danburge82 said:
Remember that derby at Maine Road when the power went off an hour before kick off (I think it was the one were we'd been away from the Prem for four years and we lost 1-0)? There was no music or tannoy bloke before the game, in fact there was nothing at all, nowt, nish! Yet we were all singing loudly. I taped the game and when I watched it back the next day - and I still remember this vividly to this day - Richard Keys said before the game "it's derby day in Manchester, and this place is ROCKING!"
This is spot on. I think there is a place for pre-match and half time entertainment and have been impressed with some activities this season. However, when the game is due to start in about 5/10 minutes I'd like to see the Club base their music and attempts at boosting the atmosphere around what is actually happening.
As said earlier, the 2002-03 derby was the victim of a broken PA system and from the moment it broke the atmosphere was able to develop and truly was special. Nowadays, unfortunately, decisions seem to be taken on how to get the fans going at meetings days/weeks before the game, whereas a number of options should be considered and decisions taken on the night as the situation is developing.
Before the Napoli game fans were singing, atmosphere was building and then they put on some music (I think it was Hey Jude while fans were singing 'We're not really here' or another song - whichever way round it was it created a clash between what was being sung and what someone had previously thought should be used to encourage singing).
Although the song put on was one that can become a chant it actually killed off the chant that was already in progress. When this happened I immediately looked at the people around me and we were all shaking our heads - it was so obvious that the chant should have been allowed to develop.
So, my view is that attempts to generate atmosphere are good and needed at times but when fans are already chanting and noise is developing don't kill it off by trying to gee everyone up with another song booming out of the PA system.
When there's little noise coming from the terraces then it's right to try to generate the noise by putting appropriate songs on, but judgement is needed on the night.
Work on alternative scenarios before the night/day of the game, but make the ultimate decision at the time.
Also, moving away fans is something that needs careful consideration. Some fans (and I used to be one of them in the old Kippax) like to be close to the away fans to enjoy the banter etc. This helped develop atmosphere - if the away fans are hidden away in a quiet section of the stadium then it might ultimately kill off some of the noise from our own fans.
If the away fans are also placed on level 3 wouldn't the acoustics and style of stadium mean that the noise they generate would feel stronger than if they are on level 1? I'm not an expert on any of this, but it's something that needs looking at. We need a soundwave expert for that one.
