God on you guys.....Pigbite has a valid point, make this your own and keep with it. It will take off.
I heard you guys at Birmingham and it took for a while.
Sing what we like , Sing what we like , we are the East stand we'll sing what we like . Gus Poyet's Blue and White Army Atb The judge and the Few !!!
I think songs and singing come as a result of the moment; the spark of emotion that inspires one to burst into a tribal call to arms and celebration.
Perhaps people in the East Stand were too busy watching the game, or discussing it with the person next to them? Just a thought.
I think that is true when you are speaking about certain types of fan (as far as you can categorise any individual) but in the area of the east stand that I sit there are alot more reserved people that need to be encouraged by people around them. Round these parts, when you have one person spontaineously chant then all you get is people averting their gaze as if you were loudly shouting biblical damnations wearing only a sock on your knob in the middle of Churchill Square. The same people will jump to their feet at a goal (your bursting into a tribal celebration), shout their disapproval at a bad decision by the ref, encourage individual players when play is close by and sing/chant when enough people around them are singing/chanting and they don't feel that their neighbours are going to think they are some kind of freak. It's psychology, it's a herd mentality.
Also, I don't know what it's like in other parts of the ground, but there seems to be quite a high turnover of different people each game and they need to be encouraged by simple chants - SBTS is not sung by many people round me for example - give 'em Alllllbion, Alllllbion and they are away IF enough people around them (and across the whole ground) are singing it.
We just need to have enough people prepared to sing out when few around them are to get things going.
One side point is that many of the people in the east stand will have chosen it specifically as it is meant to be the "respect" stand, with the family section at one end, and a zero tolerance attitude to certain behaviour enforced. My experience is that some are more than happy to hand out unilateral abuse to the opposing fans or players yet not prepared to chant or sing - which I find very odd. More specifically however, it also means that some of the fans in this part of the ground are looking for a different atmosphere, perhaps one where singing and chanting is not high on the agenda. I would bet money though that even your most reserved of fans loves it when there is a rocking (albeit less agressive) atmosphere and would not swap it for the world.
we sing what we like , we sing what we like , we are the East stand we'll sing what we like
I love the irony of this emerging thought that "we'll sing what we like" could be east stand's signature chant
that's what would make it brilliant if it got going. I can already see the blank faces of astonishment looking over from the North Stand wondering what the hell is going on in the East...
Two and half weeks before it can be actioned (the U19 game excepted but I can't go). On the one hand I can't wait, on the other it gives us time to build a buzz. Is this the formation of a ESK? Just no song sheets please.