Atmosphere in 'the modern game'

[Tooting Gull]

It is a very good article, and I agree with most of the points raised, was about to post it myself but saw this thread. One which is that it isn't JUST pricing, although that is a factor. Let's be honest, football was a game of the people and hard core support like that will ALWAYS make more noise than a load of more comfortably-off arrivistes who have temporarily ditched their Premier League team and want to be entertained rather than helping to make the atmosphere and occasion. It is becoming like the theatre at times, and that is not what hooked me in to football.

But I think the points Pavilionaire makes are right, and add to the article rather than reject what it is saying. There are plenty of people in Sussex who (understandably) will not pay £35-plus for a ticket to see a Championship game and don't want a season ticket, and ruling those people out on price certainly isn't helping the atmosphere. But there is more to it, and standing, alcohol, transport and exciting football come into play.

 

[Moshe Gariani]

At the Amex you get chants from all corners of the ground. In the first couple of seasons it was genuinely deafening in WSU at times.

This. The atmosphere at The Amex was mainly excellent in the first two seasons. It tailed off last year because the football was unbelievably dull and frustrating. This season so far it has not picked back up again, despite the football being more interesting, because we have scored so few goals and won only once at home in the league.

It is very simple. Give us a team scoring a few goals and The Amex will be brilliantly atmospheric again.

 

[Pretty pink fairy]

I absolutely loved that game. Is there nothing better in football than seeing your team recover from a seemingly impossible position to get at least a point. Especially when it happened in that manner with the thunderbolt from Ian Chapman. Awesome (and I mean that in the literal sense, not the modern overused sense of the word.)

Really surprised to see that this wasn't one of the games included in the round up of previous Albion v Bournemouth encounters.

yeah, and you've got planks like programme seller telling me i'm not a fan
regards
DR

 

[Pretty pink fairy]

that night it was pi$$ing down, when chappers smashed the last goal into the north stand.
I can still remember the spray coming off the net and being caught in the floodlights.

We didn't have many like that, unfortunately.

it was a Saturday afternoon that felt like an evening game
regards
DR

 

[Stat Brother]

it was a Saturday afternoon that felt like an evening game
regards
DR

Was it, blimey, the day must have been even filthier than I remember it, which takes some doing.

 

[Barham's tash]

it was a Saturday afternoon that felt like an evening game
regards
DR

Wow. It really wasn't midweek.

 

[Pretty pink fairy]

DEF mid week that one.

maybe the brain cells have worn then , remember standing on the south west terrace for that one deffo raining ,remember floodlights coming on at half time
regards
DR

 

[Barham's tash]

maybe the brain cells have worn then , remember standing on the south west terrace for that one deffo raining ,remember floodlights coming on at half time
regards
DR

View attachment 59905

 

[Pretty pink fairy]

View attachment 59905

doesn't open mate but i'll take your word
regards
DR

 

[bristolseagull]

Absolutely. A lot of people seem to still remember the Goldstone as being louder though.

depends where you stood though. West and South were dead, East terrace was lively and the North, on its day, could be raucous.

 

[Stat Brother]

depends where you stood though. West and South were dead, East terrace was lively and the North, on its day, could be raucous.

3 key words:-

On it's day.

Those days were considerably rarer than our memories would have us believe.

 

[bristolseagull]

3 key words:-

On it's day.

Those days were considerably rarer than our memories would have us believe.

Yeah, perhaps. The final Archer and Bellend years were quite noisy though, particularly the demos outside the west after every game.

 

[Simster]

depends where you stood though. West and South were dead, East terrace was lively and the North, on its day, could be raucous.

The East was usually fairly average in terms of noise. I stood on the North almost every game, but for the last one against Donny I was in the East because North tickets were like rocking horse shìt. Oddly enough, the atmosphere on the East for that one was as lively as any I remember in the North before it. It was mental.

 

[vegster]

That was an interesting article, but the author is suggesting there's a certain inevitability about the atmosphere deteriorating over time and I take issue with him on that.

If you want to improve the atmosphere it is not hard to achieve, just look at why the German fan experience is exceptional and how they go about it: safe standing, cheaper matchday tickets, affordable beer, a culture of exciting, attacking football, cheap reliable and plentiful public transport.

Compare that with British football: no standing, expensive tickets, expensive beer, bland football, insufficient public transport.

It's what football should be like or at least would have been like if the double whammy of Thatcher's decision to treat fooball supporters as little more than Miners and the rise of Sky tv.had not happened.

 

[Mellotron]

depends where you stood though. West and South were dead, East terrace was lively and the North, on its day, could be raucous.

Even at its loudest, it wasn't anywhere near Amex at its loudest. IMO.

 

[Brovion]

Even at its loudest, it wasn't anywhere near Amex at its loudest. IMO.

Oh it was. Much louder. I guess being an old ****er my experiences go back further than yours.