atmosphere

[Blue Smarties]

I was at the back of 109 last night and I'll be brutally honest, for a while I was shitting it. It was only until we conceded did I find the real urge to try and muster some serious noise, don't get me wrong I was singing before hand and joining in however I was nervous at the same time. Got mauled when we scored. I think it'll be louder in the next CL game at home, personally I won't have the 'CL nerves' with it being the first time and wanting a win, can't speak for others. Don't however think it was a poor atmosphere, just an on edge one.

 

[SharstonBlue]

OK Im not saying it was a terrible atmosphere by any means but seriously we need to improve.

In my opinion most fans are timid and shy. Im constantly in hospital with seriously bad glands,quinseys nil by mouth throat, you name it but im screaming my lungs out getting behind every chant but still most of the people around me are silent. I mean SILENT! Every now and again they muster up the personality to sing along with a line or two of bluemoon or we're not really ere but in general its pathetic. That was the first champs league game ever and most people couldnt be arsed. I dont understand.

Are you a hypochondriac?

 

[Dribble]

I couldn't get a ticket after being told that I didn't have enough fucking points or something so I put the feelers out and a mate of mine came up trumps at the 11th hour yesterday afternoon. I met him outside the stadium JUST as the police were 'escorting' the Napoli fans into the stadium.

My mate gave me the ticket & I was gutted that it was for the family stand because being near families with kids means that I didn't feel able to be as vocal as I would otherwise be. To make matters worse we were sat right behind Joe Hart in the 1st half and couldn't see fuck all as most of the action was down the Napoli end!!!

I was just trying to make sense of the match by listening to the reaction of the fans who could see the match action. Imagine trying to visualise the match action from standing outside the stadium, all you can hear is 'ooh', 'aah YEAH ooh no' etc so there was no crowd participation from hardly anyone around where I was sat!!! Last night was the worst match experience I've ever had in my life!!! How the fuck anyone can sit directly behind the goal is beyond me as we couldn't see fuck all!! I'd have rather listened to it on radio because at least I would have got some commentary to let me know what was going on, but such is life sitting directly behind the goal at a match!

On top of that I was sat next to a heavily pregnant woman who was with her husband and he was holding their 2 year old son. My mate was sat on the other side of me and next to him were all his work bosses so he was on his best behaviour. When my mates bosses were talking about the match, its the first time I've ever heard football being discussed in such polite, intellectual terms at an actual match!!! It was fucking surreal!!!!

Mates Boss:
That Yaya Toure fellow doesn't seem up to the job in my opinion. He always seems very slow and has a diminished lack of stamina.....

What I'd expect to hear at a match:
Dat Yaya's fuckin shit!!! Oi Mancini, get him the fuck off!!!!

Mates other boss responded:
Yes I must agree with you dear boy, he does seem to lack the gusto of a professional sports person!! I've never considered him as being fit for purpose!!

The response I'd expect to hear at a match:
Yeh ya **** (Yaya), don't let him run past ya!! Snap da bastard in half you fuckin Muppet!!!

Perhaps this is why the atmosphere at Etihad suffers at times. I've taken my kids to many matches & TBH I wouldn't like them exposed to a constant stream of expletives throughout the match, but if I go with mates I want to be able to let it all out for a couple of hours without feeling self-conscious of disapproving fans being around me.

For instance at times last night it was like a graveyard in the family stand especially in the 1st half when all the action was down at the other end. In the stand above me a fella shouted 'Come on City, let's put this lot away.... COME ON!!!' and everyone turned round and looked at him!!! He looked really embarrassed and just sat down and there wasn't another outburst from him all night.

I know the club have tried to address this in the past by playing cheering fans through the loud speaker system (which was just frankly embarrassing) and more recently they've moved fans around the stadium to try and put all the noisy elements all together in attempt to turn up the volume, but I think its about time we the fans came up with solutions to resolve this ongoing issue.

 

[Anonymous]

even if people thought it was bad, which it wasnt, I thought us non season ticket holders showed you season card holders what it should be like every week, the best atmospheres always tend to be in cup rather then the league

 

[Jammer]

the game last night was my first, having moved to the area last week. i was in 206, not sure which stand that is from the top of my head. the napoli fans sounded massive and i thought the atmosphere for city was a little flat. whether that was because i was closest to them and not the city fans, may have had something to do with it. i have to say it sounded better on the highlights on the telly.

it was weird sitting down for mostly the whole match, i had 3 suits next to me so didn't get to the poznan when kolarov scored. i'd like to be where all the city fans are standing next time to see if the atmosphere improves. i'm impressed you lot get to stand without any hassle (or maybe you do?) for it.

stadium was very impressive though, fantastic view of the whole pitch from where i was.

can't believe napoli didn't fill their allocation? i know they ignored their seats and squashed up together but it still looked a third empty.

reading through all the atmosphere comments, its the same all over england. just be grateful you don't have 'chelsea dagger' or some shit played when you score.
corporates are trying to make the match day 'experience' (urgh) to cater for families and hospitality. brings in more money than a bloke who goes by himself/with a mate and doesn't buy a replica shirt/a three course meal with champagne.

i still had a good time, the game was excellent and it was nice to watch quality football for once. i'll be coming again and hopefully get to do some singing standing up next time!

 

[Prestwich_Blue]

Re: Re: atmosphere

If people don't want to sing why should they?

You should know by now that it's like 1984 on here. If you don't accept the prevailing orthodoxy it's off to Room 101 in the Ministry of Support. They'll get you sooner or later.

I love you Roberto!

 

[Blue Tooth]

Atmosphere was good..what did annoy me was the tannoy...the fans had launched into Bluemoon just prior to kick off and it was building nicely when on comes 'Hey Jude' right over the top of it...get the DJ to listen to the crowd and work with them ffs...if there buzzin leave it alone...if it's quiet pop on a singalong by all means...but think about it a bit eh?

 

[notts blue]

Noticed that even at away games, there is a lot of people singing in the boozers before and in the concourse in the ground, then for the first 5 mins but then the numbers singing starts to drop!

I know beer plays a big part but I also blame the fact that we are expecting to beat everyone now so a lot of complacency has set in!

Times are changing I know but you work all week probably in a shit job that you hate so let's all get behind the one thing we all love with a passion! CITY..

Starting at fulham...

 

[Deleted member 14625]

I am our biggest critic when it comes to atmosphere. It's not whinging for no reason; we are well average, often shite. The thing is we have changed so much in so many ways that atmosphere has become a major issue.

Firstly, since 1994 we haven't had a stand that is of a big enough size to be heard loud and clear or to be part of so you hear and learn songs. The move to the CoMS in 2003 made that worse as South Stand Level 1 was even smaller than the North Stand was at Maine Road. Even when i add the East/South corner Level 1 to the SSL1 it only comes to 3000 fans. That's just 6% of the capacity of our stadium. I can add to that mates of these people who sit around the ground, or people who go to pubs and are exposed to songs, or even away game travellers - but all these added together probably only comes to about 10000 fans. That's still only 21% of our total capacity. The whole of the other 79% of our fans will not know anymore songs than the 4 or 5 we always sing.

Around the ground we often can't hear the vocal areas as they aren't that loud unless you're in them so this other lot of fans will never learn or get to sing any new songs. Thus, atmosphere will never improve.

The only way this will improve is to provide a much bigger vocal area. 6% is fucking ludicrous! It's a bloody scandal, i tell yer! A bigger vocal area - obviously - house more people; more people will be exposed to all the variety of songs [that we do have by the way] and will learn and sing the songs; this will allow songs to be heard loud and clear by the rest of the crowd and thus they will then learn more songs and be able to join in.

This is the bigger picture i've been talkinig about endlessly when it comes to atmosphere. I must talk about this subject more than any other, and i do email City a lot about it. Maybe one day it will change, hopefully!

you and me both Dan, You and me both.

The problem is that the people who sit in the two singing areas don't agree, because they can't hear anything but themselves.

Proper atmosphere is when the whole ground join in. They will, if given a lead. Not always, but at the right moments. But at the right moments we either get the south stand drowned out by the way fans, and noone in the Colin Bell taking their lead. Or two different songs going at once, meaning noone else joins in.

If the ground has one voice, not two, things will improve.

Spot on!

 

[Wilmslow Road]

I agree with the O.P. also. I sit in the North Stand and whilst I can appreciate that it's never going to be too noisy, last night as usual, most of the fans did not open their mouths. Anyone who meets me today will tell from my voice that I put everything into last night and Im just sad that we have so many lazy fans.

If you are reading this and you are one of the silent fans, can I ask you why you even bother turning up at the match? By just sitting there, you are not supporting the team.

Are you for real ? or are you 10 years old.