it’s guaranteed that at a few points in the game, I’ll hear something like ‘we never win at, fields of Anfield Road, we’re not really hear, oh I am a Liverpudlian, we’re Man City and we won the treble’ all being sung at the same time.

SSL0 is in a poor place in the stadium to have the singing section because each of the three tiers are small, it segregates the noise and the amount of people who sing at once is fragmented. And SSL0 is almost open air with the roof being far up in the air above the section, so noise is lost.

It’s just not designed to be the atmosphere end.

Also, low down in SSL0, the view of the pitch and the game is shit which has stopped many singers from ever moving over there. Due to that and all of the above, it’s just never been worth being part of for many singers around the stadium.

I was one of the people (you can’t quite see me, you can just see my hand on the furthest flag pole) in that picture you posted there waving a flag. I had a relocated for last night to seat on the front row of SSL2. I did sit down throughout the game because regulars behind me were sat down, but I joined in with every song that got going. But that was difficult last night due to the incessant noice from the Dortmund fans and the awful twatting of that drum meaning we couldn’t ever get a rhythm going with our songs over it.

In the new expanded NSL1, it would all be very different. Yes, the club have made it all a bit generic, there’s a bit of everything including a GA+ section and there will be tourists. I am as pissed off as anyone that the club aren’t actively pushing for this to a fully dedicated atmosphere stand themselves. The idea of the expansion at that end has come from years of fans asking for it to create a proper atmosphere end.
However, compared to the overall size of the huge stand, the GA+ area is a completely insignificant few rows. It’s not like the section bang in the middle of the South Stand which takes up a whole section from front to back of Level 1. And there are tourists in the South Stand now, it’s not like there are none.

But in the new expanded NSL1, there will be a huge mass of fans in one huge tier. The huge roof overhead will make songs that break out be easier to hear across the tier, the deepness of the stand will make songs that break out easier to hear across the tier, the large standing section will amplify singing down and across through the tier, being at the opposite end to away fans will make songs that break out be easier to hear across the tier with no dilution from away singing… and all of those things will make songs that get going in that tier easier for the rest of the ground to join in with because they’ll be more audible.

The club have said they are willing expand the safe standing section if demand is there. They have said they want 1894 to be ‘anchor tenants’ of the new tier. There won’t be long standing ST holders who are all used to sitting down up there because it will all be new, if people stand up we could create a culture of it being a standing tier. Even if it causes a few arguments early doors, at least the club will know there’s demand for expanding the standing sections. It’s the first time we’ll have had a tier that big since 1994 and is probably the ultimate chance we’ll ever have of getting a proper atmosphere stand at the Etihad Stadium.

Even if the new expanded NSL1 didn’t end up being perfect, even if there are things that would be annoying, there wouldn’t be anywhere near as many negatives over there than the South Stand has.

The South Stand has run its course.

Hats off to you my friend.

You've perfectly summed up the problems with out current 'singing' section and why it's crucial that we make this new end count

 

[jrb]

SSL0 isn’t filled with fans who want to sing and want to create an atmosphere. There are certainly chunks of dedicated fans there who definitely do, but there are loads of fans in SSL0 who aren’t singing section style fans who rarely sing but just like to stand up or have tickets there because they like the bar in the concourse. There are loads of fans in SSL0 who aren’t singing section style fans as they don’t fill up the stand before kick off to create an atmosphere pre-game, leave early before half time, come back late for the second half and leave the end of the game early so don’t interact with the players or sing in appreciation to the players doing their lap of honour.

SSL0 is in a poor place in the stadium to have the singing section because it is a shallow section that is spread long rather than deep so fans in 018 can’t hear what is being sung in 015. Singers in SSL0 are in little pockets (those next to the away fans in 014, a group at the back of 015, middle of 015, middle of 016, back of 017, back of 019), with a lot of those across the rest of the stand who don’t sing. SSL0 is trapped between the away fans to one side, the quiestest stand in the ground to the other, a hospitality section above them and a little overhang that traps singing from the back rows at the back. This isolation stops the spread of songs around the stadium, often due to not quite being able to hear what song is breaking out because not many fans are singing at once or more than one is breaking out at the same time from 015 and 018, or because the isolation means there is no natural spread from that section around the rest of the ground.

SSL0 is in a poor place in the stadium to have the singing section because cannot compete with a set of away fans like Dortmund last night, so the rest of the stadium loses its leading voice. It becomes like going to a gig where the lead singer hasn’t got a microphone. And for domestic Cup games, it is swamped and completely overwhelmed by between 6-8,000 away fans who take over the stand.
Even if City fans in SSL0 have got a good chant going en mass, if 010+011 are also singing, SSL2 are also singing and the away fans are also singing (even then their away section in SSL0 can be singing a different song to their away section in SSL2), it just becomes an absolute mess of noise at that end where there could be five different chants being sung at once. The rest of the ground can’t join in with anything. On Sunday from my seat in ESL1, it’s guaranteed that at a few points in the game, I’ll hear something like ‘we never win at, fields of Anfield Road, we’re not really hear, oh I am a Liverpudlian, we’re Man City and we won the treble’ all being sung at the same time.

SSL0 is in a poor place in the stadium to have the singing section because each of the three tiers are small, it segregates the noise and the amount of people who sing at once is fragmented. And SSL0 is almost open air with the roof being far up in the air above the section, so noise is lost.

It’s just not designed to be the atmosphere end.

Also, low down in SSL0, the view of the pitch and the game is shit which has stopped many singers from ever moving over there. Due to that and all of the above, it’s just never been worth being part of for many singers around the stadium.

I was one of the people (you can’t quite see me, you can just see my hand on the furthest flag pole) in that picture you posted there waving a flag. I had a relocated for last night to seat on the front row of SSL2. I did sit down throughout the game because regulars behind me were sat down, but I joined in with every song that got going. But that was difficult last night due to the incessant noice from the Dortmund fans and the awful twatting of that drum meaning we couldn’t ever get a rhythm going with our songs over it.

In the new expanded NSL1, it would all be very different. Yes, the club have made it all a bit generic, there’s a bit of everything including a GA+ section and there will be tourists. I am as pissed off as anyone that the club aren’t actively pushing for this to a fully dedicated atmosphere stand themselves. The idea of the expansion at that end has come from years of fans asking for it to create a proper atmosphere end.
However, compared to the overall size of the huge stand, the GA+ area is a completely insignificant few rows. It’s not like the section bang in the middle of the South Stand which takes up a whole section from front to back of Level 1. And there are tourists in the South Stand now, it’s not like there are none.

But in the new expanded NSL1, there will be a huge mass of fans in one huge tier. The huge roof overhead will make songs that break out be easier to hear across the tier, the deepness of the stand will make songs that break out easier to hear across the tier, the large standing section will amplify singing down and across through the tier, being at the opposite end to away fans will make songs that break out be easier to hear across the tier with no dilution from away singing… and all of those things will make songs that get going in that tier easier for the rest of the ground to join in with because they’ll be more audible.

The club have said they are willing expand the safe standing section if demand is there. They have said they want 1894 to be ‘anchor tenants’ of the new tier. There won’t be long standing ST holders who are all used to sitting down up there because it will all be new, if people stand up we could create a culture of it being a standing tier. Even if it causes a few arguments early doors, at least the club will know there’s demand for expanding the standing sections. It’s the first time we’ll have had a tier that big since 1994 and is probably the ultimate chance we’ll ever have of getting a proper atmosphere stand at the Etihad Stadium.

Even if the new expanded NSL1 didn’t end up being perfect, even if there are things that would be annoying, there wouldn’t be anywhere near as many negatives over there than the South Stand has.

The South Stand has run its course.

That's exactly the point I'm making about SSL1.

NSL2 will be exactly the same.

NSL2 Will be a home end in all but name. It won't be any different to SSL1. It certainly won't be better or more vocal than SSL1.(in my opinion)

What the majority of fans wanted and hoped for was a more vocal and atmospheric NSL2 home end. It isn't going to be that.

Just to clarify. Block 115 was the first official singing block with fans given the choice to relocate into it from other parts of the ground by the club to make a more vocal and atmospheric SSL1.

I'm in work ATM on my break, so I haven't got time to reply to all of your post ATM.

 

[Mcfc_Tom]

I always wonder what the European away fans think when they come to city. They must be baffled by how bad the atmosphere is. I reckon if you asked them to rate worst atmospheres in Europe away days, we must be the top of the list. Last night was woeful but expected nothing less. Imagine coming from the yellow wall to that last night…

I actually hate going champions league games at home, more from embarrassment on atmosphere than anything else, it’s so bad.

Leverkusen is going to be a chore, will be more cheer in a graveyard.

 

[jrb]

I still think the NS is a chance to seize the opportunity. Don't worry about some of the negatives, the club have said they'd add more safe standing. Go there in numbers and it doesn't matter if there's GA+ in there you'll have 6,000 like minded fans making a racket. Maybe the club then re-think the GA+ or put it elsewhere - who knows. But if 3,000 blues can go and make a racket at away games, then 4-6,000 in the NS can orchestrate the whole ground without a problem.

There are still much fewer negatives to the North Stand than exist at the moment.

I appreciate 1894's position because of the NDA and feeling the club aren't being open and honest with their intentions. It also, ultimately is down to pricing. That makes or breaks it. Incentivise it as a singing section with cheaper tickets and it will take off. It needs to.

But we shouldn't let this perception that a thousand GA+ seats in a stand holding what 12,000 people will stop it from being the best place for a home end in my opinion. It's the typical mentality we see with City where we seemingly would prefer to moan about existing issues than make a true effort to make things work. If we want the atmosphere to improve the opportunity is there.

It's not negatives. It's opinions. NSL2 will work or it won't work. NSL2 will create noise and an atmosphere, but not to the extent that people wanted and hoped for. And yes, I could be completely wrong about that. Hopefully I am. I don't mind being proven wrong. Certainly about the new NSL2.

 

[Uppermilloldie]

City fans have always done it since the 1960s, especially at Maine Road. We are a bloody-minded lot and always have been. I think laps of honour should be reserved for when you have won a trophy. I stay to the end but leave on the whistle. It’s a free country.

I think it is more of a lap of appreciation, the chance for the players and staff to show appreciation for the support they have recieved, it's also a way of deepening the bond between the club fans.
The truth is you are never going to stop fans leaving earlier.
The Dortmund noise is just exactly that noise, they have very little idea what is going on on the pitch, it is manufactured rubbish.
The whole ground needs to join in with the 1894 group who are trying there best but to many just ain't arsed anymore about chanting or staying to aplaud the lads, a pint is much more important to some, traffic issues, whatever the excuse or reason it's there decision.
We are definetly the worst for it after greart displays, only a trophy lift is reason enough for the not to go early.

If your in the singing section then sing if you don't want to (which is up to you) inform the club and move, Embrace what we have and join in.