The Singing Section was more audible when it was in the corner of the East Stand in 110+111 as songs did spread down to 109-107. The South Stand is not singing in anywhere near as many numbers as that. Just like moving fans from the North Stand to create the Family Stand, moving the Singing Section has been a stupid decision.
Now the Singing Section is trapped in a small space between the away fans (who are always louder, especially up in SSL3 who always outnoise our SSL1), the overhang and the Colin Bell. You'd think that might give it an away stand feel and bring an away day sort of atmosphere because of it's isolation but it just doesn't.
And the rest of the ground has become a majority of middle class families, old people, tourists, half'n'half scarf twats, selfie stick sad acts, well behaved theme park day out bunch of fans. They are dull as fuck and sit there for 90minutes bringing absolutely nothing to the atmosphere other than tutting and taking pictures or videos of themselves. Some people sit in total silence for 90minutes every week.
But this is all the club's fault. They're the ones who've provided this pitiful Singing Section. How many does our bit of SSL1 hold? 2000? 2500? Let me put that into perspective - and these are just a few of dozens upon dozens of examples I could use - Plymouth Argyle's Mayfield Stand holds 5000 people, Tranmere Rover's Kop holds 5000 people, Stockport County's Cheadle End holds 5000 people...all are those club's vocal stands for home fans only with no away fans there to dilute or outsing the home fans in those stands. (This is not even touching on places like Sheffield United who have a Stand that houses 15000 for vocal home fans!)
Plus it's the club's fault with the new demographic of fans. That's what you get when you turf out thousands of fans from their seats with friends and family to make a Family Stand that's never been full once in it's existence and has made the amosphere terrible at that end. Some fans never returned to the club after being split from mates in that move. And that's what you get when you up SC prices by £400 in the space of six years. You price people out or scare people into worrying about the price of it as the rise in prices has been far too sharp, way above the rate of inflation.
I reckon I know more than twenty City fans (some of which had gone to home games religiously since the 70s, some if which had gone home+away for years, some of which you'd ever expect to give up their SCs) who've given their SCs up because they were kicked out of their seats in the North Stand or because prices rose too high too quickly. Some of them did return when cheaper tickets were offered in the SSL3 but some didn't and had they not been taken for granted in the first place would still have been there.
Premier League football clubs are swimming in money. They're fucking boat loaded. But they don't appreciate their fans and just milk them for all they can. City are just the same as any of them.
Uli Hoeness once said
And they don't just offer a few hundred cheap tickets on the first row of L1 or the back row of L3, they offer 12000 tickets at low prices in Germany.
And the answer will not to give SSL1 over to Safe Standing as it will still be nowhere near big enough.
Plus it's the club's fault for making everything like a kids theme park. Everywhere is over policed, over stewarded, far too strict. Sit down, stop swearing, don't shout, "get your half'n'half scarfs, look a right **** for only a fiver", selfie, selfie smiling, selfie pouting, "here I am filming myself at the Etihad Stadium today with my selfie stick looking like a right twat", robots doing press ups, bar staff who don't know what they're doing, over indulgence in the fucking Moon, a real lack of Manchesterness and Mancunianism coming from the club (I'm sure they'd change our name to FC Moon City if they could)...
It's all a load of bollocks that needs fucking off!
And all those fans who left early yesterday - and, in fact, all those people that do every single game - should hang your heads in shame!
I don't think the last few years has seen an influx of middle class families, it's more or less the same crowd who are getting older.
