Psychodelic said:The atmosphere was great a few short years ago - The Hughes replacement season, beating Chelsea, Tevez goal in league cup semi, Mancini's FA cup and title winning seasons. Poznan etc. Loads of banners everywhere. I felt that finally the stadium had finally become a proper football stadium and it was ours. Now its gone back to that strange atmosphere we had in the earlier years. Dead unless its a derby or Liverpool or Chelsea. I do think the club has unwittingly created this problem themselves.
The PA blasts out adverts and music at full volume like some bad commercial radio station right up to the ref blowing the whistle for kick off. How are people going to compete with that noise and try and build an atmosphere naturally? You can't hear yourself so you give up.
The vocal and more vociferous support shouldn't be dotted around the stadium in odd blocks, especially when you're up against 3 thousand away fans all in one area of one stand. That's never going to work. I know that's always been the case in this stadium but its a huge part of the reason the atmosphere has gone down hill again due to the fact the rest of the ground doesn't bother to join in anymore like the Mancini/Poznan days.
There were some memorable games atmosphere-wise last season - hammering united again, spurs and the arsenal match was particularly great. Obviously our great team had a major hand in that but the crowd well and truly joined in and created that special atmosphere. I'm sure the Pellegrini song was probably dreamt up around then in time for the league cup assault. We need that atmosphere back again and drop the lethargy.
For the long term though, rather than blame each other and criticise older fans and families etc. I think the stadium can be an experience no fan will forget and one away fans won't forget in a hurry if the club would utilise what it already has and bin a few other things it mistakenly believes is a good idea:
Electronic advertising boards round the second tier - get rid its shit and bring back the banners. Its a football ground not the bloody stock exchange.
Match day experience - please explain why anyone would need this forcing down their necks? 48,000 people are here solely to watch a football match not meet some prat in a costume or have a microphone shoved in their faces. And keep the bloody PA announcements to a minimum its not a black Friday sale.
Ticket pricing - prices for all league matches regardless of division are ridiculously overpriced in this country. If you want FFP for wages, transfers etc you can do it for ticket prices too. Tickets should be capped at say £25 for the most expensive. Charge daft prices for execs etc but for the general stands it should be kept low. You get enough revenue elsewhere so don't take the piss. That goes for all clubs.
And finally.... Get rid of the family stand. A contentious one but hear me out. There is absolutely no need on gods own earth for this enclosure whatsoever. It's a waste of time. Ticket pricing for families yes. No problem with that at all. However, there is no need to take out an entire stand out just to accommodate this scheme. Families can and should be able to sit in any stand. A number of blocks in each stand should have rows reserved for this scheme. At least its in keeping with the cheaper ticket policy for families and won't price them out and there is still the fact they can all sit together. This isn't a dig at the family stand by the way, its just such an absurd idea to have an entire stand reserved just for this.
The North Stand - this then should be where the club can put together a full stand of the more vocal and vociferous support and it should be made The Home End on all occasions. This would create in my opinion a fantastic wall of noise which would give the stadium a huge boost in atmosphere and which can have an effect on the other 2 and 3 quarter home stands to join in more. You don't have to reloicate South stand ticket holders only if they want to. Make the tickets cheaper and you'd soon fill this stand with loud fans who'd normally couldn't go due to cost. Make it more accessible - maybe have more one off match day tickets available in some of these blocks for those who can't afford a full season ticket.
Let's face it with the expansion, City could feasibly do this and without having to move away supporters in the South stand at an attempt at a "singing" section - thus also complying with the police's advice etc.
Anyway, that's my view.... Oh and I can understand some leaving early but if you must, do it discreetly and not en masse. Fanks :-)
Lots of good points in this post , even though I don't neccesarily feel the need to sweep away the 'Family stand'
Very good points made about those embarrasingly godawful 'electronic flags' / garish ads strips around the base of Tier 2
get fookin rid.. it's plastic and pathetic
Totally agree about the club shootin the fook up just before kick off... give us some space to make some noise and stick yer fookin banal announcements up yer @rse